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It was embarrassing to be an Evertonian on Saturday night.

I never stay in on a Saturday night, but after that one-sided demolition by Manchester City just a few hours earlier, I didn’t want to go out.

I did, and I was getting questions fired at me all the time asking ‘what’s going on?’

As a result, Sunday was the worst I’ve ever been as an Evertonian, as a supporter.

The performance, rather than the result, affected me that much.

I have a lot of Evertonian friends, and the biggest one of all is my dad.

He’s also the biggest moaner of them all - even when we win! So imagine what he was like at the weekend!

You just don’t know what to say sometimes because you want to be as supportive as possible, but it was very, very poor.

There is no doubt that Pep Guardiola’s team has exceptional quality.

(Image: Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

But look at what Liverpool did to that same City side last night.

Not only Liverpool, look at what Wigan did!

It looked to me as if it was a first team against the reserves training exercise - and the reserves had been told ‘no tackling.’

And what was even worse is that you could see it coming.

As soon as I saw the team that Everton had selected I thought ‘what’s going on?’

I asked myself ‘surely we’re not going to play two midfield players against their three?’ and three of their quality.

I thought it was naive.

Wayne Rooney can’t do it in a two any more. He struggles to do it in a three against the better sides when they are zipping balls about.

So I couldn’t understand Dominic Calvert-Lewin playing number 10 when he’s never played number 10 before.

I was covering Swansea v Man United for TV and as soon as the team came through I thought ‘Oh my God!’ That really was my reaction.

In Sam Allardyce’s defence, maybe he thinks the season is over so he will try a few things, experiment a little.

But if you try those things, and they don’t come off and we lose in the manner in which we lost, then there’s a chance you might not be here to reap the benefit of those experiments!

As players we were always told ‘you’re only as good as the time you’ve got on the ball’ and if you give top quality players time on the ball they’re going to cut through you.

Liverpool upset Manchester City’s top quality players last night and their passing was disrupted, because they couldn’t get into a rhythm.

If you let Manchester City get into a rhythm they will cut through you like a knife.

And we allowed them to do just that.

It’s something that simply can’t be allowed to happen again on Saturday.

A Merseyside derby with a difference

The Merseyside derby will be a strange game for one set of players on Saturday lunchtime.

The last thing Liverpool will have wanted in between two Champions League quarter-finals was a derby match.

But that’s just what they’ve got and it’s up to Everton to take as much advantage as possible.

Mo Salah probably won’t play, one or two others appeared to pick up knocks on Wednesday night, so we could end up playing against a second string side and with pressure on us then to beat them.

The big fear is that we might not be anywhere near good enough to beat even their second string side!

That places a lot of pressure on us to win the game, while Liverpool have absolutely no pressure on them.

(Image: Photo by James Maloney)

It’s been eight years since we last won a derby match - longer even than that dreadful run in the 1970s.

And worryingly I can’t even think of many derbies we should have won in that timescale.

A performance can sometimes mean just as much as a scrambled, undeserved win.

When we were starting to emerge as a very good side in the 1980s we played the Reds at Wembley in the Milkl Cup final.

We didn’t win - although that had as much to do with the referee that day as it did each team’s performance - but it was a day where we realised we were on a par with them - and on a given day could be better than them.

We proved that a few months later, at Wembley again, then at Anfield a few months after that.

You have to compete in any match, win your battles and earn the opporunity to play your football.

In any normal match that can take 20 minutes, half-an-hour, maybe an hour.

In a derby you have to compete for 95 or 96 minutes or however long it takes.

The team which competes, and composes themselves better .... usually wins.

Everton have to do all that on Saturday, otherwise that terrible run will extend even further.

Quite simply, the stats have to be better than they were last week.

Best laid plans of Meis

Everton's new stadium architecht Dan Meis has been talking to Evertonians all week at a series of workshops.

The whole concept is superb - how many other clubs have discussed stadium ideas with their fans? - and the feedback has been excellent, too.

For me, atmosphere has to be paramount at a new stadium.

I don’t really want to see the pitch too far away from the crowd.

(Image: Anthony McArdle)

I don’t want an Arsenal, with huge gaps between the fans. That may increase comfort but it doesn’t give you atmosphere.

I don’t want a West Ham, where you are so far away from the pitch.

And I don’t want to see some of the best traditions done away with, like they were at Wembley.

The new Wembley is a great stadium - but why didn’t they keep the changing rooms behind the goal?

That walk out was one of the reasons you wanted to play at Wembley.

Hopefully Everton can learn from the mistakes the FA and other clubs have made.

And by discussing the issues with their fans it seems like they are going the right way to do just that.