Everton 1-0 Peterborough: FA Cup Live | Beto scores, Blues ahead at halftime

Halftime Thoughts – The 3-4-3 with Armstrong wide doesn’t quite play to his strengths, moving him central into a 3-5-2 with Ndiaye pushing up next to Beto could be more effective. Still should be enough to beat Peterborough who have posed little to no threat at all.

45+1’ – Posh shot into the side-netting, but the ref has blown the whistle for halftime. Toffees lead at the break, 1-0.

42’ – GOAL!! Ndiaye finds Armstrong, who plays in Beto 1-on-1 against the goalie, the striker skips past Bilokapic and slides the ball into goal, 1-0 to the Toffees!

40’ – Delicious cross from Branthwaite, Beto’s header is straight at Bilokapic. Coleman was hopping on the sideline, heading that one in!

38’ – Beto almost charges a goalie clearance down, enough on it to get away and no Blue shirts close enough to take advantage.

34’ – Patto beats his man and puts the ball in the box, cleared for a corner on the right. Gana (!!) to take, the Blues want a penalty as it appears to have come off an arm.
Now the Posh break with speed, Myko slides in with a block for a corner. Good on him, given it was his error in midfield that allowed the counter.
Beto misses his clearance, Collins shot on goal and blocked by both JOB and Branthwaite!! Whew.

32’ – Both Ashley Young and his son Tyler Young are warming up. That will be quite the story if they both get on the pitch.

30’ – Bit of a surprise that Paul Tait, who manages the Under-21s, wasn’t asked to take charge and Baines came in instead.

Photo by Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images

25’ – Armstrong with a good cross into the box, miscommunication between defender and goalie and it’s a corner, but could easily have been an own goal, one of Everton’s top scorers this season

23’ – Oooh!! Mangala’s sliced volley crashes off the bar! It was a poor clearance from the Posh and the midfielder took the shot really well, would have been a peach of a goal.

20’ – Lots of sideways passing but nothing incisive so far. Having Patto and Myko as wingbacks hasn’t necessarily produced added width or anything.
Gana with a bouncing shot that the goalie almost let get behind him.

15’ – Lovely cross-field ball from Gana finds Patterson who is cut down just on the edge of the box. Armstrong will put it in the box, O’Brien does the Tarky and heads it back across goal, eventually comes to Mangala who slices his kick horribly and Posh can clear.

12’ – Ndiaye takes a potshot from outside the box, well wide of the top corner.
Posh forward Ricky Jade-Jones is supposedly the fastest player in English senior football, reported to be even faster than Kylian Mbappe. He’ll be licking his chops hoping to run behind Michael Keane, who turns slower than the barges dotting the Mersey.

Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images

10’ – Everton are pressing the Posh up high and winning the ball, and passing it around effectively.. until they reach the opponent’s box when it comes to a standstill.

5’ – Ndiaye keeps urging his teammates forward when the Posh have the ball in the back.
Interesting tidbit, Peterborough have the worst defence in League One. That won’t mean anything for the Blues whose attack is utterly miserable.

2’ – Beto stings the Aussie goalie’s palms from outside the box. Armstrong is on the right, Ndiaye on the left of the 3-4-3. Keane is in the middle of the back three, Branthwaite on the left and O’Brien is on the right.

1’ – Underway at Goodison!
It is a back three as we expected, and we’re told that the lineup is basically what Dyche had selected. Baines and Coleman were informed this morning that they would be in charge tonight.

Here we go then, the start of another era after Sean Dyche has been shown the door. Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman will take charge of the Blues.

Everton – Baines has gone with a back-three it looks like. Ashley Young is on the bench, as is his son.

Peterborough United –

Preparations for Everton’s FA Cup game tonight against Peterborough United took a surprise twist when a mere hours before kickoff the club announced that manager Sean Dyche had been sacked.

The exit should really not come as a surprise given the Blues’ miserable form this season – three wins in 19 Premier League games is relegation level, and the quality of the football that was on show was so dire that Evertonians found themselves nodding when AFC Bournemouth fans chanted “How do you watch this every week”.

Under-18s manager Leighton Baines and club captain Seamus Coleman will take the reins for tonight’s clash against the Posh, who also find themselves languishing close to the bottom of their table. Peterborough are 19th in Football League One and haven’t won a game since mid-December in the Football League Trophy.

Competition: FA Cup Third RoundThird Round

Date and start time: Thursday, January 9th at 11:45 a.m. PT / 2:45 p.m ET / 7:45 p.m. BST

Stadium: Goodison Park, Liverpool, England, United Kingdom

Capacity: 39,572

Weather: 34°F/1°C, clear, 0% chance of precipitation, 7 mph winds

TV: ESPN+ – United States; BBC Sport Web – United Kingdom; SportsNet World – Canada, SuperSport MaXimo 1 & 2, SuperSport Premier League ROA, Sony TEN 5

Radio: evertontv, TalkSport Radio UK, BBC Radio 5 Live

Live stream: Fubo, ESPN app, BBC iPlayer, ESPN Play Sur, beIN SPORTS CONNECT, DStv Now, RUSH, JioTV

Gamethread: There will be a live blog for this game, with our coverage continuing after the final whistle with the match recap and reaction.

*Royal Blue Mersey has affiliate partnerships and may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links provided.

Information from LiveSoccerTV.com

The Toffees have only ever played Peterborough once before, that was in the League Cup in 2006. The Blues won 2-1 away to the Posh in the Second Round, with a winner from Tim Cahill.