We set our stall out to defend today and stop them from scoring. Why am I writing this, you know exactly how we set it up. It's how we've set up most of this season, so I don't need to explain it.
And I also don't need to write that if you sit back and allow a team all this possession, they are going to have more chances than you and they are going to get goals and there is every chance they'll get more than you.
We scored first, but Everton with 71% of the ball scored two. Do I really need to go into the details?
Ironically, we defended well and I think it's clear to see that we're working on that in training. The line is good and communication is good. It's not what I want to be writing, but that is where the emphasis is; defending. It isn't right though.
But you could argue that you start at the back. I happen to believe that too. But I also think you should work on corners and set pieces at the same time as you work on defending, closing players down and sitting deep.
The thing is, we only had one corner today and that came in the 93rd minute and it was played so badly it very nearly went out for a throw in on the opposite side of the pitch.
We only had one shot on target and we scored that, we had less than 30% possession and Tim Howard had nothing else to do. Yes, you read all that right.
But this is what Paul Lambert wanted from his team today. And in fairness, we did okay defending for 70 minutes. But, it shouldn't be about that. But again, you have to start at the back.
And we're brave. Don't forget, we're brave. We'll pick ourselves up and we'll go again. I'm sorry, but we started with five defenders and two midfielders and we didn't even play long ball football, we just sat with everyone back apart from the odd counter.
But we're on target for target (staying in the league) and we just have to start accepting that that is the best we're going to get. We should also be grateful that we're in the Premier League and accept that as all we're going to get at the moment.
If you can accept it, we'll be like Wigan or West Ham or Sunderland fans, but it will make things easier. Unless you want to do something about it?
I'm sorry, but the result and performance doesn't really surprise me, so I'm just going to move on quickly before I get into trouble.