Everton 0 - 0 Brentford

I was up at 5:30 due to road works on the M5 with the prospect of driving back from Taunton through Storm Bert. I was telling myself that a good performance would give some comfort whilst battling the torrential rain.

With the storm not yet hitting us, we had a good drive in the coach and arrived in plenty of time for a beer with Bill and Ian at The Harlech. The team selection was disappointing as I’d have played Mangala rather than Doucoure but otherwise it was good to see Jarrad Branhwaite back and it would be interesting to see if Lindstrøm could improve on his poor showing last time I was up for the Palace game.

I thought we started very well with some nice football and it seemed to me that the players had been encouraged to shoot on sight. We needed a goal but couldn’t get one and Brentford weathered the storm (which was more than I did on my drive back from Taunton!!).

We then had a pretty even game with a boring stalemate. Pickford made one great save and a couple of decent ones and their goalie was dominant, catching a number of crosses and wasting way more time than was added on by the referee.

I was on my way to the gents for a half-time visit when Pickford was fouled, reasoning that I would be back in my seat before the game restarted, but couldn’t believe that VAR was looking at a possible red card. My view wasn’t great but it looked like their guy was going for the ball.

Against 10 men, I was disappointed that Patterson didn’t come on in place of Young. Ashley had played well enough but surely we could have used Patterson's attacking ability against a 10-man team and with Branthwaite and Tarkowski in control at the back.

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Beto disrupted the Brentford defence and had four half chances in the short time he was on. I still think he is a better version of Niasse and no more than that and not worth anywhere near the money we have paid for him, staged payments notwithstanding.

Ndiaye was good – he provided what little excitement there was – and McNeil worked hard; on another day, he would have scored. Gana was very good – okay, he loses the ball with poor passing but he was good going forward and came close to a goal.

I’m no fan of Dyche but his hands are tied. His two best midfielders are injured – Tim and Jim will make a big improvement on our creativity if Dyche selects them. Broja is looking good in the training clips I’ve seen and Chermiti was very good in pre-season. With those four fit and ready to play, Dyche will then have some decent options… whether he realises this and plays them is anyone’s guess; I’m not convinced!

The drive home from my West Country Blues drop-off point was the worst I have experienced in 52 years of driving. Torrential rain, non-existent lane markings on the motorway, gale force winds – it really couldn’t have been worse and I was highly relieved when I got home having spent 10 minutes circumnavigating my village to find a road which was not flooded.

We have a tough run of games now but last season we played better against the better teams. Hopefully, with a fully fit squad, we can pick up a few points. If we changed manager, I’d go for a Moyes - Carsley team but I can’t see anything happening until the ownership is changed, if at all.

What struck me more than anything was a lack of passion from the pitch and the stands. The players all worked hard but lacked true passion and a bloody-minded will to win. Those who can remember Joe Royle's Dogs of War will know what I mean. Are they becoming stale after the same rhetoric from the manager for the last 2½ years?

Likewise the fans – how can they make such a racket when travelling away but be so quiet, even hushed, when at home? Again, are we reconciled to our situation and to the fact that the manager will not change it up a bit and play a more offensive style?

We have too many players over 30 years old who sit back and play their positions but do not add anything else to the performance. The injured players coming back will help but I see this as the manager failing to get the best from his squad and he needs to change this.

Other clubs at the bottom get results against the bigger teams by having a go- we need to rediscover our passion – fans included to give the team far better encouragement – before it is too late.

Player Ratings

Pickford:  One great save but why is he taking free kicks as far up as the half-way line? Someone will kick it back over his head one day! 7

Young:  A decent display. 7

Tarkowski:  Much better. 7

Branthwaite:  Very good. 7

Mykolenko:  He attacked well but left his man in too much space too often. 6

Gueye:  My Man of the Match. 8

Doucoure:  He's not a Premier League footballer for me. 5

McNeil:  Good but shooting off-colour. 6

Lindstrøm: Better, getting stuck in, but needs an overlapping full-back to create a decoy for him to attack in space. 6

Ndiaye: A smashing player, lots of close skill and my, doesn’t he get stuck in! 7

Calvert-Lewin: He tried hard but got no change out of dominant centre-backs. 6


Reader Comments (15)

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John Raftery
1 Posted 25/11/2024 at 16:09:31
Thanks for the report, Dave. A terrible day all round but at least we took a point which is the minimum requirement.

Like you, I would have started with Mangala, not that he made much difference when he came on. I agree, Gana was our Man of the Match. It's difficult to see how our midfield would cope without him at present with Garner and Iroegbunam both injured.

McNeil had five shots on Saturday: three wide, one saved and one blocked. We badly needed one of those to go in. At the moment, he is our only regular attacker who looks capable of scoring.

