Silva: I”m not worried

Like I said on another thread, with his track record, why give him a three-year deal, in the first place? It should have been one year to eighteen months, and if he had succeeded then look at extending it. You would have thought lessons would have been learnt from the Koeman and Allardyce fiascoes.

This disjointed football which shows no organisation and no heart is all happening under your daily watch.

BOTTOM 3 !!!!

My big fear is that unless we get the next appointment right we could end up being the next Aston Villa. Blowing cash season after season, changing managers and then the chairman has enough and pulls out.

We are realistically with the teams around us too good to go down (famous last words). But being in the bottom 3 can bring unwanted pressure to the play. We could easily go on downward spiral.

I bet Sam Allardyce is laughing his big fat arse off.

Well, I tell you what, Marco, we are!

He has no Plan B, doesn't know his best 11, never changes things, and insists on picking Calvert-Lewin up-front every game. Also, Brands must carry the can for making some really bad signings.

We are only 8 games in and we have to keep our nerve, we can't just keep on hiring and firing and another upheaval.

We are in a bad position and Silva has to take the blame for some inept performances but I also think Brands should take a fair share of the blame, no replacement for Zouma, Iwobi is not on Zaha level and this kid from Juventus will need over a season maybe two to find his feet in the Premier League, we.should of got a recognized striker in as well as Kean

West Ham is now a must win game for Silva and I think he will deliver but he has got to change that system and up the tempo of our play, over to you Marco

The proven failed tactics and lack of motivation are purely down to the manager
The lack of effort, self motivation and commitment to Club and support is wholly down to most of the players

I am pissed off with the tactical geniuses and statisticians continuously telling us that we need a youngish, good looking foreigner with a Latin name ending in a vowel, as if all that will make us great again

Would giving the job to Unsworth and letting a couple of his young 100% kids have a run rather than the present failures really be any worse than the shithouses we have just now

We are bottom 3 (-7 goal diff) after playing some mediocre teams too.

Panic stations maybe not but my arse is tweaking looking at the table this morning.

In don't see where our next goal is coming from never mind our next win.

For me its very concerning! we may get the odd good result going forward, but is he capable of taking Everton forward? I'm not so sure now!

Funny how that sounds just like us.

The lack of a Lukaku replacement is killing us. Opposition teams just flood Sigurdsson now and we cant score at all. Hence when we go a goal down we never come back from that.

I think Frank Sheppard has it spot on. I'm not convinced he's getting through to players. These days, coaches have a tendency to over-complicate the game. That means you need to be a really good communicator and it looks like that's not what Silva is.

The next man must be able to communicate clearly and be able to lift the players.

When are you going to start Mr. Silva. I'm not worried that your not worried, I'm worried that no one at Board level seems to be worried.

When they eventually let him go I hope they take a very long time to sort out and argue about the level of compensation he will receive, maybe that will start him worrying.

At the moment the only people seen to be worried about Everton football club and it's future is us, the fans and we have a great deal to be worried about, because we care, let someone at the top show they care and more importantly do something about it.

No trophy since big joe...

Why doesn't it worry the board?, Why doesn't it worry Marco Silva?

Why keep to a losing formula, when every Evertonian can see is completely futile to do so?

This stubbornness in sticking to his losing tactics is being dressed up as steely resolve.

That response loses it's lustre after 5 defeats in 6 and 4 on the bounce, whilst we are embedded in the bottom three.

All this after our easiest start for many years.

Shame on the board for papering over this. These are not hairline cracks - the house is falling down.

11 of the remaining 30 games are against top 6 opponents.

We are now considered a soft touch to soft teams.

We haven't suffered an injury to a key defender yet. This will most likely happen at some point. Naive to think it won't.

No Kurt Zouma or Gana Gueye to help defend in open play and curb pointless fouls around the box.

We can't defend from set pieces again for the second season (and this time it is really showing).

Zonal marking doesn't work without a Zouma and or Gueye type player to quickly close the gaps left open by less effective tacklers.

Our main goal threat Sigurdsson is playing as he did at spurs... poor. Kean is not ready and needs time (not his fault). DCL doesn't have what it takes and is as effective as Jermaine Beckford. I would feel more confident with James Vaughan leading the line.

Where are our goals going to come from? Richarlison, Iwobi, Mina? Is this the reality?

Fact. Shit football aside... Allardyce and Moyes were the superior managers.

I would be using these 2 weeks to find a replacement.

But hey, whose worried?

That is a scary run of games that could send us bottom, or near, at the start of 2020. Before that, we have 4 league games:

Brighton (A)
Tottenham Hotspur (H)
Southampton (A)
Norwich City (H)

all of these are winnable, and a target of 8 points should be absolute minimum. That could well put us in good stead for the nightmare run of December.

But does anyone have any confidence that SIlva will do that? Can Silva 'turn it around'? Maybe it is not impossible, but the reality is we are risking relegation. Are you willing to risk relegation on the gamble that Silva will get it right?

We are not at risk now, but we could well be in 12 games time when we face Man City on January 1st.

SIlva has to go, and he has to go immediately. Put him on gardening leave (like the italians do, to avoid paying the pay off), and go get a top quality manager (Don't understand the calls for Benitez - his time has passed, his football is woeful, and he's one of them).

Inaction now could send this club on a Nottm Forrest style collapse.

Martinez to Belgium. Koeman to Netherlands. Silva to Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey.. what is there to worry about?

Money has ruined the game. Technology is threatening to destroy it. But before that happens Everton appear to take pleasure from frustrating us all.

I'm not sure Salazar could do much to improve our performance but it may be worth a try.

Why be worried when we can just sit and watch Liverpool dominate the city being the only meaningful club that has any ambition.?

It's the “7th or 8th will do” mentality that has been the scourge of Everton for the entirety of he Kenwright era, Moshiri, well he's just fallen victim to the laughin' gas at boardroom level here at this club.

“Of course, we're not worried at the moment." — Oh my days, he should be — because the rest of us fucking are! We're in the bottom 3 after the easiest of starts we've had for years!!!

“We are not being clinical like we should be in some moments, and that is going against us, but I'm not worried." — He's not worried we create so few genuine chances during every game that we have to be 100% clinical in front of goal to have a chance of winning!

Mr Moshiri and Mr Brands: Are you hearing or reading this drivel from your manager? If so, please do us all a favour and get rid. It's all well and good saying there's no-one out there to replace him but you cannot leave this fool in charge of the asylum any longer.

They have the same problems. They lost top players and have not replaced them even though millions have been spent.

Genius Moshiri can't even see that it will cost a top strikers wage to sack another manager.

A while back a fellow blue said to me, what Moshiri is doing is Randy Lerner on steroids.

That is absolute spot on but we never focus on the key issues.

All those arguments i had about 8th being a long shot this season seem true now already.

He must think the English are fucking nuts. I can imagine him telling all this to his gran kids in years to come.'and so, we finished in the relegation zone and got relegated.'

and what happened then Granddad?

another team in the premiership offered me lots of money to become their manager.j this team was called Watford. i stayed there for three months, but they didn't like that we were in the nasty place and so they asked me to leave.

and what happened then

then another team asked me to be their manager, and gave me ten million pounds., but we kept staying in the nasty place and eventually they asked me to leave too.

Of course he's not worried. He has his millions in the bank. He doesn't have to watch his pennies and put a few bob aside to go and support his team. He doesn't pay hard earned cash for his season ticket.
It clearly doesn't bother him that we fans have to endure the garbage he and his team serve up week in week out.

He doesn't travel a 440-mile roundtrip – like I do – to Goodison Park to support Everton FC. Of course he's not worried. What an arrogant, disrespectful, insensitive interview that was. Get yourself gone, lad.

Lets look at this way. Moshiri wanted his "exciting Brand of Football" manager.
He got Silva. We don't know why he fancied Silva (maybe he literally did) but he went out of his way to get him.

So year one we have a good steady window, we improve a few positions and by the end of year one, things are looking great. A very good future ahead.

Now forget about every true point thats been made about this years poor window.

Cast your mind back to Klopps first final for Liverpool.
2 goals up and they lose in 45 second half minutes. Why?
He didn't have what was needed to see the game through HIS way.
Not the Director of footballs way, the coaches way.

