Stalemate earns battling Blues another precious point

Well, Mr Dyche, this is your future possibly to be determined by 4 pm. Mrs T was eventually stabbed in the back and deposed.

I bet nobody saw that coming…

How bad is the weather at Goodison? The worse the better from our point of view. Jordan may be fancying his chances in one half.

No gung-ho thankfully.

According to the commentary, the Chelsea manager switched it up after 20 minutes to put them in the ascendancy after a pretty even start.

Seems really unlikely we will get another nil-nil. They have tonnes of options off the bench and we have a number of yellow cards to worry about. Will the egg-heads stir it up a bit in a surprising way or will we be simply putting faith in obduracy and praying for some wind assistance to stifle their potency?

3 points would be so good – up the fecking Toffees!

Fuck off, Dyche.

Harrison should have... but I will take the point. Well shut out, Blues!

Try again, the default auto setting uses too much bandwidth, stops the continual buffering.

Chelsea also had a couple of first-half chances.

Hard to expect too much more, especially when conditions were clearly so tough.

David James on the radio this morning was wondering whether Cole Palmer could really boost his assists this afternoon in the pursuit of the ‘double-double', and reckoned the delayed derby is a god send to the RS.

His smirk should look strained now and hopefully it will be totally wiped off his mug in the New Year.

Looking at our remaining fixtures conservatively, I reckon there is the potential for, oooh, 7, maybe 8 Nil-Nils up for grabs. That's 24, 25 points total.

Maybe I've got Mr Dyche wrong?.

One miserable chance all game, the Harrison one, which he should have squared to Doucoure, but didn't, and maybe Ndiaye denied by a great challenge.

That said, we restricted them to absolutely nothing and I have got to say we look solid.

But the sooner this clown goes, the better. If you're happy with these type of performances, well, more fool you. There's managers out there who'd do well better with this squad.

We went toe-to-toe with the best 2 sides in the Premier League in the last 2 games. Hung in there against Arsenal but this game, we were just as good as them, and actually created the better chances.

Bring on City!

Can't argue with that I suppose.

It's great to get a point against Top 3 sides and a clean sheet. But we should start winning games and increase the gap.

Not sure about City but we can beat Forest at home.

Christine (#14), thanks for that and will implement as soon as I get it translated, btw, I watch on the desktop via a dongle and had 2 good years but they now say that 10 kmsout from Perth CBD there are too many subscribers which is causing the problem!

On my phone, they tell me I'm not a subscriber, which is rubbish, and my telly is that old I get last week's programmes, but several times a day though.

But a point today was another great result. Hopefully, Broja can do the business.

I was worried before the game, but I thought we edged that.

He has had more than enough chances. I'm afraid I just give up on the Dyche selections.

The same goes for Harrison. Waste of space both of them.

As for Calvert-Lewin... had the potential to be a thoroughbred but turned out to be a Blackpool Donkey... no offence to Blackpool Donkeys meant.

The ominous thing today was Wolves looking much better and Southampton looking solid. We will continue to pick up around a point per game most likely but have to hope that 3 teams below us can't turn things around significantly.

We can't keep on drawing while potentially those around us begin winning.

I was dreading these 5 Xmas fixtures but 2 draws and a postponement is fine so far…

The manager must take at least some of the credit for that.

Slagging Calvert-Lewin for his performance today shows that you really, really don't know what you're on about.

Oh, and Chelsea are one snidey, dirty, cheating shower!

Oh, and the ref was shocking!

Hats off to all – especially to those belting out "Suspicious Minds" on the karaoke tonight.

Dire game.

For some, it's not a good result given we were the home team, but – given a few thought we'd get no points and hammered before Christmas – we can take solace we are grinding our results.

Let's see how we deal with a very out-of-form Man City - 🎅💙

We edged it because we carved out the better chances and restricted them to very little despite their huff and puff.

Also. the knowledgeable Goodison crowd (once again) gave Calvert-Lewin very warm applause as he left the field… Wonder why they keep doing that?

A point gained. I accept that an average of a point a game is what we need this season, so I am happy to take this one against strong opposition.

Calvert-Lewin, I get he's upfront on his own, but he got bullied and pushed off the ball constantly.

He is not a good striker, has imo no real attributes to be a striker either.

As far as how the game went... we battled – and I'm tired of battling for a point.

Yes we should be twatting these 4-0

And City,
And Arsenal,
And Liverpool,
And everyone else.

