Blues finally secure a friendly win in pre-season

Hoping to see more of what may resemble the first team, and more importantly some game plan with a co-ordinated attack, midfield and defence. COYB

Have a good day out to those attending let's just hope we get a performance.

That injury list doesn't make pleasant reading. Let's hope the club are being cautious ahead of the season.

Garner injury rumours look true.

But Everton kindly avoid numbering their subs so still no idea what number Jake O'Brien will wear???

Let's hope he can 'chip' in and prove his worth in salt, may even pepper their goal !

Been on a walk to the new stadium with my lad and its majestic!

Hopefully soon matters off the pitch are resolved very soon, a new leadership and positive momentum, for Everton in the last season at Goodison Park.

UTFTs!

This is like waiting on the arrival of the Chris Samuelson Fortress Fund check in the mail.

That's hilarious mate! Good memory

Yep Everton TV is unreliable, to say the least.😂😂👍

Let's hopefully get the link working and Everton win!

UTFTs!

This resulted in the live stream delivered by both Everton and Preston on their club platforms, as well as all international broadcasts of the game, interrupted. The stream was re-established shortly before 4pm, after a 20-minute outage. Engineers continue to investigate the cause of the outage."

Pick that out! 0-2 to the mighty Blues!

UTFTs!

Good to see the debutants on the scoresheet!

I can't get access to the game so I offer to pay for it. They ask for my email address, I have used this to get into Everton fc.com and now they tell me it is an invalid email address. This is the only one I have.

Never mind… 3 goals, two by new boys. Iregbounam, Harrison and (whisper it) Young played well. Loads of Cameos from Kids. Much better.

Great win today — about time we hit the net! Hats off to the new guys.

Apart from penalty, how did Calvert-Lewin play?

I don't know how difficult it is to have a stream running in 2024. If the blame is on a 3rd party supplier, then get rid. I get it through my official membership, but the club should refund those who paid £8.99 for the “pleasure”.

Put it on YouTube, or better still, why not do what other clubs do and have an Everton FC channel on Sky?

Anyway, from what I did manage to catch, it was much improved from Coventry.

I'm not getting carried away, as I always say, I don't get carried away with pre-season.

O'Brien looks a find. What a free kick from Lindsrom. A beauty. And 0'Brien's goal looked like a striker's goal. And the young lad Iroegbunam looked good as did the 17 year old, Armstrong when he came on. Very composed on the ball.

Final shout out to Ashley Young. He's looked after himself and sets and example to young players.

Well done to the 5,500 blues who made the trip. I'll be at the Roma match, so hope to catch a few of you there.

If he starts the first game like he's looked so far this summer, then we should get rid as soon as fucking possible.

Dixon looks like good prospect, but right now, he is exactly that. A young player with pace to burn, but will need developing.

He's got time and I'm sure he will feature.

And the 17-year-old Harrison Armstrong looked really good, as far as I could tell (thanks Everton TV). Confident in possession, calm and strong, he could be an absolute gem. He certainly looked like he had that special something that you need to play at the highest level.

Very early days, but it's so rare that we see a genuine prospect emerging from our youth set-up, but we've got two at the moment in Armstrong and Dixon.

Calvert-Lewin has bulked up and looks a real unit. Our former player Ryan Ledsom looks like he could do a decent job still for us — just a thought!

Huge improvement and Jake O'Brien looks an ideal replacement for Jarrad — who I still think will be gone shortly.

It was a very decent display by the Blues with some good, joined-up football. Iroegbunam (we should just agree to call him Tim) was particularly impressive.

Jack Harrison looked a much better player in an advanced centre midfield/support striker role, he and McNeil linked well. There was no shortage of effort from Calvert-Lewin.

Lindstrøm has a touch of Mirallas about him, playing on the right in the first half, switching to the left in the second, drifting into the middle.

O'Brien looked ready for the first team, and thumped home his goal very nicely from the edge of the box from a lay-off from Calvert-Lewin.

Ndiaye came on for the last 20 minutes and showed why my Blades sons-in-law loved him, some beautiful footwork on show. I think he'll be popular.

Virginia made a couple of smart saves and a magnificent one, scooping the ball out of the top corner from a close header.

