Lindstrøm offers frank assessment of Everton display against Saints

Now put that fire to use!

I'm getting a little tired of our players admitting they got it wrong. I get no consolation from a guilty plea and our manager bemoaning the fact that big calls don't go our way is beginning to sound depressingly hollow too.

He needs to focus on his own big calls.

Some never make the adjustment at all -- witness the RS preparing to send Chiesa back to Italy -- but based on his comments Lindstrom has the fire to do it. Just needs time on the pitch.

However, it's got me thinking as we rarely if ever get 50-50 big decisions go in our favour:

Has Webb warned refs of Goodison and the crowd and Everton generally? And now refs are so keen not to get overrun by Everton that they over-compensate?

I'm trying to work out why we just don't get 50-50 decisions? The Beto red card could have gone either way. Guess what, it didn't go our way!

Dom's penalty v Fulham, Dom's penalty v Newcastle. When was the last time we got a decision and you thought: wow, that was generous?

I recall getting a handball decision our way v Watford at Goodison around 8 years ago. Son red card after breaking Gomes's leg (but it took a broken leg!!)

Maybe the Sadio Mane goal being chalked off at 2-2? Or the Pickford non-sending off v Van Dijk? But all of these are at least 2-3 years ago and before Howard Webb's tenure as head of refereeing

There has to be something?

Yes, there is no doubt in my mind that the refs take it as some sort of badge of honour not to go with the crowd at Goodison. It's somewhere where they know they can feel under pressure, but know that, if they do go against the crowd, there will be zero repercussions.

Unlike at Anfield or Old Trafford, when the roof will fall in for them in their future career. I've seen too many refs make utterly perverse decisions for that not to be the case.

Pity the so-called manager never does the same – he would garner a lot more respect if he did, rather than blame everyone else for him being a total bell-end!

What do you think the manager got wrong? Not putting the ball in the net for the players? Or not being the ref and sending off their player?

I think we should have played Branthwaite and maybe Patterson but the players he chose should have won the game… so what did he get wrong?

Dyche's persistence with Jack Harrison (who he's absolutely ruined from the goal threat he was at Leeds under Bielsa, btw) is not working and hasn't worked for months.

It's funny how, when Harrison first arrived, he looked like a confident player going forward, added a threat that I thought would come in really useful… but a year working with Sean "hard yard, grinding, grit" Dyche has taken any threat away.

I have no idea if Lindstrøm will succeed any better; probably under this anti-football regime, I very much doubt it, but surely it's worth hoping.

Imagine if Dyche started a game plan by telling the full-backs to go past the halfway line to support our wingers instead of the other way round.

That's why he will never have Patterson, because he actually likes to get forward.

Dyche is comfortable with what he has now, full-backs that don't cross the half-way line, wide players that just do dog's work.

As I say, it's not even about Young, Mykolenko, or Harrison personally, it's the way the management sets the tone.

I remember watching Jack Harrison play for Leeds in their three seasons up – he was a far far bigger threat than he's been in his time at Everton; he was never amazing but he actually was a threat.

We've trained any kind of ability out of him going forward now.

It's not like being ultra-cautious is really working anyway, is it?

We've conceded 17 goals already and arguably haven't had that hard a start fixture-wise.

You've answered your own question there, Ben.

He should have played Branthwaite!

The problem is that there are no tactics or style of play. The attack is dependent on the opposition ebbing out of the game and Everton not being deep.

Hopefully Lindstrøm's sucking up will get him selected ahead of out-of-form and injured players. We need more on the field who can pass the ball and retain possession.

I agree, but Dyche does not want his full-backs getting forward, not even Seamus, never mind Nathan.

Then, as soon as the whistle blows, they look scared of the ball. I don't count punting it forward as playing football. Okay, sometimes it can be effective, but not all of the time.

The poor refereeing decisions unfortunately, or bad ones, are part and parcel of the modern game. It should never be down to these as an excuse for not winning. We had the players capable of winning that game, but they were not selected from the start.

So stubborn arrogant bellend is very appropriate!

He should also have played Beto from the start, alongside Calvert-Lewin and not instead of!

It's just that it's nowhere near often enough.

It is clear he believes in his process and is not interested in evolving his tactics or the players at his disposal.

