I didn't think it was actually that bad. At least we created a couple of chances and we were fairly solid at the back (although R Bennett should not have stood off and given space for the first goal). Everton are a serious contender for top 4 this season if this game is typical of the way Martinez has got them playing. Makes you realise how limited Moyes is as a manager. The problem is that any kind of defeat now (or home draw against the likes of Hull) gets an inevitable response - Hughton out - because we've been so poor so often for over a calendar year. We give off the vibe of dead men walking. And I doubt if Gutierrez is the answer.
The answer to what? Have we been seriously linked to him? He would certainly bolster our resources at CB. For all his potential, Ryan Bennett has cost us two goals recently, and compared unfavourably yesterday with the even younger John Stones. We could do with another experienced CB and IMO Gutierrez would fit the bill, more so than Heitinga for example.
Gary Lineker acknowledged that we created chances and if you look at Everton's home record it is hardly surprising that we came away with nothing.We can't look to the nine sides not involved in the fight for our points,we may get three or four at best from those.It's the nine games against those ten sides currently involved in the fight that we must target.We need fifteen points from them.
Gutierrez is not a CB. It is a bit harder for Ryan Bennett playing for a team that was under a lot of pressure then it was for Stones. I'm not really convinced that it was RB job to close down Barry yesterday, he had to Everton players close to him and would of left a massive hole if he had come out to close him down. Easy to say he should of done as Barry scored, but he actually played ok yesterday. If you are conceding people automatically blame the defence, but it is a team game and everyone should be involved in defending as well as going forward. It is far too simplistic to just blame the defence.
Tipsy. I was typing that in the middle of the night suffering from jet lag. I guess I was thinking of Coloccini! I agree that Barry should have been closed down earlier by the midfield, but given that he wasn't and had run unchallenged for some considerable distance I think Ryan should have tried to do more rather than have him to shoot more or less unchallenged.
being at the game yesterday, there were a few things that stood out for me 1. Very few of our players seem to have the ability to bring the ball under control quickly and pass it quickly. The ones who seemed to be able to do this were RVW, Fer, Ryan Bennett, and yesterday Redmond, when he cam on he seemed to have improved dramatically, even crossing well with his left foot. 2. The quickness of our players to read a situation is limited, again Bassong looked pedestrian, and RVW would have been offside many times he was expecting a pass to happen and it never did. There were many occasions (i noticed in more due to being level with play and at pitch level) that the ball was picked up by a midfielder, RVW would create space and the ball would never be delivered. 3. Bradley Johnson looked as if he had a reasonable game and I think he did. However, he should never have been in the position to try and win the ball back as we lost it through players general inability to bring a ball under control or play an accurate first time ball. 4. Snodgrass is a mile of the pace, but then Whittaker doesn't link well with him.
I agree with that. If you look at the video, RB was glancing behind all the time to see if he could close in on Barry or not. By the team he realised he could, Barry had shot. And, apart from that moment, I thought Bennett had a very good game actually. He definitely helped to prevent several further possible goals.
I think the performance against Everton was not so bad. I would single out the Fulham (h), Man City (a) and Spurs (a) games as being genuinely awful performances.
I think the problem we had was that we didn't have enough midfielders to track the runners. With an extra body in midfield Bennett could have concentrated on the other threats and let a midfield player challenge Barry.
Yes. Despite what I said earlier, I wouldn't blame Bennett for the goal. I think it was a team failure.
more than enough midfielders they just didn't do their job very well and of course ryan bennett could have stood his ground rather than taking two or three steps back
