What is the problem with this team?

[NilSatisOptimum]

The back line is too slow has been for some time now and to compensate, the need for two sitting/ defense midfielders. Priority should always build from the back. Left back and centre back should have been priority... But stiill time yet! And we look and behave like a club that panics and sacks.

 

[Zatara]

If we have £100mil to spend it should be used on 3 Richarlison types. Every single summer.

U21, pace, power, movement, aggression, desire.

This summer we need to shift out a huge amount of players and free up funds so it is very difficult.

Signings that are praised on here;
Walcott (injury prone + 30 next season)
Sigurdsson (soon 29 and not a top player)
Tosun (good player but no pace)

Could all be sold and higher quality replacements brought in. £80mil+ there and huge wages which could be spent on better players...

Cant blame Silva or Brands for anything...need to get rid of most of the squad.

 

[uknightbreed]

for starters we need a roy keane/viera type of player in the center of the pitch, other than a Frenchman with the character of a bowl of jelly.

 

[arbok]

The problem is simple for me, the 'core' of Everton has not been replaced.

If you look at Manchester United and their successes, they've always built a core of players and that's why they'd take a few years to rebuild and relaunch. They certainly spent money, but they didn't spend money at every position, mostly on forwards and keepers where you needed that extra talent. But every other position they were happy to develop on their own and buy if they really needed replacing. That's why they were able to punch above their weight every time.

It was the same with the Everton squad through Moyes' era and partly through Martinez's era, the senior core of players stuck together and were driven by a task master like Moyes, everyone knew their role and there were senior players who set the ground rules.

Now your 'senior core' consists of Coleman, Baines, Jags, Mirallas, far too small of a group to have influence over the rest of the guys, and guys who've come in like Sigurdsson, Walcott, Schneiderlin, Gueye haven't stepped up into a leadership role as yet. There is certainly less cohesion at the moment with so many new players in the last few years than say the Cahill/Arteta/Pienaar/Osman era. As [Poor language removed] as Neville was, he pointed fingers on the field and nobody right now is doing it with such menace as he did. Meanwhile the younger Everton guys can't get a game because of these expensive purchases so they have zero influence on the team.

The solution is therefore: the Manchester United solution, play the younger, promising guys, deal with a couple of years of mid table mediocrity, find the core of the group and play those guys. This is what Tottenham and to a degree what Liverpool have done. Unless you can spend oodles of money like Manchester City to instantly get Top 4 / Champions League status, then the club will almost always be buying players not wanted by the Top 4 at exorbitant prices.

 

[arbok]

There ain’t any simple to this - ability, desire, comfort zone, style of play. We ain’t a team in the sense of having a collective objective who pull together and have pride in the shirt and name of Everton Football Club. They ain’t fans who have the same emotional attachment to our colours.

Let’s face it, we now have a squad acquired by five different managers, each promised different things and each with different styles of play and approaches to the game. From the remnants of the Moyes era, that underdog/hard to beat/Goodison bear pit approach when top earners may have touched £50k per week, to Martinez and his play from the back, dont practice set plays or worry about tracking back if it’s not your job, to Moonhead and his something that I never really got to be honest other than his excuses, to that stain on our name who personally won every game under his tenure and wasn’t responsible for any loss to our new man.

We have players on huge variances of weekly wage, for the too old school from Moyes’ tenure they’ll reckon most of the new nothings don’t deserve it, they are probably right. For Martinez’s crew, it wasn’t supposed to be like this and most have gone anyway, for Moonheads mob, the dough is great and if it don’t work out, they have an agent telling them to stick it out as nobody else will pay the same wedge and for Silva....him and Brands will have to create a team from this.

We have young lads trying to break into a squad that is as fractured and dysfunctional as exists in the Premier League. On the back of this, we are trying to move ground, have an owner who has promised a lot but overseen little in terms of progress. So far, the lad in the hot seat has carried the can for our under performance on the pitch but I sense this is changing. Step up or get out seems the message....and it’s going to be uncomfortable for many sorting this out. Especially for the fans who I reckon care far more than many of those who represent our club.

I agree with most of this especially the part about a collective objective.

