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Good post. The end of this season is about finishing as strongly as we can in the league and going all out for the Europa.

I think there's a lot of things Martinez will learn from this year. He's still a very, very young inexperienced manager and yet he's shown a lot of potential. I think another summer to make changes and bring in some more of his own players will help a lot.

Pressure's on next year like. This isn't a job where you're afforded years of mid-table finishes to build your squad. Good players will leave if we're struggling in the league and we won't have much money to replace them with. We need to be top half at all times next season. This squad is very strong and while one bad year is acceptable and can be written off as second season syndrome, I'll be concerned if the same problems persist next season.

Looking at this season again, I think we've got a good chance in the EL as I don't think we've seen the best of 2014/15 Everton yet. I think that now we have the defence looking strong, if we can sort out the final third, we're a hell of a team that's well capable of beating any of the sides left in there. If we get to the last 16, given the EL's our last shot at success this season, the atmospheres will be pretty special at Goodison.
 
We've been really really unlucky as well this season with well ALOT of terrible refing. man City should of had 2 players off at the Etihad, also wasn't a pen. Stoke should of had a man sent off at Goodison. Ibramwhats his name should have gone last night. Costa should have gone off at Goodison. 11 mistakes 11 goals hasn't helped this season.

The confidence defiantly went as the results didn't come in. Tie that with key players getting injured and lack of investment in defence. Rom missed a few sitters he would have buried last season.

Hopefully we will beat Leicester and draw at Arsenal then go on a good run. Man U and Southampton at home rest SHOULD be winnable games
 
I'm beginning to think that whoever manages Everton we are just not destined for success. We're just not a lucky side, no two ways about it. In the last two games alone we've seen keepers pull of two breathtaking saves to deny us what could have potentially been two wins. Against Chelsea not one but two deflections from hopeful punts outside of the box flew in. I mean come on that's just ridiculous. At the same time you watch Lloris one of the best keepers in the league dive over a pea roller to allow Liverpool to score the other night. I don't know what it is but there's some dark cloud holding Everton back always tripping them up whenever they get close to the finish line. It was there under Moyes and it there again under Martinez no matter how well or badly we're playing. Everyone keeps saying last season was great, but no derby wins (again cruelly denied by absurd keeping and Liverpool scoring from three shots), no trophies, no top 4 (although again we posted a total that will probably be higher than whoever is fourth this season), no big away wins (the candy shop of Moyes' Old Trafford hardly counts). How then was it any different to any other season of the past 20 years? Whether we're battling relegation or chasing Europe the outcomes are fairly much the same. Every season ends with premier league status assured give or take a few mill for league placing, and if its been a 'really good' season we might have entry to the second tier European competition which we'll inevitably bow out of because we can't win anything. We are allergic to success. No flukey cup wins, no wins at Anfield, Stamford Bridge, Higbury/Emirates, Old Trafford (aside from Moyes United), you can count on one hand the wins over Liverpool and also the league cup runs in the last 20 years, no champions league qualification (again ill fated when we did make it), one cup final performance (again our entire spine was injured and we were against possibly the best side in Europe fully fit of course and it still needed a Lampard wonder goal).

Why does it keep happening? Why when we get to the final of a cup its not Cardiff, West Ham, Birmingham like it is for the RS or Hull like it was for Arsenal? Why do we meet Fiorentina with their keeper on fire and all their players experts at penalties but a jarg Rangers meet them in the next round and beat them on penalties with all Firoentina's players looking hopeless, they then go on to the final against Zenit, two sides we could have easily beaten. Why did Distin have to make the only two fatal backpasses of his Everton career in the cup semi final when we had weathered the RS storm, and against Lisbon when we were cruising.

It's just frustrating. I love Everton as much as anyone else but can you honestly say to me that I won't be watching for another 20 years with absolutely zero success? I can take not winning a trophy, i really can, but I can't take the fact that we still can't spawn out one flukey win over a top side on their own patch at least once in all that time! No one has any confidence that we'll beat any of those sides home or away next season either. How long exactly is it going to be before we win a derby? Its already been 5 years, 5 YEARS, I had to pay 50 quid to watch us lose 4-0 at Anfield as well as suffering the pain of a Gerrard Hat trick and Everton haven't beaten Liverpool in 5 years! Its absolutely ridiculous. There's so many embarrassing days every single season and often not even one good one. Just one good one. Is that too much to ask? One penalty shoot out win, one jammy win over the RS, god even a trophy win. Is that really to much to ask of a side ever present in the premier league and often in the top 6?

