By florida 
Alright so this whole Everton vs Manchester City thing kept bugging me, you know? Watching ’em play always felt like watching a squirrel try to fend off a bulldozer. Big money team versus the scrappers. I thought, “Right, I’m gonna actually sit down and figure out how Everton even tries to hang in there.” Grabbed a notebook, brewed a stupidly strong pot of coffee, and basically locked myself in for a replay marathon. No fancy tools, just me, the screen, pen, and paper.
What I Actually Did Step-by-Step
Started simple. Just picked one recent match replay, the one where Everton almost nicked a point. Hit play.
1. Hit Rewind… A Lot: Seriously, must’ve hit the rewind button more times than a dodgy cassette player. Every time City had the ball for more than 10 seconds? Rewind. Every time Everton broke forward? Rewind. Every goal? Rewind, rewind, rewind. Was painful, felt like groundhog day with footballers.
2. Scribbling Like a Madman: No clean diagrams here. Just started drawing lines and dots on paper. “Where the bloody hell are all the Everton lads when City have it near their box?” I’d pause, sketch a rough shape – usually a super deep, narrow line with maybe one lad way up top looking lonely. “And where do they run when they somehow nick the ball?” Sketch arrows. Mostly arrows going away from City’s goal, towards the corners. Safety first, and all that.
3. Counting Bodies: Got boring, but forced myself to count how many blue shirts were practically in their own box anytime City got near. Often it felt like 9 or 10 outfielders squeezed back in! Wasn’t exactly rocket science seeing that brick wall they were trying to build.
4. Zeroing in on Duels: Forget the pretty stuff. Every time an Everton lad went shoulder-to-shoulder with a City player, especially near the middle or their wings, I watched it twice. Looked for patterns. Did they dive in? Or just get big and physical? Mostly saw them leaning hard, using their strength, trying to disrupt without getting sent off. Basic, physical graft.
5. Watching the Long Balls: It’s ugly, everyone says it. But man, I had to track where those hopeful punts from the keeper or a centre-back were aiming. Spoiler: mostly either towards that lonely bloke upfront or, more often, just slammed into the channels on the wings. No clever targets, just get it out and away fast. Survival kicking.
The 5 Things that Keep Popping Up (Everton’s Lifelines)
After watching, sketching, and drinking enough caffeine to wake the dead, these five things stood out every single time Everton tried to make a fist of it:
- Camping Deep… Seriously Deep: They don’t just sit back, they practically pitch tents 20 yards from their own goal. The whole team squeezes in, leaving almost nothing between the last defender and the keeper. City can have the ball miles out? Fine. Just don’t let ’em in the danger zone.
- Wing-Backs Turned Brick Walls: Those wide players? Forget attacking. Their first job is sprinting back to form a flat line with the center-backs, making the whole penalty area feel tiny. They stand there, legs wide, looking like they’re guarding the crown jewels. Super narrow, super deep.
- Man-Marking City’s Creative Wizards: This is key. They don’t let the KDBs or Silvas drift around unnoticed. Someone’s glued to them constantly, especially around the edge of the box. Hounding them, kicking their ankles (sometimes literally), just being a total pest. Stop the passer, stop the killer ball.
- Muscle Over Finesse: They know City likes neat little passes and clever flicks. Everton’s lads are just bigger, stronger on average. So, they use it. Crashing into tackles, winning headers no one expects them to win, pushing City players off balance. Simple, physical battles – win those, you slow City down.
- Route One to Anywhere (But Here): When they do get it? It ain’t Messi-time. It’s a mad hoof upfield, either hoping the big striker can hold it long enough for help to arrive, or just smacking it into space down the wings hoping for a throw-in deep in City’s half. They just want to catch a breath and push City back a bit.
How It Actually Went Down
Took me a whole Saturday afternoon, frankly. Felt my eyes start to glaze over by match replay number… well, I lost count. Found myself muttering things like “Just lump it forward already!” at the screen. Towards the end, I had pages filled with messy scribbles, arrows pointing every which way, and circles around poor blokes trying to mark Kevin De Bruyne. Looked like the doodles of a stressed-out madman. Had to step back and look at the overall mess I’d made on paper to see the actual patterns.
The big takeaway? Everton’s plan against City is brutal, simple pragmatism. It’s not pretty, lots of fans hate it, and it often still doesn’t work because City are that good. But watching it this closely? You see the logic. It’s about minimizing the damage, banking on City maybe having an off-day in front of goal, and praying for a lucky break at the other end. Park the bloody bus, mark their magicians, kick ’em a bit, and boot it long. Rinse and repeat. They know their limits against the big boys. They just try to survive.
Why did I even bother doing this? Because everyone moans about how Everton play against the big teams, especially City. They call it cowardly, boring. Wanted to see what it actually looked like under the microscope. Turns out, it’s pure desperation football, organised chaos drilled on the training ground. And honestly? After seeing how hard it is just to not get annihilated by City, I get it a bit more now. Doesn’t mean it’s fun to watch, mind.