Saints 1 Everton 0

[Wes Tender]

What a contrast to Thursday's effort, or more correctly, lack of it. Right from the kick off, there was a determined resolve to apply immediate pressure on Everton and it paid dividends in an eye-blinking 41 seconds.

 

The team sheet held only one surprise, the inclusion of 19 year old academy player Josh Sims and before anybody had time to fully absorb the reason for his inclusion, he had already justified it by assisting Austin's goal, joining an exclusive club of players at the club to achieve that on their debut. Sims had a couple of good chances to have scored too and many had him as MOTM and entirely worthy of a standing ovation when substituted towards the end of the match.

 

Of course, this was a grudge match because of the circumstances of Koeman's departure, so whether the impetus towards this full-blooded display from the players was influenced by that, or to make amends for the dismal performance on Thursday is debatable. Thankfully this match was the one that counted towards our position in the PL, whereas Thursday's match, although disappointing, still left us in a position to progress to the knock-out stages. Koeman left us to join a club lower down the table and it would be very satisfying if we were to finish above them this season too.

 

He was obviously a bit shaken by this defeat and took it in very bad grace, especially terse in his response to questioning about the performances of the academy players like Sims and McQueen who he had not considered good enough to be selected by him. This was picked up by MOTD2, who were fairly scathing towards Koeman's undignified response and fulsome in their praise of Sims and Southampton's conveyor belt of talent from the academy. In an interview with Koeman before the match, he had assessed part of the reason for his move to Everton:-

 

A second consideration is that a club of Everton’s grandeur, however faded, sets high standards for itself. “There is more criticism here,” Koeman says. “People expect more and they want results more quickly. Southampton was different because everyone understood that, if players were sold, and a lot of players were sold, you need time to get new players in and adapted to the team.

 

“I think we once went without a win for seven games and everyone was still happy because basic stability in the Premier League is a big achievement that has come along only in the last few years. You can see the difference between Everton and Southampton in that respect and that’s why I made my decision to come here.

 

Right, Koeman, you think that nobody here was unhappy when you failed to get a win for seven games, because we were just happy to be in the PL? And I don't recall that the players who we brought in to replace those we sold needed that much time to adapt to their new surroundings. So you joined Everton because they have higher expectations, and that therefore there is more criticism aimed at the manager. But instead of basking in the criticism you have received subsequent to your faded glory team being totally outplayed by your old team deprived of three key players who were sold in the summer and featuring a 19 year old debutant, you appear to have taken the criticism rather badly. Carry on as you are and you might yet come to rue your decision to leave for what you considered to be greener pastures. The attraction of doubling your salary there will ultimately be balanced against the damage to your career if you cannot get Everton into a CL position.

 

The positives of how many good performances were put in by several players have already been well covered by others. Just two additional things that strike me; firstly we have given our confidence a great boost for the forthcoming Arsenal match. Secondly, I thought that Pawson's refereeing was excellent.

[Patrick Bateman]

Excellent post Wes.

 

I didn't want to boo or chastise Koeman before or during the match, but post-match, he's come across as a weird, slightly bitter twerp.

[Winchy]

That was much needed after Thursday. Really good performance- just lacked that second goal but much more promising. Cedric got my MOTM but could of chose from 5-6. I would play Sims again Wednesday- keep the momentum going.

[DuncanRG]

Someone on that Everton board said it was a "sobering experience" to see the cars our players were driving from the ground compared to their overpaid lot. Do our guys have modest taste?

[sadoldgit]

We won deservedly against a team higher in the table than us. We turned over our former manager. We did it giving an academy player his debut (one our former manager didn't seem to know about) and he was MotM. Another academy player got a run out just to rub further salt into the wound. What is not to be happy about? Yet still the Usual Suspects carry on as if we have lost and are at the foot of the table. Go figure.

[Kingsland Red]

In football there will always be coaches who are good at both the man management and technical improvement of young enthusiastic players (Adkins, Puel, Poch). There are also those who prefer to spend vast sums to accumulate over paid journeymen in their late twenties when undertaking their annual lottery of trying to make a team of the sum of it's parts. Mourinho and Koeman come to mind in adopting this somewhat lazy approach.

I prefer The Southampton Way and days like yesterday make me proud of our club.

[doddisalegend]

Someone on that Everton board said it was a "sobering experience" to see the cars our players were driving from the ground compared to their overpaid lot. Do our guys have modest taste?

