There are four categories of Everton players right now in the squad:
1. Have ambitions for Everton - but are too old/not talented enough to make a real difference in helping these ambitions come true
Example players: Coleman, Tom Davies
Key traits: lots of effort; passionate speeches about how much the club means to them; off the pitch actions which back this up; in and out of the team and the target of hyper-critical fans.
2. Have ambitions for themselves - and Everton are merely an incremental stepping stone towards realising these ambitions. It doesn't matter much how well they do with Everton - they'll be on to bigger and better things regardless.
Example players: Richarlison, DCL, Kean, Godfrey
Key traits: shout loud doing post match interviews and social media overload when we win, but go into hiding when we lose. Keen to show their professionalism to future employers; motivated more by social media likes than trophies
3. Had ambition once but have already had these fulfilled and are now on the way down and aren't particularly bothered - they can cash in their achievements by earning big money whilst playing for Everton where nothing really matters
Example players - Allan, James, Delph, Walcott
Key traits: occasional moments of brilliance on the pitch (well, not delph) but constantly let down by their bodies; general air of someone who can't quite believe they're in this situation, but with a resigned sense they can't do much about it now.
4. Have no real ambition other than earning a good wage for playing footy and it doesn't really matter where it is. Winning is nice when it happens but losing doesn't really sting - at least they still got paid. Everton is comfy - the money is good and the standard is fine. By far the largest group in the squad
Example players: Keane, Sigurdsson, Gomes, Digne, Mina, Pickford, Holgate, Bernard, Iwobi, Tosun
Key traits: some good moments when the going is good, but no heart whatsoever and when required to step up and take the initiative; almost impossible to motivate; kings of social media platitudes.
Now, don't get me wrong, every club has a mixture of these types of players. But if the mixture is too far skewed in the wrong direction, it's hard to get anywhere. Our players are showing time and time and again that they just don't really care what's happening to the club. Nothing motivates them. They have some ability and can put an organised performance together when on the back foot against a better team. But when needed to take a big step, to seize the initiative and go all out for a win in a home game against poorer opposition, this lot simply don't have the stuff in them to rouse themselves. Almost every time they will be out fought, out run and out performed, and when the going gets tough, there's no real cause to do anything about it.
They don't care about the reputation of the club or the history.
Watching tonight you can't tell me that many of our players genuinely really cared about whether we won or lost. Not deep down. Meanwhile David McGoldrick....DAVID MCGOLDRICK chased everything, won everything, and out every player in a blue shirt to absolute shame. DAVID MCGOLDRICK - a yard dog of a player on an already relegated team, battling to avoid being one of the worst in the entire history of the premier league.
He looked like he was playing for his life and the lives of his teammates.
Our players looked like they'd rather be anywhere else.
Please...can we have some players again who actually are desperate to pull on an Everton shirt and try to win trophies and not social media followers?
Apologies for the rant. Just needed to get it out.
1. Have ambitions for Everton - but are too old/not talented enough to make a real difference in helping these ambitions come true
Example players: Coleman, Tom Davies
Key traits: lots of effort; passionate speeches about how much the club means to them; off the pitch actions which back this up; in and out of the team and the target of hyper-critical fans.
2. Have ambitions for themselves - and Everton are merely an incremental stepping stone towards realising these ambitions. It doesn't matter much how well they do with Everton - they'll be on to bigger and better things regardless.
Example players: Richarlison, DCL, Kean, Godfrey
Key traits: shout loud doing post match interviews and social media overload when we win, but go into hiding when we lose. Keen to show their professionalism to future employers; motivated more by social media likes than trophies
3. Had ambition once but have already had these fulfilled and are now on the way down and aren't particularly bothered - they can cash in their achievements by earning big money whilst playing for Everton where nothing really matters
Example players - Allan, James, Delph, Walcott
Key traits: occasional moments of brilliance on the pitch (well, not delph) but constantly let down by their bodies; general air of someone who can't quite believe they're in this situation, but with a resigned sense they can't do much about it now.
4. Have no real ambition other than earning a good wage for playing footy and it doesn't really matter where it is. Winning is nice when it happens but losing doesn't really sting - at least they still got paid. Everton is comfy - the money is good and the standard is fine. By far the largest group in the squad
Example players: Keane, Sigurdsson, Gomes, Digne, Mina, Pickford, Holgate, Bernard, Iwobi, Tosun
Key traits: some good moments when the going is good, but no heart whatsoever and when required to step up and take the initiative; almost impossible to motivate; kings of social media platitudes.
Now, don't get me wrong, every club has a mixture of these types of players. But if the mixture is too far skewed in the wrong direction, it's hard to get anywhere. Our players are showing time and time and again that they just don't really care what's happening to the club. Nothing motivates them. They have some ability and can put an organised performance together when on the back foot against a better team. But when needed to take a big step, to seize the initiative and go all out for a win in a home game against poorer opposition, this lot simply don't have the stuff in them to rouse themselves. Almost every time they will be out fought, out run and out performed, and when the going gets tough, there's no real cause to do anything about it.
They don't care about the reputation of the club or the history.
Watching tonight you can't tell me that many of our players genuinely really cared about whether we won or lost. Not deep down. Meanwhile David McGoldrick....DAVID MCGOLDRICK chased everything, won everything, and out every player in a blue shirt to absolute shame. DAVID MCGOLDRICK - a yard dog of a player on an already relegated team, battling to avoid being one of the worst in the entire history of the premier league.
He looked like he was playing for his life and the lives of his teammates.
Our players looked like they'd rather be anywhere else.
Please...can we have some players again who actually are desperate to pull on an Everton shirt and try to win trophies and not social media followers?
Apologies for the rant. Just needed to get it out.
