Often Partisan

Blues v Everton match report

Here are my reflections on the final pre-season friendly at home to Everton FC.

1) 4-5-1

Yeah, it reared it’s ugly head again. With our current fit strike force comprising of Adam Rooney and rookies Akwasi Asante, it was unsurprising that Hughton went with one man up top. In saying that, it was a very attacking 4-5-1; Redmond and Burke had both clearly been told to push up, get into the box and make it a 4-3-3 when we had the ball. It was good to see a bit of proper width from Blues, and I think the goals will come a little easier this year as there clearly seems to be more of an attacking mentality from Hughton.

2) Chris Burke

Burke is rapidly turning into my favourite signing. He’s got it all; he gets past players, he’s got good passing, makes intelligent runs – and he can get in behind defences. I’ll be honest in saying Seb Larsson was one of my favourite Blues players, so for me to admit Burke is easily as good as Seb is praise indeed from me. I think he could be talismanic for us; at times he was our main outlet and I suspect he’ll have a heavy workload for Blues in the coming months.

3) Morgaro Gomis

I think our new Senegalese midfielder should equally be given high praise. Tigerish in midfield, but cultured too – neat footwork, little passes and again looked intelligent going forwards. I think he’ll thrive in the Championship, and I suspect he could be a new cult  hero as the engine room for a new Blues team. Very impressed with him, and I can see why the Dundee United fans recommended him so highly.

4) Adam Rooney

It was a bit of a curates egg performance form our young Irishman. On the one hand, he scored with a cute little backheel. On the other, he looked isolated and didn’t really threaten much. He’s clearly very one footed, and I think he’s a confidence player – once he’d got his goal he played much more tigerishly and it’s that kind of performance we’ll need to see from him. In praise of him, he’s not scared of putting his head where it hurts, and given the right service I think he’ll get a few. I’ll be honest – if he can get 20 goals this season, I don’t give a monkeys if he does nothing for the rest of the matches. We’ve had hard-working forwards by the bucketload, let’s try a goalscoring one.

5) Nathan Redmond

I was pleased young Nathan got ninety minutes today. At times he looked a bit overawed by the occasion, and a couple of times he waited for the ball to drop in the box when maybe he could have attacked it more. However, his skill is evident, his pace is electric and he seems to have the confidence to try and take on his full back even on his weaker side. For a seventeen year old it was a very good performance, and I think he’ll have a part to play this season.

6) Boaz Myhill

It must have been hard for our Welsh-American stopper; signed for the club yesterday afternoon, thrown into the team today without training with his back four. Probably at fault for the goals in truth, but I think it would be harsh to judge him as “not good enough” straight away. Hopefully with a week of training with his centre-backs they’ll get enough communication together to be more cohesive; maybe a week of Dave Watson magic will help polish his shot stopping skills.

7) The Protests

In honesty, I didn’t get to the ground early enough to see the protests outside the ground. Inside the ground, there were a couple of anti-Carson chants but lots of backing for the team which is good to see; I counted two bedsheets (both correctly spelt and punctuated – Blues fans are educated if nothing else) in the Tilton – but didn’t really see much in the way of wanting our President ousted.

There’s been rumours on twitter that the BPM’s photographer was threatened with a ban if he took pics of the protest, and that BCFC were ensuring no press got to cover the protest up close. I have to be honest, that’s shameful if true – it’s true that the club have the right to try and keep things positive, but the fans have the right to protest too, and by censoring it in such a manner the club are just making themselves look bad – and maybe fuelling things more.

The result is never that important in pre-season friendlies; the performance, fitness and tactics are though and we looked promising. It’s not quite there yet, but I feel more enthused that this season isn’t going to be a terrible one.

Tags: , , , , , ,

37 Responses to “Blues v Everton match report”

  • Hendo says:

    I can confirm the club were banning media from getting onto the Kop Car Park to get up close to the protests… I walked past as a steward stopped a reporter trying to go over to the protest

    • Dazza333 says:

      Absolutely right, and the stewards were banning banners inside the ground “take them down or we will eject you from the ground” was the familiar tone.

