Take the ambiguous title as you want. Its too cold outside in the morning. There´s far from enough daylight and many of you will have the anxious sweat on making sure you´ve got the angles covered for Christmas.
Therefore its a welcome distraction to catch yourself humming Allez Allez Oh or Bryan Oviedo baby while going round the most menial of tasks. Like an Eastern Bloc drilled mantra its quite the tune on the lips of the workers around the city at the moment.
Lets get to it – while we may occasionally sing about it we are not gonna win the league. Its just a very good patch and as always being a blue you have the gravity of crushing realism keeping your feet firmly on the ground.
But crikey, how boss are Everton at the moment?
When their chameleon eyed forty odd million playmaker bundled in their goal there was an air around the stadium, media and their players that the job was done. A veritable pipe down Everton with dismissive head patting. The media started talking about how in time looking back at these type of games as the ones that win titles and all the assorted guff you´ve become accustomed to.
In years gone by that would have been that for Everton, or even the precursor for a couple more late Arsenal break away goals but this is a different Everton and there was no panic or rolled eyes to the sky. Instead we just turned up the nozzle on our aceness to level 8. Not even level 9 or 10 – were saving that.
Deulofeu done what I believe they call in the trade ´showing the ball´ to their full back, not once but twice and while he was hypnotised the Catalan lid drilled the ball with not a single care in the world into the roof of the net. Cue pyro, cue limbs, cue piping down of Arsenal, media and any other bell that for one minute doubted EFC.
We didn´t go on to win it so I´ll have to temper my excitement of Everton a wee bit but what a great few weeks its been.
There was a slight feeling of meh after the Crystal Palace result and going into yet another international break with the looming hordes of red bells on the horizon. We should have beat them no two ways about it but their late equaliser let them off the hook and most of us were very happy to see Everton genuinely have a go.
Then the swatting aside of Stoke followed by a beautiful Wednesday in Manchester and finally rounded off by Everton outplaying the league leaders for large patches of a key game on their own pitch has us all a little animated.
So what next? Well we have a run of games where we will be expected to win and teams who will up their tempo and try to do everything they can to stop us swashbuckling their very being. But were best keeping it one game at a time.
Form comes and goes throughout the season and coupled with ill timed injuries its not as smooth sailing as the currently terrific Everton team not losing the shackles and molesting any unfortunate soul that dares to share a pitch with them.
But its a boss time to be a blue and an understated air of confidence fills most of us. You feel that too right? There´s less fretting over it and expecting it all to go horribly wrong either.
Not many teams are going to come out on top against our midfield. Our defence is holding solid with a goalkeeper behind it playing as well as he has in eight years with the club.
But its the going forward that titilates the senses. That big ace Belgian wrecking ball up front gives all sorts of different dimensions we´ve not had for a while. Behind him you have a young aggressive scouse lad pulling the strings leaving defenders in his wake like damaged gates after a skier just slalomed past them. Genuine pace and attacking threat from out wide too has always been an Evertonian thing. Its not quite Dave Thomas with his socks rolled down, Morrissey snarling past their full back or Steven and Sheedy doing all sorts – but will do for now. And it could get better.
Finishing in that top four is a huge ask and one look at the league shows how hard it will be this season – there´s so many teams in the mix and yet to hit the real sustained form that they´re capable of.
But that´s not the thing – were a wee bit different from the kopites in proclaiming of a new empire at the merest hint of dawn. Were just into boss Everton teams having a real nasty go at the opposition and few bevvies around that particular occasion with the lids as a form of preferred weekend entertainment.
And lets be honest it could all go to pot very quickly so easy as you know very well the Everton dance by now. Or maybe, just maybe, with the little bit of Flamenco we´ve been learning that the current dance has a bit more swagger.
Enjoy that Monday morning blues.