A rotten game and disastrous end to a match that looked to be in the palm of our hand, as Everton’s 10-men popped up with a 99th minute winner on Merseyside.
The Blues had Allan controversially sent off with 20 minutes of the game remaining, but we couldn’t capitalise and conceded to an avoidable Alex Iwobi goal that sent Goodison wild.
We were the better side in the first half, going close from several corners, dominating the ball (64%) and seeing Wood fail to convert two headers he could and should have done better with.
A win would send us above Leicester and Brighton and just a point away from the top half, however we spurned the chance to do so in some style, looking laboured and lacking in ideas in attack, slow to react at the back and like a side who were physically and mentally drained from four games in 12 days.
The result leaves us nine points clear of the relegation zone, with Everton (17th) moving three points clear of Watford in 18th.
STARTING 11: Dubravka – Krafth, Schar (c), Burn, Targett – Willock, Guimaraes, Joelinton – Almiro, Wood, Fraser.
SUBS: Darlow, Lascelles, Dummett, Manquillo, Ritchie, Longstaff, Murphy, Saint-Maximin, Gayle.
Eddie Howe reverted back to four in defence and made FOUR changes, seeing Emil Krafth, Joelinton, Joe Willock and Ryan Fraser come in for Javier Manquillo, Jamaal Lascelles, Sean Longstaff and Jacob Murphy.
Allan Saint-Maximin started the game on the bench once again, but there was no Jonjo Shelvey after he failed to recover from falling ill over the weekend.
Everton were the better side in the opening stages. There was an intensity about their play and the crowd were bang up for it, yet a few big chances came our way just before the 10 minute mark.
First, Krafth got into a great position down the right after a brilliant ball from Bruno got him in behind. The Swede’s cut-back was almost tapped in, then Wood headed a big chance straight at Begovic after he was picked out by an inviting cross from Fraser; who was also found via another quality Guimaraes pass.
Both teams looked fully committed and there were fouls being committed every other minute as a result, but another chance came our way on the 18 minute mark, as a perfectly weighted first time ball from Willock put Fraser in behind. The Scot burst through and almost got a shot away, however a much needed recovery run from Coleman came to Everton’s rescue.
A run of three successive corners then followed; one of which was a nightmare to defend as Targett’s superb delivery flashes across Begovic’s six-yard box.
Another corner was then won after some good work between Targett and Fraser and another chance came Wood’s way; only this time he couldn’t keep it on target after climbing highest once again.
Everton’s bright start was a distant memory at this point and we were very much on top and looking the better side as we approached the half-hour mark, having the better chances, six shots to their one and 69% possession.
Targett then showed his quality once again with a lovely ball down the line to release Joelinton, who forced a corner after his low cut-back was blocked by Holgate.
The hosts hung on after another good ball was whipped in, however it was backs against the wall stuff from the Blues; who were getting an earful from fans being comfortably out-sung by the travelling Toon Army.
The half-time whistle went and the two sides left the field at 0-0.
We’d been the better side, having 64% of the ball, more shots, more corners and completing more passes, but the fact we had barely tested Begovic told.
Neither manager made changes at the break, but there was a feeling that one of Allan Saint-Maximin and Dominic Calvert-Lewin could be introduced at any stage to add some much needed quality in the final third.
The first chance of the second half fell to Willock. He ran just off Wood, latched onto his flick on and hit a tame shot straight at Begovic which lacked pace or direction – a moment that was soon followed by an Everton fan attaching himself to the goalpost via cable ties around his neck…
When he was finally released via a pair of bolt cutters, the game got back underway after a break in play of almost eight minutes.
The game was crying out for an injection of quality and Schar tried to offer that by carrying the ball out from defence. However, he had his pocket picked and Everton broke down the side he left open; only for Richarlison to be beaten for pace and power as bid Dan Burn eased him out the way right in front of our away fans.
The stop-start nature of the game was pretty grim to watch, however it suddenly came to life in the 69th minute.
First, Gray had a stinging shot superbly blocked by Burn, before we went straight down the other end as Almiron burst past Godfrey and cut the ball back for Guimaraes. He dragged his shot and it fell to Wood, who was flagged for offside.
That was actually Almiron’s last act as Allan Saint-Maximin entered the field for the final 25 minutes, with Everton responding by bringing on Calvert-Lewin just moments later.
The Blues then won a free-kick in a dangerous area as Krafth brought down Richarlison right on the edge of the box. Gordon stepped up and his low free kick was deflected behind for a corner, which was headed clear by Joelinton before the Everton winger had another pop; this time forcing Dubravka to tip over.
We survived another scare barely a minute later as Calvert-Lewin was inches away from converting Richarlison’s ball across the box, with Everton fans then calling for a penalty soon after when Coleman went down under a challenge from Guimaraes.
