Everton 1-3 West Ham Utd (16/09/18)

[Wembley1966]

Anyone know when MotD will be available to watch? I was out all day yesterday and asleep before it was on last night. Desperate to watch it. I'm taking my daughter to her first game in the Carabao cup so want her to start getting excited for it.

Match of the Day's are available on iPlayer from midnight the day after the broadcast - i.e. Sunday's will be available after midnight tonight.

[The Sherriff]

Much needed 3 points. Stars aligned as Everton were ravaged with absentees.

We appeared more structured and disciplined. Rice was my MOTM and outstanding in his protection, to be fair our midfield 3 controlled the game.

Shouldn’t get too carried away, Everton had 4 very good chances, another day they go in and we would have lost. Tosun had a mare.

Would have Cresswell in over Arthur any day of the week, especially as the full backs didn’t bomb on as much and the emphasis was on defending. We have limitations but at least our tactics yesterday mitigated this.

Huge relief but some balance is needed, not always going to be playing against a makeshift defence or impotent strike force every week.

Good booster going into the Chelsea game ….. at some point they’ve got to drop points after an incredibly easy start (As of next Sunday they would have played 4 out of the bottom 5 in their opening 6 games).

Only slight on the days proceedings was Perez. Given his less than impressive performances in England so far, he’d be well advised to get his head down and concentrate on improving as a player. He was a panic by and has a history of disruption, strikes me as a **** … either he gets with the programme or he ****'s off (again).

[Graza]

Yes, we needed to stop more of those crosses coming in or make more of an effort to do so. Saying that, it was mostly their full-backs doing the crossing.

It's been the same all season. Our full backs tend to be tucked inside the penalty box with or without their winger being with them and the opposition full backs in 10 yards of space picking a ball in. We'll be in trouble when someone with a big solid center half is in town as despite having the extra men in there we don't actually seem to pick up the forwards or runners.

Interesting that we seem to flit between Masuaku and Zabaletta or Cresswell and Fredricks. Like he wants one fast attacking full back and the other to stay home (which neither Cresswell nor Zabaletta do all that much). In a 5 at the back Fredricks and Masuaku would be a real threat, in a 4 they'd be a liability.

[Pulls up Trees]

Would have Cresswell in over Arthur any day of the week, especially as the full backs didn’t bomb on as much and the emphasis was on defending. We have limitations but at least our tactics yesterday mitigated this.

It's the biggest myth at the club that Cresswell is a better defender than Masuaku.

Both are terrible and will let their man get past and cross. The only difference is that Arthur offers something more in attack (although not showing much this season).

[The Old Man of Storr]

great to see Obiang play well

After Obiang scored that wonder goal against Tottenham I put forward an idea about whether he should be given a different role to play instead of the fixed position in front of the defence - yesterday he was given a different role to that under Bilic or Moyes and I thought it suited him a lot better , he was more involved with play . Rice and Obiang stood out amongst a team that excelled yesterday . I'm glad he stayed .

[Sloop John B]

My goodness the positivity juice is flowing today... At least there's consistency with the melodrama :lol:

[The Old Man of Storr]

Did You Know -

Apart from 1929 when we beat Everton 0-4 that was our BEST EVER result at Goodison Park and we were all alive to see it !!!!

[steps]

Much needed 3 points. Stars aligned as Everton were ravaged with absentees.
.

Richarlison was suspended. But apart from that they had players coming back i.e Walcott, Calvert-Lewin, Bernard.

For us Wilshere and Hernandez were out.

Pretty even if you ask me, although Richarlison was obviously a big miss for them, I wouldn’t say they were “injury ravaged.”

[goa127]

Everton don't have any decent centre backs in their squad, the fact that two of them were injured didn't affect the quality. I'd said beforehand that Everton are a club in a very similar situation to us,new manager with new system trying to change players' minds. Pell's getting there

[Wilko1304]

It's the biggest myth at the club that Cresswell is a better defender than Masuaku.

Both are terrible and will let their man get past and cross. The only difference is that Arthur offers something more in attack (although not showing much this season).

Is that the Cresswell that (I believe) was the defender who contributed to the most goals (assists and scoring) in the league last year?

Annoyingly for those two, I don’t think there’s one thing that one is good at that the other is also good at. They seem to have specific yet different skill sets

[Pulls up Trees]

Is that the Cresswell that (I believe) was the defender who contributed to the most goals (assists and scoring) in the league last year?

Annoyingly for those two, I don’t think there’s one thing that one is good at that the other is also good at. They seem to have specific yet different skill sets

I believe it was Assists only, but yeah I couldn't believe that stat when you consider the talented full backs playing in the Prem. Definitely a deceiving stat, I would still say that Trippier, Robertson, Alexander-Arnold et al provided a better attacking service to their clubs than Cresswell did.

