[Archived] Everton Preview

[JAL]

The positive for me from yesterday was how everyone throws themselves into the line of the ball when the opposition are lining up a shot, now that is what we as fans want and like to see total commitment it reminds me of the All Blacks rugby team at their peak, aggressive in defence when you dont have the ball, with no weak links for the opposition to break through.

You just cant highlight how important this is to being a successful side. I'm sure all the footy coaches on here would agree, defend first, and defend well, and only then do you earn the right to attack.

[Majiball]

Louis Saha doesn't have class? Maj are you sure that you work in football?

Cheeky sod.

Saha is a good player, but if Everton want to break down stubborn defences whilst playing 451 then they need better and someone who can play a full season. Give them a Drogba or a Torres type and they would be a serious top 4 threat.

With Saha their not.

Wow, watching the match replay now and Dunn looks huge, possibly bigger than Benni Mac did for us! Anybody know what the situation is with his injury BTW?

Stomach strain apparently.

:lol:

[MarkBRFC71]

My thoughts exactly. I had already mentally awarded MOM to MGP long before it was announced. Also strong candidates for me were Salgado, Jones, and all the back line. Also worthy of a merit were Both Dioufs', Kalinic, N'zonzi and Robbo. And counting up that makes all eleven that finished the match.

Some of the people that have actually slated Pederson on here saying he was rubbish etc are just too unreal to ever take seriously again. Just to give one example out of the countless class touches he demonstrated and that I can remember in detail. In the second half one of the back line "hoofed" a long ball out of defence to break up an Everton attack and it was aimed staight for Pederson standing about 10 yards into the BBE half and almost on the left touchline. As the ball arrived about thigh/waist high he just plucked it out tof the air with outside of his right foot and all in one moved off with it infield. and with his next two steps or so he had seen M. Diouf over on the RH side just outside the box and hit a glorious lobbed pass over the Everton heads and right to were M. Diof could just run on to it, which he did. That is only one of many good things he did, but which it seems are too subtle for complete football numpties to appreciate or even to see either it would appear.

Dude, chill out! I said MGP had a good game, but I thought Jones was better. Almost all Everton's attacks floundered in or around the part of the pitch Jones was patrolling, and given his youth, paucity of experience, and being in an entirely new position against one of the strongest midfields in the League I thought he deserved it far more than Pedersen.

[Ninjathunder]

Sponsored by 'Gay Pride' possibly?

I must say looking at the massed ranks of blue shirted Everton fans it doesn't look like the new away strips are proving anything other than a marketing disaster. I can't recall seeing one.

I made out a dozen or so from where I was sat. Either way, it's not a big seller.

[92er]

Delighted to start off with a home win-especially as they're so rare currently against Everton.

Excellent analysis as always by Scotty-hope you do more postings this year.

Most people will have seen MGP get his tackle in against Artteta for which he was booked-quite rightly I thought at the match.

But I wonder if people saw the following incindets that all probably happened in the last 20 mins or so, all on the JW side of the ground and can comment in any more detail.

MGP lying on the ground-apparently very unhappy with some foul committed on him?

Neville in a similar prone position , apparently very unhappy with MGP, who he went and shoulder charged off the ball after he had got up?

At the end, when Neville went towards the Everton end, he went close to MGP and appeared to give hime a mouth full. A few seconds later, he returned and seemed to try and get near MGP who in the meantime had moved towards the Blackburn end. Although he was 20/30 yards away, he appeared to try and continue with the verbals and finally, when he had almost left the field, came back on and gave MGP more verbals?

[brfcs5359]

I can understand Everton fans moaning they played the long ball. Rovers were too good defensively and whilst kept it on the deck in the build up areas, they were reduced to lumping the final ball in.

Matty spot on. Diouf looks like he is towing a caravan.

[Neil Weaver]

The positive for me from yesterday was how everyone throws themselves into the line of the ball when the opposition are lining up a shot, now that is what we as fans want and like to see total commitment it reminds me of the All Blacks rugby team at their peak, aggressive in defence when you dont have the ball, with no weak links for the opposition to break through.

Let's hope it carries on JAL. Don't know if it's different to in the past, but especially in the first half (when it was right in front of me) I really noticed how Salgado did everything he could to stop a cross coming in. He really didn't care where he got hit, just make sure something gets in the way. Bit of a contrast to good ole Pascal.

[pwaw_whipp]

extremely happy about the result yesterday! anybody know how i can find out the roversreturn results? i have 2 tickets that could be winners? can anyone please help?

[braddock]

whilst we may not get any points for a while necessarily, i am glad that we are off the mark. there is nothing wrong with losing your first game and then getting a little shaky. it's constantly playing catchup from there and st andrews would have been seen to be a much more dangerous place to visit. hopefully they can take some confidence on to the next match and get at least a draw. i know i'd have taken 4 points from the first two games.

and as early as it is, when i saw yesterdays results i couldn't help but think they were all good for rovers. providing newcastle get beat it will have been very very good.

[roversmum]

extremely happy about the result yesterday! anybody know how i can find out the roversreturn results? i have 2 tickets that could be winners? can anyone please help?

Ring the club, they should be able to pass you on to the appropriate person.

[1864roverite]

Apparently all MGP said to Neville was that he looked very fetching in pink !!!

[RevidgeBlue]

There's no way you can say anything bad about yesterday, I expected us to get absolutely thumped pending us sorting out our attacking and mid field options properly but we went out with our only two available strikers and a winger and central defender in midfield yet still came away with three points! A tremendous effort.

I thought Jones was absolutely immense and was mom by a country mile. On the evidence of yesterday his value to us has gone from the 10m bracket to the 20m one.