 

well Redmond doesn't red chrome all over..

[Guy]

Someone on that Everton board said it was a "sobering experience" to see the cars our players were driving from the ground compared to their overpaid lot. Do our guys have modest taste?

 

I do wonder if the players are advised not to turn up at the ground in any supercars they own, but to instead come in their Daily Driver, so as not to annoy us fans (especially if we lose).

[DuncanRG]

In football there will always be coaches who are good at both the man management and technical improvement of young enthusiastic players (Adkins, Puel, Poch). There are also those who prefer to spend vast sums to accumulate over paid journeymen in their late twenties when undertaking their annual lottery of trying to make a team of the sum of it's parts. Mourinho and Koeman come to mind in adopting this somewhat lazy approach.

I prefer The Southampton Way and days like yesterday make me proud of our club.

 

I share your enthusiasm for blooding youth but it's incredibly harsh to say Mourinho and Koeman use journeymen or gamble on team cohesion. Until his Chelsea meltdown Mourinho was the most consistent winner in world football and one of the main reasons was that his teams were more than the sum of their parts, even when their parts were very good. Not sure what's lazy about it either.

[The9]

Agree, surely Hojbjerg's best game (skying a few shots aside) - drove forward from central midfield in a way that neither Davis nor Clasie have done over the past few league games. Even JWP looked forward a bit more than usual, and can blame one of his misses on a world class save this time to go with the standard-issue woeful finish that accounted for the other chance.

 

Hojbjerg was playing better than he did yesterday in his first few matches before he hit a brick wall and his form went through the floor about 6 weeks or so ago. He is still nowhere near the level he was at in the first few weeks and he wasn't particularly great with the ball yesterday compared to his teammates either, but his defensive work along with Romeu meant he was still a positive overall.

[The9]

I do wonder if the players are advised not to turn up at the ground in any supercars they own, but to instead come in their Daily Driver, so as not to annoy us fans (especially if we lose).

 

I wouldn't wonder too much, there's no way I'd be bringing my nice car to park anywhere near 31,000 passers-by irrespective of whether I had 2 or 3 others I could use.

[saintwbu]

Someone on that Everton board said it was a "sobering experience" to see the cars our players were driving from the ground compared to their overpaid lot. Do our guys have modest taste?

 

I was listening to an Everton fan talking about a 'benchwarmer' for them driving a Lamborghini, but I couldn't work out who they were talking about. A few of ours drive Range Rover's which I guess are less extravagant than a Lamborghini but hardly a beat up Renault Clio! Probably just seeing what they want to see to be honest.

[benjii]

Someone on that Everton board said it was a "sobering experience" to see the cars our players were driving from the ground compared to their overpaid lot. Do our guys have modest taste?

 

Well, I guess Sims and McQueen can't exactly afford Ferraris so maybe he saw them leaving but Fonte, Van Dijk, Forster, Bertrand, Austin etc. aren't going to be driving Dacia Dusters around!

[Kingsland Red]

I share your enthusiasm for blooding youth but it's incredibly harsh to say Mourinho and Koeman use journeymen or gamble on team cohesion. Until his Chelsea meltdown Mourinho was the most consistent winner in world football and one of the main reasons was that his teams were more than the sum of their parts, even when their parts were very good. Not sure what's lazy about it either.

 

Lazy in that they bring in ready made players, so others have done the hard graft and they benefit from someone's chequebook. Therefore they need spend less time working on the day to day hard graft improving the players on the training ground.

[spyinthesky]

Well, I guess Sims and McQueen can't exactly afford Ferraris so maybe he saw them leaving but Fonte, Van Dijk, Forster, Bertrand, Austin etc. aren't going to be driving Dacia Dusters around!

 

Some of us 'old uns' remember OOOH AAAH Terry Hurlock turning up in a beat up builders van!!!

[ericofarabia]

So good our right back played twice !

 

Good point and well presented!!

 

Not renewed my Full Membership so can't even edit it to save my blushes!!

[spyinthesky]

On the subject of Koeman, I guess he can only really be judged on his record at Everton when he is able to mould his own team, presumably starting in January when he starts to spend some of the substantial transfer budget he has been promised.

 

At the moment Everton look like a team with talent but let down by an ageing back line and underperforming younger players.

