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Opinion & Articles

Contributions from our editorial team, featured columnists and readers.

A World In Motion Indeed

Lyndon Lloyd
25/06/2018

There is so much magic woven into the tapestry of every World Cup in terms of what happens on the field. In his new book, World In Motion, Simon Hart brings the 1990 Finals back to life with a number of its various back stories and provides so much context to what was a pivotal tournament in so many ways.

“All You Need is Just a Little Patience…”

Lyndon Lloyd
31/05/2018

The 2018 close season has already offered a fresh start and some optimism for Evertonians following the appointment of Marcel Brands and Marco Silva. Now the new management team needs time and backing to effect the big changes needed.

Boom, Bust & Bad Medicine — 2017-18 Season Review

Lyndon Lloyd
24/05/2018

2017-18 may have offered few moments to savour but it will live long in the memory… hopefully as the nadir in a decade that has promised much but delivered very little

Reboot

Lyndon Lloyd
18/05/2018

Marcel Brands and whoever is drafted in as head coach have a big rebuilding task at hand. It won't happen overnight but where the director of football is concerned at least, Everton appear to have made a significant appointment

Sea Change at Everton as Moshiri Seeks to Correct Course

Lyndon Lloyd
17/05/2018

There have been mis-steps under Moshiri's reign but they have not caused irrevocable damage. The swift moves witnessed this week provide a means to get the Iranian-born businessman's project moving in the right direction again.

A Fittingly Awful End to a Dreadful Season

Lyndon Lloyd
14/05/2018

A performance that mostly made the Hammers look a significantly better team than their record and recently averted crisis suggests they are and, eventually, a defeat that may have seemed harsh when comparing chances created but which was wholly deserved on the balance of play.

The Silva Lining to the Storm Clouds of 2017-18?

Lyndon Lloyd
12/05/2018

It's only speculation but Everton could call time on Sam Allardyce's tenure this week. Marco Silva and Paulo Fonseca remain the leading candidates to replace him judging by reports. A look at the former and what he might bring to Goodison.

Fairytale Unfulfilled — Rooney's Second Farewell Would Suit All Parties

Lyndon Lloyd
10/05/2018

It seems as though this Sunday's game at the London Stadium could be Wayne Rooney's last competitive match in an Everton jersey. He would leave the Blues again with an air of unfulfilled promise

“Go On.” Unboxing the 2018-19 Home Kit

Lyndon Lloyd
07/05/2018

Overall, it looks as though the club have scored with the 2018-19 home strip and another one of those stirring promotional videos to go with it

Lucky Davies strike adds late drama to lifeless Blues display

Lyndon Lloyd
06/05/2018

Lady Luck handed out unjust rewards to an Everton side that only really rallied in second-half stoppage time just when it looked as though Nathan Redmond had secured three vital points for Southampton

“Our Rightful Place”

Lyndon Lloyd
03/05/2018

No club is ordained to be ever-successful but there is a strong case to be made for one club's place at the proverbial “top table” of English football being “rightful” and that is Everton. We need not be apologetic about demanding we get back there or be hesitant in trying.

Win over tame Terriers unlikely to nudge opinion on Allardyce

Lyndon Lloyd
29/04/2018

Everton enhanced their prospects of finishing in eighth spot but Sam Allardyce's search for love from the Blues' faithful is likely to be in vain

The Waiting Game

Lyndon Lloyd
27/04/2018

If the various rumours and tabloid website reports are correct, Sam Allardyce travelled to London yesterday looking for assurances over his future but was left largely in continuing limbo. The simple lack of definitive backing for the manager was significant. If true, it suggests that Farhad Moshiri wants time to secure a more permanent appointment to lead Everton forward.

Style in short supply as Blues prevail over Newcastle

Lyndon Lloyd
24/04/2018

Everton won a match for the first time in four attempts and moved up a place but it was dull fare that featured just one shot on target. Yet the media bandwagon is again, patronisingly, asking what more Blues fans want.

Something to Believe In

Lyndon Lloyd
17/04/2018

Despite an utterly forgettable year, Evertonians are still buying season tickets in record numbers but they have been at their most engaged when they've had genuine hope. Farhad Moshiri and the Board's next moves are of vital importance

Everton pass up successive away win but Allardyce hails 'precious point'

Lyndon Lloyd
16/04/2018

This game was as neat an illustration of the manager's play-for-the draw lack of adventure as any thus far.

Strike While the Iron is Hot

Lyndon Lloyd
13/03/2018

If Everton retain any serious interest in their top two managerial targets of last year, they should reopen the communication lines to Messers Silva and/or Fonseca immediately

A rare day of relative comfort

Lyndon Lloyd
11/03/2018

Everton earned their first clean sheet since Boxing Day and a much-needed win to virtually guarantee safety from the drop

Williams lost his rag... and his claim to the armband

Lyndon Lloyd
05/03/2018

Ashley Williams abandoned his defensive duties and his responsibilities as leader on Saturday. It's time to give the team captaincy to someone far more worthy.

