Why so many changes… EVERY YEAR?

Deserved nothing, started like a bunch of strangers, and conceded a cheap goal because we kept on giving the ball away time and time and time again. For some bizarre reason, Jonjoe Kenny has this habit backing off and backing off and backing off the man running at him until he's in the box with a chance to pass, cross or shoot.

Just a shit, shit hugely disappointing night — but one we should be used to by now.

Everton Football Club, Masters of Failure!

Took the piss, that did.

Brands, once again – like the previous 8th wonder of the world scout – has brought in players at the top of the transfer scale who will be lucky to play half the season... and when they do, the excuse will be they didn't have a pre-season. There really is something that's toxic at Everton.

I remember those times but it's getting harder each season to do so. I started watching Everton properly in the early to mid 1970s, and our league form was usually pretty dire, so the only thing that kept me going was the possibility that Everton would reach Wembley and lift a cup.

It took a few years but I'll never forget the twin cup runs of 1977 the year after narrowly losing to Derby in the FA Cup Third Round. Trips to Stockport, Man Utd, Swindon, Cardiff and home ties against various teams were all endured and enjoyed, with one of the Goodison highlights, watching Everton beating Derby County in the Quarter-Final to gain sweet revenge for the previous years defeat.

Ultimately it was all for nothing as Everton failed to get their hands on a trophy, but it wasn't for the want of trying. Seven years later another twin assault on Wembley was full of similar memorable moments and games and this time we did celebrate a trophy at Wembley, on FA Cup Final day.

Everton up until recent times have a history of epic cup battles sometimes ending in heart-breaking defeat sometimes managing to overcome the odds and win through to the next round. In the modern era, I'm not sure when it started, those epic games and cup runs have lessened and mostly, particularly in the three-handled trophy affair, we have limped out, usually playing a less than full strength team against opponents who also played a less than full strength team, but who had enough spirit or desire to overcome our Everton.

In stark contrast to those heady days of the past when a settled side battled on all fronts, a period during the season in October 1984 will forever stand out for many Evertonians of a certain vintage, a period when Everton faced United home and Away, Liverpool at Anfield, Sheffield United in the League Cup, Arsenal at Highbury, University College Dublin and Inter Bratislava in Europe. I might be incorrect but I don't remember Howard Kendall making changes to his team unless they were forced by injury or suspension, Everton won many of those games listed above and that period set the club up for the whole campaign.

Of course Everton were an excellent side at that time and life was very different. But surely the principles of the game haven't altered so much that a manager any manager of any team should be so dismissive of the momentum that can be achieved by playing the same side, week-in & week-out –- yet we see it constantly by all those 'clever' managers year in year out at all levels of the game.

Everton haven't won a trophy for 23 years, Spurs and our neighbours have only won a League cup each in the last decade or so, the fans of those two clubs would argue that an exit from the League Cup helps their club to concentrate on the larger prizes of Champions League and Premier League glory, they might have a point but are they kidding themselves or being kidded by their clubs?

Everton FC has no such heady list of priorities and the manager of Everton FC has no right to field a team that is not of the highest calibre available to him, any and every competition is there to be won, never mind the headaches it may cause in the New Year with possible fixture congestion.

Football is nothing without glory and these days, I feel nothing when Everton exit a cup competition because it's become so predictable that the manager of the club will surrender a tilt at glory for the financial rewards of remaining on the Premier League gravy train.

Football doesn't need glory because modern football doesn't need proper supporters, it's more interested in viewing figures and television revenue and I'm getting to the stage of life where I may no longer need football and if too many fans begin to feel the same way, will football be able to continue unnaffected?

I don't gamble but would quite happily have bet the mortgage on this result. It is all too inevitable. Once again, I have the luxury of sleeping through this latest debacle but, as I launched ToffeeWeb on my phone this morning, I couldn't have been less surprised at what I read.

I feel so sorry for those of you brave enough to attend and pay money to watch tripe. You deserve medals, every one of you.

Yet again, most of those players, including our youngsters, are not good enough. The rebuilding job is a huge challenge and one that will take a lot more seasons, sadly.

