Moyes homecoming wrecked by gritty Aston Villa

I'm hoping that by Sunday he will have seen enough to know that Doucoure and Harrison will never be able to contribute to the team.

Too much to expect?

I can't wait to see which club Calvert-Lewin ends up at. At best he will be a squad player getting 5 or 10 minutes here and there.

The likes of Harrison and Doucoure should not be starting. Get them benched permanently as both offer very little.

On to Spurs. They are there for the taking.

Some big decisions to make, and quick.

A stumped bewildered Moyes and a canny almost mocking and gleaming Unai Emery.

Moyes has hopefully realized just how bad Jack Harrison is and will cease from starting him.

With more balanced refereeing, we may have picked up a point.

Time to get shut of Harrison and Doucoure who offer nothing. Calvert-Lewin needs to go – see if someone will pay him his supposed wanting £100k a week, FFS!

We need new players in as well as trying Patterson, Harrison, Armstrong and two up front. Change it up instead of starting the same.

All hope near gone and you can just see the same line-up and formation against shitty no-mark Spurs.

It's obvious our squad are (with a few exceptions) not up to it. But focusing on a manager change is a distraction from the real problem and that's the quality of our players.

A player like Calvert-Lewin personifies this. Yes, he once had a reputation for working hard, but his supporters couldn't see that, despite that, he just wasn't and still isn't good enough.

We desperately need some acumen in the boardroom to recognize that we need to invest in better quality players, not a better-quality manager. Even the likes of Pep and Carlo (as we've seen) couldn't make a silk purse out of the sow's ear that are our squad of players.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't bother playing until new players arrive though.

They gave it a go tonight. Against a team that has already had investment and has performed well in the league.

There are options in this squad too. While I can understand selecting Doucoure, Young, Mykolenko, Harrison, Calvert-Lewin ... there are options that can replace them, either like for like or through a change in approach.

Dyche sat on his hands and had to go. If Moyes does the same, then he'll deserve similar criticism, but not after one game.

Something drastically needs to change in the setup of the team, both formation and players, to start posing more of a goal threat to get a win and much-needed points; playing it safe and playing for a draw is not going to be enough.

There's players to come back from injuries but they might not be match-fit for a few weeks but they will offer the team more creativity and threat when they do get back; it's unknown whether there's going to be any players bought.

Team for Spurs:

3-4-3 or 3-4-1-2

Pickford
O'Brien Tarkowski Branthwaite
Patterson Mangala Lindstrom Mykolenko
Sherif Ndiaye Beto

We're currently on a losing run of matches where the team has offered little to no goal threat, albeit marginally better this evening, but still nowhere near enough threat, so drastic measures to change our fortunes and the script.

Be brave, Moyes, and you might win some sceptics over; stay in Dour Davie mode and things will go south and sour in no time.

His fiancee can come and bitch on social media all she likes, but her man's not good enough at his job. He works hard, and he gets some knock-downs, but he shoots like a drunk toddler.

Now he has a clearer picture of who he can depend on.

Now who does that remind me of? 🤔

Harrison is utterly wasted on the right, and he might as well use them as traditional wingers, putting crosses in, using Calvert-Lewin in his only natural role, with Lindstrom knocking in knock-downs as the No 10.

He plays the same team with a hope we get a result so he can take credit but, if we lose, then it's “See, I told you so” and now he can ring changes without pissing off too many team members.

We played alright considering the manager was probably asking different things from the players and, with more time, they'll start to get the new tactics down.

But Dom has to be fucked off asap, start Beto on Sunday if we don't have anyone new in. We need Richarlison back and I'm sure Lindstrom will start over Harrison now…. it's fucking torture.

I think about the young kids at the game who are maybe 10 or under, where is the motivation to stay with us!!! Their so called “heroes” just break their hearts every bastard week with literally nothing to even scream about. We don't even score when we lose, there is no joy. It's a fucking shambles and better days will come one day.

I just want some younger fans to have a fun time out and something to celebrate sometimes. There is no connection. Where is their hero whose poster goes above their bed? Jordan is worthy, Ndiaye has cult potential but they all need to get there fucking fingers out…

Spurs can get fucked on Sunday. They will play an open game so I would deffo play Beto up top as Dom is always offside!!!

