Maybe. But too many of our regulars were well off the pace today. Just one of those games (I hope).

We need to be able to rise above these ‘perfect storm’ games.
We had to shut the game down in the first 15, their players and crowd were going to be up for anything - a tackle, a foul and clearance - it didn’t need much for them to be baying for blood, then they feed off each other. That first 15 needed control of the ball and territory and maturity, we didn’t match them and so by not really doing anything they gained confidence.

Ta - Updated up top ...

Absolutely dire. Only time will tell if this is critical but a loss to the bottom club has all the hallmarks of prior seasons. Jorginho terrible as was Ødegaard and many others.

That Everton performance speaks volumes about Frank Lampard as a manager.

930 am on a cold Philadelphia Saturday morning and my weekend is f.. ing ruined
I was dead apprehensive before the game and my fears were well founded
New manager bounce
Dyches physical approach… keep tight on our wide men and if they get space foul them
Our poxy record at Goodison

We were poor Martinelli and Odegard were weak and ineffectual
Saliba seems to have lost a bit since the WC
I wasn’t impressed much with White either

Hopefully this is a mid season blip and our manager and players get us back on track next week against Brentford

I’d give it a refresh too
Tomiyasu in at RB and Trossard to start in place of Martinelli

The problem we had is that Everton shut our widemen out of the game by doubling up on them, which is going to be an increasingly familiar tactic, but we had no idea how to counter that by exploiting the space left elsewhere on the pitch.

Zinchenko was literally our most influential player and the only one who looked like he might make something happen.

Back to the drawing board.

The thing that always annoys me about games like that is if you had exactly the same build up, Dyche new manager etc but the game was at The Emirates we’d have walked over them.

…and the professionalism of the Everton players if they can down tools for one manager and raise their efforts for the next

No idea what the Partey for Jorginho sub was all about, unless he was suffering a bit with his injury.

Arsenal's 'finishing' today would serve Wales well right now in Cardiff.

Or just a bad day at the office? Everton did what they set out to do very well. We'll be up for City and hopefully they won't pump high balls into our box ....

Partey seems to be our magic charm. Take him off and that happens.

Nine days since the last game
Plenty of time to prepare …you know what a Dyche team will do
Play tight,double up on the wide men … go 1:9:1 when we have the ball
Professional fouls all over the park
We looked so one dimensional compared to the thrilling display against Utd
Aargh

Fair point, Rich.

Could also suggest that the players didn’t understand or couldn’t do what Lampard wanted of them.

I’ve got Brentford vs Soham on over here
I know Soham are poor but Brentford are on fire …two up at half time
They play with so much energy, skill and commit a lot of men forward
Nine games unbeaten well coached and well drilled
We have our hands full next week
We need a marked improvement and a performance like the away game at Brentford

Today reminded me very much of the Bolton away games under fat Sam.

You knew that it was going to be a battle in a tight ground with a voiciferous partisan crowd and that slick possession football alone wasn't going to be enough and that opposition set pieces and corners would be a big threat.

Another thing we lacked to day was any real individual brilliance. Saka was kept as quite as he has been all season and Martinelli was off his game again (neither helped by Everton doubling up on them which is something we are going to have to live with and find a way to overcome)

Ødegaard was off colour and Trossard was both good and bad, often in the same passage of play.

Shame about today. I think Arteta needs an effective plan to counteract the doubling up on Saka and Martinelli as we are starting to see it more and more. Lets hope it's just a blip. I have to admit I didnt even notice Jorghinio.

Credit where it’s due, Everton played very well today. Their intensity carried the day. We played as well as we were allowed.

Let’s hope they do it other teams.

We dropped points away to a good Everton side today. Man City dropped points to an awful Everton side at home earlier this season

You realise we will take far more stick than Liverpool or Chelsea are for being mid table

Wow
The feeling of losing a league game is horrible.
Absolutely remarkable that it has taken us to February to lose another league game.
I *%^@*** hate this Everton team and their stadium.
3 times in a row we have lost to this bloody team again under Arteta at their ground.
We have been brilliant just brilliant this season but I have never felt comfortable with people throwing the favourites tag at us.
I'm still not taking nothing for granted re champions league though it would a capitulation of massive proportions.
I didn't have a good feeling about today at all.
Sods law we has to be the first recipients of the new nanager bounce.
We didn't start well or impose ourselves from the first whistle which we needed to do to shut that bloody crowd up. Saka scores if the defender isn't on the line but we weren't good enough today.
Think we were rattled today.
Let's Hope for a favour tomorrow but can't see it from those scummy spurs.
Back on the horse next week lads.

Oh lawdy ..... batten down the hatches ; Jack Reacher's in town

.

Good comparison .... Sean Dyke with his gingery , shaven skull , voice like a concrete mixer with a crook bearing would have been the last bloke in the world I'd have wanted to take over Everton at this time .

Like Big Sam [ I don't subscribe to the Fat Sam because I like the guy ] Dyke will produce a few nova moments early on then lose a succession of games to the likes Wolves , Southampton and Bournemouth and get the a**se halfway through next season .