Now look since they got what was really needed.
Were Man City keeping everyone entertained in the first season under Pep?

We beat that side 4-0 with Davies and Lookman on the pitch. They got what was needed and now look.

Going back to my above Post, Silva and Solskjaer are in the same boat and now people are talking in usual cliches,
"He does the same thing over and over"

Like Klopp doesn't, or Pep doesn't operate the same way of winning every game.

The damage was done before a ball was kicked. Silva isn't helping much but who will?

Moshiri knew quite well he was getting a manager that took gambles on the pitch and requires a certain type to win him games.

Unfortunately our neighbours and City have made football never more easier to understand.

Buy what is required and thats half the job.

"Everton were once considering a state of the art stadium on the docks in Liverpool now they have crashed out of the championship what went wrong?

We have some decent players but quality please, 30m for a boy who cant control or pass a ball. Yes its harsh and I get he's hardly played and is a fish out of water being Italian but I'm just pointing out the idiotic scouting of players.

Defending 2 years and still unable to setup basic defending of setpieces. Markup Marco we should call this clown its words every fan here has heard since about 3 years of age it must get lost in the translation.

Last season with nothing at stake simply papered over cracks he needs to go and go now before anymore damage is done.

Could all be bull but like you say it would be no shock.
We have become a very deluded club.

Let's all be unworried, smiling and joking as we disappear through the relegation trapdoor and enter the cruel hard world of Championship football.

Seriously, what are they on? I'd have thought Moshiri would be more protective of his investment. He really is quite probably the worst, least football savvy billionaire owner of all those who have control over the other PL clubs.

He can't see the potential disaster looming, waiting to gobble us up and spit us out in small champioship size chunks.

Are the fans, the only people who care about the club any more? Because the people who should be concerned give no impression that they give a damn

If he can't see that Silva's a busted flush by now, I doubt he ever will, and that seriously worries me. Worse form than Martinez, Koeman, Unsworth and Allardyce but Moshiri isn't worried!!!

He's as delusional as his clueless excuse for a manager, has no idea about running a football club, and cares nothing about the fans who stump up their hard-earned cash every week to watch the shambles that was once Everton Football Club.

The RS used to play in a similar vein to us which was probing constantly at defences. The difference being that they produced quality strikers. Who were capable of finishing. We don't have that luxury. We have never replaced our goal machine and sure enough we don't score goals. We are a centre back down and therefore concede goals.

All these problems have been there for a long time and sadly the reason for these terrible results.

Personally I would like to see Dyche given a 2yr contract and see what he can do with our squad. A tough pragmatic manager that will get us organised, hard working, hard to beat and give usn a solid platform to build on and then introduce some quality flair players that can score goals.

Unless things change pronto with our defending corners and no striker and Sigurdsson slowing everything down, we will be relegated.

Remember our keeper has already been relegated with Sunderland/Moyes.

I remember Allardyce saying he had already identified his transfer targets for the next season. About two days later he was sacked!!

Or are you still in that deluded state when you don't change anything in a game until it's too late because you think all is well, and when we get creamed it doesn't register with you?

Move over and let a manager in!

Digne is considered one of are better players yet he has been shocking this season, we havent got a midfielder that would get a shirt in a top 6 team possibly top 8 and strikers I would consider bringing Niasse in.

Hardly what I would consider a good team, the league table doesn't lie, maybe we are only 8 games in but make no mistake we are a very average/poor side.

Watford (bottom, at home)
Villa (promoted)
Bournemouth (average)
Sheffield United (promoted, at home)
Burnley (average)

What does it take to hit the panic button??

Its ironic that its our inability to shut up shop that is arguably costing us matches as we when did we last overcome a 1-0 deficit.

Sean Dyche might not be a sexy choice but he's what we need right now. A good communicator who can get us hard to beat.

I hate the idea of Benitez near our club. And I hate the idea of Moyes coming back.

But I am starting to hate the idea of Silva staying even more...

I've pretty much given up on us ever achieving anything in my lifetime. We're a mod table club, happy to win a few games a season and keep the money ticking over while we all get misty eyed at how we were quite good a hundred years ago... Zzzz.

This is the longest barren spell for a trophy in Evertons history so as you can see history doesn't repeat its self. You could argue that since 1997 this team has been waiting to be relegated, it's only a matter of time.

I think maybe the fact that Moshiri has fired 3 managers already in fairly quick succession is making him pause. Also maybe Brands who in my opinion bears some responsibility to what has happened is urging caution, as its still very early in the season. But the longer we are down in or near the drop zone it may be when not if for Marco Silva to be replaced.

I have to say I am not enamored with the possible replacements being suggested on here or in the press. I certainly wouldn't have Benitez under any circumstances. We would have lost all respectability to appoint him after his small club comments. Seems strange that the only managers to have won a trophy here in the last 70 years have been ex players.

Who's this "We"? As far as I can tell everyone is worried except him. How far adrift do we have to be before he gets worried?
Now common-sense tells us if something isn't working you change it. Yet the fact is he keeps picking the same side and keeps getting the same results. Presumably he thinks the players will suddenly rouse themselves from their fragile stupor and start playing but they won't. If they think they can get away with playing poorly without repercussions they will continue to do so.
Silva is plainly not motivating them or getting across to them what it is he trying to do.
I don't see the point in moping about the loss of Zouma or Gueye. Zouma was never our player and Gueye wanted to leave. With the additions in the summer we still have decent side capable of playing far better than they are right now. If we can beat Wolves and Wolves can beat City I don't see how our players can be that bad.
Freshen the side up. Drop players who aren't performing. Change the line up and tactics. If 4-2-3-1 isn't working then there are plenty of others Silva could try but I don't think he's willing to. That being the case show him the door before it's too late.
Remember all Moshiri's plans for a new stadium are dependent on Everton remaining in the Premier league. No Premier League football no new ground.

I'd rather have a manager who will come in and grow with the side, and be that modern coach that everyone now hates so much.

We look for the same Clichè's over and over again.

My take on things is that having had his fingers burned over Koeman and Allardyce, Moshiri is determined to stick it out with a manager whom he was convinced was the perfect appointment. He may now be relying on Brands to guide him but, again, there is a guy unprepared to admit that some of his signings have been way below their vaunted ability and spirit.

Were this run of results to continue well into November we should, of course, be deep in the brown stuff and the owner under massive pressure to make the change. Then, he might buckle.

So, until we've had another half dozen games, be patient. And who knows, Silva MIGHT just surprise us ! ( MIGHT being the appropriate word !)

I was chatting to a few folk in Burnley last week. Their take on Dyche was that while they played good stuff in the Championship, they're a bit one-dimensional in the PL, though they acknowledged he's one of the league's most financially-hamstrung managers. Funnily enough, their biggest criticism was that he had no plan B when things aren't working.

This is the gamble. Would the likes of Dyche do better with better players? Or do we roll the dice with another 'up and coming' European manager?

My head is going with Steve, but my heart is sinking at the thought of another laptop-wielding mutterer talking about confidence & mentality as if it's someone else's responsibility. It's a clarity barrier, rather than an English-speaking barrier.

There must be a innovative coach out there who can do the tactics while getting his ideas across and enabling the players to feel they can achieve things, surely?

God knows we're due one!

...I think!

All good points...…….I'm at a complete loss of who we should get.

I just think right now we need a manager who can organise and get us solid and stable again which Is why I would like to take a punt on Dyche.

I'm not being anti foreign coach, but after Koeman, Martinez and Silva I'm at a loss of who outside of the UK we could/should bring in. The SIlva experiment right here right now has failed.

The team seem to be stuck in football purgatory at the moment.

I'm fine with 'laptop' managers. I just wish they'd pay more attention to man-management, as to me, that's the big difference between Guardiola, Klopp and the rest.
They're excellent managers, as well as excellent coaches.

It's Mourinho v Allegri for Real Madrid. However, Zidane is fighting back and now they are back to the top, I think he will be pretty safe. Max Allegri is also living in London and learning English. I bet his plan was to get ready for the summer and be Chelsea's plan B, once the ban is lifted. Instead, I think he will be looking at Man Utd. Which would leave Mourinho waiting on the next big club to get trigger happy without any contenders.