A special mention to young Armstrong, a slight lad who looked very composed in centre midfield when he came on.

A good Blue contingent. No outbreaks of “We're gonna win the league” but everyone went home pretty happy.

For christ sake Everton, scrap the Internet paywall, and get it on YouTube. Advertise the hell out of it and get footfall going to the Everton YouTube channel, advertising Everton merchandise. Create interest in our club in the UK and globally.

Anyway, the game. I thought they looked pretty comfortable out of possession. Preston looked leggy and start the season next Friday. Our defence looked solid, and took the goals well.

Don't think Lindstrøm is a right winger. Tim Iroegbunam did well enough in midfield alongside a couple of the younger players. Glad to see Mykolenko and Tarkowski get minutes.

A little clue: it's pre-season, it's all about fitness.

I have my fingers crossed that Harrison Armstrong will come good — I like his style.

Almost impossible to judge Lindstrom on this showing, but great to see we've someone who knows how to take a direct free-kick. It's been a while. Special mention for that save from Virginia — superb.

Totally wrong, another cock-up, I couldn't get anything at all. I know it's an old hobby horse of mine, but what a Mickey Mouse set up TV and Commercial Department at Everton is.

Used YouTube in the end and even that had black-outs too, maybe they were hooked up with Everton Amateur Broadcasting too. What an unfunny joke it is!

Good to see a few new faces in Lindstrøm and O'Brien, with Tarkowski back too. Thought we moved up a gear from the other two work-outs. Have to agree, Tim Iroegbunam looks to be a player in the making there.

Dyche first XI last year was mostly very predictable, this season I think it's going to be harder which is a good thing.

Branthwaite looks unlikely to make start of the season and so it may well be Keane and Tarkowski whilst O'Brien settles, which is not ideal. And in the middle Iroegbunam has made a strong case for himself.

Tim looks a very decent player, very impressed with his two performances, all looked a lot sharper, and from all the flak he gets, thought Young had a good game.

The Young lad who came on number 50 had a good cameo, is it Armstrong? and again Dixon looks very promising.

Not seen anything yet from Betto or Maupay, a striker coming in would be a huge bonus, think we have the squad to slot players in to fill the other areas.

Overall a decent performance, but yet again left the stadium thinking wow I like the look of Tim boo boo, still cannot pronounce his surname, will call him boo boo for now, until we find a nickname for him.

The streaming issues were embarrassing.

Examination of pre-season is like examination of political manifestos right up to the date of general election.

Fantasy Island expectations, fervently supported, with next to no relevance to what'll actually happen when "proper" football begins.

Perhaps Everton are not out searching for an additional right back because of Roman Dixon. He has potential.

What annoyed me was the substitution of Ashley Young.

As he was waking off he unravels his covering on his wrist and just dumps it on the pitch!!!!

Why not take the thing off instead of dumping on the ground someone else to pick it up? 😡

Wanker.

FFS get a life.

I saw most of the game and Young played very well. Leave the guy alone to get on with his job!

All the new players look half-decent and have some quality to offer but the lad who caught my attention the most was the young centre-mid who came on late in the game. I can't remember his name but he looked really good on the ball — looks a real talent!

Harrison Armstrong, I think you mean?

Showed some real potential, which probably means we won't see much of him this season unfortunately 😤

Good to get a look at some of the new players and promising youngsters. Tim Iroegbunam looks a very promising player. Similar to how Onana looked when he joined. Eager to turn and travel forward with the ball but some of his passing and decision-making needs to improve. It will be interesting to see if he becomes a regular starter and to what extent his attacking instincts are curbed.

Jake O'Brien also looked promising but hard to judge as Preston didn't threaton our back line too often. Hope he's not Branthwaite's replacement this season, but understandably money talks.

To take the shine off his goal, Dom ran offside into the keeper's eyeline so would normally be chalked off.

Lindstrøm as I feared looks a little bit lightweight. Again another promising player but I'm not sure if he has the ability and strength to be a key player. As others mention, he reminds me of Mirallas (who I rated) but will hopefully be even better with 6 months of a Dyche gym session.

