A really poor night on Merseyside where we come away with a 3-0 defeat at possibly our last visit to Goodison Park. Bad performances all over the pitch today from the lads, who will be forgiven for an off night.
Martin Dubravka – 4 – Should’ve probably done better for their first and third goal, with McNeil’s effort pretty central, albeit struck with power. Looked a little shaky from crosses, too. Made a couple of decent first half saves to deny Calvert-Lewin.
Kieran Trippier – 3 – Poor Tripps, feel sorry for the bloke. Made two howlers that led to Everton goals but he will be forgiven for some outstanding performances in recent weeks. He’ll come back strong, the only question is, does he need a rest?
Jamaal Lascelles – 5 – Defended well in the first half but struggled in the second as errors let us exposed. Came off with a niggle late on, hopefully not serious. Howe seems to think it’s just a dead leg.
Fabian Schar – 5 – After a good first half, he didn’t cover himself in glory for their goals. Didn’t close down McNeil after telling Lascelles to track DCL’s run and played Beto onside for their third before being shrugged off the ball. Showed glimpses of his quality on the ball, although some of his passes were a little wayward.
Tino Livramento – 6 – Solid defensively and tried to drive us forward on the ball. Much like his teammates, he will be absolutely shot to bits after so many games. Sucked out of position for Beto’s late goal and took a few whacks to win us free-kicks.
Bruno Guimaraes – 6 – Showed moments of quality as always but struggled to link our midfield with our attackers. Not his best display by any means but fatigued will have played a huge part.
Joelinton – 6 – Battled away in midfield and created a big chance for Almiron after a nice give and go in the first half. Showed a lot of fight but struggled to find passes in the second half into the final third.
Lewis Miley – 7* – Excellent in the first half. Covered so much ground and gets about the pitch nicely. Also made some lovely runs into the channel and linked nicely. Only criticism was he was caught once or twice in bad areas and faded a little late on, but he has played three games in 13 days and looks fitter than most. Can hold his head high.
Miguel Almiron – 4 – Really poor in the final third, firing one big chance straight at Pickford, failed to pick out a simple cut-back for Isak and headed a big chance over in the second half. Looked a little one dimensional.
Alexander Isak – 4 – Really poor performance from the Swede who got bullied by Tarkowski. Touch was off all night and looked sapped of energy. Aside from one run down the left and pass in behind for Gordon, he was on the fringe of the game.
Anthony Gordon – 4 – Seemed to let the occasion get to him a bit. Missed two really big chances in the second half and really struggled to stamp his authority in the game. Hard to know if he’s exhausted or froze at his former club, but he was nothing like his sharp, decisive and destructive best.
Substitutes:
Matt Ritchie – N/A – Replaced Miley late on.
Emil Krafth – N/A – Replaced Lascelles late on.
We really do put some stinkers in away from home, are heads elsewhere like the Milan game?
Lack of competition for places doesn’t help as some players just think they need to turn up.
Almiron, Isak, Trippier we’re woeful and anyone who doubted what a presence Pope is should think again.
Joseph(Quote)
Agree with you on Pope Joseph said this many times about Almiron lacks composure at vital times but with all the injuries we’ve had stillbthink we’ve done well to be where we are
Darren Bebb(Quote)
Joseph,
It’s got nothing to do with complacency it’s more to do with the injuries and not having a bench that can change the game.
Pope is a presence but that result has nothing to do with Dubravka despite Ollie trying to pin the blame on him. Pope also struggles with crosses and would have been targeted in the same way.
It was an off night without a doubt but playing 90mins most games catches up.
David Dryburgh(Quote)