The Last Rites

Don't disagree with any of that Steve. I lost faith in Pickford some time ago. His temperament just isn't showing signs of changing. The one place on the pitch you want calmness and decision making; his tendency to routinely have a rush of blood causing a brain fart is concerning and almost cost us against Leicester.

Player surgery aside, the other priority is to change the mentality. Many a manager can do great things with decent players if they can induce the right winning mentality into them. We haven't had that in years hence our submissive shows against the "big" clubs.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news/dixie-dean-statue-fire-everton-police-goodison-park-police-cctv-video-a9604966.html

Spared you the Liverpool (FC) Echo one as it has become the worst site ever for adverts to the point it is unusable, even more so than other newspaper websites.

Everton has become the perfect place for the never good enough for the higher echelon types and the ambitious younger player who can attract a better contract elsewhere.

I'm uncertain whether this deep seated culture can be changed, but I am, like most blues pretty fed up of seeing it play out season after season. I asked a mate of mine why is it that Everton very rarely get an unexpected victory, he replied 'well they did beat Norwich away' sums it up really.

They may not have been as gifted as the current squad but I reckon they would have won 4 times in 5 against them because they were more determined. But to be fair, if I was earning £5,200,000 a year guaranteed, what motivation would I have.

I can live with the back 4 for another season although it would be nice to get a replacement for Sidibe,

I can also live with DCL and Richy up front but if Richy keeps getting the treatment Spurs dished out he is likely to end up in the treatment room qquite a bit.

I don't rate Pickford at all he is a total liability. He makes occasional exceptional saves but for me he does not command his area or organize his defence. He is certainly no Neville Southall now nor in the future.

I believe we need at least 2 and preferrably 3 top class MF players..

The shameful way our MF gets rolled over tome and again since Gueyses departure raises many questions about the way our club is run. Added to that the lack of goals contributed by anyone in MF and a blind man can see where our recruitment funds need to be concentrated.

I just worry that if we don't show signs of challenging for Europe anytime sonn we will not attract the calibre of players we need despite the CArlo factor.

Baningime, Davies, Dowell and Gordon as a midfield for the last 5 games might have produced an eerie silence amid the distant howling.

We have more pressing problems at the moment than England's goalkeeper.

Inevitably following so many managerial changes there seems a lot of players used out of position: Sigurdsson is never going to be a ball winner but his apparent apathy must not be tolerated, particularly at the expense of youth; I hope to see Beni, Davies and Gordon start against Southampton and given a proper run. As for Pickford, I feel replacing him is a priority as the spine of the team will always be vulnerable to his moments of comical mirth and mayhem.
I think we all know the players that simply aren't good enough but getting rid will take time. We now have a truly top manager in place and money. Man City wasn't built in a day.

We'll get better by continuity, belief, identity, desire, team spirit and all the other hard to define or quantify elements that make a team become more or less than the sum of its parts. These things develop when you keep a group of players together and create a sense of camaraderie and will to win. They change players completely from looking lost and clueless to sharp and purposeful.

We definitely need new players, two, perhaps even three midfielders, but anyone who thinks our problems will be solved with transfers hasn't been paying attention for the last three years. Our problems are caused by transfers.

If we really have ambitions for the top four, we won't achieve it with the current midfield players.

Gomes should be given a huge kick up the backside, shown a video of Loftus-Cheek's 30 minute cameo for Chelsea last night and told that's what you are here for.

2.We need loads of dosh to pay for proven players. ie like city/utd/lpool buying the 50/80/70 mill players selectively each season till their teams are loctited.

3.The Premiership top 6 is a ruthless,mercenary corperative entity that dosen't take ANY passengers.
so Evertonian wishlisting is a waste of thought processes.Its mathematically as simple as that.)

4.Get shut of the greatest Evertonian in the entire Galaxy (And beyond), Bill Wormtongue.

Agree on comments above that having to defend deep to accommodate Michael Keane is asking for trouble. He's improved but hes no Rio Ferdinand. Does bring a smile to my face thinking of when Moyes asked Ferdinand to defend certain situations like Jagielka does.

To me he always looks a better player when he gets the opportunity to drive the ball at the opposition's defensive players rather than shielding his own on the edge of the penalty area.

But I thought when we got Moshiri on board we would start to see us buy better quality players, but that hasnt been the case. We are still buying players who either failed to impress at Barcelona, or young up and coming players like Sandro and Lookman and Onyekuro. While still managing to buy Bolasie and Sigurdsson for huge amounts from clubs below us.