The atmosphere was the best I've seen for a friendly, in regards to the singing throughout, even at half-tine below the below the stands, the singing was none stop. Then mingling with the Preston fans before and after the match was how football should be.

If Everton ever play Preston away again in a friendly, I would urge you to go, it is a brilliant day out.

As others noted, we have one of the tallest squads in the Premier League. Our size helped us get up the left side several times with quick touches simply from how players positioned their bodies. Iroegbunam, unlike Doucoreé, can control well with a turn and he looked far more interested than O'Brien.

Gana also looked more interested in a more forward position ahead of Iro. That structure allowed some switch-offs and rotations in position that we have lacked. Overall, the defence possibilities look solid.

Yes, it was Preston, but there is enough possession potential with the new recruits to be effectively unpredictable. Some chemistry in the midfield with a few crosses that find Calvert-Lewin and the plane takes off.

In the States, the match was broadcast on Fox and several times had to cut away from the match because of broadcast issues they were having too.

It is every year with Everton. They always have broadcasting issues and they could have at least carried on with a live commentary and explained that they were having technical issues instead of saying "Available soon" all bloody afternoon.

For the parts of the game I was able to watch, including the three goals, I felt it was an erratic performance with at least us keeping a clean sheet and scoring 3 goals.

Iroegbunam is looking a standout player. I just hope he is up to Premier League pace and physicality.

Just get some more full-back cover and I will feel easier.

Written Jesper Lindstrom off already.

Give him a chance or are you a "I told ye so" bloke?

Any blues in Sheffield fancy meeting for beer the canal basin is quality!

Regarding Branthwaite being injured, Sean Dyche has apparently issued an update on him:

Jarrad Branthwaite remains absent after having minor surgery last month to address a groin problem. Although he is recovering, it seems unlikely he will play any part in pre-season games, and is a doubt for Everton's opening Premier League game against Brighton & Hove Albion on 17 August.

Our second would have been offside in the Premier League, with Calvert-Lewin behind the last defender, blocking the keeper's view as he got out of the way of the shot.

Their keeper didn't cover himself in glory for our 3rd but at least we have someone who is capable at last.

Yup, the team lacked a few 1st teamers. What it didn't lack was a striker who is not a goalscorer (penalty aside). Who fluffed an easy chance like he has done in the other pre-season friendlies he has played in. Big worry.

However. that all said, I am hopeful of a much better season this time. Maybe the 3rd European trophy place is a possibility?

Please, please, please Dominic, make me eat my words. COYB

Via Formby to pick up Steve, my away game mate, and then a lovely drive along the Southport northern coastal road to the A59.

I was pleasantly surprised at the overall performance. Iroegbunam, Lindstrøm and O'Brien caught the eye and Calvert-Lewin missed his usual open goal. I was particularly impressed by the young Number 50, Harrison Armstrong, who had a really impressive cameo near the end.

Not at all impressed by the female steward who just wouldn't shut up during the minute's silence. But, all-in-all a really pleasant afternoon out.

Re the Everton streaming service. I'm supposed to be a free member but, since it's been up and running, I've never been able to get it. It just takes you in endless circles, always ending up on the pay page. It really isn't fit for purpose and Everton really need to sort it out.

I too, not as a season-ticket holder but a regular digital member. I haven't had access to any game yet and hitherto the same or get a partial picture with a message "Due to Technical Difficulties beyond our Control".

Never any mention of a refund or redress for such an amateur set-up.

Anything with the word 'live' in it, is about as accurate as the deceased ones' present state.

It was awful. It kept freezing and when it did eventually come back in, it took you back to where you had been and then froze again after a few minutes.

Maybe one for the FAB to raise with the club because a lot of people paid £8.99 for the "privilege" and missed half of the match.

As I've said previously, use YouTube or what other clubs do and have an Everton FC Sky channel.

The first three, Sligo, Salford and Coventry were perfect from start to finish, and only Preston, like nearly everyone else, I had problems with, but apparently this was a national problem, or something like that.

Anyway, that's me for live streaming for another 12 months!!

It as never going to happen and Potter looks the equal of this Hoffenheim fella. We sometimes forget what a good 3 years he had on the south coast before Chelsea made him lose his senses.

Hope you and yours are doing well.