[kouroux]

Its not like LVG sees this as a brilliant performance. He said post match we were playing poorly, so he sees the same as us and will work on it. If he had said, we played well, then you can be concerned.

In the meantime, lets enjoy the result and let LVG worry about improving the game..

Oh I'm enjoying the result because in the entire second half I was dreading the equalizer from another Everton cnut player

 

[krazyrobus]

Nothing is routine these days, I miss the days when VDS could pull out a camping chair and watch Scholes and Carrick pass opponents to shreds. Nowadays every match is a roller coaster ride, I need another cardiologist appointment.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Nothing is routine these days, I miss the days when VDS could pull out a camping chair and watch Scholes and Carrick pass opponents to shreds. Nowadays every match is a roller coaster ride, I need another cardiologist appointment.

Just think about last season and this season will feel like heaven on earth.

 

[krazyrobus]

Just think about last season and this season will feel like heaven on earth.

Last season I was seeing a therapist.

 

[Sultan]

There's a psychological problem with the team at the moment. It could be a confidence factor or having young inexperienced defenders playing at the back. Shoots of recovery are clearly visible.

RvP needs to find form.

 

[Raoul]

4th place after a shaky start. The next 4 or 5 so fixtures will really say alot about our prospects for the rest of the year.

 

[BigDunc9]

Can't see a thread but Friend today was awful, every tackle he near enough gave a yellow for even though there wasn't a bad tackle in the game. One of the worst refs in the league.

 

[Sam]

Can't see a thread but Friend today was awful, every tackle he near enough gave a yellow for even though there wasn't a bad tackle in the game. One of the worst refs in the league.

He seemed to think because he booked RVP early for a genuine yellow card offence, he then had to book every other player who commited a foul. It was ridiculous.

I hate refs that do that.

 

[BigDunc9]

He seemed to think because he booked RVP early for a genuine yellow card offence, he then had to book every other player who commited a foul. It was ridiculous.

I hate refs that do that.

Yep he lost the plot dishing out yellows for anything. As you say it's very annoying when refs do that.

 

[Sheldon69]

Can't see a thread but Friend today was awful, every tackle he near enough gave a yellow for even though there wasn't a bad tackle in the game. One of the worst refs in the league.

I feared the worst when blind went flying in in the second half on mcgeady . I thought friend would reach for the red knowing our luck lately .

 

[SalfordRed1960]

We were doing really well until the last 15minutes where we went to jelly. Couldn't keep the ball. Fellaini isn't any better than Valencia at passing yet, we were much more composed with Valencia on.

Really worry about us at the back. Roco looks rubbish compare to McNair. Screw this left foot stuff, get McNair and Jones on when we can. Thank god de Gea was god like.

Really pleased with the team for 75mins.

I wonder if by LVG asking him to calm down (he has a bit of history of being aggresive) he may be holding back. I am waiting for someone in our back line to give an attacker a hefty challenge to let them know what is in store for the rest of the game. We are being bit nice at the moment.

I also think that some fans are being a bit OTT on criticism of the defense. Any good play from the opposition, seems to go down as our defense being crap, which has not been the case in the last 2 games.

For me, finishing with 11 players was nice to see.

 

[SalfordRed1960]

Far too many players that underperformed today. Despite his goal, Falcao was less impressive than his previous starts. RVP awful, kept hold of the ball too long. Mata good pass for his assist and one decent tackle, otherwise a waste of time. Valencia worked hard. De Gea, Rafael and Di Maria all superb. Blind very good especially in the first half. Shaw poor. Rojo and McNair unconvincing. Blackett the only sub to make a positive contribution with his late block.

If I hadn't seen the game, on reading your post I would assume we were under cosh, played shite and were very lucky. Obviously your opinion, but considering Everton hardly had a half-chance, let alone a chance until after Shaw went off, I think you are being a tad harsh.
The team as a whole is improving in both attack and defense. By that I mean they are doing it as team, rather a goup of individuals. I was only disappointed at Mata and RVP because I have so high expectations from them, not because they were particularly bad. For a set of players that have only been together for 4 games I a very impressed with how things are progressing. Once the fitness levels get up for Falcao, Di Maria, Blind and RVP it is going to be interesting.

 

[Jazz]

Smalling should not be played ahead of McNair now

So agree with this! That kid McNair is very composed - unbelievably so. He's made his debut against a tough physical West Ham, and now today playing against Lukaku, where for the most part he did so well. Great mentality the kid has.

 

[ThanksBoss26]

A good result today. Nice to see us battling our way through in the last two games after the issues at Leicester a fortnight ago.

 

[Galactic]

I think we did very well considering we missed Herrera, Rooney, Carrick and Jones/Smalling/Evans, and we ended the match with Rafael-McNair-Rojo-Blackett at the back. Two of that back four are inexperienced youngsters and they have not played enough together to form any sort of understanding.

I think Falcao is not totally match fit yet. He cant seem to last matches. But it will come.

