Rob Lawman

What I will say though is that what nasty team Everton are. Not even in a 'they're so physical way', they just spend the whole time throwing themselves to the floor whilst doing cowardly challenges to leave one on people. Squad of faux hard men.

Anyways, onwards and upwards

Actually thought it was a game for Felix in the second half and thought Neto was unlucky to be taken off. Appreciate Sancho gives you retention but he was causing no threat on the left.

Felix supporting Palmer in those AM areas and driving with the ball felt the solution to me

Rare poor one from Maresca today but points not the worst result in the world given the circumstances. Everton wanted a scruffy game and to get a point and they got both - struggled to find the intensity and guile in those conditions.

And this isn't loaded or inferring that the ownership have been anti-academy (although I think they've made a couple of noticeable missteps like the Hall departure) but this has been a really enjoyable experience that I hope has reinforced some of the above positives with longer lasting impacts

For instance, if you didn't have the ECL this year, how would you have convinced Acheampong to renew? does a Mheuka enter into your striker conversations? Do you consider signing another Disasi for your 4th/5th slot or is there more value looking in house?

It'll be fascinating to see how the squad composition looks next season when (you assume), we won't have these free hit games. The squad will need to be slimmed and recruitment far more selective, hopefully this experience means that it won't always be the youth that miss out or are overlooked.

hopefully little by little, experiences like this shift the needle in favour of Cobham when it comes to squad composition discussions. You won't always have ~6 dead rubber games that you can use to trial players risk free but maybe next time, that risk appetite changes so you didn't need those games

I hope we'll look back on this ECL campaign like we do with Lampard's transfer ban season as the enabler that saw a large number of academy products meaningfully integrate within the first team for years to come whilst serving as the catalyst for more to do so in subsequent seasons.

Yeah that last sentence is where the bulk of my concerns lie, you have to be an exceptionally talented player to carve a meaningful role for yourself with that profile, especially at a top club.

Fantastic to see him being given opportunities though, hope to see much more.

It's a win-win for me!

every. single. game.

he even brought it out during the Spurs game when Veiga came on as a sub

Feel like his is such a difficult profile to meaningfully integrate so will be fascinated to see where his career goes from here.

Another that immediately proves he's not out of place and has the right temperament

I'm gonna miss the ECL next year - something incredibly fresh and fun about midweek games where youth players get an opportunity to embed themselves and your team smashes in 4 goals a game.

Tbf I feel like I've heard the same commentary in every single game we've played in this competition between somewhat unjustified KDH hype and being informed of how 'Veiga is the calmest footballer you'll ever see'

I was very close to writing something similar. I didn’t watch much of him at Leicester but surely he couldn’t have been this bad? He doesn’t look Prem standard, or ECL standard even.

I’m always happy to hold my hands up when i’ve got something wrong but I’m still yet to see a game where KDH hasn’t looked a visible level below the rest of his Chelsea teammates.

Still a very odd signing that never looked like it was going to be anything but underwhelming and needless

George has a bit of the post injury CHO about him at the moment where it feels like he’s trying to do a little too much to prove himself at this level - the ability and suitability is obviously there, just needs to stop trying to force it so much imo

judging by some of the 'reaction' videos i've seen from last night, I don't think we're that far off

I'd absolutely pay money for David Coote visibly off his face reviewing decisions tbf

It's thinly veiled here isn't it, 'well Taylor's got a good look at it so can't correct him'.

I am honestly baffled how they think having all of these refs in media blindly backing their mates is doing more good than harm, it lifts the curtain back to reveal an already obvious ugly truth.

In truth, I think they've not given the red because they knew there would be outrage given they got the Caicedo one wrong, which in the grand scheme of things probably left both with justifiable parity.

YouTube video by Sky Sports News Was Dejan Kulusevski fortunate to avoid red card for elbow against Chelsea? | Ref Watch

Incredible squirming from Dermot and Stephen Warnock (fast becoming my fav pundit), rightly puts him to the sword

It's baffling how the referee's position here is being used as justification to not overturn, it just makes it a worse decision, not a better one.

Awkward silence at the end is golden.

Elite and takes over that position but that's 1) incredibly hard to do, 2) probably a good 2 years away at best.

Instead we're left with a number of 7/10s to deputise and likely hamper ourselves during that interim, will be curious to see if we do anything in Jan assuming we're still in the mix

Do agree with the GK situation, I think the club figured Sanchez was good enough for T4 but probably not a title charge, not sure anyone expected one to be /slightly/ on the cards. I think they're trying to treat GK like the rest of the positions where they hope someone (Penders, probably) becomes

I 100% agree, I guess my confusion is often with those who oppose so much they refuse to acknowledge the positives or take a stance that admitting to such is somehow a betrayal. Wasn't sure if 'more than I'd hoped' was reflective of that so came from a place of curiosity over judgement!

I don't want to take a position of Clearlake apologist but it does feel at times that some are so locked in on 'fuck clearlake' that they refuse to give the slightest credit where it's absolutely due. I do think you can commend one aspect of their ownership whilst criticising others. It's all a WIP.

It's not a situation that they've 'finally' got it right, the players have developed and are being used in a more optimal way to a point that 90-95% of the squad are meaningfully contributing. Yes, the scale & priorities leaves some to be desired but the squad looks very well curated for this season

Appreciate your thoughts but that last bit throws me slightly, I can understand the discontent over academy treatment, forced departures, fan handling, etc but the GK situation, whilst less than ideal is surely a lesser to all of those evils?

I also think the view on recruitment is a little harsh

a man in a plaid shirt says no no no no wait wait wait wait wait . ALT: a man in a plaid shirt says no no no no wait wait wait wait wait .

try me again when it's time for Everton away

It was a combination of just how good we've been of late, how frequently we were able to break their press when our players didn't fall over, and Spurs being Spurs.

Maybe with a bit of biased confidence thrown in.

Just never thought we'd lose yesterday tbh