All the Hallmarks of a Death Spiral

The Board must now make a decision to stick or twist.

Stick with a manager who has a playing philosophy that concedes more goals from set pieces than any other. Dyche says set pieces are still 25-30% of goals.

Sticking with him means backing him in the transfer market in January. A proven striker and fast centre back is a necessity. Can we even survive to January?

Or will they twist and sack him? The best managers are under contract and will not be available. The only ones available are not employed for a reason.

Mourinho is not an option for Everton.
Very dark times for the club yet again. I don't think anyone can deny that there appears to be a bigger problem at club as to why we keep selecting poor managers and then when they get here the players don't perform.

And there lies the problem.

Silva has stayed inside his dugout for the duration of the most game once we have fallen behind, - hand pockets looking crestfallen. What part of the art of leadership is that? No wonder the teams lacks combativeness and creativity.

Throughout his time as manager, Everton failed to create any real fluent and attacking style as he promised at first interview. Most games we are actually struggling to test the opposition keeper with any clear-cut chances.

We are in big trouble in my view. We have to act now to remove him and we need a manager with character to shake things up.

But for me Brands stock fell in the summer, regardless of the good work in summer 2018, he got it badly wrong this year.

We needed a central defender with pace, we waited too long for Zouma when by the middle of July it became apparent that Chelsea wanted to keep him there.

We needed a proven experienced striker that could play in difficult circumstances (we have needed one for two damn years) but we signed a kid that's younger and more far more raw than DCL and frankly nowhere near ready to be starting as lone front man.

Everton must be the only club that signs strikers for big money yet never seems to have a clue what to do with them or even why they signed them.

We should have signed Moise Kean AFTER getting an experienced striker, that would have made perfect sense.

As it stands nobody knows where the goals are coming from in this Everton side.

There is no Lukaku there now who in bad times under Martinez or Koeman usually bailed us out against the lesser teams with bulldozer performances that just about seen us over the winning line.

Our away form is literally dreadful, we don't score goals on the road, we keep conceding stupid soft goals.

We don't resemble a team, we look static, boring, pedestrian and it's a really difficult watch right now, it's mind numbing if truth be told, slow motion football.

Moshiri can't be happy, he headhunted Silva for 9 months and it's going spectacularly tits up yet again just like the other expensive capture of Koeman, a manager with very little character or personality.

It's nearly 18 months into Silva's reign here and I'm still struggling to see what he's trying to do, where is his own identity or game plan?

He just seems like yet another manager that can't get his team scoring goals or attacking with any verve or cohesion, he won't stray away from two holding midfielders ( why on God's earth do we need Schneiderlin and Delph against Burnley?).

I believe his time here is very nearly up, if he doesn't go before West Ham then I can't see him being at the club past early November unless something miraculously changes but there's little evidence of that happening right now.

The next appointment needs to be a man that has been there and done it, a man that suffers no fools and will command respect because of his Premier League record.

Stop scrimping on managerial appointments Moshiri and try and go right to the top man, no more “supposed to be's “.

We've already frittered away too much money on average players and other teams castoffs, let's not do the same with every managerial appointment.

He has to go. There is no way back.

I firmly believe Brands has a plan in place and that Silva will be gone very soon.

Still doesn't offer an excuse for the "once again" rotten start to the season. All that money spent and still nothing to show for it.

Give Silva until the end of October latest! I didn't expect to be writing that sentence this season.

The recruitment of Boa Morte to replace the trusted number two who left appears to have had no positive benefit. If Silva goes, he'll take the whole backroom set up with him and that is a major disruption. It isn't just the manager who is going, it is the entire team he carries with him and the only reasonable time to make such a change is at the of the season. The dilemma now is whether the prospective disruption caused by dismissing Silva et al is likely to cause more good than harm despite the disruption.
Given where we are and the fixtures ahead, I'd say we should take advantage of the break if the Board know their preferred candidate and, more importantly, that he could be in post quickly with a team behind him. If not, I think Silva will be in post and we're in for a
dreadful relegation battle under the guidance of a managerial set up that is not strong enough or flexible enough to cope with it.

His track record in the Prem, is anything but glowing, in fact it has all the hallmarks of a serial failure, yet we still pursued him. I say we, that is not entirely correct, as many members including myself did not want him in the first instance.

I have said it before and will do again, Moshiri would not be where he is today financially without having some acumen, and yet while he has been with us, in the most part money has been squandered on both serious compensation for ill-suited Managers, and over-priced players.

It was patently obvious from the outset that Moshiri is not a footballing man, yet he has either been duped into flagrantly throwing vast sums of money away, or is somehow content to waste his millions.

Getting back to the sacking of Silva, which I hope is sooner rather than later, again he will be amply rewarded for failure, it beats me, what exactly is going on.

As a previous poster said, one or two of his coaches should have an honest word with him, if they did they'd be earning some of their wages, they seem to be doing very little else.

I haven't seen Burnley's goal but from the description it looks like a replica of Sheffield Unt's first goal the other week, with all the defenders watching the front of the six yard box and leaving the back of it without cover, Silva and his coaches are learning nothing and the same mistakes are allowed to be made game after game after game.

Changing the coaches so quickly undermines how the club is progressing, I understand that, and we have to start all over again, but I feel if we allow this manager to carry on we will be in very serious trouble.

Act now, those in charge of our club, or repent at your leisure, we fans have no part in what goes on but we certainly suffer the actions of what does go on.

Mourinho will not come to Everton for two reasons.

The scale of the club does not match his ambitions. He wants a club where he thinks he has the resources to win the league and compete, Everton doesn't.

The second reason is he knows the club is mismanaged by a lovee theatre twat and is not a credible business entity or footfall club. We are Soyboy Lover FC with no guts or determination to be winners.

Yesterday was an opportunity to show he can remedy the inherent problems and motivate the players.

Neither happened. Same old ineffective performance. Sterile and insipid. No improvement and palpable regression.

