Big Dunc testimonial - EFC vs Villareal at Goodison, Sun Aug 2nd

Status
Not open for further replies.
Thoughts from today, fantastic atmosphere and occasion.
Football was absolute [Poor language removed], sideways pass, one pace, predictable, shades of the start of last season , Mirallas the exception.
Might not be a popular opinion,, but Rooney is just different class to anything we have. Absolutely loved seeing him back in blue.
Duncan most certainly is an everton legend, and I'd take him for 10 minutes every match as he is rather than Kone who is utter gash.

I counted 4 Villareal fans who turned up, Kudos to the one player at the end who acknowledged them, went over, and gave one of the his shirt, was classy that.
I agree. Said all this yesterday.

I'd take him back if he was still good enough and willing. For me, life's too short to hold grudges for 10 years. 5 maybe, but 10's too long. Water under the bridge now.

He was an ill- advised kid at the time, I suppose. The anger should probably be directed at Paul Stretford (clue's in the surname).
 
Even at the time he was sold on the cheap. We were told by our beloved chairman after Euro 2004 that he was worth £50m. It still rankles that he was sold for only £10m upfront and the rest paid in dribs and drabs. They couldn't wait to see the cash.

Exactly this. I love Everton, but I would always want what was best for the club, not to own her and see the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City consider us easy pickings. Shame on Kenwright and the board for creating the illusion that we are plucky mid table no hopers.
Breaks my heart, especially seeing Rooney showing us again what might and indeed should have been.
 
I think we have rather made a mess of the last week or so of pre season. It was unclear which was the final game of pre season to give our strongest 14 a full 90 minutes. It is very frustrating, as aside from losing to a red hot in form Arsenal we have won almost every game so far in pre season.

The choice of opposition for the final week was flawed though. Leeds was poor opposition really, much too weak to justify sending the first team too and too strong for our under 21's. Villareal likewise a bit strong for a testimonial game with 43 year olds playing in.

Villareal should have been the final test of the season for our strongest 14, having all had a few days rest to get them season ready. I think Fergusans testimonial should have been midweek. I'd have invited someone like Rangers down, it would have guaranteed a big crowd, and it would have allowed us to play the kids, the Rooney's of this world and a couple of other older players like even Stubbs/Unsworth.

Alternatively we could have done something more ambitious, like tried to do a 20 years anniversary of the Cup Final, getting the two squads back together as much as possible with the occasional youth player to make up the numbers. Hard to do, extremely cringey but in all likelihood effective in not allowing our first team squad to be distracted and still getting a big gate. It is the sort of thing Liverpool do very well and something we can learn from.

Either way one of the games this weekend should have seen close to our starting 11 and 3 ideal subs playing 90 minutes together and we haven't done that. That is reflected in the score lines for both games. I think the attempt to use a testimonial game as the final one for our season will have backfired. At a push I'd have used the Leeds Game to play our first team, hammered them for some confidence and told Villareal to play an under strength team.

The point I'm trying to make though, is due to poor planning it is very difficult to judge that performance or get frustrated by it. I am not losing any sleep.
 

That was pretty coool. Why can't Lukaku win those headers?
I stayed up at midnight here to watch the match. All excited to see Dunc and Wayne one last time grace our great arena.
How exciting were the last 15 minutes when they came on.
Concerningly, how predictably miserable was it for 75 minutes.
Very concerning.
 

According to Martinez we have identified the players we need and we are going to use the whole of the window to get them, so no, not panic buying but buying what we need
Genuine serious question mate. How much of what Bobby says he needs do you think we'll get in the next 30 days and how long do you reckon it'll take for them to settle in?

Not being proactive cos It is what it is regarding not having the cash to buy earlier in the summer but what d'ye reckon?
 
Genuine serious question mate. How much of what Bobby says he needs do you think we'll get in the next 30 days and how long do you reckon it'll take for them to settle in?

Not being proactive cos It is what it is regarding not having the cash to buy earlier in the summer but what d'ye reckon?

I reckon he will get a centre half. Maybe a young forward on loan. It won't matter how long they take to settle in as they won't be first choice players. I don't think he has enough money to bring in a creative midfielder without selling John Stones.
 
I reckon he will get a centre half. Maybe a young forward on loan. It won't matter how long they take to settle in as they won't be first choice players. I don't think he has enough money to bring in a creative midfielder without selling John Stones.

Yeah think the same as you. I think we'll end up with someone like van dijk from Celtic. We'll fail to get a 'number 10' and we'll maybe get an unheard of young Spanish striker who will be a huge gamble and he won't shift any of the dead wood cos he can't afford to make a loss on. Players like Kone. But we'll hang on to Stones for another season.
 

Status
Not open for further replies.
Top