Benitez has just gone to China. He is on a fortune. I don't know why everyone thinks he is desperate to come "home" to Wirral. Again, he is more likely to be available at the end of the season. But would he really work with Brands? I'm not so sure.

Pochettino, if he leaves Spurs will not be desperate to take the first job he's offered. He will not want another Spurs style project. It was a lot of hard work and so far has not delivered any trophies. He will be tempted by the big money and the easier route to trophies with Real Madrid or some other massive club that will come calling.

Everything points to a summer change. If we have to change, then it should be Unsworth until the summer. Brands would also need to be certain that Unsworth can come in and unite the squad. There's some big egos in that dressing room and a lot of them were not around 18 months ago and they might not be too impressed by a temporary manager. Unsworth would need some stability by having the job until the end of the season to be able to make radical changes by playing the players he knows will play for him and play for the jersey and that might see a far weaker side on paper.

The very fact he's still here this morning tells you a lot about just how mismanaged we are right now.

Great for Boltons, Burnleys, Stokes and the like but a very different style of football that I don't want to witness each week, we don't have the players that suit the style and is limited in success and consistency.

I understand the argument better players may help make a better manager but no good European team play that direct style of football because it is so limiting.

Howe for me is still a few seasons away from proving he's good enough. Doing a good job playing good football but just like Silva and Martinez he's defensively inept and conceding too many goals from defenders taking unnecessary risks week after week.

I'm hoping Mo has learnt a lesson. He's not going to panic and will ensure a manager is lined up before ejecting the current one. However another 2, 3, 4 games without a win and change is inevitable.

Short term I'd be happy with Unsworth or the more experienced Moyes. Both should hopefully instill a more solid defensively minded game whilst quickening up our attacks.

Mincini has been my number 1 managerial target for several years but we may have to wait until after the summer Euros as he's managing Italy.

RE that lot they got the right manager this time after the awful king Kenny. Klopp was making his name at Dortmund and Arsenal and Man U fans were screaming for him.

Everton will continue the slump until Kenwright, Fergusson et al finally leave. Gushing over tales of Catterick, Ball, Z cars, Kendall MRK 1 is cringeworthy and embarrassing. Football is a business and we ain't very good on or off the pitch.

But don't get me wrong, he's not a bad coach, I think he'd win the league at Real Madrid and those massive clubs with the best players. I just don't think he is suited to a club in our position and with our resources (as limited by FFP).

Sousa our No 2,Silva'No 2 for ten years took over in summer.
He left Silva to manage alone for the first time.
Silva taken us to bottom three.He looks clueless picking a side,tactics,subs,motivation.
Well he hasnt got Silva to ask????
Sousa top, Silva bottom three.That ssys it all.
We have been kidded by Silva,proof is right there in blacl and white.
Silva cant manage alone,Sousa is the main man,the brains.

What do we do.Survive in the Premier League again.Mid table,top ten would be a great result with a new manager having to come in.

But Marco Silva cant manage alone.

I also think Brands is just as culpable as to what has happened this season as Silva. He has brought in a young 19 year old Italian, who is having to learn a new language, in a new country in one of the hardest leagues to acclimatize too. Surely a proven striker was needed more than a young man who will need time to produce his best, added to the fact that he was virtually the only competition for DCL another young player learning his trade. But for me Brands biggest mistake was letting Gueye join PSG, he was so integral to the way we played he was going to be a massive miss, and this player wasnt in the last year of his contract he still had years left, so there was no pressure to sell. Yes probably it was a dream move for Gueye but shouldnt club priorities come before the players. The reason I lay this problem with Brands is right up to Gueye leaving Silva was in the press saying he was still trying to persuade Gueye to stay. Kurt Zouma made it very clear that he would be returning to Chelsea when his loan ended and with a transfer ban in place and a new manager at Chelsea he knew he would get a chance. But still Brands did not bring in another centre back.

Now the german route is popular.

If everyone wants a winner and al of a sudden not bothered about style of play, Mourinho is free.

The Trouble is nobody truly believes we are that ambitious.

Steve, I don't get how much of what you say seems to be an obsession with coaches and has very little substance.

Buvac has left Klopp. They have since won the Champions League and gone top of the Premier League

So yeah, great coach, great CV, but when they got him, he was a man who reputation had been tarnished and something of a gamble. Fair to play to them for taking it though.

Sure, Joao Pedro is doing great. He's not put a foot wrong. Everton are struggling, and his loss is firmly felt. Let's see how Sousa does next game, when they play Benfica. I hope he wins. It might not be the romantic story it first appears, but it's still good to see a new name amongst the Portuguese elite.

As for Sousa being the brains, no, he certainly wasn't the power behind the throne, and it's worth noting that his side are a clone of Silva's team and Sousa is very thankful to Silva for what he taught him.

I'd be surprised if we escape from a real relegation fight this time because the conditions are all there, clueless manager, deluded owner, the inertia not to act swiftly. It's going to be a disastrous season but at least we know what's in store, best to just accept it because there's nothing any of us can do about it.

Does Richarlison go with him?

Sacking him could be catastrophic, Brands needs to be strong here.

Sure, if 40,000 make their displeasure known, week in, week out, then the press picks up on it and they can out pressure on Moshiri, but it's not been at that point, at Goodison, yet. I say yet, because no doubt a loss against West Ham will see it in full force, and further defeats would amplify it.

The fans didn't want Martinez, if we had had a say, I think I'd have convinced more on here (TW) to go with Bielsa in 2013. Then in 2015 I think Lucian Favre was in the running and a lot wanted him, he's worked very well at Dortmund.

Then had an average season and was sacked. That season was still better than anything from Koeman, Allardyce or Silva.

Player recruitment has been patchy at best. Furthermore, the club continues to sell its best players! That allied to the poor coaching and inadequate player conditioning have all contributed to Everton's current sorry state.

If the Board had any real ambition they would go all out and try to recruit a proven winner. Jose Mourinho is a name that immediately springs to mind.

Unfortunately, the club under the disastrous stewardship of Bill Kenwright has been suffering a collective mental breakdown for many years, afraid of achieving any kind of real success and constantly peddling the long term project excuse whilst at the same time looking back and reflecting on past glories for comfort. I for one have had enough!

That brings a reputation and belief in turning a struggling club such as us (City) into a proper team. As well as respect, trust and contacts.

I'm not saying he'll deliver us the Premier league title but I fully believe he'd improve us. He won city's first trophy in over 40 years. He got rid of talented strikers like Sturridge and Robinho because they wouldn't work for the team.

The fact he's not a media nice guy may be what we need. Being a divisive manager is when they fail (ie Silva etc.) or demands improvements and will drop players not performing.

Defensively solid but likes attacking players with flair. He's used to working with big name players and mixing it with youth. Maybe Kean could be used more effectively.

He's not everyone's cup of tea but unless your winning trophies playing exciting attacking football who is.

I think his style will suit our players. Wanting to play football but happy to clear the ball rather than take silly risks.

Being positive Bernard could be our David Silva, Mina our Kompany, Richarlison our Tevez and we're a quality Vieira or Toure away from a serious team. His name could be Gbamin.

I feel better already.

Whether it be the players not wanting to participate in his ideas, or his ineptitude to get them across clearly, it certainly isn't working. I can't imagine anyone being so doggedly reluctant to change either personnel or system and still expecting to achieve some sort of result.

The disgusting 4-0 derby performance at Liverpool was beyond a joke and is the one reason alone that Martinez got the sack.

This version of Jose Mourinho is not the same guy. I think he's too far removed from the next generation of player. He understood the likes of Lampard, Terry and Drogba. He could relate to them, and them to him. He knew how to motivate them and how to get the best out of them. That great Chelsea side all talk about what a great man manager he was.

Counter that with the Man Utd version. He fell out with his star player. Not just him, but half the side were constantly criticised in the press. He said that his best achievement ever was finishing second with Man Utd. Looking back he might not be that far off. But he said this whilst still there. Imagine how demoralising that would be to you as a player. The manager just said how shit a team you were collectively and you only got 2nd because of him. That's not how the old Mourinho did things.