  • BlueyC says:

    Couldn’t agree more with this post. Today will be an example for the fans that these new players can hold their own. I think as a whole the team was more attacking and for the first time in years actually playing some attractive football rather than pass back to defence and let them hoof it up field.
    Couldn’t of been happier after today.
    I think it’s unfair to say the goals were Myhills fault, 1 was a great free kick and the other bounced over his hands.
    If we can perform consistently like we have done today then i can’t see a reason we can’t challenge for promotion. I’m looking forward to the new season to see how they hack it in the championship.

    Keep Right On

  • Dirty Bertie says:

    Positive, positive, positive! Everyone’s looking for that magical striker. Let’s hope we’re the lucky one that finds him.

  • John Baker says:

    A well written and astute piece once more Almajir.

    Good to hear positives about particular players, particularly Burke being ‘better’ than Seb. Let’s face it, Seb didn’t take anyone on for a few seasons, and was only jerked into action by the arrival of Bentley last season. Ask him!

    “We’ve had hard-working forwards by the bucketload, let’s try a goalscoring one.”

    LOL, but it’s bleedin’ true!

    Anyway, Chris Hughton is the man for Blues, and I’m one fan who is glad that we have the League Cup, that McLeish is gone, and the only way forward is up.

  • bluenose87 says:

    Thanks for the match report, was looking for this everywhere! Looking forward to the new season. See you all at Derby next Saturday :)

  • philanza says:

    It was good to see 11 players playing football everybody doing what they are here for and in their right positions, we had wingers taking defenders on wow!
    gomis keeping the ball making good passes! carr joining in on the flanks
    bit lightweight up front but that being due to circumstances.

    But it looked like we actually had a performance from the whole 11….what i mean is not hoof the ball to a big man or knock a long ball for jerome. instead there was a good tempo and control of the game with everyone playing there part.
    Impressed hope much more of this to come!

  • BlueyC says:

    One thing i should of added to my other post… Redmond was sensational today. i said it all last season that he’ll be a star when he comes into it. strong on the ball, great skill and pace. turned everton inside out all game.

  • Poppa999 says:

    Good report Almajir, bit ‘tigerish’ in places!

    Must admit to liking what I saw.

  • Martin says:

    This is my favourite site for all things Blue!
    Great job!!

  • Jay Sidney says:

    I heard the deal to bring in Dave Jones had fallen through but Darren Carter might be coming back instead. I hasten to add I don’t know if these claims are reliable.

    Also, re the board and the situation at BCFC: Is there any common cause that can be found between those who favour the possibility of a Supporters Trust and those protesting more directly? After all, the undeniable common denominator is Blues fans with a justified worry about the club and its future?

  • Peter says:

    An entertaining match with plenty for Blues fans to be optimistic about even if scoring goals is still a problem. Let’s hope we will soon have enough fit strikers to enable us to play two up front.

    I thought it was a bit insensitive of the visiting fans to come with a banner calling for “Kenwright Out”. Everton have had David Moyes as manager for something like 9 years and haven’t finished below 8th in the Premier League in the past five seasons. Their finances seem to be in reasonable shape by the standards of the times. Talk about not knowing when you’re well off!

  • Dazza333 says:

    Dear Admin,
    Re: the protest, The media were not allowed into the carpark. One or two sneaked in to interview protesters, myself included. The camera’s cleverly situated themselves on the roof of Morrisons over the road. I was hugely disappointed by the Bluenose lack of support for this protest, many stood around taking pics of us with their mobiles, or just stood by waiting for something perhaps “nasty” to happen. Our group maintained all along that this protest would remain peaceful and non-racist and thats how it went. Inside the ground, and despite our best efforts the BCFC security forced us to take all the protest banners down! We managed to save just the one one the middle of the Kop by standing in front of it and stopping them removing it until we were threatened with expulsion. I found, as did others, that the apathy of our “loyal” supporters was frightening and I was very ashamed of them to say the least. I have supported this club for 40 years and not missed too many games in that time and I must say that we seem to have lost our appetite to stand up for ourselves. I dare say that if Mr Pannu had a condom handy he could have used it on some of our “supporters” with not too much in the way of protest.
    With regards to the football: Mr Hughton you are a breathe of fresh air, determined, dogged and “up for it” are just a few descriptives of yesterdays performance, well done to the lads.
    Furthermore i would like to say what an excellent and well administrated site this is and I would suggest it should be a key focal point for supporters to air their views. Thank you KRO

    • garconsavage says:

      Why do you assume that is apathy that prevents the majority of Bluenoses from protesting. Could it not be mean that most of us believe that this kind of dis-unity is unhelpful to our club at this time!!

