We were absolutely awful with Partey on, and Everton should have scored 4 or 5. Not sure Jorginho coming on changed that. Partey was a massive doubt for the game and missed most of the weeks training.

Think we should have changed both full backs early doors. Zinny possibly going into a midfield role rather than coming off.

Also Ode was clearly struggling after catching two down the ankle early in the game. Trossard (who was absolutely awful) potentially could have come on for Ode rather than Martinelli, and mixed it up a bit.

12:30 Saturday kick offs tend to throw up these results. It is well known for being an accy graveyard, and with the new manager bounce, our record at Goodison and many other factors, I had this down as a loss anyway. Hopefully the same won't happen at Villa in a couple of weeks.

Partey deserved to be replaced. Out of our midfielders he was the worst.

We lost the game because we couldnt handle their physis. We managed to handle stronger physical teams better this season in comparison. Our game was slow and the opponent had enough time to get near to us an close the gaps.

We has to recover quickly now. Brentford and than City both at home are must win games now.

Partey has actually been guilty of giving the ball away and losing possession a lot in the last few games - going back to the Spurs game where he put us under pressure a fair bit with his errors.

Think both Partey and Xhaka may be showing signs of fatigue - having played most games this season and going to the world cup. Martinelli is another in that boat (although some argue it is more to do with Nketiah).
Hopefully Arteta can find a way of freshening it up. Shame we didn't get Caicedo.

I do think the away fixtures will now start to become more and more difficult, especially if we go a goal behind.

We have one mode of playing. Once that is neutralised, we don't really have anything else in our armoury to hurt the opposition.

Some changes needed for Brentford. White and Martinelli out. Tomi and Trossard in.

Total neutral … in fact, I’d like to see Arsenal win the title this season. That was a worryingly meh performance though. All a bit powder puff really. Surely no one could have been under any illusions as to what they’d face in Dyche’s first game? Also, whilst I think that both Trossard and Jorginho are OK signings, not convinced they’re the “game changer” type you’ll need to win the league … in what might be the best chance you’ll have.

Enough of this Partey injury nonsense. Partey was fit enough to start and Arteta has already said he was replaced for tactical reasons, dynamism in the team and not because there was any drop off in form.

Would Odegaard be marking Tarkowski if Partey had been on the pitch. Unlikely.

So Arteta was trying to be more aggressive to win the game and we lost the game. Thats not an issue. I much rather have a manager trying to win rather than the cautious Arteta of his first 2 seasons.

The problem yesterday started with Saliba/Gabriel. Usually we push up and compress play in the opposition half. That reduces the spaces between our midfield players. We saw very little of that and almost no press. I think Arteta made a mistake tactically because Dyche was announcing to everyone that he will be launching long balls to DCL and so he played his 2 CBs deeper rather than corralling him higher up the pitch like we do with Kane. I actually think Arteta paid too much respect to Dyche and that did us in.

Jorginho can be a DM as long as we are disciplined in pushing up. Gap control is the key to how we play so I completely understand why Arteta doesn't buy into the 'slow' DM is going to be our downfall narrative. As long as Jorginho displays the positional sense he is famed for we should be ok with him as a backup for the few months left of the season.

Being fit enough to start and being fit enough to play 90 minutes are not the same.
When asked why he took Partey off Arteta said he hasn't trained all week so he put Jorginho on.

comment by Dave The Jackal (U22179)
posted 1 hour, 11 minutes ago
Total neutral … in fact, I’d like to see Arsenal win the title this season. That was a worryingly meh performance though. All a bit powder puff really. Surely no one could have been under any illusions as to what they’d face in Dyche’s first game? Also, whilst I think that both Trossard and Jorginho are OK signings, not convinced they’re the “game changer” type you’ll need to win the league … in what might be the best chance you’ll have.
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Much as I don't like your use of the expression "powder puff", what you say is correct. The most annoying thing about the performance was that you knew exactly what to expect from Everton's first game under Dyche - organised, compact, hard-working, physical and a threat from corners and crosses... and we looked like we weren't ready for it, and had absolutely no answer.

I get that these games can happen, and the players aren't automatons, so hopefully it was just one of those days and the next game is a win and we go on a run like we did after the United loss. It is a worrying performance at this stage of the season from a team that wants to win the league though...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/64484528

Arteta clearly said we wanted to change a few things specifically the dynamic and at that moment we conceded.

He didn't say Partey was tired as he hasn't trained this week so we wanted to freshen it up. Quite the opposite. Clearly Arteta has wanted Jorginho for a very long time and I think the reason why is that he recycles the ball far faster than Partey which stops opposing teams setting up in the deep formations. Quick transitions is key to how Pep/Arteta used to setup Man City.

And I think Jorginho was able to do that when he was younger. Whether he will be able to do that now will go a long in answering if we can win the Europa and/or the Title.

Oh and that and the Newcastle game are the blueprint for the rest of the league on how to play us (as if they didn't know but still).

He wasn't asked why Partey went off there. He was elsewhere and stated Partey hadn't trained all week as the reason.

comment by TheSkins (U3865)
posted 53 seconds ago
Oh and that and the Newcastle game are the blueprint for the rest of the league on how to play us (as if they didn't know but still).
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Yes. No doubt. One reason why I think there has been a slight drop off in composure in the final third, something Arteta was very specific in pointing out as a problem he has to solve is the fitness of Xhaka. Xhaka was in imperious form at the start of the season which has started to drop quite a bit. We need to see the creativity on that wing that we usually do from Odegaard. That stops teams concentrating too much on Ode/Saka wing.

comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 3 minutes ago
He wasn't asked why Partey went off there. He was elsewhere and stated Partey hadn't trained all week as the reason.
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Its not even the point though. Even if Partey had aggravated his injury was forced off, Arteta should have paid more attention to how it would affect the set pieces he himself admitted they were concentrating on the entire week. You cannot leave Odegaard marking Tarkowski after subs. Gabriel/White or someone from the bench should have been shouting at them to watch who was marking whom after Partey left the pitch.