[Albion] Everton vs Brighton & Hove Albion *** Official Match Thread ***

[Milano]

All that money spent and this is what Everton serve up.

 

[BNthree]

It's little things, isn't it?

Ref makes Milner take the throw from the exact spot it went out and then ignores Young heading to the halfway line to take his throw.

Always the inconsistencies that grate with refereeing

 

[AlbionBro]

Feed the Fergie, a young clinical striker needs to see the ball. We miss March.

 

[Nixonator]

I’m struggling to fathom how that is offside. I feel more indignant than mccalister’s disallowed goal and bringing the players back out after the FT whistle at old Trafford to take a penalty, combined.

 

[Bridcutt]

Unfortunately De Zerbi is so focused on constant lineup changes, goalkeeper switching that we actually no longer play good enough football to win football matches. No connection between midfield and attack sometimes so it means we have 80% of the ball with no chances created for Ferguson or our wingers to go 1 on 1

 

[Hendrax]

No point playing Ferguson if you're not going to set-up to his strengths. He'd be better off elsewhere to be honest.

 

[Hugo Rune]

It’s so incredibly hard with Everton camped in their half. Their back 4 has hardly moved off the edge of their of their penalty area.

I don’t know how we break them down?

 

[bluenitsuj]

Poor first half
Created bugger all apart from the offside
Possession does not win games
Adingra awful today

 

[jcdenton08]

Ref has been very poor, but so have we. How was that offside? Really not our day so far

 

[1066familyman]

Ref has completely lost control of the game. Another fvcking useless one, as per usual.

 

[RandyWanger]

We need a wonder strike from outside the box.

 

[Nixonator]

We need a wonder strike from outside the box.

We tried a wonder strike, they chalked it off somehow.

 

[Sheebo]

Better side behind and Dyche’s dinosaur football embarrassing. Not created enough tho. 3 big moans:
1) Shit defending again at key times
2) A group of officials so biased for the home team it’s laughable. Not convinced lines were drawn correctly and camera angle shockingly bad.
3) Deflected goal again.

So frustrating

 

[pb21]

This is the worst ref I've seen for the past few years.

He looks completely out of his depth, like a middle aged overweight bloke whose been prescribed fitness sessions by his local GP, only to end up reffing a professional football match.

Fecking useless.

 

[macbeth]

80/90% of the ball means nothing when the opposition are clearly happy to let us have it!!

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

Sorry but when you have a squad that’s largely bloated out with young inexperienced players and players near retirement, you can’t expect to absorb injuries from key players and for it not to have an impact. In terms of Club size we are punching right to the upper edge of our weight, it was never going to be easy playing the schedule we have had and the PL and international matches - we look like a team with depth in terms of squad size but when you break it down we are still lacking in key positions.

It still shocks me that discussions at the start of the season centered around us having a 10/10 summer transfer window.

There are gaping gaps and a lowering of quality in key positions that are utterly vital to how RDZ wants to play.

Add that to the increase in games due to European football and a massive turnover in players that means he’s constantly rotating, and it’s really no surprise we’re struggling.

I do feel RDZ is getting in his way a bit at the moment with his team selections though. Maybe it’ll all pay off at the end of the season, but if we don’t start picking up results again soon, we may have a load of fit players but nothing to play for.

Saying that, considering where we were just a few years ago, it’s not all bad!

 

[Krafty]

There is clearly a problem here.

 

[Mustafa II]

Very frustrating first half.

We've been decent enough. Things aren't quite going our way. We probably don't deserve to be losing, but we definitely don't deserve to be winning either.

Everton have a game plan, again, and it's working. They're incredibly hard to break down. Ferguson has been marked out of the game. They are giving us no room whatsoever in and around their box. Fair play to them.

We're dominating, but have been unable to set up any clear cut chances. They're capitalising on errors and have had the best chances, one of which was converted.

Dunks cross-field passes are incredible. Van Hecke looking really confident, improving all the time.

We massively miss Estupinan on the left. Milner is putting in a shift, but he's not a left back and he's not a threat in attack.

Think we do miss Steele's ability to play out from the back. Verbruggen might be a traditional goalkeeper, which worries me a bit.

Second half will be tough, but it's not like us not to score. We're going to have to take risks, so this game could end up another smashing by Everton. Next goal is crucial.

 

[Sheebo]

And missing an overlapping left back so so so much so Mitoma can have more room and freedom and an option..

 

[brighton_dave]

Like to see Pedro in for Lallana.
I recall most of us saying lack of depth at full back would be an issue and unsurprisingly it is. Milner to cover the gap isn't good enough for where we want to be.