This is usually the area where I attempt something witty in order to take my mind off yet another away loss, but the wild VARiation of the phrase ‘clear and obvious’ has really bOGged me down.
Jordan Pickford – 4
An absolutely inexcusable performance from ‘England’s number one’. He had it all wrong for the Brighton free-kick which has become somewhat of a defining characteristic for Jordan recently. It’s really worrying to see his inability to set up properly from set pieces and it could be time for Lossl to stake his claim as our goalkeeper.
Djibril Sidibe – 5
Sidibe was completely at fault for the last goal, marauding forwards with complete disregard for any defensive responsibilities. It was a pretty average performance from the French right-back but a catastrophic mistake left us exposed at the back in the 94th minute and, well, we know how that one went.
Michael Keane – 5
Let’s just get it out of the way now, that wasn’t a penalty. However, Keane struggled to keep the defence organised for a large amount of today’s game and who knows what was happening for that late winner. Between England and Everton, big Mick is not in the greatest form of his career.
Mason Holgate – 6
A brilliantly weighted ball into Calvert-Lewin for our second had every Evertonian asking if this was finally going to be our day. A fairly solid performance as a stand-in for the injured Yerry Mina but everybody had a collective blame for that shambolic Digne own-goal.
Lucas Digne – 5
It really pains me to say it but it’s yet another concerning performance for our former player of the season. He could’ve done a lot better with the final goal and his all-round performance was far below the standard that we came to enjoy after last season.
Andre Gomes – 3
Ah yes, the return of the 3 hammer. Gomes decided to put on his best Schneiderlin impression today as he refused to past forwards and gave away stupid fouls – one contributing to Brighton’s first. In my opinion, he has to try a lot harder if he is to retain his place upon the return of Delph, Schneiderlin and eventually Gbamin.
Tom Davies – 5
It was all just a bit hit and miss for Davies today. He couldn’t seem to get a grip on the game for the majority of the 90 minutes and struggled next to a below-par Andre Gomes. It’s a shame that he couldn’t continue his brilliant performance against West Ham but definitely not the worst player on the pitch today.
Theo Walcott – 4
From Maradona to Li Tie within a week, Walcott really didn’t cover himself in glory today. His inability to hit the target or even attempt it on a consistent basis highlighted his weakness and the decision to keep him on the pitch for over an hour was baffling. Fully deserving of a benching next week but if Silva’s still here, we all know that’s not happening.
Alex Iwobi – 6
A disappointingly quiet performance for Iwobi was pretty much summed up by his 60th minute substitution for Fabian Delph. Forced back out onto the left due to an early Bernard injury meant the game plan changed and we couldn’t see him threaten centre-backs in the same manner as he did against West Ham. Alex had a couple of long-range efforts which never really worried the keeper and that was just about it.
Bernard – n/a
I think it would be slightly unreasonable for me to rate Bernard after his 30-minute cameo but I definitely have some views on his replacement…
Richarlison – 7
Everything positive from the Blues today mainly stemmed from this man. Unfortunate to have his goal taken off him due to the touch on Webster, the man from Crosby looked a threat for the large majority of the match. It would’ve been nice to see him pushed onto the left when Bernard went off to make way for Moise Kean but that would’ve ruined his bench-warming ability.
SUBS
Gylfi Sigurdsson – 4
One question, what does he do other than slow the pace down completely? Silva made the wrong substitution clearly but I can understand why he would want to keep his £30 million signing on the bench so that he can adjust to life in the league.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin – 7
Although he wasn’t on the pitch for long, he did all that was asked of him. A calm and composed finish into the bottom corner had us all on the edge of our seats but it just wasn’t to be yet again.
Fabian Delph – 5
The ‘5’ is less of a rating of Delph himself, but Silva’s decision to bring him on. Although the DCL substitution seemed inspired as he quickly converted inside a matter of minutes, Delph is not a player that you bring on in order to win a game.
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