Quality players under-performing in poor formations and under-motivated. We have a ''team'' that is dramatically less than the sum of its parts. And that is damning for a manager , as that is task no1.

Yesterday snuffed out hope that he can orchestrate an improvement. After 3 league defeats on the trot it was all on the line yesterday.

Can anyone say they have confidence in him after what we saw?

Everton are no different to any other team in this respect, the only thing that separates the successful teams from the rest is the manager and the amount of money at his disposal. If we stick with this manager Moshiri deserves whatever hardship that comes his way and it will. He can only keep trying with a great deal of help to pick a successful manager. If Moshiri does get it right and results improve with a manager who has a good win ratio, all this talk of something being wrong at management level would vanish overnight.

Next manager is not so much about the manager itself but about Brands and his professionalism.
Proven, experienced, tactically astute and a tough manager. Don't care who he is, RS connections or likeability. Don't really care if he is there for years or just 1 or 2 but the rot has to stop now.
Players must simply prove that they are worth the money paid. If not get rid.

Don't really care about Top 6, CL or other things as we are in relegation form. Must turn the trajectory upwards and become a team to be taken seriously once more. That's all I need for now.

Just like Everton to let you down again!!!!

I very rarely agree with Jim Bennings, but his paragraph starting with “we don't resemble a team” is exactly how I feel right now. I stopped travelling away once Koeman came, and I feel that it's only “out of duty” why I'm watching Everton play at the minute.

Everton is life to a lot of people, some come out of a major operation, and want to know how “there team” have got on, (I wish they had your spirit George, and I'm glad you pulled through mate) and you only have to look at the Dixie-Dean statue, to see how many people take Everton to the grave, but it seems so soulless at the minute, especially out on the pitch were we have a team full of Zombies, who react to nothing, especially when they see a bit of space.

''Next manager is not so much about the manager itself but about Brands and his professionalism.
Proven, experienced, tactically astute and a tough manager. Don't care who he is, RS connections or likeability.''

You are advocating Rafa

I agree that Benitez, whilst there will be many reservations, is the safest bet and fulfills your perfectly worded criteria.

Furthermore, I think the reservations would be cast aside if he gave us our pride back and got us playing like a proper football team.

Also, I'm starting to doubt Brands; the signings he has made have been very very poor. Not buying a centre-back and goalscoring striker is unbelievable.

I honestly think, if Silva stays, we will go down. I've been saying for three years now we should have gone for Benitez. A proven winner who did wonders at Newcastle.

3 out of the next 4 are at home, to stabilise things and save his job. But long term, this is pointless. He doesn't inspire. Anyone.

I acknowledge he has been let down at centre back and after losing Gana then the injury to Gbamin is unlucky but - we don't have enough options in mid anyway and that's on him.

Long term, Everton need someone that can rehabilitate the mindset of the club and dressing room. We need a heavy hitter with a track record. Bielsa is very gettable.

First deep corner, we got lucky, second deep corner, same player still unmarked, goal.

Blame the manager for the sterile tactics, but the players have got to take more of the blame imo, because they are not showing any personal pride whatsoever.

I posted pretty much the same thing only last week. It was a walk in the park for us again yesterday - with the emphasis on walk. I stood for 90 minutes without a single moment of excitement for me. It's the same old birthday present from that uncle that you know you'll be getting again and again - a pair of socks that will just go to the back of the drawer. My drawer is getting full of these "socks". Only 8 games into the season (eight!) and we're 17 points (seventeen!) adrift of the top spot.

Tactics, poor. Selections, predictable. Substitutions, amateurish. Movement, slow. Defence, disorganized. Attack, impotent.

Poor, poor, poor, in every department. Any suggestion of 'giving time' is pathetic.

We are supposed to be targeting Europe, and once again, our hope is to rescue a disaster to make mid table and 'start again' next season. All the while, our neighbours dominate Europe, and our rivals like West Ham, and especially Leicester, make advances.

Silva has failed, it is over.

Marcelino - Rudy Garcia - Blanc - Allegri -Mourinho are all top managers who are out of contract - maybe they would reject us, but we can at least try.

Vieira (nice) - Arteta (asst City) - Marsch (R.B. salzburg) are all highly rated, albeit untested managers.

Howe is a talented manager who may develop at a bigger club - considering Bournemouth have a 11,000 average attendance, it is a miracle where they are.

I'd have any one of those ahead of this joke of a manager. His next job will be in Greece or Turkey, about his level.

There's a lack of pace in defence, the persistent playing of Coleman on memory despite it being clear he can't perform up and down like he used to is a weakness to us.

The midfield lacks any kind of creativity or pace, not a single central midfielder at our club could greatly outrun a tortoise.

The wide areas are another soft spot, Richarlison is no more a wide player than Bilyaletdinov was under Moyes.

Whilst Iwobi looks completely lost out wide and doesn't get involved enough, then there's Bernard who has the ability to link up well with Digne but he doesn't really pack enough of a punch.

Up top we have zero options to get me really excited that we could torment opposing defences.

So whoever comes in looks like again inheriting a very lopsided mediocre bunch of average “hyped up before achieving that much” players.

Good luck with Everton of 2019/20

Maybe Jose, is ready to go back to his beginnings, maybe not, but even though every managerial appointment is a gamble, and although Silva is still here, you can't say there are not some very good managers out of work at the minute, and some with very big points to prove as well?

First his assistant Jao Pedro Sousa who had been with Silva throughout his managerial career left to take over Portuguese side Famalicao, and is doing very well there so far. How much of an impact it had on Silva and the players, I don't know, and how is Luis Boa Morte fitting in or not. Then there was the disastrous decision to sell Gana Gueye, who was so integral to the way the team played. He has a terrific engine that allowed his other denfensive midfield player to push further forward in the knowledge that Gueye would be there to cover. Gana was top of the stats in the Premier league for tackles won and also very high up on ground covered per game and the number of interceptions. So why with years left on his contract was he sold and who was it that sanctioned the move. I can only assume it wasnt Silva as he was still saying days before the transfer was completed he was doing everything to convince Gana to stay. So it must have been Brands or Kenwright or Moshiri.

