There is that. And with my "clutching at straws" hat on, I'd say not losing today means they have more to play for going into those matches! Also there's a chance that 6th place won't get European football (I think).
That would require the winner of the Chelsea/Man City semi-final to either lose the final or finish outside the top 6. It's possible, but unlikely.
Completely agree. Of course people say you make your own luck and we shouldn't be blaming the officials. But I guess they support teams that aren't regularly getting such bad decisions! Also thought Howerd deserved a yellow for time wasting - the sort of thing that would have happened without question at Old Trafford.
Marriner warned him, then warned him again and then... warned him again. What's the ****ing point in that? Friedel did the same against Swansea and the ref added on 5 minutes, but he should've gone in the book. Did it once in the first half against Inter and got cautioned instantly. No consistency.
unfortunately, that's become a familiar story. Right now we need dangerous players who can have an impact in order for us to get as many points possible. Dempsey just doesn't offer enough to the team.
We will now finish 5th. Would I have taken that at the start of the season? Yes, but only because I had absolutely no faith in AVB. Now that I've accepted him to be more than capable of steering us to glory, 5th would be a massive disappointment, and a failure on Levy's part to get in the players that we really needed.
You'll get third. You just drawn 2-2 against a inform team with three of you starting line up injuried and the rest of them shattered after Thursday. Take next Thursday as 'hope for the best' attitude and focus on the league, with Baled and Lennon coming back, that will make the difference.
Sensible summary of the situation. Just had a trawl of previous comments and some very differing opinions about the performance and tactics etc..... Some of these reflecting our concern about club strategy for the season rather than a reflection of this game. Personally thought that there were a few who stepped up to the plate today - not least Adebayor who not only chased and harried all afternoon, but held up and linked play really well. Much more like his old self and the goal reflected that. Also have to disagree with PNP, as I thought Holtby had a pretty good game, with Siggy as well pulling his weight. The disappointing performances were from the defence in general and Dawson in particular. And Lloris displayed some of the frailties that have been blamed on Friedel recently. He made some decent saves but at times looked decidedly uncertain and was clearly at fault for the 1st goal. He is undoubtedly a handful, but Daws (and to a lesser extent Caulker) made Anichebe look like a world-beater. Verts also had an 'iffy' game - setting up the opener with a great delivery but too often getting caught out of position and failing to track back. I am a big fan of is, but how many times have we seen that this year? But none worse than Dempsey, who I thought contributed so little that we were playing with 10 out there!! I was screaming for him to be taken off and AVB's option to remove Dembele (even if he was not at his best) was I thought bizarre. Dempsey is so limited in his decision-making for a player at that level: almost inevitably shooting from 30 yards without considering options. We 'wanted' a win, no doubt, but needed not to lose and we did at least achieve that against a strong and confident Top 6 side. Both teams injury depleted of pace and creativity, a draw was a fair result. And I cannot agree the criticism of Evertons tactics. They recovered from conceding in the first minute to justifiably lead and they deserve credit for that. Edit: quite forgot to mention, that for all my criticism of AVB for not replacing Dempsey, his introduction of Hudd was inspired. Totally changed the game I thought, provided a presence and calmness to proceedings and played some amazing passes. Had thought his days of 1st team football were behind him. I was wrong!!
Gutted to lose it late on but still a good result I suppose. In the end the players missing just cancelled each other out. Good luck with your season, we'll have to concentrate on snatching 5th from one of the above 3 I think
Terrific support from your fans today. There was a decent atmosphere in the ground today and that was in the main down to your fans. .
Good luck to you too, Shogs And you didn't 'lose it', although I guess it might feel like that!! Lol A draw was probably a fair result in what was a pretty decent game.
Okay, I've taken a breath or two and thought about today. If somebody had said at the beginning of the season that we would get a point at home to home to a good Everton side, I would have said that I expected all three points. If they had said that we would do so after relinquishing a 1-0 lead and without Bale, Lennon, Kaboul or a decent striker (please don't tell me Adebayor is anywhere near that) I would have snatched that point with both hands. I would also have thought that we would lose away to Swansea, so what we lose with one hand, we gain with another. It's not over. Chelsea and Arsenal remain just as unconvincing as us. What we need at home is the crowd getting behind the team. We can can make a hell of noise when we want to. Anybody who thinks that groaning and getting on the team's back helps is sadly mistaken. The old "twelfth man" cliche remains a basic truth. Let's get behind the team and make sure that St Totteringham day is cancelled indefinitely. COYS
I usually hesitate to rave about a substitution, but I could be tempted to break a habit when talking about Huddlestone today. I thought in his brief 15/20 minutes, he was sublime and created more in that short time than a couple of AVB's 'blue-eyed boys' put together. By the 60 minute mark I had had enough of Demebele running up one way streets and Dempsey running around like a headless chicken and Holtby being so predictable, that Tommy coming on was always going to be a welcome relief. I hope we keep hold of him, he has worked so hard on the training ground, he is fit, he is in good shape, and although he comes across as an introvert, he is and always has been, a popular member of the dressing room. I enjoyed his performance today.
Depends on how both teams do. If Spurs drop off big time it might be meaningless, with the game in hand over Fulham, Chelsea should still be in the race for the 4th in theory.
Agree with this praise of Hudd, OS ( see #193 above) To be fair though, his other recent performances have not suggested he would be able to command a 1st team place anymore. Hope this wil kick start his career.
