Observations from a first year Evertonian

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ToffeeVols

Player Valuation: £25k
As a lifelong fan of my teams in other sports, I always thought it was interesting to get an "outsider's" perspective on the teams if they started following them. I thought I'd share what stood out to me so far this year. I don't bring much knowledgeable insight with me, but maybe this will be interesting for you:

- The quality of the footballers on the current squad has been surprising. There are several positions where I feel we have one of, if not the top players in the league. I was undersold on the talent on the squad when talking to friends about the Prem.

- The combination of flowing, attacking football that RM has brought along with the defensive yeomanship is majestic to watch. Biased obviously, but no other team is more enjoyable this year

- There is something special about Everton. It's hard to describe and if you're reading this there's no need to. I've certainly caught the bug.

- I'm utterly shocked that Barkley didn't get more run under Moyes. Early in the season we saw a lot of inconsistency from Barkley, giving the ball away too easy and troubled decision making....playing time and experience is what fixes that. He is the type of talent that you throw out there, live with the mistakes and let him grow. Maybe Moyes was scared to lose him if the world saw his talent too early?

- My main concern going forward this season is not whether we stay in contention for top 4, but rather what happens when we are solidly in the top 4 in a few weeks and how we handle all the attention that comes with that.

- COYB
 

ToffeeVols said:
As a lifelong fan of my teams in other sports, I always thought it was interesting to get an "outsider's" perspective on the teams if they started following them. I thought I'd share what stood out to me so far this year. I don't bring much knowledgeable insight with me, but maybe this will be interesting for you:

- The quality of the footballers on the current squad has been surprising. There are several positions where I feel we have one of, if not the top players in the league. I was undersold on the talent on the squad when talking to friends about the Prem.

- The combination of flowing, attacking football that RM has brought along with the defensive yeomanship is majestic to watch. Biased obviously, but no other team is more enjoyable this year

- There is something special about Everton. It's hard to describe and if you're reading this there's no need to. I've certainly caught the bug.

- I'm utterly shocked that Barkley didn't get more run under Moyes. Early in the season we saw a lot of inconsistency from Barkley, giving the ball away too easy and troubled decision making....playing time and experience is what fixes that. He is the type of talent that you throw out there, live with the mistakes and let him grow. Maybe Moyes was scared to lose him if the world saw his talent too early?

- My main concern going forward this season is not whether we stay in contention for top 4, but rather what happens when we are solidly in the top 4 in a few weeks and how we handle all the attention that comes with that.

- COYB
Click to expand...

All of this is very understandable. Don't worry about the last concern, BTW. We'll deal with that when we get there.

Let me explain in American.

I've been selling the idea on the NFL thread (come on in...) that living under Moyes is a lot like living with Martyball (wish I could do one of those boss trademark thingies). Emphasis on defense, doing well but bottling the big games, lack of a certain 'je ne sais quoi' on offense, dedication to grinding out close wins, you get my drift. Life w/ Bobby is like getting Spurrier in to run the show and playing in the SEC. This is fuuuuuun. You're a Vol. How much fun would you be having if you had ball coach in there instead of the parade you've been subjected to in recent years since Phil got run? That's what this feels like. We went right to Bobby from Moylez, and we're made up.

Enjoy it, lid.
 
mezzrow said:
All of this is very understandable. Don't worry about the last concern, BTW. We'll deal with that when we get there.

Let me explain in American.

I've been selling the idea on the NFL thread (come on in...) that living under Moyes is a lot like living with Martyball (wish I could do one of those boss trademark thingies). Emphasis on defense, doing well but bottling the big games, lack of a certain 'je ne sais quoi' on offense, dedication to grinding out close wins, you get my drift. Life w/ Bobby is like getting Spurrier in to run the show and playing in the SEC. This is fuuuuuun. You're a Vol. How much fun would you be having if you had ball coach in there instead of the parade you've been subjected to in recent years since Phil got run? That's what this feels like. We went right to Bobby from Moylez, and we're made up.

Enjoy it, lid.
Click to expand...

The Martyball comparison makes total sense. Utterly frustrating as a fan to know you won't really win anything of note, but the outside world views the team as overachieving.

As for Spurrier (side note- I went to the same high school as Spurrier, he should have been a Vol if we had managed to integrate the forward pass into our offense at that time) the quality of my life would have been dramatically higher had he taken over after Phil. I certainly appreciate what RM has brought and what we're experiencing right now
 
We may not have the numbers over here the Red ****e have, but we have quality. Will say this...any American who is a Blue BEFORE we do great things is a breed apart.

