[Archived] Everton V Blackburn Preview

[Hughesy]

Fifa - I agree 100% - Salgado was the major issue, Everton knew it and used it to the full advantage.

Did we have another right back on the bench? Salgado needs much more match fitness before he plays in the prem - but to be fair I think Sam said pretty much the same after tha game.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

Whether it's tactics or individuals we are simply finding too hard to score this season. It's goals that change matches.

..and playing more strikers would certainly help. Hell, if you play 3 up front eg Mccarthy, Hoilett, Kalinic and let them roam wide, we would surely have more chance of scoring given the awful goal records of Diouf and Pedersen.

IMO Benni is also better at holding the ball up than Roberts and much more likely to win free kicks (providing the ball is played to feet and not lumped in the air) due to his control (he is probably the most technically gifted player at the club) and can bring others into play with his flicks and lay offs. On the down side he isn't very mobile. By playing Kalinic and Hoilett either side, you have pace and enthusiasm to occupy the other defenders

Like 88 other clubs it's highly unlikely that we will win anything these days anyway.

Was referring to winning a few games of football - not a trophy.

[cn174]

Fifa - I agree 100% - Salgado was the major issue, Everton knew it and used it to the full advantage.

Did we have another right back on the bench? Salgado needs much more match fitness before he plays in the prem - but to be fair I think Sam said pretty much the same after tha game.

We had Emerton on the bench, he could've played right back. We also had Chimbonda on the pitch who could've moved with a bit of jigging around. We even had Andrews at an absolute push. If Salgado wasn't match fit why was he playing?

The other thing that was stupid about Sunday is when we brought Hoilett on he played on the left wing. Now Hoilett seems pretty right footed to me which is why he had to cut inside every single time. Why didn't we put Diouf on the left because he can play either side really, and let Hoilett be a threat on the right hand side?

[Hughesy]

Hoilett can play either side and has 2 good feet.

[bellamy11]

Hoilett can play either side and has 2 good feet.

You can't have seen him on Sunday then. He was all right foot.

[Sysagent]

Warnock left after confrontations with Allardyce over selections and tactics. Posted by the departing Gallagher. I have heard other players think this too.

Where have you heard this from?

And posted by Gallagher where?

[Amo]

You can't have seen him on Sunday then. He was all right foot.

Didn't he clip a nice ball left-footed to Diouf on the edge of the box? I can't remember.

[brfcs5359]

Emo up front!!! You're avin a laff. All he does when he is clear on goal is turn back on himself. Bert does not possess a strikers instincts.

Anyone But Roberts!

[waggy]

Anyone But Roberts!

did brown not play up front pre season

[mellison24]

Where have you heard this from?

And posted by Gallagher where?

'posted' meaning 'followed'

[Sysagent]

I am still awaiting a response from the original poster though to where he has heard these rumours from, as they are pretty damning if that is the case...

[CrazyIvan]

I am still awaiting a response from the original poster though to where he has heard these rumours from, as they are pretty damning if that is the case...

To be frank, if these rumours are true then it wouldn't be the first time players have disagreed with the boss. I don't honestly see what the issue is. The company I work for has made a decision to sell one particular product that all of us in Europe hate and we'll tell them why. But if it comes down to it, we'll just get on with it. Footballers being a group of individuals whose ego's are generally super-sized already means they are going to disagree with the boss over tactics, selections and anything else you can think of and they are going to have their say. Football club dressing rooms aren't all harmony and light heartedness, they never have been and they never will be. Big ego's and bigger wage packets just make that worse and Big Sam has nothing if not a huge ego, haven't all football managers? Rumours of dissent will always be there no matter who the boss is. Being someone like Big Sam isn't going to make that go away, it'll likely make it somewhat more regular. Maybe not Graeme Souness type regular but...

[Hughesy]

You can't have seen him on Sunday then. He was all right foot.

Did he not go onto his right, then come back and hit the shot with his left when there wasnt space with his right one?!

[LeftWinger]

Did he not go onto his right, then come back and hit the shot with his left when there wasnt space with his right one?!

I'm sure he forced Howard into a save with a left foot shot. Might be wrong though.

[JAL]

Hoilett can play either side and has 2 good feet.

Pity he cant shoot to save his life

According to some of the tabloids Rovers players were called into training at 7.30am yesterday. Sam said that he had done this once before at Bolton and hoped that it would have the desired affect, he also said that they sorted out some "issues".

Three right backs and NO midfield thats big Sams doing nobody else to blame except himself.

Rovers were up against a better set of lads on saturday, surely our expert should know this by now.

[Hughesy]

Pity he cant shoot to save his life

Three right backs and NO midfield thats big Sams doing nobody else to blame except himself.

