The rest of the season

[LouReedwalkonthewildside]

Dun, dun, dun!!

Don't forget this tool as well, hopefully someone else picks our next manager, maybe one of the tea ladies could do it!

 

[davids]

I wouldn't be in favour of wholesale changes to the squad, other than in trimming it down further and making room for younger players.

We had a scattergun approach last summer which failed abjectly. Three new signings, four at most, in critical areas, that are as properly thought out as possible in every sense will have far more of a positive impact.

I don't think we have the finances for much more in any case and we won't generate huge incomings with sales either.

Next season can really only be one of stabilisation again and ridding the club of players who have nothing more to contribute here. The best case scenario can only be seventh with a bigger points haul and progress in the cups. I think last summer people within inside and outside the club felt we might even push for a top four place.

Particularly if there is a new manager we need to get back to basics and try to develop the squad organically for the medium to long term. There is no quick fix at Everton, and realistically no fix at all that doesn't take another three to five years. That should form a key starting point in hiring a new manager too. I would be very sceptical indeed of anything resembling a return to the three-year project malarkey and would be immediately suspicious of any manager that spun that again. Once bitten and all.

Sensible post,but can you really see the "supporter" base we have,having the patience to wait 5 years to see tangible improvement eg an FA or League Cup win?

 

[Lanolin]

The recruitment needs to be more specific and targeted than before.

We desperately need new signings to be able to come in and make an impact without undue delay for next season. I don't buy into foreign players needing a full year to adapt as a given.

It might also make sense to utilise the loan market again for 1-2 players if required and to make the budget stretch.

The solutions are there, the club need to get people who are creative and flexible enough to find and implement them.

We could potentially still finish seventh in a car-crash season so any sort of reasonable improvement next year at all should be eminently possible based on such a low base.

Totally agree.

I've said before that some players who people want to say aren't good enough now could look a whole lot better with the right players around them and when asked to do the right things. I've been critical of Keane this season, but to be fair to the lad he looked a whole lot better with Coleman next to him for a game and a half than he has all season. I think Gana, Davies Sigurdsson etc would all look much better players if we could get our hands on a new Arteta type player who could run the midfield, and virtually any half decent left back would add a balance which has been missing from the side for months.

We don't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater, we just need to identify the right players (and hopefully manager) to improve us as a unit.

 

[LiamG]

The recruitment needs to be more specific and targeted than before.

We desperately need new signings to be able to come in and make an impact without undue delay for next season. I don't buy into foreign players needing a full year to adapt as a given.

It might also make sense to utilise the loan market again for 1-2 players if required and to make the budget stretch.

The solutions are there, the club need to get people who are creative and flexible enough to find and implement them.

We could potentially still finish seventh in a car-crash season so any sort of reasonable improvement next year at all should be eminently possible based on such a low base.

So far we have or had Henry, Lookman, Besic, Sandro and Dowell out on loan. We also were looking to loan out Klassen and then there's also Vlasic.

I doubt we would be able to loan anyone better than them. If they aren't good enough and we can't sell we may as well bring them back.

Who knows a new manager may be able to get more from them.

 

[brieverton]

Sensible post,but can you really see the "supporter" base we have,having the patience to wait 5 years to see tangible improvement eg an FA or League Cup win?

Perhaps not but its all I see on the horizon after 36 years of supporting Everton.

We haven't won anything for 23 years. Most folk would I think settle for "progress" even if slow and steady over the rapid decline from Martinez debut season to where we are now.

Spurs and Liverpool for all the fawning over them have a combined 2 league cups in about 20 seasons. I think Sky have changed the narrative such that winning isnt everything anymore. The top 4 is now the top 6. There seems to be something for everyone if you're part of the elite.

Any Spurs fans I know would all crave a trophy, but they all seem to get at least some sustainable satisfaction in the meantime by being part of "the pack". I guess in the medium term I want us to be part of it too.

 

[LiamG]

The money was badly spent but I think it's a manipulated way of looking at it by saying if we had done this, if we had done that, because it's a biased way of presenting a new situation in our favour. Your hypothetical way of looking at it assumes we would improve but Arsenal wouldn't.

I know what you are saying in a way, as we definitely have messed this season up but surely Arsenal fans could say the same about their own situation?

There's also another factor. Even in the season where Martinez "almost" finished 4th Arsenal only woke up when that was a realistic possibility.

Arsenal have been under-performing but they are miles away from us now and at the start of the season. Signing Giroud and a left sided CB wouldn't have changed that much. Plus so what if we got 6th instead of 7th.

The whole strategy from when Moshiri took over has been wrong. Whoever green lighted the idea we should use the player sales from Stones, Rom etc and the extra TV money to spend on a bunch of 28 to 30 year olds to play long ball football on the hope we do a Leicester should be fired.

Massive massive gamble and we are paying the price now with having to rebuild with a lot less money (unless Moshiri bankrolls it).

 

[orly]

Hopefully not too much football related, it ruins my weekend

 

[LiamG]

Sensible post,but can you really see the "supporter" base we have,having the patience to wait 5 years to see tangible improvement eg an FA or League Cup win?

We've waited over 20 years already. What would be another 5.

