20 years...

[Ashtonian]

Perhaps the problem we have is not making the decisive decisions when we need to progress.

Moyes was here for 11 years, walked from his contract and he achieved nothing while he was here. Would a better manager in 2010 for arguments sake have taken us a little bit further? Could a amanger in 2012 have turned it around and challenged further up? Would another manager have gone through last night?

what if's all around i know but we stagnate it seems backing a lame horse and as a result yet again we are out of a tournament prematurely. give martinez all the time in the world but are we going to go another 11 years and get nowhere? He is after all Mr relegation battle based on ALL of his premier league experience.

but yeah, perhaps we wouldnt have been waiting 20 years for a trophy if we had made stronger and tougher decisions when it seemed like we need to have one.

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

LOL, they weren't amazing. We were crap.

You're looking at it through our own narrative as opposed to theirs

In their narrative, they went to Goodison, where everyone expected them to lose, and got an incredible result

They then got the easiest SF draw in Millwall and played incredible against City to win the cup

 

[Allezfan]

I'm torn about sacking Moyes earlier.

On the one hand I wanted him gone at the time and certainly reading, liverpool and wigan were all games where the fa cup was there to be won and moyes threw it away. Those were winnable cups that another manager could have won.

Otoh though. He produced his best team in that last year and a half. I remember thinking last year that we were fortunate that he left when he did, because it meant that we got martinez and it meant martinez got a talented team rather than some of the crap he coudl have inherited.

We did very well last year and it seemed to prove that moyes leaving then worked well for us.

But then there's this year which makes me doubt some of that a bit, exactly how good this squad is, exactly how good moyes replacement is, you know.

Maybe we would have trophys if he'd have left after that fa cup final and let someone else rebuild the team instead.

In any case given martinez 2 and half to 3 years isn't the same as given Moyes 11. Noone is suggesting we'd put up with another 10 years like this.

 

[marty mcfly]

For a club of our standing it's a LONG time without a trophy now. Anyone belonging to my generation would do well to remember us lifting any silverware, the worst part is that you'd have to be an optimist to see that changing any time soon.

I feel like a huge problem is the mentality of the players. Far too many have bought into this idea of mediocrity at our club. You look at the lack of real talent in that '95 cup winning squad but there was probably still a belief that Everton was a club that should be challenging for and winning honours regardless. For me that's gone now and I don't envy Martinez's in trying to bring it back.

Hopefully next season we take the League Cup seriously as that has to be our best chance. I thought it was criminal this year when that competition was basically wrote off before a ball was kicked. It'll be disputed by many but I'd rather see us lift that trophy than finish 4th.

I didn't mind this year due to the fact that we where also playing in Europe which was a far bigger prize.

But next year I would almost make it the priority. The league will be a boring mid-table season, we aren't in Europe and the FA Cup is far harder to win.

You can win the League Cup with only one or two good wins against better opponents.

 

[Allezfan]

I didn't mind this year due to the fact that we where also playing in Europe which was a far bigger prize.

But next year I would almost make it the priority. The league will be a boring mid-table season, we aren't in Europe and the FA Cup is far harder to win.

You can win the League Cup with only one or two good wins against better opponents.

We need to. We never have, though.

I can't see us doing so next year, tbh.

 

[marty mcfly]

We need to. We never have, though.

I can't see us doing do next year, tbh.

Unfortunately football is run like a business from a financial perspective the risk reward ratio isn't good.

However fans want to win trophies.

 

[marty mcfly]

Its not even IMO. Its figuring out bargains and how to do something with little money. People saying Martinez is the same then him spending 28mil on Lukaku...i mean, we could have gotten Dzeko/Hazard/Cech/etc for that money...

I would have Rom over Dzeko and Cech.

Plus how many of those players want or would go to Everton. We have to pay over the odds for top tier talent the same way as Hull or Sunderland have to pay over the odds for the likes of Lennon or Johnson.

 

[marty mcfly]

Look, the only way we'll win something is if we have some luck

Some sides, Chelsea's, Man City's, Arsenal's, United's etc, get to finals and win trophies because they have overall strong sides. Most of the time, they'll hoover up the trophies

Sometimes a Swansea, Wigan or Birmingham will win a trophy, but to do that they'll need a good draw or an amazing result or two

Sadly, we're in the latter category due to our financial situation (And yes our current owners shoulder a large part of the blame for that)

Henceforth, though the fact we haven't won a cup is desperately depressing, it does make sense

Things will stay this way until we get the new stadium and attract a new owner whose willing and able to put enough money into the club to put us in the former category. Who knows how long that will take though?

If this current new stadium plan falls to pieces, I worry for us, I really do

Spurs and Liverpool have won cups in that time. The only team worse than us around our level is Newcastle.

 

[toffee matt]

We don't win cups because we don't bother with them. Moyes and Martinez have both put league before cups.

If we'd taken the league cup seriously instead of using it as a glorified training session, we could be sitting here with a couple more trophies

 

[blue_aussie05]

I know a lot of you thought the Europa was very winnable this season, after beating the current favourites home and away in the group stage.

I wasn't particularly convinced we would win it, but was more than willing to be proved wrong. Regardless of how differently our form was in the Europa League compared to the Premier League, I just thought we always had a performance like last night waiting in the locker.

 

[dannyboy]

We don't win cups because we don't bother with them. Moyes and Martinez have both put league before cups.

If we'd taken the league cup seriously instead of using it as a glorified training session, we could be sitting here with a couple more trophies

Think Moyes prioritised the cups in the second half of his reign. Really unlucky in that '09 year.