I know some will say that it was his dream to play for PSG, but we were under no pressure to sell, and even Gana himself said he thought the chance to play for PSG had gone when Everton turned the move down in the January window. We should have said categorically that he wasnt for sale then or in the summer.

Brands brought in Delph and Gbamin, but neither has the pace or the engine of Gana, and even more worrying Gbamins agent who he has had since he was 15 is suggesting we will get the best out of him by playing him at centre back.

I am not convinced that Brands is as good as some on here make out, mind I may be biased as I don't like the role of DOF and to make him a director within 12 months of joining the club seemed over the top to me. But lets look at what he has bought so far, Digne, Bernard, Mina,Delph, Gbamin, Kean and Iwobi. Well Digne is the best but you have to question some of the other signings. This team was crying out for a top class striker as towards the back end Silva had stopped us conceding goals and we just needed to add more firepower up front. But instead of getting that top class striker Brands brings in a very young Italian striker in Kean. This boy may turn out to be a terrific striker in time but this was bordering on madness to expect a player so young to hit the ground running without knowing the league the language or the toughness of the Premier league. Even the great Henry struggled at Arsenal in his first year and he was much more experienced that Kean. Zouma had stated all along he would be returning to Chelsea and with a transfer ban and a young manager he would be given a chance which he has been given. But knowing this Brands failed to bring in a centre back.

Added to these woes Silva couldnt envisage that his 2 main goalscorers from last season would start in such poor form, and certainly Sigurdson looks nothing like the player from last season.

So in conclusion we have an owner who has backed all his managers with lots of money but sadly doesnt have the ability to hire the right person. A DOF who hasnt even met the brief of what the fans were asking for at the end of last season a top striker and another centre back. And a manager who looks incapable of turning these players into something resembling a half decent team.

The problem is there is no-one left who cares. The players don't care. If they underperform for us, they will just go somewhere else and do exactly the same.

Our last three managers have not been invested in the club, always with one eye on something bigger or better, and all of which have lost their jobs through stubborness and a failure to change when things aren't working.

Things on the pitch are as bad as they have been for a long time. We have a keeper who acts like a clown, a back four that can't stop conceding, a midfield seriously lacking in creativity and a forward line that has a hand full of goals (at best).

I never thought I'd say it but I'd have Moyes back (and I know I'll get stick for it). I thought we were past those days, but sadly we are not. We are not a good team, we are poorly managed and do not appear a good prospect for anyone.

No doubt our next manager will be someone who tries to play attractive football, but ultimately can't set a team up to defend and won't ever deviate from their 'masterplan'.

I understand why there is so much apathy to the club. I myself stopped going the match awhile ago. I got bored of constantly feeling let down by what was in front of me.

The title of the article is All the Hallmarks of a Death Spiral. Sadly I think it's true, but not for the manager.

As for the players; Schneiderlin should have been booted out (along with Mirallas) after the training ground incident during Unsworth's spell. He's a Jonah in this squad - look at the performances/results with and without Schneiderlin. Sigurdsson can stay in Iceland after the current break - he is only bothered putting in performances for them. We're just the mugs who pay his wages. Harsh maybe, but he was a very poor buy. Walcott - say no more. Sadly, Seamus' legs have gone - he simply can't get forward and backtrack effectively any more - the sending off resulted from that.

It's time one or two of the kids got a chance to prove themselves - the failure to have Gordon even on the bench for the Wednesday match spoke volumes about how Silva will persist with useless players/tactics until it's too late. Give Silva till January and he will deliver - a place in the Championship. Get shut before the end of the month and we have a fighting chance of turning things round.

Knowing Everton, we will boot Silva out end November when we are on 10-12 points and instruct Unsworth to take over again as caretaker - promising him the job if he wins most of December's fixtures.

There's no shame in defeat when you've given your best.

For me now this squad has lost all cohesion and belief. It's the most boring slow football I've seen by an Everton team, and tactically flawed.

The team have lost the plot, I hope there's no players stating in the media, “time to atone”, they are permanently in atonement.

This form is relegation form and I reckon, Marco Silva has now lost any vestige of hope and goodwill from most supporters.

A defeat by West Ham, could be the end but even a victory will paper over the cracks.

Time to start recovery plans and Moshiri, BK, and Marcel Brands have to get their act together, and face reality.

A cure is needed quick for this terminal malaise, as another broken dream, is closing and a life time of broken dreams, for many Evertonians.

It's sad when the reality of being an Evertonian, now is that you don't expect any decent consistent football and never expect to win, many games, and little flair and style, it's so slow and pedestrian.

Lincoln was a struggle, Wolves we were lucky.. Burnley played like a team, heart and guts. This team has lost its soul.

What pans out the next few weeks, only time will telll.

Scary, scary stuff, Hugh amounts of money, only for the next man to come in and want to sign different players, and load the club up with even more dead-wood once again?

I think that this is the first summer we have really balanced the books since Moshiri took over the ownership? And this is what worries me now.

Personally, I think two things will save him. Moshiri's pride and the need to conserve funds for the BM project. After all his persistence to hook the manager from Watford almost at any cost, the owner will be loathe to admit he's got it wrong. Again. And given how much dough he's squandered on getting rid of Martinez, Koeman and Allardyce and their extensive list of helpers, another golden goodbye will not be on his agenda. Or in the budget.

And then, if relegation doesn't scarper the stadium project - just like at Arsenal and Spurs the supply of funds for football projects will dry up very considerably.

So, as we await the inevitable vote of confidence in yet another no-hoper, we might as well put the keyboards away until at least next summer and hope and pray that things will improve.

Sorry folks !

Its all well and good him saying that we have to do this and we have to do that, but the fact remains that he can't get the team to perform and his managerial methods are putting us worryingly too close to the relegation zone.