Ridiculous, isn't it?

If we try those tactics against Arsenal or Chelsea, and probably next week against Man City, we would also get stuffed.

As much as it is boring to watch, Dyche's tactics are producing reasonable results and I thought today that we created as many good chances as they did.

I don't understand the Calvert-Lewin bashing today; I thought he fought well for everything in a swirling wind which made instantaneous control difficult for all the players.

As someone said above, 5 points from the nightmare run when most expected none.

Sure, he's never been the greatest finisher, but if I was him, I'd be off as soon as I got a half-decent offer. Somewhere he gets to do more than just stand up front on his own up against three defenders.

It's just the way we have to play right now to get the points to make sure we stay in the Premier League for the new stadium. For a former England striker in his peak years, this must be incredibly depressing for Dom.

I'll wish him well when he goes.

The last 2 games against 2 free-scoring teams played right into his style and were quite effective. The weather today never helped but a defensive display was once again rewarded with a point.

We still missed goal-scoring chances that ,if not rectified, will still see us struggling.

I am not sure what the new ownership plans are but, to change the more defensive style of play, it will take a new manager. If they just want to stay in the Premier League, these are the performances to expect, unless we can sign a goalscorer.

But the players today deserve congratulations for providing us with a Happy Xmas.

I thought if we could sneak a win against anyone, it would be today. The Arsenal point was an unbelievable bonus and I was much happier with that point than today. These lot hate coming to Goodison and had a very weak defence today that could have been tested more.

Cucurella and Fofana both missing as well as James meant they had no full-back threat with Gusto much weaker on the left. Their centre-backs are also very shaky as we saw when we did get at them. With conditions favouring us also, I think they were there for the taking and you could see a lot of their young players just didn't fancy it.

A very good point all the same and if you would have offered us 2 points against Arsenal and Chelsea, I think most of us would have taken them and run.

Calvert-Lewin was outstanding. He won every one of those long balls from Pickford, and laid off more than a few of them perfectly. Roamed touchline to touchline to pressure the ball.

I'm hoping Broja and Chermiti will make a big difference for the rest of the season, plus little boosts to the squad in January and when others regain fitness allowing us to mix it more with all-comers.

On current form, I think we've got a better chance against a surprisingly clunky Man City than the very dynamic Forest unless we just concede possession to them.

Conor, perhaps you have seen much more of Chelsea recently than I have, because I thought they'd been dishing out footballing lessons, even with the likes of Gusto on the pitch.

The Spurs Boss should be sacked for that result and probably will before the weekend.

However, the idea that you consider Dave Lynch's utterly lame and witless post, comparing (fucking hilarious, by the way) Dominic to a Blackpool donkey, not to be out of order, is just you being contrary for the sake of it. Poor stuff.

Still carrying a couple of passengers. I would have replaced Harrison with Patterson but Lindstrøm played better than he has done and stuck with the opposition winger a couple of times and stopped his progress.

We looked more dangerous when Beto came on and, with Broja ready for the next game, I would look at one of them two to start versus Man City on Boxing Day, where 3 points are not out of the question.

Andy, my agreement with Dave was nothing to do with Dominic who I thought was excellent again today. I was agreeing that we could have been a bit braver.

Difference of opinion, and I'll stand by mine.

Remind me again of his goal-scoring record, how many 1-v-1s he's fucked up and lame shots at the keeper, not to mention him being yards behind play a lot of the time when on the rare occasion we break at speed!

You've got your opinion and I've got mine... get over it.

We probably created 2 chances today in 92 minutes of football – at home! I think we had 2 corners in 92 minutes of football… but Sean is doing a wonderful job according to some.

I am sick to fucking death of this ultra-negative manager with his ultra-negative tactics, this conceding 70% possession against nearly every team is not going to win us games.

This horrible bastard will 0-0 us to safety by playing ultra-cautious football, and if you're happy to watch that… well, fair play to you.

I'm currently on holiday and vowed not to watch it today, but against my better judgement, I did – and boy do I regret that decision.

I hope our new owners watched this today and thought "No, that's not what we bought into." It's abysmal and I am honestly sick to death of it.

6 out the last 7 games we've registered a blank, I'm cringing typing that and I honestly don't think we'll score again this season with Mr Blank in charge.

And we won't score 6 away all season. Just go, Dyche – you've sucked the life out of me.

In atrocious conditions, we kept them to 1 chance whilst we had the best 2 chances in the game.

