Everton begin against Palace

I do wonder why we always seem to have a trip to Anfield in the first week of December each season though...

If there was ever a season to get off to a flyer, this is it.

It has echoes on the start of last season really, but let's hope for a far better start then to be sitting here like we were last September moaning about being frustrated ect due to silly sloppy draws.

We need to win more away games this season and I'm looking for at least two wins from Palace, Villa and Bournemouth away to get us up and running, anything less then it's just not worth taking us serious again.

I love the fact that you know we don't need explaining what “do an Everton” means.

Totally agree with you!

Can Everton play when there's something at stake or will we wait as we always do until we are 25 points behind 6th place in February before finally realising?

So all things considered, I really don't see the point of a mid season winter break.

Should be fun.

Back in the UK soon, hopefully will get me hands on some Watford tickets.

A classic 'Everton, that' day!

A repeat of that game and season will do nicely.

If we can start the camping with near enough the same line up as we finished last season with (fingers crossed for Zouma and Gomes), the same attitude and a couple of new recruits in vital positions, I anticipate that we may be pleasantly surprised by the result.

However, as many on here have already said - I have hoped that many times in seasons before and for no apparent reason the "wheels have come off" very early on.

Here's hoping that this time it WILL be different.

We play the majority of the top teams in two bunches, through December and then in Feb/March.

Our last game is middle of the table Bournemouth at home.

I would suggest that playing the top teams at the same time is good for us - it keeps any momentum up.

I'm very happy with with all our fixtures personally.

But of course that would mean losing all the Xmas Holiday fixtures.

Maybe today's instability in the Strait of Hormuz will give FIFA the excuse to look for a plan B after all!

Hit the ground running first game and keep going, we can't have the mindset we'll catch up on points after Xmas, go into December with a decent league position, we'll be a lot more relaxed and play better.

Especially with the same bout of punishment coming up again in Feb/March.

This season for us is all about the first 14 games, COYB!!!!

That being said some of our worst struggles last year were against teams who sat back more and looked to hit us on the counter (eg Brighton away and Wolves at home). Some of our best results (against the top 6) came in more open matches when we were the ones able to counter.

It will be interesting to see what the TW expectations are for next year once the transfer business is done. I think the teams above us (United, Arsenal and Chelsea) may be vulnerable. But equally the teams around and below us (Wolves, Leicester, West Ham etc) are stronger than many will give them credit for. All to play for.

And again, like many, I like to crystal ball gaze and imagine where we could sit in the league at the end of different months, based on those fixtures.

As many have already pointed it, it really is a very 'benevolent' opening and closing fixture list. Like others - as was proved last season in what looked a very challenging run in with a block of fixtures against the big boys - I also like that we have two blocks next season with a sequence of consecutive games against the best.

I also believe such blocks help focus minds and helps us maintain a high performance level for such games. We showed last season that we are the equals of most of them.

What will most determine our final finishing position next season will, for me, be getting results against the mid-table and bottom feeders, particularly away from home.

Unless and until we radically improve our win ratio on the road, we will never break out from that 7-8-9th finishing position.

I expect a much more competitive league and the date you play certain teams will matter far less than the form they are in when you play em

Feverish investigation into the costs of flights being undertaken by the Mrs.

With an inbuilt Evertonian fear of raising expectation, there is potentially genuine opportunity to crack the 6 (dare I say 4) like we haven't seen in recent seasons.

United continue to descend into doing an impression of 90s Liverpool as they go through "transition" and try to throw money at the problem. Concurrently, the atmosphere at the club has gone slightly toxic & chances are Solskjaer will be gone by Christmas. Not his fault; a club legend lined up for a fall by the board making a sentimental & populist decision on the back of a few good results. Cue more turbulence.

This Tottenham team didn't finish great and must think their opportunity has gone; 3 years of being the nearly men will potentially affect them.

Chelsea rumble along but another with managerial uncertainty & all not well in the camp despite a pretty successful season on paper.

Arsenal they're Arsenal. Not as good as they were, just noone to challenge them.

