Unbeaten run extended at the death by O'Brien

Good Luck Mike Hughes. 2~ 0 sounds Good. I'm old enough to remember Bernard and Pearson unfortunately.

Everton 2 West Ham 0.

So I’ve had a couple of quid on that at 8/1.

Thanks Simon!

(Mike Bernard and Jim Pearson scored that day).

Has Mr Moyes become adventurous? 3 full backs and 2 strikers.

As for the penalty, from one angle it didn't look like there had been a foul and from the other the West Ham defender seemed to stand on Beto's foot, but why do we seem to kick the ground so many times?

Harrison doesn't seem to have the beating of the full-back, Doucoure seems to be all over the place without ever being in the right place, and Alcaraz can't find anyone to play with.

I really can't see what Moyes might do about it or tell them at halftime but something has to change.

I think it's time to move on and get Alcaraz in that role.

We don't want to get overrun in midfield in the second half. We need to keep possession.

I wish Bowen was an Everton player.

Lindstrom had been stood there for over 5 minutes.

Did the officials have somewhere else they need to be?

Let's see if he picks them for the next match. 🤬

We gave away what I thought was a stupid goal as nobody seemed to want to clear the ball, first Harrison and then the half dozen defenders stood in our penalty area, nobody wanted to know. It was only in the last 10 minutes that we started showing any urgency, or was it desperation, that we got the equalizer – and who says O'Brien can't play right back?

Moyes has to find a way of making the midfield more creative. Gana had a good game but does little going forward and even Garner goes missing or sometimes more defensive, not getting forward more and we have to have a wide man who can beat a full-back or are we again playing Harrison on the wrong side.

Re organize and make the most of keeping the run going as that point is valuable given other results.

Insisting on selecting Harrison on the right and Doucoure at No 10 is very Sean Dyche.

Worst player on pitch: Doucour – but very closely followed by Alcaraz. Chermiti made a difference when he came on. And finally, that's why Jarrad isn't in the England squad.

However, we are unbeaten in 9. 17 points from 10 games.
Well done, Blues.

He redeemed himself with the subs… but only just. Why is he playing Doucoure?

Harrison playing in the wrong league! 🤬

I felt like Moyes didn't want to win that game. Seemed to me we were just going through the motions until they scored.

We've probably got at least 4 attacking players that are unlikely to be here in August; Calvert-Lewin, Broja, Lindstrom and Harrison.

I'd be looking at getting Doucoure a move and at best, Beto will be a sub striker next season, although I still wouldn't rule out a departure if a considerable offer comes in from Italy.

We need more pace and precision in wide areas than we get from and Harrison and Lindstrom.

For me, Alcaraz didn't have his best game but I'd be building a team around him and Ndiaye in the attacking area, get at least two pacy wide players that can take a man on but also contribute to goals.

Get at least one striker in that has a clean injury record and can score goals.

This summer was always going to be The Friedkin Group's first big test, how much money can they spend.

Moyes has an eye for a player, we know that much, so the rest is up to them.

The dead cat bounce with his arrival offered some excitement but a series of bore draws have seen us basically secure safety… so now we need to be working in overdrive to overhaul this squad during the summer.

Have these warm weather breaks ever yielded a positive outcome?

I remember Frank wasting cash and increasing global warming by flying Tom Davies to Australia to do yoga on Bondi Beach right before he got canned.

I am sure next month's games will be testing too; we truly need our injured lads back ASAP.

If it was the 'shitting dog' pose in yoga, there was no need, he had it in spades!

Hence why he rarely gets off the bench for Sheffield United these days!

Beto tries a lot but lacks fluency, smoothness and often gets bullied by average defenders. His overall game is average. I want him to succeed but he has been poor in the last few games.

The upcoming summer will be massive. We gotta focus on quality signings!

The only players who looked good for the time they were on the pitch were O'Brien, Pickford and Chermiti. We should have had 3 in midfield today. I would have played Iroegbunam over Doucoure.

Let's hope we can be better for the next 3 games.

So many times, the ball went to Mykolenko, O'Brien, Harrison and Doucoure… and the ball was given away cheaply. West Ham with 10 behind the ball showed the quality of the side when we were in possession.

The squad is going to take a fair while to sort out.

9 unbeaten.

Dyche never did that.

I don't know what some of you expect, we are propped up by loan players with 2 or 3 of our better players injured.

Even so, we are still managing to get points, whoever we play; the manager wins Manager of the Month… I think we must be doing something right.

On a different note, Dele Allí came on in the 81st minute for Como, sent off in the 91st minute?

I trust Moyes to bring in better players and get a better tune out of this lot next season. They have mid-table written all over them and it will take a few transfer windows to fix the damage that the coaches from the Moshiri era did.

