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PL Gameweek 31 Fixtures - 15-17th April, 2023

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By Stan
in Premier League Match Day Chat

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RandoEFC+

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What a load of rubbish. And I have to say a lot of it goes back to Dyche's mystifying team selection. I was surprised to see Maupay start but assumed it was Iwobi, Gueye and Garner in the middle with Gray out wide. Perhaps he thought he'd get more running out of Maupay than Simms against a Fulham team who like to knock it around the back. Instead he matched up our two-man midfield of Garner and Gueye against Fulham's and they got completely overrun. Fulham quickly imposed themselves on the match and took a deserved lead. At this point, Dyche makes the tactical switch to the 4-5-1 I assumed we were lining up with at the start. An instant improvement and we equalise within 10 minutes. Maupay then takes too long over a one-on-one chance and Gray doesn't connect properly with a cross just before half-time. There's no way we've been the better side today or deserved anything but the momentum was with us at that point and you have to take your chances, we didn't. A 2-1 lead at half-time, and we can shut up shop and probably win the game. We carried our momentum into the first few minutes of the second half but because we're a poor side with a mistake in us, we give the ball away and get hit on the break. The response at this point is gutless, the players visibly lose confidence and start hiding from the ball, as has increasingly become the custom with Everton when facing any sort of adversity in recent years. The stadium goes flat because we've seen this a hundred times as Everton fans now. Years of terrible work in the transfer market and at the negotiating table mean that as soon as we're missing 3-4 first team players (Coleman, Doucoure, Onana, Calvert-Lewin), what's left on our bench is Begovic, some spare defenders, Tom Davies, whichever one of Simms and Maupay hasn't started the game, and a few academy players.

We're not definitely relegated off the back of that result but we've been schooled quite comfortably by a mid-table side with nothing to play for. At this point in the season, that's worrying, and it certainly shifts the needle the wrong way for us. Aside from Bournemouth at home on the final day, that was our most "favourable" remaining fixture and we've wasted it. Dyche had some big calls to make in the team selection and he really fluffed it today. We should have started with a 451 and Simms should be preferred over Maupay who has been yet another terrible piece of recruitment from us. You can't excuse the players either who let their heads drop when they were one goal behind at home with 40 minutes to go against a less than formidable opponent. That's taken me from feeling probably 70/30 confident that we'll dig ourselves out to about 50/50.

Some positives (clutching at straws) ahead of the run-in. Palace are absolutely out of danger now and Wolves aren't far behind them. We have to go to both in our last seven games including Palace next, so hopefully we can benefit from a bit of an "on the beach" performance from one or both. Danjuma has ironically and hilariously done us a huge favour by equalising against Bournemouth and just about keeping them in the mix. Calvert-Lewin has trained without interruption for over a week and should be set to return to the fold soon. Whether Dyche will regret not risking him today, I don't know, but it sounds like he's close and by god do we need a goalscorer. 

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Happy Blue

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3 minutes ago, Redcanuck said:

Great day.  Newcastle and Spurs both lose.  Brighton has to be considered to finish top four now.

 

2 minutes ago, Redcanuck said:

Great day.  Newcastle and Spurs both lose.  Brighton has to be considered to finish top four now.

 

2 minutes ago, Redcanuck said:

Great day.  Newcastle and Spurs both lose.  Brighton has to be considered to finish top four now.

So good you said it 3 times lol :ph34r:

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Bluewolf

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15 minutes ago, Cicero said:

Anything remaining that resembled a football team has now completely vanished under Lampard. 

Club is broken. Mudryk is our joint highest assister in the league. 

Just pitiful.... The only way we can score is from a very lucky deflection, as soon as Brighton got their second I knew we were fucked, we would never get two lucky deflections in the same match and that's the only way we would score again.. 

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Dave

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Given they were going to lose nine nil more than once again according to their last manager, Gary O'Neil has to he in discussion for manager of the year if Arsenal significantly bottle the title.

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