Recruitment Blues

Your last few paragraphs echo the concerns many of us have about where accountability lies for the mess the club has created for itself.

Sam – I agree with nearly all of this.

I was worried Ashley Williams was bought as a fad because of his success at the Euros but it looks like Klaassen was similar. It seems as if we buy the flavour of the month for a lot of dough but with no plan how to fit them into our team.

£225,000,000 worth of players listed above, and unbelievably, only two I would be that bothered if I woke up tomorrow and found out they had decided to retire from the game.

I could name more players from the Walter Smith era who I enjoyed watching more than this current crop.

Walsh got lucky with Vardy and Mahrez. He's done nothing but piss a massive transfer kitty up the wall for us. Moshiri must be secretly fuming.

I think, as a business analyst, you'd have to look at recruitment as one of, if not the most important thing to get right in top flight football. If Moshiri doesn't change the way that "talent" is identified, valued and then purchased at the club he is a bigger fool than I thought.

Football is not like other industries where if you spend enough you ultimately get an end result. You can spend £200 million a transfer window and still threaten the drop. Moshiri needs to change the way his money is spent or he will stop spending it, and we will probably "do a Villa".

Gulp.

As a club we are leaderless.

Trouble is I don't think Moshiri does when he went with this DoF method bollocks... which hasn't been helped by poor Coaching choices.

A DoF is a good servant but a bad master...you can't have him saying, here are players x, y and z, 'We' think they are the best we can get (for the money / availability etc) you're The Coach, coach them.

If we do have to have one, it should be as a servant... bring me a list of the best LBs, then we'll sit down and work our way down it until we get one we can live with.

I'm all for learning on the job but jeez Mosh, will you hurry up and get the training wheels off and start pedalling... Oh, and stop listening to Jim White or whoever it is feeding you these shite cunning plans. Get someone in who knows what the fuck they are actually doing.

The behind the scenes stuff is a bit like the back of house stuff in a well run hotel. The front of house service is what brings the guests back for more. The team on the pitch is the driver of everything; without a successful team the Club drops off the radar and becomes a hollow revenue losing entity very quickly.

We also are losing sight of just how important the marketing angle is the success of the Club. I like many others have been moaning for years about how clever the Redshite have been in kidnapping the BBC, and how consistently this supposedly public body serves them. By contrast, its amazing how much negative and embarrassing publicity Allardyce is receiving by comparison, when previously we were hardly ever had a mention on Match of the Day!

It would be helpful if the respective job descriptions of the Manager and the Director of Football were known.

He has great potential but has not realised it yet. When you look at Dea Gea, Courtois they were light years ahead at his age. The best keeper signing looks like City's Ederson which was a similar price. He has excelled since coming to the Premier League.

His main weakness in my opinion is one area that he can do nothing about - he's not quite tall enough!

I’m not having a go at him and he has loads of potential. As I said I wanted us to sign him but he has a long way to go before we say he is like Nigel Martyn yet alone the greatest, Southall. I still consider it premature to say he is a raging success

Klaasen, Niasse and Tosun have been the stranger ones of recent times.

Link

Ernie Baywood's excellent post @ 278 identified a number of issues offering an explanation as to why we are where we are today. This included:

* poor individual and team performances by the players
* inconsistent team selection and tactics by the manager(s)
* poor management and leadership on all levels of the club, with no apparent accountability
* poor recruitment

Ernie added: "...everyone is under-performing. And the recurring theme is that, as well as being the wrong people doing the wrong things, they're also not being given the best chance of succeeding."

And as he said, It goes right up to the board and the need to:

- Set a vision
- Set a strategy
- Put in place a plan
- Align every part of the club to that plan

Sam's OP reinforces one of Ernie's points. The poor recruitment on Walsh's watch (the one consistent over the term).

Just a perusal glance at our squad last summer as to its make up should have revealed the shortfall and areas that most need strengthening.

Walsh and Koeman had plenty of time to ensure that shortfall was addressed before a ball was kicked. It wasn't.

There is little to disagree with Sam's evaluation of the players we have recruited. There is a great deal to feel remorseful about on players we missed out on.

