Short-Term or Long-Term?

I think most have realised that Silva, another in a line of unsuccessful candidates for the job, who has realised the job is way over his capacity to cope with. The old saying " a good craftsman, never blames his tools " rings true, and while we may not exactly be over-staffed with World Class players, I don't believe the majority have suddenly become that poor in a short space of time.

It has to be down to the Manager, and I'm afraid the buck stops with him. Either way if he hasn't got a recognisable system of football (which I personally doubt) or he can't get it across to the players to perform, something has to change!

There have been improvements, but still a lot of work to be done. You need a core of steady management to keep progressing In Inevitability the areas that are more difficult to sort out, will raise their ugly head as and may only become apparent when the pressure is on.

You are right that changing Silva would not help this process. I don't think Brands will panic and Moshiri will listen to him.

I felt in the past that when Manager is under pressure, the backroom staff and players have not helped, even may have helped him on his way. I don't think that will work with Brands about.

Those two problems have been with us for some time, so they are 'Everton problems'. Whether Silva can produce consistency, and the mental toughness needed to overcome inevitable set-backs routinely, remains to be seen. The only way to know is to give him more time.

Most of the team's shortcomings were addressed last night at Wednesday and DCL even bagged a brace to prove his value as a star striker and the answer to our prayers !

Russell, good article with a lot of good points, but I have not seen us play stylish attractive football many times under Silva. He is a one-system manager and, when it does not work, he simply will not change it. Week after week, we concede from set-pieces; week after week, the same formation; week after week, the same slow sideways passing.

So how long do we wait before we get rid of this second-tier manager?

Moyes was too defensive.
Martinez couldn’t defend and spoke shite.
Koeman never got us and the football wasn’t good enough.
Allardyce was fat Sam and the football was terrible.
Silva now lacks passion.

There are some truths in all of these statements, but changing the manager every year hasn’t exactly worked for us has it?

We had the 4th best defence in the league last year, and were playing some great football at the end of the season. Hopefully Iwobi, Gbamin, Gomes, Kean and maybe Sidibé will give us something this year once they have settled in.

The last thing we need now are the perennial calls for the manager’s head now that we have lost 2/3 games...

Losing Gana, then Gomes and Gbamin getting injured has damaged us more than anything.

Losing Zouma was a blow, but not all the defensive problems can be laid at Mina's door. I think the disjointed midfield, because of the reasons above, has preciptated our leaky defence.

Our forward line is better than the last ¼ of last season when we were on the march. I just don't think Silva has been configuring it right. Playing Kean through the middle against Sheffield Utd was a poor one. There were 30 crosses in the game, with that tactic, surely Calvert-Lewin should have been chosen, with Moise Kean coming on at 60 mins to play an attacking wide role.

The midfield will suffer again on Saturday against Man City unless we have an ultra combative closing-down attitude. Norwich did it and City suffered. Norwich worked for that win with pure graft.

We need to win battles like that on our own turf; against the better sides, we have to be prepared to graft for 90 mins and fight to the death to win. The top sides resent it and expect us to roll over. This attribute is Silva's duty to instill.

If we can out-battle Man City there will be chances against their makeshift defence. We can get a result.

Although I have little faith I think we need to give him the chance to get Gbamin fit and Kean up and running and then judge whether he is just a relegation manager or a potential winner.

I believe Brands has been a good appointment and has certainly improved the quality of the squad but the jury is still out on whether Silva can mould this quality into an effective team.

Allardyce "playing with no identity or purpose". Could you Russell clarify to us what are Silva's "identity or purpose"? I have not seen any sign of them so would be relieved to learn.

To be fair, I wouldn't sack him either - mainly because I'm not sure who we'd replace him with. However, I did read that we had £317M worth of footballers on the pitch against Sheffield Utd last Saturday and, from my seat, we didn't look like £317M worth of football team.

If I was Moshiri, I think I'd be quite keen to see some return on my investment sometime soon. It's all very well to see us as a work in progress, but there seems to be precious little progression.

Chopping and changing managers every year has left us with a mish-mash of a squad, some of whom are on top dollar that we are struggling to get rid of.

It's much better to avoid changing managers if we can, and to at least have a consistent approach to the way we are supposed to play, player recruitment, player development etc.

If it is not working out after 3-5 years, then we should change, but we need to get away from knee-jerk reactions and changing manager's every 18 months.

The main problem this season has been a lack of a striker who could score goals regularly. DCL made the big difference between Everton and Sheffield Wednesday last Tuesday by scoring those 2 goals in quick succession. If he had been prolific in Everton's first 6 premier league matches, Everton would be closer to the top than finding themselves in a disappointing position with 7 points from 6 matches.

I do not understand the point of having an under 23 team if they are not supplying players for the 1st team. Yet, Everton will cling on to under 23 players season after season with them having no hope of making the 1st team. It does appear whoever chooses players for the under 23s does not believe they can make the 1st team with all of them failing season after season accept for Tom Davies even though he struggles to get a game in the 1st team.

Do we want Allardyce back?
Do we want Koeman back?
Do we want Moyes back?

I am as upset and pissed off as anyone at our results in matches against Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, Bournemouth and Sheffield Utd but until Silva ca get the right balance in the team to play the system and style that he wants... we need to be patient (and thankful that it's not Koeman or Allardyce at the helm) and trust that Silva things will come good soon.

COYB.

The "mish mash" of a squad (my grandmother used to say that!) is being sorted out by Brands, very well in my opinion. How Silva uses that squad is a different matter.

The DOF and the manager are not joined at the hip. One hires, and ultimately fires, the other. My prediction is that, come next summer, Brands will be shopping for a CB, a creative midfielder and a new manager. Probably not in that order.

You keep some strange company, Rob.

Brands’ work is not independent of the manager. He might do all the contractual stuff and negotiating, but he is not acting alone in buying and selling players - Silva is just as involved in deciding who we buy and sell. If we change manager, that throws the balance of the squad up in the air again.