Everyone put a shift in, Mykolenko had a great game against their wingers.

The Dyche subs were also spot on imo, Young was 1 foul away from a red, Harrison was knackered, and Calvert-Lewin had put a decent shift in.

The ref played whoever falls over first gets a foul. Is there such a thing as a decent ref anymore?

We are desperate for some quality from the midfield.

Roll on Forest.

The game itself was mostly enjoyable, as it was competitive and Chelsea, although relatively inexperienced, did put their foot in and were physical for large parts of the game. In fact, their physicality suited the way Everton set up and helped Everton to stay in the match – and fortunately Palmer had one of his most ineffective matches in a Chelsea shirt.

As for Dominic, he just doesn't have that aggressive streak in him to worry defences and it was only when Beto came on, did I think we might have an opportunity to take all three points as their defenders suddenly had something to think about.

If we can buy some sort of goalscoring threat in January, we might have a less worrying second-half to the season, else we will have to celebrate a point as we would a victory.

Happy holidays to all fellow Evertonians and let's hope that 2025 ushers in a better era.

Special shout to Pickford, who is far and away our best and most important player, wayward punts and passes be damned. And also Doucoure, another who gets a lot of flack and was at his best today, minus the goal we needed from him.

Lastly, to think where we'd be this season without Ndiaye. He lacks end product, but is the most enjoyable player on the ball we've had since our brief love affair with James.

Now with Chermiti, Broja, and Iroebugnam on their way back, plus hopefully Garner and McNeil, we can start nicking 3 points more often to push us up the table.

Still struggling with lack of quality on the right wing and attacking threat from fullbacks — what we would do for a Richarlison or Lookman out wide opposite Ndiaye, or an Antonee Robinson pushing forward — but today felt like something to build on. Proud of the boys today.

To get a point from each game, to me, is a fantastic positive; however ,unlike the Arsenal game, I actually thought we had 2 points lost against Chelsea.

Yes, Pickford made a great save in the first half, same as their goalie. Yes, they hit the post… but look at our big big big miss: Harrison had ages to think about what he was doing. Unbelievable!

Anyway, a great team performance and Tarkowski, as usual, was immense.

Well done, Blues.

That's 2 crucial results in a row, points we probably didn't expect to have and which could be crucial at the end of the season. Delighted to see the fight in the team, the result looked important to them.

I'm not Calvert-Lewin's biggest admirer but he put in a shift and, in a largely defensive team performance, he should be applauded for playing his part.

Ashley Young had another very good game until he got a bit rash, which I suppose is only natural when you keep getting stretched. You could also see Branthwaite, who I thought looked a lot better, trying to get us playing higher at times, and this will definitely help stop teams playing through our midfield.

Mangala is calm, Gueye energetic, and I'd like to see Lindstrøm playing inside as a third midfielder, because he might just be capable of bringing others into the game, which is not a strength of Doucouré's.

It was hard for every player in those conditions, especially Dominic, who is feeding off scraps, but his body language doesn't look right and I thought Beto was a much bigger headache for the Chelsea defence, although this might not have been the case if he had started.

I enjoyed the scrap, I enjoyed watching Ndiaye. My biggest wish is for us to sign another wide player with some speed, skill and trickery, simply because I think this will suddenly make Everton a lot more dangerous offensively.

Calvert-Lewin was excellent in the Dycheball role he was assigned today.

In the space of a week, we have competed against two very good sides in Arsenal and Chelsea and made them look ordinary.

I could be wrong here, not long got back from the game, but is that now 5 clean sheets out of 6, since Branthwaite came back from injury and started in defence?

Anyway once we find our 20-goal-a-season striker, I reckon we will be all right.

Ndiaye is a joy to watch.

Before the (postponed) derby game, most of us thought we'd get battered in our next five games. So far ,we've picked up two unexpected draws which is far more than I expected.

Fair play to Dyche in crafting another draw; let's hope the run continues over the Xmas period. Injuries and suspensions will force at least two changes, which is what I have been hoping for, for some time.

Not the worst 0-0 I've ever watched. I thought we gave as good as we got.

I can't see Friedkin sacking Dyche anytime soon.

Now I'm pretty sure we are pleased to keep two consecutive clean sheets and pick up 2 points against teams in the Top 6. Pickford now has the lead with 7 clean sheets.

