Everton 0 Liverpool 0 (Sep 3 2022)

[tlw content]

 

 

 

Report by

Dave Usher

 

And so it goes on. In six games we’ve had one good performance and we’ve had five others that have looked eerily similar. At least to my untrained eye anyway. I suspect Klopp has seen things in the last few games he’s happy about tactically, but to me we just don’t look right at all and it’s not really getting much better. 

 

Admittedly goals can change opinions and if we’d nicked this 1-0 then maybe I’d feel a bit more upbeat about what we saw. And we had chances to do it. Lots of them. We were unlucky with most of them and it generally wasn’t down to bad finishing, but despite the chances created I don’t think any of us thought the performance was good, did we? 

 

Usually after these games I’m left seething about the antics of the Blues. Overly physical, time wasting, generally just spoiling the game and being horrible bastards. I don’t even have that to cling to after this as I 

thought they played the game in the right way and I can’t take issue with anything. It’s actually really disconcerting to me that Everton played the game the way they did. 

 

They were rampant with their time wasting and shithousing against Leeds in midweek, but not against us? That’s not a good indictment of where we’re at right now. Everton genuinely thought they could win this game and it wasn’t about damage limitation and desperately hoping for a draw. Pickford only started time wasting right at the death after Mo nearly won it for us. He took his time on a goal kick and got yellow carded, but usually he’s doing that from minute one. Are we no longer worthy of that kind of respect and fear? If not, someone needs to let that cunt Eddie Howe know.

 

We had the most chances but Everton had some great ones of their own and wasted the clearest opening of the game when Maupay shit his shorts when faced with Alisson. They hit the post, had a goal disallowed and Alisson needed to make a world class save to deny that Dwight McNeill loser. We could have won but we also could have lost and I don’t think we deserved anything more than we got.

 

It’s really frustrating watching us at the moment as there’s just so many things that leave you with your head in your hands. Trent passing the ball straight to the opposition, Mo running head first into the left back, Fabinho running through treacle, Virgil doing the most un-Virgil things…. we’re just off in pretty much every area of the pitch.

 

The injuries and constant chopping and changing aren’t helping, but last season we’d make regular changes and it didn’t derail our performances so it’s more than that. Besides, we’ve had a much better eleven than any opponent we’ve faced so far this season so I’m not using that as an excuse. It’s not ideal starting a Goodison derby with both Elliott and Carvalho in midfield, but would you rather have our midfield or Everton’s? I’ll take our kids over Davies and Iwobi thank you very much.

 

 

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[Rushies tash]

You summed it up in that last paragraph. Our players look like they're running through treacle, especially when chasing back. I don't know what the answer is, but they shouldn't look that fucked this early in the season.

[RedSand]

Cheers for putting this out so quickly Dave. Well said/written. I’m still livid that we lost to that shower. Maybe you are right, it’ll come good eventually. I dread this season is turning into a rebuild rather than kicking on from last year. Plus a tough CL trip to navigate. Klopp has got us this far, I trust he’ll sort this out too. But it might take a minute.

Coady being a dick was entirely predictable. You’ve been banging that drum for a while now and right on cue he delivers. 
Also that Patterson kid impressed me. Confident, tough, didn’t seemed fazed and almost bordering on cocky. And then that Cunt booted a ball into Robbo’s back when Robbo was on the floor well past the sideline. Fucking shithouse, shitstain, cowardly cunt. And worst of all nothing happened. I don’t mean Anthony Taylor not doing anything the twat. None of our team stepped up. Back your team mates lads.  Arggggh so frustrating. We are too fucking nice. 

[Scott_M]

I take the fact we’re only 5 points behind City as a positive. 

[dockers_strike]

Great report Dave. My motto is play your form players so while Ive been saying Darwin needs to play, Bobby should have started this even if only for 60 minutes.

 

Hopefully, Jurgen isnt going to drop Joe now Joel seems fit as I think that would be devastating for the lad. Yes, he can cover for Trent but he's no RB.

