Guardian preview of our season

[Baines' left foot]

For every Everton there is a QPR.

How could I miss them out?

The thing with the likes of Sunderland, Stoke and Newcastle (to an extent, as they got stupid money from the Carroll sale) is they have continuously had a net loss on transfers over the years and not even got close to us, barring Newcastle for one season.

 

[Ashtonluke]

Top 10 this year is the minimum really. Less than that will be disappointing. I do feel we are short in central midfield and I hope we have a bit of cash there to bring someone decent I'm that position. That being said I fully expect moyes to panic buy Fellaini sooner rather than later and hopefully we can invest in a replacement and another central midfielder. If we do, I will be hopeful of a really good season. It's clear though the gap between the haves and have not is larger this year than ever.

 

[Seamus Colemole]

Hmmm, yeah I suppose I agree with regards to money.

I don't so much think we're overachievers though, more than the other teams are underachievers.

I mean just look at how much money Sunderland, Stoke and Newcastle have spent over the years only to do [Poor language removed] all.

It's not our fault other teams buy loads of sh*te players.

We clearly over achieve given our budget compared to other teams, yet we ever so slightly under achieve given the quality of the squad.

But when it comes to passing out from the back, it is gonna take time for the players to get used to playing it, to gain the confidence and skills to do it well.

First game we try it when we're under pressure from a pressing opposition team i'm worried its gonna go wrong. Given time and space we can pass it around lovely but once we come under pressure and aren't being encouraged to "get rid" mistakes are gonna happen.

 

[Goat]

How could I miss them out?

The thing with the likes of Sunderland, Stoke and Newcastle (to an extent, as they got stupid money from the Carroll sale) is they have continuously had a net loss on transfers over the years and not even got close to us, barring Newcastle for one season.

 

[Seamus Colemole]

Obviously there is often a correlation between money spent and postion finished, but thats not always the way as we've often shown.

Look at our money spent to Man Cities. We spent in the last 5 years £63 million and they spent £637 million.

Thats 10 times more than us for all you maths boffins. Is their squad 10 times better than ours? No. Did they get 10 times the points we did in the last 5 years? No.

They're better obviously but the difference is nowhere near as big as the figures suggest.

Not to take away from how difficult it is to achieve what we did for the money and how easy it was for city but it just shows that if you spend what money you have wisely you can do a lot better per pound than someone spending stupid amounts of money.

Its not how much you spend but what you spend it on.

 

[Baines' left foot]

In the top table the only teams to consistently outspend us who have been in the league for the same period of time that we have and that nearly always finish below us are Sunderland, Stoke and Villa. Fulham also marginally but I'm fairly sure our wages would be a decent bit bigger. As I say none of those teams have really got anywhere near us, barring Villa when they were being bankrolled by Lerner. Although it shows us to be a club doing very well for the money I think also, as I said, that it highlights the incompetence of other teams around us that clearly have more money.

But yeah that bottom one is a bit ridonkulous.

 

[Goat]

Old list with regards wages, but suppose it gives an idea.

By the way, im not posting this for any agenda, numbers interest me, so maybe they interest others.

 

[Baines' left foot]

Old list with regards wages, but suppose it gives an idea.

By the way, im not posting this for any agenda, numbers interest me, so maybe they interest others.

Didn't think that any way mate. It's interesting as I didn't realise the numbers were such in our favour, in terms of value for money that is.

That wage list is more or less what I thought though.

 

[SerenityNigh]

Look at our money spent to Man Cities. We spent in the last 5 years £63 million and they spent £637 million.

Thats 10 times more than us for all you maths boffins. Is their squad 10 times better than ours? No. Did they get 10 times the points we did in the last 5 years? No.

They're better obviously but the difference is nowhere near as big as the figures suggest.

Diminishing returns there, mate. Swansea can pick up Michu and he can single-handedly lift them out of relegation zone and into 9th*. (Not saying he did, but he can). However, Michu is maybe a rotation player for City, if that, so for City to make their squad better they can't do it with £2M gems like Michu, but instead they need £24M gems like Van Persie (which they missed).

On the contrary, even though Van Persie is plenty better than Michu, how high would Swansea have finished if they had bought RVP instead? He doesn't automatically make them a top-six team by himself.**

**Not defending City's wage bills, but arguing that the difference between 6th and 12th is much smaller than the difference between 1st and 3rd, ergo the wage bills.

 

[D410]

Fair write up by Hunter.

6th was the benchmark under Moyes with the same players.

 

[Massa]

By watching the per-season matches i think we all have seen that the players have been practicing football, not hoofball. The season ahead looks promising. Our wings with baines pienaar/ coleman mirallas + deulofeu oviedo will scare our opponents to death with pace and tecnique. In the middle fella gibson osman and barkley gives RM several good options. Fingers crossed, we continue to play with a back four. The real question is, like every other year, whos gonna score upfront.

 

[deipnosophist]

Whilst I initially thought RM was a great choice I am starting to think that Tony Pullis would be better suited to our players strengths. We do not have the finesse to play total 9is Spanish) football. DM knew this and played to our hoofball strength. I think Tony Pullis would bring a similar style

 

[deipnosophist]

...should I have put <sarc> in there...not necessary, surely

 

[Gwladys St. Glory]

Minimum is top 10 but what I most want to see is a clear direction...the destination is the School of Science.

 

[AndyZ]

If however we do drift down the league and end up with around 45-55 points I won't be surprised because I am firmly in the "we overachieved under Moyes relative to our budget" camp. Because we did.

Yep, it's a fact. Plain and simple. Any Evertonian who says/believes differently is in denial. We lost one hell of a manager. I hope Martinez is able to come close to filling Moyes' shoes.