Van de Ven destroys Everton on corners

(Only 2 keepers!!!)

I would also think the second combination is better for the 2nd half, when the game is likely to open up.

I agree -- and it is a game of 2 halves.

I think I only know one player from that Spurs line-up.

This team reminds me of wet paint still on the wall -- there is no finish.

No Alcaraz either!

Derek,

I would like to see Rohl but as you said Derek who would you leave out. Similarity for Dibling and Alcaraz. As I said above I had thought Alcaraz was overrated before the Palace game now he deserves a chance but instead of KDH.

That's not going to happen as KDH is essential to a high press whereas Alcaraz is not as good but probably more creative going forward. Hence my preferred 2nd half combination would be Alcaraz and Beto.

As many have suggested, we have plenty of options of false 9s: Ndiaye, Dibling, Alcaraz and Grealish, to name but a few.

Hope the reverse curse on Beto pays dividends!

Corner comes in. 0-1.

Sometimes shit just happens.

Whereas Van de Ven pushes off Pickford so he can't reach the cross. But no VAR check. It just ain't fair!

I am beginning to really dislike modern football.

Even if it's the tea lady, I bet she can control a ball better than that clueless prick!

Typical Everton -- too nice for their own good!

Is the set-piece coach still at Everton?

Do something different!

While he is blocking out the Sun on a beach somewhere!

We're already done and Mykolenko offers absolutely nothing going forward.

Spurs are quite happy for the ball to go wide. There's nothing to worry about in the middle.

Needs to be a bit more fluid up top. What do Spurs really need to worry about?

Pathetic again and again and again.

This ain't going to happen in the Premier League. Moyes needs to get faster ball progression attacking the centre and get beyond the defensive line.

Standing back off the defensive line and playing across it is useless.

Same thing every week.

Moyes is probably going to have to reorganise the formation to address this. Maybe a 3-5-2 or something along those lines. We're far too easy to defend against.

Surely that's a basic skill a player needs.

Pickford will get targeted on corners now. I thought Mykolenko was poor. I still don't know which is the least worst option up front.

Moyes terrible, Beto embarrassing, midfield one-paced, Pickford showing why no top team wants him, and Mykolenko appallingly bad.

Apologies to Mike Gaynes who thinks Mykolenko shouldn't be constantly criticised; I beg to differ.

The Ref is a joke. If our players infringed on play for the O'Brien goal, then how does Van de Ven get away with pushing the goalie out of the way for theirs? At worst, it should have been 1-nil if not 1-all at half-time.

Strange game. I felt I was watching the better team (us) but the score line suggests the exact opposite.

We are going nowhere with Moyes, just a slight improvement on Dyche. I think we should be starting to look for an alternative to the dinosaur.

Set-piece coach was not replaced in June when Adams left.

Barry occasionally shows why he should be preferred over Beto. He's a better footballer. Whether he's a more effective striker is yet to be seen. It's a pretty low bar.

Moyes had to see how that game was going. Spurs kept it narrow and were practically encouraging us to do the only thing that we seemingly wanted to do which was to get the ball to the wide players.

Corners conceded were rubbish. No-one marking.

I don't have any issue with any of the VAR decisions. Ndiaye didn't commit a foul, so comparisons with Van de Ven are pointless, but it's very hard to argue he wasn't interfering with play from an offside position.

Their 1st goal was lucky -- the cross came off Bentancur's shoulder straight into Van de Ven. The 2nd goal should have been looked at by VAR.

Merlin Röhl looked quite assured on the ball. Beto wasn't bad, he tried hard, as did Barry, who showed some decent touches.

But we badly need an experienced striker in January. The goals need to come from somewhere, Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall are flattering to deceive.

Time for Moyes to bring back McNeil, he was our best player before he got injured. He can create and score goals.

And Alcaraz needs to start in Beto's place. Well played Ndiaye again. I am afraid he will get frustrated and push for a move away and who can blame him?

Mykelenko should be sent packing, move Garner in there and get a replacement asap. He is truly garbage.

Moyes needs to be careful, he will not get the support and protection like he did under the Kenwright era. Keep this up and he will be up for the sack.

Moyes should have made more positive changes far earlier than he did.