 

Something's going on behind the scenes. I guess we'll never find out what.

[dave u]

22 minutes ago, RedSand said:

And then that Cunt booted a ball into Robbo’s back when Robbo was on the floor well past the sideline. Fucking shithouse, shitstain, cowardly cunt. And worst of all nothing happened. I don’t mean Anthony Taylor not doing anything the twat. None of our team stepped up. Back your team mates lads.  Arggggh so frustrating. We are too fucking nice. 

 

Forgot about that. Totally agree with you.

[dave u]

20 minutes ago, Scott_M said:

I take the fact we’re only 5 points behind City as a positive. 

 

I said on the pod it was 7 points because i assumed they'd beat Villa. Typical Villa though, can't even rely on them to lose, the absolute turds. Where was that result when we needed it last season, eh? I fucking hate Villa.

[Scott_M]

6 minutes ago, dave u said:

 

I said on the pod it was 7 points because i assumed they'd beat Villa. Typical Villa though, can't even rely on them to lose, the absolute turds. Where was that result when we needed it last season, eh? I fucking hate Villa.

I didn’t see watch it, my mate texted me saying Villa were hell bent on losing it once they equalised and I was thinking back to May. 
 

Even if it was 7 points, it wouldn’t be overly disastrous. Considering we’ve been so poor so far, only 5 feels like a bonus. Players coming back, string a few wins together and we can close it quick enough. Certainly not as big a hill to climb as last season. Yet. 
 

We always seem to perform better when the pressure is on and we’ve certainly put the pressure on ourselves already - we’re certainly going to have avoid defeat in all our big away games before the WC. 
 

I agree with your points on Salah playing too wide. I think Diaz is the same. 
 

I also made the point about results at Woodison and Old Trafford to my mate yesterday. We didn’t win at either ground in the 97 or 99 point seasons. I

appreciate it all feels very frustrating at the moment, we’ve not had this run of performances in years, maybe since Rodgers. However, we’re certainly not out of anything yet.
 

 

[bigal]

Some good points in the comments as well as the usual excellent summary. Patterson was good, but RedSand is right about that incident, nobody kicking off about it, we seem passive about everything.

The fact we're only 5 behind City is a bonus given how poor we've been but draws kill you, hence the Bournemouth thing which was a shock when I heard you say it on the pod. 

Gomez has been like this before, needing a few games after injury to get rhythm back, I get the idea of playing him at RB but let him keep going. Maybe, dons armour, it's time to give van Dijk the odd game off. 

[DalyanPete]

1 minute ago, bigal said:

Maybe, dons armour, it's time to give van Dijk the odd game off. 

Don't think many would disagree.

[Pete]

Can we hurry up and get back to being fucking great again? 

[Barnesey]

It may be wishful thinking but I wonder if our sports scientists have a different program to other teams? It will be a long and broken season, maybe our plan will pay dividends after Christmas 

[Pete]

12 minutes ago, Barnesey said:

It may be wishful thinking but I wonder if our sports scientists have a different program to other teams? It will be a long and broken season, maybe our plan will pay dividends after Christmas 

One can hope.  

[Reckoner]

18 minutes ago, Barnesey said:

It may be wishful thinking but I wonder if our sports scientists have a different program to other teams? It will be a long and broken season, maybe our plan will pay dividends after Christmas 

This is definitely something that has crossed my mind. Playing within ourselves at times, not going full pelt, less sprints and less closing down as part of the plan. 

[DaveT]

Agree with the report on the whole. I think you let Everton off too lightly - Gray and Myra could both have been booked for diving and that cunto of a left back simply flopped to the floor every time he got in between Mo and the ball.

Everton had a good few moments, but how much did Ali really have to do? A terrific block from Maupay (Brighton really missed him today!) and a Karl Darlow from the McNeil chip - bread and butter for a goalie of his quality. Other than that, they had the Coady effort, which I called in real time - don't know why they even had to do the shenigans with the lines, and the shot against the post. At the other end Pickford was making a whole stack of saves.

