Without spirit.....

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Still reeling on yesterday's result, like you all, very little surprises me with our team , missing opportunities to progress on a regular basis has become the norm from week to week.

The summary from the manager is intriguing and ,I would imagine impossible to correct. Playing without spirit has to be the absolute base a team can go to. We've seen our captain come out after a game on numerous occasions after abject performances stating the effort wasn't there. So I would have thought if it just happened once there would be an absolute dressing down from management and never would it be seen again,no ?.

I played at a real low level of football, ( left back,as I was the worse of three left footed players ). Playing for 15 years I can honestly say ,me, or none of my team mates ever once didn't play without spirit, christ , we never trained on wet cold nights after work without spirit !.

How can anyone, no matter what level, play without spirit ?. Does it mean , you can't be arsed to compete, is it to not try ?. To not care about the result ?. given the fan base , how do you " not care " . The minimum Evertonians expect is this. How could any player not have the respect to play for the fans ,for their coaches, manager, doorman, canteen staff, for themselves for goodness sake.

Not being good enough is another matter, and I'm ok with that.
Brett Angel wasn't good enough, for those who watched him though, I don't think you could of accused him of not playing without spirit.
Certainly I watched him for a couple of seasons at non league level, couldn't level that at him.


So what does a manager do when he comes across this ?. The easy answer is to send them packing, but realistic, you can't sell all the players , replace them with spirited players minus the talent, Everton would soon be in trouble, paying of huge contracts and a relegation battle would more than likely ensue.

So I trust Ancelotti to get it right over the next couple of years and move on these players who play without spirit.I think he is turning us around ,I like he's signings this season, Godfrey plays with passion, and signings like him will get us back to players who want to play for our club.

So, getting rid of two this season, would send out the message , which two though ?. For me Sigurdsson, and any captain that can't inspire his team on a regular basis has to go, as much as I've been a fan of Seamus, time is up.

Needed this therapy to move on from losing at home yesterday.

Really well said. Whenever I've played 5-a-side with the lads I want to win every game, and get frustrated if I'm losing. Most of the lads are the same. This is down a ratty, poorly laid astro pitch on a Wednesday night. Just us.

I can't understand how professional footballers don't have that competitive spirit on one of the world's biggest stages. My only guess is that money kills it.
 
No club will buy our dross.
Loan deals only, with us paying at least 50% of wages.
Championship clubs would be the level of our dross,and the wage demands, just now,unattainable.
Unless a good coach has an eye for a bargain, or maybe that's our problem, the coaching.
 
We've had some good player's given the role but the last real captain we had was Dave Watson in my opinion.

Under Moyes we had players with spirit but more of a don't lose mentality than a a winning one.

We have a great manager now who I believe will be given time to change the fortunes of the club. He needs to be backed with the players needed for the job and it will take time because we have an image to outsiders that needs to change and indeed to people already at the club in various roles.
 
Still reeling on yesterday's result, like you all, very little surprises me with our team , missing opportunities to progress on a regular basis has become the norm from week to week.

The summary from the manager is intriguing and ,I would imagine impossible to correct. Playing without spirit has to be the absolute base a team can go to. We've seen our captain come out after a game on numerous occasions after abject performances stating the effort wasn't there. So I would have thought if it just happened once there would be an absolute dressing down from management and never would it be seen again,no ?.

I played at a real low level of football, ( left back,as I was the worse of three left footed players ). Playing for 15 years I can honestly say ,me, or none of my team mates ever once didn't play without spirit, christ , we never trained on wet cold nights after work without spirit !.

How can anyone, no matter what level, play without spirit ?. Does it mean , you can't be arsed to compete, is it to not try ?. To not care about the result ?. given the fan base , how do you " not care " . The minimum Evertonians expect is this. How could any player not have the respect to play for the fans ,for their coaches, manager, doorman, canteen staff, for themselves for goodness sake.

Not being good enough is another matter, and I'm ok with that.
Brett Angel wasn't good enough, for those who watched him though, I don't think you could of accused him of not playing without spirit.
Certainly I watched him for a couple of seasons at non league level, couldn't level that at him.


So what does a manager do when he comes across this ?. The easy answer is to send them packing, but realistic, you can't sell all the players , replace them with spirited players minus the talent, Everton would soon be in trouble, paying of huge contracts and a relegation battle would more than likely ensue.

