Man of the match Everton (league cup)

[Guest Bulgaria]

15 hours ago, Anus said:

I love us  but I was so cross when I saw our line up tonight.  We knew Everton would put a strong squad out, and we made all those changes. I'm just gutted.

Me too pal.

Try to sooth the frustration by thinking " if the club can't be bothered then when should I"

[Ante's Bubbly]

I find it very strange how many people judge players and how they perform. I really do wonder how many people actually watch the games at Hillsborough last night and what they would list as each players plus and minus points for the game.

 

Sat around me again last night there were a couple of people who picked on the same three or four players that always seem to get people arguing. From my perspective it is because they have pre-conceived ideas about these players which they are loathe to let go of. We do not have a team brimming over with players that deliver the complete package of fantastic football every game, if we did we would be top of the Premiership. We do however have a handful of players that produce an above average performance more often that not by;- getting involved in the game, putting in more effort, time on the ball, running and hard work to give others space, passing tackling, intercepting, marking, blocking etc. I really do not understand why so many fans concentrate so much on what they see as a negative aspect of a players game and magnify that while ignoring all the good things that the player does. It's a bit like criticising Dawson or Westwood for not scoring enough goals, or one of our strikers for not making enough saves.

 

From what I saw of players contributions last night, I would have picked out Reach, Luongo, Pelupessy and Fox as our four most productive players. I desperately wanted to see Adthe score, Winall score and players like Iorfa, Thorniley, Odubajo Murphy and Dawson have good games to challenge first team players for a regular starting place, but I thought that our strongest area of the pitch was midfield, where we hustled and battled well against tough Premiership opposition, although Fox did some excellent work against Richarlison, Sidibe and Davies in the left hand side of our defence.

 

Striker wise, I thought that Adthe worked hard, but achieved little and never had a shot at goal, while Winall didn't do as much hard work as Adthe, but at least managed to have three attempts at goal albeit three poor ones.

 

Defensively I also thought that Thorniley managed to get a high number of passes to his teammates and was fairly steady defensively, but whether Iorfa was heavily affected by Odubajo's bad positioning, or whether he is just not cut out to defend in the middle, he filled me with fear several times, which he does not do so much when he is playing at right back. For my money, that is his best position, because it allows him to get forward more too, where he has already shown that he can be effective with his height and pace. Odubajo did a few decent things, but unfortunately they were eclipsed yet again by his terrible positioning and decision making, which led to a carbon copy of Fulham's goal, while he chose to try and mark Iorfa in the middle rather than mark his man out on the wing yet again. Our only weak point in midfield was Murphy who never fails to disappoint lately, he does not work hard enough to make himself available for the ball, does not get on the ball often enough and when he does he usually gets bustled or muscled off it without making any attempt to get the ball back. I would rather see our promising young midfielders take it in turns in that position than watch Murphy wasting everybody's time and effort there, while getting game time and experience for very little return. 

[MoorfOwl]

Having only watched the highlights, I can't possibly judge MoM. However do appreciate thoughtful and insightful comment such as that above by Ante. In particular, in respect of strikers, I've mentioned before Bill Shankly's response to a critic who complained that Roger Hunt missed a lot. - "Yes, but he gets into the right place to miss them.'  If you're not in the right place, most of the time you won't score (though you may of course make other contributions). If you regularly get into the right place, more often than not you'll soon start scoring. And remember this was the great Roger Hunt Bill was talking about. I seem to remember Fletcher missing quite a lot last season; he was getting into the right place but wasn't sharp enough; this season he's playing every game and his scoring proficiency is improving. From the limited available evidence it seems to me that neither  Winnall nor Rhodes has forgotten how to get into the right place, but it's very hard to be sharp when you count your on-field time in minutes rather than games. Atdhe's header on Saturday was magic, but he's almost guaranteed to get on the pitch at some point in every game, and that helps sharpen reactions.

[Roscoe P. Coltrane]

6 hours ago, OWLERTON GHOST said:

Egg sarnie...

[toooldforthis]

Yeah but Nuhiu is proper poo ...he's not a footballer but tries his best. Proper poo ...

[bradowl]

Iorfa my MOM, I don't think anyone had a bad game, lots of decent performances, Thoniley, Fox, Luongo. 

 

First goal was a good finish but I thought we switched off for second goal.

 

Weren't that impressed with Everton, you could see why them lot across City managed to beat em last Saturday.

[frastheowl]

 

Dawson - 7 - Could do little with both goals, left hopelessly exposed for both goals. Fantastic save to deny Calvert-Lewin his hat-trick. 

 

Odubajo - 5 - Seem to be up against it all night. I initially thought he was at fault for the 1st goal, but it's probably a little harsh. We were countered quickly, and our midfield just never goal in a position to track Everton's runners. Pelupessy got dragged out wide, and Luongo's tackle started Everton's counter.