If we don't bottle it from the weight of expectation (a common and repeated trait of Everton teams & the club in general of recent times), there is opportunity the break the glass ceiling.

As Jim alluded to in response to my tongue in cheek "do an Everton" comment earlier, find consistency and win when their is expectation, & something to play for, not just when the pressure is off & noone is expecting. That's what winners do.

The teams around us are all active in the transfer market already and we don't appear to have anyone of real quality in our sights.

And transfers "in" so far for the following clubs, Arsenal, Villa, Bournemouth, Brighton, Chelsea, Palace, Leicester, the shite, Man City, Man Utd, Newcastle, Sheff Utd, S'oton, Spurs, Watford errrrrrrrrr none.

Calm down Jay, calm down lad. :-)

Brian, the media is so "on it" these days they even invent people who are not in our sights.

Steavey, that's a strange statement mate considering we scored 2 in our last "first game of the season."

Especially considering the last time we had one - Lukaku himhe same people couldn't wait to see the back of him.

We need another forward, true, no arguements. But in Bernard - DCL - Richarlison and Lookman in reserve with Siggy at no10, we are not useless without one. Just need another to up the competition and options.

I just hope too there is no repeat of the stagnant period we went through between the Derbies and early exits from both Cups.

For those who are worried about the apparent lack of activity, I am confident that significant moves are being made, with the less publicity the better, which because of the Media orientated world we live in is not easy. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I used to like it when the first we knew of a new addition was him being paraded wearing the shirt.

The more public these transfers become the more journos and agents do their skullduggery to inflate the price and have several Clubs all vying against each other in a Bidding War.

You are the new ToffeeWeb statto.

The proof was in the pudding last season and that squad wasn't good enough. The table doesn't lie.

Hey shush if Steve Ferns hears that he'll do the pair of us.

I've met him. He's a very scary man!

I'm wondering if the 16th is the date for transfers outwith Europe maybe.

2 players of the highest quality. That's all we really want. Sure we would like more but let's nail them on this summer and build again next year when it is apparent what we really need.

Lozano and Gomes.

Ideally those two plus Belotti and/or Berardi.

It could be exciting times, the opportunity is there. Spurs will lose Eriksen this year, their main playmaker and will not challenge as they have done previously.

United are in free fall

Chelsea have already lost their main playmaker and have a transfer embargo

Liverpool and city will be predictably strong. Although I feel LFC have been particularly fortunate to avoid serious injury to Salah, Mane and Firmino for 2 years. One of the former being injured for a significant period will seriously hold them back.

Arsenal have no better squad than us, just 2 very good strikers.

We don't have a difficult run of fixtures in the first 4 months. December will be an arse but we have a fantastic opportunity to build momentum and confidence before we get there.

Over to you Silva - get off to a good start and take it from there. Can't use the fixtures as an excuse and we're not in Europe so won't need a massive squad. Also a relatively friendly run in.

Got to be aiming top 6 with that start.

Just need a couple of quality additions to the squad in the summer to take us to the next level.

I just hope our faith in M&M is not misplaced.

By the time we play them (first or second time) we may well be in the top six and one or two of them mayn't.

Hopefully this will be the season where we break the glass ceiling.

Meanwhile, some of the "old established" top six are certainly in decline.

If it was the first 4/5 games, then yes, that would suck, but personally I think it is ideally suited. We have a good chance to build confidence coming into december, at this period, the 'big-6' are a little drained having had their European trips. When we played them one after the other last year, it worked to our advantage, one good result built the confidence for the next. It's high time we looked to the games with the big 6 with joy. We can take them.

Nobody knows who'll finish where, as you rightly point out, but the previous placings are there for all to see and to face four of those six in consecutive games not once but twice in the season is an anomaly unique to us.

Fran, not suggesting a conspiracy merely stressing the "coincidence."

To suggest a conspiracy would be paranoid I reckon, but it IS, as I say earlier in this post, unique to us and is therefore noteworthy.