Then there's the worst thing. The money. Jose Mourinho was on DOUBLE what Guardiola was on. £24.5m a year. He had it written so that he could do his best to get himself sacked and still walk away with mega, mega money. If we go all out, then we're talking £50m or so to get Mourinho in, and it'll be such that first sign of trouble he can throw his toys out the pram and wait to be sacked, just like Koeman did.

Mourinho would be a massive gamble.

I think we're all getting sick of repeating ourselves. Two seasons and unable to mould a defensive unit.

Derek, the formation might not change but the system changes. I think you need to watch the shape, the closing down, the movement off the ball and you will see there is differences from match to match.

for example, against Bournemouth we pressed very effectively, very high up the pitch and got them to repeatedly cough up the ball in dangerous positions. It may surprise you but we are the best at this in the league. No one has won the ball in the opponents third more than us since Silva came in. The fact that we fail to convert this into clear cut chances and goals is a fault of the players.

If you watched the Man City game at the ground, and not on the TV, then you'd have seen that the pressing was the opposite. We did not press high up the pitch, we dropped deep. The pressing was only to slow them down and to allow us to recover shape. This again worked extremely well and we held our own until they went 2-1 up.

You need to observe more carefully. If you do, you will see that he often changes it mid-match. You know when he's meant to be stood there motionless with his head in his hands, or sitting on the bench looking defeated, if you watch him in the ground you will see that he's always trying to control the game from the side-lines.

Simple question would you get rid of SIlva or persist?

If you did get rid who would your preference be?

I don't agree that Brands has made bad signings. Silva just isn't using them in the right way.

I think we have (on paper anyway) the best squad of players we've had for 20 odd years. Silva's tactics are sucking the life out of them and us.

I reckon any half decent manager would get this side up the table pretty quickly.

The back four picks itself, although i'd consider dropping Pickford on recent form. Try to get Zouma back in Jan.

He can then have three up front from DCL, Kean, Richarlison, Iwobi, Bernard, and even Tosun.

Midfield can be three from Gomes, Delph, Davies, Gbamin (when fit), and Sigurdsson. We should never have let McCarthy go. He could do exactly the same job as Henderson does for the RS. I won't even include Schneiderlin as an option.

As I see it he now has nothing to lose. Go out fighting, as he's sacking himself with the current system and subsequent results.

That just doesn't make sense at all and not only that we buy one who isn't playing regular and i don't think Silva wanted Iwobi at all.

All the reports said no chance of Zaha, Lampard said clearly you are not getting Zouma, weeks before the window closed.

Then we bid for Dacoure, 30 million was it? That was a comical as Johnson bidding 12 million for Shearer just after Newcastle bid 15.

Its a big con these days, I didn't miss a league or cup game at home for 23 years until they messed Koeman around.
No way I am giving this lot extra money to still see Schneiderlin and Calvert Lewin in front of my eyes.

Remember Koeman wanted Depay and got Bolasie.

What annoys me the most about Silva right now, and there's quite a bit, is his refusal to drop Sigurdsson and play 433. sure, I would play Schneiderlin and that would annoy most on here, but Gomes and Delph flanking Schneiderlin and a front three of Bernard / Iwobi / Richarlison on the left, Calvert-Lewin in the middle, and one of Richarlison / Kean / Bernard on the right. A much narrower formation. More compact. More running. Against Burnley I would have had Gomes (if he really had been fit - he wasn't) sat deepest as the defensive midfielder and Delph left and Davies right. Schneiderlin for West Ham though.

As for who to replace him, long term I have no idea. I'd love Nagelsmann. Doubt he'd be interested in us. Sam's suggestion of Adi Hutter is interesting, but I think he's still unproven. Anyone we could get would come in the summer. Anyone of note that is. So, short-term I would like Unsworth, and I hope cross my fingers than he could deliver and take the job permanently.

If he said he wanted Zaha I suspect he was telling the truth. I don't believe he wanted a worse version of him.

What is your take on Pickford Steve? You give a lot of depth on coaching which i'll be honest I find tedious and lacking substance..

You want Nagelsmaan who hasn't won half his games as manager and state another has not enough experience but also want Unsworth.

Very very contradictive but i'd love to know if you have this much depth on Pickford?

Alan, that Enstein quote has been used and abused now by anyone who wants to use it their way.

Pep does the same thing over and over and he wouldn't change for his wife nevermind a frustrated fan.

He gives the only answer he can give, I am not worried. He tries to explain why,

If he said, I am worried. Well he may as well resign on the spot. Saying he is worried is saying he has lost confidence in his own ability. If so, how can anyone, from the players to the board have confidence in him?

Managers in these situations always come across like tits. From Moyes to Silva and everyone in between, and everyone at other clubs. You have a really pissed off guy. Someone hurting a lot. Then you shove a microphone in his face and start asking loaded questions. Silva's job is to make sure he gives an air of confidence about himself so he can still lead the players in the dressing room.

Of course, he is worried. You just need to look at his face to see how frustrated he is. Yet again we lose a game were we had more of the chances and the better chances. Criticise the set piece defending by all means, but that was a great finish on the volley from a tight angle, our players are simply not getting the rub of the green or the bounce of the ball. Silva is wondering what he has to do to get some luck, as he thinks a jammy win and some momentum our way and things will go right. There's such fine margins in football.

I don't get it.

I too would like to see Silva tweak the formation and go narrower, with Richarlison and Kean either side of DCL. Maybe swap Iwobi for Siggi too and see where it gets us. But I'm at loss for the rest of midfield. Last season, once Gomes found his form, he looked as good as any player I've seen in a blue shirt in years, but that seems to have gone. Delph was awful at Burnley, spraying appalling passes all over the pitch, and Schneiderlin never does more than the bare minimum to keep his place. I'd love Davies to be the answer but he rarely is.

Whoever manages our team right now will have the same problems. Man Utd look very similar to us right now, and I reckon both of us will have to see it out til the end of the season before we can see who might be available. Right now, my main worry is that Silva seems to believe that if we keep doing exactly what we're doing, it will all work out in the end. That's really not something I want to see after the break. The atmosphere could get really toxic at Goodison if West Ham race into a lead. Because, remember, under Silva once we go a goal down we lose every single time.

I hope they're all still trying to pull in the same direction.

Let Mr. Silva sort his tactics out, sort his selections and substitutions out,have all the players put a full shift in and we may get that bit of luck you are talking about, sorry Steve we need a lot more than a bit of luck at the moment, and I really hate to have a go at you personally, because I know you are a genuine fan who cares about the club.

This squad is littered with players who cannot pass a ball confidently or find it difficult to control the ball and have it under there spell with one touch.

I can accept players lacking in pace or not having the awareness that top players have but no first touch or a game based on strength and trying hard? Ffs we might as well of just went lower league and spent a fraction of that as been pissed up the wall.

Deary deary me, the guy couldn't coach an under 11s successfully

I just get fed up of the Groundhog Day nature of being a Blue. False dawn after false dawn. Until we become a team that can win away from home, we'll never get beyond 7th or 8th. When our home form capitulates, we'll be down at the bottom. It's basic arithmetic that if you can't get points away from home, you'll never crack the top 6. If you play with a back 4 that leak goals at set-pieces and a forward line who don't get goals then you won't win too many matches. All this talk of formations, presses, shape etc. is over-complicating it. Football is a simple game. We need defensive solidity, a capable goalkeeper, creativity, bite and pace in midfield and an effective forward-line, managed by an astute manager who can react to different situations. We have none of these things.

You could apply the rub of the green argument to Brett Angel but 45 set piece goals isn't bad luck it's a serious problem.

Paul, I like Pickford. He's a very good but flawed keeper. His shot stopping is excellent. He gets about the goal well. However, his decision making is poor. His distribution can be exceptional but is very inconsistent and not as good as he thinks it is. The problem is that I think Silva would prefer a taller keeper. It's no surprise to me that Silva has signed two keepers, firstly Joao Virginia and secondly Jonas Lossl. They are 6'4" and 6'5" respectively. I think that for zonal marking to be more effective, we need a dominant keeper and Pickford cannot be that with his height. I don't think you need to be much taller than Pickford to be a good keeper, but when it comes to zonal marking it is much harder it your keeper is only 6'0".