However what the other teams seem to have is leaders and a desire to win (Watford, Leicester, Wolves) whereas it seems we inevitably roll over at the key moments. Can anyone remember when any of our players bollocked one another? Jeezus, the 80s team, Reid, Gray, Southall, Rats, Sharpy, they would tear teammates new ones. Ability is one thing; heart and desire another.

There is a malaise at the heart of the club that must be rooted out before we'll ever see success on the pitch again. There is a close correlation between the culture of the club as a whole and results where it matters.

The laissez faire attitude of senior staff who choose to ignore the lack of passion and ambition and indeed quality in themselves and all around them because it doesn't impact on their own purses inevitably translates into every facet of the club.

I am now completely fucked off with my club for throwing away the best chance we had to finally end our trophy drought.

As for Saturday at Leicester... don't care, even if we win (lol), then what? Another three points for our final points tally, still no cups.. and, even if we bagged a Euro spot for next season, we wouldn't last long and would meekly go out early doors... again.

Thank fuck I didn't go!

To answer your heading, it is quite simple:

He thinks his squad is a lot better and so makes the changes.

Or:

He doesn't care about this trophy as he knows we have no strength in depth but cannot come out and say we are not taking it seriously for fear of FA sanctions.

Or I'm just talking a load of balls and he is putting players in the shop window (that failed) so that we can get rid and sign the seven players we need just to compete for top 10 finish.

Either way, it's more disappointment by the club poured all over its loyal supporters.

Thank You, Everton.

Or maybe Silva might just have a little word in his ear, remind him how important a player he is to us, and that he'll have better days in a blue shirt. I wonder which would be better?

Also, of all the players at the club who could do with a dressing down you want to circle in on Richarlison? And then you have a go at Jonjoe Kenny for backing off when one-on-one. If you're talking about the Ings goal then he has no support from his team-mates; Keane backs off into the middle, the ambling Davies is too far away and Schneiderlin can't be bothered to mark anyone (when Ings is unmarked five yards away).

What is Kenny supposed to do? If he dives in and doesn't win the ball then Redmond is in on goal. Kenny needs help, and his team-mates are not giving it to him.

So you don't think a good old fashioned bollocking is necessary at times?

Oh, I forgot, footballers in today's modern era are such timid easily hurt little lambs.

Imagine this squad with leaders like Big Nev, Dave Watson and Ratcliffe our there barking orders at them?

It's this whole problem of “If I'm not happy I'm still getting paid mega bucks and the board will just sack the manager as player power wins the day”.

That's when our identity went out the window in my opinion.

Central midfield we are really just piss poor. No goal threat, no creativity, no bite, no leaders. Tepid, weak and just not good enough at this level.

Gomes, should you ever play for us, I pray you offer even above average midfield leadership and nouse, I'll take that for now.

In contrast, what I see at Everton is an attitude of "here you go Tom Davies, Dowell, etc you are in for Sigurdsson you can run the show while I quietly stay on the fringes of the match." With his experience, Schneiderlin should be running the midfield, demanding the ball, telling everyone else where to go.

Same story with Ashley Williams last year. Instead of being a leader who would bury his head in his shirt and leave Mason or JonJo to face the music when a mistake was made. This has been the "Everton way" for too long with the likes of Mirallas, passing the buck.

While you can obviously point the finger at the senior players I think you also have to look at the managers. Do you suppose Fergie would allow Evans to have a "quiet game" and leave Chadwick to his own devices? Don't you think Kendall probably gave a pep talk to Paul Power and Alan Harper about helping Warren Aspinall and co find their feet?

I think Silva is not only failing to do that, he is facilitating the dereliction of duty by making Davies the captain. In that action alone he is letting the senior players off the hook.

I think we missed Gueye yesterday, his energy and anticipation really disrupts the opposition and he's been one of our better players this season.

Having said that, central midfield and up top look our weakest spots currently. Tosun is sadly looking more and more like Walsh's last expensive mistake. Hope he proves me wrong but 㿇M for someone with little pace and strength in this league looks poor judgment currently.