What else is the point of watching? We have become cannon fodder for sky's super six teams so that every week a load of ex RS pundits can guffaw and laugh about us as we're being 'taught a lesson' by one of the top sides i.e. we deserved something out the game but the ref swung it in their favour. Even going to the match, you get ripped off on the ticket prices, the ref is usually bent, you have some muppet in charge of the team who is either playing Rodwell on the ring or 4 defensive midfielders and four number 10s as he drops his best keeper and keeps an ever present 34 year old, and we never ever win a single game of note. What is the actual point? (As you can tell, last night hacked me off a tiny bit.....)

Get someone through the door, I dont care who it is, who can just smash down some of these ridiculous invisible barriers. A torrid side like Aston Villa can win at Anfield season after season but an Everton manager can't get an Everton side to beat Liverpool even once at Goodison park over 5 seasons? Sort it out, just get someone in who will sort that out, and can that same person be someone who just wins penalty shootouts? Who values the league cup? Who can beat even just one top side away from home just once even if its is totally underserved? Who is lucky. We've had two of the most genuine nice guys in football managing us but neither of them are lucky. Martinez was at Wigan but that seems to have gone as the Everton curse has got him. Liverpool meanwhile hire odious cretin after odious cretin and each one has a magical derby record, flukes trophies, and seems to get ridiculous luck in big games. I just want someone in charge who will turn Everton into a normal football side, one that wins and loses, has successes and failures, good days and bad. I'm not expecting league titles and champions league, just a tiny bit of hope to keep going the game in the knowledge it might be our day, it might be our tournament, it might be our year. At the moment it never is, we don't get a year, we don't get a tournament, we don't get one single day at the moment. It's just a never ending bad dream, almost nearly there but never quite, that has been happening for the past 15 years.
 
I'm beginning to think that whoever manages Everton we are just not destined for success. We're just not a lucky side, no two ways about it. In the last two games alone we've seen keepers pull of two breathtaking saves to deny us what could have potentially been two wins. Against Chelsea not one but two deflections from hopeful punts outside of the box flew in. I mean come on that's just ridiculous. At the same time you watch Lloris one of the best keepers in the league dive over a pea roller to allow Liverpool to score the other night. I don't know what it is but there's some dark cloud holding Everton back always tripping them up whenever they get close to the finish line. It was there under Moyes and it there again under Martinez no matter how well or badly we're playing. Everyone keeps saying last season was great, but no derby wins (again cruelly denied by absurd keeping and Liverpool scoring from three shots), no trophies, no top 4 (although again we posted a total that will probably be higher than whoever is fourth this season), no big away wins (the candy shop of Moyes' Old Trafford hardly counts). How then was it any different to any other season of the past 20 years? Whether we're battling relegation or chasing Europe the outcomes are fairly much the same. Every season ends with premier league status assured give or take a few mill for league placing, and if its been a 'really good' season we might have entry to the second tier European competition which we'll inevitably bow out of because we can't win anything. We are allergic to success. No flukey cup wins, no wins at Anfield, Stamford Bridge, Higbury/Emirates, Old Trafford (aside from Moyes United), you can count on one hand the wins over Liverpool and also the league cup runs in the last 20 years, no champions league qualification (again ill fated when we did make it), one cup final performance (again our entire spine was injured and we were against possibly the best side in Europe fully fit of course and it still needed a Lampard wonder goal).

Why does it keep happening? Why when we get to the final of a cup its not Cardiff, West Ham, Birmingham like it is for the RS or Hull like it was for Arsenal? Why do we meet Fiorentina with their keeper on fire and all their players experts at penalties but a jarg Rangers meet them in the next round and beat them on penalties with all Firoentina's players looking hopeless, they then go on to the final against Zenit, two sides we could have easily beaten. Why did Distin have to make the only two fatal backpasses of his Everton career in the cup semi final when we had weathered the RS storm, and against Lisbon when we were cruising.

