The Guardian pretty much nails it in one...

[steken1]

Great having a manager who can find good players cheaply. Not so great that he cant use them to their fullest potential.

Money makes the chances of getting good players bigger. So does having a manager with an eye for them.

What they cost should have no bearing after that.

Leighton Baines isn't the most expensive LB in the league. If he performs like a mid level one next season do we all accept that as we know what he cost?

 

[Allezfan]

Great having a manager who can find good players cheaply. Not so great that he cant use them to their fullest potential.

Money makes the chances of getting good players bigger. So does having a manager with an eye for them.

What they cost should have no bearing after that.

Leighton Baines isn't the most expensive LB in the league. If he performs like a mid level one next season do we all accept that as we know what he cost?

Basically, this squad is as good as it is. It's been relatively stable over the last 7 years and it's been rock solid in the top 7 (6th, 5th,5th, 8th, 7th, 7th, 6th) for that time. That's the weight of this team which it punches at. And arguably it could do better than it has done if managed better (I certainly think this).

This team isn't overachieving.

However given how much we paid for them and how much we pay them, the market argues that this team shouldn't be as good as the likes of villa and liverpool and newcastle who bought their players for more and pay them more money. The fact that our team is better means we're overachieving as a club.

Except, of course, the reason we're paying our players less and buying them for less is that we aren't producing as much money as the other clubs are despite being historically bigger so arguably we're underachieving as a club.

 

[steken1]

Basically, this squad is as good as it is. It's been relatively stable over the last 7 years and it's been rock solid in the top 7 (6th, 5th,5th, 8th, 7th, 7th, 6th) for that time. That's the weight of this team which it punches at. And arguably it could do better than it has done if managed better (I certainly think this).

This team isn't overachieving.

However given how much we paid for them and how much we pay them, the market argues that this team shouldn't be as good as the likes of villa and liverpool and newcastle who bought their players for more and pay them more money. The fact that our team is better means we're overachieving as a club.

Except, of course, the reason we're paying our players less and buying them for less is that we aren't producing as much money as the other clubs are despite being historically bigger so arguably we're underachieving as a club.

That's the important bit for me. As a club we overachieve because we don't invest anything like our peer group. As an actual squad of players I suppose we're where we should be.

Talking about football at the end of a season is always ifs but & maybe's. But, looking at the amount of draws we've had hints at a lack of killer instinct that we've all known was there for the past ten years.

In a few seasons at least I've felt like that was down to the manager and how he handles people.

 

[D410]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/may/06/ten-talking-points-premier-league

[h=2]Everton could be so much more if they were proactive[/h]Everton are now almost certain to finish above Liverpool in the top division for the second season in a row, the first time they've pulled off this particular trick since 1937. This no doubt gives some of the Goodison faithful that long-awaited opportunity to dust off a chant of "We all agree/Lawton is better than Nieuwenhuys/Où sont les neiges d'antan?", but others may question the exact relevance of the stat to the modern world.


After all, while a little more bragging rights are always welcome, it's not been much of a bar for Everton to clear: rather like their counterparts of the 1930s, this Liverpool team are nothing to write home about. It's also worth noting that Everton's 1937 vintage went on to win the title two years later, something the cream of 2013 won't be doing any time soon.


For a side with Champions League pretentions, the modern Toffeemen are strangely toothless up front, a reactive side rather than a bunch of go-getters, which is maybe why a campaign that promised so much will end up delivering nothing.


To illustrate the point, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham have all scored twice at Anfield this season. Everton's draw there is no worse than City or Chelsea's result, and it gave them a point more than Spurs managed, but the lack of cutting edge has cost them over the long haul: Everton have lost fewer games than anybody bar United and City, and it wouldn't have taken too many draws turned into wins to nudge them up past their more free-scoring rivals and into third.

It might be too much to ask of David Moyes to unearth the new Tommy Lawton – and anyway, as Sylvain Distin will attest, he'd not get many decisions these days – but Everton desperately need some extra firepower (and perhaps a more proactive attitude) if they're to best their red rivals for a third year in a row and, surely more importantly, make it back into the Champions League.

Terrible article. So Poor. Honestly every club is looking for the next best thing in a form of a striker. I wish these staff writers would spend more time on asking why the club has failed to find a buyer for the last 12 years. it might help to find a striker with the dough required.

 

[Khalekan]

This team isn't overachieving.

That's it in a nutshell, Artetafan.

Basically, EFC regularly finish above Fulham, Sunderland, Southampton, Newcasrle, QPR, Baggies, Stoke City, Swansea, Wigan, Aston Villa, Reading, West Ham, Norwich.....when those clubs aren't in the Championship or even Division 1.

To that list we used to be able to add Manchester City but since they won the lottery, we no longer finish above them.

Ditto Chelsea.....a team we used to raid for their stars in the not so distant past....Pat Nevin and Graham Stuart.

But they too won the lottery and are in a different orbit to us these days.

The last time we finished above United and Arsenal the Pope was an altar boy.

And we have just started finishing above Liverpool again.

The steady finishes around the 6th or 7th position is really where we are at.

But it is not.....repeat not....."over achieving".

Given the yo-yo nature of the teams outside the top six or seven clubs in England, Everton under Moyes are no better than they ought to be.

 

[McBain]

Basically, this squad is as good as it is. It's been relatively stable over the last 7 years and it's been rock solid in the top 7 (6th, 5th,5th, 8th, 7th, 7th, 6th) for that time. That's the weight of this team which it punches at. And arguably it could do better than it has done if managed better (I certainly think this).

This team isn't overachieving.

However given how much we paid for them and how much we pay them, the market argues that this team shouldn't be as good as the likes of villa and liverpool and newcastle who bought their players for more and pay them more money. The fact that our team is better means we're overachieving as a club.

Except, of course, the reason we're paying our players less and buying them for less is that we aren't producing as much money as the other clubs are despite being historically bigger so arguably we're underachieving as a club.

This is the Conundrum that supporting Everton is all about.

Beautifully put.

 

[Timak]

This team isn't overachieving.
Given the yo-yo nature of the teams outside the top six or seven clubs in England, Everton under Moyes are no better than they ought to be.

If it is that easy why are top 7 finishes not achieved by other managers working on similar budgets?

Why were they not achieved by previous Everton managers?

 

[Allezfan]

If it is that easy why are top 7 finishes not achieved by other managers working on similar budgets?

Why were they not achieved by previous Everton managers?

Allardyce, Reid and Royle.

 

[Allezfan]

Allardyce, Reid and Royle.

Burley, Pardew.

 

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

Allardyce, Reid and Royle.

Consistently?

That'll be a no.............

 

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

Burley, Pardew.

You've reached the bottom of that barrel you're looking to scrape, I'd stop there.

Pardew

 

[Allezfan]

Curbishly, Hughes, McClaren, Souness.

 

[Allezfan]

Consistently?

That'll be a no.............

Allardyce did.

 

[Allezfan]

Roeder.

 

[Timak]

Allardyce, Reid and Royle.

Finishes meaning doing it more than once.

Not once or twice.