Following last night’s disastrous 0-1 defeat to Everton at St James’, we’ve been in touch with an Everton fan whose given us pretty blunt assessment of what he made of our performance and certain individuals in the NUFC side – feeling we look woefully short on quality and also being left massively unimpressed by Florian Lejeune and the ‘awful’ Mo Diame.
This comes from blues fan Will, who had spoke to us before the game for our edition of ‘The Opposition Opinion’.
Here’s what he had to say after the game when asked about his thoughts on our performance, both collectively and individually on the night:
“You’ve got very, very little going forward. Aside from a couple of those long range smackers, I was never too concerned about Pickford being challenged.
“Clearly the sum of its parts is greater than individual ability and although Rafa has got them running fairly well, I worry that this is maximum ability and without new faces on the pitch it will only continue in this fashion.
“You lot making changes actually helped us, demonstrating how little strength in depth you have.”
Will then touched on what he made of certain individuals, singling out Lejeune and Diame for criticism – but also feeling that NUFC fans were wrong to boo the senegalese midfielder as he was replaced:
“Aside from the obvious Darlow mistake, I thought Lejeune was awful. Uncomfortable on the ball and in the air, which is what he was advertised as capable of when you first signed him. Really really poor defensively, got turned inside out in the build up to the goal.
“Ritchie was your best player, but the boos surrounding Diame when he came off said more than I ever could. Although I’ve got no time for that personally and don’t think it’s ever justifiable, he was awful.
“We didn’t reach top gear, but I think that was more to do with us than you restricting us.
“You need more going on all over the pitch. Strikers, wingers, number 10 and creativity in the middle lacking. Merino was alright but looked inexperienced and wasn’t given proper support.”
In fairness, he is spot on with his assessment based on what we expect from the 6ft 3′, ball playing defender that we expect Lejeune to be. He struggled to deal with things in the air, was a little wayward on the ball and showed nothing like the sort of class and composure he had shown us in his early appearances.
Interesting thoughts about NUFC fans reaction to Diame’s substitution, saying he never feels its acceptable for fans to jeer their own players when being taken off – no matter how bad they’ve just played. One I’m sure you’ll all debate.
Overall, a harsh but true assessment from Everton fan Will here.
And Everton were brilliant mind !!!
Steven Liddle(Quote)