Plus 5 years to see us win a cup would require year on year improvement. At the moment we are going backwards.

 

[magicjuan]

Difficult choice. 7th is there and with it probable Europa league, but that might mean Allardyce being given a chance next season, which I really don't want.

Pleasure. Pain.

 

[LiamG]

Difficult choice. 7th is there and with it probable Europa league, but that might mean Allardyce being given a chance next season, which I really don't want.

Pleasure. Pain.

Yea get to 40 points and then start playing around with the formation in preparation of next year. I want to see Vlasic, Klassen and Tosun given a run of games. I also want to see Sigurdsson and Rooney playing further back.

I don't want to see Gueye and Schneiderlin playing together for the rest of the season. I hate having a midfield pair that can't pass.

Europa is our best way into the champions league but we are miles away from that and this year was just embarrassing. Let some other team take their turn being the premiership laughing stock. Southampton and us have been there, who's next?

 

[COYBL25]

Difficult choice. 7th is there and with it probable Europa league, but that might mean Allardyce being given a chance next season, which I really don't want.

Pleasure. Pain.

Try to imagine a Europa place with the Fat mess at the helm, it`d be worse than this seasons debacle.

" Sam Allardyce brings his unique brand of football to the European stage "

You can just imagine the foreign journos trying to describe - hooooooooooooooof.

Every player and all of the support staff, would have their suitcases rammed full of Walsh`s Golden Virginia and Lambert and Butler on the way back.

 

[TraffordBlue]

There's nothing biased or manipulated about that though?

The hypothetical in the situation is an improved Everton. Whether Arsenal could have spent better can be debated by Arsenal fans on an Arsenal board, we're here to talk about Everton, and whether we're happy with our current situation. Most of us aren't, and are pointing out where we think we went wrong and how this could have cost us. It's a fairly straightforward concept really.

Claiming we would be 14/16 points better off 'if this/if that' happened is manipulated though isn't it. I can see what you're both saying but every set of supporters could argue the same. If the RS kept Coutinho and added Van Dijk, they could be 2nd with a shot at the title next season. If Arsenal had kept Sanchez and added Aubameyang etc.

I don't think we're too far away from having a decent side ready to close the gap with the right additions but I also think some underestimate how big some of the flaws in our side are. Even with players like Lukaku and Barkley etc last season we still couldn't beat 10 man Arsenal at the Emirates, and finished 14 points behind them in what was a disappointing season for them. You used the words 'ripe for the taking' but I think Arsenal are better than what they appear and they will still be way ahead of the rest of the league at the end of the season.

 

[IllinoisBlue]

I'd be happy with no European football next season. Pretty much all teams who play EL Thursday night games struggle at weekends. Would rather focus on league and domestic cups next year.

 

[Lanolin]

Claiming we would be 14/16 points better off 'if this/if that' happened is manipulated though isn't it. I can see what you're both saying but every set of supporters could argue the same. If the RS kept Coutinho and added Van Dijk, they could be 2nd with a shot at the title next season. If Arsenal had kept Sanchez and added Aubameyang etc.

I don't think we're too far away from having a decent side ready to close the gap with the right additions but I also think some underestimate how big some of the flaws in our side are. Even with players like Lukaku and Barkley etc last season we still couldn't beat 10 man Arsenal at the Emirates, and finished 14 points behind them in what was a disappointing season for them. You used the words 'ripe for the taking' but I think Arsenal are better than what they appear and they will still be way ahead of the rest of the league at the end of the season.

It's not 'if this/if that' though, it's simply saying 'if we hadn't spent £30m on 2 attacking players who haven't got a league goal or assist between them all season, we'd probably be better off than we are.' It seems a pretty sound premise to me like.

Of course it's an entirely hypothetical situation, but as we're not players, managers or chairmen, so is everything we talk about on here. It'd be a pretty dull place if we could only talk about facts and not give our own opinions. I'm not saying that a couple of better signings would definitely 100% absolutely no problem at all have seen us finish above Arsenal, simply that it obviously hasn't helped that some of our signings have literally contributed nothing to the cause. Seriously, nothing. They're not even an option from the bench. It just seems like an obvious fact to me, but fair enough if you disagree.

Finally, Arsenal beating us last season is really, really, not even remotely relevant to the discussion is it? I mean we've failed to beat West Brom twice this season but you'd surely take issue with anyone who claimed we weren't better than them? You wouldn't agree that League One Wigan must be a better side than us because they beat City and we didn't, or that Bournemouth beating Chelsea 3-0 away is proof that they'll finish above them next year? Arsenal are a good side, we've already established that on paper they're better than us. That in no way takes away from the fact that there should have been an opportunity for us to challenge them this season, but we blew it.

 

[magicjuan]

Try to imagine a Europa place with the Fat mess at the helm, it`d be worse than this seasons debacle.

" Sam Allardyce brings his unique brand of football to the European stage "

You can just imagine the foreign journos trying to describe - hooooooooooooooof.

Every player and all of the support staff, would have their suitcases rammed full of Walsh`s Golden Virginia and Lambert and Butler on the way back.

Pretty much my greatest fear as an Evertonian this moment, Everton, in Europe with fathead gravy breath in charge....
<shudders into a rigid fit>