Good win would have made it a good start to the season, sadly we haven't moved on that much and are still in that "look over your shoulder" mentality.

Even though we were a tad unfortunate tonight, a result like this has been coming. We may yet get drawn into the relegation battle as I'm afraid the players we bought this summer have not added sufficient balance to the team.

I don't think he's making huge mistakes but equally I'm far from convinced Moyes is getting the most out of this team at the moment.

Does anyone out there think he'll win a trophy for Everton?

Wohhhhh there.

Let's win a game first! 😁

No, never.

That line-up today was so fuckin predictable, Alcaraz did not deserve to be benched... absolutely not, I fear he doesn't fancy him at all.

Dewsbury-Hall was average; Grealish flatters to deceive and hasn't done nothing for 2 months; Ndiaye is in a class of his own; Garner and Gueye are just passengers -- they offer nothing offensively at all.

As for up top, well, let's not go there, them 2 gobshites that are currently masquerading as strikers are atrocious. Anyone with half a brain cell would tell you that.

But all our fans do week after week is blame refs, victim mentality, it is the ref's fault we are so predictable in our style of play... no, it's not. We are the most pedestrian side in the league and a forward-thinking young hungry manager would change that in an instant.

It's insulting playing Beto or Barry in an isolated role like that, for one, the service isn't great and the pair of them are limited like you wouldn't believe. Seriously, who looked at Beto and thought "Yes, he could be the answer to our striking problems"? Believe me, he most definitely isn't. Ditto Barry.

Another season of struggle looms unless this stubborn man changes things -- and quick.

As the great man himself said, struggle after struggle, year after year.

Barry is second banjo to Beto. Dibling can't get into the team. Aznou has already been written off by Moyes. Dewsbury-Hall doesn't contribute nearly enough. And Grealish spends his time looking for a foul.

Röhl may have something to offer. If he can stay fit.

Using your biggest budget in the summer on players who you then give no minutes to (Dibling, Aznou) instead of addressing the Number 9 area is worrying.

The new stadium thing has probably given him time to make these mistakes of poor team selection and sub choices; but, in a couple of months, patience will soon be over, I suspect.

We need to keep our better players and look to build year on year.

The club should also be looking to identify Moyes's successor next summer.

If you look at Spurs today, they had a second eleven out, played midweek and still managed to pick up 3 points. For us to get to those levels will take time and patience.

We look like a side that will very quickly be getting dragged down into a relegation battle.

No goals in us, no pace in us, and our defence looks incredibly old and fragile now, and again lacks so much pace it's unreal.

The new stadium bounce bubble was well and truly burst today, you get the feeling now teams will come here from now on and start playing with less trepidation.

Another likely loss at Sunderland means Fulham at home before the international break is massive, even this early.

It will take the sacking of Moyes to get us 6th or 7th. He's old school.

We were all dazzled by the Hollywood signing of Jack Grealish but, as the window was coming to closure in late August, myself, like many, stressed that the inability to have brought in any real pace or power, a proper centre-forward and a proper right-back meant was cause for concern.

We have to be one of the slowest pedestrian football teams in the league, we have such little athleticism in our team.

The striker problem burns my head, we've got last season's understudy as this season's number one choice.

This result today was on the cards, it could have happened against Palace in fairness.

If we're a work in progress, why change the manager?

For too long, Everton have taken the easy route with managers. Change the story and make those earn their money at the club by unearthing the next manager who they can identify with a style of play they want this club playing.

Bottom of the league for sprints per game.

There's a reason why we can't score and we're shit.

"We played really well today... dominated the game... had more chances... Nothing really to change."

It's not like Beto or Barry are actually any good in the air anyway.

To persist with the same formation and starting eleven every week, then just swapping like-for-like after 65 minutes, is not working.

£100M on Alcaraz, Dibling, Aznou, and Barry plus some keepers to sit warming the bench. But, hey, they are really impressive in training.

You know, young players who are fast and fit and know what that thing with the net hanging off it is.

If you have a team of players that struggle to put the ball in the net, you are in trouble.

That goes for all of the players, not just our centre-forwards.

Probably our salvation again is that there may be 3 or 4 teams worse than us.