But if you're looking for leadership from Gomes, you'll be disappointed. Very skillful, but not a take-charge guy at all. He does bring some "bite", however – had more yellow cards in La Liga than goals and assists combined.

That said, I imagine Mikeo Silvalker will go with Samways and Rowett on Saturday.

I watched the Southampton fans celebrate, and give credit to the 300 or so fans who made the long journey to Goodison, but we are a club with fanatical support, and it's about time everyone connected to Everton started putting in as much effort as is possible in trying to make Everton great again.

If they could just put in as much effort as the away support, then we could even win a trophy again, or is that just too much to ask?

I'm still angry with the team selection last night. I hope that Marco has gotten the message regarding the fans anger through some channel or other.

I agree but it all stems from Kenwright and his false Trumpian narrative of the last 25 years. Peter Johnson is a villain. Why? Because he bowed to the banks and sold an inconsistent player to Newcastle for a healthy profit because the bank wanted to call in a loan. Obviously, that whole situation arose because Johnson was "Agent Johnson" a "red" intent on destroying our club.

Similar situation happens on deadline day under Kenwrights watch with Arteta being sold for similar reasons. No villainy there, Bill was in fact a good guy, a magician juggling our resources to save the club.

Another villain Trevor Birch came along with the outrageous idea that we sell Rooney for 㿞 million to clear our debt. Get that man outta here. A year later, the heroic Bill Kenwright wisely sells the player for half that amount in order to save the club from the evil banks.

The evil red agent Johnson hires obvious ne'er do wells like Joe Royle and Howard Kendall, or Walter Smith – who at the time was rumored to be a target for Man Utd. The brilliant Kenwright on the other hand hires serial winners and Everton die-hards like Roberto Martinez and David Moyes. He brings in winners like Steve Round who arrived after we had finished 5th three years running and proudly announced that we would shoot for the "top 6."

Yet he will be on the field on Saturday, either playing or as a sub, as will "Tepid" Tosun– another who offers little, if you don't count moaning and posing; I doubt if he will be here after January.

I understand those who are saying the club are more interested in the Premier League than the cups, but it shouldn't be that way, and there must be someone at the club, with authority, to stress this to the manager and his players.

"Walter had said before the game that whilst we had to take a pragmatic view of this competition we should also look at how Spurs had eased their way into Europe this season on the back of picking up the trophy at Wembley, earlier in the year. So, he wanted to win the trophy."

"Y'know, there are times when it's a pain in the backside following football. Like when the Manager, in his wisdom, decides that it is best to forego our best chance of Europe in the League Cup by sending out what is essentially a reserve side, as he did tonight."

If you watch the goal again its actually appaling play from Schneiderlin who starts off in the very spot that Ings scores from but backs away for no apparent reason to the same space Michael Keane is standing in with the result that both those players are marking empty space and neither goes towards Ings who is clearly stood alone in the box.

Terribly scared, ball-watching defending from Keane and especially Schneiderlin who should be stepping out towards Ings 100 times out of 100 in that situation.

Our marking from open play in the box has been poor for a while, far too much ball-watching.

Our only hopes of silverware lie in the cups. Yet we approach them with a disgustingly slack attitude. Liverpool have not won the league for nearly 30 years but their fans are still happy because in that time they have won and competed in the finals of many cups. Why is it ok for them (and Arsenal) but not for us?

I hate how we treat these tournaments so lightly. This cup in particular is there for the taking, as long as we commit our best team to it. Silva even said the other day there would be hardly any changes - the team sheet comes out - SEVEN changes! It makes my piss boil.

And now we will get the usual company spiel of how we showed improvement and how fringe players got important game time and how the team will push on and show more in the upcoming games. Just win the effing games you're supposed to and we won't need to push on on re-focus our efforts.

If we were a successful club who could afford to turn our noses up at such "little" competitions I wouldn't mind but we are a club who desperately needs to win something to stay on the footballing radar. I often argue with non Everton supporting fans that we are still a big club but, as the years roll by, I am beginning to think it is they who are right and we are just a mid table team (at best) living on past glories.