My biggest issue with him is the lack of tactics beyond "defend deep and nick a goal at a set piece". In the last 2½ seasons (70 games), I cannot point to one partnership developing on the pitch.

I don't expect Shearer - Sutton or Beckham - Neville but Baines and Pienaar would be nice? Let Patterson and Lindstrøm do something. Calvert-Lewin and Beto or Broja cannot score goals if starved of service. Other than the Pickford hoof and wave of an arm to say sorry, we do nothing in games worth noting.

Finally, stop playing wingers on the opposite side to their natural foot – it serves no purpose!

I have been saying for months our whole set-up is wrong, our front 3 are normally 10 to 15 yards away from one another. So when the ball is played to Calvert-Lewin, even if he wins it, he can't play a one-two with anybody.

When we play the ball out wide again, whichever wing it's played to, they are isolated and, with Dyche not wanting his fullbacks to overlap, teams can comfortably double up on our wide men.

While playing in the No 10 role suits McNeil, defensively he is poor, which leaves massive spaces between our 2 central midfield players to try and cover; that's why teams can break so easily against us.

It's no coincidence that the only time we allow our full-backs to push on is when we are trailing.

Under Dyche, I can't remember us playing 3 out-and-out midfield players, which I believe would give us more control in games.

I think he has to start Lindstrøm on Saturday; he has come out and said his performance wasn't good enough so hopefully Saturday he will be straining every sinew to put that right.

Let's be honest: Harrison carries no threat whatsoever… so what have we got to lose?

However, his persistent refusal to play the best we have in their best position: Branthwaite, Patterson; and his failure to realise that 2 up front works better if it is Beto and Calvert-Lewin, not Beto and Keane, leaves me thinking it is now time for drastic action.

The current board should be asking the incoming lot if they would sanction a change. The best I've heard so far is a short-term deal (end of the season) for someone like David Moyes to be parachuted in.

Whoever it is, it would be a 6-month job interview. Come the end of the season, the new owners could then stick or twist.

I know there will be those who shout No very loudly to such a move. But we are treading water with sharks circling. We need a feasible change now.

And just like those who think we should sign Lionel Messi are whistling in the wind, anyone who thinks a top coach in the Pep mould would join us right now is deluded.

It is time to act. Either Dyche changes, or the club has to.

Again, imo (and a pretty strongly, in fact increasingly, felt one, it is), the man seems absolutely determined that what these Everton players do on the pitch, under his 'leadership' (lol, on that, btw), will always be, win or lose, far more to him about our team doing things his way!!

He's obviously a long-ball manager, an old-school way of playing so back yourself to go all in on it then man.

The way we've always played under him is like we are caught without any kind of style at all. We are stuck in the dead zone if you like.

We don't get men forward to support the lone striker, yet we won't play two strikers either.

He prefers to have ultra-cautious midfielders and holding players yet it's not resulting in clean sheets, if anything we could actually have conceded far more than 17 so far.

I don't get him, and nearly 2 years into his time here, I doubt I ever will.

Jarrad plays it out from the back, we're missing that so much, and Mykolenko is a lot more comfortable with him there.

Dyche will never play 3 in midfield, which suits Garner's running game, but instead when he was fit, stopped his offensive game by playing him at full-back despite Dixon looking so comfortable after his outing against Spurs. But Dyche is totally conservative, and picks his his trusted favourites.

Dyche is proving to be a very stubborn manager who will not change his approach and I am not sure he has the personnel to do it anyway.

Everton are a poor side to watch and that won't change until new money is available.

They don't have the talent in the midfield to take control of any game and that leaves them very vulnerable at the back.

Play two centre-forwards at the same time?

Come on, Rob, you are just being silly now.

When you don't have any pace going forward, and can't attack with players running fast, then all you do is invite pressure and eventually concede a goal which you then have no answer to.

Leicester probably perfected this art brilliantly in 2015-16 during their title-winning season but they had a player in Jamie Vardy who was a billion miles more energetic than Calvert-Lewin. They also had runners from midfield that we don't have.

Why Dyche thinks you can continually play this style is beyond me, sitting there and surrendering possession all game…

What formation do you think Dyche plays? And what formation do you think we should play?