Saint-Maximin burst clear from that very attack and was cynically wiped out by Everton’s Allan. It looked like one of those blatant yellows, but the lack of attempt to play the ball and wild nature of his lunge meant VAR asked Craig Pawson to take a look. He went to the pitch-side monitor, overturned the yellow and showed the former Napoli man a straight red.
So, with well over 15 minutes remaining, we had the man advantage and a huge chance to inflict more misery on an Everton side who really needed a win.
We had to move the ball quicker and stretch a tiring Everton side, who were almost undone as Willock saw a low shot saved by Begovic before the resultant corner was almost converted by Schar.
Howe then made his second change, bringing on Manquillo for Krafth just after 14 minutes of stoppage time was indicated by the fourth official, giving us time to find a winner if we could finally show a bit more quality in the final third.
Guimaraes was showing glimpses of real quality – both on and off the ball – but our attacks were a little too slow and predictable; and Everton did the unthinkable with 98 minutes on the clock.
Saint-Maximin was shrugged off the ball too easily, Calvert-Lewin held the ball, allowed Iwobi to run beyond him and the former Arsenal man slid the ball past Dubravka after running clear of our midfield and finishing well to send Goodison Park wild.
We had ourselves to blame and had no response in the final few minutes, seeing Everton come away with a monumental win that was greeted with huge roars from the Blue end of Merseyside.
A poor display lacking in any real quality and reminder that we have plenty of work to do yet, despite the upturn in form in 2022.
Next up, a 17-day gap before we travel to Tottenham two weeks on Sunday.
Ainsley Maitland Niles is apparently being sent back from Roma at the end of the season with a year left on his Arsenal contract.
I would take him as a good squad player for the relatively small fee he’d cost – could cover MF and full back. But the long term plan for me would be to work with Tripps and eventually replace him.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Kim – how are you and Lewis getting on??
Sharpy17(Quote)
wishing you all the best Kim
PremAndUp(Quote)
This 60 million budget is a bit of a false narrative partly because the journos talking about it are only considering transfer fees and not other stuff. There are many out of contract players that we could TECHNICALLY pay no fee for but they are not FREE. Let’s take Paulo Dybala as an example. He would be a statement signing and I bet he is represented by one of the “super-agents”. You would probably have to give him a signing bonus of 25-30 million and his Agent would probably get about the same. You dont see these numbers until the accounts come out, but is he really “free” if you paid 50 mil up front?
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
I think we will spend what is necessary to push the team on. See what frees we can get, see which good players are available and go from there. I e also seen nothing more on Dan Ashworth as DoF. Not sure what going on there. I’d have thought we would get the compo sorted by now.
Gilly Toon(Quote)
I am convinced this is a bit of sleight of hand by our owners. They didnt get into this to play games, they want the reflected glory. That means spending on a higher class of player such as Bruno and Tripps. Simon Jordan and The Telegraph could be right that we only spend 60 million, But they would also be totally wrong if we sign 2 or 3 out of contract players where the true cost is not reflected in the transfer fee. Being the total blow-hards that they are they would crow about being right when they are actually wrong!
I still think we will make a statement signing. I dont think the pundits have gotten used to the fact that we are owned by a mega-rich consortium. All you have to do is look at PSG or even Abramovich. PSG spent like 400 million on Neymar and MBappe about 5 years ago. They are paying Messi 50 million a year. Abramovich put 1.5 billion of his own money into Chelsea!
The Saudis are raking it in with the increase in oil prices. They didnt get into this to be another Wolves or Villa. They are planning for Champions League within 3 years, whatever fibs they tell us about a 10 year plan etc.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
I see West Ham media claiming Lingard will choose West Ham. Good. I’m fed up with taking Man U cast offs. Why can’t he get in a poor Man U side? In the absence of someone better I would rather keep Miggy.
Groucho(Quote)
Groucho – that’s could just be paper talk though mate, and the fact Lingard can’t get into a Man Utd side – I wouldn’t read too much into that. They are a mess, but even if they weren’t, they do have good players & it wouldn’t make him a poor player not being in their starting 11.
I would certainly take him over Miggy – who wouldn’t be in our best 11.
Sharpy17(Quote)
He’s one for you – who would you rather:
Calvert-Lewin or Toney???
Sharpy17(Quote)
I think I’d take a punt on Toney, but it’s a close call.
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Gilly – close one isn’t it.
DCL injuries concern me a bit, but I saw Toney play for our U23s a few times and he was awful. I know he’s come along way since then & hope he’s matured and the moves to the lower leagues was the kick up the hint he needed.
Having had the conversation with the lad I work with today, I concluded that it would be a similar purchase to Chris Wood I reckon – a substantial fee for maybe 10-15 goals a season.