 

Iorfa - 6 - Seemed to struggle early on. Got caught between two players for the 1st goal, and got caught square on and allowed a through ball down the side of him for the 2nd, and . Got better as the game went on, but Everton did seem to pack up at half time really. Missed an absolute sitter as well. 

 

Thorniley - 5 - Struggled, looked off the pace and his lack of games evident. Tough gig for the young lad really, to be thrown in against good quality opposition after having no football all season.

 

Fox - 6 - Our left hand side seemed to be the more sound of the two. He doesn't give too much going forward, but he did a decent job defensively. Although, totally lost Richarlison for the free header midway through the first half. 

 

Pelupessy - 4 - Really poor display. Failed to carry out his role early on, and that was a huge contributor to our early deficit. Our defence seemed to be continually exposed, and Everton's runners constantly weren't picked up. 

 

Luongo - 6 - I'd initially voted Luongo MotM, but I've just watched the highlights back, and he was equally culpable for our early demise. That said, I thought he was Wednesday's brightest spark in terms of what he could bring long-term. Looked tenacious in the tackle, and there's signs he could flourish when not playing with utter dross. 

 

Reach - 6 - I use to praise Reach for his consistency...but it's becoming a real struggle these days. I thought in open play he looked leggy and lethargic. However, two of our three good chances created, came from his set pieces; Iorfa and Winnall's header. 

 

Murphy - 6 - Couple of moments of encouragement. Seemed to get himself into a couple of decent positions, and one of those moments created the half chance Reach had just before half time. Can't say he's stamp his mark on the side yet though. 

 

Winnall - 4 - Really poor evening for Winnall. Missed two guilt edge chances, that, someone in his position, simply cannot do. His general all round play wasn't up to the mark either, poor first touch, giving the ball away unnecessarily. Dreadful is been kind. 

 

Nuhiu - 7 - Man of the Match- On reflection, he'd probably get my Man of the Match vote. Out of all the players in a Wednesday shirt, he was the only one to show some quality. His touch and link up play was good, just lacking that opportunity to get a sniff of goal. 

 

Harris - 6 - Came on and seemed to give Sidibe more to think about. 

 

Rhodes - 6 - Little impact on the game, but it's so evident to see he's utterly shot for confidence. 

 

Fletcher - N/A

 

Overall.... what a complete waste of time. I have to say, last night goes down as a serious blot on Monk's copybook so early on in his tenure. Last night was a real opportunity to get some positivity going in the club. A potential easy win for Monk as well. 

 

Everton were there for the taking. As comfortable as an evening they had, they were up against some dross. But yet, they still looked vulnerable. 

 

When the draw was made, I was excited for a "proper cup tie", with two proper clubs. It could've had the hallmark of that Arsenal game a few seasons ago. And we all look back at that Arsenal with such fondness. Not only did we give a top club a good hiding, but it created a mentality from the fans, as well as the players, that we could beat anybody. I'm convinced, that had Carlos picked a severely weakened side that night, and we'd lost the game in such a lacklustre way like we did that night...we would have never made the playoffs that season, and we wouldn't have had that trip to Wembley. That night...in the cup nobody cares about... shaped our season. And last night, could have had a similar effect.

 

Instead, by the time I'd sat down in the pub an hour before kick off, i was deflated. We'd lost the game at 1845, never mind 10 minutes into the game. And that's not the players fault. That's Monk's. I accept Hutchinson can't play Sat-Tues-Sat, same with Lee. But Harris, Bannan, Borner, Palmer? Come on, show some respect to the competition and the fans who treked down on a miserable night. 

 

He's put a lot at stake last night on achieving a victory at Boro on Saturday. Because if we lose that...the little positivity Monk's appointment generated, will soon be totally eradicated. 

 

Massive own goal.

Edited September 25, 2019 by frastheowl

[flo]

5 hours ago, Ante's Bubbly said:

I find it very strange how many people judge players and how they perform. I really do wonder how many people actually watch the games at Hillsborough last night and what they would list as each players plus and minus points for the game.

 

Sat around me again last night there were a couple of people who picked on the same three or four players that always seem to get people arguing. From my perspective it is because they have pre-conceived ideas about these players which they are loathe to let go of. We do not have a team brimming over with players that deliver the complete package of fantastic football every game, if we did we would be top of the Premiership. We do however have a handful of players that produce an above average performance more often that not by;- getting involved in the game, putting in more effort, time on the ball, running and hard work to give others space, passing tackling, intercepting, marking, blocking etc. I really do not understand why so many fans concentrate so much on what they see as a negative aspect of a players game and magnify that while ignoring all the good things that the player does. It's a bit like criticising Dawson or Westwood for not scoring enough goals, or one of our strikers for not making enough saves.

 

From what I saw of players contributions last night, I would have picked out Reach, Luongo, Pelupessy and Fox as our four most productive players. I desperately wanted to see Adthe score, Winall score and players like Iorfa, Thorniley, Odubajo Murphy and Dawson have good games to challenge first team players for a regular starting place, but I thought that our strongest area of the pitch was midfield, where we hustled and battled well against tough Premiership opposition, although Fox did some excellent work against Richarlison, Sidibe and Davies in the left hand side of our defence.

