Match Report and Mom v Everton

Neil Dawson

UTC Legend
Cherry Toffee Tasty Treat

It’s never dull against the blue half of Liverpool is it? An occasion of attacking football with a scant eye on defence normally unfolds before our eyes and today was no different. Sending offs, penalties, four goals...plenty of misses and an epic comeback...a normal day at the office for this fixture.

It was no surprise that following a 100% start there was no change to Eddies line up. The bench serving as a reminder as to how far this club has come reading like a who’s who of international football...and Franno. His side started with great confidence as well with clever interchanging of passes and a high press. Smith and Fraser were particularly prominent with their runs.

Chances were at a premium though but when the first one came it couldn’t have been clearer. Unsurprisingly Smith and Fraser were involved with darting runs and when the latter found Wilson eight yards out and unmarked the top score uncharacteristically curled over. King then headed wide from Brooks cross and the purple patch hadn’t yielded

The match turned scrappy and tense with too many misplaced passes from both teams. The gap between our central midfield and central forwards became too stretched and with Brooks and Fraser doubled up on, Everton started enjoying a lot of possession. The toffees lack pace up front though and it was only Richarlison that was getting any joy and he wasn’t on the pitch for the second half. Following a tussle with Smith the two clashed heads but the Brazilian seemed to flick his and Probert brandished the red.

King twice had chances to feed Fraser on the break as Bournemouth tried to expose the ten men but fatally hesitated and the moments went.

HT Bournemouth 0 Everton 0

The second half saw Everton playing on the break and looking more effective as a result. Siggurdson was at the centre of most things looking to feed anyone getting forward at pace. Bournemouth were overplaying as is often the way against ten men and starting to labour. The crowd echoed the tension on the pitch and it all went horribly wrong when Everton took the lead. Faffing lost the ball high up and Everton broke to WALCOTT who outsprinted the whole defence and fired too easily past Begovic at his near post.

This wasn’t going to plan. Eddie looked on in disbelief and worse was to come when Smith tugged back Walcott in an identical position to the one he scored from. Probert evened up the numbers on the pitch as Smith trudged off for an early shower. Eddie turned to Jordan Ibe to try and rescue the situation but within minutes the whole team were shouting at the poor sub as he switched off from a set piece to allow the cross in. KEANE is a good presence arriving onto a looped cross and Begovic couldn’t keep his header out.

So the Gods of fortune had set the comeback kings the ultimate test. Momentum gone and ten men left.... surely this was a test to far? Nope. The team that doesn’t know the meaning of ‘heads down’ came back again. First King released Wilson with a glorious through ball but the hitman looked to have been pushed as he fired at Pickford. King tried again with a clipped cross and Wilson was flattened by Baines in the box. KING despatched the penalty with aplomb past England’s penalty hero Pickford.

Game on. Wilson was terrorising Keane down the channels and Cook had arrived for Surman and was running at the heart of Everton. It was coming and when Ibe swung in a corner and Wilson’s imperious leap and header came back off the post AKE was on hand for a rebound job.

Only a searing volley from Gosling troubled the scorers after this before a nasty protracted treatment for Keane following a head clash took the passion out of he game. An insipid six minute injury time passed without incident.

FT Bournemouth 2 Everton 2

Begovic 6 - At fault for first..great save from Baines made up for it.

Smith 7 - Barnstorming and in line for Mom before harsh red.
Cook 7 - watchful and strong and an overhead kick nearmiss to boot.
Ake 7- another great showing at the back and intelligent positioning to score.
Daniels 7 - more defensive than normal but a great showing.

Fraser 7 - great runs and bustle. Played three different positions.
Surman 6 - some dodgy passing but watchful positioning.
Gosling 6 - good effort but vision and quality lacking.
Brooks 6 - some nice touches but largely quiet.

King 7 - showing a new range of passing and some strong running.
Wilson 8 - never let the Everton defence settle and involved in both goals.

Mom - No goal but a workmanlike performance, great channel running and hold up play and two chances creating goals gives it to Wilson ahead of Ake and Smith for me.

