Everton v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Percy McCarthy]

Think we still need 6-8 points to be safe. Play like we did today and we should get them.
Well done RAF!!

I agree, but quite what the no-fly zone above Libya has to do with it I don't know.

[Villa'Zawg]

thing is Villadawg, all the bottom teams have lots of games against each other, so the points will get shared out, 42 points will definately be enough, 2 wins should see us safe

I hope you're right but I doubt it. I would not have expected Blues, Baggies, Wigan, Wolves and West Ham to all take more points than we have from the last 6 games - our "easy run" games.

We're in this relegation battle to the death now, there's very little prospect of us being in the clear before the Arsenal game.

[olaftab]

My view is that if we do not win our next game we  will go down.

No we will not. We need no more than 4 points from the remaining 7 games and we will get them. This theory about 42 points this year is bunk. Teams relegated will accumulate less than 38 points.

Why do you think it is bunk? I think the notion that we only need 4 more points is unlikely to be true.

The current bottom 3 already have 95 points between them, that's more than you would expect the bottom 3 to have at the end of a typical season, let alone with 7 games to play.

I'm not even confident that 42 points will be enough.

You have answered the question yourself by pointing out the fact that bottom 3 have accumulated 95 points. They have taken points from teams in mid table and above to do that. This means that from now on all bottom 7 or 8  will take points off each other. So they can not all get to 41.

[Villa'Zawg]

My view is that if we do not win our next game we  will go down.

No we will not. We need no more than 4 points from the remaining 7 games and we will get them. This theory about 42 points this year is bunk. Teams relegated will accumulate less than 38 points.

Why do you think it is bunk? I think the notion that we only need 4 more points is unlikely to be true.

The current bottom 3 already have 95 points between them, that's more than you would expect the bottom 3 to have at the end of a typical season, let alone with 7 games to play.

I'm not even confident that 42 points will be enough.

You have answered the question yourself by pointing out the fact that bottom 3 have accumulated 95 points. They have taken points from teams in mid table and above to do that. This means that from now on all bottom 7 or 8  will take points off each other. So they can not all get to 41.

I'm not sure I understand the logic.

Every team in the bottom half  has an even split of 3 or 4 games left to play against bottom half and top half teams, except for Blackpool who have only 2 bottom half games and Sunderland who have only 2 top half games,

[JJ-AV]

We just need to beat Newcastle.

Blackpool are yet to play Fulham. After that they have Fulham and SHA have Blackburn.

If we beat Newcastle we'll be 2/3 points clear of 2 teams + the drop zone.

[not3bad]

We showed character today and though we had some escapes that was much better.  Now let's carry the improvement through to Newcastle.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Just see motd, 2 good goals by Bent, some more crap defending & that was never a pen

[Ian.]

I did predict 2 things correct, which was not hard. A late goal conceded in both halves but I also said 3-2 to us, not quite right.

Good finishes from Bent and another assist from Downing. Good result when you weigh it all up.
I'm happy with a point from this one.

[Percy McCarthy]

Just see motd, 2 good goals by Bent, some more crap defending & that was never a pen

Worryingly, Wigan and West Ham were unlucky and looked decent, only Wolves out of the bottom lot were truly shite.

[VillaAlways]

Just see motd, 2 good goals by Bent, some more crap defending & that was never a pen

Worryingly, Wigan and West Ham were unlucky and looked decent, only Wolves out of the bottom lot were truly shite.

Do you think West Ham were unlucky? I thought they capitulated big style

[KevinGage]

Jagielka made the most of it but you always risk giving a pen the way Makoun dived in.

He's by no means the worst player in the world, but his sending off meant we had to hold on versus Blackpool  (whereas with 11 we could have pushed for the win) and today it's resulted in us letting a winning position slip.

He has a decent range of passing, but as one of GH's big signings you're looking for a more telling contribution from him. Well I suppose it has been telling, but for all the wrong reasons thus far.

[Steve R]

To be fair to Makoun, he has had to hit the ground running as it were. I think he's looked pretty good.

Maybe he needs to adapt to the change in pace. No doubt the tackles look winnable to him, but he always seems to get there a little later than he expects.

The booking was a bit of a joke, and I thought he managed to pull away from Jagielka, who promptly hung a leg out and conned the ref.

[KevinGage]

Hard to know for certain whether the ref was absolutely convinced it was a stonewall at the time, or whether he wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt after the circumstances that led to our second. Best not to give him the opportunity.

How often have we seen in the past a ref sending a player off, taking dogs abuse for it and then evening things up with another red card. It's a curious industry that thinks making one mistake can only be corrected by making another.

[Matt Collins]

Jagielka made the most of it but you always risk giving a pen the way Makoun dived in.

He's by no means the worst player in the world, but his sending off meant we had to hold on versus Blackpool  (whereas with 11 we could have pushed for the win) and today it's resulted in us letting a winning position slip.

He has a decent range of passing, but as one of GH's big signings you're looking for a more telling contribution from him. Well I suppose it has been telling, but for all the wrong reasons thus far.

Same price as Sidwell though. A miles better player for me already

Did we play 4-4-2 today?

[Pete3206]

Well done Ged! Now do fuck off.

You first.