 

As a unit it they look miles off the quality of their rivals across Stanley Park, for example

[DuncanRG]

Lazy in that they bring in ready made players, so others have done the hard graft and they benefit from someone's chequebook. Therefore they need spend less time working on the day to day hard graft improving the players on the training ground.

 

Don't think that's really how it works - it's not like established players are brought in then left to their own devices. Everyone needs coaching and in some cases I'm sure it takes more effort to manage big name players. Was it lazy for Pochettino to buy Wanyama instead of bringing a young player through, or for us to buy Van Dijk, Tadic, Forster, Davis?

 

It might be undesirable for various reasons to marginalise youth but it's not lazy. Think of it like buying your veg from the supermarket instead of growing it yourself.

Edited 28 November, 2016 by DuncanRG

[doggface]

Happy this morning - great result should have been more. SO much fire in the bellies to score that 1st goal. Some nice 1 touch too.

 

What a contrast to Thursday and much needed.

 

The excitement when Sims knocked it round 2 players was intense.

[Pancake]

Well, I guess Sims and McQueen can't exactly afford Ferraris so maybe he saw them leaving but Fonte, Van Dijk, Forster, Bertrand, Austin etc. aren't going to be driving Dacia Dusters around!

 

McQueen had a pretty nice but not flashy Audi when he was Southend last season I think (#1 pointed it out to me at the ground - Roots Hall not SMS)

[Kingsland Red]

Don't think that's really how it works - it's not like established players are brought in then left to their own devices. Everyone needs coaching and in some cases I'm sure it takes more effort to manage big name players. Was it lazy for Pochettino to buy Wanyama instead of bringing a young player through, or for us to buy Van Dijk, Tadic, Forster, Davis?

 

It might be undesirable for various reasons to marginalise youth but it's not lazy. Think of it like buying your veg from the supermarket instead of growing it yourself.

 

I'm a bit further up the supply chain - I see it more like buying and cooking from the untarnished ingredients instead of buying a ready meal / take away with unnecessary additives....

Edited 28 November, 2016 by Kingsland Red

[stevegrant]

On the subject of Koeman, I guess he can only really be judged on his record at Everton when he is able to mould his own team, presumably starting in January when he starts to spend some of the substantial transfer budget he has been promised.

He's already spent more than £45m, which would have been £75m had Sissoko not done one to Spurs at the last minute!

 

At the moment Everton look like a team with talent but let down by an ageing back line and underperforming younger players.

Ageing back line, certainly, but there aren't that many younger players in their side.

 

One of the very few positives from last season under Martinez was that they often fielded very young teams. I was bored earlier and worked out that nearly 35% of all Premier League minutes played by Everton players last season were by players aged 23 or under. This season under Koeman, that's plummeted to 20.6% - Lukaku, Barkley and Deulofeu all contribute to that figure as well, which suggests Koeman basically just isn't playing any of the other youngsters they've got. A shock revelation, I'm sure you'll agree

[SuperSAINT]

He's already spent more than £45m, which would have been £75m had Sissoko not done one to Spurs at the last minute!

 

The funniest thing about their summer was that for all their "we will spend £100m net" talk, they made a -£5m spend

 

I expect them to vomit money out in January to try and course-correct themselves. (Semedo / Depay / Schneiderlin etc.)

[scorchio21]

What I really liked was the speed and desire we showed right from the kick-off, even regardless of the goal that came at the end of it. The sharp passing and moving right from kick off was really impressive and even before the goal we worked a couple of good positions and had a good shot from Sims that was blocked. Immediately showed we were well up for it and made Everton look really sluggish, especially Lennon who was still blessing himself(!) as the game was starting, as highlighted on MOTD.

 

Credit to Puel. There aren't that many ways that the manager can have a noticeable direct effect on the performance of the players on the pitch, but the liveliness of the play right from kick off is one of them.

[so22saint]

Happy this morning - great result should have been more. SO much fire in the bellies to score that 1st goal. Some nice 1 touch too.

 

What a contrast to Thursday and much needed.

 

The excitement when Sims knocked it round 2 players was intense.

 

I so wish he had driven it into the box and had a shot! Would have been Michael Owen England debut-esque

[Sour Mash]

What a contrast to Thursday's effort, or more correctly, lack of it. Right from the kick off, there was a determined resolve to apply immediate pressure on Everton and it paid dividends in an eye-blinking 41 seconds.