Verdict.
It’s like a stuck record really. Concede softly then start the miracle working. That’s the Bournemouth script. Interesting to hear both Howe and King talking about while it’s great to keep coming back it does actually mean you have to go behind. Made me wonder if Howe was banging on about it after the game as they sounded very similar.

It shows team spirit and it’s thrilling to watch but Eddie will want a quieter life this year. I think it was a game too far for three of his midfield with only Fraser playing close to his summer best. Brooks looked a little peripheral to me and I can’t believe either Gosling or Surman should start before Lewis Cook a player that can travel with the ball and pass it some distance. Hopefully he will start for Surman next week. The lack of midfield grip meant the game was disjointed in places and we looked a little three lines again. Better teams exploit this and Everton came close today.

On a good news front there looks like real synergy between King and Wilson. I was looking forward to Brooks but will need to see him again I think. The team are also working much harder than this time last year. The worst spell came with the extra man bizarrely. The two spells with equal numbers proved more fruitful

Seven points is an excellent return and sets us up nicely for a free hit game next week at the Bridge. Hopefully we can repeat last seasons result and skip ecstatically into the international break with unbridled joy. It may be tough though......
 
Having seen the 2nd Everton goal on MOTD I’m not convinced Ibe was at fault. If anything he was defending the other side of the pitch but was the only player to react to the danger.

Of course a lot of our fans will make Ibe guilty by association but that’s what happens to any of our players who aren’t the favoured ones. Had Ibe stayed on the far side and the near side defenders reacted correctly ....well actually we’d probably still blame Ibe!
 
Having seen the 2nd Everton goal on MOTD I’m not convinced Ibe was at fault. If anything he was defending the other side of the pitch but was the only player to react to the danger.

Of course a lot of our fans will make Ibe guilty by association but that’s what happens to any of our players who aren’t the favoured ones. Had Ibe stayed on the far side and the near side defenders reacted correctly ....well actually we’d probably still blame Ibe!

Not one fan had a go at Ibe for the goal. You would have to have a large knowledge of Eddies training plan to know. I didn’t spot it...all I saw was Gook and Gosling going through him and the others giving him the long stare. Watching on tv I can only imagine his job was to go ten yards from ball and track any runner. He didn’t and the cross was unopposed
. Nothing else it can be.
 
Brooks has one game on and one game off. Inconsistency is probably expected from someone so young. Already showing more promise than Ibe did though. Smith and Fraser again looking the more dangerous/creative of our team. It'll be important to keep them both fit until someone like Stanislas is back and ready to compete.

Wilson is an enigma. We all know he has the ability. He has added physically to his play but he needs to finish. We can't afford him to have one or two sights at goal before getting one. Him and King seem to be two individuals rather than a unit still but there are times when they combine well.

We'll probably see Lerma and Rico mid week. It'll be intresting to see how they do. I have a feeling that Rico will be a switch with Daniels against Chelsea, but Lerma? I would rather see Cook at this point.
 
I`m still not convinced with the Wilson King partnership. Callum just lacks a little in his passing which at this level is needed and allows the defence to recover on occasions.
 
Hmm. Everton have no pace? Walcott looked pretty speedy to me! Begovic I thought was excellent. The beaten at the near post thing is overplayed. It was drilled in and he had v little time to react. Charlie struggled with Walcotts pace although good going forward.
Gosling I thought was good. He covers vast amounts of ground and his first touch was better than usual. Callum missed two sitters so wouldn't get an 8, and I thought Ake had his worst game in a long time, all over the place positionally. Personally thought Cook was better today.
All in all a good point. Everton are going to be better this season than last, and great character again.
 
Good report mate.I think you're right about Ibe,whose job it might be at dangerous free kicks,is to get close for the short one.I thought he looked good going forward though,with some good crosses
 
Steve Cook was going absolutely mental at Ibe for the goal. As said above none of the fans were blaming him.

As Neil says perhaps it was something expected in the training ground routine. I didn't understand the grief he got either. He came on and adopted a right sided advance midfield role and was clearly told to press high up the pitch. Suddenly he's expected to cover a runner in what was basically a left back position on the other side of the pitch?
 
