Getting off to a good start

[Chozz]

Everton Squad Information 2025/26 | Premier League

View Everton squad and player information on the official website of the Premier League.

www.premierleague.com

We have 20 senior players in our squad as per the official PL site. 20. You need to register 25, with Home Grown quotas. Most teams struggle to trim their squads. We can't even make up the numbers. For years we've been putting 2 keepers on our bench. We're only weeks away from league opener and we are dangerously short.

If we don't get at least 5 extra bodies in before deadline day, we're really gonna struggle.

 

[knowing your history]

Key is first three games.

Actually think based on second half of last season seven points is very realistic.

Brighton at home shouldn't be as bad as they loved coming up to Goodison in its last few years so new stadium for them to adapt to. Kept on getting wins and draws away to them.

Leeds first game will be tricky, would take a point but can see no reason why Wolves can't be won as their squad looks nothing special currently.

Important to get at least five points imo as the games in September are more trickier for obvious reasons. Villa a massive bogey team since 2019, RS for obvious reasons and West Ham will be a tight game that could go 1-0 either way.

 

[TheBlueBlitzer]

I'm going for 6 wins out of 6 and being well on the way to being known as the invincibles.

None of those other PL teams would have drawn with Accrington Stanley.

Have our own T. Henry in T. Barry

 

[Davideeyore]

I was so optimistic. The way we improved and finished under Moyes. Right now I'm worried. Summer window hasn't gone at all the way I expected. But it's not over yet. We wait and see.

 

[Haydn]

They seem to be getting closer to the Mosh / Dyche, bargain basement, survival method. Lose a few early games, hey ho. Buy and loan a few lastminute.com cheapo transfer remnants. Over to you Mr Moyes, work your magic.

 

[kiss the crest]

Opening league fixtures are as follows:
Leeds (a)
Brighton (h)
Wolves (a)
Villa (h)
Liverpool (a)
West Ham (h)

On paper not the worst, but then you look back at our recent campaigns and suddenly every match is tough.

Over the past three seasons, it has taken us 6 or 7 games to pick up our first league victory. Typically it's mid or late September. Completely and utterly unacceptable.

2024/25
Brighton (h) 0-3
Spurs (a) 0-4
Bournemouth (h) 2-3
Villa (a) 2-3
Leicester (a) 1-1
Palace (h) 2-1 *28 Sept*

2023/24
Fulham (h) 0-1
Villa (a) 0-4
Wolves (h) 0-1
Sheff Utd (a) 2-2
Arsenal (h) 0-1
Brentford (a) 3-1 *23 Sept*

2022/23
Chelsea (h) 0-1
Villa (a) 1-2
Forest (h) 1-1
Brentford (a) 1-1
Leeds (a) 1-1
Liverpool (h) 0-0
West Ham (h) 1-0 *18 Sept*

Sluggish starts to all of the above had us chasing mid table at best. Fingers crossed the imposing new stadium will give us a lift and hopefully we'll not be waiting so long this time...

All them starts had common themes, we were late getting new players integrated into the team

 

[hallamblue]

The gap between the haves and the have nots seems to have widened even further in this transfer window. The top teams have all spent hundreds of millions of pounds and it does make you wonder what the point of it is for the rest of the league.

 

[formerly manx toffee]

Extremely hot take here - 'getting off to a good start' is overrated (or, at the very least, overvalued).

The bulk of our points in most seasons in the modern era have been won in the second half of the season and will continue to be for the foreseeable. It's still very easy to shoot right up the table in late winter/early spring, even into European contention.

With the extreme benefit of hindsight, we've had very little to worry about over 'bad starts' to a season as we, inevitably, improve anyway..

Look for a fast start and a strong finish and maintain momentum in the middle !