I really don't think he is the right manager for Everton and he doesn't have it in him, to take us forward and win trophies. He cannot bring a winning mentality to the team, he is running our club into the ground, I wouldn't give him one more game in charge and now is the time to sack him.

This is Silva's second season with the complete opposite fixture list, with six potential bottom half finishers (or even relegation candidates) with the only top six opposition being the champions at home, and no unnecessary distraction of the Europa League.

We all know how it ended for Koeman!

I do think we have a good squad capable of challenging the top six, but it's the way we set up and play which is crippling us. If Silva came out and said he would drop zonal marking, change formation and only play one defensive midfielder, then I'd be prepared to give him a chance, but I don't think he will change, so unfortunately it's time to bring someone in who will change things.

If only we could get a manager with Martinez attacking prowess and Moyes defensive capabilities and marry the two together we'd be in very safe hands.

Basically, what I'm suggesting is that it's possibly not the system that's at fault. It's either the players or the coaching, or both. As we've had a reasonably settled side, it can't be down to unfamiliarity with each other, so either the players are really stupid, or they're not being drilled and taught properly. Or both.

He has been given a chance to turn things around already and failed abysmally. Confidence in him to ''turn it around'' isn't low, what lingering hopes there were have been categorically extinguished yesterday.

How anyone can believe he has the capability to turn it around is beyond me now. If Moshiri backs him for October, talk about being on borrowed time.

We must bring in a big manager, with a big personality, he needs to get the best out of what we have, shape a balanced team, stop making constant changes and we need to become hard to beat.

The good football can come later.

We have some really good players, its now about gelling it all together.
But what we do need to find is a leader on the pitch, a character player, who will boss the players on the pitch. He does not have to be a young player, constantly looking for young players is also stupid. We need experience.

Many people are still quick to blame Brands for it, as the transfer of Gana Gueye to PSG, but if a player wants to move these days the contract is rarely adhered to in respect of time. He is also blamed for the lack of a recognised Striker and CB, possibly so!

As I understand, an agreement was all in place for us to get Fikayo Tomori from Chelsea, as they wanted to hang on to the experience of Zouma, with their transfer ban in place. I would imagine the idea was for Tomori to return and we could get Zouma next summer.

David Luiz jumping ship to Arsenal at the vinegar stroke of the window scuppered Tomori's move. As for the striker situation I think in all fairness to Brands he did have a striker lined up as well as Moise Kean, but the striker whose name I don't know turned us down.

Again this was late in 'our window' and a lot of European players were hanging on for another three weeks, to see what came along.

“Zonal marking is all about starting positions, for me. You have to be touch tight all the time and as people move about your starting position has to naturally change because you don't want people to get a run on you.”

"We had men who understood the system inside out."I was always the middle man. We had a near post man, Gary Stevens or Graeme Sharp, then there was myself, Andy Gray or Dave Watson and Derek Mountfield picking up behind me.”

"As a manager I used it myself and I have to admit it did take a while for the players to understand it.”

My conclusion is that Silva ain't teaching it right ! Yesterday's goal concession at Burnley should never have happened if the basic principles were adhered to !

The galling thing is the end of the article. The calls for patience by Mosh and Marcel.

I understand where they are coming from. No one, I believe, wants this. We don't want another manager, we want stability and a winning environment.

But it's time. And someone has to point out, if Mosh and Marcel don't act soon, they're complicit in the Death Spiral by allowing it, by their very inaction to introduce change.

It's so fucking Everton, in'it?

Five managers and about half a billion later, he sold up for about 10% of his investment.

PS Then they were relegated !

Your point absolutely bears mentioning, and keeping in mind.

Fortunately for us, I believe there's no way we'll be relegated. Newcastle and Southampton are awful, and there's four to five other clubs who don't have half our talent.

But stranger things have happened. And the beautiful thing, for this American, about European / English soccer, is that relegation demands success.

If Everton were part of a non-relegation format, as we have here in America, I might be singing a different tune.

We should (cough-cough) be in the final 8 of the League Cup. I'd take 16th -17th and silverware, and let the Marco project go through hell in the name of economics and stability, were it not for relegation.

The set-up of teams going up and down dictates you simply can't flirt with disaster.

I don't think we'll get relegated. But the very existence of the dynamic, and the catastrophic affects it would have on EFC, demand we simply have to do something.

In short, no matter how remote, it's there. Looming. And we can't sit back and do nothing. You have to act.

You're forced to.

So, for me, it's time to make the change and attempt to reverse our fortunes. The Death Spiral looms too close, like four horseman of the Apocalypse starting a slow gallup in your general direction.

You fucking run out of the way, quickly.

Results, performances, money spent, them across the park, Nuno (a comparable Portuguese manager), Wolves, Leicester, West Ham, and faltering top six clubs.

The only thing in his favor is the dross that has gone before him, and he's not even up to that pitiful standard.

Silva is a coach, an idealist, over complicating his message. He is not a manager, a pragmatist or able to react to changes ‘in game'.

Take one, two or all of those measures and he's failing against each one. Offer all the mitigation you like, give him a pass on a poor window, injuries etc. Much much worse Everton teams have harvested a far greater points return against the sides we've played.

People talk about top drawer managers who wouldn't give us a first glance let alone a second. The board are tasked with spending as much on a manager as they do on players. If they choose to skimp on it you get what you pay for. Mediocrity.

That nexus moves us onto the players, who some feel are equally responsible. Well that's not an argument which I hold with. Players today have been brought up in an over-coached, micro-managed environment. They rely totally on the coach, when adversity comes they cannot solve the problem ‘in-game'. They are bereft because there is no whiteboard to bail them out. The best managers give one or two simple instructions and let the talent come through.

Players need simplified instructions not because they are dumb but they need to be focused and present. Each waning week the same guys get picked and tactics get repeated, they lose faith. It's there writ large on their faces, did any player look happy/relaxed in the tunnel?
Happy players produce good results.

Ultimately it's up to the board to lead and show what standards are expected. If they don't then the club deserve all the stick and vitriol they get. Currently this is a dereliction of duty. Moshiri deserves far more criticism than he gets, time to stop being thankful he brought some cash, time to lead Farhad.

