Martin O’Neill is not one to make excuses and in his post match missive this is as close as he has come. But where other men’s explanations come across as whingeing, this manager’s are reflective and realistic leading as they do to the obvious. We were beaten again, by a team who performed much, much better on the day.
Dear Colin,
The first goal was always going to be a big one. We ran out of legs and looked tired – they were much stronger than us.
It’s been a big effort by the team, but today we came unstuck and Everton deserved to win.
We were missing Nicklas Bendtner, but we should have been able to get on with that.
We have had to make changes a lot of times this year, with players playing out of position – but that’s no excuse because we were well beaten today.
We tired more quickly than I had anticipated.
A few senior players were carrying injuries going into the game – [Lee] Cattermole and [Phil] Bardsley – but they wanted to play and then early on in the second half you could see they were struggling.
They’ve got good hearts and they wanted to play.
I think sometimes the scoreline can be misleading. However, we have been beaten 4-0 and, I think, deservedly so.
All the best,
Martin O’Neill
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Feel sorry for the supporters who went,what a let down.Everton have a big game this weekend and so shouldnt have really wanted this game more than us.
Typical end of season peformance,we do not have much to play for now other than a few placings and a couple of million quid,…not that the players will be bothered about that too much and it showed.
We are limited when short of a proper striker.As ifos said why not play Richardson and Bridges and maybe leave out Cattermole and Vaughn,(who does far too little for me).Will be interested to see the team for Wolves.I am sure we get the win though.
Despite one or two quirks in the team selection, I think the results reflects the fact that we have zero cover up front and limited options at the back and midfield.
Starting Sess up front on his own is desperate and I would rather have seen some of the young guns given a chance. Have I missed something, but where is Campbell?
Everton scored two very good goals but four flatters them a bit, having said that we offered little up front. Still MON will be weighing up our strengths and weaknesses for next season to plug the gaps and get replacements in some quarters to bolster the squad.
How much of it was down to tiredness I wonder?
If they played a very good Tottenham side just a couple of days ago, then I can understand it. We worked really hard against Tottenham. I think MONs style of play demands a lot from the player.
Our last two results have been very good Let’s not get the blues (sorry:p) over this Everton result.
I think the result is made a little harder to swallow by the fortunes of the team up the road who are talking champions league. 🙁
Didn’t have much hope when the team was announced before the game: Vaughan starting in midfield is never a particularly good sign, especially when we have a much better midfielder sitting at left back. On that subject why was Colback still at left back with Bridges and Richardson on the bench? Sess up front on his own against a team as physical as Everton? Today’s team made no sense whatsoever and for the first time I was left wondering what MON was up to. Hope he doesn’t suddenly decide to ‘rest’ players against Wolves and throw away a home result against the worst team in the division, that would be a nightmare.
They were half-fit but wanted to play? Christ, you’re the manager Martin, tell them they aren’t. More tired than I thought? We only played two days ago with the exact same players, who’d have thought it eh?
Fair enough. But why should Sunderland be any tireder than Everton?