Would either get in ahead of Wilson or Wood – maybe Wood?! ??♂️
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy: there are a lot of “fans” who are critical of Wood. He was bought for a purpose. To have a big lad up front occupying the defenders. Eddie did it before when he kept Bournemouth in the football league.
Wood has a 2 1/2 year contract so we know it is stop gap.
There is a particular Youtube channel who just go on and on about Wood. It is Toon Review and after the Everton game, he is all they talked about for an hour. Like there was nothing and nobody else that could have got us the win we deserved there. I had to turn off the whole channel they were giving him such stick.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
Oh, and Supermac just laid into Wood on Wraith’s channel last week. 15 minutes of total giving the lad what for. I like Malcolm McDonald but he does tend to go after certain players and not let it go.
Sort of like me with Jack Wilshere 🙂
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
WOW!!!!
Everton lost 120 million pounds last year. This is on top of 265 million in the previous 3 years.
You are only allowed to lose 105 million TOTAL over 3 years to be in compliance with FFP. They are fcked unless the PL just decide that they are Everton, so let’s let it go. Scousers, everybody loves them! The Beatles. Jerry and the Pacemakers. We have to let them off…
Pity about the slave trade though!
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
I think that they can right off covid losses and infrastructure spending, so they can flarch.
PremAndUp(Quote)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60919913
PremAndUp(Quote)
That shortlist of players we are looking at seems to make a mockery of the supposed 60 mil transfer budget. Any of Schick, Calvert-Lewin or Nunez would cost 60 million by themselves.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
The PL must be getting very lenient on how Covid applies to FFP if Everton are claiming 170 million in losses from it. Their owner had to put in 200 million in the last 2 years. I wonder how other mid-table clubs are coping? I think the French league lost a big TV contract so there might be bargains there.
In any case, if you dont have owners with deep pockets I think there will be quite a few players up for sale, plus the Bosmans.
This looks like the summer to buy when other clubs are stressed financially.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
Basically, the Everton losses show that the PL has suspended FFP. They have looked at their books and said it is OK to lose 3 or 4 times what the previous limit was. How does this affect NUFC? We could easily spend 250 million in the summer if we wanted to. The problem though is the PR factor. You would have Simon Jordan and Miguel Delaney saying we are trying to buy the league and asking for a review of our ownership saying we are as bad as Abramovich.
This is the restriction I see on our spending, not having the money or will to do it. I reckon we could probably get away with 100 million without a massive outcry from media types and a few Liverpool and London MPs. We would have to box clever with free agents because the press wouldnt have the headline number of a massive transfer fee. For some reason they ignore signing on bonuses and Agent fees in their analysis so we could get a couple of high profile players in under the radar.
And I dont for a minute believe that list of 14 players are the only ones we are looking at. We will be looking at free agents and there are none on that list.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
Rudigers people talking to Barca about a free transfer in the summer. If he were to go there then I could see us going in for Clement Lenglet – and reckon he’d be available for £15-20m as well. He’s 26yr old and the left sided CB we are after to compete with Dan Burn.
If we got him and Jason Dreynar on a free from Lyon, that would be 2 top quality CBs in for a relatively small amount – certainly in todays market.
Kamara on a free. £15m for Targett.
That would be 4 in for £30m. But in addition to those 4 I think we’d also need a keeper, rightsided attacker & centre forward – so potentially another £100m on just 3 players.
But I still think a £130-150m window on 7 players isn’t the type of disgusting money pundits have suggested we would spend.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I suspect Romegnoli as opposed to lenglet, but Denayer is a god shout.
Kamara, Grillitsch or even Pepelu from Levante as a DM. all free.
I d like
the links tp Paqueta and Diaby they would bolster our attack.
PremAndUp(Quote)
Typos sorry
PremAndUp(Quote)
I dont know what to expect from the Spurs game because i dont know which Spurs will turn up. If we do get beat there will be a narrative from some fans that the sky is falling because we will have had 3 straight losses. They will forget that we played well in the previous 2 games where the Ref handed Chelsea the win and Everton had like 1 shot on target and that was their goal. We should have been out of sight at half time against Everton!
Not saying we will lose but it looks like we will be without Dubs and Schar.
Lascelles needs to step up and having BDB next to him might help. I have always wavered on Lascelles. He had a couple of good seasons but always looked shaky under Bruce who invited the press with his 9 men behind the ball tactics. Jamaal never seemed to have enough time on the ball and wanted rid of it. Playing farther up the pitch also might help him.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
I am still very much glass-half-full with Eddie Howe. He has us playing decent football and actually having shots on goal. For 2 and a half years I would wake up and think – do I really want to watch our match? It would be 87 minutes of drudgery hoping to nick a goal with 1 of our 2 shots in the game. Now, at least we are in the game!
