The Emergence of Steve Walsh

[kenada_blue]

One of my best mates is a huge Spurs fan. I said to him how delighted he must have been to finish 2nd, win 12 out of their last 13 games and record home points haul.
Funnily enough, he said I'm happy, but I'd rather win something. Spurs were by far the most entertaining team to watch last season and out of the top 6, United were comfortably the worst to watch. But at the end of the day they've picked up another 2 trophies, that's what's football is all about - winning trophies. If you can do it in style, playing entertaining football even better.

You only get remembered for what you win, not where you finish in the league

 

[Nymzee]

You only get remembered for what you win, not where you finish in the league

Unless you finish 1st.

 

[chrismpw]

@catcherintherye

I think were looking at something resembling an initial 2 year plan.

In 2 years time;
Gana/Schneiderlin/Coleman/Bolasie will be around 30/31
Klaassen/Keane/Pickford will be around 25/26
Sandro/Holgate/DCL/Lookman/Kenny will be around 22/23

That's a good mix and I imagine we will be adding to the age group of Klaassen/Keane as well as the younger group over the next two years.

Over the course of the next 2 seasons the players will all be growing together and with games given to the younger age group we should be appealing to the next u23 batch. Davies would then be still 20/21 and I think if we do sign Bowler/Brooks/Hirst they would be the next batch along with any of our own young lads like Baningime coming through alongside Davies.

The key for me are Keane and Pickford improving and cementing themselves in England squads and the English players in the age group below pushing themselves to either be selected or pushing for inclusion for the national team.

That way we show we give young players a chance who can play for England if they do well for us.

In year 3 we 'hopefully' have 4+ players in the England squad and 4 players in the u21 squad. Then we take the next step up to consistent champions league challengers and keep adding to the conveyor belt with Walsh bringing in the best young English talent into Unsworths u23s while making one or two marquee signings a season.

I think the English focus is important as it builds a culture at the club of local talent and also other players will see Everton as being a big part of the international scene and as we have seen the recent u20 world cup did us no harm at all.

Yeah but

You forget we're Everton. Have you factored in the perma-injury-on-international-duty effect of Everton players? Also the effect that bring an England player has on a player's psyche? ie - becoming hesitant, slow, indecisive, scared of taking responsibility.

 

[chrismpw]

Classic 5 star Stevie tho right, goes to Italy to sign players and ends up signing Michael Keane and some lad from Belgium.

Loves the Air Miles does Stevie.

It was ploy that would have not gone amis in the build up to the Normandy landings. Especially relevant since West ham follow us around like dogs sniffing all of our urine spots for transfers in recent years.

 

[chrismpw]

I agree. At least this window has given the fan base real optimism that the club is moving forward. It is not just the top 4 we are trying to crack anymore, but the top 6. It might not happen this season, but at least the board have given our long suffering supporters the hope that we might just succeed, with their actions.

Oh god no!
Don't fall for it!
It's a trap!
Remember it's the hope that kills you.

 

[Zatara]

I'm happy to say it looks firmly like SW has won the battle when it comes to the kind of transfers we pursue and the long term direction of the club. RK said last April, "We need more players aged 26, 27, 28."
Klassen is clearly RK's call but the rest are SW's. If we had placated RK and gone for players in their prime we'd have had another frustrating summer. I doubt we could financially sustain too many more transfers like Bolasie where their massive value plummets within a couple of years. The young team we're assembling will take time to gel and I don't see us genuinely pushing for the top 4 this season but perhaps next season or the one after that, if there's more significant investment and we get some luck with form and injuries, we'll be credible contenders.

Yeah, I think Bolasie and Stekelenburg were Koeman choices and Walsh and him agreed on Gana then in Jan we had Lookman via Walsh and of course Koeman wanted Schneiderlin.

This summer I think we are still due a couple from Walsh

 

[Zatara]

Yeah but

You forget we're Everton. Have you factored in the perma-injury-on-international-duty effect of Everton players? Also the effect that bring an England player has on a player's psyche? ie - becoming hesitant, slow, indecisive, scared of taking responsibility.

Safety in numbers

 

[Westend Blue]

Yeah, I think Bolasie and Stekelenburg were Koeman choices and Walsh and him agreed on Gana then in Jan we had Lookman via Walsh and of course Koeman wanted Schneiderlin.

This summer I think we are still due a couple from Walsh

Tbh zat apart from bolasie and Williams to an extent the signings have been excellent. I don't count stek he was cheap back up

 

[evilwebby]

Unless you finish 1st.