Rovers were up against a better set of lads on saturday, surely our expert should know this by now.

I disagree - why cant he shoot?

NZonzi is a midfielder....as is Van Herden....Grella, Dunn, Reid & Emerton are now all fit....How many fit midfielders do you want?

As for saturday - maybe they were, on sunday we played a team slightly better than us, just didnt perform.

[mellison24]

Three right backs and NO midfield thats big Sams doing nobody else to blame except himself.

Rovers were up against a better set of lads on saturday, surely our expert should know this by now.

Sam's error was picking Salgado (or at least he should have putting him in the centre of defense -a la: Chimbonda, Salgado, Samba, Givet- due to his lack of pace) and his general team selection and formation (ALL WRONG!!)

No doubt Sam should take some blame, but so too should the players for a lack of effort! It was individual errors at the back that cost us. These were obviously due to the pressure on the defence because of Andrews and Grella failing to adhere to their defensive responsibility in midfield. All sides defend from the front. One (useless) man up front will NOT acheive this, Sam!!

After Sam's errors, it was up to the team to pull their socks up and do their best! If not for a few BASIC individual errors, this 3-0 would have been a 0-0. Not JUST Sam's fault (though largely) but also the player's fault. As I've said, I hope this game was the kick up the backside that was required.

[gumboots]

Sam's error was picking Salgado (or at least he should have putting him in the centre of defense -a la: Chimbonda, Salgado, Samba, Givet- due to his lack of pace) and his general team selection and formation (ALL WRONG!!)

No doubt Sam should take some blame, but so too should the players for a lack of effort! It was individual errors at the back that cost us. These were obviously due to the pressure on the defence because of Andrews and Grella failing to adhere to their defensive responsibility in midfield. All sides defend from the front. One (useless) man up front will NOT acheive this, Sam!!

After Sam's errors, it was up to the team to pull their socks up and do their best! If not for a few BASIC individual errors, this 3-0 would have been a 0-0. Not JUST Sam's fault (though largely) but also the player's fault. As I've said, I hope this game was the kick up the backside that was required.

The thing is, we're having to give allardyce the benefit of the doubt here. When Ince's team capitulated miserably to Wigan he was out. I know allardyce has done a lot more to earn himself time than Ince did, and I know getting rid is not really an option, but how long does he get? It would obviously be unfair to judge him on results over the October fixtures, as they are in the main very difficult and most realists would only see us getting surprise points, if any, but how about if we get not just beaten but absolutely tonked by those big 4 teams. Will the board start to question allardyce's judgment? Will his biggest fans on here still be able to justify his selections, tactics, attitude etc. I've not got an agenda here but, as you all know, I'm certainly not a fan, and I'm curious to know just how long some of those who are fans seriously think he's got before significant numbers of people turn on him.

[Exiled in Toronto]

I don't buy the Allardyce expaination for what went wrong on Sunday - he'd have everyone believe it was just bad finishing from us and bad defending. Look at the run up to the first goal:

Our 'chance' was a hopeful ball lobbed into a hopeful area. Samba, who has no finesse whatsoever, got something on it then toe-bunged it across the goal while falling backwards. It came to Diouf unexpectedly, fast and high. Maybe a better player would have scored it but at no stage did we have the ball under control.

In complete contrast, their goal was a very dangerous low ball into a very dangerous area. Saha could see it coming and had the finesses to score well. Very tough to defend against. Class versus crass.

The Salgado debacle has been well documented on here - worst debut ever. Ooijer made crucial mistakes in his whereas everything Salgado did was awful. Our defence was unhinged by this man but Allardyce, who can never be wrong, says he had an OK game, lambasts the rest of the players on national tv and then gets them in for a highly-publicised early-morning caning.

I strongly suspect he will now have lost certainly the Hughes men in the team

[mellison24]

I think the october games provide Sam with a platform. It lets us see how he can deal with the highest level games when they come flying all at once. I won't judge him on results, but on the performance and the determination shown. Any points are purely bonuses. But aside from that, I expect AT MINIMUM a win tonight, a draw against villa and a draw against burnley. AT LEAST.

[MarkBRFC71]

NZonzi is a midfielder....as is Van Herden....Grella, Dunn, Reid & Emerton are now all fit....How many fit midfielders do you want?

So if Reid and Emerton are fit, why the hell persist with Andrews who is clearly not good enough?

If Di Santo and Kalinic are both fit (both players Sam brought in to much fanfare) why persist with Roberts who should be 5th choice striker? Where's Benni, our only reliable, proven goal scorer?

We only beat Wolves thanks to 2 defensive errors, and the only decent pass Pedersen has made in 3 seasons. That game was more about how bad Wolves were than how good we were.