Last game we played 4411 and the natural width worked better as it simplified the players movement and made us more compact.

Against Burnley Silva reverted to the same way he played all the other games. We do not play with 2 defensive sitting centre backs. Schneiderlin plays deeper than Delph. I struggle with the fact people can't see this. He sits in to mop up and does what is required of him. The troubles in midfield come from the shape ahead of him. We looked better against City because the midfield 2 played next to each other. In this formation Delph plays alone ahead of Schneiderlin and it leaves us wide open through the middle. With our 2 wide forwards also set up way too wide and running back to our goal we are so stretched it's not funny, oh, and it's not clever. Silva is a numb nuts who needs to go now. I've said it all year, we have gone backwards and he hasn't a clue. If we have Schneiderlin then play 2 midfielders just ahead of him, or that's what l see we should do. Sacrifice a wide forward, make us harder to break down and more compact going forward I'm wasting my time.

Why would Mourihno be a good idea? Well, apart from being a winner he also speaks a little Portuguese l've heard. Arteta does too... The players need a coach, a mentor and a manager. Not a big brother. And please, if l hear anyone say we should go for Benitez or Eddie fucking Howe, l will look for you... l will find you... and l will throw a milkshake on you. Don't let me waste my money.

No two ways about it, Silva's time has come and gone, he's had plenty of time to fix things, but just keeps on doing the same things over and over and over again, ad nauseum.

How much more are we expected to take? Even our loyal away following turned against him yesterday and some managed to confront Brands after the match and made their thoughts known to him,.

Moshiri needs to act NOW, before it's too late.

Sack him.

Who would have thought it eh?

There is no rot at Everton. We have so many off-the-field things going for us at present. No suck eggs list required.

Our problems start on the shop floor!

Everton remains a red brick institution led by a polytechnic minded manager.

No leadership on or off the field, no game plan, no vision, no adaptability, no desire, no passion, no characters, no winning mentality, no energy, no excitement... nothing that identifies the things that I fell in love with football. It is the managers job to get these things in place. Fail to prepare... prepare to fail... and we are failing. It is a simple art of war.

Further, Mr Moshiri needs to STOP HIRING RELEGATION FAILING MANAGERS if he wants to avoid a relegation dog fight. Cold, hard math!

Watching Everton yesterday was like watching an 80s episode of Coronation Street. Slow, uninteresting, ponderous and dire!

What surprised me was that the majority of the players have been playing with the same despondent body language and appearance of one Ademola Lookman.

In fear of changing my tune. Maybe it was never Lookman? Maybe the manager just can't play to the strengths of, and motivate footballers?

I'll give him till the end of October to prove me wrong. That should give us enough time to find someone capable of getting us back up to and hopefully past the old Davie Moyes level.

How sad does that sound?

21 set piece goals conceded and losing 20 games after falling behind first is just not good enough.

After three seasons in Division 2, he got us back to the promised land. Not so much money at stake then though!

Back to the future? Nah.

DK #73, spot on, and I would add that the failure to sign a CB has had nothing to do with our situation this season. Mina was the best player on the pitch yesterday for either side, and he'd have been the one on the bench if we'd re-signed Zouma or brought in Tomori.

John #86, I agree with everything you've said, although I assign less blame to Moshiri than you do. His only failing to this point has been taking bad advice, and he's given unstinting support to Brands for everything he's done. Moshiri's best move now wouldn't be to lead, it would be to stand aside and have Brands pick the new manager.

Jason #95, I'll blame Koeman, Fat Sam and now Silva for a lot of bad things, but it may be time to acknowledge that the problem with Lookman was Lookman. His much-ballyhooed return to Leipzig has been a complete failure up to now -- he has played exactly 41 minutes the entire season, and in the one sub appearance I saw he had the same schlumpy body language when he didn't get the ball he wanted. He hasn't been off the bench since, and Leipzig are playing superbly without him, so that isn't likely to change.

At half-time my mate suggested it would be sensible if Silva took Coleman off as the referee will be made aware during the break that the yellow he showed to the player should (arguably) have been red. My mate's reasoning was that it will only take half an excuse and he'll show another yellow to Coleman, and it's not like Silva doesn't have a ready-made replacement right-back available.

Lyndon is also correct to assign much blame to an experienced captain for giving the referee all the excuse he was looking for, but ultimately, as we effortlessly predicted in our half time discussion, Silva was never going to make such a proactive substitution and he insists on lying in the bed of indecision he has made for himself. He seems neither capable nor interested in changing things.

Like all of us, I wanted Silva to succeed and personally I wanted m'learned friend, Mr Ferns, to be proved right. Unfortunately, Silva has looked himself in the mirror and seen the same lack of depth as when he looks around his backroom staff. His lack of decisiveness should have been apparent when he accepted as his first team coach a guy who once let it be known that he didn't like football very much. Not many top class leaders in any profession would take on a role that is certain to be closely scrutinised without making sure they did not have to carry passengers as well.

But this is Everton. An owner who allows the previous owner to continue as Chairman. A training ground that doubles up as an EitC inspired rehab centre for recovering bad boys. A haven for managers to make millions out of failure. If we were irritated by Moyes running down the clock to go to Man Utd without compensation, astounded at the pay off to Martinez, truly shocked by the fact that EFC is generously subsidising the remuneration of national manager of the Netherlands, and disgusted by the willingness of Moshiri to pay obscene amounts to Allardyce, then why will we not be surprised to see Silva ride off into the sunset, probably in the direction of Sporting Lisbon, amply rewarded for his failure?

The rumour is that Sporting Lisbon approached EFC to check on Silva's availability. They can see from over a thousand miles away what those in charge of our club cannot see in front of their noses; Marco is out of his depth in the Premier League. If this rumour is correct then EFC spurned the opportunity to move on without having to pay shed loads of compensation to Silva, Boa Morte et al. I don't think Silva is a bad man but in the situation he now finds himself is he going to fall on his sword for the abysmal start to the season or will he wait until he's asked to go by a suitably devastated Chairman, taking with him a bulging bank account and life back in sunny, less stressful Portugal? This is why I suggested earlier that our manager may not even be interested in trying to change things.