It's just frustrating. I love Everton as much as anyone else but can you honestly say to me that I won't be watching for another 20 years with absolutely zero success? I can take not winning a trophy, i really can, but I can't take the fact that we still can't spawn out one flukey win over a top side on their own patch at least once in all that time! No one has any confidence that we'll beat any of those sides home or away next season either. How long exactly is it going to be before we win a derby? Its already been 5 years, 5 YEARS, I had to pay 50 quid to watch us lose 4-0 at Anfield as well as suffering the pain of a Gerrard Hat trick and Everton haven't beaten Liverpool in 5 years! Its absolutely ridiculous. There's so many embarrassing days every single season and often not even one good one. Just one good one. Is that too much to ask? One penalty shoot out win, one jammy win over the RS, god even a trophy win. Is that really to much to ask of a side ever present in the premier league and often in the top 6?

What else is the point of watching? We have become cannon fodder for sky's super six teams so that every week a load of ex RS pundits can guffaw and laugh about us as we're being 'taught a lesson' by one of the top sides i.e. we deserved something out the game but the ref swung it in their favour. Even going to the match, you get ripped off on the ticket prices, the ref is usually bent, you have some muppet in charge of the team who is either playing Rodwell on the ring or 4 defensive midfielders and four number 10s as he drops his best keeper and keeps an ever present 34 year old, and we never ever win a single game of note. What is the actual point? (As you can tell, last night hacked me off a tiny bit.....)

Get someone through the door, I dont care who it is, who can just smash down some of these ridiculous invisible barriers. A torrid side like Aston Villa can win at Anfield season after season but an Everton manager can't get an Everton side to beat Liverpool even once at Goodison park over 5 seasons? Sort it out, just get someone in who will sort that out, and can that same person be someone who just wins penalty shootouts? Who values the league cup? Who can beat even just one top side away from home just once even if its is totally underserved? Who is lucky. We've had two of the most genuine nice guys in football managing us but neither of them are lucky. Martinez was at Wigan but that seems to have gone as the Everton curse has got him. Liverpool meanwhile hire odious cretin after odious cretin and each one has a magical derby record, flukes trophies, and seems to get ridiculous luck in big games. I just want someone in charge who will turn Everton into a normal football side, one that wins and loses, has successes and failures, good days and bad. I'm not expecting league titles and champions league, just a tiny bit of hope to keep going the game in the knowledge it might be our day, it might be our tournament, it might be our year. At the moment it never is, we don't get a year, we don't get a tournament, we don't get one single day at the moment. It's just a never ending bad dream, almost nearly there but never quite, that has been happening for the past 15 years.
Pass me a Kleenex. The life of an Evertonian :(
 

I'm beginning to think that whoever manages Everton we are just not destined for success. We're just not a lucky side, no two ways about it. In the last two games alone we've seen keepers pull of two breathtaking saves to deny us what could have potentially been two wins. Against Chelsea not one but two deflections from hopeful punts outside of the box flew in. I mean come on that's just ridiculous. At the same time you watch Lloris one of the best keepers in the league dive over a pea roller to allow Liverpool to score the other night. I don't know what it is but there's some dark cloud holding Everton back always tripping them up whenever they get close to the finish line. It was there under Moyes and it there again under Martinez no matter how well or badly we're playing. Everyone keeps saying last season was great, but no derby wins (again cruelly denied by absurd keeping and Liverpool scoring from three shots), no trophies, no top 4 (although again we posted a total that will probably be higher than whoever is fourth this season), no big away wins (the candy shop of Moyes' Old Trafford hardly counts). How then was it any different to any other season of the past 20 years? Whether we're battling relegation or chasing Europe the outcomes are fairly much the same. Every season ends with premier league status assured give or take a few mill for league placing, and if its been a 'really good' season we might have entry to the second tier European competition which we'll inevitably bow out of because we can't win anything. We are allergic to success. No flukey cup wins, no wins at Anfield, Stamford Bridge, Higbury/Emirates, Old Trafford (aside from Moyes United), you can count on one hand the wins over Liverpool and also the league cup runs in the last 20 years, no champions league qualification (again ill fated when we did make it), one cup final performance (again our entire spine was injured and we were against possibly the best side in Europe fully fit of course and it still needed a Lampard wonder goal).