[Morocco Mole]

This may be a whole other debate but....

....that performance was quite reminiscent of some Moyes performances from last season imo

I was gonna post the same thing but forgot me tin hat!

Solid three in the middle. Play on the counter attack and let the front three win us the game.

Cut your cloth.

[TheHandOfDog]

Just rewatched the game and it really does make me smile to see us passing the ball around with intent, some of the interchanges that lead to goals were of the highest order.

[Morocco Mole]

Something the commentators picked up on, at least on the stream I was watching, was how Antonio held up the ball towards the end, giving the defence an out ball and bringing others into the game further up the pitch, both relieving the defence and running down the clock.

When he did get the ball near the halfway line it was noticeable Everton had two players on him, taking them out of attack.

Antonio did well when he came on. Held the ball up, carried it up field and was a general nuisance. Perez wouldn't have done that job for us.

Just like with Noble (who also had a good game) people are wedded to their opinions and only see what they want to see.

[TheHandOfDog]

I thought Noble did fine too, yeah he did hit a cross field ball earlier on in the game to Zaba that just went out of play and that moment when we all saw Noble almost through on goal, but we all knew that chance was going to come to nothing. What I saw yesterday was a decent midfield 3 and Noble was a vital part of that.

[Sloop John B]

Antonio did well when he came on. Held the ball up, carried it up field and was a general nuisance.

He still had enough chances to show his decision making/final ball are just not there. Perhaps he's just desperate to impress... If so I would like him to know the moment when he got in behind them and could have headed for goal but instead went for the corner flag...then planted his feet and made them hack him/kick it out of touch winning a corner was a beautiful and crucial bit of gamemanship

[mushy]

Our biggest problem at the moment is which system do we use at home?
Chelsea and the top teams we will see similar to yesterday, but it's the others that we struggle with.
Crowd will expect us to go all gung ho and attack from the start, we doing really have the armoury for this do we?

[frankiemac]

Think Arthur and Zab allowed to much space to their wingers as the number of crosses that were coming in from both sides to be fair, were to regular and they weren't close enough to try and stop them getting the ball into the box. Against better forwards we'd have been ****ed.

full back is a seriously tricky position in this day and age...your full backs probably cover more ground than anyone...required to support the attack and have to be back to defend as well...

most teams these days have absolutely rapid wingers too...so a top quality full back is worth his weight in gold..

[Morocco Mole]

West Ham, meanwhile, made the most ball recoveries (80) of any side in a single Premier League fixture this season.

:shock:

Rice made more tackles (five) and regained possession more times (11) than any of his team-mates over the course of the 90 minutes.

That's a top drawer defensive contribution from the boy. Rice my man of the match. That performance from our midfield three was night and day compared to our previous games this season and the absolute key to our win.

[bristolhammerfc]

My take on the players yesterday.

Fabianski: His distribution is really good and this makes a huge difference. Those pulling for Adrian should remember how poor he is in this regard. Some good saves and came to collect the ball well. No chance for the goal

Arthur: Bottled one tackle, but otherwise linked well with the midfield. Curbed his natural tendency to fly up the pitch, lose possession and put our defenders under pressure.

Diop: looking better with each game. Unlucky not to score. Solid if unspectacular.

Balbuena: Had a great game, apart from missing the header for the goal. Steadied Diop and marshalled the back line well. Good pairing developing.

Zabaleta: His positional awareness makes up for his pace sometimes. Was at fault for the goal by not being quick enough to beat the attacker to the ball for the first cross. Runs like Mr Ben and on borrowed time I think.

Rice: Played so well yesterday. Was calm and composed on and off the ball. My MOM

Obiang: Best performance I have seen from him in a while. Played well and linked play. Put in a good shift

Noble: Ok, here goes. Was awful for the first 30 minutes. Looked lost. Was a spectator at times and offered little. Chased the lose ball and won the tackle for the goal which was his best contribution of the half. Grew into it in the second half but far too many negative passes or over hit balls. I love Noble, but his time has come.

Yarmolenko: A real talent yesterday. came deep to collect the ball and likes to run at defenders with purpose and skill as opposed to Antonio who likes to run into defenders. Great goals and good work rate.

Anderson: Worked hard yesterday, which has been lacking from his game. Great ball for the first goal and caused them problems all game.

Arnie: Great pass for the goal and holds the ball up well. Miserable git, but works hard for the team including one point where he ran 35 yards to make a tackle.

Subs:

Antonio: Offered little, but used his head near the end of the game. Will be lucky if he starts in future

Sanchez: Almost gifted them a goal, but steady enough

Snodgrass: Not really enough time to make an impact.

The Manager: Happy for him yesterday. He stuck to his game plan and it worked. Dealt well with the media and substitutions were at the right time in the right positions.