Two big weaknesses exposed today

[Whitestone]

I think he means Timothy Castagne in this context, for those who are asking.

There's only one TC!

[SerbianLad]

The central midfield is a continual disaster zone. We were good in the first half because our quick attacks down the flanks forced their midfield back. In the second half, when they pressed, we couldn't challenge them in midfield. I'm desperate enough to try Bassey as a defensive DM. He's quick, hard tackling and physical. We need an enforcer.

We got dominated in the middle in every match we played with Iwobi there bar the Sunderland match. I don't think he's a solution at all. Iwobi again had some great moments in attack, but I feel like we waste him by playing him so far back, especially as it worsens our defence too.

[ArcticOctopus]

The central midfield is a continual disaster zone. We were good in the first half because our quick attacks down the flanks forced their midfield back. In the second half, when they pressed, we couldn't challenge them in midfield. I'm desperate enough to try Bassey as a defensive DM. He's quick, hard tackling and physical. We need an enforcer.

We got dominated in the middle in every match we played with Iwobi there bar the Sunderland match. I don't think he's a solution at all. Iwobi again had some great moments in attack, but I feel like we waste him by playing him so far back, especially as it worsens our defence too.

Thought he looked great in the first half. But we also weren't sitting back and inviting pressure then.

[SuffolkWhite]

Watched the game at home today, I felt we didn't take our opportunity in the 1st half. We didn't look as dynamic as Everton late first half and at all second half, also felt changes were late with subs.

I have said this a few times on a few threads, but we have had quite a few wins and good results where we haven't played well, conversely we have played well and lost games ( all be it officials and var). So, what's strange today is we haven't played that well and lost.

Did Everton have more fight?

[ffcthereligion]

TC and Leno are not good enough

Agreed. Castagne is just awful and we always concede from his flank. Thankfully tete is back

[SerbianLad]

Thought he looked great in the first half. But we also weren't sitting back and inviting pressure then.

It looks good when we are absolutely on top. However, even in the first half, we looked really poor in the beginning and even in that one 5-10 minute period late in the first half. I don't think it's reasonable to expect we can dominate teams for full 90 minutes.

[john dempsey]

Absolute car crash of a 2nd half,
whilst our manager just sits there
watching it unfold.

[demeant0r]

Absolute car crash of a 2nd half,
whilst our manager just sits there
watching it unfold.

He looked defeated today. Probably told the team to protect the 1-0 lead and it spectacularly backfired.

[demeant0r]

Thought he looked great in the first half. But we also weren't sitting back and inviting pressure then.

It looks good when we are absolutely on top. However, even in the first half, we looked really poor in the beginning and even in that one 5-10 minute period late in the first half. I don't think it's reasonable to expect we can dominate teams for full 90 minutes.

I don't think any team in the world can dominate for 90+ mins but at least give it a try. In the second half, we just kept inviting them. As well as inviting them we kept gifting them the ball, like that horrendous pass from Leno and another from Cuenca. And then Cuenca kept going for the man and not the ball. Very odd second half.

[St Eve]

For me it's our midfield. Just not dominant enough. We can pick out individual mistakes or blame it on late substations, but the midfield doesn't help the defence enough and lacks creativity

[Hugh Janus]

We cannot take our chances. That game should have been over at half time.

Game mgmt in the second half was shocking.

Wrong subs at the wrong time.   

We were whipping cross into the box for the last 25 mins when Everton had 4 centre backs on all over 6'3" while  3 oof our attacking 4 are under 5'7". Idiotic.

That's 4 points blown in last 2 games. Europe is gone.

[Twig]

I think he means Timothy Castagne in this context, for those who are asking.

Ah I get it. Sorry.

[KentFulham]

Another major issue is our inability to finish. That is the major thing that keeps us from being serious contenders for Europe. We should have been up 3 nil at the half. Had we been, the other two weaknesses would not have mattered.
It was good to see Kenny and Munz back in the mix.

Result of not replacing Mitro

[SerbianLad]

I don't think any team in the world can dominate for 90+ mins

And that's why Iwobi shouldn't play in the middle. It doesn't work in our system.