 

Striker wise, I thought that Adthe worked hard, but achieved little and never had a shot at goal, while Winall didn't do as much hard work as Adthe, but at least managed to have three attempts at goal albeit three poor ones.

 

Defensively I also thought that Thorniley managed to get a high number of passes to his teammates and was fairly steady defensively, but whether Iorfa was heavily affected by Odubajo's bad positioning, or whether he is just not cut out to defend in the middle, he filled me with fear several times, which he does not do so much when he is playing at right back. For my money, that is his best position, because it allows him to get forward more too, where he has already shown that he can be effective with his height and pace. Odubajo did a few decent things, but unfortunately they were eclipsed yet again by his terrible positioning and decision making, which led to a carbon copy of Fulham's goal, while he chose to try and mark Iorfa in the middle rather than mark his man out on the wing yet again. Our only weak point in midfield was Murphy who never fails to disappoint lately, he does not work hard enough to make himself available for the ball, does not get on the ball often enough and when he does he usually gets bustled or muscled off it without making any attempt to get the ball back. I would rather see our promising young midfielders take it in turns in that position than watch Murphy wasting everybody's time and effort there, while getting game time and experience for very little return. 

I can answer your question from the first paragraph. I don't watch the games I just pick a player at the end who may have played well. 

[Guest Kagoshimaowl]

On 25/09/2019 at 06:17, acquiescefc said:

Tbf it was the start of game and against a good keeper. 

Should've had the minerals to beat a keeper 1on1 tho.

 

My problem was starting nuhiu. Too immobile. Wants the ball and made some good/lucky forward passes but it just bought them time to defend it. 

 

Rhodes did enough for me to warrant jumping ahead in pecking order but don't know what story is with his situation. 

Absolutely gonads mate!

[theowlsman]

Nuhiu by a mile and he didn’t even finish the game. Well done Atdhe

[acquiescefc]

6 hours ago, Kagoshimaowl said:

Absolutely gonads mate!

You make a good argument, i will have to consider your response.

 

Hope you got home to Japan from the game ok.

[Guest Kagoshimaowl]

4 hours ago, acquiescefc said:

You make a good argument, i will have to consider your response.

 

Hope you got home to Japan from the game ok.

Watched the game on full replay mate. Rhodes is beyond rubbish!

[A E Neuman NYowl]

7 minutes ago, Kagoshimaowl said:

Watched the game on full replay mate. Rhodes is beyond rubbish!

Unfair to make these sort of comments on  Rhodes for his appearance on Tuesday.

 

Was no better or worse than the other subs Fletcher and a Harris, who have been 2 of our better players this season.

[Daizan10]

On 24/09/2019 at 22:11, WalthamOwl said:

Erm

Once in a while someone says something truly inspirational!

[acquiescefc]

4 hours ago, Kagoshimaowl said:

Watched the game on full replay mate. Rhodes is beyond rubbish!

You should get a job on match of the day. Truly insightful. 

[legendaryswan]

Tough one to call as Nuihu & Luongo both had decent games on the night,but for me the big man shades it.

Could have been a different game had we put away our chances,not going to criticise Winnall hes lacking that match sharpness that comes with playing regular games.

[Lawrie Madden]

On 26/09/2019 at 22:53, legendaryswan said:

Tough one to call as Nuihu & Luongo both had decent games on the night,but for me the big man shades it.

Could have been a different game had we put away our chances,not going to criticise Winnall hes lacking that match sharpness that comes with playing regular games.

Why is he any less sharp ( Winnall ) than any number of the players Tuesday ?

 

The truth of the matter is that, yet again, given a chance to impress he failed to take that chance 

 

While it may seem I’m knocking Winnall I truly am not there was no one who wanted him to plant the 2 very good chances he missed more than I, but in the grand scheme of things if he knocked on Monkeys door asking why he’s not getting a start then Mr Monk need only play him the dvd of Tuesday game.

 

When out of the side players when given a chance to impress have to grab those chances with both hands Sam doesn’t do that 

Edited September 28, 2019 by Lawrie Madden

[legendaryswan]

7 hours ago, Lawrie Madden said:

Why is he any less sharp ( Winnall ) than any number of the players Tuesday ?

 

The truth of the matter is that, yet again, given a chance to impress he failed to take that chance 

 

While it may seem I’m knocking Winnall I truly am not there was no one who wanted him to plant the 2 very good chances he missed more than I, but in the grand scheme of things if he knocked on Monkeys door asking why he’s not getting a start then Mr Monk need only play him the dvd of Tuesday game.

 

When out of the side players when given a chance to impress have to grab those chances with both hands Sam doesn’t do that 

Because hes not starting games,hes just had the odd cameo,hes a lengthy spell out of the game so hes not match sharp