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So, given that I am the stats man, I thought maybe I could do this as a weekly thing pre match where I discuss where we could win or lose each match based on the statistics. With an out of sorts Everton team who have won only 1 of their last 6 matches having also drawn with Hull and Sunderland in that period, home and away respectively, one might say that this is the opportune time to play the Toffees. Everton have been rather unpredictable at home, in that they have won 2, drawn 2 and lost 2 of their last 6 matches, although they are unbeaten in 4 at home. Based on their performances this season, Everton will play a possession style of football, playing plenty of short passes and attempting many long shots. Everton have a big difficulty in breaking down opposition defence and getting chances in the box, hence the high number of long shots. They also like keeping the ball in their own half, perhaps waiting for the opposition to start attacking them allowing for pacey counter attacks spearheaded by top goalscorer Romelu Lukaku and helped out by the pace of Barkley, McGeady and Mirallas behind him. While they don't get many chances, they have a brilliant shots per goal ratio which highlights the threat of allowing them space in our half.
That, I feel is the key to getting something out of Everton, closing them down in our half and never allowing more than 5 players in the final third at any time. By closing them into their own half or just putting some pressure on them in out half, we can force them into mistakes and Everton have a poor defensive record against skillful players, something we can use to our advantage, with Fer and Vargas starting and making life difficult for them, perhaps even starting Kranjcar ahead of Barton and introducing Barton later into the game to box them out.
Everton are also extremely, and I really mean extremely poor at winning the ball in the air. On the other hand, QPR have an outstanding record of aerial duels, winning about 7 more aerial duels per game than Everton. With Zamora and Fer being offensive aerial threats and Dunne and Caulker being defensive aerial talents, I'm fairly confident in that part of our game. We are also known to play an offside trap, while Everton have a tendency to be caught offside very often which plays into our hands and I have no doubt that on his game, Dunne is more than capable of shutting out Lukaku's physical game. Also playing to our benefits is Everton's poor concentration and tendency to make silly individual mistakes which they concede from. They also concede a huge amount of chances per game which will play into our hands hopefully. Perhaps very useful to us is Everton's ability to give up their lead so easily under a bit of pressure which is worth noting.
Now onto the actual requirements to beat Everton. There are a few key things. Firstly is to play a strong defensive backbone through defence and with Karl Henry just in front of them. This will stop Everton getting counter attacks going. From corners, have only Caulker go into the box and leave Dunne back with the full backs and Henry just outside the box. This goes totally against how we usually defend as we do tend to concede from Counters (Liverpool is a memory of sorts). But if we have worked on that in the last 9 days, then we may have a chance of keeping them out and maybe sneaking one in. In order to do that, we have to play the old stoke long ball football with Zamora and Fer being the target men from Goal Kicks and crosses. Everton are poor at defending in the air, especially with their short(ish) defensive line, the only tall player being Distin. Get Zamora on Jagielka and Vargas on Distin and we can create plenty of opportunities throughout the match. Taking them is another thing but I assume finishing training was a major part of the preparation.
The one role that needs to be managed properly in order to block the chance creation is the Karl Henry role. He has to be on Barkley all match, he cannot stray from his man at any point, he cannot do anything fancy like he has done in recent matches, this has to be a perfect defensive performance to stop the strong and creative youngster from setting his speedy wingers off. If we can do that, we may just sneak away with something today.
Other than that COYR'S
That, I feel is the key to getting something out of Everton, closing them down in our half and never allowing more than 5 players in the final third at any time. By closing them into their own half or just putting some pressure on them in out half, we can force them into mistakes and Everton have a poor defensive record against skillful players, something we can use to our advantage, with Fer and Vargas starting and making life difficult for them, perhaps even starting Kranjcar ahead of Barton and introducing Barton later into the game to box them out.
Everton are also extremely, and I really mean extremely poor at winning the ball in the air. On the other hand, QPR have an outstanding record of aerial duels, winning about 7 more aerial duels per game than Everton. With Zamora and Fer being offensive aerial threats and Dunne and Caulker being defensive aerial talents, I'm fairly confident in that part of our game. We are also known to play an offside trap, while Everton have a tendency to be caught offside very often which plays into our hands and I have no doubt that on his game, Dunne is more than capable of shutting out Lukaku's physical game. Also playing to our benefits is Everton's poor concentration and tendency to make silly individual mistakes which they concede from. They also concede a huge amount of chances per game which will play into our hands hopefully. Perhaps very useful to us is Everton's ability to give up their lead so easily under a bit of pressure which is worth noting.
Now onto the actual requirements to beat Everton. There are a few key things. Firstly is to play a strong defensive backbone through defence and with Karl Henry just in front of them. This will stop Everton getting counter attacks going. From corners, have only Caulker go into the box and leave Dunne back with the full backs and Henry just outside the box. This goes totally against how we usually defend as we do tend to concede from Counters (Liverpool is a memory of sorts). But if we have worked on that in the last 9 days, then we may have a chance of keeping them out and maybe sneaking one in. In order to do that, we have to play the old stoke long ball football with Zamora and Fer being the target men from Goal Kicks and crosses. Everton are poor at defending in the air, especially with their short(ish) defensive line, the only tall player being Distin. Get Zamora on Jagielka and Vargas on Distin and we can create plenty of opportunities throughout the match. Taking them is another thing but I assume finishing training was a major part of the preparation.
The one role that needs to be managed properly in order to block the chance creation is the Karl Henry role. He has to be on Barkley all match, he cannot stray from his man at any point, he cannot do anything fancy like he has done in recent matches, this has to be a perfect defensive performance to stop the strong and creative youngster from setting his speedy wingers off. If we can do that, we may just sneak away with something today.
Other than that COYR'S
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