However, while we play Dycheball, we basically defend with 8 players in open play. We may want our two wide players, Harrison and Ndiaye, to get further up the pitch but it's really clear that their main jobs are to support our full-backs when we are out of possession.

We talk about Doucoure getting up and down the pitch but so does Ndiaye who, despite his defensive duties, is still our main threat further up the pitch. When Harrison came off, Lindstrøm did the same.

While we stay in games at 0-0, eventually we will concede and have to chase the game. Maybe Dyche is okay with this philosophy but we can't with these players play a great defensive game and expect to create more than 1 or 2 clear-cut chances per game.

Having said that, with the 5 teams below us not passing us and all of them with a worse goal difference, we are 4 points off the Bottom 3 but 4 points behind West Ham Utd so, in the near future, we are not going to catch them – and so we will stay on the fringe or in the relegation fight.

So, for the time being, it's more Dycheball – even at home and away!
Happy Christmas to us Blues! Surely, surely 2025 is going to be better?

Just asking for a friend!

We rode our luck in the first half but ,with a bit more luck and quality, we might have taken all 3 points in the second. I thought Calvert-Lewin was excellent in making the most of the long balls aimed towards him. Ndiaye worked his socks off up and down the left flank giving Chelsea something to think about with his trickery on the ball as well as helping Mykolenko have his best game of the season.

I also thought Branthwaite was back to his best after a difficult few weeks. As well as getting in the face of Chelsea players at both ends of the pitch, Tarkowski did a great job mopping up at the back including one crucial piece of recovery work late in the game after a mistake by Gana.

An especially pleasing aspect of the afternoon was the way the home crowd lent their vocal support in the closing stages. That suggested the majority of fans appreciated the effort of our players, all of whom gave their very best to deliver a positive result.

Happy days!

You will be lucky to see Harrison in a Hull shirt. I know Leeds don't want him.

Our finishing is absolutely pathetic. I think if there was no goalie we'd still fail.

Why "score draws"? If they are 0-0... we're going down?

Ask any Spurs or Man Utd fans this evening if they would swap!

It was very noticeable that we suddenly started causing them problems when Beto replaced the totally ineffective Calvert-Lewin.

Very unusual for Dyche to make subs before the opposition and, although they were all like for like, they all did okay when they came on.

All-in-all, a good hard-earned point… which could have been three if we had a decent striker.

That is just one of the things that irks me with Dyche: he sticks to playing the same players, many, like you say approaching end of contract etc. We should be playing players who may be here for the long term, and mixing it with some experienced players – but not to the detriment of youth and players who have a future.

We bought Jake O'Brien at the start of the season, he had a very good pre-season, scoring a few goals, too. I think he has made sub (playing) once or twice. He wasn't exactly a bargain buy either, how must he feel?

All the top teams rotate their squad, even after a good performance, it keeps them all on their toes, and they usually select players with the opposition in mind! Not Dyche; if fit they play regardless of how they have played before.

The problem is we will not be able to afford to shift out most of the players. Replacing some of the out-of-contract players and loanees will be a huge task in itself.

Doing more than that will be neither practicable nor desirable. We will need to keep the core of the current squad and build on it.

So he is not a replacement for Branthwaite. He is a replacement for Tarkowski. You would want him to be dropped for O'Brien??

But No. Same old, etc.

We were playing the "in form" team in the Premier League. We matched them and thoroughly deserved the point. Had Harrison buried his chance, then we would have thoroughly deserved the 3 points!

I cannot criticize one player today. Pickford did everything, as usual, Tarkowski was immense at the back. Young and Mykolenko gave nothing away. Gana and his mate are improving every game in central midfield. Calvert-Lewin, as usual, ploughed a lone furrow up top and deserves every plaudit.

Those moaning about us not going gung-ho and trying to match Chelsea need their heads wobbled. We are where we are.

Conditions were shite for both teams but full credit to Dyche, the team and the support for a well-earned and deserved point.

Just going to dry off from the bevvy and the rain!!

We are now grinding out some excellent results against the best sides. We have been limited for options up front. We have many injuries yet we are battling extremely well.

Sean Dyche has had no support or direction from an absent owner and board for several years. I think we are doing bloody well considering. Team spirit is great and this was appreciated by fans at the game today. Excellent performance today. Well done lads.

Broja can now play going forward. I expect us to start picking up more wins and seeing a stronger available squad.

I very much enjoyed today. A gripping match. Things are looking up. COYB.

