"Eliminate render-blocking JavaScript and CSS in above-the-fold content" HOW?

If possible you'll need to convert some scripts to load synchronously if they are being load synchronously but that may not be an option or under your control?

In my view trying to optimise WP is like trying to put racing tyres on a steamroller - but that's just me.

Those scores look reasonable for a WP site.

Thanks Julian,  You bring up an  interesting point which we had not considered.  What would you recommend besides Wordpress for better performance?

What would you recommend besides Wordpress for better performance

At the risk of being facetious ... anything else.

The key value of WordPress is that

a) It allows non-technical people to build reasonable web-sites
b) Widely supported
c) Rich set of plugins - which is also a potential weakness

At the end of the day it is a souped up blogging engine. Attempts have been made to move it out of that space into a general website framework and to a certain extent this has been done successfully but it's roots are still in blogging which is not the way many sites work.

WP Sites tend toward bloat - add a plugin to do what you want plugin adds a JavaScript library that it utilises 10% of and so on until you have a behemoth of an app with a load time measured in days.

It is not always the case. You can build reasonably efficient sites in Word Press but if you are really looking for performance then you build manually with a framework - something like Laravel or Lumen.

I find that with a good framework I can get a reasonably sized site up in about the same time as fiddling about with WP, templates, themes and plugins. I often find it quicker to write my own code than hunt for a plugin that partially does what I want.

The upshot is that I have the skills to build a site from scratch so I am not the typical user WP targets. The point being there is a trade-off. WP gives you the tried and tested out of the box experience that many users want as well as the continuity in the event your "developer" absconds leaving you holding the reigns - another WP jockey can take over and keep the engines running.

There have been some attempts to streamline WP taking advantage of web packing and so forth - I believe the Beans framework attempts to achieve this - that might be an option if you are bound to the WP environment.

Failing that - do what you can and rest easy in the knowledge that your site is one of millions of WP sites and with your extra effort is probably outperforming most of those - so if your page load times are not optimal theirs are most likely worse.

Think this answer bears out, and Google must have fond a way to remedy some of this now.  found this message on the Search Console page -"-Jan-22: Search Console performed an infrastructure update that may cause a change in your data."  And now my blocked resources page count is Zero.