He wasn't the last manager to get us into the top six. Martinez did when we finished 5th with 72 points gained — more than Moyes ever amassed in any of his 11 seasons.

I can't see the TFG accepting the excuses cuddly Bill put up with from Moyes.

Martinez inherited a good side and was lucky to inject it with Lukaku and Barry.

Let's accept they are useless. We've some decent players on the ball who can find a pass, so move Ndiaye into the middle, get Dibling wide and try to pass and interchange.
Everything at present is a waste of time as it breaks down at the top of the pitch.

It isn't working and never will with either of those up top.

The jury for me is out on these Americans.

Yes there is, the manager.

At least I know I'll live with Moyes here cause I've lost any hope... LOL

We offer no threat on the break whatsoever.

Despite Martinez's many flaws, his lack of flexibility being the main one, it was still the most enjoyable season and best football played by us for a few decades.

The rose-tinted patina of Moyes's tenure whilst at Everton, as painted by many Evertonians, would have John Moores turning in his grave.

Add to that a manager who refuses to adapt to games and is timid, to say the least, when it comes to substitutes and his lack of inventiveness.

We are just toothless up front, bang average in the middle of the park, no pace anywhere in the side, and have a manager that is, let's say, "set in his ways".

I mean, Alcaraz has an eye for goal and more creativity in him than Dewsbury-Hall in my opinion, he should be in the starting line-up... up front even.

Referee gave us nothing, their full-back should have been booked for that terrible tackle on Grealish early in the game.
Even though he was weak, Pickford was clearly pushed and is experienced enough to know he should have made a meal if it like their keeper did.

Back to the drawing board for Moyes -- not !

You ain't going to do much when the keeper can't command his box, Mykolenko and Garner losing out, and the three centre-backs who are all big units, do not compete.

Thomas Frank exploited a weakness. Easy street.

I am starting to worry now. Are there three worse teams than us? Perhaps.

Are there three worse and more negative coaches? No.

Are there 3 worse and more negative managers? Well, Forest certainly just appointed one of them last week.

We will end up with between 44 and 50 points.

I'd put his first season at Everton down to what he inherited and the addition of our only decent striker in Premier League history.

Well, Moyes consistently got better points totals than Martinez, bar one season. He also got us in the Top 4 with Marcus Bent upfront. A team that included such world stars as Kilbane, Carsley and Hibbert. A team where Osman was the star turn because he could actually trap a ball.

If gambling, being positive, being pro-active, or whatever, got good outcomes minus anything else, then why was Martinez so shit in club management? There must have been something about Everton at the time he arrived here that made his first season go well and I am guessing it was due to Moyes as he was here last.

I honestly believe that. The games we've lost have been close. No one has played us off the park. The players' heads haven't dropped. We are physically fit and battle etc… but we are toothless up front and struggle to score.

Let's get to January, get a right-back and a striker and, with Branthwaite back, we'll be fine. 12th-10th.

Next summer is crucial. New forwards and full backs and, a new manager.

Over to you TFG.

The 85th-minute sub and the Barry - Beto swap are turning into staples. Our entire attack consists of giving the ball to Ndiaye and Grealish and hoping they can do something.

Dewsbury-Hall looks neat and tidy but doesn't really impact the game. Alcaraz plays with more intent and needs to start next game. All the optimism carried over from last season is now gone. I think the match-ups against the bottom teams are going to be telling.

That's as far as our ambitions will extend though. It's why Moyes is there. He's there to manage through a transition. A steady hand. He's certainly not there to win trophies. We're not at that point and he's never been that manager.

Watching a mid-table side is very frustrating. But it's what we need to go through after years of nail-biting ends to seasons.

Whether that transition is successful is another story. We've invested in young players and will probably continue to do so. Some will come in, some will need time, some will bomb. But it's still a better transfer strategy than the last time we could afford to buy anyone. Time will tell whether it works on the pitch.

You win some and you lose some, but for God's sake leave the judgements until at least the end of the season! But why lose the chance to show the world how football wise you are on a weekly basis, eh?

Yes, Beto and Barry were poor again, but poor all over the pitch today. Teams double up on Grealish and Ndiaye and we're muted. Dewsbury-Hall flatters to deceive, sideways, slow inevitably to Grealish and all crosses hit first man. Better than other options in the Number 10 berth? Not so sure.