      • Dazza333 says:

        Ok, point taken, but what is helpful to the club at this time? players gone, more to go, money disappearing faster than rainwater down a drain, an “alleged” crook of a chairman. The banning of peaceful protest by forceful removing of non-violent, non-racist banners within the ground and in the carpark. The banning of freedom of speech by not allowing free press. At least WE did something rather than nothing and furthermore, we supported Chris Hughton and the lads in the ground and during the match. We have highlighted the problem on national and possibly international TV and newspaper media. What did you do? and what are you going to do? At least we have done something.

        • almajir says:

          What have I done to get rid of Carson? Nothing – because I think it’s an unachievable aim.

          However, I’m throwing my support behind the idea of a supporters trust, and am working with other bluenoses to make it happen.

          • Dazza333 says:

            Almajir: with respect, you do not think it is an achievable aim, I however, do and we have 1500 members on our site who also back my opinion.

          • Blue In Murcia says:

            1500 who voted and 80 that bothered to turn up………………..

    • almajir says:

      Dazza – this is the problem with protests – the club can easily shut them down and make all kinds of threatening noises. To get your point across successfully, you need to use the system that is in place and force them to listen.

      I understand your frustrations, but this is the problem with facebook. It’s easy to click “like”, it’s no so easy to actually go and do it like you did. In most things, the 90-9-1 rule applies; 90 per cent of people won’t care, 9 % of people will care but won’t care enough to do something about it and 1% will actually be involved actively.

      • Dazza333 says:

        Almajir: A very good point. I think we used facebook because it was easily accessible media able to cope with a communication process to reach as many people as we could. What we did not expect to encounter was the torrential abuse we have recieved from our own fans, however, this was and is balanced by the support that we have had, not only from our fans but from fans of other clubs UK wide.
        I think we may have been few in numbers but we have struck the first blow for football supporters everywhere who want to have a club left to support and to eventually make foriegn “investors” think twice.
        Carson Yeung and Peter Pannu now know we are there, that we will not be intimidated and that we wont just allow them to pillage our club without protest.

        • garconsavage says:

          Peter Pannu and CW will know that you do not have a mandate from the majority of Blues fans !! What will I do ? I will support my club week in week out like I have for the past 50+ years!! If I don’t join you and the rest of the attention seekers it is not because I am apathetic. I just think there are enough people outside the club who are ready to rubbish our good name. We don’t need further damage caused by “friendly fire”!!

          • Dazza333 says:

            Well in answer to that: if I was an attention seeker would my name not be posted across my posts on this site? perhaps….Almajir, we dont compare ourselves to anyone. We are Bluenoses like yourselves who have had enough of what we have seen happen to our club. We are “protesters” in our own right. We have one simple goal and that is to get the club back in the black and fluid. Furthermore, I did not compare our protest to the Aston Villa one, I think you will find that was Viperblue. Our protest was our protest, compared to no-one elses. I dont see any other clubs laughing at wwhat we did either, perhaps that shows the intelligence level of the fans that did laugh at the Aston Villa protest.

  • AR says:

    Is it true that Carr is going to leave? Who have we got to play at right-back?

  • BD says:

    It is good to see something positive happening at St Andrews at last, especially after the summer of speculation.
    I hope that Mr Pannu is fighting in our corner.
    The team at last showed some cohesion and spirit, along with nice attacking play. Some players shone while one or two flickered but certainly showed potential, overall a good promising performance.
    The goalkeeping situation is, in my opinion, still a problem, yes, let us hope that Dave Watson can work on Myhill, but Doyle just does not seem to want it enough for me, too lethargic in his decisions and some bad positioning.
    Only 1-2against Everton not a bad display and if we get the goals I feel a play-off place could certainly be achievable.

    KRO

    • Dazza333 says:

      Are you for real?

