Only four teams picked up three points at Goodison Park last season and they were Chelsea, Man United, Arsenal and Liverpool – no disgrace in losing any of those matches and the Toffees were desperately unlucky to lose to their Merseyside rivals. However, Everton fans have now seen their team lose both opening matches at home, how big a cause for concern is this?
While Portsmouth might well finish fifth this season and have possibly been underrated after playing Chelsea and Man United first, Blues fans will be concerned to read David Moyes’ comments on the BBC website after this defeat. Pre-season optimism has disappeared into thin after Saturday’s match.
“We are not in condition to win Premier League matches. We have not got players in the right slots and senior players are not playing the way they should be.
“We’ve got a lot of young players in the side but it’s not those players who are letting us down.
“I don’t think we have played well in any game so far, although I thought we probably played better here than we did when we won at West Brom and lost at home to Blackburn.
“Portsmouth defended well and took their chances. We defended poorly and didn’t take our chances.”
Which senior players is Moyes alluding to? It’s clear that a midfield including Jagielka and Rodwell will only get you so far, despite the latter being a promising talent. Do you think it will be a season of struggle for Everton and are the board to blame for not giving the Scot greater financial backing for transfers? Or have the club just failed to attract the right sort of players?