He doesn't come deep, link play, put crosses in, get assists, take free kicks, score from outside the box, or play with the team in any way shape or form. He just want balls into the box so he can be a poacher but he can't even do that!

He might only get 3-4 chances a game and he is deffo offside for 50-75% of them!! For the last 3-4 years, he is never ever onside – it winds me up!!!… I reckon a lot of our problems stem from him. He's the common denominator imo… Okay, rant over.

We created chances tonight which has been sorely lacking and we even had a couple of chances of target this evening. Villa are better than us, in all departments, which is a fact, probably best to try and manage your own expectations.

That performance should have taught him a lot about the changes he needs to make tactically and in personnel. He has surely seen enough in one game to decide that Harrison, Doucoure and Young are not the answer in the positions they played last night.

Young should be switched to left back to give Mykolenko a break, while Doucoure is not the answer as a CAM. DCL is also bereft of confidence and also needs a break from the team.

Knowing Moyes, he will make changes incrementally to the team. But the return of Tim Iro and Jimmy Garner, plus the strengthening the squad at fullback and right midfield will help a lot.

What will be harder to eradicate will be the constant errors by well-established players in the team. Our last 2 home games were lost due to individual errors that no professional should make.

I could understand him picking Doucoure with a slightly different remit... but he'd now have to admit that his lack of ability on the ball is too large of a problem.

Harrison is a no brainer decision. During the first 10 minutes he lost the ball on every occasion that it came to him and was key in the early intensity fizzling out. I honestly don't know how you would use him. Maybe left midfield but could we really expect much better?

If we had one more with the ability and willingness to get on the ball like Ndiaye, then we would stand a chance. Add in the fact that Calvert-Lewin couldn't hit a barn door when trying to finish the very few chances we manage to create and it is very bleak.

I'd be sending Harrison back to Leeds and seeing if we can loan someone else. Patterson needs a go instead of Young. Enough is a enough.

At least we had more possession and actually did create chances, you can't really do much when the striker never cleanly hits the football and fluffs chances.

It's getting more difficult failing to score goals now, what's that now, no goals in 10 of the last 12 games? We clearly need to get this side freshened up in this transfer window. We need to start showing a ruthless streak and stop being a sentimental charity.

I think we've got to see about sending Broja back to Chelsea now so he can recover there, out for the rest of the season effectively, we need to free up that loan space. Same for Jack Harrison, is there a possibility that we can get Leeds to take him back at all?

I'd also look into termination of the remaining months of Dominic Calvert-Lewin's contract, he's not signing a new one – which for me is a blessing – and he's not a good enough standard anymore; I believe the injuries have taken too much out of him anyway now.

I don't know who we can bring in but we need at least three new faces coming in this month.

With the players we have available the only way we can deliver a positive result is to let the opposition have the majority of possession, present them with the problem of breaking through us and try to counterattack when we can or sneak a goal from a set piece.

Some stats to back this up: against Wolves we had only 43.8% possession and won 4-0; against Chelsea we had only 25% and drew 0-0; against Forest we had 63% and lost 2-0.

Villa are a good team of that its clear, I wasn't expecting the number of changes that Baines & Coleman made against Peterborough but to change absolutely nothing in terms of formation or personnel over what Dyche persisted expecting a different result is madness.

You finish your opinion saying others need to manage their own expectations that's your opinion, I beg to differ, is it wrong to want to see something different to what's been flogged to death under Dyche to try and be brave and try something different.

Moyes does not have a lot of good will amongst a good percentage of the fanbase and that will only get worse if things are not changed up and he is braver in team selection and formation.

Unfortunately none of these qualities are required at Everton right now. He needs to implement change and roll the dice quickly if he's to get Everton scoring goals again. Sorry but there is no time for patience, there's half a season left and things need to start happening pronto, otherwise we may go down.

Everyone here knows who the usual suspects are, you would assume Leighton Baines knows too, yet Moyes may not know, even after last night. It's not his style to drop a player after one bad game.

He either has to select his next eleven based on one game and a few training sessions, or listen to what we hope others are telling him.

After selecting the same players who've been failing under Dyche, which surprised me, I'm rather concerned he might do the same or make no more than one change on Sunday. We all know what the outcome is likely to be if that happens.

