Yellow Tie Blues

Adam, you left out mentioning the new signing from Sheffield United :)

Apart from that omission, great post.

Good to see positivity

If we are staying positive, it does seem as though the likes of Tom Davies will get more of an opportunity following the relative inaction yesterday, and that can only be a good thing going forward.

Makes me nostalgic for Carsley – if Gana guides in the winner against the RS at the street-end, I will be an extremely happy camper!

Very good article, properly considered. All jesting aside the best business was done in June getting Koeman which deserves a mention here – well, after sacking the other clown in May that is. Get Lukaku firing again and we are up and running as we look much more solid and hard to beat already.

But to keep things positive my Geordie mate confirmed to me what many of us thought; the phrases "dodged a bullet" and "no end product" came up when Sissoko was mentioned. He's certainly no Gana... and I agree, Alasdair (#5) – a Derby goal would make me name my first born Idrissa!

Seems to me there weren't many suitable targets and where we did have a crack, we encountered the 'to be expected' obstacles of a club starting from the back with few inducements to offer. This was always going to happen when we took the first steps forward to a new Everton.

As supporters we have been quick to adjust and embrace this 'new' Everton (and we're in a hurry!!), but of course those outside our little bubble have yet to be convinced and have their perceptions changed. Once they do, then our business will become easier as players will know why they should come to Everton and what it offers them. Until then we need to suffer these hiccups and make these baby steps forward.

Sissoko was nothing, Gabbiadini might have been handy but was not going to turn us into contenders. We can now relax in the knowledge that Walsh can properly invest time and prepare fully for transfer window – maybe even tap up a few players. I'd rather be a little strategic with player transfers because I believe the Koeman factor and the new players we have is easily enough for top 7 right now.

It's theatre. We all buy into it and there's a mega money machine making it happen. It's hard not to get caught up in the drama. Like any theatrical production, the final act plays out as the most important to us... we'd do well to remind ourselves that this is actually football and not theatre.

I'd love us to spend money on top, top players. But if they're not there or won't come, then spending the same money on average players shouldn't make me feel any better.

More interestingly is their view of Everton. Some posters can't understand why they let Valencia join Everton instead of Swansea – as they see Everton as a contender for a Top 7 place. The media generally has us finishing Top 10 or at a push Top 9 – but we have more respect from the Hammers.

Personally I think we will finish higher than Mordor this season, and Southampton and Stoke and West Ham – that will put us 7th. Not sure if we can go better the Leicester or any of the other "big six"... but let's see how it goes. It's a tough league now.

David (#14) – the Valencia deal is interesting in that respect. If Arsenal (allegedly) said that loaning us Wilshire was out of the question, it does seem strange that West Ham let this deal happen. I watched their Europa League playoff and the crowd did seem to be on top of him, but my outside perspective is someone mobile, powerful shot and international pedigree.

This was the kind of loan signing Moyes made, a player with a point to prove. If he turns into an Arteta/Pienaar Mk 1 rather than a Jo, it will be good business.

I wish the positive approach could be shared on some of the other threads. I'm staggered how many contributors seem to be so negative about the situation.
I honestly think that Mr Koeman is going to make a massive difference and I am looking forward to the initial start to be developed in the coming weeks.

Keep the faith.

We should also keep on (and on and on and on) reminding ourselves that the buy to make a 'statement of intent' (popular with many on TW) was not the model used by the present champions.

After the immediate TDD disappointment, I quickly became positive again for the reasons you have outlined.

Dave # 14 – I would like to think we could finish in the top 6 but one thing is for sure – I feel much more confident about us visiting Mordor this season with this manager, this squad of players, and the style of football we are playing.

Williams showed at the Euros what a great leader he is and Gana played with the same heart in a terrible Villa team last season in an attempt to lead by example.

Is RK disappointed? Is he seriously pissed of with BK? I don't know, but he's been in football long enough to realise that you don't get everything you want in football (or life) and his two-year plan has not been derailed because that gobshite Sissoko and his agent treated us with such disrespect. (Imagine the gob on Sissoko if we'd "disrespected" him!)

A decent foray in the transfer market, we will add more star dust, first team staples and youth over the next couple of windows. The funds are there, we don't need to exist on free transfers to supplement the squad, à la Naismith, Stracq, Drenthe, or the Leeds lad.

I am disappointed to lose Stones. He was a future great for us, and selling that category of player has to stop, whilst a lot of deadwood is still on the books.

