coachpotato

Typo in my post, not VDV, VVD. Doh!

So to sum up, Watford played very well, we didn’t so we got twatted, even though we had 71% possession. Our defenders didn’t defend very well (any of them), our midfielders were very good at passing the ball sideways and backwards, and our forwards tried too many flicks and tricks that didn’t come off because opposition teams are used to them now. We looked as though we were in third gear because we were too slow in our build up( but we’ve been like that since the Leicester game away) but this is part of some game management plan to conserve our energies for bigger games and opponents. Right? I suspect Mr Klopp might be kicking a few arses after that, and Mr VDV won’t be happy we lost when it was he who had the Captains armband on so he might have something to say as well. But we’re still 19 points clear if Mancheater City win their game in hand and we still need only 12 points to win the league, so as long as the players sort this out between them we’ll be good. After all, they must have realised they weren’t very good as well and being the great bunch of lads they are, they’ll sort it. Next.

Not one player having a decent game so far, although I suppose Alisson can’t be blamedfor the defending in front of him.

Turgid. Slow. Ponderous. We weren’t much better than Watford either. Rocket up arses required from Klopp.

Can you imagine the shitstorm from every football fan asking for their gate money back, plus expenses, because they attended a meaningless game in a league season that was cancelled? The ambulance chasers would have a field day. Not going to happen is it.

City have a precedent for taking promising English defenders from Everton and turning them into shit. Holgate will save them time as he’s shit already.

I suppose they’re assuming that they’re the only football club in the world that has to put up with cyber attacks and hacking attempts? But then, I was forgetting, they’re the only team in the world that has bad stuff happen to them because everyone else is ganging up against them.

This is an often claimed thing from Evertonians, because they won the league in 85 the assumption is all they had to do was turn up and they’d have won the European Cup in 86. Conveniently forgetting that, had things been different at Heysel where we were never going to win that final after the deaths were known, they might have had us to face at some stage in the competition the year after. They’ve become World Experts at predicting how things would have worked out, I’m surprised they don’t pick the 6 lottery numbers each week, they should all be millionaires.

Jesus with a clear dive, the snivelling, whingeing,rat. But Ramos gets walked, so I suppose it balances out

They were indeed, and while that was the case the rivalry was more friendly. Went to Wembley twice with Blues in the car (7 seater) and although we beat them both times there wasn’t any bitterness and we had a great time there and back. It still was the case, in my experience, up to and after Hillsborough, I don’t recall any nastiness following the ban after Heysel and I can’t really pin down when it got really poisonous. A work colleague did say that after the Istanbul final, he’d hoped the plane would crash carrying the team on the way home, which was really a shock, as this lad was what I felt was an ok blue.

The CL (Cheats League).

They’re gonna have a party..................

Nail On Head Glory hunting Cult loving knobheads Add to that the 25% of non football supporting people who probably also “go the game” at Goodison and you have a 50-50 split. As evidenced by the turnout for the bus tour after the CL final last time and as we’ll no doubt see the next time Everton actually win something.

Fixed.

Thinking if he can get a result against us, he’ll cement his legendary status at the Woodward even further, might even get him a statue outside the new stadium.

The right thing to do is take the titles/cups off them if they’re found to have been cheating. The FA /Premier League won’t do anything until there’s an outcome, which is correct, but should UEFA issue a ban, even suspended, then there’ll have to be some retrospective punishment or the FA/Premier League would be accused of condoning City’s behaviour. Whether those titles/cups are awarded to the runners up or City’s name just expunged from the list of winners is a decision for the FA/Premier League to make. Personally I’d want any decisions to be taken after we’ve won this years league and had the chance to celebrate it in an appropriate manner. City must be glad they’ve not won the Champions League yet in case they’d lose that too. After the initial hoohah over the charges, my feeling is there’s some kind of a deal been done for City to carry on playing with a rap over the knuckles and a very big (useless) fine.

This. They have a reputation for doing exactly what they did last night and doing it as well as any team in Europe. We couldn’t have picked a worse opponent to give a goal to and then have an off night against. As with everyone else, I expect Anfield to be different, but won’t be expecting to see a free flowing game or the nicer aspects of football. They can be much worse than last night, fortunately I don’t think we will.

Horrible, toothless performance. You can apply that to the referee and us too. Not convinced they’ll be any different in the return leg, so another frustrating night on the cards unless we buck our fucking ideas up. We’ll need a decent referee who won’t be fooled by the shithousery they’ll bring.

Just sloppy all round tonight. Frustrating as there’s nothing to be scared about with these.

Standard shithousery combined with a worrying ability to be knocked off the ball easily when we’re anywhere near their goal gives us massive possession and no goals. Has happened before and will happen again unless we get as street smart as some of these teams are. Our control needs to be snappier and if we’re going to bang crosses in then there needs to be someone gambling to get on the end of any crosses we put in. I don’t think they’re all that fit either so if we keep at them they’ll make mistakes. Just don’t concede again.

Are players that thick that they don’t have a clue where and how they earn their money? Do their agents shield them from the financial intricacies of what they train and play for? I think that much of what goes on is known well enough, but there’s a code of silence that is adhered to because, let’s be honest here, it’s extremely likely City aren’t the only club to have bent the rules. Where there’s big money, there’s corruption. It’s been mentioned already they are gathering “evidence” against other clubs to use in their defence. They’re in the position that could make them say, “If we go, we take you with us.” Steve Gerrard is right to say wait and see, because nothings been decided yet that’s different to now, which means he’s still a runner up.

I’d trademark that if I were you!

That’s the point though, not everyone does. Danny Murphy was asked about it on MOTD the other night and he said they were unlucky to get the ban. There’s loads who don’t see them as cheats, but just a poor club that is trying its best to break into the elite and who are being barred by the likes of us, United, Bayern etc. It’s scary.

That’s a great article from the Grauniad. Sort of sums up exactly what City are about these days. Their attitude stinks of what a dictatorial regime would be like, the “We’re Manchester City, we’ll do what we like” stance that United had not so long ago, but with more threat. Cross us and we’ll fuck you over, if you like. Over the the last few days I’ve heard more than a few pundits and commentators say how much they sympathise with City, including ex-reds who should know better, because they could only break into the elite by doing exactly what they’ve done, thrown money and resources in gigantic amounts at becoming an elite club. All missing the point completely that while the FFP “laws” have been broken, it’s the manner of the subterfuge and lying to UEFA that’s been the main problem, and that once Der Spiegel put it into the public domain, UEFA had to act or be seen as a toothless body deferring to power and privilege. Add to that the implicit threat from City that they would bankrupt UEFA through costly legal challenges if they dared to impose punishment and UEFA could do nothing else but take the course of action they have done. The sanctions could have been greater, or lesser, but are still defeatable in a court where mitigation might be claimed and so I wouldn’t hold my breath about a two year ban being served, more likely some kind of agreed suspended sentence, which might explain why Guardiola has insisted he’ll be staying regardless of the outcome.

Very sluggish. They’re making mistakes but we aren’t taking advantage. Need to switch up to 3rd gear from 2nd.