How sad that the players (and manager) can't grasp the fact that if they were to win a trophy here they would be icons, heroes, idolised for life. All they need do is look at the players from yesteryear and see how highly they are treated. Yet the modern bunch don't seem to care less!

I used to watch the cup draws with great excitement but, over the last 10 years, I've stopped watching – after all, what is the point? Whether it Chelsea, Arsenal, Halifax or Hartlepool we will still find a way of exiting the tournament sooner rather than later.

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum – you're having a laugh! That phrase should be scrubbed from our badge.

Where I disagree with you a bit is that I do reveal snippets but I sense there's no real appetite for the kind of insight I bring to the party. Kieran (#23) is totally correct; the complacency started with Kenwright. What I sense is that most people want to leave it at that in the hope that when a new owner arrives it will all change. It didn't. So now let's wait until he goes and it will all change. It won't.

Part of Kenwright's legacy is to leave the club in the hands of people in his own image: promise the earth, pretend you've always been a Blue, re-invent your history, suck up to those above you, make sure those below you know that, beneath the cheery public persona, there is a ruthless narcissist who will take you down if you dare to suggest that the emperor has no clothes.

And that, Tony, is my agenda in a nutshell: we have a charlatan CEO who got the charity job at Everton on the back of a bizarre sequence of events and was opportunistic enough (and crawled to Kenwright) to land up as CEO. This is beyond parody. Where are her business credentials, her knowledge of football?

Do you think she's capable of raising issues with the Board such as the one that practically every TW poster is asking about team selection last night, or whether we really have trawled deep enough to find the right first-team coach to support Silva at Finch Farm and in the dugout?

I'm sorry to bang on about culture and rowing in the same direction etc but there is a causal link between drive and ambition at every level in a club and what happens on the pitch. I'm even sorrier that there is no passion at any level currently at EFC.

Sorry Gerard, you describe Kenwright exactly how I see him, and only today I've read a statement from Jim White, which is supposed to have come from “Holey Shoes” telling him how much Moshiri loves the club.

I know you give snippets, Gerard, and as you have just explained, with so much apathy shown towards such important matters, I can now understand why you don't tell us much more.

Gerard, was asked a question, he answered, then he went on to describe the CEO, as not really qualified for such an important job.

He said it's more important to snivel, than it is to rock the boat at Everton, and said part of Kenwright's legacy will be to leave the club in the hands of people in his own image.

I genuinely hope that Mr Usmanov is waiting in the wings, and if Bill Kenwright has denied this, then the hope that this might happen burns a little bit stronger in me.

It will take between 50 and 100 years being realistic for this club to undo the damage of the Kenwright era. He has spent 25 years turning a successful club into an excuse-making PR operation. In the 15 years prior to him seizing control we won the league twice, the FA cup twice, the European Cup Winners Cup, cup runners up on three occasions, and league runners up once.

During his tenure, we have won nothing and never finished higher than 4th in the league. He has set the tone of failure at this club so charlatans like Silva think "no biggie" when they crash out of the cup.

I presume your comment about turning this club around will take 50 to 100 years was a joke?

I remember many people on here demanding Kenwright sells the club. Well he has, 3 years ago. And since then, I doubt he's had much say in the running of the club.

Kenwright by all accounts was dead set against Sam Allardyce getting the job. That was a Moshiri appointment. I presume that, if Moshiri had come in and we had started to win trophies, Kenwright would have got praise?

He only allowed Moshiri to get full control what a month ago? There was never any prospect of Mosh being able to undo decades of mismanagement in 3 or 4 years. Kenwright has cast such a spell that we have people now talking about 7th or 8th as good enough. Before he came along, that was never the case.

Joe Royle, year 1 wins cup, year 2 gets 6th, year 3 has a bad run and he is fired. Based on the Kenwright era of lowered expectations we have to rewrite history and hail Gordon Leigh and Colin Harvey as great managers for their overall records.

So yes it will probably take 50 years to have a generational shift whereby people actually expect and demand success from the club again. Sadly, the older fans are dropping like flies and the new generation of apologists are here to perpetuate the myth of the "Golden Years" of mediocrity

Yesterday evening was just another pathetic exercise in raking in the money without giving the fans a semblance of ambition. I do not blame Silva — he should have been given the target of whichever competition we take part in, We Compete!