Hopefully Koeman has enough to get into a European slot with this team and hard work. His organisational skills and ability to defend evident from Southampton puts on the coat tails of the usual suspects.

Here's to a strong start to the season.

If you had asked us in May where we would hoped to be at the beginning of September, I think we would all have happily settled for a top class manager, a Director of Football with a top class reputation for scouting, the recruitment of five players who will immediately strengthen the squad and 4th place in the league after an unbeaten start.

The club has stopped the rot and can now move forward confidently.

More positivity would be wonderful, we have a very good manager and a pretty talented group of players.

COYB!

My reflex reaction was anger and disappointment on TDD, but honestly I then thought that I was looking at Moshiri, Koeman and Walsh through the lens of a decade of Kenwright. Each step of the journey since Moshiri took over has been well considered and beneficial so far.

So I am going to look at things in the round and look forward with more real optimism than I have felt since the heady days of Big Joe signing Kanchelskis, Speed etc.

The stand out for me, I agree with you, is Gueye. He fills so many gaps that the current squad lack (and frankly does the job McCarthy has been doing poorly for two seasons).

He also offers something offensively, not one of Lee Carsley's strengths (apart from one incident of course), and he takes pressure off both Barry (who lacks the legs) and Barkley (who will never be a ball winner I'm afraid). I don't think we've seen his like in a blue shirt since Peter Reid, I think he is that good.

I'm a massive admirer of Kante , and if our lad can get anywhere near Kante's level of last season, we will have a rear legend on our hands.

In the modern game, where physical contact is becoming increasingly outlawed, Gueye wins the ball by harrying, chasing, and lightening fast feet and timing to whip the ball away from his opponent. An invaluable ability.

Our priority has to be to bed in a new way of playing and system under Koeman, get the players confident of winning games again, get the home crowd back on the front foot, and move up the table versus last season. I would regard that as a positive outcome this year, particularly if, in the background, real progress is made getting us into a new river side home.

It's a relief to see someone focused on the team game and not reliant on quick fixes.

Only player I am surprised wasn't linked more was James Rodriguez, even a £5 million season loan would have been worth a go. Ambitious and unlikely, but you never know!! Again great article!

Hopefully Moshiri will learn from this and we will be better prepared next January and especially next summer.

We also shouldn't underestimate what we now have as a squad. Those players who were here last year (mostly top internationals) massively underachieved and will get back to their best under Koeman. The additions have so far impressed.

The lack of success in getting all the players Koeman wanted has also opened the door for a number of young players to fill the vacuum. Holgate has grasped his opportunity with both hands and we know there are others who can and (I believe) will step up .

Did make me laugh with the typo "so much of our goof football started with Graveson"... how true!

Things have suddenly brightened up. What a beauty of an article. A change from all the moaning. But this wouldn't be TW without a moan – so here goes... Adam, you're spelling of Mirallas is a disgrace! Calls for a ban from TW.

Cheers, Adam.

Hope Valencia can regain his early form at West Ham but mainly we need Rom to get back on song.

The squad may not have the depth for the whole season but the early wins will significantly boost confidence, which will give the players a bit extra on the pitch.

(Trying not to get too carried away but Koeman is such a breath of fresh air compared to Martinez and Moyes.)

Statements of intent signings are pure bollox, Ballotelli was one of those and that ended well didn't it!

Koeman and his staff will build a team over the next 18 months that will be worthy of our expectations, he hasn't spunked a load of hard earned on Average Joes with inflated price tags and for me that is comforting and says he knows what he wants and is prepared to wait.

Unlike a lot of posters on here during TDD who would have burned £100 million on basically fuck all.

Just to make a statement of intent.

Gana is absolutely the steal of the century. He's already proven a lot of people wrong with his first few games. Hopefully Valencia can do the same.

I implore bluenoses to read your article, as you put it so eloquently!

The squad and management are good enough to be challenging the top 4 until the next window... thus we will have more bargaining power and hopefully more cash than others. Rome wasn't built in a day.

COYB.

Under effective management, which is what we have now with Koeman and his team, TDD can and should become effectively irrelevant. We then are effectively sending out a real 'message of intent' that we don't need to get caught up in the money-go-round of cash splashing that happens with other clubs like Liverpool and Newcastle. We're Everton, and we don't need to do that kind of thing.

Just one word of caution regarding your bit about Barkley and his mistakes, none of us mind him making mistakes but he really has to stop making so many, he really has to...

