Everton 1-1 Aston Villa post match thread

[dorsetvillian]

That miss, that equaliser, have potentially condemned the club to years of football in the Championship. Win last night and I would have really believed we stay up.  Unfortunately it's going to be so difficult for the players to pick themselves up after that. Fine margins but somehow inevitable with the lack of character in the team. Still gutted..

[LeeB]

Right with you mate, we all are. If we fail to overcome the deficit from here and (as looks increasingly likely) drop, I think the gut wrenching pain of last night will take a hell of a lot of shifting. A proper boot up the bollocks that was.

I, a committed atheist, found myself mouthing a little prayer maybe no more than a minute before the goal, promising to be a better man if we could just hold on.

So to conclude, either God doesn't exist, or he's a Bluenose wanker and he can get in the fucking sea.

Most likely it's because you're irredeemable.

I hadn't considered that. Anyway, I'll sacrifice a goat to Satan for Arsenal, see if that works.

[brontebilly]

El Ghazi scores and we win the game. Smith gets the plaudits he’d have earned and we are all bang up for the rest of this season.

He doesn’t, so we’re all gutted. I’m afraid this one may be AEG’s legacy, despite what he did at Wembley last year.

Yep, very fine margins which is why last night's result is a killer. Was an unbelievable ball in from Grealish too, took about 3 or 4 defenders and the keeper out of the game. Simply had to be scored from there.

[Steve67]

I still can't understand why he didn't go for it with his head?  Easy goal.

[VinnieChase84]

AEG was offside in the build up to the goal. Even if he had scored then we would prob be discussing our latest VAR hatred

[Nii Lamptey]

El Ghazi scores and we win the game. Smith gets the plaudits he’d have earned and we are all bang up for the rest of this season.

He doesn’t, so we’re all gutted. I’m afraid this one may be AEG’s legacy, despite what he did at Wembley last year.

Yep, very fine margins which is why last night's result is a killer. Was an unbelievable ball in from Grealish too, took about 3 or 4 defenders and the keeper out of the game. Simply had to be scored from there.

I thought the same... that ball was pinpoint to El Ghazi's foot. Absolute stunner of a cross from Jack, which deserved to be tucked away.

[Pat McMahon]

I have just watched their goal again.  Hourihane didn't get within two metres of Gomes to stop the cross and El Ghastly and Elmo stood and watched.  Dean Smith has the temerity to dig Konsa out for not keeping the ball off the line.  Tool.  It was a fantastic cross but should have been stopped.  Lazy defending.

There were numerous times when crosses were coming in seemingly without any real intent from our players to stop them. Targett and Jack in particular. They seemed to be standing of their wide players. Their goal resulted from this as did the Calvert Lewis miss

Unfortunately I think the young and nimble Arsenal players will be too much for us next week

Allowing crosses to come in too easily has been a problem all season. That has to be down to the coaching staff for me, not full backs.

That is on your coaching and tactical instructions. Our defenders are narrow, within the width of the penalty area leaving the midfield to stop crosses coming in. With wide men like Wl Ghazi and Trezeguet, not the most diligent of players, we are on thin ice here.

This first struck me in the home game v Burnley in September and has been a feature all season.

[Bobby Boy]

All the talk of El Ghazi's miss is a red herring. We were winning at the time not drawing.

We have had trouble seeing games out throughout the season, from the first game in fact and I am sure that good coaching would tell players to stay down if you get a knock, push out and don't go deeper and deeper.

This can be coached. We have been too nice, too naive.

Ultimately though how many Premier League quality players do we have?

Grealish, Mings, Mcginn, Heaton, Douglas Luiz......

That's it. It was always going to be tough. In the heady expectations of promotion we all hoped for mid-table, top 8 but a relegation struggle was always more likely.

And the recruitment has been very poor.

Whatever happens next season we will have funds to rebuild.

[The Edge]

That miss, that equaliser, have potentially condemned the club to years of football in the Championship. Win last night and I would have really believed we stay up.  Unfortunately it's going to be so difficult for the players to pick themselves up after that. Fine margins but somehow inevitable with the lack of character in the team. Still gutted..

Years of football in the championship? I don't see it that way at all. We are far better equipped to bounce back than the last time we were relegated. Of course we'll be losing players but I believe we'll in a much stronger position to bounce straight back. There isn't the utter stench around the club that there was in 2016. (that's if we go down of course)

[tomd2103]

That miss, that equaliser, have potentially condemned the club to years of football in the Championship. Win last night and I would have really believed we stay up.  Unfortunately it's going to be so difficult for the players to pick themselves up after that. Fine margins but somehow inevitable with the lack of character in the team. Still gutted..