But we know this. These are the players who have mostly been found wanting in the Premier League. Credit to them for responding to the arrival of David Moyes and taking us to the edge of mathematical survival, but they are not good enough.

It will be becoming more and more clear to the manager which of them should be culled. It would be easier to choose those who survive. I would hope those will include Pickford, O'Brien, Branthwaite and Ndiaye. The next group down contains Tarkowski, Garner, probably Gueye, possibly Alcaraz (who has not proved himself yet), hopefully Armstrong.

The rest have major question marks against them.

Doucoure is fucking shite, fucking pathetic. Thank you, Doucoure, for what you have done for the Blues, It's time to go.

He's nowhere near Premier League level. Along with a few of his teammates.

Not the best of games, Doucoure and Harrison I thought were extremely poor. Shame Alcaraz's shot just went wide of the post at the end. Still unbeaten in 9 games.

Hopefully one or two more back now that we have a 2-week break.

All I know is, at least five players who started today shouldn't be anywhere near the club next season: Doucoure, Beto, Mykolenko (he's improved… but still crap), Harrison and Lindstrom.

All substandard players.

I also have very few questions about Iroegbunam. Everything I've seen from him has been quality. To my mind, he's core.

I don't understand why some are still doubting Alcaraz and Idrissa. They've performed consistently well. I'd keep both of them.

Or The Manager of the Month kiss of death strikes again – take your pick.

Bit of both methinks.

I've called for both Alcaraz and Doucoure to play, not one or the other, but with Alcaraz in that 'Ndiaye' role at the expense of Harrison (on the left-ish side) but Harrison's goal keeps him in the 11 with Lindstrom getting the short straw.

Harrison has been marginally better on the left but did nothing on the right – again.

Broja seems all huff and puff with his pantomime villain looks, but Chermiti seems to have a bit more about him.

Pickford was my MotM – kept us in it at least twice.

They press higher up the pitch than under the previous manager and they had a bit of a bounce from being asked to have a go at the opposition... but they still are what they are. The second half exposed them after a fairly lively first half.

Hopefully Moyes is about to be the 2nd manager out of our last 3 to realise that Doucoure actually creates a problem for us in attack.

I can understand playing Beto. We at least know what he's there for. But there's some competition arriving for that place.

Harrison is getting a game purely by virtue of not having alternatives. But Moyes will have to find a way to change personnel even if it's through tweaking formation.

On the plus side, Jake is one hell of a find. In that first half he was exceptional. And I actually thought Mykolenko had one of his better days – he was more progressive in his passing than I've seen.

Criticism of Alcaraz is a bit harsh. He's a footballer surrounded by non-footballers. On a number of occasions, he asked for the ball to feet from the likes of Doucoure only to watch it rushed forward and lost.

Our place is secure. It's not going to be very exciting. And the next few games might not be too pretty.

Couldn't really impose himself on proceedings and, while he tried to lead the press, it was more perspiration than inspiration before he made way when Everton fell behind having let Soucek pick his spot.

Spot on.

Pickford 7 - O'Brien 8 - Branthwaite 6 (or 5) - Tarkowski 6 - Mylolenko 6 - Garner 6 - Gana 8 (MotM) - Alcaraz 6 - Harrison 5 - Doucoure 4 - Beto 5 (or 4)

As I warned 6 weeks ago, relying on Beto is madness and shows what a poor job Thelwell did in the last two windows on the striker issue. I suspect the corrector-in-chief will now jump ship to Chermiti. There must be an Italian club – Como welcomes just about everybody – who will give us something for him and then, thank Sheedy, this interminable debate about he is good enough or below par can at long last be put to bed.

We should sell Branthwaite for anything north of £75M. He showed again today why he does not merit an England call up, although some of Tommy Dummkopf's selections were, to say the least, questionable. Great effort though to put West Ham 1-0 up.

Gana, keep on keeping on. With Jordan, Player of the season so far.

Doucoure. I just want him gone.

Tarkowski. Who will partner him next season?

O'Brien. The future. His goal was his second great strike.

Mylolenko. Brilliant smile.

Garner. Great return game but 6/7 since then and was poor today. But, still, the future.

Alcaraz. The future, fingers crossed. Shocking miss.

16 August 2025. Everton Toyota Stadium. Everton v Coventry City

Pickford; O'Brien, Tarkowski; Gana, Iroegbunam or Garner; Ndiaye, Alcaraz;

Virginia, Iroegbunam or Garner, Mangala, McNeil, Armstrong, Chermiti

Pickford made some very important saves and was the pick of mostly an ordinary bunch. Although, being hyper-critical, could he have done better for the West Ham goal? That's probably a bit harsh.

