*** Toffees v City Semi Final 1st Leg MATCH THREAD ***

[london blue 2]

If you add that to the decisions by the manager and Coaches who I am sure had not spotted Everton were down to 10 men for the last 6 mins ? you have no chance.

You know what, after the cock up in Munich, this, and then pellers comments that a 1-0 is good enough to go through. I'm not sure our management team are on the ball at all.

1-0 after 120 maybe, but do we want to be playing 120 with all the football we have a head of us? Especially with players like Demi and Yaya playing key roles.

[Ray78]

I could fully understand the backlash that Pellegrini is getting if he made the Fernando sub and the team not pressing for the equaliser with Everton down to 10 men if it was a one off cup tie, or it was a repeat of the Spurs away game. However with the Everton game being our third game on the road and with the team looking jaded and with the second leg to come then it was the right call on that.

Maybe pellers didnt know the score, he is not exactly good at knowing what the score is and whats needed

Or Pellegrini knew at 2-1 it can be rectified in the second leg. 3-1 or more then it would be game over. He is damned if he does and damned if he does not.

[Wonderwall]

I could fully understand the backlash that Pellegrini is getting if he made the Fernando sub and the team not pressing for the equaliser with Everton down to 10 men if it was a one off cup tie, or it was a repeat of the Spurs away game. However with the Everton game being our third game on the road and with the team looking jaded and with the second leg to come then it was the right call on that.

Maybe pellers didnt know the score, he is not exactly good at knowing what the score is and whats needed

Or Pellegrini knew at 2-1 it can be rectified in the second leg. 3-1 or more then it would be game over. He is damned if he does and damned if he does not.

I can see that the glass is half full ray, but where in the world of common sense does the fernando sub at that time make sense considering the circumstances

[Ray78]

With us going flat out chasing the equaliser and Everton hitting us on the counter. They had both Mirallas and Kone on the field, players who can or could of hurt us on the break.

[Hazy2]

I could fully understand the backlash that Pellegrini is getting if he made the Fernando sub and the team not pressing for the equaliser with Everton down to 10 men if it was a one off cup tie, or it was a repeat of the Spurs away game. However with the Everton game being our third game on the road and with the team looking jaded and with the second leg to come then it was the right call on that.

Maybe pellers didnt know the score, he is not exactly good at knowing what the score is and whats needed

Or Pellegrini knew at 2-1 it can be rectified in the second leg. 3-1 or more then it would be game over. He is damned if he does and damned if he does not.

I can see that the glass is half full ray, but where in the world of common sense does the fernando sub at that time make sense considering the circumstances

he had not spotted the Coleman limping off. or his subs are decided before the game ? either way they had 10 men and we bring on player that A has no attacking thoughts whatsoever, And B IS CRAP. Will we bring him on if we are 0-1 down in any other circs and if so clear pellers draw and pay him up. I think he was dozing off.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

I think the late subsitution was irrelevant albeit typical of Pellers. It wasn't for long and it did push Yaya further forward again.The trouble is we didn't see the ball again!

[Hazy2]

I think the late subsitution was irrelevant albeit typical of Pellers. It wasn't for long and it did push Yaya further forward again.The trouble is we didn't see the ball again!

10 men playing keep ball Mate, the final word, Pathetic.

[Ray78]

They could of still picked us off making the second leg more difficult.

[sheblue]

They could of still picked us off making the second leg more difficult.

Gazbaz in his interview last night was a bit disappointed that they wont be taking a 2 goal lead to us. He knows 1 may not be enough. But there is another matter to be dealt with first....
We will have to get the league game out of the way first, if we win that, then it should give us the upper hand mentally for the second leg. All league games are important, but having the second leg to come after this league game, makes the league game a huge one.

[Ray78]

They could of still picked us off making the second leg more difficult.

Gazbaz in his interview last night was a bit disappointed that they wont be taking a 2 goal lead to us. He knows 1 may not be enough. But there is another matter to be dealt with first....
We will have to get the league game out of the way first, if we win that, then it should give us the upper hand mentally for the second leg. All league games are important, but having the second leg to come after this league game, makes the league game a huge one.