The fans should make themselves heard! Hit the club in the pocket!

I'm 64 years old, I've seen success, I've been there... let's get our younger fans experiencing success as Blues!!!!

He's been good, he's kidded loads of people along the way and turned a once great club into one that was punching above its weight when it was finishing seventh.

I could go on, but the more I think of it the more I'm sickened by people saying Kenwright always had Everton's best interests at heart.

Kenwright always took credit anyone time we actually signed someone e.g. Yakubu whilst even taking credit for trying to do all those phantom deals for the likes of Owen, Barry Ferguson, Kuyt etc so yeah he did "buy" players as far as he is concerned.

But the bigger issue is that he forced his ownership onto the club with his other comparatively skint mates by driving out "Agent Johnson". He oversaw the various stadium debacles, the terrible sponsorship deals.

Ultimately like any CEO/chairman if his business performs poorly — which it has, then he is to blame because he hires the guys who pick the team, he organizes or hires the marketing, he ultimately controlled every facet of the club in the least successful period in its entire history.

"As far as I know, Kenwright has never bought a player, picked a team, or done tactics."

I'd say you were absolutely correct with that statement; I doubt if he had a clue how to do any of those things.

I have to agree with the argument that our only chance of trophies/success is in the cup competitions. We won't win the Premier League in my lifetime, that is unless a Usmanov comes in and does a Man City.

As for 'we are not a big club' okay, we are not in trophies won, but we are big in the sense that we get 40,000 attendances every home Premier League game with a potential for more. Add to that, we do finish most of the time above the other 13 clubs. Admittedly that's small comfort to us frustrated fans who are browned off with losers medals.

Additionally, there are a handful of longer-term posters who always have some banal excuse for all his failings. At this point, after 25 years or disgusting failure, there are two possibilities to explain these people.

1.There are RS trolls with nothing better to do than stir the pot.

2. They have some type of psychological issue akin to Stockholm syndrome whereby they have developed an empathetic subservience to their torturer.

No one sane, who legitimately supports the club, would make pro-Kenwright statements. Ergo, there is no point in engaging them.

I can say without doubt I am no RS troll. I'm just sick of Bill Kenwright being blamed for everything that goes wrong at this club. No, he hasn't been perfect, I'm the first to admit that.

Why don't we blame the players, who don't seem able to pass to each other, miss countless chances, and give away silly goals? Just a thought like.

Kenwright is a egotistical greedy bastard, who deserves a Oscar for his false sentimentality.

Nothing is changing at Everton, just more false hopes and promises and a PR exercise that show that even intelligent people can be hood-winked if you give them a glimmer of hope.

I love ToffeeWeb coz it's a great social experiment which shows to me how football mirrors society. The polar views of fans is fascinating, even though we all have eyes our brains somehow convert what we see into our very own reality.

Even when actual facts are submitted, there is a blind spot so ingrained in some people that they just can not see it.

I would suggest that, if being a Everton fan is effecting your daily life in a negative way, then find a alternative positive past time.

One last thing... the power of the masses. Everton fans over the last few decades have become quieter and voice their critical views of what they see. Every now and then the Bear Pit returns and wow the team play better with more passion and WIN...

You are probably right, mate, I've invested too much emotional energy in Everton. Now I am at a point where I am begging fans to want to win a Cup when they've been convinced it is a pipe dream. I may take up painting...

At least then, no matter how poor or how good we were, the managers never made changes unless for injury or suspension. Now, these foreign coaches seem to treat us fans with contempt. I'm of a mind now where I constantly think I'll never in my lifetime see us win another trophy. How sad is that?

Not only our game, but many others played last week were boiling up (in our case after a total bore of a first 70 minutes) only to be curtailed by a final whistle on 90 minutes. I certainly felt short-changed. Even worse is that the 30 minutes is of course replaced by the lottery of penalty kicks. Surely that should be a last resort.

Makes you wonder how a club's vote is determined internally when things involving playing matters come to be decided by the footballing authorities.