The NSNO Everton Forums

Just caught tre highlights as missed the match, was only the YouTube highlights so will watch MOTD once back in the UK as it was very limited.

What it did show was the Pickford save though... Wow another absolute beauty to add to his collection, incredible save!

KDH's goal was quality too!

Unbeaten under Andy Burnham's premiership by the way

Whilst we didn't exactly smash Palace yesterday and rode our luck a little, particularly in the first half, a win's a win and we'll take it.
Yes, there's things to work on, but whilst we're picking up 3 points, let's just enjoy it.

Thought it was a fairly simple thing of us not getting to grips with their 3-4-2-1 formation in the first half. The two behind the striker for them were finding little pockets of space in between the defence and midfield, and because we didn't have a natural 6 in there we were getting caught out.

Armstrong and KDH were playing further up the pitch as 8s, which left Hackney exposed (also not playing his natural position), and once our two 8s had been bypassed, they had lots of space to play in which accounted for the chances they created.

We obviously got the goal which was a big help, but it looked like Moyes adjusted the formation at HT, sat Rohl deeper at RB and sat Armstrong deeper, next to Hackney and then they created absolutely nothing second half.

We do often have trouble against the 3421, so hopefully Moyes adjusts for that next time we face that formation.

The Doc wrote: ↑Sat Aug 22, 2026 10:26 pm Interesting to see a couple of posts about us not playing well, I thought we were very good today. I did miss the first 15 minutes like, but thiught we grew into the game and pushed on to dominate.

The stats dont shout snatching a win against play either.

Thiermo Barry and Harrison Armegang? Its like being back playing SWOS.

We looked dangerous with the ball, and played some really nice stuff at times. But the glaring thing is that same as the end of last season we're giving up massive chances every game. Yesterday we were incredibly lucky not to concede from either. But had luck not favoured us then we'd have been 1 down inside 10 minutes, the crowd would have turned, the players heads would have dropped and we'd have been heading to another opening day loss.

Hope is not a sustainable tactic.

My 2 Cents….
Opening 20 minutes we looked like the team that was struggling with the first game to get the season going….could’ve easily been 2 down early on….
Thought the biggest issue throughout the game was our midfield…not regimented enough and left big pockets of space from start to finish…..accepted this will change with norgaard/garner in….armstrong played well but left his position too much and exposed hackney….but having said that had a great game…KDH well it’s KDH….does nowt for a while then pops up and scores and links play superbly…
Positives…unlike some I thought rohl was really good….someone said on here “lacked pace”?? Don’t think they actually saw the game….Thought myko was good still has his lapses but overall good today….tarks was tarks…sadly will get more exposed as a weak link in the back four against better sides than palace….
Overall Moyes has to tighten the midfield up he now has a very good midfield “squad” to choose from…question is can he find the right combination….and quickly…
As an after thought yes we deffo need a seasoned RB…..however with rohl, JOB, garner who can play there…..my thoughts were….i’m gonna get slaughtered for this……why not go for Manoo who can’t seem to get a start nowadays to help close the midfield up…and utilise the 3 mentioned as right back until at least January….see how it plays out…if not then go back after a RB….

cassius wrote: ↑Sun Aug 23, 2026 8:09 am Unbeaten under Andy Burnham's premiership by the way

We've never lost a season opener at Bramley Moore either!

We’ve not dropped points against Crystal Palace at HD also

Goaljira wrote: ↑Sun Aug 23, 2026 9:42 am We looked dangerous with the ball, and played some really nice stuff at times. But the glaring thing is that same as the end of last season we're giving up massive chances every game. Yesterday we were incredibly lucky not to concede from either. But had luck not favoured us then we'd have been 1 down inside 10 minutes, the crowd would have turned, the players heads would have dropped and we'd have been heading to another opening day loss.

Hope is not a sustainable tactic.

We got away with a lot last season and it all caught up with us in the home stretch.

We thankfully have a top drawer keeper but he shouldn’t be needed as much as he does every game.

We can give Moyes the benefit of the doubt and say a fit Garner would have blocked off a lot of those gaps early on. However I fear Tarks will start to be targeted if any of the teams we face have some pace up front. Which is a worry.

The 1st half or at least the 1st 20 minutes or so gets a pass from me, the midfield was struggling at first but it was two young players who hadn’t played together competitively and are not experienced at PL level. I think they sorted themselves out pretty well after a dodgy start.

Defence remains a problem is Tarkowski carries on playing like that

If only we had a younger solid CB on the bench. I dunno, a third CB perhaps (sod the 4th one - we already told him we wouldn’t be playing him when he signed)