Not sure how I'll feel about those who come after RM wins everything, but I'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
 

johnnydawg68 said:
We may not have the numbers over here the Red ****e have, but we have quality. Will say this...any American who is a Blue BEFORE we do great things is a breed apart.

Not sure how I'll feel about those who come after RM wins everything, but I'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Click to expand...



I have a very close American friend who is massively into football. For years I was trying to convert him, but he just enjoyed being a neutral and watching the beautiful game without prejudice, so I gave up trying to convert him.

Slowly and organically though he became an Evertonian, to the point he didn't even realise it until I pointed it out to him. Now he comes over to a game a season and lives and breaths Everton.

My point being, any American who supports us knows the game inside out and knows there's something special about our club.
 
ToffeeVols said:
As a lifelong fan of my teams in other sports, I always thought it was interesting to get an "outsider's" perspective on the teams if they started following them. I thought I'd share what stood out to me so far this year. I don't bring much knowledgeable insight with me, but maybe this will be interesting for you:

- The quality of the footballers on the current squad has been surprising. There are several positions where I feel we have one of, if not the top players in the league. I was undersold on the talent on the squad when talking to friends about the Prem.

- The combination of flowing, attacking football that RM has brought along with the defensive yeomanship is majestic to watch. Biased obviously, but no other team is more enjoyable this year

- There is something special about Everton *. It's hard to describe and if you're reading this there's no need to. I've certainly caught the bug.

- I'm utterly shocked that Barkley didn't get more run under Moyes. Early in the season we saw a lot of inconsistency from Barkley, giving the ball away too easy and troubled decision making....playing time and experience is what fixes that. He is the type of talent that you throw out there, live with the mistakes and let him grow. Maybe Moyes was scared to lose him if the world saw his talent too early?**

- My main concern going forward this season is not whether we stay in contention for top 4, but rather what happens when we are solidly in the top 4 in a few weeks and how we handle all the attention that comes with that.

- COYB
Click to expand...

*It didn't take you long to figure that out

**I used to wonder about that too but, i) If that was the case why didn't he bid for him in the summer? and, ii) He was dropped after he gave away a penalty, even after he had been very impressive prior to that

Oh, and by the way.... Glory hunter! (y) (I was told that myself a year ago today when I was one of the listeners in the Hawksbee and Jacobs studio for the Christmas Eve special, explaining how I became an Evertonian)
 
Vol-

Nice post. For sure, there is something special (especially with this team). As a fellow Yank, enjoyed the comparison to our football though I gave up on that wretched sport some 10-12 years ago (& to be fair, I'm not from SEC country). Welcome aboard!
 
johnnydawg68 said:
We may not have the numbers over here the Red ****e have, but we have quality. Will say this...any American who is a Blue BEFORE we do great things is a breed apart.

Not sure how I'll feel about those who come after RM wins everything, but I'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Click to expand...

As a fellow listener of the Men In Blazers podcast, does it slightly annoy you how many GFOPs are City, United, Liverpool, Spurs or Arsenal fans? Like, I don't think I've listened to a podcast when a supporter of a different team has written in, or at least can't remember one.
 

DanEFC92 said:
As a fellow listener of the Men In Blazers podcast, does it slightly annoy you how many GFOPs are City, United, Liverpool, Spurs or Arsenal fans? Like, I don't think I've listened to a podcast when a supporter of a different team has written in, or at least can't remember one.
Click to expand...

But we have Roger, and Roger's quality. Those who were born Evertonian will reveal themselves. It's an awareness issue, actually.
 
ToffeeVols said:
As a lifelong fan of my teams in other sports, I always thought it was interesting to get an "outsider's" perspective on the teams if they started following them. I thought I'd share what stood out to me so far this year. I don't bring much knowledgeable insight with me, but maybe this will be interesting for you:

- The quality of the footballers on the current squad has been surprising. There are several positions where I feel we have one of, if not the top players in the league. I was undersold on the talent on the squad when talking to friends about the Prem.

- The combination of flowing, attacking football that RM has brought along with the defensive yeomanship is majestic to watch. Biased obviously, but no other team is more enjoyable this year

- There is something special about Everton. It's hard to describe and if you're reading this there's no need to. I've certainly caught the bug.

- I'm utterly shocked that Barkley didn't get more run under Moyes. Early in the season we saw a lot of inconsistency from Barkley, giving the ball away too easy and troubled decision making....playing time and experience is what fixes that. He is the type of talent that you throw out there, live with the mistakes and let him grow. Maybe Moyes was scared to lose him if the world saw his talent too early?

- My main concern going forward this season is not whether we stay in contention for top 4, but rather what happens when we are solidly in the top 4 in a few weeks and how we handle all the attention that comes with that.

- COYB
Click to expand...

How did u bevome n evertonian?
 

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