These points about our last managers, along with, just for example, paying 㿙m for a player for whom there was absolutely no interest from any other club and the crazy contracts given to the likes of Sandro et al indicate not only an owner with no understanding of football but, far, far worse, a club riddled with people with no understanding of commerce and who lack even a nodding acquaintance with the art of negotiation. We are, in local parlance, a soft touch from top to bottom.

Unusually for you, yours is a tired report: weariness runs through it like a red thread. You have had enough.

It was a nice idea to try appointing young, up and coming managers, hoping they turn into the real deal. It worked up to a point with Moyes, when there was no money. It has flopped with Martinez, and now it has flopped with Silva big time.

I am sorry for Marco. He seems a genuinely nice guy.
So is my local newsagent. But he couldn't manage Everton either.

If we seriously aspire to being a top four/top six side, Moshiri now needs to appoint someone with a proven track record.

Is it Brands fault ? No idea, but to then say he should be in charge of picking a new manager is a huge gamble.

A mess is an understatement.

“I hope it is a wake-up call. We don't like losing games but we didn't deserve to win that one. The players have set their standards and 100 per cent we were not at those standards for the first 45 minutes.”

Will Moshiri admit that a mistake was made in hiring Silva or will he not admit it was a mistake. What is going to happen, unless this team gets back on track is supporters are going to stop going, starting with people that have long distances to travel to get to Goodison. It is really hard to get supporters back once they have left. No progress then supporters who may only have to travel a couple of hours to travel will stop going and this trickle will continue.

Mr Moshiri it is up to you unless you want to hand the decision over to Brands, oh we dropped down into the bottom 3 now, he who hesitates is lost.

Having said that, we should gave done a whole lot better considering who we've faced so far this season. Silva might love his training ground interaction with his players but when it come to setting the team up motivationally or tactically he's fucking clueless!

Looking through our first team squad of 26 players, 30% of them are a waste of time and would struggle to get a game in the Championship (this is aside from all the “loaners” we have out).

Classic relegation recipe is “can't score enough goals, can't keep a clean sheet” - that my dear friends is our identity.

Look at our attacking options, Walcott, Niasse, Tosun, DCL & Kean.

A team with strollers such as Schneiderlin, Sigurdsson makeweights such as Martina, Baningime.

Too be fair you pity any manager (apart from the small fortune we'll pay) coming in to work with this squad.

It's abundantly clear now (hindsight) that Gana was simply priceless.

I have no answers, I have no managerial suggestions, I'm just fucking pissed off, we are just fucking cursed.

We are now in the bottom three and something has to change now; and if the manager won't change his ineffective style of play, then the club must change the manager. Three interim managers who would cost us nothing to appoint are Moyes, Jose & Benitez. Personally, I would break the bank to bring Massimiliano Allegri to the club. Any thoughts Blues?

For the good of Everton FC, the history of our club and everything it has ever stood for, SACK SILVA NOW

For Christ sake someone slip a taxi card through the letterbox at Goodison quick.

Kenwright is like Ronald Reagan he thinks Stallone is going to come over and put some boots on and single handedly drag EFC up the table.

If Man Utd can be relegated so can Everton. Brands needs to earn his corn, no vote of confidence bs.

That he's still be hanging on may actually be desirable given the ignorance of Moshiri in matters of football. Just think what a balls of it all we would have had the owner been left to his own devices.! We'd be playing Salford City next game not West Ham !

PS I am far from one of the showman's admirers - just facing reality.

I believe current squad more suitable to 4-4-2 and would love to see Moise Kean and Richarlison as the two strikers, and would also love to hear a better reaction from Silva after another shit gutless display then we have to be more brave.

Word of warning don't check it, after the weekend we've had seeing the first team squad in all its stark nakedness left me depressed but it was only when I looked at our players out on loan that I quickly reached for the fentanyl.

My hope is Gomes back and fit will give us the quality our midfield is sadly missing.

Was it Harry Catterick who said a team is only as good as it's midfield.

That's brought a reasonable bit of balance to the sometimes OTT criticism Kenwright faces.

John you are exactly right about the players. They have no idea on the pitch as to how to turn it around. They steadfastly stick to the coaching plan absolutely lost. I
said something similar on Saturday and I am dumbfounded that their natural ability and early years of playing gives them no alternative way of sorting the mess out.

Incidentally Unsworth (the man who was apparently so bad) left us in 13th.

The last time we were in the bottom 3 before then was 2009 when we hit rock bottom before finishing 7th.

This started with the decision to go from the style of a Martinez to the style of a Koeman. Throw some money and spin the wheel. Doesn't work. So for your next brainwave Moshiri choose the style of play we all want to see and a manager capable of choosing the best 11 to carry it out. Oh and by the way, don't give him a 3 year contract. Have him prove himself.

I am aware of his faults and weaknesses but he has been far from the game's biggest villain !

I'll agree with that Derek.

At a time when clubs were spending silly money they didn't have and amassing debts that resulted in relegation it was Kenwright who kept us in the prem, but that will be recognised by few on here.

And few are prepared to recognise we had no money to buy big players.

If they had offered less (say 2 years or even eighteen months), I'm pretty sure he would have still taken the job, and if successful that could have been extended. This way, he walks away with a King's Ransom or reward for abject failure!

Moshiri can't complain as he must have agreed to these things in the first place.

Kenwright gave us a massive blow letting Kings Dock go down the drain. We could have had a docklands stadium for the past 10 years plus. That really set us back, others have now overtaken us.

I think most of us see a combination of badly timed factors that began during our last successful period.

The real shame is we seem to have developed an "unlucky victim" kind of outlook. Strangely luck breeds luck and adopting the unlucky victim role can often bring more misery.

