Everton 4 Wolves 0 - Liam Keen and Nathan Judah analysis
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Hello I'm Nathan Judah, I'm here with Wards Reporter, Mr Liam Keane, Liam, oh goodness
00:14me, Goodson Park, Everton 4, Wolverhampton Wanderers 0, that is an incredibly sobering
00:20evening for Wards, for Gary O'Neill, for these fans, that was one of the worst performances
00:26we've seen for some time, for me probably the worst performance of the season and at
00:29the time where Wards needed one of their best performances of the season it was anything
00:34but, very very worrying. Absolutely, Chelsea at home, Brentford away, Bournemouth at home
00:41last, well on the weekend and this, this could top it all off, it could, it's up there, it's
00:46close, considering that, I mean it's a silver lining but considering that a tiny one at
00:53that that will score goals at Brentford this might top it and it's very similar to Brentford,
00:58except pieces, it's simple stuff, basics, it's basics, it's real basics and this team
01:05are better than that, these individuals are better than that and that is one of the worst
01:09worrying performances this team could have put in, it really is. They actually started
01:13the game relatively well, created a decent chance early on, ate Norrie crossing for last
01:18and does, he's a little bit behind him but he doesn't do very well at all with the shot
01:22and the goal comes from nowhere and Gary O'Neill was asked in his first question is that just
01:27down to small details, basics and he says, we couldn't even get the wall in the right
01:32place. No, not even close. And that shows itself, I mean I could go through and pick
01:36out every single player to be honest and pick out individuals, just woeful, defending, atrocious.
01:43Embarrassing. Craig Dawson has been a fantastic servant for this football club in the last
01:49what, January 2023 wasn't it, so almost two years, a fantastic servant in those two years,
01:57a brilliant player, really key to Wolves staying up and up until opportunity, fantastic last
02:02season, that was his worst game in a Wolves shirt, all over the place, from the first
02:07minute, from the very, very first minute. Wolves were beaten and bullied and battered
02:14by a team, and I mean this with all due respect because I think Everton's a very good football
02:16club and I don't mean to have anything against them, but a really poor side. It's a poor team.
02:21It's a poor team and Wolves made them look good. Wolves were battered, were bullied,
02:28were well beaten and it was absolutely embarrassing. There was no style or quality,
02:34Everton just, I hate the phrase, wanted it more, but they just did the basics well and the basics
02:40cut Wolves open time and time and time again. Not only did they score four goals, they had one
02:48disallowed controversially, Carvalho was through one on one twice, we could have been talking
02:53about five, six and seven, this is against a team that have not scored in four consecutive
02:58Premier League games. One in five as well before this. I mean, you know, Everton very rarely score
03:03more than one goal, they've scored four today. And as you said it could have had six, seven,
03:08it was... It's incredibly worrying and when you say about a team and you can go through the one
03:12to 11, do not watch or read the player ratings tomorrow because it is going to be embarrassing.
03:17You talk about individuals, you talk about a team. That was, from what I saw tonight,
03:22for the first time, look to you at half-time, 11 individuals in that pitch. There was no team
03:27ethic whatsoever. And ultimately, as Gary Neal said in his post-match press conference, regardless of
03:32the players are not doing their job, it falls on the manager. He's going to take responsibility,
03:37he's got to take responsibility and so should he because he's under big, big pressure this evening.
03:41He's under huge pressure. As it stands, he has to be hanging on to his job.
03:47We're yet to hear anything other than he is in charge for West Ham and once we do hear more,
03:52we will bring that. But he is under very serious pressure and rightly so, I'm afraid to say.
03:59I think he got it wrong again with the sign of 11. I think Mario Lamine should know,
04:03he shouldn't be anywhere near a back line. It worked in a great situation when the backs
04:10were against the wall. Get in, get the three points, get out and then go back to your centre-backs.
04:14Exactly that and we said that in the lead-up to the Bournemouth game. I couldn't believe that he
04:19played at centre-back in the Bournemouth game. I was even more shocked that he played centre-back here.
04:23Ahead of a Portuguese international in Totti Gomes. I know he's not in the best season but
04:28I think he's been better in recent weeks. He might have had a poor game against Bournemouth
04:32at the weekend but goodness me, for me, especially in this atmosphere, you need
04:37players who know exactly what they can do. Not just ability-wise but positionally as well.
04:41And Santi Bueno moving over to the left as well. We're talking square pegs, he'd round holes.
04:46Andy Scherger, by the way, was awful.
04:49Again, we could go through almost every individual but you're spot on.
04:52Santi Bueno, probably his worst game in the World Series. I have to say this because I was
04:59apoplectic in that press box watching this and I turned to you and I said,
05:02what on earth am I watching? There was a moment, I think it was at 2-0 down,
05:07near the end of the first half, just behind us here. Ashley Young whipped in a low cross,
05:13dangerous low cross, that had the forward made the correct run, would have had a tap in.
05:18Flashes a cross goal, goes out. Mario Lamina, captain, turns his head, looks at the floor,
05:24walks in the opposite direction. Craig Dawson, 300 games in the Premier League,
05:29experienced defender, turns his head the other way, walks in the other direction.
05:32Jose Sarr picks the ball up, slumps over to take a goal kick. Every other player in the vicinity
05:39turns around and walks away. No eye contact whatsoever.