Martin @22,

How do you work out that Patterson is our best right-back? I don't think I have seen him play back-to-back half-decent games… in fact, Dixon at Spurs looked more promising on his debut.

I also said earlier, Dixon looked very promising on his debut at Spurs, but, surpise, surprise, hasn't been picked since.

Dyche played Garner at full-back for two games in a row, where he was totally exposed –that's Dyche's totally questionable decision-making.

I know, don't know what I was thinking. We all know never in a million years will Dyche start two centre-forwards from the off.

But just imagine the sheer panic in the Southampton camp if we had done. They would barely have left their own penalty area, and probably played with a back six!

I also think it's unfair to criticise the decision to throw Keane up top, on both occasions he had already subbed out Calvert-Lewin and had very little on the bench attacking-wise and, let's face it, that tactic actually worked against Fulham.

The favouritism is also a bit over he top as we just haven't got the quality. Doucoure has to play when fit, McNeil has to play when fit. Young has fil led in at both full-back positions as all other full-backs are injury-prone.

The Branthwaite omission doesn't make sense unless the lad isn't fully fit.

I can criticise him for not bringing full-backs in during the summer on loan or free as we know how limited we are in those positions; even fully fit, our full-backs aren't great.

We have a number of players out of contract in the summer, including Keane, Coleman, Young, Calvert-Lewin, Doucoure and Gana. All of those are first-teamers. We have 4 loan players Broja, Harrison, Lindstrom and Mangala. Again, all first-teamers.

Individually I wouldn't be too bothered by seeing all of them leave but collectively it is a big problem for whoever is in charge.

The job Dyche has got is getting more difficult year on year. If we sacked him tomorrow, the new manager is walking into an absolute shambles of a club.

In answer to the two questions.

I'll be honest, I don't know what formation he does play at Everton.

I'd personally like to see

Pickford
Patterson
Branthwaite
Tarkowski
Mykolenko

Lindstrom
Gana
Mangala
McNeil

Calvert-Lewin (Broja)
Beto (Broja)

Of course the players will and could change, it could be Young at right- or left-back, it could be Doucoure instead of Mangala or Garner, etc, etc.

But that's what I'd just like to see in games where we should be taking the game to the opposition.

Things can only get better, when we get rid of this idiot of a manager.

Remind me again why Doucoure has to play when fit?

Surely Ndiaye, Jim?

They probably would have complained to the ref or the Premier League.

Unfair team selections giving the opposition an unfair advantage in winning a football match.

How about:

Pickford

Patterson
Tarkowski
Branthwaite
Mykolenko

Mangala
Gana
Iroegbunam
Ndiaye

Calvert-Lewin
Beto

Would that not give the opposition something to worry about at least?

I quite like that formation. I detest seeing us with Calver-Lewin ploughing a lone furrow.

Patterson got some game time but failed the audition. He can get forward but his defending is pure amateur hour, hence Dyche doesn't play him.

Young is currently our first choice right-back, he is slow, struggles to get forward, but reads the game. He should be cover but the lack of better options makes him first choice.

Anyone watching the U21s (my viewing based on sky plus coverage) will see that Dixon can get forward with pace, but is defensively very naive.

We also have no cover at left-back, save for Young. The failure to address our full-back positions, for many seasons now, limits our football.

That said, I don't think Dyche wants his full-backs bombing forwards for one moment… Full-back has not been a priority for him — it should have been.

As limited a footballer as Doucoure is, he has more energy than the rest of the midfield and is a goal threat.

Interesting that people rate Patterson and yet don't rate McNeil or Doucoure.

Whatever team any of us pick, isn't going to fight for a European spot anytime soon. We are generally swapping similar standard players around due to our own football persuasion.

Ndiaye in the middle ahead of Doucoure for me.

I can't help thinking now we have Lindstrøm, Ndiaye, and McNeil, how ridgid we are. All 3 could play any of the positions, why not constantly switch or interchange?

Telling me another manager couldn't come up with better game plans? Throwing a centre-back up front because he scored a couple of weeks ago is just embarrassing.

Where's the knowhow, the tactical nous, the Plan B, C or D?