I would hope that we now use Ancelottis wide range of knowledge from managing in Italy and Spain, to bring in the quality that so far has been lacking. I have said many times on this forum that I don't like the influence that a DOF has, and I know that is now the model used by most Premier league clubs. But to me its like spending a fortune on a new restaurant and getting a 3 star Michelon Chef to run it, but let one of the kitchen staff go and buy the ingredients and write the menu. Certainly so far under Walsh it was a complete disaster and Brands hasn't done much better, can anyone name another player other than Digne who we would get more money for than what we paid, and don't mention Richarlison that deal was down to Marco Silva not a DOF.

Although if we sold Pickford this summer there is a good chance we would, but I fear he will lose his England place next season and his stock will fall.

Yes forgot about Bernard coming on a free, although I think the word free doesnt include what we paid his agent or what we paid him as a signing on fee. I remember Simon Jordan who owned Palace saying he went to sign a player on a so called free and the players agent wanted £9.5 million and the player wanted something similar as a signing on fee. Yes probably Pickford might go for more than we paid, but like you I agree he could probably lose his England place which would have an effect on his price should he be sold.

Pickford £20million
Iwobi £10million
Sigurdsson £6million
Walcott £4million
Delph £0
Bernard £8million

We already know there's no takers for Sandro, Bolasie and Besic, so they'll all be free.

I reckon there's 9 players there who we signed for a total of around £170 million, who we wouldn't even get £50million for.

But the problem is far deeper than that. Tom Dodds @22 point 4 has the rights of it. Brands and Walsh didn't loose their abilities overnight. Remember Brands won a championship with Alkmaar and three with PSV and a Dutch Cup and unearthed a lot of talent along the way. Walsh won Leicester's first title and found the likes of Vardy, Mahrez and Kante.

Mark my words we will get no where until Buffalo Bill is completely gone and devoid of all influence.

Let our present CEO look after the charity side and let's get a football CEO in.

Both Walsh and Brands has success working on a budget, then they come to a club where money is less of an object and, instead of continuing to look for the bargains that made them so successful, they start looking ‘upmarket' and probably a bit lazier.

It's akin to shopping at Aldi, then shopping at Waitrose. Half of the stuff is the same quality but you end up paying a premium price based on a superior perception.

Of course, he can't come out and say he's inherited a crap side as their are five games left to play but if he continues to send these shirkers into the midfield battle, some of us may well lose what little faith we had in him when he grabbed Moshiri's family pension fund.

As someone remarked yesterday Everton is the new Sunderland - a rest home for bludgers ! !

The Premier League elevated footballers to film star status and as a consequence the fans of the pre Premier League era morphed into worshippers as football became sexy.

I remember that prior to our successful 80's period the fans voted with their feet. Our attendance for the Coventry home game at the very end of 1983 was around 13,000 and only half of those stayed to the end. If we could go to watch football next week, in spite of the uninspiring performances against Norwich and Leicester and the spineless capitulation at Spurs there would still be close to 40,000 worshipers at Goodison for the Southampton game and while that is the norm very ordinary players like Sigurdsson and Iwobi will continue to get away with it and the fans will continue to be ripped off.

As someone who was a fan and is now a worshiper, I can't say I like the shift but perhaps circumstances are returning control to us. Just maybe.

Verdict: Pope of Burnley will definitely replace Pickford in the England squad, he has complete command of his area; Sheffield Utd just put hopes of Everton in Europe on the shelf. The work ethic of both Sheffield and Wolves players is about 90% higher than Everton's players.

Supporters of Everton who say they can't believe they we below Burnley in the league, now have Tottenham supporters saying the same.

Watching other teams, it really opens your eyes of how poor and slow Everton have become. Next season can't come quick enough and hopefully Everton will have brought in midfielders who can move quicker than jogging pace and can tackle.

Modern football is played at a much faster tempo than in Carlo's hey day. He needs to speed up his training and game plan or we can forget trophies.

Those that attack them have a current agenda, which they wish to promote good or bad, but unfortunately with the joint aim of suppressing anyone elses opinion that is the opposite to theirs, throughout the ages.

If they have a good agenda they should confident that it will stand up to scrutiny, when compared. The more people that know about the subject by referencing the statue, the more their agenda is strengthened.

In the case of a clearly bad agenda, like the attack on the Dixie Dean Statue just shows you what is out there in the twisted minds of some people.

Oh but he puts himself about and never stops running, isn't that the bare minimum we expect of a player? He has improved but I don't think there was a need for the long contract and improved wages at this stage of his career.

The midfield is incapable of tackling, dribbling, scoring or playing a positive pass. In Monty Python terms, this midfield is dead.

The defence is so slow, we have to defend the 18-yard box. And even then your heart is in your mouth. Holgate has potential, Digne is decent, and Coleman has been loyal but the rest are rubbish.

Is Calvert-Lewin top class? No, but which top striker would come and play in front of that shite? The last one is in Milan currently and the one before that is in his late 50s...