A lot of hulabaloo about MGP's performance imo, he did ok, kicked a few people and got involved but still doesn't look like a genuine central midfielder to me.

The way we set up yesterday made Olsson a fairly peripheral figure imo. We could quite easily have gone two up front and sacrificed him without losing any solidity.

M Diouf looked extremely useful and different class to his predecessor Di Santo. We still need to figure out how to give our striker(s) more support though.

If we did have a major fault yesterday it was that the midfield dropped off far too deep playing about five yards in front of the back four which meant we conceded far too much room just outside our penalty area. On another day we could be punished.

Overall though I'm starting to get the feeling that we're finally playing in the sort of manner you would expect from an Allardyce team - "Thou shalt not pass" and "We will not beaten" etc. It might not have been a game for the neutrals yesterday but I found our dogged determination and bloody mindedness quite uplifting.

[braddock]

There's no way you can say anything bad about yesterday...

I AGREE REVIDGEBLUE!

MGP... doesn't look like a genuine central midfielder to me.

The way we set up yesterday made Olsson a fairly peripheral figure imo. We could quite easily have gone two up front and sacrificed him without losing any solidity.

The midfield dropped off far too deep playing about five yards in front of the back four which meant we conceded far too much room just outside our penalty area. On another day we could be punished.

BUT WAIT, YOU JUST SAID...

[Ossydave]

Was there a minutes silence for Adam Stansfield? Didn't get up to my seat till after KO so wouldn't know.

[RevidgeBlue]

BUT WAIT, YOU JUST SAID...

If you think what I actually said was "bad" I'd have to say you were being somewhat oversensitive.

I never said the performance was perfect or that there was no room for improvement.

It was however a trmendous battling win against all the odds and I'd gladly take another eighteen of those at home.

[Flopsy]

re the Everton Kit, it looked a purpley pink on our TV, and it was dreadful, I cant imagine how bad it was on the naked eyeball.

For decent pink kits, Middlesex and Stade Francais have shown how to do it well

[tashor]

Beam me up Scotty......

Nice to see an analysis that concurs with the game I saw - please keep posting............

I am utterly stoked about the result - I was desperately hoping for a draw....but one negative for me

Diouf mk2 looked hot when we had the ball BUT made no effort at all to influence play when Everton had the ball....

Nit picking maybe but our strength is the way we play as a team collectively.

Kalinic works his arse off and gives alot to the team even when misfiring in front of goal.

Hopefully Sam will sort this out and create a player that is an asset both in attack and defence

[SergioPeter89]

Diouf mk2 looked hot when we had the ball BUT made no effort at all to influence play when Everton had the ball....

Thank you! I thought I was the only one to get frustrated about that. It happened many times as Everton had the ball. Remember one time when a Everton player had the ball on Rovers half, and Diouf who was less than 10 yards from him, didnt even pressure him.

[American Rover12]

Thank you! I thought I was the only one to get frustrated about that. It happened many times as Everton had the ball. Remember one time when a Everton player had the ball on Rovers half, and Diouf who was less than 10 yards from him, didnt even pressure him.

When you're the only one attacking I don't think BFS was expecting him to pressure much.

[Fife Rover]

One of the key factors for me was the team performance. I sat in the car on the way home and struggled to pick an mom from a list of nelsen, jones, Salgado, mgp, and diouf mark 1. We had stand out performances from a number of players, most of which have been slated on here at one time or another.

Fully agree Ricky. There was not one player in Rovers colours all match that could be described as poor at all. I too had to think that there were several candidates for MoM and was looking to choose from the same list as yours. I finally went for Pederson but it was close.

[92er]

Apparently all MGP said to Neville was that he looked very fetching in pink !!!

I'm not sure it's true, but it made me laugh!!

[SergioPeter89]

When you're the only one attacking I don't think BFS was expecting him to pressure much.

Ofc, I didnt expect him to make a run back to defend. But there was some situations where he could easily pressure some Everton players, instead of them walking easily towards our goal.

[Tom]

Was there a minutes silence for Adam Stansfield? Didn't get up to my seat till after KO so wouldn't know.

No which I think to be extremely poor form.

[RevidgeBlue]

No which I think to be extremely poor form.

Without wishing to be unsympathetic, why?

I'd never even heard of this poor chap until the other day and he didn't have any connection at all to Blacburn Rovers did he?

[47er]

There's no way you can say anything bad about yesterday, I expected us to get absolutely thumped pending us sorting out our attacking and mid field options properly but we went out with our only two available strikers and a winger and central defender in midfield yet still came away with three points! A tremendous effort.

I thought Jones was absolutely immense and was mom by a country mile. On the evidence of yesterday his value to us has gone from the 10m bracket to the 20m one.

A lot of hulabaloo about MGP's performance imo, he did ok, kicked a few people and got involved but still doesn't look like a genuine central midfielder to me.

The way we set up yesterday made Olsson a fairly peripheral figure imo. We could quite easily have gone two up front and sacrificed him without losing any solidity.

M Diouf looked extremely useful and different class to his predecessor Di Santo. We still need to figure out how to give our striker(s) more support though.

If we did have a major fault yesterday it was that the midfield dropped off far too deep playing about five yards in front of the back four which meant we conceded far too much room just outside our penalty area. On another day we could be punished.

Overall though I'm starting to get the feeling that we're finally playing in the sort of manner you would expect from an Allardyce team - "Thou shalt not pass" and "We will not beaten" etc. It might not have been a game for the neutrals yesterday but I found our dogged determination and bloody mindedness quite uplifting.

Good post Rev. I would have picked Salgado as MOM myself. I thought Pedersen was fine but his free-kicks were poor (and he takes them all!) .I'd think we would have played more attractive football if we hadn't gone 1-nil up early. As it was we squeezed them into nothingness.