Put their centre forward into our team, no other changes and we take a point at least.

The current crop of forwards are to me in the category of other Everton greats such as Mick Ferguson and Alan Biley, Rod Belfitt and Bernie Wright, David Smallman and Mickey Walsh and the forwards who I don't recall during Walter Smiths reign when we were named Everton Nil (i think Steve Watson, a full back we signed from Newcastle played up front)

I've heard people saying the usual tripe about other centre forwards missing chances too.

Watkins missed a few last night but do you know what, the last one he got he slots home and wins his team a tight game.

Put Calvert-Lewin in that same one v one situation for Watkins' winner, does anyone really think he'd score that?

I'm sick of seeing my centre forwards constantly scuff, fluff and half hit chances like they are wearing my nan's slippers.

.

Moyes played a higher line and asked the team to be a bit more intense and quicker on the ball. It really exposed a few players in terms of speed and technical ability. Unfortunately, Ashley was one of them.

That is not a criticism of Young. He did really well in the deeper defensive line under Dyche, tucking into a narrow back four. But if the manager wants to play a higher line then Ashley may struggle.

Doucoure is a high energy player, but like Harrison and MacNeil, he cedes possession constantly. Given how slow and vulnerable to the transition we are as a team, I just see him as too much of a liability to retain his place.

Harrison offers nothing in attack on the right, and his passing and ball retention is just dreadful. Honestly, he always be in the queue for a role in left midfield behind Ndiaye and MacNeil.

Good point of Myko, but I think he only works at left-back if we have a right-back who attacks. Then he can slot in a back three to keep is solid.

A lot for Mr Moyes to work on!

I've heard people saying the usual tripe about other centre forwards missing chances too.

Watkins missed a few last night

Hmmmmm.

The rumour columns are worryingly quiet on the transfer front which leaves open the question ‘has Moyes taken this squad as far as he can?’ And if so, where do we go from here? Players, especially McNeil and Garner, returning from injury will help but without new blood it is hard to fathom where a significant improvement will come from.

The 11 that played last night will not keep us safe!

Most Premier League managers do little more than deliver what their players are capable of - players who are delivered to them by the club (via transfers, long term player development or academy).

Squad quality has a lot to do with how much money has been invested on the squad over a period of years.

If the manager underperforms the level of investment, he is sacked. See Ten Hag.

And managers are nothing like as influential in recruitment as they used to be. Moyes is not going to personally unearth some gems. It doesn't work like that especially in January.
The nearest we've come to that since Moyes left is Benitez getting Townsend and Gray to give us much, much more pace, quality and width than we've got now unfortunately. But that is generally an exception.

What they are doing is habitual and will need drilling out of them, saying that DCL as some have said, has to go, for his own good and ours.

It will be by pure luck if Calvert Lewin scores even with improved service. CL managing to be in the position to receive the ball isn't a given.Repeated offsides shows a lack of awareness or effort. Everton do not have the time to hope he will improve and players around him being able to work with him. He rarely looks available to a passing player and they must wonder about his ability to finish.

I would make Beto first choice. Though not perfect he aleast has the basics of a forward and players around him can work with that.Harrison needs dropped.Losing possession as often as he does is a no no in the Premier League.

Moyes needs to get a midfield trio going like he did at West Ham.Movement and inter passing are vital in midfield.Doucoure is not good enough for a trio.Doucoure is box to box along as someone does not get in his way. he then flicks the ball, because he cannot pass.Useless in a trio.

Defence is too deep for lack of pace and leaves gaps and does not provide forward support.

Errors are still a major problem.One individual error costs Everton most games.

Moyes needs in a few hardened Professionals before the transfer window ends.I hope he was thinking about the job to be done and what players he needed, rather than negotiating his huge salary during the interview.

Rip it up and start again, I know there’s not much to choose from but let the manager do his job. There was no bounce, an improved performance perhaps but will be more like a slowly deflating balloon vs Tottenham with the same team.

Feel a bit sad for DCL (just a bit) he needs to move on, but I really can’t imagine that there are many clubs asking.

Now with Broja out of the picture I expect someone to be brought in, it won’t be a Kevin Campbell effect, but should at least freshen up the squad, come on Moysie find us a gem who can kick the ball goalwards.

Purchases or free's only to bolster the squad.