I will say though, having huge variances of weekly wage is the same everywhere, most football clubs do and most top level sports are the same. Heck even company CEOs and upper management rake in tons of money vs mid level managers. It would be nice if everyone was paid more equally on the football pitch, but when they sign their contract, they should be happy with it as it's far more than what most people earn anyway. I haven't heard a peep from Deli Alli and he's the most underpaid footballer in the prem I think.

 

[PeregrineT]

The problem is exactly what it was last season. Still a few terrible players in the CB and CM roles who are dragging the whole team down. The rest of the team havent played that poorly, but Keane and Jagielka are both terrible, and Scheniderlin is still the same lazy rat. Its just a continuation of last season except Jags is a year older, and Baines is a year older. Simply replace the middle defensive 3 with competent players and you fix 90% of the problems.

 

[cadex]

Off the top of my head.

1. Lack of dynamism in front third. Sigurdsson is not a 10 and Dowell is still developing. We have trouble linking midfield with attack. Tosun often isolated as a result.

2. Lack of dynamism, ball security in midfield. Gueye is limited going forward while Schneiderlin lacks consistency. Besic can play a forward pass but has a tendency to take too many unnecessary risks while in possession. As a result, build up is slow (lots of sideways/backwards passing) and opposition has time to get organised. All too often, centre-backs are forced to play out as no midfielder is willing to present or take on the responsibility (hiding).

3. Defending. Lack of composure on the ball. Lack of pace. Ageing defenders (Jagielka, Williams, Baines) + Michael Keane.. nuff said.

 

[Igrok]

22-0 though...

 

[Osamabindiesel]

The players are mentally incapable of coping with the fans’ demands. 72 points total syndrome

 

[AmericasToffee]

There was no plan when assembling the current squad. It's players thrown together with different strengths that don't match up

 

[Aqui1a]

Steve Walsh

 

[Yarrgh]

To be fair, as a workshy sloth who aspires to taking the p*ss, I couldn't ask for a better team to represent me.

 

[welshtoffee]

Quite simply if we don't make any decent signings we will struggle big style. Our defence is snail pace, they are horrendous defending set pieces. Our defensive midfielders cannot defend and our main striker is very slow. Overall we are pretty awful despite spending millions on crap.

 

[BigBlueConk]

Ok, I know that they're a bunch of lightweight sh*thouses with barely a sprint between them. I know we've got one of the worst centre back pairings in recent memory and I know that last summer saw us burn through money of some absolute disasters.

We know the obvious reasons but what is it that turns £300m worth of players in 11 crabs in possession? What is the reason for the lack of movement? I'm genuinely interested to know what everyone thinks is the reason for our total inability to create chances in the past year?

We didn't buy players suited to the style in place. Subsequently we are now devoid of any noticeable style.
The signings were all individual talents at their previous clubs, but sadly lack a team work ethic in a new environment.
Many of the signings played with plenty of quality or understanding around them. These attributes were already on the slide at Goodison.
What Everton needed to do when RK came onboard, was not chase dreams with show boat players, but dig in again and buy grafters and then build.

To build and grow, any manager in history will tell you that you need a solid and reliable back four and go from there.
We have not done this. We have not addressed the issues of a declining group of first team defenders and put the kids under massive pressure.

Koeman was busy playing golf when he should have been dealing with this.
Once the season started the team, the fans, Unsy and Fat Sam were well and truly goosed.

And guess what? It still hasn't been addressed!

 

[dholliday]

We know the obvious reasons but what is it that turns £300m worth of players in 11 crabs in possession? What is the reason for the lack of movement? I'm genuinely interested to know what everyone thinks is the reason for our total inability to create chances in the past year?

It's the expectation factor: they know the club & fans don't expect top 6, but neither do we expect bottom 10. As the bottom-half of the Prem is so gash the players know they don't have to bust a gut to make that 7th-10th spot. A little cup run here, or a plucky away draw to a big club there, and they've done their bit.

The one or two who'll really shine because they have ambition will get bought up within a year or two anyway.

We must be unique in how consistently we've been treading water these last 15 years.