I was looking forward to them playing with the panache of West Germany in '66, Brazil in '70 or Holland in '74. Okay we'd have got battered and lost two valuable points, our Gol Difference would have been fucked, and our morale would be goosed.

But instead we've got two measly points in our fight against the drop. Bloody Everton That!

Most of us acknowledged a long time ago that we didn't have much in the way of offense and had very little money to buy class players.

We have had to dig our way out of relegation battles for a few seasons now and this is not much different.

With the second rate performers we have we can't expect to beat the money clubs but at least we are getting some points apart from the hiccup at Manure.

Anything can happen but it certainly looks like some teams are already doomed to drop.

City have been the best team in the Prem. for years but are having a horrendous run despite all the talent they have and we have to hope it continues.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Hard for DCL to do anything with their CB draped over him all match. Kavanaugh awful. Gave them almost everything while giving us absolutely nothing.

I figured a 0-0 draw before the match but it felt like two points dropped.

Clive Thomas robbed him of an f a cup final and a one goal wonder of Frankie Lampard Snr robbed him of another final.

I will not throw the league cup final in, with him only taking over after the Bolton semi, but throw in Bob Latchfords 30 goals, Andy Kings winner in the Derby, we had some bloody good football under Lee.

Spurs did precisely that and conceded 4.

Chelsea have scored 22 games in the last 6 (PL and Europe), and they scored in every game in November too (including in score-draws vs Arsenal and United). Keeping a clean sheet this weekend, on the back of another defensive shutout at the Emirates vs Arsenal (who'd also scored 26 goals in the 8 games either side) is something we should be celebrating. Frankly speaking we already have 2 points more than any of us predicted over this period (and we still have the postponed game in hand against 'that lot' to play).

We all know that we severely lack forward firepower. Whether it's down to personnel, strategy, management or just bad luck is sort of irrelevant, we're the second lowest scoring team in the division (and we're only not bottom thanks to Wolves), but we're also the joint best defence outside the top 4, (and that's after getting smashed for 13 goals in the first four games).

Considering the above, I have absolutely no qualms about playing to our strengths if it gets the job done - KITAP1 may not be inspiring stuff, but if it gets the job done then sobeit. The club's mission remains pretty much the same as last time out, do enough to stay in the Premier League and give new owners a chance to make good on their ambition for the years ahead at a shiny new Bramley-Moore Dock!

I'm not saying people can't moan, 16 points from 16 is hardly cause for street parties, and god knows how we'll do against a struggling City or a high-flying Forest! But, if we can keep on keeping it tight we give ourselves a great chance of getting to the c. 38 required.

Happy Xmas all!

If and a big if, this squad had a reliable, regular stream of goals coming in, from the forward and from across the squad, this Team would ve in the top 7, in this League.

Lack of scoring is costing this squad now and over the last few seasons under Dyche and history proves for decades.

But with cautious optimism, this is a new beginning for Everton.

A win v City is achievable.

Merry Christmas every one, have a Ball.

UTFTs!

Be an interesting midfield when we have Mangola, Guaye and Iroegbunam all linking up in the middle of the park.

Before that Allardyce got Bolton into Europe too, albeit with maverick signings like Okocha and various others.

These two dinosaurs did as they did before the enriching-the-rich-and-fuck-the-rest PSR rules came into play - those rules thereafter neutering any meaningful enterprise by any club bar those who'd spent like buggery before PSR was instigated.

So, given that Dyche deffo knows how to defend with a less than glamourous squad, just how might he fare in the event of being able to sign attacking players of acclaim - which I hope is a core priority for Friedkin?

Anyway, well done vs Chelsea lads!

Also the season my dad caught me smoking!!

Mustn't forget that it was Gordon Lee who brought us Graeme Sharp, Kevin Richardson and gave debut's to Kevin Ratcliffe & Steve Macmahon and I was a fan of Alan Irvine. Oh and
Trevor'Ross' backheel goal against Soton? The were a good team in the early '80's. The 4 - 1 midweek win against Villa.

Didn't we play Dukla Prague & Feynoord that season? The Frank Lampard FA Cup semi goal at Elland Road after Kidd got himself sent off at Villa Park. Beaten by a Div 2 team.

My first ever night match as a 10 year old was the 8-0 win at Wimbledon, 5 for Latchford & 3 for Dobson. Goodison felt empty.

Yeah, apart from the wheels falling off at the end I didn't think we were too bad under Lee.