I think that's technically known as Winning.

 

[kenada_blue]

Unless you finish 1st.

You get a trophy for that so...it's win win

 

[Nymzee]

I think that's technically known as Winning.

Was just pointing out in that instance you get remembered for where you finish.

 

[Kenshin]

On topic.

I think the benefit of Walsh (or detriment) will be clear a few years from now to be honest. If he is scouting and bringing players to the club now that are young with potential then it won't be until a lot of the squad has moved on and these players replace them that we see the positive and negative of it all. Players like lewen lookman Keane pickford sandro to name a few could well be fantastic signings and really elevate us to the higher level. Similarly they might not be able to step up/adapt and they will be seen as expensive gambles. There is no way of knowing that right now and in some cases far too young to have a solid opinion right now.

Personally I have said over time I welcome this approach but in terms of selling first team players we need to be investing some in a direct replacement other wise we are going backwards when we do it. Sandro might score us 30 a season for example, but he won't for a few years yet, and before then he could move for big money. Point I want to make is , investing lukakus money incthe players we have so far might be clever signings in hindsight but we do need to make other clubs notice when we do sell them with a big signing of our own, which will be the difference between ambition and simply keeping the status quo of 'best of the rest'.

Overall we have made some great signings so far. Gueye, schniderlin, klassen alone are much better quality than the likes of cleverly , old Barry or Gibson who they have replaced so the team is improving individually. This summer has to be the year we improve as a team as well to really look to challenge the teams above us.

 

[Billy Dean]

On topic.

I think the benefit of Walsh (or detriment) will be clear a few years from now to be honest. If he is scouting and bringing players to the club now that are young with potential then it won't be until a lot of the squad has moved on and these players replace them that we see the positive and negative of it all. Players like lewen lookman Keane pickford sandro to name a few could well be fantastic signings and really elevate us to the higher level. Similarly they might not be able to step up/adapt and they will be seen as expensive gambles. There is no way of knowing that right now and in some cases far too young to have a solid opinion right now.

Personally I have said over time I welcome this approach but in terms of selling first team players we need to be investing some in a direct replacement other wise we are going backwards when we do it. Sandro might score us 30 a season for example, but he won't for a few years yet, and before then he could move for big money. Point I want to make is , investing lukakus money incthe players we have so far might be clever signings in hindsight but we do need to make other clubs notice when we do sell them with a big signing of our own, which will be the difference between ambition and simply keeping the status quo of 'best of the rest'.

Overall we have made some great signings so far. Gueye, schniderlin, klassen alone are much better quality than the likes of cleverly , old Barry or Gibson who they have replaced so the team is improving individually. This summer has to be the year we improve as a team as well to really look to challenge the teams above us.

I think next season will see us improve as a team, the question is whether we will improve our league position given the strength of the teams who finished above us last season. I think we should be looking at Arsenal as the most vulnerable of that group. Possibly Tottenham and Liverpool too depending on how they strenghten over the summer.

 

[Zatara]

On topic.

I think the benefit of Walsh (or detriment) will be clear a few years from now to be honest. If he is scouting and bringing players to the club now that are young with potential then it won't be until a lot of the squad has moved on and these players replace them that we see the positive and negative of it all. Players like lewen lookman Keane pickford sandro to name a few could well be fantastic signings and really elevate us to the higher level. Similarly they might not be able to step up/adapt and they will be seen as expensive gambles. There is no way of knowing that right now and in some cases far too young to have a solid opinion right now.

Personally I have said over time I welcome this approach but in terms of selling first team players we need to be investing some in a direct replacement other wise we are going backwards when we do it. Sandro might score us 30 a season for example, but he won't for a few years yet, and before then he could move for big money. Point I want to make is , investing lukakus money incthe players we have so far might be clever signings in hindsight but we do need to make other clubs notice when we do sell them with a big signing of our own, which will be the difference between ambition and simply keeping the status quo of 'best of the rest'.

Overall we have made some great signings so far. Gueye, schniderlin, klassen alone are much better quality than the likes of cleverly , old Barry or Gibson who they have replaced so the team is improving individually. This summer has to be the year we improve as a team as well to really look to challenge the teams above us.

I think Sandro will score 12-15 next season no problem.

 

[Kenshin]

I think Sandro will score 12-15 next season no problem.

Personally I hope he scores more.