As for how he is coached, no idea. I do know Hugo Oliveira is a very well respected coach and worked with Ederson of Man City at Benfica and Silva poached him when he came to England. No idea as to whether he deserves his reputation, only time will tell. Chris Woods was clearly a poor coach as no keeper got better under his tutelage.

Nagelsmann is a top young coach. He's been in the job 3 seasons. First two were great, the last was mixed. His win percentage suffered as a result. Kendall and Catterick are the only two managers we've ever had who could beat Martinez' 42.9%, and yet he's one of our worst ever managers? So, I wouldn't be so sniffy about a manager with a 40% career win ratio who has done it at a smaller club. This season he is on 60%. Unsworth has a 50% win ratio in the Premier League, having won all 3 home games.

I don't know what you find so contradictive. I'd stick with Silva. If we have to change, there's no one out there we could get, so I'd give it to Unsworth until the end of the season and see what happens.

None of us can pick the next manager, none of us can interview him, and all of us rely on what others tell us about them. I would love to interview the next manager. First question would be, so tell me how you will win Everton the league. Anyone who does not immediately come out with a plan would be shown the door. I want a guy with ambition and ideas about how to get us back to the top, not just keep us up, or get us to 6th. 1st is all I care about. I'm prepared to be patient to get it done though.

Not the best players on paper but team work, tactics and a couple of talented players with vision and passing ability make it work. Multiple players making forward runs knowing the ball will be played. 3 central defenders to cover gaps left by attacking fullbacks.

I know a back 5 or a back 3 isn't a fan favourite but if a team can't defend, constantly concede the first goal and defending set pieces is a weakness then it's worth considering.

For this I think Koeman was right to mix it up trying to get the best out of a new team and several new fairly inexperienced midfielders.

Holgates pace and height may help cover the gaps left by Coleman that we seem to struggle with as Keane and Schnides can't.

Colemans suspension may help plug that gap meaning Richarlison and Delph aren't having to come back out of the position so often.

I'm a fan of Coleman but poor tactics and wrong players elsewhere unbalance the team.

It will be interesting to see how well Sidibe fits in and the knock on effect with other players.

If a change is to be made we need experience to ensure we avoid the unthinkable.

They may suggest but generally they prioritise positions and key strengths. Others ie Brands and chief scouts draw up a short list that a manager may help priorities.

There's always exceptions, Richarlison being an obvious example of a player the manager has almost demanded.

Pickford for example was identified by Scouts and would have remained a key target no matter who the manager was.

The lack of an experienced striker almost makes this inexcusable because I'm sure since Lukaku was sold every manager would demand a good striker. We have potential but I don't think anyone manager would be happy with our situation.

I've been surprised with some posts stating they have been impressed with Kean. I've personally been disappointed.

Like DCL his first touch, passing and decision making has been average. Along with Richarlison, they all need to bulk up but also learn how to ride the bumps and pushes and be smarter in winning free kicks.

That said, there most definitely is a discussion to be had about the manager's position given how the season has panned out thus far.
Let's put aside the hypotheticals of who could replace him and how they might perform. Let's discuss what IS, in the here and now.

First, a quick resume of Silva's tenure with us to date. Although the initial results in his first season were a bit patchy, I was hugely encouraged in how he set up the team, primarily concerned with us playing our game and challenging the opposition to cope with us. Even his substitutions were telling in their timing and tactical tweaks.

The first time I felt he ‘blinked' in this bold approach was away to Man City when he went with a back three for the first time, against completely the wrong opposition. Only when we went two down did he change to a flatter 4-4-2 and we greatly improved, but still lost 3-1.

For the first time in years, we went to Anfield with genuine confidence and were very good… until the 97th minute and Pickford's dreadful blunder. It impacted hugely on our season.

Including that game, our record in 14 games until the 3-0 away win at Cardiff – more than a third of the season (3 months) – read:

P 14 W 3 D 2 L 9 F 16 A 24 Pts 11 (from a possible 42) GD -8.

The goals for column was greatly boosted in a single game – the 5-1 away win to Burnley. Our only other wins in this spell were a 2-0 home win over Bournemouth and a very squeaky 1-0 away win at doomed and hapless Huddersfield.

In this dreadful run, we started seeing Silva's bizarre inclination to make schoolyard substitutions in losing positions: a throwing on of as many forwards as possible available to him, sacrificing both defenders and midfielders. In doing so it worked to the detriment of the overall balance and effectiveness of the team.

That ‘strategy' has already been evident again this season. Not once, to date, has it salvaged a game for Everton…and we are up to 22 games and counting with Silva that he has failed to comeback from losing the first goal and recover to win the game (Lincoln City in the LC apart).

In the final 11 games of the season from Cardiff onwards our form and performances picked up:

P 11 W 5 D 3 L 2 F 18 A 7 Pts 18 (from a possible 33) GD +11.

We impressively kept 8 clean sheets in those 11 games against some top opposition. One of the 2 loses was self-inflicted having cruised to a dominant 2-0 interval lead at Newcastle before meekly capitulating in the second half. Best not mention the total no-show away to already relegated Fulham.

In summary, an encouraging transition period from the new manager at the start of his tenure. A total collapse of form which, even in the congested fixture list of December, saw the manager pretty much send out the same team week after week with little or no tweaking of formation and tactics to the point that the likes of Gomes were running on fumes and playing from memory. To an encouraging upturn in fortunes in the final run in.

At different times there was some genuinely scintillating football played by Everton, albeit too sporadic at times even within single games.

Now to this season. From that squad only Gana Gueye (a player you repeatedly mocked all season long, Steve, as being ill-disciplined and not a Marco Silva player) and Kurt Zouma are no longer with us.

Brands is starting to get some heat for (as some regard it) his poor recruitment this summer. Having also let Jags go, we certainly needed another centre back if it was not possible to land Zouma. I think we were unfortunate with the last minute trade of David Luis to Chelsea or we might have covered that one with one of Chelsea's other centre backs.

Delph and Gbamin came in to fill the not inconsiderable gap vacated by Gana Gueye's departure. I would argue we most definitely needed more proven (not potential) firepower for the central striker role.

Gbamin's injury has been a set-back in covering for Gueye. Delph is proving adequate, but not great, in the role he is playing. At times he brings some much needed composure to midfield. At others – as at Burnley on Saturday – he is a real mixed bag. Longer crossfield Hollywood passes sail over players' heads into touch. Even his short passing goes astray. Gomes' absence also hinders us (although I have yet to see the consistent playmaker some claim him to be).

Even with such (arguably) incomplete recruitment, the squad has more than enough about it to have garnered more than 7 points from a very, VERY favourable opening 8 fixtures and to be sitting in the European places, rather than in the bottom 3 as we are.

So what is different between the encouraging signs at the end of last season and the start of this?

Although it didn't always work, by the season's end we had ‘partnerships' working effectively throughout the team: Pickford, Keane & Zouma; Digne & Bernard; Coleman & Richarlison; Calvert-Lewin & Sigurdsson; the seek and destroy heat missile that was Gana Gueye and whoever played alongside him. Those partenerships also dovetailed nicely with other partnerships.

That is simply not happening this season on a consistent enough basis. Yes, there have been 15-20 minute spells when it looked like coming together again (home to Wolves, away to Villa and Bournemouth), but in the main it has been disjointed and any good spells all too fleeting and not sustained.

I believe there are two overriding factors why that is so:

1) Gana Gueye. His absence is showing just how key he was in any ‘success' Everton enjoyed last season. He did more than simply stop the opposition playing. Where he won the ball and moved it on (he was not as forlorn a passer of the ball as some made him out to be) also kept us on the front foot, pushing back the opposition into areas they were not comfortable in defending.

2) there is a yawning chasm of space between our different units – defence, midfield, attack – and the aforementioned partnerships. This makes us easy to contain, repel, overwhelm and attack. We simply need to be more compact across the whole park and better support and offer ourselves to the player in possession.

As if anyone needs reminding, here is our league form to date this season:

P 8 W 2 D 1 L 5 F 6 A 13 Pts 7 GD -7

And this from a very benevolent fixture list.