Full-backs are poor, contribute very little going forwards. Mykolenko with free rein second half simply got in the way.
We got done by set pieces, very easily. Looked suspect to every cross today, they didn't.

Midfield is slow, ponderous and no goal threat whatsoever.
It has been coming, we've been picking up points without playing well.

Manager has a lot to answer for with tactics and inability to change.

Summer transfer business exposed now for what it largely was.

Time to dig in.

I can't stand the constant voices to change the manager. I agree with him that we played well today apart from defending two corners. Pickford should have gone down on the second.

Moyes needs time and he needs funds. He did well when he came in. Ask West Ham fans about getting a less pragmatic manager. The decision to put all our eggs in the Liam Delap basket is reminiscent of Marco Silva going after Giroud.

I do think we waste too much money on potential for the future. We could all see we needed a striker and a first-choice right-back.

Our disallowed goal took a while for them to cancel as it wasn't obvious and from an angle behind the goal, Ndiaye doesn't touch their keeper.

In real time, the ball goes in and gives the keeper no chance. In slow motion, it looks like we have 2 players blocking the goalie in an offside position.

Anyone watch the Sunderland winner or Leeds goal this weekend? Players offside clearly in the line of the goalie but goal stands... but not for us.

Gana gets barged over in the box, a foul anywhere else on the pitch and a penalty isn't given.

We all just want some form of consistency from the refs, consistently shite doesn't count.

The game was won by some quality delivery from set pieces which were Thomas Frank's trademark whilst at Brentford.

Spurs are no mugs... our best striker since Lukaku can't even get in their team.

I thought Dewsbury-Hall stunk the place out and somehow managed to stay on the pitch. What is it going to take to drop him?

He is playing in the Doucoure role without the off-the-ball work and today, whilst he was on the ball, he gave it away almost every time. I would start Alcaraz over him all day.

O'Brien offers nothing going forward, I would drop him for Coleman who is now back to fitness or play Garner there.

Moyes needs to find a way to score goals. I can see us finishing 15th if we are lucky.

Tottenham did a number on us. Their set-pieces were excellent and they worked hard. Fair play.

We did make their ‘keeper work on three occasions with the efforts from Garner in the first half and Beto with a very good effort in the second period, along with the deflected shot from Ndiaye.

I hope those predicting a midtable finish for Everton are correct; unless some decent signings are made in January, I think we could be in a battle at the bottom.

I'm not saying that because of today's game but from the results of the nine games played this season, close to a quarter of the season. We have gained 11 points with 8 gained at BMD; I suggest that we were very lucky to get half of them, which would have left us with 7 points out of 27.

The loss of Branthwaite, the poor full back and striker situation have not helped — but that has quite a bit to do with those making the signings surely?

It really was depressing watching Everton struggle today and many had quite enough of it, leaving early and facing a long cold, windy and wet walk on their way home to contemplate the result and performance of today's game.

Give me that any day instead of this safety-first cowardly shite we get served up now. That was awful today, so predictable -- like most of this season so far.

We've played well in little patches, Moyes has spent £120M this summer yet £90M is sitting on the bench... Give them a go, for fuck's sake!

It's not all doom and gloom. We won't be troubling the European spots but we won't be looking over our shoulder in the same way we have over the last half a decade.

Illy was a standout player today.
Jack could/should have scored.
Jimmy G was everywhere, what a guy, shame he got a 4th yellow today...
Beto so needed that overhead kick to go in, he is so due one...
Barry has a touch that Beto lacks, and plays a different game, we have to bring the best out of this pair.
Dewsbury-Hall, Alcaraz, Gana, all good squad players...
Pickford was let down a bit today, he needs solid support on set-pieces, he will not ever dominate his box, that's not his forte. Our best centre-back is awesome, we miss him, our full-back options are thin, need improving.

We are moving too slowly in the right direction, and it's bloody exasperating at times, made harder by some officiating, but I see more to like this season than I have in ages.

It's days like this I wished I believed we were as bad as many posters like yourself think we are as it would be a lot less torturous. Like you, I knew they played away in Europe midweek, had some important players missing, would have had little time to prepare; we had over a week to analyse their threat, how they would play and their weaknesses.