Brent Stephens
2 Posted 25/11/2024 at 16:39:26
Nice report, Dave. Not sure about all of the player ratings but I'd give you 11/10 for your travel travails.

Just checked the origin of the word "travail" and Mr Google tells me it's from Old French, and the origin prior to that was Medieval Latin – an instrument of torture. That sounds about right as a description of Saturday's game.

Tony Abrahams
3 Posted 25/11/2024 at 16:44:06
You saw the game in a pretty similar way that I saw the game Dave, except I left my house at 2:30 pm, and was back home for 7 pm, after doing a couple of hours work after the game.

The Passion Has Gone, I agree, and the phrase I used repeatedly to the different Evertonians I spoke to on Saturday was that I'm hoping we are finally into the hour before the dawn.

Nearly 39,000 people watching unadulterated shite, Evertonians truly amaze me at times, especially supporters that show so much dedication like you West Country Blue-Boys, Dave.

I just hope whoever takes over next has got the desire, the skill, and the will, plus the innovation you showed navigating those flooded roads late on Saturday night, at the end of what was probably a 17- or 18-hour day.

My biggest gripe was the lack of conviction closely followed by the lack of belief. Football is supposed to be fun, but right now it's fucking soul-destroying.

Hopefully better days are around the corner for the long suffering and very dedicated Evertonians. Take us back to the beginning of 1984!

Danny O'Neill
4 Posted 25/11/2024 at 16:45:12
Dave,

It was a horrible match. You out do me for travel!!

But we'll keep going. I just wish the players would.

I sense change is coming.

Len Hawkins
5 Posted 25/11/2024 at 17:07:17
The best thing about this season's games as far as I am concerned is the stranglehold my laptop has over letting me watch any streams, they are Verboten.

I suppose every cloud has a silver lining so I have to make do with the live forum and the ever optimistic [not] banter and very amusing profanities that I have not heard since I retired 8 years ago.

Jay Harris
6 Posted 25/11/2024 at 17:17:41
The bad thing is we won't see change until the takeover is completed.

Dyche knows he has lost the crowd and seemingly a few of the players too.

With all the will in the world, a dead man walking cannot inspire those around him, so we need to act asap.

Kirk McArdle
9 Posted 25/11/2024 at 17:43:35
I saw the game here on TV in Johannesburg as I do for most games. I would say we are very fortunate to have all 380 Premier League games transmitted down here in sunny South Africa but, after watching the same dour 90+ minutes week after week, there is nothing fortunate about this now!

I do not post much on here but I do come on and every day read the various and sometimes polarising opinions and comments.

Firstly, I do give credit to Dyche for keeping us up when we looked dead and buried towards the end of the Lampard reign and under the most testing financial situation any Premier League manager has had to face along with unparalleled points deductions. Big bonus earnt but a pittance in the greater Premier League income scheme of things.

But – and there is always a 'but' – with his current contract (and his staff) coming to an end, then this should be the natural parting of ways. I cannot see another short-term "viable" option out there that would come in and be in a position to turn these players around.

Amorim (undeniably a very talented head coach) sees what kind of job he has on his hands at Man Utd but they are not going to be relegated or even close at the end of the season. He can start to change formations and tactics as he has the time and breathing room to experiment, implement and see who in his playing staff can work for him.

With this crop of players, we will be very much towards the bottom and whichever manager we could potentially make a change to will still have both hands tied behind their back in the January window.

Most on here can brandish as many names about as they want to as to potential replacements. I have my own from a varied spectrum. Some up-and-coming; some with Premier League experience; some working on small budgets; some that like to work with youth… and even some that the new owners would have to properly sell the club and (and even though I hate the phrase) project to go after someone to shoot the stars out with.

I would keep Dyche until end of the season and then new owners, new stadium, new manager, and most important of all, a new Everton.

Dave Abrahams
10 Posted 25/11/2024 at 18:29:37
You keep coming, Dave, and I keep on praising you and your friends who come on these long (cold and wet at the moment) journeys for so little entertainment from the team you all love so much, you must love them to continue to watch such drivel.

Contrast my journey on Saturday, my grandson ordered a taxi at 2:35 pm, we got there in 10 minutes because of one-lane travel — coming home, I got on the bus at 5:15 pm; in the house for 6:00 pm because of slow traffic.

You, Dave, and all who travel like you, are much better fans than myself and other local supporters. I hope some better games and wins are in store for all of you in the next 5 months.

Dave Williams
11 Posted 25/11/2024 at 18:49:14
That's very nice of you, Dave, but you've done your time too! No matter where we all live, the magic of Goodison Park keeps dragging us back for more!

I live in hope that the new owner stabilises the club and engages staff who can develop young players and send the team out to entertain. It's not much to ask… or is it???