I'm a bit mystified on how Januzaj can fit into our current team. LVG sees him as a forward. So, he maybe a backup to Falcao and Van Persie. Or our No 10 backup behind Rooney and Mata. He may be a good backup to Di Maria from the way Di Maria is playing i.e. running down the wings and cutting inside.

 

[Van Piorsing]

Important win but again very nervous performance and Paddy Mcnair being one of the coolest among almost all of our defenders means that even more shocking changes may occur in upcoming matches... but for that we're gonna need a bit less injuries.

 

[royboy16]

What did Fergie have to say today in unveiling Ji as Ambassador ?
Hope he(Fergie) got a good reception ?

 

[amolbhatia50k]

We played well today. Should have scored more in the first hour as we comfortably were the superior team imo.

How open we were towards the end is something to work on. We were too easily opened which wasn't the case for the first hour. Some sloppy defending towards the end.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

What did Fergie have to say today in unveiling Ji as Ambassador ?
Hope he(Fergie) got a good reception ?

How could fergie not get a good reception? It's fergie!

I hope park got a good reception given it was his moment more than fergie's.

 

[Momochiru]

A very important win for us! Second consecutive win (and third home win on the trot), I can't remember when was the last time we did that. It got us in the top 4, which after the bad start we had is sort of a miracle. I really don't get all the criticism here. We won against a tough opponent, who last season took all 6 points from us and finished above us. I see mostly positives, yet most of the people are complaining.

Positives:
DDG - amazing game for him, MOTM for me; it will give him a big boost and add a bit of confidence to our sometimes nervy defense
Rafael - great performance both defensively and offensively; if he keeps fit he is one of the best
McNair - everyone expected to get bullied by Lukaku, yet he was very solid; great talent
Rojo - solid game, good organizer, good on the ball
Shaw - solid game, can't blame him too much for the penalty; hopefully the injury is not serious
Blackett - slotted well in the LB
Defense overall - much more solid than expected considering all the injuries and inexperienced players
Blind - very good game from him, he is becoming one of our most important players
ADM - great again, he is a goal and assisting machine
Valencia - very good performance from him, this role suits him better; he can be a great backup for Herrera
Fellaini - a short cameo after coming back from injury; nothing great or terrible from him
Mata - didn't have the best game, but still managed an assist; no complaints from me, because today's game didn't suit him very well with the lack of mobile attacking players in our team
Falcao - looked our most dangerous player, scored a very important goal both for the team and himself; hopefully he will get to full fitness soon
RVP - not a great game from him, but I'm surprised how many people here are writing him off after a single performance like that; he is our only fully fit forward at the moment and he has scored 2 in the last 3 games, so things are not terrible, but he needs to be more direct in my opinion - it will come with more games
Wilson - nice cameo, got stuck in there; he will get more minutes in the future
LVG - got too much undeserved criticism for his substitutes - all three were forced - Shaw was injured and Blackett was the only choice; it looked like Valencia got a knock and Fellaini was logical for his physicality, we needed him to help defend on deadball situations where Everton was the most dangerous; Falcao is not fully fit and needs to be managed carefully - he will not be able to play a full 90 for a while, Wilson was supposed to help keep the ball up the field
LVG is doing a great job and people criticizing every single sub should calm down. He is moving us in a positive direction and the choices he is making make sense when you look at the big picture, for example keeping Falcao on for the full game might've been better in the short term (this particular game), but if that meant him being out for a month after it would've hurt us more.

The only negative is that at the end we got a bit nervous and even our best performers like ADM and Rafael couldn't keep possession. I'm sure LVG will address it sooner rather than later.

 

[royboy16]

How could fergie not get a good reception? It's fergie!

I hope park got a good reception given it was his moment more than fergie's.

The media seemed to think there were some grumblings with some of our fans(a minority) due to the the appointment of Moyes and the state of the team he left.

 

[Silverman]

Brilliant victory. De Gea and Di Maria were outstanding. Now to try and get some of our injured players fit for the West Brom game.

 

[Ramshock]

Nothing is routine these days, I miss the days when VDS could pull out a camping chair and watch Scholes and Carrick pass opponents to shreds. Nowadays every match is a roller coaster ride, I need another cardiologist appointment.

Thats PL football nowadays. Teams prefer athletes who will sprint at you like the zombies from 28 days later rather than footballers who will play proper football. It is exciting to watch for the neutral but annoying if you support a good passing/footballing side. We have never been fully comfortable with the high tempo pressure game even under Fergie. LvG will only have experienced this occasionally throughout his career. He will
have fully realized by now that every game in the PL is a battle.

 

[Smores]

Yeah don't understand the criticism we were never just going to walk all over them. The last 20 min were a bit nervy but id expect that against any decent team trying to get something from the game.

Id have brought on Fletcher for RvP instead of the Wilson swap which i thought was a little cicky from LvG. Hopefully we can get Carrick back soon as he'll be a great help in seeing out these games

 

[Anderson15]

Really can't understand some of the negativity. Yes we had to grind that win out and it was horrible to watch towards the end.