Despite my worries about Moyes's record against the Sky 6 and my head telling me different, I stupidly fancied we would do a job on them today.

"I think we can turn over this lot if we play with a bit of intensity. They want to play on the counter and try to hurt you with set-pieces so we don't need to go gung ho but we can get at their dodgy defence".

It's not rocket science. What were they working on all week? Dewsbury-Hall floating the ball into the keeper's arms perhaps? Now that is a head scratcher.

Michael @54

I hope you are just on the wind up again. If that's true, Frank must be pissing himself.

Oliver @64

Yep, you're half-right. The worst keeper in the league from corners was on show today... unfortunately he didn't get tested.

A few other points:

Who carried more threat, Beto or Kolo Muani? Yet Beto was the problem today.

It's a shit window -- sounds a bit familiar to this time last season when O'Brien and Mangala had only a few games between them and Ndiaye was the only one with promise.

Only 2 points better off... but still we don't know how good it is if the manager doesn't play most of them; yet many are certain it's a disaster.

I've only seen it once, but the way it is shown in slow-mo, makes it look worse than it was. I am not convinced he would've saved it.

Feels like we get the shit end of the stick, when other similar decisions seem to go for other teams.

The only player getting his share of goals is Ndiaye with 3. Beto and Barry have had enough chances. No other player has more than 1 after 9 games.

Our midfield players are just not goal scorers. Gueye and Garner are 1 per season players. Dewsbury-Hall has never scored more than 2 in a season (Premier League). Even Grealish only averaged 3 per season for Man City.

Iroegbunam has never scored in the Premier League. Rohl scored 2 goals in 3 seasons in the Bundesliga. The lack of goals is sapping confidence throughout the team.

Nothing changes with the man.

I know it's a low bar, but Barry looked a bit more interested when he came on, some nice runs off the ball, unfortunately no-one to play him in.

We will beat Sunderland.

The midfield is absolutely shite. Gana and Garner offer nothing. Grealish has done basically zilch. Dewsbury-Hall is tidy but does nothing. Ndiaye has been okay.

Our full-backs are an absolute embarrassment attacking wise. The team is absolutely woeful. Still at least our fans got to clap Richarlison when we were getting beat 2-0.

We are the worst football club to support in England.

He's on the bench whilst Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall do absolutely nothing.

Is there a clause where we can't buy players with pace? What a mess. We're relying on there being three worse clubs again.

The problem is no natural target man in the box. Same old....

Certainly there are 3 worse squads than ours and really we should be heading for 14th or 15th minimum but we are struggling to create meaningfully despite having some good players and also struggling without Branthwaite to keep clean sheets. Obviously a worrying combination.

We just don't seem set up right at the moment, with too much going through Grealish. Mykolenko seemed to be overlapping more tonight but doesn't often do much with it. Beto and Barry isn't ideal but, behind them, all is not well either. One win in the last 8 and my biggest worry is that Moyes will change nothing.

No accountability from him for his team selection and tactics. Perhaps all is not well in his relationship with the players and owners? Time will tell...

I see neither of their goals from set-pieces was looked at by VAR even though Pickford was hindered far more than their keeper and as usual VAR spent at least 5 minutes trying to find something to rule our goal out for. How the hell Gana wasn't given a penalty for being hit like a train???

The worry is that we are relying on luck rather than endeavour to get results.

Beto can't hold the ball up so we might as well try something else like Ndiaye, Alcaraz or even McNeil up there.

All the creative workload is on the shoulders of Grealish and Ndiaye with no outlet in the box. As many have said, try Ndiaye as a false 9. Give Dibling some minutes to ease him into the team.

But this is David Moyes, who doesn't really rotate, so expect the same lineup next time around.

VAR looks at everything. They absolutely would have reviewed the touch on Pickford and confirmed there wasn't that much in it. Pickford should have been stronger and there clearly should have been a defender in there helping him.

The challenge on Gana was the only near controversy for me. It was clumsy and gets penalised anywhere else on the pitch. But it was pretty subjective and VAR wasn't getting involved unless the ref gave it.

I must admit I don't really see the controversy over the refereeing.

Our disallowed goal was frustrating but it's hard to argue that Ndiaye wasn't having an impact on the play from an offside position.