This is not said with the advantage of hindsight. There were good and arguably better and cheaper options available in the very positions we recruited for (or didn't recruit for, as the case may be).

The two standouts for me are the Hull duo – Andrew Robertson and Harry Maguire. Everton were said to be interested in Robertson even before he joined Hull, whilst at Dundee United. Imagine those two alone in our squad this season and I believe results would be markedly improved.

Everton has spent unprecedented sums on recruitment since Moshiri got on board. His wealth isn't such that we can afford to get it spectacularly wrong each transfer window. We must get a good return on investment on our player recruitment, or we will end up in a downward spiral of diminishing returns.

In closing, I refer back to Ernie's referenced post. Unless and until the issues he raised are addressed – and primarily, that must come from Moshiri, all the way down – I for one don't see any radical upturn in the club's fortunes anytime soon.

Let's not forget that Catterick had a transfer kitty bigger than all our rivals, but failed to reach a European Cup Final with all the resources he had. He won 2 League titles and an FA Cup. I suppose put against every other manager apart from Kendall he is the most successful we have had, but he should have won more.

But we had chances to appoint Clough and Bobby Robson when they were in their prime but failed badly. Clough in particular was brilliant without money, but if he had the backing of Moores money he would have won absolutely everything multiple times. The only British manager ever to win back to back European Cups with Nottingham Forest. That Derby team he won the league with were full of players that had been deemed past their best. But I don't think Moores had the bottle to hire such an outspoken manager.

Although we were one of the clubs pushing for Sky to televise games, our star was on the wain by then and have failed miserably to get back to where we once were. Obviously when John Moores stepped aside we didn't have the money to buy the best players. Sadly all we have done since is mark time avoiding relegation on a couple of occasions and a couple of visits to Wembley. With only Joe Royle able to boast any silverware, and the wait goes on.

We now have a manager a Director of Football deciding who we should buy, I could well imagine what reaction you would have got from Shankly and Busby and Clough if you had told them they would have to work with a Director of Football who would have a major say in transfers. But some say this is the modern way well I cant think were a Director of Football has worked in this country. I know Daniel Commolli was sacked from his DOF role at both Spurs and Liverpool.

So appoint a manager who has proved he can win trophies and whose teams play in a style that you want. Also let him decide who he buys and sells and everything to do with the running of the club. And if someone says it's not possible to do it in the modern game, I give you Sir Alex Ferguson who did everything at Man Utd, another manager we could have got when he was at Aberdeen.

We have wasted a massive opportunity to put this club firmly on the map, and it doesn't seem anyone at the club will be paying the price. The board are an absolute joke. Can anyone see this lot turning things around next season?

It is a well known fact that a certain Mr Kenwright will not let 'outsiders' have anything to do with the running of the club. Until that changes, and we bring on board the ruthlessness we witness at other clubs, we will not move forward. You could start by any player over 30 not being awarded more than a 12-month contract. What a mess.

Surely any manager worth his salt is in charge of the recruitment of players, particularly for the first team squad? If not, he may be coaching up to half a dozen players whom he might not have chosen had he been truly managing as distinct from coaching.

At Goodison this paradox seems more pronounced than in the vast majority of other Premier League clubs, which leads us back yet again to the Moshiri - Kenwright axis that is running our club so badly.

I'd disagree with your assertion that it was since Moyes left that the team hasn't been built around young players. Martinez was very much building this way, more so than Moyes. He brought in Lukaku and had the spine of the team being Stones, Barkley and Lukaku. He brought over Deulofeu and McCarthy wasn't exactly old when he was brought in at the age of 22.

He partnered him with an older Barry, but Barry was a senior player with quality. Even Besic when signed was not an older player. He brought in Atsu on loan but that didn't work out. Holgate was brought in. Funes Moro was signed at the age of 24. So I'd say it was a definite mix under Martinez, with the 22-year-old McCarthy in midfield along with Barkley, Lukaku, Stones all regular starters.

Since then I can't think of a team in world football with such dreadful transfer business. We have been taken to the cleaners for some very very average at best players.

We need to rip it up and start again with a team in place that actually has a plan.

