Match Day Thread Everton v Southampton 9th July, 6pm, Amazon

You could be a var official coming to the right decision 12 hours later

 

What have you done with Tom

 

Spot on.

There is only one thing that troubles me about this total coverage. People might start seeing that this team is more than the Danny Ings XI. The man is monstrous, and I'm sure a few teams will fancy him, but a player who has shone for me is Jack Stephens. He looks like the player many of us thought he might become when he first came in when he-who's-name-shall-not-be-uttered was injured. And please don't mention the red card. Hospital ball from a mate and taking one for the team there. The source of my concern is that there are goalscorers. Even Spurs have got one. So good though Ings is he's not going to be a great upgrade at £75m. But good solid centre halves who can pass the ball a distance are few and far between. City could do with one. Glad he had a **** game against them. Oh, hang on ...

 

What level do they have yellow cards regularly at? Surely in amateur football it's quite low.

 

not really... even at low levels it is a money generator.

 

Yes, Everton kept bringing on game changers who cost £25 million + whereas our bench looked thin. This will be our biggest risk next year: our first eleven is strong but a few injuries to our squad could be damaging.

Great first half, second was decent but Everton learned to squeeze the space between the defence and midfield and also played long ball to bypass our high press.

 

Pre-Saints days for me

Do we also hate Peter Reid for taking the fateful free kick and Derek Mountfield for flicking it on?

I’m going to need a list of people we hate because I was rather busy riding bikes and chasing girls over this period and never went near the Dell except to watch the local team play in Cup Finals

I think I might have disliked Sholing a little bit and I was no fan of John McGrath who showed up in Netley a few times to kick a few Hampshire League players to keep his eye in

 

Have to say, credit to Ancelotti on this one. He saw the problem and worked it out for the second half. We still matched them in that though, despite obviously tiring badly.

 

Top manager.

Have to think he'll get it right there if given time and backing. Squad is a complete mess at the minute.

 

He has stepped up a hell of a lot under Ralph, but still has too many mistakes in him to attract a big club IMO.

He is still fairly young for a CB though at 25, but he is becoming a solid PL defender now, which is amazing news for us.

 

Agreed. No way someone like City goes for Jack. They'll get the kiddy from Inter or someone like that.

 

Yep. As some tactical genius said yesterday

 

Also JWP seems to be back to his best since lockdown.

Minus the penalty, I thought he was brilliant agaun yesterday. Has to be on the fringes of an England squad place IMO.

 

I think the whole first 11 is playing well at the moment. I thought Stuart Armstrong was the very definition of 'mercurial' yesterday. At times brilliant and at others giving away sloppy two yard passes!

 

He was unreal in that first half, his passing under pressure as well as his playmaking were a joy to watch. He got a bit tired and sloppy in the second but he plays and runs so much that it’s to be expected.

His pace is highlighted as a weakness but you can tell he’s worked very hard to make up for it through his positioning and anticipation.

 

KWP looks to be a good fit for our team so I'm not too concerned about how much we pay to get him here as I think at his age he will get better and his value will increase with age and experience.
Obviously anything over £15m would be steep though.
He has looked the best RB since Nat Clyne so far, solid defensively and classy going forward.

 

I loved his play yesterday - constantly looking forwards, and his movement was excellent. Contrast to Pierre-Emile Sideways (who, in fairness, did nothing wrong when he came on, and I know he's a different type of player. I just wanted to say Pierre-Emile Sideways).

 

Oh for sure. He is integral to our improved play as he takes risks. I just typed he was our only player taking people on, but then I remembered how many times KWP had beaten his man. KWP sure loves that little feint he does - and it works!

 

Still can’t believe he got a yellow for this.