Been reading through some of the posts on the different threads, and the things that stand out for me, are the ones who criticise Silva for never looking at the opposition, and also his complete lack of pragmatism, and honestly don't know how anyone could become a good “manager” without either of these qualities?

If he is advising Moshiri on all things football then, the money he has spent, it is a wonder he has not had Kenwright tied to a bag of cement and sunk to the bottom of the Baltic.

I am not a Kenwright supporter

Some like Bill, he kept us in the Premier League, he took us on when nobody wanted us, and he never ever took a penny in the process.

Others, like myself, feel that to tell the truth would have destroyed his plucky little Everton story, and how the boy with holes in his shoes became their owner.

Like his side-kick, Moyes, they played a great game, but neither of them was ever genuinely good enough for the Everton. I have long forgotten, but hopefully that genie will get Kenwright into his bottle soon enough.

Hopefully the freeze on the Goodison timeline will soon be over, although I wouldn't put a cent on it, until that genie does his fucking job, and takes away all the sentimental bollocks that has become Everton.

Some people think Gerard has a vendetta, I think he just loves Everton, Jason.

All things considered, and with especially the economic climate the club was operating in at the time, I'm happy we had Kenwright in control rather than Randy Lerner or Ken Bates.

Sadly, we might actually have Randy Lerner now?

I've had a complete gutfull of:

Plucky Everton
Nostalgic Everton
Unlucky Everton
Apologetic Everton
Kenwright's Everton

I want…

EVERTON!

EVERTON!

EVERTON!

Hard to believe such an expensively assembled squad could be so poor.

Excellent post.

Begs the question: Who the hell is running the club?

Perhaps the truth is that everyone – senior management, the coach, the players and the fans – are paralysed or thrown off course because of the weight of expectation and because we are all too tensed up. The way we are playing, I think, bears that out.

It is all going to take some undoing and it's how you get into a death spiral, of course, because the harder you try to get out of it, the more trapped you become.

There's no reason why Moshiri shouldn't become pissed off with all this and accept a low ball offer of some chancer who's even worse than he is?

Marvellous!

The manager and coaching team are weak and the statistics prove that. Up to now, we have got lucky we haven't been relegated based on change of management and players over the past five years.

It's a wake-up call tonight for the board. Statistics tell a story. Currently, we are relegation-bound. Mistakes have been made but it must be fixed quickly. Silva is in panic mode or too stubborn to change course. The plane is heading for the mountain and, unless we change course, were crashing.

Interesting week ahead.

"Blaming Bill Kenwright! Laughable beyond words. He may have his faults but he can't be blamed for this situation."

Yes, he can, Ian. Kenwright sat twiddling his thumbs as Everton became "The Premier League cuddly toy". Fact.

Did he improve us one jot? No! Meanwhile, Spurs went from a second-tier club to one of the Sky Six.

Also, Kenwright was a board member when our greatest ever club side was dismantled. He is our most unsuccessful EVER Chairman. As Royal Blue as Me or You, but shite as a Chairman all the same.

The ethos of the project since Brands came in is to buy potential and when it is realised we can sell at a vast profit or players young enough that a profit can be made -– although before Brands the sale of Lukaku was the beginning of this process. Players earmarked for this process are Pickford, Mina, Digne, Richarlison, Gbamin, Gomes, Kean and Iwobi. Profits will be made on Lossl and Bernard as they were free transfers.

Having taken a hit on many, many transfers since he became owner, Moshiri will not take it lightly that at all and, given we are now in the bottom 3 after the barcodes bee money invested in this squad will be wasted again. For that reason, Silva is in real danger of that fabled taxi cat Man Utd, it's highly likely in my opinion that a cab will be ordered if Brands has someone up his sleeve as a ready-made replacement.

Sad and bad times for all concerned.

Spurs were always one of the Nations big clubs and being situated where the money is hasn't done them any harm.

Considering who our neighbours are in our small city, Kenwright did not do badly, there's a lot of unreasoned vitriol on here toward him and he most definitely is not responsible for the teams current predicament or its manager's inability to turn it around.

A perfect summation of where we stand as a football club.
Not nice to read but very accurate.

The past is the past and regardless, we can't look back but we must face the current hell, and get the club on a fresh road.

This season, bar a miracle is a right off. But we must start a new era soon, with belief and passion, and soon. Somehow, the players have lost the art of the press, the defence, the cross, the positioning, the teamwork, the care, the lot!

We are serious dead meat and cannon fodder for any team and relegation. No team has a divine right to stay up, but this team plays, like there's no issue.

There's something wrong, in the Finch Farm, and one of the darkest weeks, in recent times for Everton at all levels, this is a very serious issue.

West Ham, is a must-win.

That's what football should be about – the dream come true, not the money, the agents, the egos... two young lads living the dream.

Even though it condemned us to the bottom 3, who would begrudge the kid his debut goal?

The demise of the team in the late eighties was due to the European ban. Players moved on to gain such football and financial gain. Kenwright was a board member and had little options if players wanted to go. The ban affected recruitment. Our club suffered the most.

As a chairman the club stayed in the league, mainly top half. The community has benefited from projects supporting those in need. The current owner needs a re think but putting this at Mr kenwrights door step is a no-no. You may not want to know this but up to now Mr Kenwright installed our most successful manager since 1996: David Moyes.

I Have just viewed Newcastle beat Man Utd 1-0 with a really good goal scored from outside the box by 19-year-old Longstaff. That scoreline dumped Everton into the bottom 3.

We can forget any idea that the Magpies will take one of the three relegation places. Their display was more organised and exciting to watch than anything produced this season by Everton.

Hopefully this will allow a new person enough time to dig us out of the bottom of the table if we do continue the form of the last 4 games up to Xmas. We had a similar spell last season and came out of that so – as a true fan does – I will remain optimistic until then!

