Yeh overhead kick wasn’t it, dangerous play... it was harsh but I wasn’t complaining! We need to keep him quiet and not give hourihane the freedom of the park like we did against Barnsley last year.
Pennington looks great some games but has had some shockers... the Sheffield United game it looked like his confidence was shot to pieces. None of our centre halves have shown the kind of consistency we would hope for this season.
I think a lot of the problems with our defence in general but particularly with CHs is Cooper (This isnt having a go at Cooper). Last season we had a settled back 4 in the main with Pontus & Bartley doing the business week in week out, with Bartley scoring a few goals too. This season we saw the strange method of choosing a captain, which I think unsettled Pontus, Pontus not having Bartley plus a new set up. We havent seen a settled back 4 and on a lot of cases we saw different combinations for every match. Is Coops the 2nd best CH? sometimes but I believe Pennington would be better for stability and would be good with Pontus in a settled back 4. Is Coops good enough to be skipper? I dont know but he seems to be respected by the players, but is that enough. Which combination at the back has had the best results so far this season? I think Anita did well whilst Berardi was out, I think CBJ was good at the start, Ayling has been great and shocking, Cooper great but cost us a couple of goals when he tries to be Maradona. Pontus hasnt hit last seasons form still, but signs of it against Midds & Barnsley, Berardi has been solid and stupid, O'Shaughnessy has been competent which probably gives him the edge so far as dont think hes had a bad game No goals from defenders unlike last season
Yeh the lack of goals from defenders is interesting. Can’t recall Pontus having a chance... Cooper has had stacks and can’t hit the target with them...can’t help feeling they’ve fallen to the wrong guy - but then he’s the one getting on the end of them. As for captain material? Well there’s a difference between being popular and respected/admired/showing leadership. I think he’s definitely the former but whether he’s any of the latter I genuinely don’t know. He seems to have times where he either sees the red mist or loses his head for some reason and makes a stupid decision... needless handballs, stupid sendings off. Not really leading by example.
Milky last season Bartley went up and got on the end of a few and think he finished 3rd top scorer, that's how much we relied on Wood. This season we have 4 players with 5 league goals each and 1 on 4 & 1 on 3, but none for a defender. As you say Coops has taken the Bartley role for set pieces but failed to notch even though came close twice. Difference between Coops and Bartley accepted, but to be fair to Coops he puts a shift in mostly, so needs some coaching on scoring. If you compare Coops to Terry theres a massive gulf because Terry is a born leader, warrier, inspirational captain as well asa top CH. Rio said last season after watching Pennington for the England U20s that Everton had got a future England captain, he also commented after watching Pennington play for the Everton first team on live tv, and called him a Rolls Royce. I tend to listen to players like Rio, Woodgate & Terry as they were the best Chs since Butcher. So Pennington should be a starter, Pontis skipper, Coops on the bench
One thing that puzzles my is why would Everton even loan Pennington out.They are awful and have one of the worst defences in the PL and surely cant afford to loan out a lad thats that good?
The Dutch geezer obviously lost the plot when he had 8 months to line up a striker as he knew Lakaku was leaving? Dont forget they sold Stones too and left with the old geezer ex Sheff United?
I think that TC is taking the view that Pennington is a short-term stopgap who will be going back to his club at the end of the season. He will certainly improve with more game time, but in the longer term, it will be Everton that will benefit, not us. So a parochial view is the right thing, IMO. If Pennington is performing at a similar level to Pontus, Coops or Nessi (see what I did there?), then he should be last choice - our own permy players should come first. In other words, he has to be MUCH better than the permy players to get a game (assuming all available).
That'll be the imact of our wonderous set piece coach who has had over a month now to make a difference
You make a good point WJ but the alternate view is for the here and now. If he is better and gives us more chance of getting promoted then he should play. You never know, if he gets caught up with the fervour of a packed ER crowd and we do go up, he might prefer to stay permanently with us in the prem.
Lee, the coach can only set out the system to set up the chances, it’s down to the player to finish them.
I quite agree. It's a difficult choice, but I'm saying that it looks like he's made his choice in that respect. I truly believe that Pennington is now 4th choice. Actually, I did, right up until Nessi came on as a DM. I'm still thinking about that one.
Nessi, ah I see what you did, good shout. But re Pennington Im of the opinion if hes good enough he should be in as I see him as No2 behind Pontus, but you have seen more live than me this season. Nessi as a DM on Saturday was a joke unless Klich is finished at the club, or Nessi is seen as a better option than Klich making him now 5th choice. We need to know whT the hell has happened here
Evening As far as I can see Nessi (like it) has done very little wrong this season at CB or on Saturday, he's going to be a class act I reckon. Leaving Bartley out of it, how many goals had Pontus or Coops scored at this stage last year? Genuine question. Actually how many had Bartley got at this stage?
See Antonsson scored again tonight and hit the post too. Always thought he was a viable plan B - know L1 is easier but a natural's a natural. Look at Antenucci.