But as with corners and dangerous free kicks,we usually keep ten men back,so I don't know,maybe that was his job to try and cut out the quick short one.And he hadn't been on long,so had fresh legs
 
Pickford sharp low clearances to runners gave Everton several counter attack opportunities, notably the one that got Smith sent off. Compare with our sometimes ponderous work when Bego has the ball. Time to leave Fraser up when we are defending corners to give us on outball and ensure opponents leave 2 back to mark him?

100% agree. Offers nothing in defence of a set piece but if found quickly after one could be deadly.
 
As Neil says perhaps it was something expected in the training ground routine. I didn't understand the grief he got either. He came on and adopted a right sided advance midfield role and was clearly told to press high up the pitch. Suddenly he's expected to cover a runner in what was basically a left back position on the other side of the pitch?


When you watch the replay he was positioned closest to the ball. He looks away expecting a cross then misses the short one. Even after seeing that he makes a half arsed attempt to get to it. That was why Cook and Gosling went for him. One of those things players understand and we don’t as much. I have got a mate who is an ex pro and he always spots things like this when I don’t. They will have had hours of practicing it a week throughout their lives.
 
Our midfield was sadly missing in the first half, with neither Surman or Gosling creating anything through the middle. I can’t believe that Lewis C can be left on the bench with his obvious creative quality and he made a difference when brought on late in the game. Young Brooksy is also a fantastic creative talent who will get better with time so we need to be patient with him. Lewis and Brooksy are vital to our squad if we are to progress in this league.
 
Many occasions, particularly first half yesterday, we had a goal kick and Everton knew we simply wouldn’t hit it long.

They pressed so high they had ten men in our half, often leaving a gaping hole down the middle for King, Wilson, Fraser to run through... but we didn’t try it once.

I want us to play out from the back, but Begovic was particularly slow yesterday and his passing was off, often behind the man and slow, which gave Everton even more of a chance to close down and prevent us playing out from the back.

Perhaps just hitting one ball, would have made Everton drop ten yards and open things up a little to play from the back?
 
Our midfield was sadly missing in the first half, with neither Surman or Gosling creating anything through the middle. I can’t believe that Lewis C can be left on the bench with his obvious creative quality and he made a difference when brought on late in the game. Young Brooksy is also a fantastic creative talent who will get better with time so we need to be patient with him. Lewis and Brooksy are vital to our squad if we are to progress in this league.

The only difference Cook made when he came on was giving the ball away countless times.

Took 10 minutes to get into the game and was only on for quarter of an hour.

He started to string some passes together at that point, but before then it felt like he’d fail to pass five yards.

Stats could well prove me wrong, but can’t remember many misplaced passes from Surman yesterday despite the grief he was getting from the stands?
 
When you watch the replay he was positioned closest to the ball. He looks away expecting a cross then misses the short one. Even after seeing that he makes a half arsed attempt to get to it. That was why Cook and Gosling went for him. One of those things players understand and we don’t as much. I have got a mate who is an ex pro and he always spots things like this when I don’t. They will have had hours of practicing it a week throughout their lives.

King and Wilson were closest surely (Wilson was still looking in the opposite direction) Ibe reacted before those two but only because Ake and Surman were screaming at someone to close them down. As you say his reaction was half arsed and he doesn't strike me as the sharpest tool in the box at times if indeed it was his job. I'm not sure I would pin the blame solely on him however, we are also ignoring how Keane managed to get his head on the ball.
 
The other thing when we have a goal kick is that Surman drops in to make a back three and the full backs push forwards with the wingers sitting in. It happens like clockwork.

Two observations are that it leaves a massive gap in defensive midfield if we lose the ball which we often do and also that Brooks understands it so well and all the other Eddie type things off the ball. Ibe doesn’t and Eddie is forever telling him where to be. I think that’s why Brooks is a rare phenomenon...an Eddie signing that doesn’t have to learn our way for a season.
 

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