Liverpool’s fall has been remarkable. They’ll complain about injuries but they had about 3 seasons straight without picking one up. For me it’s clear that they’ve let their squad go stale particularly in midfield where Klopp generally picked 3 tactical workhorses who had very little responsibility of goals and assists but did a lot of work picking up second balls from their quite often very direct football.

https://twitter.com/lee17mason/status/1 ... 9r_yJZrF0Q

In the 4 games we’ve dropped points this season we’ve been on the end of at best very debatable decisions and at worst, some shockers.
This is a penalty, Maupay is not close enough to the ball to be shielding it, this is a body check and a foul.
Newcastle was he shirt pull on Gabriel - clear pen
Saints was the pen on Jesus and the red card bizarrely never given for hatchet man Lyanco
Man U obviously the Martinelli goal which PGMOL have since agreed was the wrong decision

Clearly the performance wasn’t good enough today but that penalty could have got us a point. Whether you think our performance deserved a point or not is irrelevant really as that foul deserved a penalty

Hard to take a loss nowadays
Positive being we are still 5 points clear of City

Martinelli’s performances have dropped of late, I’m seeing people say having Jesus back will help him as they had more interchanging that Martinelli does with Nketiah. It’s probably not far wrong.
Martinelli and Ben White could probably do with a break for the next game.

Martinelli sitting right on the touchline too much makes him easy to defend against. He's clearly been instructed to keep that width because Zinchenko and Xhaka are occupying the inside left position.

Yes that’s what Arteta wants him to do, it allows quick switches of play to get him in 1v1 situations v the full back. Recently he has two good 1v1 full backs to play against in trippier and wan-bissaka, thought he’d have more of a chance against Coleman today but he’s still a bit off it

Casemiro is a definite red, can’t put your hands on the throat of an opponent. But there is context to the altercation after the Palace player needlessly barged Anthony off the pitch in a cheap shot (although the less said about Anthony feigning injury only to jump up and sprint in to the melee the better)

Maybe if Man U get this sort of treatment from opponents and refs for the next 10 years they’ll understand what we felt like for often being punished either more harshly or for the reaction rather than punishing the provocation.

English refs are still far too easily swayed by the plucky underdog being ‘allowed’ to level the playing field by leaving the boot in. The ones I see more of now is a bit of a kick after the player plays the pass, not enough to go down and refs will see it and play advantage but not log it as a foul/indiscretion. Meanwhile it just nibbles away at the attacking player trying to injure or get a response.

Having to hope for a spurs result is difficult to accept.

Which record gets equalled first, an invincible season like we did in 03/04 or scoring in every game like we did in 01/02? Most would point to the invincibles but I’ve always thought the scoring in every game was also an incredible feat - albeit less chance of a trophy.
Teams can have tough games and decide they can’t win it so take the 0-0 draw

When teams double up on your wingers, as is increasingly the case now, then you need to adapt your play to counteract that. Teams know that if they can take Saka and Martinelli out of the game they can get a result.

If opponents have two players on each winger then there must be space in the middle of the park to exploit

Maybe play orthodox fullbacks who overlap, thus creating space for the wingers, and move Zinny to centre midfield (he is probably more technically gifted than our other midfielders anyway) to exploit the added space.

Saw Carragher make the a point about Liverpool’s CB without Van Dijk….saying it’s easy to follow the leader in defence but judge a defender when that leader isn’t there. Matip and Gomez looked awful.

Made me think who is the main leader and organised of our defence?

I do think the tactic (or at least, not varying it enough), as well as the quality of opposition and his form, comes into it. If he's so far wide a) he's too far from goal to be an immediate threat, so the opposition has time to double up on him when he comes inside. b) he never goes outside, and Zinchenko doesn't overlap, which make it even more predictable.

I think that’s it, at the moment when our wide men are doubled up on our full backs stay deeper still not making that much use of the extra man. If they overlap then you get the 2v2 in wide areas and whilst not a numerical advantage in the middle there is a lot more space.

The other way is just move the ball much quicker once you’ve drawn the two defenders out in the wide area. The opposite wide man would be in 20-25 yards of space if he’s hugging the other touchline and it moves the defence. Relatively static defences where you’re just doing 10 yard shuttle runs covering a small zone because teams are playing in front of you is pretty basic stuff. Quick switches force the entire defence to shift 25 yards to the side, much easier to find a chink in the armour and space

Hi Rich,

I noticed yesterday most of our play was evolving down the right with Saka and Ødegaard whilst Martinelli was standing all alone out on the left in acres of space. By the time we shuffled the ball across to him he was doubled up on.

What we needed was someone to hit big diagonals to switch play quickly. I am pretty sure both White and Saliba can hit those long passes.

10 home games left for us. No reason to think we can’t win them all, unlikely to but it should be the aim because we will drop points on the road.
10 home wins takes us to 80 points. Then you’re looking at maybe 4 out of 8 away wins could be good enough for the title.

If we did that City would need to take 47 points from 17 games which is 15 wins, 2 draws and zero defeats.

I won’t hold my breathe for the media outrage over Sean Dyche, kicking every ball, being out of his technical area most of the game, arguing with the 4th official, shouting all game and waving his arms around like a mad man….?

Of course there is nothing wrong with it so these pundits need to explain why they have a problem with Arteta doing it but no one else