      • BD says:

        95% of my predictions came true last season, only team that let me down were ourselves as I thought we could get the result we needed at Tottenham.
        Even the late winner and score at Wembley.
        My cup is Half-full, and I liked what I saw. Yes, we need additions.
        Yes, I am FOR REAL…

        True bluenose
        KRO

  • viperblue says:

    Although unable to be at game I have seen most of it and I was impressed in general by
    the whole team.
    Goal keeper can be forgiven as he has had no time to train with team mates.
    with an extra body up front we could have been out of sight by half time.
    So provided we can get some extra players in I think we should be ok.
    Our 1st eleven are imo a match for any in division,just back up looks thin at the moment.
    As for protest at ground,really a waste of time, brings us down to same level as our
    friends from across the city,look where that type of protest gets you..no where

    • Dazza333 says:

      Well at least our City neighbourghs had the guts to give it a go, perhaps that is why they have far more success than we have?
      Furthermore, and just to let you know, our group of “protesters” were contacted this week by a major player in a possible consortium buyout, once in administration of course, this particular person, who will at their own request for the moment remain nameless, suggested that what we were doing was very helpful towards their cause and that they supported us 110%. This person certainly gave us the momentum to continue knowing that we weren’t protesting needlessly.
      I’m rather lucky that I am and have been privy to 1st hand information, and that everything we have said has been evidence based and correct, that is why the media have taken us seriously and allowed us airtime. So, protests do work…read Emily Pankhurst, Martin Luther King, Greensboro 1960 etc. What do you think all these protesters had in common? yes your right…courage and conviction, and so Viperblue I dont see as a comparison to ‘our friends across the city’ as a decent arguement or evidence against reasonable protest.

      • almajir says:

        Dazza, pardon me for being a sceptic but I’ll believe it when I see it.

        As for comparing your protests to the Villa fan ones – most bluenoses laughed about them for a week. It did them no good, they still got McLeish, didn’t they? Comparing yourselves to the suffragettes and MLK Jr though, that’s some moxie.

        • Dazza333 says:

          Almajir: as I said, we dont compare ourselves to anyone, we are protesting a cause which we believe in and I used other protestors from history as an analogy that peaceful protesting can succeed. Furthermore, I think you must have misread my posts because I have not compared any protest that we have made to the Aston Villa one. i think you will find that was Viperblue’s comment.

          • almajir says:

            Your words

            Well at least our City neighbourghs had the guts to give it a go, perhaps that is why they have far more success than we have?

  • Wingman Blue says:

    We all agree we’re in the brown stuff, disagreeing on what to do next won’t help. Whilst I don’t believe a public protest will actually acheive anything, at least it does prevent apathy, which IMO is far more damaging, spreads quickly, and is difficult to stamp out. The Supporters’ Trust is a great idea, but it’ll take time to set up. A dignified and non-confrontational protest would help to keep interest up, but the trick is in keeping it disciplined. If you cannot ensure it remains properly behaved, Dazza, maybe it might be better not to go down that road.
    What is certain is that we cannot do anything to jeopardise CH and whatever team he is able to assemble. The reason that your ex-player was supporting your protest, Dazza, might be because it could hasten the fall into administration, after which the poised interests could more cheaply move in. Personally, I’d rather we didn’t go into administration.

  • Dazza333 says:

    Almajir: That is a comment concerning the fact that they had a go, it in no way infers a comparison.

    • Dazza333 says:

      Almajir: Firstly, interesting and sensible comment Wingman. Almajir, and Wingman I totally agree that a Supporters Trust is the way forward so lets all get working on it. Wingman, the possible consortium ‘major player’ I was refering to was not a former footballer (although one of the consortium might be) he is however a very ‘Wise man’……………………

  • bluedan says:

    Can you spread any light as to whats happened to Beasajour. He didnt even make the bench and i really thought he may be the one to shine this year. He seems to offer something different. Obviously CH played redmond and Burke who look to also be great players but thought he might make the bench maybe even if he was played as a striker esc role instead of assante.


Leave a Reply

Personalised Gifts for a Bluenose
Haircuts and League Cups
Open Tax Services
Corporate Solutions UK
PJ Planning
Rodal Heating

Archives