Colin Crooks
12 Posted 25/11/2024 at 19:46:11
My heart goes out to you and the rest of the West Country nutters, Dave.

I leave my seat in the Main Sand, walk across Goodison Road and down our street. That's it. I'm home... What a nightmare journey home you guys had.

You guys deserve better. You and all the other loyal fans dotted around the country who have to navigate the weather, the roadworks, the fucked-up train times which cause endless delays. All of which cost you so much of your hard earned cash. You don't ask for much. Yet you give so much.

The manager and the players should be force-fed this report. Nobody should have walked off that pitch or out of that dugout with a clear conscience.

You guys are better Evertonians than the fucking lot of them!

Paul Ferry
13 Posted 25/11/2024 at 19:47:31
Dave, you read the game, atmosphere, and situation perfectly. I'll just ditto every word.

But I did want to thank you and everyone else on that coach for your incredible loyalty and support. I actually thought of you around noon my time when you were heading back to the South-West in the epic storm I was hearing about on the beeb news.

You did shut the door behind you once home and pour yourself a drink?

Actually, I do have something to ask, Dave. Is it obvious or not to you and others that significant numbers there have turned against Dyche and that he knows it, standing there as they express themselves? I'm not thinking of final whistle boos but a constant drumbeat.

Thanks again for being a top Bluenose.

Dave Williams
14 Posted 25/11/2024 at 20:08:57
Thanks, Paul, much appreciated mate.

I don't go to every game though at least 40 of our coach are season ticket holders and the general view seems to be total disillusionment but acceptance that nothing will happen to change it until the new owners are in.

With their reputation for firing managers, I wouldn't hold out any hope for Dyche. Even if we stay up, the problem is not just a lack of points but zero, and I mean zero, entertainment value.

With no exaggeration, I was not roused out of my seat for the entire game. Pickford made a fantastic save, Ndiaye showed flashes of skill… but this was a performance taking me back to season 1971-72 when only the brilliance of Howard Kendall the player kept us up.

It's grim but I bet you would be there with the rest of us if you were in the UK! It's in the blood!

Mark Boullé
15 Posted 26/11/2024 at 14:59:35
The title of this report sums it up perfectly. As another distant Blue (not as far as the West Country, but Oxford is far enough!), I rarely get to go to games.

I was at the Fulham game where Beto equalised late on, and, as my mate who was with me would testify, my biggest outpouring of passion in that game was not at the late goal, but screaming (pointlessly from way too high up for it to be heard) at Dyche to... just... change... something... anything to make it more exciting!!

For the most part, I rely on following events on here or the BBC live text. And that tingling, that sense of anticipation, that feeling that Everton are all over an opponent and that a goal is inevitable, that has well and truly gone. I can totally sympathise with bored, unenthused match-going fans. Where is the thrill? The electricity?

A Spurs fan rang up 606 on Sunday after they had tonked Man City and he said that, had it been a choice, he would take their current swashbuckling style with no trophies over having won anything playing the stilted football of Mourinho or Antonio Conte.

And you know what, I'm with him. Football is about entertainment. I watch way more NFL than football these days because American Football is endlessly entertaining, exciting, unpredictable and full of moments of outrageous skill, jinking runs, catching and courage. It gives me a buzz watching it that Everton, under Dyche, simply never can.

Yes Dyche deserves enormous credit for how he steered the club through last season. But football is an entertainment as well as a results business, and fans are (rightly or wrongly) now customers as well, something that will only be more true in the new stadium. They deserve better. I have now concluded that, as soon as the takeover is complete, a change of manager must be made.

Frederick Parchment
16 Posted 26/11/2024 at 19:41:12
Thanks, Dave, for your assessment of the game and your ratings of the players.

The passion has truly deserted me for sometime now. Carlo and Duncan were the last two individuals on the sidelines that had me willing a win from our side. Heart pounding in anticipation. But somehow that has all dried up in me.

Dyche imo has furthered the problem to the point the players' confidence is shot. His tactics, player selection, set-up, I'm sure has most of the players' minds shaking their heads in disbelief.

A win under this serving shit guidance is bittersweet for me: sweet for the victory; bitter because we'll have Dycheball for another fucking game. Rant over.

Bernie Rogers
17 Posted 26/11/2024 at 20:24:42
I understand the people who say “let's just get this season out of the way” but don't Evertonians, and our famous old ground, deserve a lot better before it closes forever?

I'm not even messing when I say that I had to put that old Jam classic, “That's Entertainment” on my iPad on Saturday night, because I kept getting the “Thick As Thieves” lyrics stuck in my head, and I was thinking there's no way we can stick together watching such awfully depressing performances like this on a weekly basis.


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