Why does it keep happening? Why when we get to the final of a cup its not Cardiff, West Ham, Birmingham like it is for the RS or Hull like it was for Arsenal? Why do we meet Fiorentina with their keeper on fire and all their players experts at penalties but a jarg Rangers meet them in the next round and beat them on penalties with all Firoentina's players looking hopeless, they then go on to the final against Zenit, two sides we could have easily beaten. Why did Distin have to make the only two fatal backpasses of his Everton career in the cup semi final when we had weathered the RS storm, and against Lisbon when we were cruising.

It's just frustrating. I love Everton as much as anyone else but can you honestly say to me that I won't be watching for another 20 years with absolutely zero success? I can take not winning a trophy, i really can, but I can't take the fact that we still can't spawn out one flukey win over a top side on their own patch at least once in all that time! No one has any confidence that we'll beat any of those sides home or away next season either. How long exactly is it going to be before we win a derby? Its already been 5 years, 5 YEARS, I had to pay 50 quid to watch us lose 4-0 at Anfield as well as suffering the pain of a Gerrard Hat trick and Everton haven't beaten Liverpool in 5 years! Its absolutely ridiculous. There's so many embarrassing days every single season and often not even one good one. Just one good one. Is that too much to ask? One penalty shoot out win, one jammy win over the RS, god even a trophy win. Is that really to much to ask of a side ever present in the premier league and often in the top 6?

What else is the point of watching? We have become cannon fodder for sky's super six teams so that every week a load of ex RS pundits can guffaw and laugh about us as we're being 'taught a lesson' by one of the top sides i.e. we deserved something out the game but the ref swung it in their favour. Even going to the match, you get ripped off on the ticket prices, the ref is usually bent, you have some muppet in charge of the team who is either playing Rodwell on the ring or 4 defensive midfielders and four number 10s as he drops his best keeper and keeps an ever present 34 year old, and we never ever win a single game of note. What is the actual point? (As you can tell, last night hacked me off a tiny bit.....)

Get someone through the door, I dont care who it is, who can just smash down some of these ridiculous invisible barriers. A torrid side like Aston Villa can win at Anfield season after season but an Everton manager can't get an Everton side to beat Liverpool even once at Goodison park over 5 seasons? Sort it out, just get someone in who will sort that out, and can that same person be someone who just wins penalty shootouts? Who values the league cup? Who can beat even just one top side away from home just once even if its is totally underserved? Who is lucky. We've had two of the most genuine nice guys in football managing us but neither of them are lucky. Martinez was at Wigan but that seems to have gone as the Everton curse has got him. Liverpool meanwhile hire odious cretin after odious cretin and each one has a magical derby record, flukes trophies, and seems to get ridiculous luck in big games. I just want someone in charge who will turn Everton into a normal football side, one that wins and loses, has successes and failures, good days and bad. I'm not expecting league titles and champions league, just a tiny bit of hope to keep going the game in the knowledge it might be our day, it might be our tournament, it might be our year. At the moment it never is, we don't get a year, we don't get a tournament, we don't get one single day at the moment. It's just a never ending bad dream, almost nearly there but never quite, that has been happening for the past 15 years.

That's is totally spot on, We are the Andy Murray of football, Every final he reaches is against either Djork,Nadal or Fed. An they always beat him, we are no different. We are the team destined to be no where. We finished 5/6/7 an every time you think this time we can get 4th a Man City get brought and beats us to 4th. Take this season. Man U are crap, RS are crap and 4th is wide open yet we have completely forgotten how to win a game. How many times have we been the better team again RS and lost. Prime example Gerrard and Kuyt were sent of in derby and we still lost them both.

One final thing that seems to happen is Bob Smith who hasn't scored for 79 games come to Goodison and smacks in a 50 yard screamer. Or Palace have lost there last 4 games 4-0 they play us and beat us. We seem to be the team that breaks every other teams hoodoo.
 