Dreadful away run prolonged as Everton buckle once more

Lyndon Lloyd
05/03/2018

Everton's early promise turned into a familiar collapse and another away defeat under Sam Allardyce as Burnley came from behind to win 2-1 at Turf Moor

Decision Time

Lyndon Lloyd
01/03/2018

Farhad Moshiri has just passed two years as the club's major shareholder. He will have learned plenty in that time but Everton now need strong and unmistakable leadership from the top.

Allardyce strengthens the case for further change with latest away defeat

Lyndon Lloyd
25/02/2018

Particularly away from home, Everton are boring to watch, easy to defend against and easy to beat. With no signs of progress on that front, can anyone find an argument for persisting with the status quo next season?

Rolls-Royce Coasting in Neutral

Lyndon Lloyd
16/02/2018

Once lauded as Everton's Rolls-Royce, Morgan Schneiderlin has become a source of frustration this season. Blues fans have had enough but it's probably not too late for redemption.

A Path Through the Gathering Gloom

Lyndon Lloyd
08/02/2018

Evertonians have been struggling to see the light amid this chaotic season but survival in the Premier League could beget the opportunity to reset and restore faith in the Moshiri project

Everton disgraced in the Capital once again

Lyndon Lloyd
04/02/2018

Pub-league defending from Allardyce's team was ripped apart by Arsenal at the Emirates

Everton need Lookman more than Ademola needs a loan move

Lyndon Lloyd
25/01/2018

Amid suggestions that Ademola Lookman could be sent out on loan, surely there's a better argument for using him judiciously in a Blues' first team that badly needs his precocious talents.

Everton stagger one point closer to safety

Lyndon Lloyd
21/01/2018

Everton are slogging through the remainder of their Premier League programme hoping to accumulate enough points to justify the appointment of Sam Allardyce and stay in the top flight.

Allardyce' no-risk approach — short-term expediency or dyed-in-the-wool trait?

Lyndon Lloyd
18/01/2018

Sam Allardyce's unexpectedly rosey honeymoon period offered the journeyman boss an opportunity to reboot and begin re-building for Everton's future. Instead, his joyless, defensive approach has favoured ageing players without achieving positive results.

Allardyce undermined as abject Everton revert to type

Lyndon Lloyd
14/01/2018

This wasn't supposed to happen anymore after Sam Allardyce was appointed, was it?

Farewell to the Flawed Diamond

Lyndon Lloyd
06/01/2018

He may never reach the same level as Wayne Rooney or achieve as much but Barkley's departure has conjured up the same feelings of disappointment and the loss of a homegrown player to a (currently) higher-achieving club.

Derby point a daylight heist but satisfying nonetheless

Lyndon Lloyd
10/12/2017

If ever a performance needed to be viewed in its proper context, this horribly defensive display was it.

Rooney ensures Unsworth signs off with emphatic win

Lyndon Lloyd
30/11/2017

Wayne Rooney may have grabbed the headlines but this was “Rhino's” night as Everton tonked David Moyes's West Ham at Goodison Park.

Nihil Est Quam Salvos

Lyndon Lloyd
29/11/2017

Fold away the “Our Motto Is Our Standard” banner and padlock the doors to the School of Science”. Sam Allardyce, disgraced ex-England manager, purveyor of quintessentially agricultural football and Premier League escapologist is now manager of Everton.

Paulo Fonseca — A risk/reward dilemma?

Lyndon Lloyd
28/11/2017

Evertonian observers will know plenty about Sam Allardyce and Martin O'Neill, two of the three names said to be on Farhad Moshiri's shortlist, but emerging Portuguese manager Fonseca is a lesser-known quantity

Diminishing options on the listing ship Everton?

Lyndon Lloyd
27/11/2017

The interim appointment of Unsworth may have seemed sound at the outset but Everton's worsening plight will surely force the Board to act quickly now

Rudderless Everton are drifting towards disaster

Lyndon Lloyd
26/11/2017

Two shots on target out of five total for Everton tells its own story — a team utterly bereft of confidence, seemingly without much faith in the caretaker boss and, for some of them, no stomach or desire for the fight

Comment: FA's decision to charge Niasse makes an uncomfortable rod for their own backs

Lyndon Lloyd
21/11/2017

It almost seems as though the Football Association has gone out of its way to make life as difficult for itself as possible with their decision to charge Oumar Niasse with “successful deception of a match official” in Saturday's 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace.

Unsworth is Everton's bird in the hand... but for how long?

Lyndon Lloyd
15/11/2017

His Blue credentials made him the ideal interim coach but the limited options for Koeman's successor mean he could stay in charge for longer than expected...