Which is this more akin to of the earlier listed form of last season I put up?

Like it or not Steve, but the longer this malaise, this miasma, continues at Silva's Everton, the scales will tip against him. Results, not performances or words, will determine his future. And right now there is a considerable body of evidence weighing heavily against him.

Steve, I believe Dyche put that Burnley team together for about £38m, he's not doing to badly, have a look at the table.

Year on year he keeps them up in the worlds most competitive league with a lot less money than even Moyes had and has got them into Europe. How much money has Silva had to play with?

I don't like social media pile-ons.

And I'll reiterate my view that anyone who really believes that Silva 'isn't worried' needs to take a look at their thought processes.

West Ham (h) - 3 points
Brighton (a) - 1 point
Tottenham (h) - 0 points
Soton (a) - 1 point
Norwich (h) - 3 points
Leics (a) - 0 points
RS (a) - No comment
Chelski (h) - 0 point
ManU (a) - 0 points
Arse (h) - 1 point

I don't think that's unrealistic, some might say optimistic. Start of the season I would have said maybe 15 - 17 from that lot.

So, yep - I'd be worried.

The thing with Sean Dyche is style. He has proven very effective at getting the absolute best out of middling players using a direct style. History has shown that long ball merchants can crack the top four at times (Taylor got second at Villa) but that style hasn't proven compatible with actually winning the league. Also, as seen under Sam, the fans don't much care for long ball.

So the question is, can Dyche change his style given more money and supposedly "better" players? Graham Taylor tried to do that with England but it wasn't a success. In Dyche's case though he may have a shot. He was along with Warburton, and Brenda, a student of the Watford coaching school. The other students all seem to have adopted an attacking, passing style. So I am assuming Dyche has that in his armory and maybe could be worth a punt.

If I was going for a manager who keeps a small club in the league i'd go for Howe, as his brand of football is far more attractive. I'm not convinced he's the answer either though.

I watched the Man City v Wolves game. Espirito Santo worked out how to set up his side in order to stifle City; he played two up front to put pressure on their makeshift defence, moved Traore to right wing-back to match up with Sterling's pace, and he made sure that the midfield and wing-backs knew when to counter, well-aware that this might only be a few times in the game. Silva would have played 4231 and hoped for everything to magically go his way. The man has proved himself unfit to manage this club. There is literally nobody in the first team squad who is playing anywhere near the top of their ability - which tells me the players, to a man, are not enjoying their football right now. Why would you advocate more of the same?

Let's face it, most managers don't have any connection/affinity with/for the team they're managing, most (not all) use it as a stepping stone to a "so-called" better job. Having said that, Silva saying he "isn't worried" is an insult to every Evertonian and the club! He should be worried, because if the current form continues, he'll be gone by the end of October... with a massive payoff, no doubt... Succeed, earn loads of money; fail, still earn loads of money... Nice job if you can get it.

Silva should be worried. He should be saying he is fuming, that the situation is not acceptable. He should be saying he is working 24/7 to try and get out of this malaise and turn it around, because he is worried about losing his job and his reputation.

But he's not worried. Gonna blame it all on 'moments', and gonna continue doing the same over and over.

And as you say, if he does get the sack, he'll get a nice payday, then get a plush job in one of europes B leagues, and probably sit in the sky studio giving his 'expert' analysis for 5k an hour.

Right now some long ball top 6 self respect would do nicely, rather than bottom 3 embarrassment and real fear of relegation.

Any team would look at us right now and known we are there for the taking.

You did put it a lot nicer than I would have too mate. I am total fed up with the whole club, everything about it reeks of awful practice.

There is a post further up about blaming players which is so often overlooked. I had the same opinion from my dad this morning who believes they get away with a great deal of things.

You say that now, but people were saying the same last year when we hired Sam. He saw us finish 8th which was decent considering how we started. But he was hounded out of the club because of the style. The other thing is that while finishing sixth would be an improvement, people wouldn't be satisfied with that glass ceiling as we see from criticism of the Moyes era. Yes, there is a long way to go but surely our aim is to win the league. A pragmatic Moyes type just kicks the can down the road.

Sadly if the board take their own sweet time about it, it will only hang Silva out to dry, with unnecessary derision and mirth at his expense. That's unfair and would be the boards fault.

Is Silva worried? He should never have given the interview.

Steve, Silva believes Pickford cannot be a dominant keeper and that why he bought Lössl and Virginia?! That's mitigates why we are a colander at set pieces?

Dominance is primarily a personality trait, a mindset not a physical attribute. Our greatest ever keeper was dominant at the same height as Pickford in an era were physical protection for keepers was far less that it is today.

So if height is the key as you hint at, why hasn't he changed the keeper to fit his set piece defending? Does he not have the courage of his convictions?
Or has he realized Pickford, not without his flaws, is the best overall package he has and then adapted the set piece defending to play to Pickford's strengths?
He has done neither, instead the system exposes the goalkeeper he has and we get the worst of both worlds.

Pickford is more than capable of commanding his area, however if you want your keeper to come then you cannot play zonal. If he misses or is challenged the guys marking space are always going to be second to the ball. In fact if the lad comes and gets it augments his talent for quick distribution. Pickford has been confined to his line and often left to react, mostly to pick the ball out of the net.

Goalkeeping is about being proactive. Silva is all to often reactive. This is just another example of his addled thought process.

Korean failed woefully, now Silva is again.

I feel we need to aim just an 'ok', a 'decent' manager. Top 8, cup run, sensible decisions. Too long we've considered ourselves best of the rest ready to take the step up. We need to be realistic. We are not beat of the rest. We need to establish ourselves again.

I'd have no problems with Dyche for a couple of years, he could even win us something. But there are plenty out there more tactically astute than the current guy, Heck, I know crack heads who would make smarter in game decisions than this charlatan.

If we keep persisting with Silva, we could well be relegated.

Never to good to go down. And these players don't have the bottle for a relegation battle in them.

And I'd add what for me is the biggest problem when we have possession - the slow pace of our build-up play. Others have also identified it, I know but it really annoys me. Never an element of surprise; defences with time to retreat should they need to; defences able to recover their shape if they need to.

I see Moise Kean as dying under this. He needs to receive quick ball so he can run at a retreating defence. At the moment he gets the ball with his back to well-organised defences. Silva will kill everything this lad offers. Compare that with the speed with which our U23s can break.

Richard Keys? Really. Does anything he said even warrant repeating?

Keys didn't say Silva "will be" sacked and replaced by Benitez. He said he "should be." He has been banging on about Silva being useless since before he was even hired. While I don't disagree with him, this is an opinion piece and doesn't suggest any outside source material or inside knowledge.

John, I never said Silva bought Virginia and Lossl because Pickford was too small. I merely noted the height of them, which fits in with the height of previous goalkeepers and how having a tall dominant keeper in the area assists with zonal marking.

That is not saying at all that Silva wants to drop Pickford. Far from it. He clearly sees Pickford's strengths, of which there are many, and so overlooks his flaws. Whilst Lossl and Virginia might solve our zonal marking issues, there's no guarantee, and I doubt either of them would make as many saves as Pickford from open play.

So, like Silva, I would play Pickford if it were up to me. Then again, i'm English and so would go with a man-marking system that I was brought up playing at school. That doesn't stop be recognising the strengths of zonal marking and the fact that it's the continental manager's system of choice. It's also a "get out of jail free card" for our defenders when they fail to do their job and win the ball, because it's not their fault, it's zonal marking's fault, ie it's Silva's fault. Our players keep getting beat in the air and they would whether it was man marking or not.

Rob, Dyche has done a brilliant job with Burnley no doubt about that. the question is when he plays a side like Burnley, with a side like Everton and he has the better players, and more of the ball, can he coach his side to break them down and get through the low block? Can he play a more attractive style of football with better players, or at least with money to buy better players?

No one on here will know the answer to that. We might have an idea. We could look for games where Burnley have the better players and more of the ball as a clue, but in Dyche's defence he's working with his players for a week or so before those games and getting them to play a totally different way to the norm, rather than playing the same way week in, week out. So he may be capable of doing so. I doubt it, but no one knows for sure.