05:42Someone should be giving them an absolute bollock in that. Someone in that back line,
05:47and I'm sorry to say, Lamina or Dawson, Lamina's the captain, Dawson's an experienced,
05:51very, very good... We can all talk about the leadership group but where's the leadership
05:53group there? There was a zero. Someone needs to get hold of those plays in that moment.
05:59And just shake the living daylights out of them. It's something.
06:02Because there's no accountability at the moment. At no point in this season, I think,
06:06even with some bad games I've just listed a second ago, have I, and I think I'm fair in saying this,
06:11have I accused the players of not fighting. That was the first time this season for me.
06:16100% yeah. There was no bottle,
06:19scrap or fight in them whatsoever. And to concede that, I mean, again, set piece,
06:25it's a fantastic corner from Dwight McNeil. Don't get me wrong. It's a fantastic delivery.
06:29So dangerous. You know what's going to happen.
06:32Sar's flapping at it. Dawson's all over the shop. Ends up being a known goal. It is woefully bad.
06:38It was woefully bad. The players are letting themselves down. But Gary was not blameless.
06:46He shoulders the responsibility in the press conference. I've asked him directly,
06:49are you the right man to take this forward? He said, I'll back myself to bring this team on.
06:55And he has had some fantastic times as being Wolves head coach. Since arriving,
07:01this is one of the lowest ebbs that he's had in this club. And someone's got to give.
07:08And whether the manager changes, whether the club make that decision,
07:10or whether there is a serious shakeup in that starting XI.
07:14Now, one thing I'll add to that, Gary Neal makes a good point in the press conference. He says,
07:17we've tried Guedes, we've tried Rodrigo, we've tried Totti, he goes through the squad.
07:21We've tried all these players and a lot of them haven't taken their opportunities. Now,
07:25I agree with that, but there's got to be a shakeup. Because that is not acceptable.
07:30When that cross comes in, I watched them, I nudged you and I went, watch them, watch them.
07:35Lamina head down, Dawson head down. It is embarrassing for a football club of this size
07:40to have players doing that. And for players who are big characters, Lamina's not, he's not a small
07:44guy. He's a big character. He's a fantastic player. That is dreadful from a captain.
07:49He has to do a lot more than that. Exactly on your point there,
07:54when Gary Neal, and I think hopefully you'll transcribe this at some point,
07:57because I think it's very interesting word for word what he said. He said exactly that.
08:00He said he's tried every single defensive combination this season,
08:05in a back two, in a back three. He listed all the combinations. He said,
08:08I've tried everything at the top. He listed all the forward lines that he's tried.
08:13For me, that was, I took that as a negative rather than a positive, because I'm thinking,
08:18if I'm thinking that, I'm thinking I've tried everything here, guys. I've tried everything
08:21at the back. I've tried everything at the top. It's not working. To me, that's someone that's
08:26run out of ideas, potentially. And that's something that obviously the ball will have
08:29to have a look at and that potentially will be conversations. There will definitely be
08:32conversations tonight. Of course there is. Wolves are 19th in the table. They've just
08:36got beat by a relegation rival. They've just got stuffed against Bournemouth. Regardless of
08:41the four games before that, when they were unbeaten and they had a chance to obviously
08:44win three games on the bounce, it didn't happen. They go to West Ham United on Monday night.
08:48Will there be a change before that? It remains to be seen, but something has to change. It has
08:52to change quickly, because that product that we saw tonight is not just being in a relegation
08:57battle. That product is down before seven or eight games before the end of the season,
09:01because like you say, absolutely zero fight. And unfortunately, and we've said this all the time
09:05that they have got, they didn't have tonight, zero quality. Absolutely. Two games running now.
09:11Mateus Cunha has not been in the game. Guedes, quiet. Larssen missed a couple of chances,
09:17didn't do a lot. Players that came on, Huang, didn't do a lot. Rodrigo Gomez comes on right
09:23back. Bless him, runs himself into the ground. But what can he do at that point? 82nd minute,
09:28whatever it was, he came on. There is quality in this team. We've not seen it in those last
09:34two games. We've seen a disjointed side. And I keep coming back to it. For the first time,
09:39in my opinion, tonight, a side that did not scrap for fans who have travelled and spent all
09:46that money to come here and watch some turgid stuff. Fans have got every right to be absolutely
09:52disgusted with some of the performances we've seen there. Gary New will be as well.
09:59Oh, he'll be furious. Players have let him down tonight, but he's also not helped himself with,
10:05again, the Lamina decision and not being able to get the basics into these players.
10:11Now, it's not that he's not telling them. Of course he is. We know that Bournemouth are going
10:15to play that long ball from Sanessi through to Everton. We know that Everton are going to bat
10:19you from set pieces. We spoke about it before both games. Gary New spoke about it in the press
10:23conferences. The players have been told it and they're not doing it. Now, the reason they're
10:27not doing it is that's the big question. It's such a bad look. I can't get that image out of
10:36my head of those players with their heads down. It's such a bad look for a club of this size,
10:40this stature. To be honest, the players are of that quality. I've batted a couple of individuals
10:45there, but I could go through the whole squad. There were some big individuals there, big players,
10:51talented players, big personalities who are shrinking violets right now.
10:55We've got to see a lot more from them. Whether Gary Neal abandons his desire to be entertaining
11:04and attacking and just make the Wolves hard to beat and scrap a couple of 1-0s,
11:09if that's what's needed from us, that might be the way to go. But something's got to give.
11:13There has to be a change. It's obviously a developing situation. Things can change very,
11:16very quickly. We'll give you the latest on ExpressTheStar.com.