We have newer more technical gifted players than last season, yet they are having the joy of playing sucked out of them game by game. I thought Mcneil was goosed by 60 minutes and it should've been him that made way. Ndiaye was still a threat.

We will have to endure many more mind-numbingly boring Everton performances under Dyche until the end of the season; we will be safe easily but the most boring football possible for the last season at Goodison: no ambition, no desire to push on, just be safe!

Pickford
Coleman Tarkowski Branthwaite Mykolenko
Gana Doucoure Mangala
McNeil Beto Ndiaye

I wish he would plant the ball in the back of the net. :-)

Why is it not possible for the senior players to get everyone together and play the way they would prefer?

Best case scenario: Dyche susses it out when we are 4-0 up at West Ham, what is he going to do?

Worst case scenario, we lose by a hatful at West Ham so no change.

My question really should be, Should these professional footballers have some pride? After all, just because someone is a manager doesn't mean they know better. Someone, manager or players, preferably both, show some balls.

I heard that the players did something similar during Mike Walkers tenure.

When he got to the box, Keane was forced to move towards him because there was nobody else. When the cross came in and Armstrong shot, Mykolenko was stood in front of Pickford for some unknown reason.

Armstrong had come in from the left to meet the cross. Young followed him but was yards behind him. These two non-full-backs are giving goals away every week.

Sorry, mate, but Lindstrøm does not echo Dyche's thoughts at all.

Compare these quotes:–

Lindstrøm: "We were too far from each other."

Dyche: "Our shape was good."

Lindstrøm: "It is not good enough/"

Dyche: "Our play was good."

I'll be shocked if Dyche picks him after what Lindstrøm is basically saying, in more words than one… this fella tactically hasn't got a clue. About time one of our players says it like it is, instead of the usual soundbites.

I can imagine Dyche: "That's you fucked, back into the side comes my favourite workhorse, Jack."

What he really needs though is a high quality right-back to go on the outside and give him passing options. Maybe Patterson will become that player or maybe we'll invest in someone in January.

He does in that he gives ways for improvement on the negative tactics. There is nothing positive in his comments. Dyche in talking to the players would make similar comments; in talking to fans, he just palms them off. To do otherwise would create expectations of change which he does not want to do.

Lindstrøm would not have been wheeled out to criticize Dyche's management, he was wheeled out to appease the fans.

He will play against West Ham, he hopes.

Looks like he'd have been a steal.

He is also thinking of his next job. He doesn't want relegation on his resume. He will never get a job from a club already in the top half of the table.

His skillset is to grind out points to keep the Premier League money flowing and that appeals to any club in a relegation dogfight and seemingly to the media who laud his organisational skills and ability to keep teams up.

He knows that, with slow defenders (Branthwaite apart), he cannot risk two wingbacks bombing down the flanks unless we are chasing the game. Nor will he risk two up top, unless it's the last throw of the dice, as our midfield is poor.

I think we could play better, score more goals and still get the points to survive but he obviously doesn't. He isn't going to change. He will be off doing the same thing for another bottom feeder in due course.

Not Dyche ready I know.

Plus he was too young... one for the future!!

He was 24, just one year older than baby Jake O'Brien.

As for Lindstrøm, I hope he gets a run of matches. I think he has potential.

For West Ham, he needs to rest a 39-year-old fullback and 31-year-old centre-back this week, and change his mindset of sit back and let the opposition have the ball.

The Hammers are under pressure at home so let's silence the crowd quickly.

Used to be that watching the match was the best couple of hours of the week. A way to put aside any real-life pressures or woes. Nowadays, it just adds to them.

I just can't for the life of me understand how a generational talent like him isn't straight back in the side, irrespective of the form of others (although I do believe this so-called 'form' is being over-egged massively).

"Used to be that watching the match was the best couple of hours of the week"

I remember that week fondly.

But seriously, in my coming up to 50 years as an active match goer, until recently I'd always looked forward to games. Even listening on the radio for away matches.

I knew we wouldn't win all the time, but it was definitely an escape. Definitely an enjoyment. Now it's sadly rarely that. As my son said to me at tea time tonight 'Dad, even when we win it's pretty crap!'

That is a cracking post, but I'll state here and now, when not if Dyche gets sacked, there's not a prayer he'll get another job in the Premier League.