Overall, though, frustrating and disappointing. The lack of pace and athleticism in midfield is a real worry and that's not going to change much even when the absentees are back. New blood is desperately needed, as has been repeatedly pointed out. 

[index1000]

3 hours ago, Barnesey said:

It may be wishful thinking but I wonder if our sports scientists have a different program to other teams? It will be a long and broken season, maybe our plan will pay dividends after Christmas 

I was thinking about this. This world cup Malarkey is going to fuck things right up. This is not a normal season like the insufferable twats on BBC/SKY etc would have us believe. Everything is getting crammed in. Who the fuck knows how it will end up but i am hoping that Klopp - Magnificent Bastard -that he is has a cunning plan.

[mike23]

2 hours ago, DaveT said:

Agree with the report on the whole. I think you let Everton off too lightly - Gray and Myra could both have been booked for diving and that cunto of a left back simply flopped to the floor every time he got in between Mo and the ball.

Everton had a good few moments, but how much did Ali really have to do? A terrific block from Maupay (Brighton really missed him today!) and a Karl Darlow from the McNeil chip - bread and butter for a goalie of his quality. Other than that, they had the Coady effort, which I called in real time - don't know why they even had to do the shenigans with the lines, and the shot against the post. At the other end Pickford was making a whole stack of saves.

Overall, though, frustrating and disappointing. The lack of pace and athleticism in midfield is a real worry and that's not going to change much even when the absentees are back. New blood is desperately needed, as has been repeatedly pointed out. 

Good point on their left back flopping over every time. The refs appear to have this directive to let more go this season, but it seems to be entirely in relation to challenges from midfielders and defenders. Whenever a forward challenges for the ball in a dangerous area the defenders still seem to get a cheap freekick every single time they go to ground. Time after time forwards are getting penalized for nothing challenges in and around the area that would never result in freekicks or penalties were it the other way around. 

[Red74]

Klopp would take a 0-0 there every season if offered it

[dave u]

Their left back looks like he's still got the coat hanger in his shirt, the wide shouldered skinny twat.

 

Also, someone needs to say it so may as well be me. He should be back home fighting Russians, not poncing about on a football pitch.

[s(k)aturation]

 

I've heard the word "rebuild" a few times already this season.

It doesn't look or feel like a rebuild.  It just looks like a struggling team, with ageing players like Henderson and Milner still being relied on.

 

In a rebuild, that midfield would be starting to look consistently and excitingly different.

 

Wouldn't it?

 

 

[Tarwater]

In relation to us being too nice and not stepping up for Robbie, I feel this invariably happens when Virge is wearing the arm band. He’s either too nice, or he just feels it’s all beneath him. Hendo or Milner would at least be in the ref’s ear a lot more. We missed the Hendo stare today…

[Josef Svejk]

11 hours ago, dave u said:

Their left back looks like he's still got the coat hanger in his shirt, the wide shouldered skinny twat.

 

Also, someone needs to say it so may as well be me. He should be back home fighting Russians, not poncing about on a football pitch.

He plays for Everton. That's a far worse fate. 

[dave u]

4 hours ago, Tarwater said:

In relation to us being too nice and not stepping up for Robbie, I feel this invariably happens when Virge is wearing the arm band. He’s either too nice, or he just feels it’s all beneath him. Hendo or Milner would at least be in the ref’s ear a lot more. We missed the Hendo stare today…

 

Yeah I always want Hendo on the field when we play Everton, partly for that and partly because he's always boss against them.

[HBenn]

On 04/09/2022 at 16:37, Barnesey said:

It may be wishful thinking but I wonder if our sports scientists have a different program to other teams? It will be a long and broken season, maybe our plan will pay dividends after Christmas 

I think if the doctor hadn't been so unceremoniously sacked then there may be some truth in this but cannot help someone somewhere fucked up and he either spoke out or was the one that did it.

[Erik T]

23 comments and still no «Top, top [insert topic] analysis there»?!?

 

I’ll start with «Top, top Lampard’s hair analysis there».