Although usually in January, all that's available are other teams' cast-offs. In general I'm with our current squad. Keep the faith... COYB

Interestingly I haven't seen any comments on this thread from some of the usual suspects, that are prevalent on other threads, who are still griping and kicking the dog in their misled frustration.

Maybe they can't find any gaps, that they could exploit, in your well thought out logic.

I'm sitting in a lot at the Disney Showcase soccer tournament in Orlando – the REAL Mickey Mouse Cup!

Had some time to kill so popped on TW and very glad I did. You're saying what I've been thinking ever since the window closed.

Great article; write more often, please.

The one area I would be more critical of was the failure to bring in a better striker. Adam's statement that 'we could have fared much worse' with respect to Valencia is true, but doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

Exactly what I was thinking when you infer there is a lack of the usual suspects' comments on this thread. Whilst I do enjoy reading the gripes, which to be fair are usually valid, it is good to have a more positive/realistic view from time to time.

Glad Adam's article got picked up and moved to a more prominent spot so more could see it!

Even if we have the odd reverse, there is no way we are going to be relegated with Koeman. Top 10 guaranteed... a shot at top 6, and we can dream of a 4th if we get on a roll like Leicester.

New Ground Announcement and Build Progress will help recruitment of new talent.

Thanks Adam and all on here. I love Optimism!!!

Looking forward to the first half of the season, and already trying to temper my own expectations for the winter transfer window. If we can dodge major injuries to key players, we should be able to get a run going. Meanwhile, a stadium announcement would be really something to excite the fans!

Nice to see some perspective and positivity on here too, I couldn't understand the knee-jerk misery on here on Thursday after the window shut and we hadn't signed Messi and someone better.

I hear Beckenbauer might be available on parole if we need another centre-back mind...

Great article. I've vented my frustration on other threads but now I think it's time to move on. My expectations have been re-adjusted somewhat but reading this once a day helps!

If we'd acquired 3 strikers I would have thought that was a decent number. But just 1 (who is potentially out of form) in the whole summer is rubbish.

Lukaku is patently out of form (12 games and no goals and assists) and we have no established goalscorer behind him. That's poor one way or another.

I said I was very happy with the new manager and the possibility of a new stadium some time in the near future but was really interested to see how the squad would be improved during the transfer window. I was effectively told "Watch this space, you are going to be very pleasantly surprised!"

And you know what. I'm not. I'm not massively disappointed but I sincerely don't believe that what transpired during the transfer window comes anywhere near what people at the club had hoped for.

And that is grounds for some niggling concerns because, despite what some of the happy clappers on this site are trying to suggest, we remain 3 or 4 key injuries away from being simply an also-ran team with absolutely no guarantees that we can get business done in January instead.

Leicester City reset the bar last season and the league is as wide open as it ever has been. If we still can't sell ourselves as potential winners to all and sundry with the manager and supposed backing we now have, then we desperately need new salespeople.

This isn't pessimism, it's realism. I am still hopeful that our small squad can stay healthy enough to mount effective campaigns in the three trophies we will be competing for, but I am not about to say "Gee, everything seems rosy" on the evidence of our laboured dealings across the last couple of months.

Probably the most reasonable expression of the current state of the club I've seen on here. No matter how much positive spin anyone on here wants to try to put on the situation, the fact remains that we were told by the manager that he needed more players, and we failed to get them.

I've been painted as being doom and gloom, when in fact all I've been saying is that my initial excitement has changed to accepting that we really haven't changed with this new owner. We are still bargain buying, one of only a few teams with a negative net spend this window.

So will we improve on last season? Yes, I believe so. But I don't see us doing any better than 8th, and that is very disappointing to me. I expected us to splash some cash to convince one or two players to come here and be part of this "project" that Koeman said he was so happy to join. But as it stands, I don't believe we can honestly expect to finish above Man City, Chelsea, Man Utd, Arsenal, Spurs, Leicester or Liverpool at the end of the season. Which is why I say, what exactly has changed with the new owner?

8th doesn't get you Europe. So the excuses that we couldn't get players because we failed to qualify for Europe, well what's going to be different next year? If anyone can honestly tell me they expect to finish above any of the teams I mentioned, I'd love to hear the reason why. Because if nobody would join us when we finished 11th, why would they think 8th is so much better?

The truth is I don't believe the club is happy at all with this transfer window. I think they fully expected to bring in players, but failed. And I'd have a whole lot more confidence if the club actually came out and said "mistakes were made this window. We expected to be more active and productive. We will be conducting a thorough review to ensure we learn from these mistakes." But instead we got that terrible quote from Moshiri that was rightly mocked.