I'm beginning to think that whoever manages Everton we are just not destined for success. We're just not a lucky side, no two ways about it. In the last two games alone we've seen keepers pull of two breathtaking saves to deny us what could have potentially been two wins. Against Chelsea not one but two deflections from hopeful punts outside of the box flew in. I mean come on that's just ridiculous. At the same time you watch Lloris one of the best keepers in the league dive over a pea roller to allow Liverpool to score the other night. I don't know what it is but there's some dark cloud holding Everton back always tripping them up whenever they get close to the finish line. It was there under Moyes and it there again under Martinez no matter how well or badly we're playing. Everyone keeps saying last season was great, but no derby wins (again cruelly denied by absurd keeping and Liverpool scoring from three shots), no trophies, no top 4 (although again we posted a total that will probably be higher than whoever is fourth this season), no big away wins (the candy shop of Moyes' Old Trafford hardly counts). How then was it any different to any other season of the past 20 years? Whether we're battling relegation or chasing Europe the outcomes are fairly much the same. Every season ends with premier league status assured give or take a few mill for league placing, and if its been a 'really good' season we might have entry to the second tier European competition which we'll inevitably bow out of because we can't win anything. We are allergic to success. No flukey cup wins, no wins at Anfield, Stamford Bridge, Higbury/Emirates, Old Trafford (aside from Moyes United), you can count on one hand the wins over Liverpool and also the league cup runs in the last 20 years, no champions league qualification (again ill fated when we did make it), one cup final performance (again our entire spine was injured and we were against possibly the best side in Europe fully fit of course and it still needed a Lampard wonder goal).

Why does it keep happening? Why when we get to the final of a cup its not Cardiff, West Ham, Birmingham like it is for the RS or Hull like it was for Arsenal? Why do we meet Fiorentina with their keeper on fire and all their players experts at penalties but a jarg Rangers meet them in the next round and beat them on penalties with all Firoentina's players looking hopeless, they then go on to the final against Zenit, two sides we could have easily beaten. Why did Distin have to make the only two fatal backpasses of his Everton career in the cup semi final when we had weathered the RS storm, and against Lisbon when we were cruising.

It's just frustrating. I love Everton as much as anyone else but can you honestly say to me that I won't be watching for another 20 years with absolutely zero success? I can take not winning a trophy, i really can, but I can't take the fact that we still can't spawn out one flukey win over a top side on their own patch at least once in all that time! No one has any confidence that we'll beat any of those sides home or away next season either. How long exactly is it going to be before we win a derby? Its already been 5 years, 5 YEARS, I had to pay 50 quid to watch us lose 4-0 at Anfield as well as suffering the pain of a Gerrard Hat trick and Everton haven't beaten Liverpool in 5 years! Its absolutely ridiculous. There's so many embarrassing days every single season and often not even one good one. Just one good one. Is that too much to ask? One penalty shoot out win, one jammy win over the RS, god even a trophy win. Is that really to much to ask of a side ever present in the premier league and often in the top 6?

What else is the point of watching? We have become cannon fodder for sky's super six teams so that every week a load of ex RS pundits can guffaw and laugh about us as we're being 'taught a lesson' by one of the top sides i.e. we deserved something out the game but the ref swung it in their favour. Even going to the match, you get ripped off on the ticket prices, the ref is usually bent, you have some muppet in charge of the team who is either playing Rodwell on the ring or 4 defensive midfielders and four number 10s as he drops his best keeper and keeps an ever present 34 year old, and we never ever win a single game of note. What is the actual point? (As you can tell, last night hacked me off a tiny bit.....)

Get someone through the door, I dont care who it is, who can just smash down some of these ridiculous invisible barriers. A torrid side like Aston Villa can win at Anfield season after season but an Everton manager can't get an Everton side to beat Liverpool even once at Goodison park over 5 seasons? Sort it out, just get someone in who will sort that out, and can that same person be someone who just wins penalty shootouts? Who values the league cup? Who can beat even just one top side away from home just once even if its is totally underserved? Who is lucky. We've had two of the most genuine nice guys in football managing us but neither of them are lucky. Martinez was at Wigan but that seems to have gone as the Everton curse has got him. Liverpool meanwhile hire odious cretin after odious cretin and each one has a magical derby record, flukes trophies, and seems to get ridiculous luck in big games. I just want someone in charge who will turn Everton into a normal football side, one that wins and loses, has successes and failures, good days and bad. I'm not expecting league titles and champions league, just a tiny bit of hope to keep going the game in the knowledge it might be our day, it might be our tournament, it might be our year. At the moment it never is, we don't get a year, we don't get a tournament, we don't get one single day at the moment. It's just a never ending bad dream, almost nearly there but never quite, that has been happening for the past 15 years.

lol Nice self pitying post that I agree almost entirely with!

I feel exactly the same. We just never seem to have any luck that a lot of other clubs get. I know we're not as bad a some. The North East clubs for example, particularly Sunderland, have had it pretty bad for years, but i'd just love us to be able to pull off a win, just occasionally against a side we're not "entitled" to beat in this modern era. Why couldn't Lukaku's effort have gone in last night, but theirs did?