The reason why the top 6 six monopolise the EPL all 5 of them, except for Chelsea, have at least 1 striker who scores at least 20 goals a season. If Everton don't have a 20 goal striker then Everton won't get as far as 8th place. That's my prediction for the forthcoming season.

It won't be an easy game and I'm not putting point totals against the first 5/10 games etc.

What I want after a very decent first season under Marco is continuing improvement. That means young players continuing to improve and become more consistent.

It means converting and creating more chances. It means less mistakes and stop giving away sloppy goals, free kicks and chances through poor game management.

The team has started to gel, the passing and joined up football was delightful at times but one of the most important factors was the work rate of our forwards.

We can not afford to let that drop, we had good healthy competition for places especially in the midfield and attacking players. That needs to continue.

I'll take 7th place now if it means better play, more points, more goals and a few top 4 scalps from last season as that will probably mean we have improved in nearly every department.

Don't get me wrong, I want more.. much more, but last season and the next 2 or 3 seasons are about improving year on year. A cup win and European football the following season is what we are aiming for.

All of this is realistic but we need a bit of luck and to fully support the team when the sticky patch comes rather than the negative attitude that is often felt and heard especially at Goodison. COYB! NSNO!

Link

The phrase 'exclusive' is being used.

This is the first year of another pay platform showing games. I wonder if their 30 day free trial will be active for the month of December?

Let's see if our squad gets bolstered the next 3 weeks in time for preseason training.

But it's up to MS and MB, and let's pray that we get the right players in, and hopefully a few logs of dead wood out, before training starts.

No to Lozano. Chucky is overrated in my opinion. He cuts inside, and then blast a shot into orbit, 100 feet over the goal.

But, IBWT.

Pete and Repeat were on a boat. Pete fell off, and who is left?

Repeat.

December through New Year's Day:
Liverpool
Chelsea
Man Utd
Arsenal
Man City

God, please, no Holiday Season malaise again! Jeez, that looks rough.

Still, we have to play them at sometime and we often do better with our backs against the wall.

I do acknowledge, of course, that to get to play four of them on a consecutive run, twice in a season is unusual.

Liverpool have 2 players in there, scoring 22 and 22
Man City have 2, scoring 21 and 17
Arsenal have 2, scoring 22 and 13
Spurs have 1, scoring 17
Chelsea have 1, scoring 16
Man Utd have 1, scoring 13
Everton have 2, scoring 13 and 13.

Liverpool are the only team to have 3 players who scored more than 10 league goals.

My point being, if we have a striker scoring 10-15, and another couple of players doing the same then we don't need this magical 20 goal a season striker who often results in the rest of the team not scoring.

I'm still on the fence re M&M but hope this season will put that to bed. Their transfers to date haven't pulled out any unknown gems and have been expensive but at least they don't (yet) have a Tosun on their hands (fingers crossed Mina isn't going down that road).

Am assuming Zouma won't come back but think we'll get Gomes. Was not convinced myself that JJK was ready to challenge Coleman so hoping we sign a decent RB to have proper competition there. Too many places in the first team don't have decent competition.

Key though for me is a striker who can stick the ball where it belongs - we can't go into the season with Tosun and DCL as our only strikers, again. I see Tosun being injured as a bonus as it puts more pressure on the club to sign a striker and not try to muddle through. Nothing personal against the guy but he's simply not prem standard - he won the lottery with Allardyce.

I don't disagree about a striker but as we all know these guys are at a premium. And given our current non-European status, we probably have to take a punt on someone who may not yet be quite the proven ticket.

I must admit, based on the youtube extracts, I had high hopes for Tosun. In fact I saw something of Alan Shearer in him. I guess I meant Alan Shearer when he was playing, and not since he retired.

Let's face the facts, before he arrived, we'd spent a King's Ransom, and had too many average players both on inflated and lengthy contracts, which is almost impossible to reverse once in place.

We all want success for our beloved Club having being starved of it for so long, but in fairness to M Brands he did say it would take around 5 years to correct the wrongs, dispose of the deadwood, and establish some sort of stability.