Previously decent Moyes is shit again, previously great transfer window was terrible, starting line -p (which looked fine tbh) is now awful… blah, blah, blah! Honestly, this whinging is more predictable than Beto missing clear-cut chances!

Obviously it's a hugely disappointing result, against a decent side who are expecting European football, and who we need to get closer to if we're going to push on, but the scoreline was hugely flattering, aided by bad luck, poor finishing and more VAR nonsense. We didn't play badly and we are not awful now, any more than we were brilliant before.

What we 100% do need is a centre-forward worthy of the name or a different approach to the front line. Beto tries hard and is a physical presence but lacks any goalscoring instinct. Barry hasn't yet found his niche so maybe he needs time. Neither of those situations will fix themselves automatically.

I don't think this is an easy problem to solve, nor do I think Everton are alone in forward struggles (Spurs front line didn't do much damage here), but I do agree we need to try something different before reinforcement(s) in the window.

Maybe Ndiaye through the middle, but I worry that takes a creative player out of his favoured position; could Alcatraz do a job up front? What about Keane?

Ndiaye affecting the keeper... how? He's behind him, the ball in front of the keeper! The idiot ref saying he's offside, excuse me, have they changed the rules again?

He doesn't attempt to play the ball and has every right to stand wherever he wants. In that case, he's not offside. If the fouls on Pickford were allowed, then Everton's goal has to stand.

They did the same in the Bournemouth game, same foul, push on the keeper from a corner, goal stands. The bastards can manipulate the rules whichever way suits them.

Football has become like a card game, the cards are being dealt from the bottom of the pack = cheating.

None of that makes sense.

What is it with zonal marking being all the rage? 9 defenders in the box at times and one player gets a free header?

What's wrong with going man for man? You see it every week in every game. I think a change of system is needed.

Dewsbury-Hall is really getting picked each week regardless of how he performs. We are so static, out wide to Grealish or Ndiaye and then all stop. Play 4-4-2 and give them something to aim for in the box.

Not saying play both Beto and Barry together, but give them somebody next to them to support them. No point throwing the ball out wide, only to play it back inside, then across to the other wing and just keep doing that until we lose it, or go all the way back to Pickford for the aimless big boot to nobody anyway.

Get the ball in the box from out wide to begin with. We are toothless. Maybe Garner at right-back to provide a bit better service?

Watch it back closely and you will see no running off the ball, no overlapping full-backs. But we also need a midfielder who can thread a pass (Harrison Armstrong?) to front runners.

Yes, it's a huge risk putting all your eggs in one basket but, at some point, we're going to have to take the leap and put some serious cash on the table.

And yes, we've done very well with bargain basement buys and loans but I just feel like, with the striker, that strategy doesn't work.

And yes, someone will say "But the good players want Champions League", but surely we could have found someone and done a deal?

Grealish and Ndiaye are capable of feeding a decent striker.

The team failed on corners -- end of.

If other clubs haven't sussed out our corners as a defensive frailty for years, I don't know what they've been looking at.

Moyes, and the players, need to address it -- today.

It shows we had more possession, more passes and higher percentage on target (especially final third successful passes -- almost 3-to-1), more touches in the box and more shots. We get a forward and/or we have proper consistent officials and that's a draw, maybe even a win.

We're not going to fix the reffing bias, but a forward is doable surely???

A lot of my mates, Rob Halligan etc, all said "Have you seen who the referee is -- Pawson?" So his anti-Everton officiating has been well registered.

Call me naive but I thought a referee was (allegedly) supposed to be impartial. If that is the case, that prick should never be allowed to manage an Everton game again. Well, let's make that any game!

Moving Garner to right-back was a smart move but Dewsbury-Hall was having a poor game and should have been hooked. Giving Charlie 5 mins was ridiculous.

Pawson... no words. The foul on Gana is a foul anywhere on the pitch, so it's a penalty.

Jack and Illy were superb. Illy is breathtaking yet only the away fans sing his name. Get it going at BMD -- it will inspire him further.

It was designed to be a balance between the here and now (Grealish, Dewsbury-Hall, Travers, Alcaraz), a slightly slower burn (Barry, Dibling, Röhl), and the longer term (Aznou, Gokah).