I think 4 draws from the last 4 games would probably have been fair. That we got wins against Brighton and Soton is a bonus and got us 6 points rather than 4. In my mind, that puts us ahead of the game for our recent performances.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
I am going to bang on about this again. When the journos talk about spending on transfers they miss a whole part of what is actually going on – AGENT FEES. All they look at is the headline number, the stated transfer fee. But that is only part of it. For free transfers there is also a signing on fee. So, if we are told by the press that we will spend 100 million in the summer, that is not a true picture. Here are what a few clubs spent on Agent fees in 20/21.
NUFC 8 million (remember fat man was still here)
Man City 35 million
Liverpool 22 million
I think us and Man U will be the biggest spenders in the summer and therefore we will pay Agents a fortune and a fortune in signing bonuses for free Agents.
If we spend 100 mil in transfer fees, the real figure will be close to 150 mil if you get a couple of high profile free agents.
This is actually in our favour because the journalists are too stupid to take into account all of the details of the transactions. The higher our headline number the more cries there will be from Miguel Delany and his like trying to portray NUFC as another Abramovich situation. Making false equivalencies but never being questioned on it!!!
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
Kims not been on for a few days now, not like her – hope she and Lewis are ok ??
Sharpy17(Quote)
Good of you to notice, let’s hope she is OK
PremAndUp(Quote)
Looks like it is mostly good news on the injury/sickness front so Dubs and Schar should start. The main question is midfield. I just cannot see how we can leave Bruno out after his MOTM performance in La Paz. Can we really not play a Brazilian starter? I think this will be unfortunate for Joe Willock in the Spurs game. The fact that it is Sunday means there should be plenty of time to get over jet lag. So,
Dubs
Manquillo Schar Burn Target
Shelvey Bruno Joelinton
Ritchie Wood ASM
The only one I am in 2 minds about is Manq or Krafth. That’s a toss up.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
Hopefully it is just the international break. She has mentioned in the past that she finds them boring.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
Shelvey coming back from illness. Start from the bench for me. Willock to start.
PremAndUp(Quote)
Prem: you might be right, and Willock is a better tackler than Jonjo which isn’t hard. This game is really hard to predict. Spurs beat Man City but lost to Burnley (+Wolves and Soton). Under Conte they dont seem to draw many games, so if you are the typical NUFC contrarian that’s what you would go for 🙂
Player for player I dont think we are that far off Spurs EXCEPT Kane and Son. You just hope they have an off day.
I still dont rate their defense that highly. Or Lloris, he can drop the odd clanger.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
Did you see that link to Bruno’s best mate Paqueta.
now that would be a midfield alongside Bruno and Joelinton
PremAndUp(Quote)
Martin Atkinson, 51 is the Ref on Sunday. I think all Refs should retire at 50, but at least old Mart doesnt have the rolls of fat around his belly that Mike Dean and Fat Boy Moss do.
I dont care what anybody else says, I dont think 50+ year olds can keep up with modern play in the PL.
I think there is a general consensus that the standard of refereeing in the PL is appalling. It is not all down to fitness as the VAR decisions are showing, but having late middle-aged men try to keep up with 25 year olds cannot help.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
Aren;t Brasil one of the favourites for the WC? It would be funny to see us having 2 of their starters if Paqueta signs. Might even have their whole midfield if Joelinton carries on as he has in Calandar Year 2022 🙂
If that happens, I might just go out and get me a Brasil shirt to watch our matches at the pub!
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
There’s a book I read years ago called Girl, 20. It is a comic novel by Kingsley Amis (Martin Amis’ Dad) where the main character gets aroused whenever he sees that phrase in a newspaper. Whenever I see Mike Dean, 54 it has the opposite effect. My heart sinks, especially if it followed by “will be refereeing today’s NUFC game”.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
Thank god PL footie back this weekend, don’t know what to expect in our game, depends which Spuds turn up on the day and how well we go about the job.
Been busy on the house and garden, it’s never ending still. The lad is still a bit off too so nowt gets done when he’s home as he needs watching all the time.
Did someone say we won’t have Dubs or Schar ?, don’t fancy our chances if that’s true. 🙁
KIMTOON(Quote)
They both returned home early from Internationals but Eddie said they have been training. I watched a couple of previews on youtube that had guest Spurs fans and they dont even know what to expect. They are confident but not over-confident.
Eric+Sykes(Quote)
Well my eyesight is getting quite poor and I’m unfit and somewhat overweight. I’m getting close to 58 and not working anymore. So I think it’s time for a career change. I’ve decided on the perfect choice. I’m going to become a premier league referee. I think, given the above strengths, I’ll fit right in to the current team of referees! I’ll become a Gateshead supporter so it will be perfect for me to referee Newcastle games. Watch out Manchester! ???????
Gilly Toon(Quote)