I would be more confident allowing Kenwright to choose our next manager over Moshiri. Under his Chairmanship (albeit with little to no money) we never got relegated (came bloody close though), reached an FA Cup Final, cracked the top 4 and finished in a European place multiple times. He also hired a manager that stayed for 11 years and we were a club with an identity and ideology.

Now we are a joke. We have flaunted our cash like Floyd Mayweather and are being laughed at and left behind by teams that have adopted the Moyes method of management.

We need a manager who doesn't throw money at his problems and little else, but has the shrewd tactical ability to motivate mid-table and lower division players to play like top-4 calibre Premier League footballers.

Let's stay focused. As of now, Marco Silva is a failure.

I agree, Silva needs to mix it up a bit, why not 4-4-2? It can' t be any worse and, with his track record, teams wouldn't be expecting it.

It was obvious that Burnley had done their homework yesterday. Should Tarkowski have been penalised for excessive holding at both corners, which created the space for Hendrik?

Marco Silva says recent meetings with Farhad Moshiri have left him confident he will be given the time to turn Everton's form around.

And the Blues boss is sure that the defeat to Burnley will not have changed the mind of the club's hierarchy.

"All the feedback I had in the last few days and last week as well, goes in this way. If they saw the game, and for sure they saw, they can analyse and they will have seen the same thing that I saw and I don't see that as being reason for things to change, to be honest.”

Silva confirmed he has met with majority shareholder Moshiri twice in the last few weeks and added: “This is not the moment to be worried, it is not the word. I have the same confidence I had at the beginning of the season, the same confidence with our quality, the same confidence with what we are doing every single day. Of course, the detail is playing against us, or we score a goal, we are not being clinical like we must be or like we should be and in some moments of the game.

“But I am not worried, of course I am not happy, not happy with the results or where we are in the table but there is just one way (to rectify that) being more brave, being more clinical, more assertive as well upfront to score and win games.”

I have no idea if this was before or after the Burnley game but the reality is it does not matter. Burnley changed nothing - it just provided more evidence this manager is completely out of his depth, delusional in his thinking and simply is not going to change.

I don't think I can remember seeing so many different threads running simultaneously, all concerned with one main subject, in this case Marco bloody Silva. I use the word bloody deliberately because if Silva is allowed to continue in his position, he will have the blood of our Premier League status on his hands.

Across all those threads, unusually, I have yet to see anybody leaping to the defence of Silva or who confidently thinks he can turn things around.

I think we all know that isn't going to happen and that Silva is just a lame duck manager. Ffs, his body language on the touchline screams that out more and more with each passing game.

I hope Marcel Brands has people tasked to keep a close watch on Social Media activity. If he's as good as he's reputed to be, he'd be a fool not to. He has to have his finger on the pulse of the club and he will want to be aware of the fan's feelings about the current situation. I hope that's the case because if you trawl through all the available fan forums, and pages on the net, you'll find numerous threads all equally as damning about Silva. Taken together we're looking at at least two to three thousand people who have expressed their feelings in the short time since the Burnley game.

Back to the beginning, if Moshiri is still backing Silva, it shows his utter naivete when it comes to running a football club, and his stupidity in thinking the new ground can go ahead with a team in the championship, which is our likely destination if Silva's allowed to continue.

For God's sake, WAKE UP FARHAD. Your fledgling empire is crumbling all around you. Are you going to do something about it, or do a Nero, and fiddle while Rome, or in this case, Everton FC, burns?

All that needs saying is - he has to go otherwise the dream will be over.

We are in deep shit and Silva isn't the man to save us.

Surely that was the time to prove to Farhad he can have confidence in his man to turn it around.

How much evidence does he need, the proof is in the pudding

Don't listen to soundbites look at what you can see with your eyes, that's reality. What I saw at Burnley was no change from the majority of games this season . bunch of quality players playing worse as a team than a bunch of lesser players.

The manager has tried, been given time and patience, and has failed.

Time to part ways and get someone in who can pull these players together as a proper motivated team and get us playing proper football.

No time to lose.

Surely that was the time to prove to Farhad he can have confidence in his man to turn it around.

How much evidence does he need, the proof is in the pudding

Don't listen to soundbites look at what you can see with your eyes, that's reality. What I saw at Burnley was no change from the majority of games this season . bunch of quality players playing worse as a team than a bunch of lesser players.

The manager has tried, been given time and patience, and has failed.

Time to part ways and get someone in who can pull these players together as a proper motivated team and get us playing proper football.

No time to lose.

No pace at the back = how can we play a high line and press. No energy in midfield = how can we play a high line and press. Tactics that isolate the centre-forward= how can we go and press, when the players are playing so deep?

Modern football is about pace and energy, and at the moment Everton are very sadly lacking in both.

Nobody is 'too good to go down'. We need action NOW! Consecutive defeat brings fear, lack of confidence and desperation. We need a powerful leader who is prepared to listen to the people who really matter, the fans, to get us out of this mess.

My fear is that not only will Mourinho & Co not come, but the likes of Eddy Howe and Sean Dyche might say "Thanks, but no thanks!"

There's a danger Unsworth may say "Thanks, but .... ", after his last experience and that ties in with your theory they're ready to sack Silva, but have no-one to replace him?

I voted to give Silva till the end of the month. Clearly I was in a minority. it wasn't difficult to see why.

Regarding the Burnley match, we were playing tippy-tappy possession football without going anywhere, once again. Lessons haven't been learnt. Gylfi was doing his ghostly invisible trick again, his only consistent act this season.

I think it was the Villa game, there was one shot of him having a look of bewilderd panic. I've been surprised nobody has mentioned it. Maybe there's something going on in his private life, like his marriage?

Their goal should never have been, as someone else noted. we had a let-off prior, with Pickford sniffing it out at the rear post. Schneiderlin is seemingly too easy to push out of the way. As with happened when they did capitalize on this defensive error.

What now? It appears most of us want rid of Silva. A rumour over here is that Erik ten Hag is the guy Marcel Brands is looking at. Ten Hag is the current Ajax coach. The big question being: Will he want to go from playing the Champions League to playing relegation football?