Ian, Richard Keys tweeted that 2 weeks ago.

West Ham (h) - 3 points - agreed MASSIVE 3 pts !!
Brighton (a) - 1 point - 3 pts
Tottenham (h) - 0 points - 3 pts
Soton (a) - 1 point - 0 pts
Norwich (h) - 3 points
Leics (a) - 0 points - agreed
RS (a) - No comment - 1 pt
Chelski (h) - 0 point - 3 pts
ManU (a) - 0 points - 3 pts
Arse (h) - 1 point - 3 pts

Therein lies the difference – we care and feel for the club, while he will get a nice little payoff. We cannot afford to wait – act now!!

The information age is amazing and has changed things so rapidly for the better that it's unbelievable. But one significant downside of it has been the rise of the armchair expert. Watching Bake Off doesn't make you a pastry chef no more than being good at Fortnite makes you competent for the SAS. It wouldn't hurt to see this sort of nonsense called out a bit more here. It's one of the main reasons I seldom post. At any rate, it's exasperating.

For all the rubbish being spouted here, and it is largely that, it is astounding that the set piece defending and the awful record when conceding first are not the major talking points. The first points to a lack of fundamentals, the second indicates we don't have the capability or mindset to chase a game. It's like trying to make that cake without flour, or expecting it to cook without turning the oven on. But do carry on lads, it's fascinating to hear the reasons why the ganache is the problem.

Fannying about at the margins when the page needs to be torn out and rewritten has been the modus operandi here for far too long. Not all posters are guilty but so many are that - for me at least - this site has become almost as pleasurable entertainment as watching Silvas Everton themselves. See you all when we squeak a one nil against the Hammers. I expect we'll get pages of nonsense on how everything has magically been fixed based on ninety minutes of scuffling, soul destroying rubbish.

It'd be funny if it wasn't so painful.

(B) a midfielder to replace the loss of Gana Gueye We may have signed a replacement in Gbamin's but we will have to wait and see until he is over his injury.

(C) replacement for Zouma. this is the one that I believe the whole transfer window was wasted on. It was no secret that Chelsea were under transfer restrictions and brought in a new Manager. the new Manager said he would not be selling players until he had assessed their performances and the needs of Chelsea F.C. At this time Everton should have put in a bid with the understanding that they were interested if they changed their mind on Zouma, and concentrated on looking for another central left sided defender in the rest of the transfer window.

This left us with 1 replacement for 3 critical positions. In Mina we had a player who it seems Silva was not in favor of, but he is performing better than what was expected, so that really leaves us with 1 player Ghana Gueye missing from last season, so how is it that Silva who is supposed to be a qualified coach and tactician, with a full backroom staff that are supposed to be knowledgeable football people, cant even get supposed professional players playing to style effective in a tactical formation at a high tempo.

Other managers with different formations, some have players with less talent seem to manage it, I believe it is called teamwork. (if you cant stand the heat get out the fire ).

So, if you look how we set up, we have 5 or 6 defenders on the 6-yard line, but nobody at the far post. So Dyce knew that and identified where we were the weakest at the far post, he was also clever enough to make sure that Tarkowski didn't allow our defenders to get anywhere near Hendrick attacking the space at the far post. And just to show how poor our defenders and coaches are, they tried the same move earlier in the game.

Now you would have thought that alarm bells would be ringing to say "Make sure we have someone looking after the far post" ... but we didn't. We have conceded so many goals from this exact position, to not rectify the problem is criminal.

Also with this rigid zonal system were the first of 5/6 defenders stands on the edge of the 6-yard box it makes it easy for sides to play a ball short of the 6-yard box, which has also led to us conceding goals from this position. So it's not difficult to see why we concede from so many set-pieces. And this is with 2 centre backs over 6'-4" and Calvert-Lewin another over 6 feet. Compare that to Man City who, apart from two centre-backs, have no height in their team, yet very rarely concede from corners.

Link

"He's a deeply unpopular character with all his staff at Goodison, let alone the players."

Directly contradicts multiple reports both from players' mouths and other press who indicate that the players like him. In fact, maybe they like him too much and he is too nice if anything.

This sounds like he knows something or has been told something rather than speculating. If it was speculation, he would have just said the typical "he's lost the dressing room" line. This seems very specific and the emphasis on "deeply" is intriguing.

All of the analysis of system and space and formation and goalkeeper height is utterly irrelevant to a side unable to execute basic fundamentals (like set pieces) or show any belief in the face of adversity -- a defeatism projected by what John P accurately describes as Silva's inability to be proactive. Paralysis in the coaching box is highly contagious.

Ash, I enjoyed the flavorful "ganache" metaphor, but the accompanying condescension soured it for me. You might want to leave that ingredient out of the recipe next time.

I doubt it. Could be as simple as Tom Davies tells his mum he's upset about not playing. His mum tells his uncle and adds he got more games under Koeman. His uncle mentions to Gray and adds his perception that he's lost the dressing room, Gray has a few whiskies and embellishes some more then Keys reports an all-out rebellion as fact.

There is enough evidence against Silva without inventing stuff.

As soon as were 1-0 down, we're mentally stuffed as the players know they can't score 1 never mind 2.

We always start well and then our soft centre is revealed, we're 1-0 down, and we may as well get on the bus and go home then as its game over. Sheffield Utd showed how impotent we are up-front.

Admittedly he is doing a good job at Bournemouth but he has been given plenty of time to develop the team without the pressures he would get at Everton.

For me, I think we need to hold onto Silva and hold our nerve. He has put together a good squad of players who played well at the end of last season and, with more confidence, will play well again.

Great example yesterday. Wolves, a club just as goal-shy as us, was under siege and seemingly doomed at City. Espirito Santo changed his alignment to enable counter-attacks and up top he posted Traore, who had scored only one goal in 72 Prem appearances but is among the fastest players on the planet, and told the other players to spring him loose. And you saw what happened.

Stay with SIlva because he had a good end to last season?

Well, he's had a whole preseason a transfer window and 8 winnable games since and were now bottom 3.

No progress just horrible regression.

Keys is a former Sky presenter not a football man or journalist. He was sacked for crude sexual remarks. He has no credibility.

Silva is being targeted because it is easy to do so.

Maybe but he's still entitled to an opinion, as is Carragher apparently who gobbed in a young girl's face on camera but still gets a healthy prime-time wage off Sky.

The difference being Jamie Carragher is an ex Red so Liverpool TV (Sky) deem him to be unsackable.

Although the mess we are in is similar points-wise I have a better feeling about us this time around rather than under Koeman.

Under Koeman we seemed to ship loads of goals with an unbalanced team that didn't have the stomach for a fight and a manager that didn't seem to care.

The current team do have quality in certain areas and we are creating chances.

The manager still has a chance to turn this around by getting the players to move the ball quicker in the final third and sorting out the marking at set-pieces.

It isn't a matter of opinion it's one of credibility. He can say what he likes but it doesn't make it true and or reasonable. He is also best mates with his partner in innuendo, Andy Gray.

He being the man who talked himself into the frame for the Everton job with years of criticism for incumbents. Then when it was offered to him he chickened out. Now he just talks about what a better job he would have done than everyone in the role since he was linked to it.

Silva is very 50-50 with players – like all managers.

Yes, we had a decent end to last season on the back of two midfielders playing for away. Remember that Gueye played all over Xmas and in the awful defeat to Millwall, which were true low points!

The football presently being played is crab-like, our defending insipid and any pace seems to have run away from the players. We created more chances under Allardyce, for god's sake, and he achieved more points per game, got a tune out of Walcott and goals out of Tosun.

Just what has Silva done apart from spend a fortune and not bring in a striker which has been needed since Lukaku left? He has to go – we are presently so boring to watch.

With respect Steve, but a number of your comments in recent weeks have been in denial of what is unfolding under Silva.

After the Bournemouth defeat, you bewailed that we were only 3 points off third. I agreed with you it was far too premature to enter panic mode and call for the manager's head, but for balance I also pointed out that it could equally be claimed we were only four points off the relegation zone. Conclusion: nothing could be read either way into our position at that time.