Every other game we play 4-5-1 - we've lost. We start the season 4-4-2, playing pretty well but not scoring. So we reduce our chances of scoring by going 1 up front? Tactical genius ....

I have supported Sam up to recently, but I really think we're now getting Newcastle Sam rather than Bolton Sam. Unfortunately the fixtures where we should have got points, we haven't - and we are facing a run of games where we could emerge at the end with 5 points from a possible 30. Extrapolate that form over a season and I don't need to tell you what happens at the end.

Now if I, and several other people on here can see these glaring faults, why can't a so-called professional football manager? But then, by his own arrogant admission 'he knows best' eh?

NZonzi is a midfielder....as is Van Herden....Grella, Dunn, Reid & Emerton are now all fit....How many fit midfielders do you want?

So if Reid and Emerton are fit, why the hell persist with Andrews who is clearly not good enough?

If Di Santo and Kalinic are both fit (both players Sam brought in to much fanfare) why persist with Roberts who should be 5th choice striker? Where's Benni, our only reliable, proven goal scorer?

We only beat Wolves thanks to 2 defensive errors, and the only decent pass Pedersen has made in 3 seasons. That game was more about how bad Wolves were than how good we were.

Every other game we play 4-5-1 - we've lost. We start the season 4-4-2, playing pretty well but not scoring. So we reduce our chances of scoring by going 1 up front? Tactical genius ....

I have supported Sam up to recently, but I really think we're now getting Newcastle Sam rather than Bolton Sam. Unfortunately the fixtures where we should have got points, we haven't - and we are facing a run of games where we could emerge at the end with 5 points from a possible 30. Extrapolate that form over a season and I don't need to tell you what happens at the end.

Now if I, and several other people on here can see these glaring faults, why can't a so-called professional football manager? But then, by his own arrogant admission 'he knows best' eh?

NZonzi is a midfielder....as is Van Herden....Grella, Dunn, Reid & Emerton are now all fit....How many fit midfielders do you want?

So if Reid and Emerton are fit, why the hell persist with Andrews who is clearly not good enough?

If Di Santo and Kalinic are both fit (both players Sam brought in to much fanfare) why persist with Roberts who should be 5th choice striker? Where's Benni, our only reliable, proven goal scorer?

We only beat Wolves thanks to 2 defensive errors, and the only decent pass Pedersen has made in 3 seasons. That game was more about how bad Wolves were than how good we were.

Every other game we play 4-5-1 - we've lost. We start the season 4-4-2, playing pretty well but not scoring. So we reduce our chances of scoring by going 1 up front? Tactical genius ....

I have supported Sam up to recently, but I really think we're now getting Newcastle Sam rather than Bolton Sam. Unfortunately the fixtures where we should have got points, we haven't - and we are facing a run of games where we could emerge at the end with 5 points from a possible 30. Extrapolate that form over a season and I don't need to tell you what happens at the end.

Now if I, and several other people on here can see these glaring faults, why can't a so-called professional football manager? But then, by his own arrogant admission 'he knows best' eh?

[mellison24]

Sorry Mark, can you say that again?

[thenodrog]

but how about if we get not just beaten but absolutely tonked by those big 4 teams. Will the board start to question allardyce's judgment?

Fair point gumboots but Everton got tonked by Arsenal a few weeks back and Moyes is still there.

I strongly suspect he will now have lost certainly the Hughes men in the team

How will he do that? We've already flogged the only ones that were any good.

[CAPT KAYOS]

I'll say it again - why do some people think Reid will make any difference.

He wasn't exactly pulling up trees before his injury ( another one mind you) so what do people think he is going to be like after 2 seasons out of the game? Don't get me wrong , I like Reid but doubt he will be of the required level anymore.

As I said before - Sam made a rod for his back with his comments after the Wet Spam game and his team selection for Wolves and the inclusion of Salbaddo against the toffees is just him trying to show he 'knows best' and trying to make a point (ha) when all it does disapprove his own words and is just making him out to be a fool who believes he can do no wrong.

IMO I think the unrest is gathering speed quicker than people think , if Saturday turns into a no show /no win I think the tide will turn.

Looks like the Euro /Cup /Intnl mid week games only affects Rovers players. - even when they don't play!

[gumboots]

Fair point gumboots but Everton got tonked by Arsenal a few weeks back and Moyes is still there.

Yes, but Everton know that the Moyes way works. We're not sure that the current Allardyce way works. He didn't do as badly as newcastle fans made out there but nor did he really do well. He is living on past reputation a bit, and while I'll be among the first to admit that what he achieved last season given the start we had and the demoralisation of the team after Wigan, was good, he does seem to be going out of his way to do it "my way" and show everyone that he knows best. As I said I'm not after his blood yet, but I do just feel that it won't take much for the Allardyce sceptics to turn.