This would be a start. Also, let’s just not have a go at Moyes after just one game.

They do have some decent players and Son, Solanke and Kulasevski are forwards we can only dream of.

Did Richarlison come on against Arsenal last night as well?

We need a mindset shift. Dyche has drilled the players not to play football and has got them believing that they’re not good enough. The problem with the Moyes appointment is that he’s already being vocal in saying the players aren’t good enough.

We also don’t need ‘new strikers’ as everyone seems to be saying. You could put Shearer, Henry, van Nistelrooy, whoever you wanted as our number 9 and they wouldn’t score. The problem is the team mentality and the lack of creativity. We need two new wide forwards, we need to consider playing Ashley Young in his actual position, we need overlapping fullbacks and we need someone in midfield who can move the ball forwards. We need a variety of threats from different positions, we currently have N’Diaye’s skill and nothing else, and even that mostly happens in harmless areas wide in midfield.

I'm not sure it will be a baying Goodison mind you.

Sunday afternoon at 2pm, even last night I thought the atmosphere was rather flat, not sure if it's because we've all been to the well that many times or what but the night games used to be rocking.

I think the only way the atmosphere cranks up on Sunday is if we get bang at Spurs from the off, snap into things, press them early and get attempts at goal.

I absolutely do not agree with your assessment of Calvert Lewin.

We will have to see if one of these clubs you and other Calvert Lewin apologists reckon he would score a bunch of goals at – I really don't think it will happen – he is no natural goal scorer.

Couldn't agree more Mike.

The reality is, he snubbed a move to Newcastle last summer because they wouldn't give him what wage he wanted, where on earth will he go that he thinks a wage is on offer to match his expectancy?

He won't be going to Newcastle, they will be in the market for quality and he wouldn't be near their starting lineup.

He won't be going to any other top 6 side so that leaves sides that won't pay him a massive wage and he won't fit their style of play.

Will he go abroad? I doubt it, because again, the wage demands, people look at his lack of goals, his past injury record.

He had one real prosperous season, maybe stretching it to 18 months.

I agree that the crowd needs something to gee them up. In the unlikely event that we score first a sly tackle by Bergvall without any free kick would certainly raise the temperature.

Spurs are no better than us except they do have some players who know where the back of the net is.

Their defence is shocking though.

He cannot pass.
He cannot defend.
He gives the ball away.
He hardly goes past the half-way line.
He can't cross a ball.
He mainly passes backwards and sideways.

Christ, a 5-year-old can do all the above.

He simply adds zero value.

He looks very tired!

What do you do with Calvert-Lewin now? I mean how many chances do you give him?

I think it was Dave A many moons ago that said put Keane up front, he couldn't be any poorer than Calvert-Lewin is at the moment.
We only conceded 1 goal again but we can't buy one for ourselves.

The teams below us are going to start to win the odd game sooner or later so things are getting serious.

Spurs "There for the taking"? But we're talking about Everton FC.

Southampton were "there for the taking". What happened? They got their only win of the season.

You could probably say that about most of our team in fairness.

Doucoure is one of the worst passers of a ball I've ever seen, his purple patch in Dyche's first year has well and truly dried up.

We've got so many players that look like they have been too used for too long not using a football.

Great post, and many thanks for not singling out players who do 'try', nor blame the manager who has been in situ since Sunday...

What's that, two training sessions max, and a pre-match warm-up?

Well said, Ted. 👍💙

John [42] and Dave A [43] Good posts also...

Everton, a team that has scored a pathetic 15 goals and whose main striker is Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

You would think by now Moyes would know this?!

Agreed, I think it's the worst squad of players I have ever seen at the club.

I do feel we have missed McNeil though, I'm just praying he is back soon and we can somehow get the 7 wins we are going to need.

I think the reason our players tend to pass back and sideways is they all know they haven't the pace to beat a man – and that has been lacking for a number of years.

As soon as we get rid, the better.

However, they are playing a young midfielder, Archie Gray, at centre-back and are missing most of their senior defenders.

Surely we can take advantage of this?

Last night, I sat in the Main Stand with my 10-year-old grandson, looking at the Bullens Road stand where I sat at that age with my own grandad and dad, reflecting that in the intervening 60 years we have not had much to be joyful about.