In order to progress he has identified the problem areas and although some of the signings seem a bit expensive, it has to be said that they are a lot better quality than hitherto purchased. I too, would have liked to see 'unearthed gems at bargain prices' but some sort of level of success is required first, for those players to want to come.

I have no issue with the appointment of Brands whatsoever, but must admit the jury is still very much undecided in the case of Silva, although he did seem to be getting things right in the latter part of the season.
It's that middle part of the season that a lot of Silva's team selections and substitutions left a lot to be desired plus the early exits from both Cups.

I think Zouma will be a massive miss for us, if the Chelsea Transfer Ban continues, but I haven't totally given up on that yet. Hopefully there is an adequate or better replacement lined up, should Zouma not return.

I know recent Transfer speculation has us linked to the odd donkey, mostly through journalistic gobshittery, but generally we are being linked with a better class of player, which in itself is a positive sign.

Its far more important to have a striker who facilitates the whole team doing well (and I think DCL did this at the end of last season). Of course we do need more goals and hopefully that striker should be able to contribute around 10-15 but it is points that matter more than goals. Any striker who can work seriously hard for the team (holding the ball up, pressing defenders and linking play well) AND score 20+ goals is likely to cost near £100m so our best bet I think is to keep giving chances to DCL (i expect him to get more goals this year) and buy someone young (ish) who is perhaps more of a natural finisher and can add goals from the bench whilst pushing DCL for his starting spot if he struggles. The likes of Rafael Leao, Sebastian Haller and Jean-Phillipe Mateta could be interesting options as would be Moise Kean. I aslo expect to see more of Richarlison at CF, especially if we sign David Neres for the right wing.

Just been looking at what you've been up to. HaHa.

Looking forward to you all coming up next month.

Great to see you posting, Sensible stuff too - I can only assume the alehouses must be shut down there

Our top scorers last season in the league were Richarlison and Gilfy, both on 13 - even Glenn Murray managed that playing for a near relegated side and he's 35. Our next top scorer was DCL on 6 from 35 appearances (even Digne managed 4). Likes of Ashley Barnes and Joshua King are no where near world class but both still easily outscored DCL and Tosun, combined.

We need prem standard fire power up front and that is not DCL or Tosun for me. The former is only 22 and will improve but can't yet be 1st choice and the latter is just crap. Giving 150% effort every game doesn't count for much if you don't have the skill or pace for this level. Niasse busts a gut too, I'd bust a gut too given the chance.

Not asking for a miracle just a striker who's going to ask questions of the defence either through pace and/or presence holding up the ball and bringing others into play, dominant in the air etc.

If we have any ambitions on improving, it won't be with Tosun and DCL as our main strikers. Just my opinion anyway - happy to eat humble pie if DCL bags 15+ goals in the coming season.

If we can't get rid of players they will just go when their contracts run out and the likes of Jagielka and Williams leaving this month has freed up about £120k/week in wages, given it was widely written that Williams was on £70k/week and Jags £50k. Think we have another 4 or 5 high paid players that just have one year left so in 12 months time that's a load more gone (hoping with just a year left we can loan them out for part wages at least).

There'll be a couple of stragglers but not that long to go until most of the deadwood is gone - important thing is to not make the same mistake of signing a whole load more on long term contracts. Would be nice to have a few loans with options to buy - would have helped with Zouma and Gomes.

I certainly wasn't suggesting you were naive. I anything I was the naive one in thinking that Tosun might be another Shearer...

This reflects my on-going problem as an Everton fan: I always think the next signing is going to be the answer. You'd think by now I would have recognised the illusion which is my continuing hope, over hard, concrete experience.

When this season's signings are announced, I'll be exactly the same, starting 2019-20 thinking this is going to be the one.

Sorry if I didn't make that clear.

By the way - I have (taken up arts). Deep down I must have known.

I am always wary of January transfers at the best of times, especially for big money. In the recent past, we've had Tosun, Walcott and Niasse...

We should probably stop signing players in January for a bit.