 

The team sheet held only one surprise, the inclusion of 19 year old academy player Josh Sims and before anybody had time to fully absorb the reason for his inclusion, he had already justified it by assisting Austin's goal, joining an exclusive club of players at the club to achieve that on their debut. Sims had a couple of good chances to have scored too and many had him as MOTM and entirely worthy of a standing ovation when substituted towards the end of the match.

 

Of course, this was a grudge match because of the circumstances of Koeman's departure, so whether the impetus towards this full-blooded display from the players was influenced by that, or to make amends for the dismal performance on Thursday is debatable. Thankfully this match was the one that counted towards our position in the PL, whereas Thursday's match, although disappointing, still left us in a position to progress to the knock-out stages. Koeman left us to join a club lower down the table and it would be very satisfying if we were to finish above them this season too.

 

He was obviously a bit shaken by this defeat and took it in very bad grace, especially terse in his response to questioning about the performances of the academy players like Sims and McQueen who he had not considered good enough to be selected by him. This was picked up by MOTD2, who were fairly scathing towards Koeman's undignified response and fulsome in their praise of Sims and Southampton's conveyor belt of talent from the academy. In an interview with Koeman before the match, he had assessed part of the reason for his move to Everton:-

 

 

 

Right, Koeman, you think that nobody here was unhappy when you failed to get a win for seven games, because we were just happy to be in the PL? And I don't recall that the players who we brought in to replace those we sold needed that much time to adapt to their new surroundings. So you joined Everton because they have higher expectations, and that therefore there is more criticism aimed at the manager. But instead of basking in the criticism you have received subsequent to your faded glory team being totally outplayed by your old team deprived of three key players who were sold in the summer and featuring a 19 year old debutant, you appear to have taken the criticism rather badly. Carry on as you are and you might yet come to rue your decision to leave for what you considered to be greener pastures. The attraction of doubling your salary there will ultimately be balanced against the damage to your career if you cannot get Everton into a CL position.

 

The positives of how many good performances were put in by several players have already been well covered by others. Just two additional things that strike me; firstly we have given our confidence a great boost for the forthcoming Arsenal match. Secondly, I thought that Pawson's refereeing was excellent.

 

Ha, f*****g hell, I don't dislike Koeman as much as others, but he's coming across as seriously bitter after this defeat.

[Dalek2003]

Well, I guess Sims and McQueen can't exactly afford Ferraris so maybe he saw them leaving but Fonte, Van Dijk, Forster, Bertrand, Austin etc. aren't going to be driving Dacia Dusters around!

 

I am aspiring to such a car !

[AllSorts]

Sam had a Mercedes GLA 200 or something not an Audi. Its now a Range Rover.

[Rory Peepa]

Agree with all of this. Koeman has shown a serious lack of class with him comments, no doubt borne out of frustration at the scale of the task in front of him. Realistically the only way he could show 'constant improvement' in order to get the Barca job he covets is to get that side into the top 4 and there's no chance of that. Anyway, as soon as a club with 500 extra seats or an extra ten million transfer budget comes knocking he'll be off. No loyalty in football, eh Ronald...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[doddisalegend]

On a side note how the hell is Yannick Bolasie worth 28 million...

[benjii]

What's striking on watching the highlights back is the fact we had four people in the box and within 10 yards of the goal when Cedric crossed it for the winner. Sims had drifted in following his shot, Redmond was at the far post, Austin was in there (of course!) and Hojbjerg had made a forward run when Sims had the ball previously.

 

That's what we tend to miss when we look impotent. Our midfielders aren't exactly prolific but teams can't afford to ignore them. Get more people in there and it opens space for Austin.

[nta786]

What's striking on watching the highlights back is the fact we had four people in the box and within 10 yards of the goal when Cedric crossed it for the winner. Sims had drifted in following his shot, Redmond was at the far post, Austin was in there (of course!) and Hojbjerg had made a forward run when Sims had the ball previously.

 

That's what we tend to miss when we look impotent. Our midfielders aren't exactly prolific but teams can't afford to ignore them. Get more people in there and it opens space for Austin.

 

yep. liverpool game and can't remember who but it was an over the top ball which austin latched onto, except it wasn't a counter attack because by the time austin reached the byline he had no support or nothing!