O'Brien looked good again. Another goal to pull us back after, let's call it a precision pick from Alcaraz to find Gana Gueye to put in a great first-time, one-touch cross.

Not what we wanted, or expected, but another point. The wheels haven't exactly come off, but we're now in more of a stumble towards the line. But that was always to be expected at some point and at least we're still picking up the points.

On we go. My first outing at the new stadium up next and then the trip to that place. Let's put it beyond doubt at our second home (if you count Stanley Park as the first).

Marine's brilliant run has coincided with David's return. 'Billy Morrey, quicker than a lorry'.

I once saw Dixie Dean at Marine, believe it or not, in a wheelchair.

I like what I've seen of Tim Iroegbunam so far, apart from the fact that he has tired dramatically after an hour or so. That may be fixable.

I can also say Fortunately I'm off away tomorrow morning as I will miss all the salivating over whoever wins the Carabao Cup today. Jeez, if the shite win it, at least I won't have them down my ears for a few days, and if the Skunk Maggots win it, well god knows how the tv and media will react?

As for yesterday… well, it was a bit of a scrappy affair. I said on Friday that, if we can't beat West Ham, then we are most definitely on the beach for the summer holidays.

A lot have already said it, but time's up for Doucoure and Harrison. Doucoure may well have bags of energy, but that's the least you expect of any professional footballer, after all, anyone can just run around, it's not so difficult. And Jack Harrison simply does not have the ability to even beat an egg, never mind an opponent.

Chermiti and Broja weren't on long enough to make an opinion as to whether they are worth a try in place of Beto, but at least it was a bold move by Moyes to throw them both on. Chermiti did at least have a hand in the equalising goal, forcing a save from Areola before the ball was played back in by Alcaraz to Gana Gueye to O'Brien to head home. I thought the pass by Alcaraz had gone far too deep and I never saw Gana coming in from the right.

By the way, what on earth was the VAR trying to find this time to disallow the goal? A free kick from about 10 minutes earlier perhaps?

So, despite the unbeaten run continuing, as good as safe from relegation, and probably missing two of our most creative players in McNeil and Ndiaye, plenty are still finding something to moan about.

The back four have been pretty solid for much of the season, even before O'Brien was given a chance by Moyes, a chance he has grabbed with both hands. God knows why Dyche wouldn't play him?

Gana Gueye has been outstanding for most of the season and certainly deserves the added year. Jimmy Garner, like Doucoure, has plenty of energy, but he also knows what to do with the ball, ie, find a teammate rather than an opponent, and he can also create a goal or two. Just needs to improve his goal tally though. Alcaraz we have to sign permanently in the summer.

So MotM for us, I'd say either O'Brien or Gana Gueye. MotM for West Ham… 100% the referee and the linesman on the Bullens Road side. Okay, the referee was right to overturn the penalty decision, but just about every other decision he made seemed to be in favour of West Ham. I could go on and on about how poor he was, but we all saw how bad he was, so I'll leave it there.

Next up is the trip to Mordor. Can we make it double figures unbeaten? It would be nice to do that at our former home.

So it's off to the land of the Pharaohs tomorrow morning. We all know of a certain player who comes from there, but the Egyptians who idolise him I can handle, it's the horrible redshite bastards here I can't be putting up with. So come on, Newcastle, do us all a favour and end a trophy drought far far worse than ours. COYB FTRS KAGS ELBOs.

They're already down here in their droves. I have a confession to make as I sinned yesterday and had to be helpful to a gang of them, who were confused by the tube system.

One poor soul went and bought tickets from a machine, so I explained just tap your card or phone (if you have it set up). It's the cheapest way to get around London as it will max out at a certain amount regardless of journeys made and a single is fairly cheap.

The downside of living at the end of the M40 and on the Metropolitan line with direct trains to Wembley Park is that the north west and West Midlands teams tend to congregate here. I would imagine Newcastle will be coming in via north London, so there won't be many of them here.

I'll try to catch you when we go to the dark place in a couple of weeks.

Moan How many local Evertonians would like one last visit and are struggling to get tickets? 4 games to go. Why are they not having the last U21 game at GP and the 3 remaining Ladies fixtures? Would they get 20,000 a game just because it would be the last chance for a memory?

Compared to last year under Dyche, these 10 games have given us 5 more goals, 4 less conceded and 5 more points. The failing to maintain the 13 points from 6 games means we will probably end up on around 45 points, which would be 3 less than we gained last year.

And I suspect the team is now on the beach as 17 points clear with only 30 play for – and that a team with 3 points in the last 39. And I think ToffeeWeb may be doing the same and all eyes now on 2025-26 season.