Come now. One goal was from a free kick crossed into the box that nobody got a head to, flat footing the keeper. Another was an own goal missed penalty kick. And four of them were in the second round of the cup against lower league opposition.

If we have any ambition at all, we shouldn't be content to count our blessings. We should be questioning everything about this transfer window. Why did we let Bony go to Stoke without making an offer of our own? Our need for another striker is glaring... Why the fuck were we offering £30m for a player with a heart the size of a pea, who offers nothing going forward?

We are screaming out for winners and Drinkwater (a proven winner) has been stalling on a contract all summer. Where were we? Wouldn't it have been worth offering the money we were seemingly prepared to pay for the carthorse?

Look, Adam, you make some good points and you make them well, but this is only half an article, Like Lyndon's (another very fine article), it focuses almost entirely on the positive. but we need to address the negatives too.

I'm not saying it is all doom and gloom, I fancy us to climb at least four places in the table by virtue of the fact that we will not be handicapped by Martinez. The wisdom of signing Bolasie and the decision not to bring in another keeper, is still open to debate; however, many believe the acquisition of Gana will prove to be a masterstroke, but let's not act like youngsters such as Holgate have suddenly been acquired – he was already here and the current regime should not be given the credit for that.

You are right to point out that this window has not been an absolute disaster, but we should all acknowledge that it could and perhaps should have been so much better.

However, if Jim White's texts really were from Moshiri, it has started a niggling doubt in my mind, which will only be alleviated if BK owns up to him and Bobby Earl sending the texts on Moshiri's phone while Moshiri had nipped for a piss.

We are a lot stronger pre-season than we were post the last, but we could have been even stronger with a Perez, Bony or Slimani type signing.

But it's clear that a lot of people are going to need to adjust their expectations of what Moshiri means for the club – and so far it looks like sensible foundations more than anything.

Looking around, it is Manchester United who have made the most defining signings in Zlatan and Pogba.

And I'm not particularly bothered about Sissoko, who clearly wanted to be somewhere else anyway. But couldn't we have sorted out Brahimi, Perez, Slimani etc earlier if we really wanted them? I can only speculate...

"Everton's new majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri has questioned his club's failure to land major transfer targets this summer."

From the Mirror this morning, apparently.

To come to some of the comments that – quite rightly – pick away at the feelings of unease around our business (#64 from Si, Darren at #66 and David #71). Yes, I agree that some of the noises coming out of the club earlier on in the summer compared to how things ended do leave some frustration. However, if we look at what other clubs have done, I feel like we have been sensible.

Teams like Palace and Bournemouth may have strengthened but would the players they've bought in get into our starting 11? Direct rivals like Spurs and West Ham added numbers but again I don't look on with envy. Even Arsenal and Chelsea were reduced to panic buys late on in the window.

Perhaps there was some naivety on the part of the board, or a little too much optimism. It could also be put down to adding Steve Walsh and Koeman fairly late in the day, in a transfer window after the Euros, in a vastly inflated market.

I'm also not suggesting that everything on the pitch is hunky dory either; Barkley does need to kick on this year, our mercurial wingers need to deliver, Lukaku needs to rediscover his form, etc. However, I see improvement.

I see a manager willing to be flexible and make an impact on games. Unlike his predecessor, Koeman seems dissatisfied with what he is seeing and demands more. That alone gets me sitting up to take notice and feeling brighter things are on the horizon. I think the players we have added (that we have seen enough of) are signings with experience, nous and not of the Sissoko mould we might have ended up with this summer.

Time will tell. But I am looking forward to the rumour mill dying down so that we can focus on what matters most; watching the blues. There were times last year I would dread the games – the car crash in slow motion effect of Martinez's tenure – but I'm excited to see us at Sunderland. And if we get things right on the pitch, the rest will follow.

Similarly, if memory serves me right, the RS were trying to get Wijnaldum for £15 million, but they finally ended up paying £25 million. Likewise, Arsenal for Perez. Which means our rivals have less cash lying around in the next transfer window. :-)

Does Koeman really value him that highly as an addition to the team?

Or were we really desperate to show that we have cash to splash? Especially after some of the restlessness of the fans?

Mirallas is NOT a winger, he's what was commonly referred to as an 'inside forward' – playing off the centre forward.

Give him a decent, meaningful run alongside Lukaku.

Seems obvious to me.