I think the current difference between us and City, our having the better forwards and more of them meaning we should be less likely to drop points in games when we're not at our best is evolution
It really is that simple
In 18-20 we were the best side at being devastatingly direct and at pressing and counter pressing in world football, we won a Champions League and Premier League through that
City have tried to emulate and have copied a great deal of those qualities we had that made us better than them in 18-20, they weren't better than us in 18-19, if ever a League title win were to have an asterix by it, their 18-19 season is the one, they were handed that by Anthony Taylor and other officials
City have been better than us in the press and counter press this season and have been better than us in releasing players going direct when it is on to, not always reaping the benefits we would from that through their forwards not being as good as ours and them not having 2 top quality attacking full backs - They have also developed all their players ability in playing switches and the medium to long up and down balls and through balls to release players in behind, to levels comparable with our best at it, exactly what I suggested the first point in our evolution should have been
City have done that without losing their ability to play a shorter possession passing game to a very high level, or restricting themselves to predominantly attacking down one flank and having no width on the other side, meaning it is considerable evolution and that they have added crucial strings to their bow of how they are able to win games, without losing any of what made them so formidable without the new aspects
We have thrown the baby out with the bath water in our alleged evolution, and hugely diminished our level of ability in our ability to be devastatingly direct and our pressing and counter pressing and always having width and incredible equal potency on both sides of our attack and the ability to utilise that as much as possible with very high quality switches
We have got better, although not much better in our possession passing game and attempts to play that, but we've lost more than we have gained and that isn't evolution, it's devolution, were just have better forwards than City who score more when we don't play well than theirs do and far greater strength in depth at keeper, in our defence and attack than we have had in any other season since Jurgen arrived
"If Everton were playing at the bottom of my garden, i'd close the curtains”
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