Years of football in the championship? I don't see it that way at all. We are far better equipped to bounce back than the last time we were relegated. Of course we'll be losing players but I believe we'll in a much stronger position to bounce straight back. There isn't the utter stench around the club that there was in 2016. (that's if we go down of course)

Bit sobering tonight that Leeds have been out the top flight for 16 years.  I have to disagree with the above post that we are well equipped to bounce back if we go down this time. 

Just don't see anything in what will be left after the inevitable gutting of the side if we do go down being equipped for the Championship.  They won't have the stomach for it for one and think it more likely that we would be in for an extended stay again.

[dave.woodhall]

That miss, that equaliser, have potentially condemned the club to years of football in the Championship. Win last night and I would have really believed we stay up.  Unfortunately it's going to be so difficult for the players to pick themselves up after that. Fine margins but somehow inevitable with the lack of character in the team. Still gutted..

Years of football in the championship? I don't see it that way at all. We are far better equipped to bounce back than the last time we were relegated. Of course we'll be losing players but I believe we'll in a much stronger position to bounce straight back. There isn't the utter stench around the club that there was in 2016. (that's if we go down of course)

Bit sobering tonight that Leeds have been out the top flight for 16 years.  I have to disagree with the above post that we are well equipped to bounce back if we go down this time. 

Just don't see anything in what will be left after the inevitable gutting of the side if we do go down being equipped for the Championship.  They won't have the stomach for it for one and think it more likely that we would be in for an extended stay again.

Part of the reason Leeds were down for so long was that they owed a nine-figure sum when they got relegated. Another part is that a few years later they went into administration and were subsequently relegated to division three. Then there was the succession of batshit owners that meant Manager of the Month had an entirely new meaning. None of this applies to us. 

[SoccerHQ]

That miss, that equaliser, have potentially condemned the club to years of football in the Championship. Win last night and I would have really believed we stay up.  Unfortunately it's going to be so difficult for the players to pick themselves up after that. Fine margins but somehow inevitable with the lack of character in the team. Still gutted..

Years of football in the championship? I don't see it that way at all. We are far better equipped to bounce back than the last time we were relegated. Of course we'll be losing players but I believe we'll in a much stronger position to bounce straight back. There isn't the utter stench around the club that there was in 2016. (that's if we go down of course)

Bit sobering tonight that Leeds have been out the top flight for 16 years.  I have to disagree with the above post that we are well equipped to bounce back if we go down this time. 

Just don't see anything in what will be left after the inevitable gutting of the side if we do go down being equipped for the Championship.  They won't have the stomach for it for one and think it more likely that we would be in for an extended stay again.

If these owners are as good as most say they are they'll make the correct decisions to get us back up first time just as Mike fecking Ashley did for Newcastle in 2016.

That year we came down in a right state  and then had Xia throwing money around recklessly yet we still made the play off final within two years (yes I know it nearly went to s*** straight after).

I don't even think the championship will be that strong next year and most clubs will be in financial issues. Some could well be starting next season with points deductions aswell (Wigan and Sheff Weds). I expect us to bounce back first time.

[Steve67]

I think it depends entirely on whether we remove the stink of defeat and feel sorry for ourselves.  I think Boro, Stoke, Swansea will all pick up and the Championship will be just as tough as it always is.  Our recruitment will be even more important then as it was last summer!  We seem to have largely screwed that up and can't afford to do it again.  At least it won't be a complete overhaul.

[KevinGage]

As tough as this season has been, there will still be a few players in the side next season who went through our promotion push and don't need to dig into the well too deeply to recall how to win on a consistent basis.

We've seen in the past with Burnleh and other sides that relegation in that scenario doesn't need to be as traumatic.

Whereas our side that went down last time was circling the drain for years - barely scraping ten wins from the McLeish to the Sherwood era and going down with a pitiful three wins in 15/16.   You don't go from only three wins one season to the required 25+ for a successful promotion campaign the next.

[gpbarr]

As tough as this season has been, there will still be a few players in the side next season who went through our promotion push and don't need to dig into the well too deeply to recall how to win on a consistent basis.

We've seen in the past with Burnleh and other sides that relegation in that scenario doesn't need to be as traumatic.

Whereas our side that went down last time was circling the drain for years - barely scraping ten wins from the McLeish to the Sherwood era and going down with a pitiful three wins in 15/16.   You don't go from only three wins one season to the required 25+ for a successful promotion campaign the next.

agreed totally. and the fact next season is literally round the corner will also help - not much time to wallow in the pain, it'll be back to winning regularly and with the right additions, we will be very strong next year.

As the great man said, want to bet against us!