Coufal hit the post
They huffed and puffed but in the end were undone by a Calvert-Lewin goal for which Craig Dawson has to take some responsibility and a brilliantly organised Toffees defence.
And the next result was that our Champions League hopes took a sickening blow from which we will do very well to recover.
Any hopes that we would replicate the pulsating performance against Burnley at Turf Moor were quickly thwarted early in the piece when the Hammers could never get their counter attacking game going .
And when Dawson found himself on the wrong side of Calver-Lewin from Sigurdsson’s straight ball into the edge of the area that – as they say – was that.
Benrahma spurned a tremendous chance to equalise when heading wide with all the time in the world from Fornals ball in before Fabianski was forced to make two fine saves.
The Hammers dominated possession in the second half but the ball went forwards and sideways far room much and only looked like scoring when Couval hit the inside of an upright.
Everton brought on Josh King towards the end and his first contribution was to bead against a post.
The Hammers continued to press forward but that Toffees defence was always on top of some timid attacking from the Irons.
It left us in fifth place but five points away from the top four. Hope springs eternal with three games to play but there will need to be some strange twists and turns at this stage of things.
A damp squid?
Ever made a mistake?
Won’t get a better chance for champions league…but we blew it .. that’s that’s then …shame …..goal was so avoidable….very very poor from Dawson
Shame just an off day , no confidence or belief in their game
And well played Everton done their homework and to theirs and our strength
Everton know we’re a counter attacking team so sat deep and allowed us all the possession, 69% to 31%. We cannot break down packed defences. Dawson seems to be taking all the blame for the goal. When it’s replayed we’ll notice that Diop has gone A.W.O.L. For some reason he followed Richarlison when he dropped into midfield. Dawson is left one on one with Calvert -Lewin, there’s only going to be one outcome. We know Dawson isn’t the quickest so he shouldn’t be left one on one.
Yes, let’s blame Diop for Dawson ambling in CLs wake.
The goal was a mess and Dawson was slow to step up with Diop, Diop had to step up because Richarldson was about to recieve a ball in loads of space. 100% Dawson at fault, an individual mistake, an experienced defender like him should have not switched off. I would like to see Diop and Ogbonna at the back if we continue with 4 at the back in the next game.
Diop didn’ t have to “step up”, he went much too far forward thinking that Richarlison might have got the ball. That’s the midfields job. If Richarlison did recieve the ball and wasn’t picked up by a midfielder then Diop should engage. He completely abandoned his position on the off chance Richarlison might have recieved it. By doing so he created the space for the through ball. I agree that Dawson should also have stepped up but all the blame was not his.
Everybody knows Dawson isn’t the quickest so why was he left one on one. Not blaming anyone just asking why.
I would say credit goes to Everton, they did a job on us. We worked hard and put in an honest effort but we lacked the space and cutting edge between the lines to hurt Everton. A draw would have been a fair result. A big game now the Brighton game. I thought Moyes was correct to pick the same team but I thought some of his substitutes today were absolutely baffling. Firstly when we lost Cresswell he should have brought on Ogbonna and gone to 3 at the back and matched Everton. Then his decision to bring on Yarmo who to be honest is goign to add nothing insted of Mipo was also a really strange one. If he had brought on Ogbonna it would have allowed Moyes to go 2 up top with Lindgard in behind.
We seemed to be lacking a plan today. Just going through the motions and hoping. These games need a basic plan and then some application. We never looked confident of anything. We should be beating teams below us in the league especially at home. Everton never looked worried. We need some help now to finish the season on a high. First thing will be to help ourselves by winning the last three games. Ever hopeful and still pleased with our overall performances this year. Looking forward to next season now. Maybe the addition of Allan Saint-Maximin and Patrick Bamford will make the difference.
COYI
We should be beating teams lower than us in the league? Who do we think we are now then? Have we gone all billy big boots all of a sudden? If Everton win the game in hand they’ve got on us they will be on the same points as us They could even finish above us. Everton are a good physical side, hard to break down with a real threat on the counter attack. How about giving them some credit.
There was a big blue bus in front of their goal (I counted 8 blue players between Pickford and our attackers each time we pressed) while we only had two or three (one for the goal – I don’t blame Dawson). They out did us defensively and despite great efforts by all we couldn’t break them down (not one shot on target). If their game in hand allows them to catch us on points we still have the better goal difference. BTW – the saying is ‘a damp squib (firework)’ – all squid are damp in their natural environment. 🙂
It looked like we thought Everton would attack us instead of playing the counter. We never really looked like we had any idea how to deal with their defence.
Shame but top 4 looks unlikely now with Liverpool a game in hand and man u publicly not caring
Think you’ll find the saying is damp squish, used to describe something that is wet and slippery. (Oxford English Dictionary)
Think you’ll find that the error was corrected as soon as I noticed it and that if you think back you may have made some silly mistakes
I think Everton did a West Ham on us. They were fantastic defensively. It seems like if a team wants to beat us, give us the ball and let us try to get through their packed defense. Not sure we quite have the skill level yet to break teams down. We can’t always rely on being the counter attacking team, we need different game plans. With more training we’ll get better at that i guess.
I read an interview in a national paper a month or so ago with Soucek’s coach from when he was a youngster. There were question marks over his passing ability and so he didn’t make it to a big club straight away. I must admit, it seems to be a weakness of his as I’ve noticed how his passes, especially long balls, aren’t quite up to scratch. Just an observation…
Tough defeat to take but this team are still a credit to the fans.
I am afraid reality has caught up with West Ham. We are just not as good as some people seemed to think.
-Not getting a striker was a mistake. Just look outside the UK.
-Expecting Lingard to score often was naive.
-Expecting Antonio not to get injured was unrealistic.
-Expecting to get into the Champions with a small squad was wishful thinking.
At the moment we are, at the most, a team good enough for the Europa League. In the Champions we would get run over. Look at Villareal in the final of the Europa League. A team from a town with 50000 people. But they have been preparing for this for years. We can do that if we are humble. And remember, Spurs, Arsenal and Liverpool had bad seasons. That probably won’t happen very often.
I would consider a spot in the Europa League next year a great success. And even that may not happen.
Wot a season , they have been fantastic , we’ve had decisions go against us , the players we’ve lost , & the’re still 5th
We all know it’s a money game , look at the money teams in front of us, & WE R 5th No moans from me
Totally agree with all them points …sadly at a time when they needed to be addressed the powers that be took a stupid massive gamble and it has cost us…people may say it hasn’t because we have had a good season, but ifctyey did address your points it could, and would of imo put us in a better place maybe even 3rd …like you said expecting Antonio to play all the games with no injuries wasn’t just a mistake it was plain dumb and laughable…
Can’t believe all the s*** being thrown at Dawson. How many times did any of our attackers have a one on one? We should never have committed so many players so high up the pitch. I saw Antonio make a weak pass back, straight to an Everton player in our half who then ran for goal – no one mentions that. Dawson has been terrific for us.
There was only one goal scored and he was responsible. Everton parked the buss after that!
Yeah agree Spotty although not on the over committing of players, too many times we under committed there was often only one man in the box to hit and three marking him, we should have overloaded their box and we might have won the first ball more often.
No big speech from me , I’m just gutted and can only hope the lads regroup and win the last 3 and Leicester loose all 3 & Liverpool at least loose one. Still a slim chance . COYI ⚒
We’ve got three more games to play.
How we perform is now an irrelevance, winning is all that matters.
If, big if, we could win all three, it could possibly be enough for CL, unlikely I know, but strange things have happened already this season, it would be so sweet if it took us all the way to the promise land.