Teams like Man City can get away with playing someone like Bernardo Silva in the middle(as they did in the past) as they control the match from start to finish most of the time, especially when they were at their peak. Iwobi tries his best, but his off the ball stuff is pretty poor and we lose control of the midfield every single time (apart from the Sunderland match that is).

[demeant0r]

I don't think any team in the world can dominate for 90+ mins

And that's why Iwobi shouldn't play in the middle. It doesn't work in our system.

Teams like Man City can get away with playing someone like Bernardo Silva in the middle(as they did in the past) as they control the match from start to finish most of the time, especially when they were at their peak. Iwobi tries his best, but his off the ball stuff is pretty poor and we lose control of the midfield every single time (apart from the Sunderland match that is).

Then where do we play him? (And we absolutely must play him because he's obviously Marco's favourite.) He's just not that great of a winger and we have better options there now.

[SerbianLad]

Then where do we play him? (And we absolutely must play him because he's obviously Marco's favourite.) He's just not that great of a winger and we have better options there now.

I thought he had his best season in his career last year, playing on the wing. It's clearly his best position, imo. I do think we have too many wingers when everyone is fit, but usually we have an injury or two. Still, that money should have been invested in a midfielder, which should have been our number 1 priority.

[Twig]

If we are looking at the squad then yes, midfield (especially without TC) is definitely the most critical weakness. I have been screaming for a young TC replacement for ages and I stand by that.
However I also blame Marco today for his slothful use of our bench. There were several ways he could have shored things up: going five across the back, being more aggressive with fresh wingers running at a tiring defence, tweaking the midfield to take Iwobi out of the action etc etc etc. Marco opted to do nothing until it was too late then comitted the cardinal sin of changes for a set piece. Total bloody disaster all round from our manager.

[SerbianLad]

However I also blame Marco today for his slothful use of our bench.

That's the only thing I can blame Marco for. It's clear that the subs should have been made earlier. I also think he should have subbed Wilson and not ESR.

[Matt10]

Everton simply switched to trap Berge and Iwobi better in the second half. They pushed their line up higher knowing we just had Raul as a central point since ESR had to make up for Iwobi and Berge being trapped.

I think we really missed Cairney or Lukic today, because that keeps Iwobi from playing that LM role where he can drop and create without having to take on as much as a pressure spot/trap the way he experienced today. For about the first 10-15 minutes we just could not hold onto the ball. We stopped resetting and switching the play, instead Chuk and Iwobi trying to go 1v1 in our own half and losing it. Or Iwobi just not moving around quick enough out of the traps to drag either Gueye or Garner out of position. For their first goal, Andersen was able to step thinking he had Iwobi as cover, but Iwobi was so far behind the play that Mykolenko had so much time to play the ball in.

For the winner they scored, yeah - honestly, Leno just looked extremely weak. He is grabbing O'Brien's shirt just as much, then it's just a very weak attempt to punch the ball out. Brain fleeting moment for me, and not the first time this season. Leno has these moments where he dials back the intensity and has this sense of entitlement on how he interacts with the ball. Leno barely moving for both United goals last week, then in that moment he just kind of gives into the drama of it all.

The second half overall was just poor though. I chuckled to myself thinking that Marco must've given the most uninspiring half-time speech ever, maybe he said he's not signing a new contract? It just felt so flat - and didn't make sense at all. Even with the tactical adjustments from Everton, it's like there was no other game plan being put together. Wilson never went central like he tends to do, and Chuk just stayed wide giving his obvious direction to attempt the sideline. In the first half we were rotating between Iwobi, Wilson and ESR at a constant rate - while Berge just sat comfortable behind them. Something just didn't seem right at all in the second half.

At the end of the day, I wouldn't change much like how a couple posters here are already asking for. I don't think it's a chop and change moment really. I think it was an everyone's fault kind of game. We got found out, we didn't adjust and we weren't prepared for their momentum. We gave into the drama of the moment again and it defined our downfall.

[LittleErn]

Another major issue is our inability to finish. That is the major thing that keeps us from being serious contenders for Europe. We should have been up 3 nil at the half. Had we been, the other two weaknesses would not have mattered.
It was good to see Kenny and Munz back in the mix.

Result of not replacing Mitro

He was invisible for the whole game! Deserved to be replaced.