I think a lot of it comes down to the players lacking that winning ingredient though. We are always a nearly team. We went to the Emirates last season and played them off the park for the first 40 mins, but not one player had it in them to put it in the back of the net. We always seem to narrowly miss chances as well where you know that because we missed it, we weren't going to go on and win.
 
lol Nice self pitying post that I agree almost entirely with!

I feel exactly the same. We just never seem to have any luck that a lot of other clubs get. I know we're not as bad a some. The North East clubs for example, particularly Sunderland, have had it pretty bad for years, but i'd just love us to be able to pull off a win, just occasionally against a side we're not "entitled" to beat in this modern era. Why couldn't Lukaku's effort have gone in last night, but theirs did?

I think a lot of it comes down to the players lacking that winning ingredient though. We are always a nearly team. We went to the Emirates last season and played them off the park for the first 40 mins, but not one player had it in them to put it in the back of the net. We always seem to narrowly miss chances as well where you know that because we missed it, we weren't going to go on and win.
At least Sunderland though, as shambolic as they are have won three derbies in a row at St James' one of them being three nil. Can you imagine us doing that to Liverpool? No but could easily happen for them any season at Goodison even when we've finished close to them in the league. Sunderland have also ended Mourinho's home record got to a league cup final, and seen Newcastle relegated. Newcastle you could say are similar to us but they are so rubbish they never raise expectations.
 
I've been watching/supporting Everton for forty years. Apart from the mid 80's and the cup win we've won nowt. We're the nearly club who reach semi- finals and finals without winning. We reach 7th. 6 th. and 5th. We've had one great side, some good sides and some dross. The same goes for the managers.
We have a manager who we know can get a side playing good football.He's made mistakes but hasn't every manager. We might still win a cup this year.
What are the alternatives ? We get rid of him at the end of the season and get who ? A middle ranking English manager ; a foreign manager ; someone from the Championship ?
What happens when results and expectations are not fulfilled, as invariably happens. Do we get rid of him ?
Let Martinez have a full summer without distractions and then see how next season pans out.
If you know your history, you know we haven't been a successful club for over 40 years so I think we should let the man finish the season, take stock and make the necessary changes, and come out fighting next season.
I await your vitriol with amused anticipation.

Agree with all that..

We'd have beaten 15/20 premier league teams last night playing like that!

Its frustrating to lose but there's obviously been issues. The defence is ten times better than it was. We have very good defenders, the goalies at the end of the day aren't too bad either. We'll get better. Its second season syndrome..

Roll on next year!
 

At least Sunderland though, as shambolic as they are have won three derbies in a row at St James' one of them being three nil. Can you imagine us doing that to Liverpool? No but could easily happen for them any season at Goodison even when we've finished close to them in the league. Sunderland have also ended Mourinho's home record got to a league cup final, and seen Newcastle relegated. Newcastle you could say are similar to us but they are so rubbish they never raise expectations.

Sunderland have been through a lot more low points than us though. Didn't they have 2 record lowest points totals in PL history? Think Derby were the other one.

I also think that apart from a few teams, the vast majority of the league share an equally absymal record against the top sides away from home at places like Chelsea, Arsenal and Man United. Most clubs will have 20+ years of not having wins there. Some a lot longer.
 
Sums up our frustartions completely. Whyaren't we the sort of team that wins all its trophies on penalties?

I think the only way to break the curse is now to go foreign. Someone with an aggressive personality brimming with self-confidence, someone who knows f all about our nearly men past.

One odd sentence in the opening post though -- 'not been a successful club for over 40 years'. Back to school for the poster I think.
 
