Ratings & Reactions: Everton v Villa

[PieFacE]

Wasn't really much of a game of football that and I don't think that was our fault. It was exactly what they wanted. They definitely dragged us down to their shitty level in that game so credit to players for holding on. Big win. 

[tinker]

Struggled but a good performance to grind out a draw. Ref was dreadful , lost control of the game and allowed it to bubble up, not quite over but very close to it. 

Ming's, dear god he's committed but sometimes his head goes, late on he kept coming for headers and losing them, leaving us short at the back. 

Great result but we aren't playing very well , which beat playing well and losing. 

[gwi1890]

Had to work for it,  glad we didn’t aid them by gifting goals

[HalfTimePost]

Thought subs took too long coming today but got a good result.

Chukwuemeka was the wrong choice for me with what was needed on the pitch, should've been Sanson, but we are missing Bailey, Traore and Nakamba so maybe one of those would've come on had we had them available.

Ings for Watkins and Hause for Buendia were good choices though and a better read of the game.

Could do with them 5-10 minutes sooner though or I'm going to be put into an early grave by one of these Villa Managers that hate substitutions.

[a m ole]

Just now, KentVillan said:

Potentially, yes, but it wasn't like Everton parked the bus. A lot of our mistakes in possession were unforced.

True. A little more composure when they got physical we could have kept the ball better, I think they were probably just tired second half.

[allani]

Just now, Delphinho123 said:

So true and the best summary so far. 

We were poor second half but that’s probably the highest intensity and effort Everton have put in all season and the atmosphere was superb from the home fans. They made it a difficult game for us. 

To come away with a win is fantastic and massive going into a few days off. 

Hard to pick a MOTM. I gave it Buendia for his first half display but I thought Cash was excellent and Mings was generally good apart from the stupid little mistakes here and there.

Question. Do we need a new striker?

It is beginning to look that way.  Watkins and Ings did nothing between them all match.  More difficult in the second half because they were so isolated from our midfield.  But neither held the ball up for long enough to either relieve pressure (second half) or create space for the midfield (first half).

[El Segundo]

Good first half, midfield disappeared second half.  Good job we defended well and Everton lacked that bit of quality in the final third.   Probably didn't deserve the win overall, we need to play well for 90 minutes not 45.   Felt like we were playing against 12 men again at times with yet another inept referee who booked Mings for being fouled and then found 6 minutes of added time from nowhere.  

[PaulC]

Ref should have stamped his authority early on because it just became a warzone not a football match. Buendia the one moment of quality and we showed great grit and determination to see the game through 

[AVTuco]

2 minutes ago, BleedClaretAndBlue said:

Gritty

Yes. So many saying we were shit. We weren't. Take into account the circumstances. Everton tried everything, and we stood up. Well done lads.

[villalad21]

Thought we got away with one.

Everton deserved at least a draw on balance of play.

But I'll gladly take that.

[jacketspuds]

Take that you lanky smackhead. Can't win games by buying the fans a pint before the game.

[ferguson1]

Still think Luiz needs to up his game a notch or two. 

[Jono62]

For them, I thought Gordon was excellent when he came on

[StanBalaban]

7 minutes ago, Lord Willard said:

I think that was a brilliant result. 

Probably the hardest crowd we'll against. Change in the manager, all getting free drinks, the crowd were really behind them. They got into the refs head and it was very hostile. 

We needed to keep the ball better second half but sometimes you just have to grind out a result. 

Spot on. 3 points and a clean sheet, with a good 70 mins of playing time for Coutinho.

Big Dunc is not peak José, and he sent them out in his mould and boozed up the crowd.

Ugly football from us in the 2nd half, but we got exactly what we needed.

[CanVillan]

We matched and beat a very fired up, team today. Everton were full of a new manager bounce, looking to impress. 

Not to mention the crowd and questionable officiating.

Well done.

[Ponky]

Happy to come away with the win. Really struggled to keep the ball second half and really were our own worst enemy. 

Ref was a disgrace. 

Everton thugs. 

Everton crowd criminals. 

[Niall]

Everton under Ferguson certainly set out to rough us up and Mina and Richarlison in particular were dishing it out. Thought Villa held up well but in games like these a big physical presence in the midfield would be a great asset. 

Great goal from Buendia. Cash had a great game and the back 4 deserve credit for keeping those thugs out.

[The_Steve]

Everton deserved nothing and got nothing from that

[KentVillan]

1 minute ago, KMitch said:

I don't agree with everyone saying we were poor...  This was Everton's first game not being constrained by Rafaball, and you knew the dirty fooker Ferguson would have them playing extremely rough to try to get something from this game.  This wasn't going to be a fixture as easy as it appeared on paper, but we had a significant number of chances in the first half and held up well defensively.  Not every game is going to be a 7-2 destruction.  Great win for us.

MOTM:  Buendia - Once again, best player on the pitch.

I think we were poor in possession, but good collectively as a unit. Tactically, positionally, managing our emotions, our decision making, etc... that was all very solid, and you have to credit the coaching staff for that. But a bit more quality on the ball in the final third and we could have really caused them problems.

Obviously it's great to come away with 3 points, but looking ahead to our next few games, we need the front 3 to show more quality. Hopefully Coutinho will have benefited from starting a game, and can start doing bits as he finds full fitness.

[Talldarkandransome]

Showed lots of bottle today