Something for sacked Seanie Dyche to suck hard on as he updates his CV by the sounds of it.
No sign of Calamity Keane off the bench either this week, but as we saw last week, you need a two goal lead & less than four minutes remaining to give him a jolly out safely.
Fair play to O'Brien so far, great to see. Leicester & Bournemouth up next for Everton, then at home to Liverpool.
He was so good in preseason too. There were loads calling for him to come in beside Tarkowski in week 1 with Branthwaite out - but he went for Calamity. And loads tipping him to be at least first off the bench if there was an injury to either. Good to see it now and for Moyes to trust him so quickly (and ahead of Patterson/Young at rb) is really positive. If Everton are safe with a few games to go, would love to see him and Branthwaite together in the centre. Formidable pairing potential there. Both big, fast and brick sh!thouses. Put Mick Kegger up front to keep a few posters here happy.
Dyche had said that he felt O'Brien needed a bit of time to adapt to the pace of the Premier League. Which might have made sense if he had given him sub appearances for the first month or two until he was ready to start games, and not played Michael Keane (a later career Ciaran Clark level journeyman) ahead of him. But how he was supposed to adapt by sitting on the bench unused every week is beyond me.
You can get a certain amount out of training with players who play in the league, but presumably he would have already done that in his Crystal Palace days. Once Dyche left him sitting there week after week it suggested that there was something more to it than just that. Whether it was a personal issue between them or just a very backward view towards a younger player from Dyche I don't know. Or maybe O'Brien was signed over his head in the summer and he was trying to make a point about that. But in the end it seems to have contributed to him losing his job because he left out a player who clearly could have improved his team.
Is Keane a journeyman? Following a few cameos with Man Utd he has played for Burnley and Everton. Loans hardly count, do they? If so, is Troy Parrott a journeyman? So is Jake!
Maybe it was neither a personal thing nor Dyche not rating him. Maybe he just didn't think it fair to throw the relatively inexperience O'Brien into a relegation dogfight.
Calamity Clark? Has a ring to it. Howler against Belgium, otherwise as calamity safe as Kelleher, Bazunu, Collins, Coleman, Duffy, Egan et al. Probably a close runner-up to Glenn Whelan as the most maligned international in recent history.
Go Coillte Mach rachad / ní stopfaidh me choíche /
Go seasfaidh mé síos / i lár Chondae Mhaigh Eo.
Has to be said, defence wasn't really Everton's problem under Dyche in fairness. 15 for and 25 against strongly suggests the problem was at the other end. And that was after 4-13 in the opening four games, so it really tightened up then. I don't think it holds that leaving out O'Brien is a stick to beat Dyche with. But it's good to see him get a game now
Taking it back to Keane for a second... while Everton's defense has been decent under Dyche and Moyes... here is a stat... Keane played 9 of the first 10 games this season - full 90 - Everton conceded 16 in those 9 games. He has played 2 minutes across the 12 games since then and Everton have conceded 11 (4 in one game). One of those 11 was with him on the pitch where he was directly responsible. Going back even further, a simple google will tell you all you need to know about Michael Keane's horrendous form over the last 5-6 years. Pundits, fans, analysts - you name it.
Jake, top prospect that we all agree he is, has a low bar to clear.
I like high energy football. A little bit rock and roll. Many finishes instead of waiting for the perfect one.
This article ; https://www.footballfancast.com/ever...n-dyche-waste/
Goes to some lengths in detailing why Calamity Keane is actually Evertons worst ever signing with Perry Groves saying
Error-prone and often too slow to make up for his mistakes, talkSPORT pundit Perry Groves issued a particularly scathing rant back in 2022 after one torrid showing: “He always looks to me like he's not in control of his own body. You know when someone's always struggling or trying to make last-ditch tackles.
In recent days I've given some attention to coverage of the player, prior to that I just knew he was someone in O'Briens way & its not good reading for those in Calamities corner.
In fact, we're, IMO, entering Clusterf**k territory to accurately describe the man. Clusterf**k Keane.
But underpinning all this, this is a guy O'Brien, if he's what we hoped, can displace with a fair go from a manager not carrying out some weird agenda.
Knock off the nicknames CTP, Keane is a far better footballer than any of us could ever hope to be
He's probably better than seanfhear but, then again, probably only cos he is really old.
I like high energy football. A little bit rock and roll. Many finishes instead of waiting for the perfect one.
If Keane is that bad, O'Brien must have been really awful in training to get stuck behind him in the pecking order.
I'm thinking Keane isn't that bad.
You can't spell failure without FAI
Michael Keane, who played for us at youth level, was so bad he ended up playing for England a few times.
End Apartheid Now! One Team in Ireland!
I like high energy football. A little bit rock and roll. Many finishes instead of waiting for the perfect one.
Dyche should have given Jake a break and Not a brake !
Dyche ended up with ache for Not using Jake !
OK - so it is a little personal with me. At least you have come clean on that indirectly. On Kenny, some were willing to give him little to no time, others wanted him to have more time than he got, but I was probably in the middle - and in retrospect, I was too forgiving and its not the first time I have acknowledged that here. But I have no problem getting some stuff wrong. Maybe a quick google on Michael Keane's form over the last few years will let you realize that you might have got this one a bit wrong and let your frustration with my support of Kenny get in the way.
I like high energy football. A little bit rock and roll. Many finishes instead of waiting for the perfect one.
With Scales suspended for the first game think O'Shea will move into CB and Doherty likely starts RB now that he's playing regularly at club level.
Though Hallgrimsson might surprise me and give O'Brien a start thinking his height will give us an advantage at set pieces.
Collins could again play that defensive midfield hybrid role. More so in the first leg with it being away. Start a bit defensive to suss them out and then change things up.
There's also McGuinness who I think did OK at Wembley and I agree we might see Collins staying in midfield. McGuinness is also a big aerial threat.
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