I'm beginning to think that whoever manages Everton we are just not destined for success. We're just not a lucky side, no two ways about it. In the last two games alone we've seen keepers pull of two breathtaking saves to deny us what could have potentially been two wins. Against Chelsea not one but two deflections from hopeful punts outside of the box flew in. I mean come on that's just ridiculous. At the same time you watch Lloris one of the best keepers in the league dive over a pea roller to allow Liverpool to score the other night. I don't know what it is but there's some dark cloud holding Everton back always tripping them up whenever they get close to the finish line. It was there under Moyes and it there again under Martinez no matter how well or badly we're playing. Everyone keeps saying last season was great, but no derby wins (again cruelly denied by absurd keeping and Liverpool scoring from three shots), no trophies, no top 4 (although again we posted a total that will probably be higher than whoever is fourth this season), no big away wins (the candy shop of Moyes' Old Trafford hardly counts). How then was it any different to any other season of the past 20 years? Whether we're battling relegation or chasing Europe the outcomes are fairly much the same. Every season ends with premier league status assured give or take a few mill for league placing, and if its been a 'really good' season we might have entry to the second tier European competition which we'll inevitably bow out of because we can't win anything. We are allergic to success. No flukey cup wins, no wins at Anfield, Stamford Bridge, Higbury/Emirates, Old Trafford (aside from Moyes United), you can count on one hand the wins over Liverpool and also the league cup runs in the last 20 years, no champions league qualification (again ill fated when we did make it), one cup final performance (again our entire spine was injured and we were against possibly the best side in Europe fully fit of course and it still needed a Lampard wonder goal).

Why does it keep happening? Why when we get to the final of a cup its not Cardiff, West Ham, Birmingham like it is for the RS or Hull like it was for Arsenal? Why do we meet Fiorentina with their keeper on fire and all their players experts at penalties but a jarg Rangers meet them in the next round and beat them on penalties with all Firoentina's players looking hopeless, they then go on to the final against Zenit, two sides we could have easily beaten. Why did Distin have to make the only two fatal backpasses of his Everton career in the cup semi final when we had weathered the RS storm, and against Lisbon when we were cruising.

It's just frustrating. I love Everton as much as anyone else but can you honestly say to me that I won't be watching for another 20 years with absolutely zero success? I can take not winning a trophy, i really can, but I can't take the fact that we still can't spawn out one flukey win over a top side on their own patch at least once in all that time! No one has any confidence that we'll beat any of those sides home or away next season either. How long exactly is it going to be before we win a derby? Its already been 5 years, 5 YEARS, I had to pay 50 quid to watch us lose 4-0 at Anfield as well as suffering the pain of a Gerrard Hat trick and Everton haven't beaten Liverpool in 5 years! Its absolutely ridiculous. There's so many embarrassing days every single season and often not even one good one. Just one good one. Is that too much to ask? One penalty shoot out win, one jammy win over the RS, god even a trophy win. Is that really to much to ask of a side ever present in the premier league and often in the top 6?

What else is the point of watching? We have become cannon fodder for sky's super six teams so that every week a load of ex RS pundits can guffaw and laugh about us as we're being 'taught a lesson' by one of the top sides i.e. we deserved something out the game but the ref swung it in their favour. Even going to the match, you get ripped off on the ticket prices, the ref is usually bent, you have some muppet in charge of the team who is either playing Rodwell on the ring or 4 defensive midfielders and four number 10s as he drops his best keeper and keeps an ever present 34 year old, and we never ever win a single game of note. What is the actual point? (As you can tell, last night hacked me off a tiny bit.....)

Get someone through the door, I dont care who it is, who can just smash down some of these ridiculous invisible barriers. A torrid side like Aston Villa can win at Anfield season after season but an Everton manager can't get an Everton side to beat Liverpool even once at Goodison park over 5 seasons? Sort it out, just get someone in who will sort that out, and can that same person be someone who just wins penalty shootouts? Who values the league cup? Who can beat even just one top side away from home just once even if its is totally underserved? Who is lucky. We've had two of the most genuine nice guys in football managing us but neither of them are lucky. Martinez was at Wigan but that seems to have gone as the Everton curse has got him. Liverpool meanwhile hire odious cretin after odious cretin and each one has a magical derby record, flukes trophies, and seems to get ridiculous luck in big games. I just want someone in charge who will turn Everton into a normal football side, one that wins and loses, has successes and failures, good days and bad. I'm not expecting league titles and champions league, just a tiny bit of hope to keep going the game in the knowledge it might be our day, it might be our tournament, it might be our year. At the moment it never is, we don't get a year, we don't get a tournament, we don't get one single day at the moment. It's just a never ending bad dream, almost nearly there but never quite, that has been happening for the past 15 years.

Well I can truly say without doubt that is the best thing I have read on this site and that's not saying I haven't read great things -I do eveveryday. But that hit home. It deserves a thread of its own. Mods?
 

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