Clearly 4 of the 5 loanees will not be retained - Harrison, Broja, Lindstrøm and Mangala and Alcaraz will be signed - but if Ndiaye and McNeil stay fit, will Moyes play all 3?

Not sure the person who said Mykolenko is the worst LB in the league is a good judge but depends what you want from a LB. Put their RW in their pocket or supply crosses for our forwards.

Clearly a problem with O'Brien, who looks like being the next Derek Mountfield, as he won't replace Tarkowski and is he left footed enough to play instead of Branthwaite.

ToffeeWeb getting a little slow in updating Squad and Matches pages but any with contact expiring June 25 (including those out on loan) will be released except Gueye who has been offered a new contract already. Will Harrison Armstrong be brought into the squad next season as he seems to be doing well at Derby (For such a young boy, he's got a maturity about him that is really exciting said his manager)? But it will still leave only 15 in the squad.

Plenty to be done on getting the recruitment team in place in the next month as that must be the priority.

And one final point - West Ham under Potter have gained 3 points less in his 9 games than they did last season under Moyes.

So how many headers did he score in the match?

Was that South Liverpool FC Alan? I once went there to watch Marine in the Liverpool Senior Cup, I suppose it was, and things got nasty. XXXX off back to Crosby you posh XXXXX. I got twatted by a much older fella in an Everton tshirt. It was the same season, I think, that I was at Chelsea away first game 1-0 to us and after, of course, at the 'battle' of Kensington High St.,, Millwall/Chelsea v us lot.

I remember Hickson having a ding dong, hard but fair battle with a centre half...Could've been John Charles, can't remember now.

The guy who organised it was Alan Taylor(?) who was with the Bankfield House Charity in Garston.
He sent a letter to Santos asking if Pele was free, sadly he wasn't
Next stop was a telegram to (the by now, ageing) Puskas at Real Madrid - Answer; sure why not, send me a plane ticket and I'm on my way.
So they did.

I'm afraid, mine are less glamorous. A chance meeting with George Wood outside the main entrance, with my dad and granddad. I've still got the photo somewhere; a good old polaroid, which at the time was considered a leap in technology!! It was like having a photo development station in your own hands.

I think that might have been my first trip to Goodison. A pre-season friendly against Home Farm from Dublin. It must have been around 1976 or 1977.

Next up in the 80s was Terry Darracott (RIP) at Bellefield, when I went for my trials with Everton. I may be six foot tall now, but I did my growing and physical development in my late teens and the players around me looked like grown men. The kit was hanging off me!! Terry was really good and reassured me, telling me not to worry, the ball is the same size for everyone.

They wanted me to go back, but I never did. In hindsight, I regret that decision. I was young and think I was put off, probably a confidence thing and I fell out of love for playing football for a while. But, I ended up playing at a decent standard for many years and played my last competitive match aged 40.

Not Everton, but as the wife and sister worked at Anfield, when I used to pick her up or meet for a bite to eat when I was home, I did encounter a few Liverpool players and Roy Evans, the then manager. Really nice guy. Also Fowler, who my son called fish face, to his face in front of an audience. Not sure where he got that from!!

But my favourite was watching Razor Ruddock scream into the staff car park outside the Main Stand in an over-the-top silver sports car, probably late. An argument with his wife ensued before he stormed off and she wheel spun off. It was like a scene off that TV programme Footballers Wives!!

I got some interesting insights during that time. The players used to go into the accounts office to get cash advances for their card games on the coach to away matches, and we're talking in the thousands. Apart from David James, who's wife restricted him to cashing a cheque for £100!!

I met McManaman too. It was the day we won the FA Cup in 1996 and we got invited to the staff end of season party on the same evening, somewhere in town. He was the only player who made the effort.

A lot of the staff supported Everton, so on request, they played the Farm's Everton version of all together now. He was loving it, dancing and singing. I asked him direct, are you still an Evertonian? He may not come across like this in his pundit role, but he smiled and said "always Everton"!!

That was a period when my wife and sister would get me and a few friends derby tickets. Always in amongst the reds, usually in the Anfield Road and I had a good record. The Kanchelskis match, a couple of wins and a draw. I did sit the Main Stand once. The Everton supporters were goading them about Manchester United. Some Irish bloke shouted "why don't you support your own city"? I just laughed at him and the irony of his statement.

My sister is still there. She can't get tickets anymore because the American owners stopped it. Or maybe she just tells me that as she doesn't trust me to behave?

In fact, thinking about it, a lot of my favourite derby moments have been at Anfield. Let's hope that continues on 2nd April.