However, fun / good though some of this business was, it has left us without the basic capabilities of all of the “smaller” clubs currently doing well -- being pace and width.

So, whilst we have a much better looking squad, it's not well equipped to hurt teams.

I suspect we'll get better but it makes hard work of the season and must be leaving Grealish and Ndiaye completely exasperated.

Instead, we spent £35M or ⅓ of the budget for someone to warm the bench. We just don't have the patience to wait 2 or 3 years for him to be of serious use.

For me, the problem was overloading central midfield where we now have Garner, Rohl, Gueye, Iroegbunam, Dewsbury-Hall, Alcaraz. And also Armstrong to come back. After all Dibling and Grealish and Ndiaye can all play the Number 10 attacking midfield role.

We arguably only needed one of Rohl, Dewsbury-Hall and Alcaraz and would look much better with the likes of Mukiele, Adingra and Mandrava who all ended up at Sunderland.

I avoided all radio and TV so as not to know the score and, just as I was leaving hospital some hours later, I passed the only TV in the place that had the sound up rather than subtitles which every other set had and I heard Tottenham thumped, then it went quiet, 3-0 at Everton so I didn't know if they did or were and when they scored. I thought that was it and then wondered when O'Brien got his.

I didn't think we were outplayed but we were certainly outscored. How different it would have been, obviously, if either Grealish or Beto had put that 2nd minute chance away.

For O'Brien's disallowed goal, I thought maybe Ndiaye was offside but are you interfering with play if the keeper chooses to stand behind you?

The interference was no different to the Spurs scorer holding Pickford's jersey when the ball goes over them on each occasion before it was headed back across.

So hoisted by our own former tactic, but either way, I was left wondering why VAR either stays out of it or gets involved with everything?

I hate to say it but one bad week when scores in other games go against us and we seem further down the table than we should be.

Just one last thought: what a goal that would have been by Beto in 53rd minute.

That's a great shout trying Röhl and Alcaraz in midfield, but you know as well as me there's not a prayer it's going to happen.

Dewsbury-Hall was his buy and, while he started the first few games, Leeds apart, well since then he's been anonymous.

It's obvious he doesn't rate Alcaraz so forget him coming in and getting a run of games -- Moyes is not for turning.

I'd love to know why our recruitment team cant spot players with pace but they can easily spot them without any.

But they also need to demand an apology over the VAR decision to disallow our perfectly good goal.

If any other team had scored our goal it would have been given and if we had scored Spurs 2nd goal it would have been disallowed.

The corruption is deeper than just Pawson, he is doing the Premier Leagues bidding.

Spurs games have had a definite bias towards them in recent years and something is very very wrong. I'm sick of it and as soon as I saw Pawsom was the ref my heart sank. An absolute disgrace.

I think there's a long and frustrating winter ahead of us, though if we can snaffle a half-decent striker in January, maybe on loan, then things will improve.

I would love Moyes to shuffle the pack, but it's not his style. He'll only do that when he absolutely has to.

The referee was as usual, a 24 carat cunt, even acknowledged by some Spurs fans in that they couldn't believe their luck with what they got away with!

I assume every incident of impeding of goalies will now end in free kicks, or I am being 'naive'? No, I won't be holding my breath either.

Quite why the same degree of impeding the goalkeeper is not called for Spurs' second goal is a more of mystery.

I am not sure what Dewsbury-Hall offers. He doesn't score or assist. Next match, either Ndiaye should be the striker with Alcaraz behind him. Rohl and Gana in the middle with Garner at right-back. Dewsbury-Hall at right wing.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned about my brother, 15 years younger than me, being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. There were several loving comments from ToffeWebbers. Thank you.

Unfortunately, Ken died 5 weeks after the prognosis. We have memorials during the next week in a South Australia coastal town, where he and his wonderful Singapore wife, Carol, lived and then in Canberra, where he spent most of his working life in IT.

A great Evertonian since I first took him to Goodison Park in 1977. There will be lots of blues regalia there and his wife insists -- casual dress but nothing red. True Blue Ken.

Very sorry for your loss, Bob. Rest in peace to your dear brother, Ken. I'll have a beer for him here in Melbourne tonight.