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Dear Gareth Southgate, What More Does Ross Barkley Have to Do? via GrandOldTeam

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Seriously, what more does Ross Barkley have to do to get on the pitch for England? Since January 15th, Barkley has assisted five goals whilst scoring once in nine appearances – a solid effort to say the least. If you look past the statistics and focus primarily on his own individual performances, it is even more difficult to justify his exclusion. Sugar-coat it whichever way you want, it is time for Barkley to be given a chance in England’s starting line-up.

It wasn’t a huge surprise to see Barkley like a recent relevant tweet; most footballers would be frustrated if they were snubbed seven times in a row. At the end of the day, the Everton man is human and he is well within his rights to express frustration at a lack of game time. Southgate has taken charge of six England matches since his appointment but he is yet to give Barkley the chance to prove his worth on the international stage.

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Tottenham’s Dele Alli is a top talent but Barkley is more than capable of doing his job just as well, if not more effectively. According to WhoScored, Barkley has completed 82.7% of his passes in 2190 minutes of top flight football this season; Alli has a 79.7% success rate in 2168 minutes. In addition, his physicality should give him an edge. On average, Barkley wins 1.3 aerial battles per game whilst Alli has just 0.3.


For Everton, Barkley has been a revelation this campaign after last season’s struggles. The 23-year-old has a lot to learn but Ronald Koeman has found a way to get the most out of his young star and Everton certainly wouldn’t be challenging for a top-six finish without his presence in midfield. It won’t be easy but the Toffees, priced at 5/1 in bet365’s Premier League betting odds to achieve the feat, could break the top flight monopoly this campaign.

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Barkley was once labelled as England’s brightest talent but comparisons to Wayne Rooney have indirectly hindered his progress on the big stage. The added pressure to emulate Rooney affected his confidence but he appears to have regained his mojo and Barkley is back to his brilliant best. At club level, the Everton star is a beast and Koeman will do his utmost to tie the youngster down to a new deal before the end of the campaign.

At just 23 years old, Barkley has time on his side. He has been one of the best players in the top flight since the turn of the calendar year and Everton have lost just once in nine games since his resurgence back to form. WhoScored’s ratings show that Barkley has been given a score of less than 7.00 just once during the same spell and Southgate would do well to consider the Toffees man ahead of England’s next international fixture.
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Getting into the squad hasn’t been a problem for Barkley but earning a spot in Southgate’s side has. The best way for the Everton man to change the national side manager’s view is by continuing to play at his best, assisting lots of goals whilst chipping in with the odd strike here and there. Then, and only then, will Southgate realise what England have been missing out on.

The post Dear Gareth Southgate, What More Does Ross Barkley Have to Do? appeared first on GrandOldTeam.

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Carragher: Everton expect to lose derbies via GrandOldTeam

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We sent Adam to Anfield last week to talk to Jamie Carragher about the derby.

Within a candid interview (Part 1 here, part 2 here) Carragher admits that Ronald Koeman’s Everton are increasingly becoming a force to be reckoned with on Merseyside and that Liverpool should be wary but he reckons Koeman has a job on to change the mentality of Everton.

Carragher: “A big thing for Koeman is he’s got to change the mentality of the club, the players and even the supporters, in terms of derby games…I think Everton go into the derby game expecting to lose – I think the players do. There’s that feeling: ‘Oh we can’t beat Liverpool because the referee will give them something…’, there’s that negative mentality.

“Just a little thing. When you shake hands before the game, I’d be like a lunatic, steam coming out of my ears, wanting to [international sign for get stuck in], and the [Everton] players would be saying hello and ‘Hiya Carra!’ I’d be thinking, the games kicking off in a minute, why are you even saying my name? Why are you even speaking to me?

“I wasn’t saying ‘Alright Ossie’ or ‘Alright Hibbo’ or ‘Alright Leighton’, I was like…I already thought we had the advantage. It’s like a boxer coming out and wanting to shake hands with other boxer, and it’s like ‘No! I wanna punch ya!”

“I never felt that they were as aggressive or as nasty as us – in the nicest possible way – about winning those games. I always felt we had the advantage mentally and physically…I always felt that was strange.”


The post Carragher: Everton expect to lose derbies appeared first on GrandOldTeam.

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Goodison Park – A Love Story via Everton Arent We

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So, Thursday 23rd March 2017 arrived and by the end of that day we knew that the preferred option of Farhad Moshirsi to solve the “Goodison” problem was to not revamp the old lady; take it out of the 19th century in which it was built and turn it into what it once was, but to take a momentous step to re-home Everton Football Club. For me, that is a huge decision that despite his capital injection into the club, Mr Moshiri should have at least consulted the fan base on in a similar vein to how desperation Kirkby was.

Goodison was a groundbreaking stadium that set the standards that all other stadiums aspired to. As we know, it was the first purpose built football stadium in the world. Amongst other things, it has hosted an FA Cup Final, FA Cup Semi Finals and a World Cup Semi Final. As CV’s go, not many can go head to head with it, and certainly none in the uk can. Sadly, solely due to a lack of investment by a board headed by Bill Kenwright, Goodison Park became moribund. Looking at her, the old lady became a shadow of her former herself, with away fans complaining about site lines and “woodison” jibes. What no one did though was sing one of our own favourite staples at away matches “shitty ground” because looking at her from the Bullens Road, she still looks beautiful. Dated, yes, but still beautiful.

What she never lost though was any of her bite. At her best, she still bares her teeth when needed and makes it intimidating for opposition teams to play and referees to officiate in. The Chelsea FA Cup tie last year was a prime and recent example. Make no mistake about it, just as much as Lukaku and Barkley, she helped us win that game. It was a nasty narky atmosphere with half the ground well fuelled and the players responded. Ours positively, Chelsea’s the opposite way. There was only ever going to be one winner that night.

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My own personal favourite of Goodison though was Wimbledon in 1994. I’ve seen Everton lift the title and the FA Cup, I’ve seen Mike Tyson with the world title in Vegas, I’ve seen Tiger Woods win the Open at St Andrews but I’ve never seen anything like that day. It is often described as a bear pit, but my god it was that day. Anger turned to disbelief to more anger to hope to belief to unmatched joy and relief. We all went through the mill that day and it only had 3 stands!

Now we all know that we are way behind other clubs for match day income and if we want to compete then this, amongst other revenue streams, has to change.

As such, and fair play to him, Mr Moshiri has opted to go the difficult route and plump for the more romantic stadium at Bramley Moore. Whilst obviously a project fraught with many logistical difficulties, if we are to leave Goodison, this is where we want to go. An iconic stadium on the banks of the Royal Blue Mersey that will become synonymous with the city’s skyline. It is the perfect setting to put this club back at the top table of English Football.

We will get over the ghosts of Dean, Ball & Pele in a new stadium. We will make new memories to go with those from Southall, Latchford, Sharp and the like and new match day routines will be created to replace County Road. What Dan Meis is going to have trouble doing is replicating the intimidating aspect of Goodison, because I for one am going to miss that the most.

The great Eusebio said it was the best stadium he ever played in and plenty of other pro’s agree.

Godspeed to you Daniel, I think you are going to need it.

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