He'll be lucky if he gets a job in the Championship.

He won't; don't you realise, he knows best. 🤬

I also love Mangala's urgency and how he plays the whole game like it's the last 5 minutes of the match. He gets it and goes forward!

Also Andy #98, Crystal Palace would have Dyche right now if he was available, as would around 3-4 other teams around the bottom of the league. If Dyche was without a club Palace would snap him up right now, I'm sure – as would Ipswich, Saints and Wolves I suspect. Simply staying in the Premier League is paramount for all clubs.

Danny #73, that's the second time this season that Mykolenko has been AWOL on a game-losing goal. I remember Tarkowski turning on him a few weeks ago and wailing, "Where were you?" and now it has happened again.

Combined with a couple of huge mistakes on the ball against Fulham (neither cost a goal, fortunately), it's obvious that the kid has a problem. Whether it's in his leg or between his ears is an open question. But right now he's half the player he was a year ago.

Andy #98, of course he'll get another job in the Premier League. He's shown the same emergency skill set as Fat Sam, and he's a much more pleasant fella.

The next time a Premier League club requires a relegation rescue, he'll be a candidate. And as Sean says, it could be as soon as January... if Friedkin shows him the door on arrival.

Liam #95, I'd actually say that Keane right now is playing better than I've ever seen him. And significantly better than Tarkowski. Branthwaite should be in this weekend for the latter, not the former.

Good point. I hate to agree with “Dave Cashen” but, while Tarkowski has served us well, he's been rubbish this season. If it's a meritocracy, as it should be, then it should be Keane and Branthwaite on current form and innate talent.

It is like he was put into the backline, but really should have been put into the forward line at the start of his professional career.

I'm not expecting us to suddenly become an all-out pressing team. However, playing 5 or 10 yards up the pitch will give us more options and allow for more sustained periods of intensity. At present, we are barely getting more than 2 or 3 players in the final third. Midfield players can't gamble because they'll leave gaps which are massive.

I also believe Tarkowski has enough in the bank to partner Jarrad Branthwaite. They formed an impressive partnership last season and Jarrad makes players look better. He also does this with Mykolenko, who looks lost in his absence.

Admittedly I'm not a fan of Micheal Keane. A few passable performances and a wonder strike do not make up for almost 200 games of error-strewn mediocrity. We are better with him out of the team.

Dyche I think is about spoiling play and clearing the lines, rather than impact and intensity.

The dilemma is that, as you say, Tarkowski would be better partnering Branthwaite but, because he is carrying an injur,y he is not the same forward threat that he was, whilst Keane is.

Changing the pairing of Keane and Tarkowski could have a negative effect on Keane's play, since he always has been a 'confidence' player, prone to errors if he isn't.

I'm sure there's something going on like a niggling injury, but he doesn't deserve to be in the team based on performances.

Who knows what Keane and Branthwaite would be like? We'll never see if of course because there's no chance Dyche will drop Tarkowski, even if he was on crutches, he'd wheel him out there.

Keane is a left-sided centre-back whilst Tarkowski is right-sided and had a good understanding with Branthwaite last season.

Maybe a back three of Branthwaite, Keane and Tarkowski could be a solution with McNeil left-wingback and Patterson on the right … but that's just changing the formation to avoid the big call. Branthwaite must play.

ps: I sincerely think O'Brien is being prepped to replace Branthwaite when, not if, he leaves us. That seems sadly obvious to me.

Sadly, I also think that to be the case with O'Brien.

Dyche's argument is that Keane and Tarkowski have played well together? It just shows he prefers to sit deep and let the opposition have possession.

Would Southampton have scored if Jarrad was playing last Saturday? He prefers to bring the ball out of defence, play more forward and the quickest centre-back we have, or pass to a midfielder, and what he detests is midfielders passing the ball back to Pickford.

These are all reasons why he should be the first name on the team sheet, but the total opposite of Dyche's game plan?

A very similar squad to Forest's only a far better coached team. One or two very good players and the rest are a much of a muchness.

As far as Forest is concerned, you have cherry-picked them because they are on a good run. He soon got the boot from his previous job. I think they will slowly slide down the table when the season progresses.