Everton 1-1 Leicester City - Wednesday 27th January, 2021

[Rick]

This will do us 

[RandoEFC+]

Just now, Stan said:

Weirdly I'll take the draw despite probably being good for all 3 on second half showing. Thought we fucked it at the last second with their corner. 

Thought Tielemans was good for Man of the match. Barnes did well, mind. 

You definitely would have been good value for the win. I'm happy to get a point because teams like Leicester are already a bad match up for us and even worse with Doucoure and Allan missing. At the same time, we've shithoused a fair few wins from games like that this season so in part I suppose you can be glad that we didn't get you again.

Davies and Gomes both have their uses but they barely break up any play against a team with midfielders like Leicester because they're not that fast or strong and their defensive attributes aren't brilliant, although I think Davies is developing well in that area.

It's a shame because our defenders are pretty much all bang in form and we have decent quality up front but in games like this, we don't have the midfield to transition comfortably into attack and we don't really have loads of pace in our front three for an out ball.

It's a pity that people will (accurately) paint this as Pickford costing us points with a mistake. He was starting to put a decent run together, probably the first foot he's put wrong since the derby incident. Hopefully he can tell himself he was unsighted and the wet conditions didn't help him and isolate it as a blip.

[Devil-Dick Willie]

5 minutes ago, Rick said:

This will do us 

Been an outrageously good week for you lot, gotta cap it with a win though or it's all wasted. 

[Lucas]

14 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

You definitely would have been good value for the win. I'm happy to get a point because teams like Leicester are already a bad match up for us and even worse with Doucoure and Allan missing. At the same time, we've shithoused a fair few wins from games like that this season so in part I suppose you can be glad that we didn't get you again.

Davies and Gomes both have their uses but they barely break up any play against a team with midfielders like Leicester because they're not that fast or strong and their defensive attributes aren't brilliant, although I think Davies is developing well in that area.

It's a shame because our defenders are pretty much all bang in form and we have decent quality up front but in games like this, we don't have the midfield to transition comfortably into attack and we don't really have loads of pace in our front three for an out ball.

It's a pity that people will (accurately) paint this as Pickford costing us points with a mistake. He was starting to put a decent run together, probably the first foot he's put wrong since the derby incident. Hopefully he can tell himself he was unsighted and the wet conditions didn't help him and isolate it as a blip.

I did't see enough to judge but was going to ask what happened to the Everton that started the season playing good, attacking football?

Is it just that because Allen and Doucoure aren't in the team or is there more to it?

I ask as we have you this time next week and I'm hoping you play a bit more reserved then as well.

[Rick]

16 minutes ago, Devil-Dick Willie said:

Been an outrageously good week for you lot, gotta cap it with a win though or it's all wasted. 

Having two important players back will help us massively. Like you say, a win is great and we are four points off the top. 

[RandoEFC+]

8 minutes ago, Lucas said:

I did't see enough to judge but was going to ask what happened to the Everton that started the season playing good, attacking football?

Is it just that because Allen and Doucoure aren't in the team or is there more to it?

I ask as we have you this time next week and I'm hoping you play a bit more reserved then as well.

Our first 11 can play like that but since the Liverpool game we've not had them all available at once and we've lost momentum with all the chopping and changing. The weaknesses I listed above only get significantly reduced if we have Allan and Doucoure running the midfield. We've sort of evolved throughout the season. I wouldn't expect us to suddenly play like we did at the start of the season any time soon. Although I would expect us to be less makeshift than we were in the return fixture where we played a back five with Davies and Iwobi as wing backs.

[Stan]

47 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

You definitely would have been good value for the win. I'm happy to get a point because teams like Leicester are already a bad match up for us and even worse with Doucoure and Allan missing. At the same time, we've shithoused a fair few wins from games like that this season so in part I suppose you can be glad that we didn't get you again.

Davies and Gomes both have their uses but they barely break up any play against a team with midfielders like Leicester because they're not that fast or strong and their defensive attributes aren't brilliant, although I think Davies is developing well in that area.

It's a shame because our defenders are pretty much all bang in form and we have decent quality up front but in games like this, we don't have the midfield to transition comfortably into attack and we don't really have loads of pace in our front three for an out ball.

It's a pity that people will (accurately) paint this as Pickford costing us points with a mistake. He was starting to put a decent run together, probably the first foot he's put wrong since the derby incident. Hopefully he can tell himself he was unsighted and the wet conditions didn't help him and isolate it as a blip.

I'm guessing that 2nd half showing from you guys compensates for the lack of midfield quality you had then. Really unexpected from our perspective that you basically set up like Mourinho would to protect a lead. Defend, defend, defend and try the odd counter or odd set-piece goal like Gomes or Calvert-Lewin nearly had at the end. 

I think had we had Vardy in, we might have got the 3 points. Perez has his uses but as a lone striker up against Mina and Keane there's only so much he can do. Vardy would have occupied them more and been more of a danger given all the good positions we found ourselves in. But then having said that, if you had Doucoure in, you might have pushed more and not been so defensive.

[RandoEFC+]

I don't know if Vardy would have had much joy against our deep line but it can't have been less than Perez. Like I said, we don't have the pace up front or the midfielders who can turn on a dime and leave their man for dead that we'd need to go head to head with teams like Leicester who do, without getting mullered. 

[Guest]

Should pickford still be England number one? Haven't heard of many Pope errors this season. However pickford has been consistent for England. 

[Dan+]

Thought it was a really steady performance from us. Everton incredibly defensive, I didn't realise it would be quite as one sided as that in the second half.