There are the obvious (mostly) wonderful times; the second half of the '60s which ended suddenly in a terrible week in 1971; the mid '80s, which included losing the double in a dreadful 8 days; bits and pieces in ‘77-‘78; a wonderfully surprising FA Cup win in 1995; some good times under Moyes, occasional highspots with Martinez, a few other things.

All-in-all, not very much reward over 60 years. Or am I just comparing things to school friends who started supporting another team in the early '60s?

I am viewing the Friedkin takeover, and the move to a new stadium for which I have already bought a season ticket, as very positive. But it's imperative we arrive there in the Premier League.

Can David Moyes help us achieve that? He's not a man who is particularly convincing. To me, he has always been Fergie-lite, but lacking the true grit to go with it. But he may provide the sensible, calm head we need right now.

I can kind of understand the team he selected last night, he has very limited personnel; to discard some regulars without having watched them would have sent a very bad message. But he has seen them now, and has to act quickly. He needs to bring in a couple of big characters, I don't know who or where they are… that's what he gets paid for.

Forgive my ramblings. I'm anxious for us, and worried that we have a divided fan base, some of whom are having digs at each other. We need to unite.

It isn't delusional to suggest that he did have an alternative to the team that he selected. It is an indisputable fact.

Maybe Moyes has no idea that Doucoure and Harrison have been abysmal all season and their performances thus came as a great surprise to him. I give him a bit more credit than to believe that though.

Villa had lost 5 on the trot away from home having only scored twice. In my opinion, a cautious team selection contributed towards us losing a very winnable home game.

So having players that know where the net is makes them better than us straight away – right.

I would also argue that their midfield is much more "capable" of doing stuff than ours.

Young Grey is doing okay playing centre-half alongside Draguson.

Now I'm not saying that we can't win on the day, but we probably won't and I would swap most of our current squad and take theirs in a heartbeat.

If Postecoglu managed them better they would definitely be higher up the league in my opinion.

Charles (66): have a look at our best XI and then have a look at the best Spurs XI.

We would have Dragusin, Son, Bissouma, Richarlison, Maddison, Udogie, Gray, Bergvall, Romero, Johnson, Porro, Sarr, Van de Ven, and Solanke in a heartbeat. That’s only fourteen Spurs lads.

All we need is a few lads who know where the back of the net is (I hate that silly cliche, by the way).

This is why ToffeeWeb is so great:

Oliver Molloy (62): Mike @ 60: I absolutely do not agree with your assessment of Calvert Lewin.

And the next post:

Brian Williams (63): Mike#60. Couldn't agree more Mike.

So, for now, better to await a formal announcement. With the Eds permission regarding a non-Everton matter, I’ll keep you advised on here.

The performance of the ref was shocking though. Not just in the big decisions, but in the way he constantly gave villa fouls when an Everton player went near one of theirs. But gave us nothing. Ndiaye especially was pushed, pulled, kicked at all game.

Sean Dyche said it was a massive problem players not taking the chances that were provided to score. He said it is not just the Centre Forward, but the team of players taking the opportunities to score.

He also said that Everton have had difficulty scoring before he came and still have.

But Dyche's attack was based on a low block with inverted wingers and all attacking players getting the right connection if the ball dropped to them.Calvert Lewin never got in front of his marker, made runs into position or attacked the near post.Any chance he got he flunked it.

The biggest failing in the end was a collapse of the Set piece attack.Everton had one of the best rates on the Premier League till early December .Moyes is looking to employ at Set Piece Coach to get Everton up the table.

Moyes's priority will be to cut out errors that have cost Everton most games.

I’ve been a fan of Dominic because of his past performances but not this season, I think he could be putting more effort into his game and his mind is on his next move if it hasn’t been arranged already.

We fans are decided over Moyes with, I think, older fans possibly against his appointment while younger fans who watched Everton while managed by Moyes much more welcoming him after seeing some good seasons under him which are the best they have seen in their time while supporting the club.

I didn't want him back but agree it would be better if we all got behind him for the rest of this season, even though I have serious doubts about his ability to keep us up.

He's way out of his league in the Premier League.

To be fair, his first chance was really half a chance because he was wide left, and the one at the end was bouncing about as it came across.

He's not scoring though when he's clean through straight at the goalie.