So I trust Ancelotti to get it right over the next couple of years and move on these players who play without spirit.I think he is turning us around ,I like he's signings this season, Godfrey plays with passion, and signings like him will get us back to players who want to play for our club.

So, getting rid of two this season, would send out the message , which two though ?. For me Sigurdsson, and any captain that can't inspire his team on a regular basis has to go, as much as I've been a fan of Seamus, time is up.

Needed this therapy to move on from losing at home yesterday.
Sport is weird though. Surely you have played a game where you have felt the team haven’t been at the races, especially when a team you expect to beat turns up and before you know it you are in a proper game. It sounds like I’m making excuses but I’m not. Professionals they are but still human beings. The ones having the most influence funnily enough the new starts where the ones who probably performed the worst which is strange.
 

We've had some good player's given the role but the last real captain we had was Dave Watson in my opinion.

Under Moyes we had players with spirit but more of a don't lose mentality than a a winning one.

We have a great manager now who I believe will be given time to change the fortunes of the club. He needs to be backed with the players needed for the job and it will take time because we have an image to outsiders that needs to change and indeed to people already at the club in various roles.
I liked Dave Weir, great player. Very under estimated on GOT.
 
He picked the wrong team, ironically the sort of team lots wanted to see. But you cant have attacking full backs, Sigurdsson, James, Iwobi and DCL & Richarlison and expect to be hard to play against. We arent that good and we need to play a sensible style with a balance between defence and attack.

But you knew how this game would go after 15 mins. After an initial bright 5 or 10 minutes we get penned back, we couldn't get near Wilson and we lost every tackle or loose ball. Senior players were getting bullied all over the pitch. Coleman and Digne were both utterly dreadful and gave away a corner or cross every time Newcastle came forward.

It was a pathetic, abject performance and heads should roll. But we know they won't. That sort of dross is acceptable at this club and you can earn 6 figures a week for it.
Very true posters have short memories, I think Ancelloti will heed this warning yesterday. Winning ugly is better than not winning.
 
Good post @Bilko, this lack of 'spirit' has been lurking around the club for years, waiting to pounce when opportunity knocks. The sooner we stop putting average players on long, lucrative contracts the better. Younger players like DCL, Holgate and Godfrey have had to work hard to improve their contracts, and it shows in their performances. Any experienced players we now bring in must have the passion to play like Allan or Digne, the rest can naff off. Plan with the clubs motto at the forefront or accept mediocrity for ever more. I have confidence in Ancelotti turning it around, as long as he's heavily backed. That may be the stumbling block in the short term though.
 
Not so sure that it was simply a lack of spirit...the amount of time digne ended up on his own on the left with huge amount of space but no idea how to play the ball or no quality in the many crosses to the box from that left hand side...for me its also a lack of quality on the pitch and obviously from the bench...
 
He picked the wrong team, ironically the sort of team lots wanted to see. But you cant have attacking full backs, Sigurdsson, James, Iwobi and DCL & Richarlison and expect to be hard to play against. We arent that good and we need to play a sensible style with a balance between defence and attack.

But you knew how this game would go after 15 mins. After an initial bright 5 or 10 minutes we get penned back, we couldn't get near Wilson and we lost every tackle or loose ball. Senior players were getting bullied all over the pitch. Coleman and Digne were both utterly dreadful and gave away a corner or cross every time Newcastle came forward.

It was a pathetic, abject performance and heads should roll. But we know they won't. That sort of dross is acceptable at this club and you can earn 6 figures a week for it.

He said before yesterdays game that he will have to rotate players because of the fixtures. I personaly would leave the back four alone every game. And you're right, the shouts to be more attacking were growing. Theres your end result yesterday. We'll probably do better v leeds going back to it.
Yesterday to many were being carried. If you bring in fullbacks who will be more offensive then the whole midfield has to show up.
They didnt.
 

Not so sure that it was simply a lack of spirit...the amount of time digne ended up on his own on the left with huge amount of space but no idea how to play the ball or no quality in the many crosses to the box from that left hand side...for me its also a lack of quality on the pitch and obviously from the bench...

Agree. In some cases its lack of spirit and quality though.
We simply cant carry sigurdsson and iwobi on the same day. Virtualy playing 8 outfield players.
 
We have mostly average players and some past their sell-by-date look at the squad there is no real competition for places these lads comfortably go through the motions and pick and choose when they can be arsed even more so when there is no fans to get on their backs
 

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