We beat a team which beat us twice last year without our captain and two best centre backs.

People saying we should of brought off van Persie? He may of had a shit game but he was our captain and we needed leaders like himself.

2 weeks break, hopefully no injuries. Herrera, Carrick, Jones, Smalling and Evans back, I'm happy and looking forward to the next game!

 

[Moriarty]

Really can't understand some of the negativity. Yes we had to grind that win out and it was horrible to watch towards the end.

We beat a team which beat us twice last year without our captain and two best centre backs.

People saying we should of brought off van Persie? He may of had a shit game but he was our captain and we needed leaders like himself.

2 weeks break, hopefully no injuries. Herrera, Carrick, Jones, Smalling and Evans back, I'm happy and looking forward to the next game!

Even if Evans recovers, he's got a job on to displace young McNair who, for my money, has really stood out in the two games he's played. Might say the same for Smalling replacing Blackett. We'll see what Van Gaal does but a back four of Rafael, Rojo, McNair, and Shaw isn't too shabby at all.

 

[Speak]

Still waiting for that one great performance this season. QPR was good, but 'good' in the way Giggs' first game was 'good'. Plus QPR are beyond dreadful.

Like last week, there were some great periods of play. But still missing 'it'. Still not properly dominating games or showing proper control.
Still a way to go, and a few more players to bring in.

Watching Chelsea today, and the fitness, the organisation, the cohesiveness, the balance - it's a very high level we're looking to get to.
But obviously it's early days, and the fact we even play through the middle more is a good enough start.

 

[ScarleyUtd]

Really can't understand some of the negativity. Yes we had to grind that win out and it was horrible to watch towards the end.

We beat a team which beat us twice last year without our captain and two best centre backs.

People saying we should of brought off van Persie? He may of had a shit game but he was our captain and we needed leaders like himself.

2 weeks break, hopefully no injuries. Herrera, Carrick, Jones, Smalling and Evans back, I'm happy and looking forward to the next game!

Yeah, this place is so negative at times. We were the better team and deserved to win. The only way they could try to match us in the first half was by diving around everywhere. Saying that, Everton are a decent side these days with a never say die attitude and so it was always going to be a bit tight. Small steps, but it's clear things are coming together.

And on RVP – 50 goals in 80 odd appearances. People should cut him some slack. He led the line today and did a decent job I thought.

 

[Thisistheone]

Hell of a lot better than Everton home last season.

De Gea

 

[ThanksBoss26]

The media seemed to think there were some grumblings with some of our fans(a minority) due to the the appointment of Moyes and the state of the team he left.

I was in the ground and certainly hear anything like that.

Just media rubbish I think.

 

[Viral United]

Very good win, We pass our first test.
I am not worried about our last 15 min performance.
We have 2 players of age of 19 and CB pairing is still learning.
I hope LVG start same back 4 in next game. We need some consistency in that are.
All and all I am very happy for win, can't wait for next match.

 

[Whiteside1985]

Any word on Luke Shaw? Last thing we need is another defender out for a few weeks......

 

[ScarleyUtd]

Any word on Luke Shaw? Last thing we need is another defender out for a few weeks......

http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-F...x?newsid=B32A9E6A-DB4E-470E-8A82-147DD8A90E2D

 

[Dobba]

Any word on Luke Shaw? Last thing we need is another defender out for a few weeks......

He's expected to travel with the England U21s so I'll be surprised if is anything more than a few days rest

Or what ScarleyUtd said.

 

[Whiteside1985]

He's expected to travel with the England U21s so I'll be surprised if is anything more than a few days rest

Or what ScarleyUtd said.

Thanks.
I was just worried as the physio signalled to sub him more-or-less straight away...which is sometimes a bad sign.

LVG should have a word and advise against the U21 trip for him, though. Use Fergie's old trick.

 

[Lawman]

Smalling should not be played ahead of McNair now

Sober up Mcnair has played 2 games

 

[thejtrain]

I think we missed the energy and dynamism of Herrera. The sooner we have him fit, the better. We weren't terrible like last year by any stretch of imagination, but I'd like us to stop letting teams like Everton have a go at us at home.

 

[jem]

We deserved to win, de gea saved the day but overall we were the better team and should've scored more.

De Gea performance is a large part of why we were the better team. I've never understood why a keeper's performance is judged almost independently from that of the team. So many posts (not yours to be fair,) seem to be portraying as us lucky; it's not luck - we paid top dollar for a great young keeper, who in turn makes us a better team.

 

[golden_blunder]

No kidding, I had falcao, Costa and Naismith in my ff team, but removed falcao and Naismith in orders to fund in better midfielders

 

[Gannicus]

A great win and actually a very good performance.

We were without Rooney for the first time thus season. Paddy McNair. We held up well under late pressure from a decent side.

My friends, we may have only won 2-1 back to back at home, but signs of life are taking root. We're re-learning how to win games even when we're firing on all cylinders. More, and better, to come.