All those players you have mentioned under Martinez's tenure have disappeared except for McCarthy who has fractured his leg. So at this moment there are not enough younger players to form a core, who can go and win something in the future. Everton at this moment are going from one crisis to another without a core of younger players to lead them out of it.

If we marched out:

Pickford
Coleman Holgate Williams Martina
Gana
Walcott Davies Rooney Sigurdsson
Tosun

We'd actually win some games.

Holgate and Williams for Sam's first three or so games were very good in the back. Christmas came, fixtures piled up, and we've never went back to that winning combination. Why?

Gana is a ball winner and tireless, unlike the seemingly undroppable Schneiderlin. With Rooney and Davies in midfield – and this is the single most important change in my opinion – we'd actually go forward. Our biggest problem currently is we're scared of our own shadow and field a midfield that has no attacking nous whatsoever. And an all-scouse midfield would be fun to watch, week-in and week-out. Not a barometer to base a lineup, but as a fan I'd enjoy watching it.

Bolasie can come off the bench where needed to provide pace. Sigurdsson out wide isn't ideal, but to my eyes he's a playmaker and should be on the pitch. Where else do you fit him? If Rooney tires, move Gilfy to the middle and bring in Yannick.

And Tosun would do much, much better with two attack-minded midfielders behind him. If he's misfiring, Niasse seems to have a knack for scoring in a substitute role.

Instead of the above, we continually get Schneiderlin out there, Davies on the bench, a non-fit Bolasie starting, a revolving door of a centre-back partnership...

It comes down to team selection and a lack of desire to actually attack because our manager is a buffoon who has always preferred 10 men behind the ball creating the worst football I've seen in my Blue life.

Do we need to drop some dead weight in the team? Yes. Should we bring in a left-back? Yes. Are there areas where we should have done something different on the recruitment side? Yes.

But if this team were set up properly, we'd not have dropped near as many points.

Oh... and for subs – and this is where I'd like to punch Sam / Walsh in the face - Lookman (gone), Vlasic (out of favor and why?), Calvert-Lewin riding the bench an awful lot (why?) Our kids who were getting time and doing a pretty decent job (throw Holgate in there for argument's sake) have all but disappeared as Sam reverts to type and doesn't play the kids.

Our malaise is down to management, not recruitment, in the main. Boring football, poor set ups, an inability to actually try to have a go... and so it continues.

Nothing will change with Sam in charge. There's your problem. He has to go.

Premier League Stats

It's hard to argue against the theory behind these acquisitions based solely on stats. Problem is that, moulding a team is about more than stats. It has a lot to do with teamwork, a proper suitable plan and tactics that suit the players, chemistry, sheer Seamus Coleman grit and will to win etc etc, not to mention a belief in the 'project' and respect for the manager.

Idrissa Gueye -–Interceptions 2nd, Tackles 2nd in 2015-16.
Williams – Clearances 1st, Headed Clearances 2nd in 2015-16.
Schneiderlin – during his Southampton days was 6th in tackles 2013-14 and 7th in 2014-15.
Keane – Clearances 4th, Headed Clearances 2nd in 2016-17.
Pickford – Saves 2nd in 2016-17, 3rd so far this season.
Gylfi Sigurdsson – Assists 3rd, 2016-17.
Sandro – 14 goals in La Liga 2016-17 cheap release clause.
Davy Klaassen –14 goals and 9 assists in 33 games for Ajax 2016-17.

Some other interesting finds.

Jagielka is 2nd on the all-time list for last-man tackles with 24 behind Richard Dunne on 28.

Schneiderlin is 19th in interceptions this season, perhaps the stat that gives the stats a bad name.

Gana is 2nd in tackles this season and the much maligned Cuco Martina is in 14th place.

The biggest surprise to me is to see Dominic Calvert-Lewin pop up in 5th place this season with 123 aerial battles won.

Can someone please offer him a shirt swap soon so he can slope off somewhere far away from our club and it’s fans. Not fit to wear that number 2 shirt.

The rest of the recruitment? Pretty poor overall. We finally get some money and people like Walsh & Koeman. Pathetic.

Also of the players brought into the youth set up (Mathis, Markello, Bowler, Donkor, Adenarin & Gibson) only Adenarim & Gibson havelooked anything like a prospects. Pathetic again.