Everton kickstart their heart amid rollercoaster contest against Watford

Lyndon Lloyd
06/11/2017

Where there is life there is hope and Everton put the defibrillator paddles to their season today with an impressive recovery from a seemingly impossible position to beat Watford in what eventually became an adrenaline-fuelled encounter at Goodison Park

Reality bites hard as Unsworth's audition turns sour

Lyndon Lloyd
30/10/2017

After the so-nearly response at Stamford Bridge, there was hope and encouragement. Following this 2-0 defeat at the King Power Stadium, Evertonians will be feeling mostly despair as the extent of the mess that their club finds itself in 10 games into the 2017-18 season is laid bare.

Green shoots of revival despite cup defeat at Chelsea

Lyndon Lloyd
26/10/2017

A narrow loss at Stamford Bridge — or rather the performance that went with it — at least showed that the fight, the spirit, the organisation and the belief can be there to start putting wins on the board in the near future.

Taxi! Everton Ditch Koeman at the Right Time

Lyndon Lloyd
23/10/2017

An ideal appointment on paper, Ronald Koeman's tenure as Everton boss has come to an ignominious but needed end

Everton plumb new depths after heavy Gunners defeat

Lyndon Lloyd
22/10/2017

Last term, this fixture marked a turning point, at least in Everton's home form. The only turning point this season's visit of Arsenal to L4 might spark, however, is an abrupt one in Koeman's employment status… although there's no guarantee that the Everton Board will be so decisive.

Rooney penalty papers over glaring cracks in Koeman's tenure

Lyndon Lloyd
16/10/2017

Everton under Koeman are simply dull. They're boring to watch, easy to defend against and too easy to score against if you attack them enough within a given 90 minutes.

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum? Moshiri's own goal falls well short of Blues' motto

Lyndon Lloyd
02/10/2017

Four years ago, the club removed our cherished motto from the crest. They reinstated it following howls of protest from supporters but if Farhad's latest “statement” is any indication, it never made it back into the mission statement of the Board of Directors

Koeman's Blues stuck in reverse as recruitment failings bite

Lyndon Lloyd
01/10/2017

This was Everton showing commitment, decent tempo and tenacity — in the early going, at least — and it still wasn't enough. Not by a long way.

Obstinate Koeman's reign reeks of a busted flush

Lyndon Lloyd
29/09/2017

To say we expected a hell of lot more this season is an understatement and it calls into question the likelihood of success for Ronald's three-year Everton “project”.

Reborn Niasse eases the pressure on Koeman

Lyndon Lloyd
24/09/2017

The Senegalese striker helped bail Koeman out of another uncomfortable post-match inquest with a two-goal blast in the space of five minutes that turned this match on its head and delivered three points that seemed unlikely before he entered the fray 10 minutes into the second half

Woeful Blues make a mockery of top-six ambitions

Lyndon Lloyd
10/09/2017

The largely one-dimensional approach to recruitment this summer has led to Everton's uninspiring start to the new season, one which has, over the past two games, lurched from concerning into the realm of deeply demoralising.

Deadline Day Echo from Everton's Austere Past

Lyndon Lloyd
04/09/2017

Everton's transfer deadline-day had an annoying sense of déjà vu last Thursday when the window closed without the club being able to land much-needed reinforcements.

Everton left chasing shadows in familiar Stamford Bridge defeat

Lyndon Lloyd
27/08/2017

With just six shots on target in the opening three games, the problems that were laid bare today can't be explained away by mere fatigue alone, even if it was undoubtedly a factor for those who did play in all three matches in just six days. The same nagging deficiencies remain despite massive expenditure on upgrading the team.

Calvert-Lewin comes of age but Everton are denied a stirring victory

Lyndon Lloyd
22/08/2017

It's a shame that Dominic Calvert-Lewin's impressive assist for Wayne Rooney in the 35th-minute of this early-season tussle between Manchester and Merseyside at the Etihad didn't end up serving up a precious winner.

The Long-Awaited 'No.10'?

Lyndon Lloyd
17/08/2017

Gylfi Sigurdsson's arrival doesn't necessarily mean an end to Evertonian longing for the No.10 slot to be filled but he potentially has the talent to operate as the all-important central position behind the striker(s).

Rooney leads the way in rare opening-day win

Lyndon Lloyd
13/08/2017

The Prodigal Son brought all his experience to bear against Stoke, scoring the winner and helping Everton dictate much of the second half to hold on for a 1-0 victory.

Giant Leap Or Just Forward Steps?

Lyndon Lloyd
10/08/2017

With a newly reinforced spine, Everton look as though they could be a stronger outfit than last season, even without the departed Lukaku. Is it enough, however, to crack the top six or four?


Fan Articles and Talking Points posts are authored by outside contributors. Their views may not represent those of the site owners and their publication does not constitute an endorsement of the views held therein.
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