Yep. It all depends on the severity of Everton's injuries as well.

[ColinBell8]

During the first year under Pellegrini we totally destroyed teams & had our most productive season, goals wise. It was as if everybody else in the league went away that summer held a meeting & worked out how to combat our style of play. They all changed & we didn't. We're still trying to play the same way but they know what's coming.

Any team worth their salt will place a couple of players in between our midfield & defence & get the ball to them a.s.a.p
they then have a free run at our defence. The central defence having now been outnumbered try to win the ball back as high up the pitch as possible, taking too many risks along the way. It's Russian roulette tactics.

This will continue to happen because of the blind faith put in some of our players by management & a lack of flexibility during games, Watford being the exception to the rule with the Fernandinho into defence switch.

As for last night Everton ran around like kids on a playground, as they do, & we allowed them to bully us. Alongside a totally inept out of his depth referee.

We're to soft, too predictable & too wasteful to win anything at the minute. We've just got to hope the penny drops with a lot of them before this season becomes a waste of time entirely, Pellegrini included

[Cocacolajojo1]

2-1 with an away goal is as good as 0-0 IMO. 3-2 with two away goals is better than 0-0. I was as disappointed with individual players as everyone else yesterday but Everton missed a trick IMO. Kevin De Bruyne is going to wear his golden boots in the next leg of the semi and they're gonna become aware of that in the league tie before that.

[mr_nool]

2-1 with an away goal is as good as 0-0 IMO. 3-2 with two away goals is better than 0-0. I was as disappointed with individual players as everyone else yesterday but Everton missed a trick IMO. Kevin De Bruyne is going to wear his golden boots in the next leg of the semi and they're gonna become aware of that in the league tie before that.

I would agree with you if the away goal counted already after 90 minutes, but it doesn't. The best we can hope for is extra time, in other words.
Had we kept it 1-1 yesterday, a win would have seen us through without having to playing additional 30 minutes.

[Original Dub]

Personally, I think we'll do them by 2 or 3 at our place.

I'm not worried about that at all - I already have us in this final.

It's the league I'm worried about. We can't just depend on our home games for that. Yaya has to be dropped to the bench and Silva and Aguero have to get to their usual level ASAP. It's bad enough missing our captain.

If the above happens, we'll win the league. But I'm not worried about getting to Wembley - Everton should have gone for it at the end.

[iwasthere2012]

Bit harsh on Caballero there IWT, it was a great stop considering he didn't have a clear sight with two City players standing in his way.

Fair enough, as I said I've no gripe with Willy really.
It's the type of save Hart seems to have finally eliminated from his game though.

[Wonderwall]

Bought my ticket for the second leg today. By the looks of the availability it will be me and 10 others there.

[iwasthere2012]

Personally, I think we'll do them by 2 or 3 at our place.

I'm not worried about that at all - I already have us in this final.

It's the league I'm worried about. We can't just depend on our home games for that. Yaya has to be dropped to the bench and Silva and Aguero have to get to their usual level ASAP. It's bad enough missing our captain.

If the above happens, we'll win the league. But I'm not worried about getting to Wembley - Everton should have gone for it at the end.

Despite the tome I wrote earlier about our current woes, I'm still optimistic we can go through. The current squad should be more than capable. Just s few tweaks.

[Hazy2]

Bought my ticket for the second leg today. By the looks of the availability it will be me and 10 others there.

Scouse cunts have sold 8,000 mate. That should be enough for Sky to nail the colours.

[feedthegreek]

It's time we started playing with 2 striker's again esp against teams at home, the differ ence v Watford when bony came on was chalk and cheese, ok in Europe 1 but not in premier league.

[Beefymcfc]

The question?

Why make a defensive change with 5 minutes to go, when you are losing, knowing that the opposition team are down to 10 men for the remainder of the game?