Think back to when we came 5th under Martinez in what was a pretty weak league. We had a keeper in far better form than Pickford is now. We arguably had the best full back pairing in the premiership who had both been in PFA team of the year. We had Jagielka Distin and Stones as centreback options. All three with pace, power, and height. In midfield we had Barry who didn’t have much pace but was technically excellent and sat deep, and in front of him we had McCarthy and Barkley two physical, fast, midfielders both with good feet and control. Upfront we had our best premier league striker in our history, flanked by a Belgian international with the other sport rotated between any of Pienaar, Osman, or Deulofeu. That team came 5th jostling with the might of AVB’s Spurs, Moyes’ United, and Pochettino’s Southampton for that spot.
The top sides have all got a lot better since then (Perhaps Arsenal aside). Meanwhile you look through our 11 and player for player not only is it worse it’s far far worse. Coleman is still at right back which is horrifying. Keane and Mina are slow and not a patch on the three we had back then. Not one of our midfielders now could lace the boots of the three we had then and I didn’t even like Barry. Richarlison is a talent no doubt but there’s nothing behind him. We could drop Lukaku back then and still choose from Naismith Mirallas Deulofeu even Jelavic was still on the books. After Richarlison we are into two kids in the striker positions and frankly nothing out wide.
The squad is far far worse than Evertonians think it is. I think Allardyce, Silva in his first season, and Ancelotti have massively over performed with it. It’s a bottom half squad that could easily be in a relegation scrap given how poor it is. Goodison park, Richarlison and decent managers are probably the only reason we haven’t been in a serious one since Koeman left.
This will take Ancelotti a long time to fix. Koeman utterly destroyed us and left us with nothing.