Including that game, our last four games now reads:

P4 W0 D0 L4 F2 A9 Pts 0 GD -7

Now, Goodison is no longer a fortress. Our abysmal away form continues. We are now 8 points off third. In the bottom 3, a mere 1 point ahead of Norwich and behind the pre-season relegation candidates such as Brighton, Newcastle and Sheffield United.

That's today's reality.

In the Burnley post-match thread you admitted you didn't see the game, so you couldn't comment. But then, you did just that and – sight unseen – you scapegoated Sigurdsson and said he needed dropping. I pointed out how unjust that was of you.

You went further, saying “Silva has got plenty of time to turn things around. He's far too good a manager and coach not to do so” (More than a few might contest that last sentence).

You threw in an absurd hypothetical: “I bet Silva would rather we signed Haller than Kean and had we done so, I think we'd be much higher up the table.”

You then took a pop at the overwhelming majority of fans that, not unreasonably, are less than enamoured of Silva at the moment:

“It's not Fifa on the PlayStation. We're not swapping out a player for a new player who is better at Fifa and will make all the players better instantly.

“The mob is nearly always wrong. They get het up and make rash judgements. They don't look at things rationally.”

Sorry Steve, but that reads as a rather haughty attitude towards
your fellow Blues, positioning anyone who doesn't concur with you as juvenile PlayStation wannabes, part of a baying irrational mob.

The harsh facts are that Silva is falling well short of the qualities you have continued to attribute to him over the past 18 months.

Tactically astute, with Plan A, B, C etc to turn to? Nah! It's very easy to predict the team and the formation Silva will go with every week.

Inspirational and dynamic? Nah! 22 games and counting in which Everton has conceded the first goal in the Premier League under Silva…and still we await his turning a game around to win from a losing position. His schoolyard tactic of randomly throwing on as many forwards as possible in a losing position has yet to yield a positive outcome.

Knows how to organize a defence? Nah! A league high 22 goals conceded from dead-ball situations on Silva's watch – 45 in all his 100 Premier League games with three different clubs – strongly suggests otherwise.

Good one-on-one coach on the training groundd? Difficult to assess this without witnessing what goes on at Finch Farm. Suffice to say, whatever it is, there is little or no evidence that it is being transferred to the white heat of match day.

As he did last season and several times this season already, before the Burnley game Silva repeated he only knows one way to improve things: by hard work.

No one can accuse him of being a slacker. He genuinely does appear to apply himself to the task. However, perspiration is a given. Fans quite rightly expect that from all the players (and manager), every game.

What we need more of is not perspiration, but inspiration. Sadly, that vital ingredient time and again seems lacking in Silva.

Like it or not Steve, but the clock is ticking on Silva and he needs to start delivering results.

NOW!

A dose of healthy realism every now and then would be a welcome addition in my view. I suggest some of the other diners have resorted to what I do. Stopping by every so often to see if the Restaurant ToffeeWeb has gone back to its former glory days serving wholesome, honest fare without pretentiousness.

Unfortunately, it's not the case so we shrug, forget about the place for a while and then try it again for the same results. Some of my fellow diners, like Mr Ruane or Tony Marsh, seemingly fit into this pattern. It's a great shame that once was a working man's cafe - err, diner I guess you'd call it - with very high standards has become a student hangout with truffle oil shoveled liberally over my steak and chips. Did it really have to be this way?

It's something I ponder as I'm off to the fast food at Reddits. Yes, it's crap but at least I know that when I walk in. I'm able to keep eating there until I'm satisfied as well. Sadly, much of the menu here appears divine but has me dashing for the toilet shortly afterwards.

Bon appetit.

EDIT - The timing of my exit was amusingly appropriate I thought. I'll be back for a quick drink when we turn over the Hammers in two weeks. Adieu.

It's 5:45 over there, the work day is done, and I honestly believed we were going to fire him today.

Roll on mediocrity I guess?

Lord, we are a patient club. I couldn't see any of the Clubs we aspire to overtake not wielding the axe immediately.

All you need is focus and 11 players, singing off the same hymn sheet, each having trust in their team mates, helping out, playing a simple ball.

You never saw Neville Southall laughing or having banter with the opposition fans, he was fully focused on the game.

You never saw defenders get caught out, without another defender scurrying to help out.

The midfield stood firm and took the game forward to centre forwards, who in turn made a beeline to get into the box and making sure they got on the end of a cross.

What we have now is over complicated zonal marking, marking space instead of players, a space will never move, but opposing players will, we need to get back to simple basics of marking players from set pieces.

In midfield cut out the possession stats of touchy football, playing backwards or sideways, drive the ball forward, when the ball is played to Lewin, bust a gut to get close in support to receive a pass.

For the time being the players are playing an over complicated system, we need to get back to basics and not over complicating it.

We certainly have the players to be doing much better, but do we have the manager to sort it out.

I have seen nothing yet where we have changed our formation for away games, or players.

Ditch the zonal marking, try two in attack instead of Lewin being isolated, cut out the sideways football and win those second balls.

Keep it simple and we may just get out of this crisis, but changing nothing and repeating the same every away game is asking for trouble.

We can certainly do it, but the manager needs to come up with a plan b.

If he is going to get the sack, expect first to see the following sequence of events unfold:

1. The Sun report a sensational swoop for Diego Simeone who will get a 𧷤-million war chest.

2. Alan Myers dismisses The Sun report as nonsense.

3. Bill Kenwright heads to London for crunch talks with Moshiri. Matt Lawton says Silva will be sacked.

4. The Echo's sources say Silva retains full support.

5. Jim White Tweets saying Silva is getting sacked.

6. The Echo say he is definitely definitely not getting sacked.

7. Silva is sacked as revealed by Phil McNulty on the BBC.

8. The Echo say "Contrary to reports, our sources say Silva is still the manager."

9. The new manager is appointed.

10. The Echo say, "Silva may be under pressure."

11. The new manager presides over first game.

12. The Echo promise to ask "sources" about Marco's whereabouts for the last match as their "sources" indicate he is till the manager.

Or maybe not.

This is his track record and, if we stick with him, it won't be long before we are playing Championship football. Now is the time to recruit a new manager before Man Utd start looking in the next few weeks. Silva is so poor that it would be difficult to get anybody worse!!!!!

He keeps persisting with belittling some very good managers who have won leagues and cups, all in the cause of championing a manager who's done nothing of note and looks like he never will.

Steve, where does all this faith in Marco Silva come from or are you a personal friend or relative? I just can't see all the positive things you can.

Or maybe it's me who's got it all wrong.

We never looked like scoring for the entire game. Iwobi should have scored, and Richarlison hit one straight into the keeper's arms. That's about it.

Iwobi is a terrible signing, Bernard would have finished that chance.

Look, the point is, Silva should be sacked immediately for the way we react when going a goal down (forget the Lincoln game, their League One opposition for Christ's sake, and we should have beaten them about 6-0).

You knew there was no chance we would even look like equalising when Burnley scored, or even show some kind of desperation and willing to do so.

On this alone, and the fact we've never won in the Premier League from going behind, Silva should be fired. It's only going one way with him. This kind of non-reaction to going behind highlights his inadequacies as a manager, not a coach, a manager.

Football is a basic game when scoring goals, but becomes very complicated when players don't know how to score them. Everton can get forward with many passes and dribbles but when the ball does not continually end up in the back of the net, why bother?

Mid-season is tougher, but I would be amazed if they are not active in getting someone in who knows what they are doing. There is a 2-week window of opportunity to put this miserable episode behind us. Get someone in by the weekend and give them a full week to prepare for West Ham.

Things are not improving, Burnley was a massive opportunity and, for me, the last opportunity for Silva to show something, anything, that he knows how to be creative with his team, drop out-of-form players, change the system, motivate. Nothing happened, fuck all, the sending off changed nothing, just a nothing performance, worse still an entirely predictable outcome from the moment the teamsheet was written.

Have the board not seen enough of this? After Saturday's insipid performance in a massive game for us after 3 straight defeats, why do they expect improvement going forward? If he can't get them performing against Burnley, what makes anyone think he can against West Ham , or Brighton away?

One or two actually predicted the minute [72] we would concede from the set-piece from the corner and were having nightmares of Theo warming up to come on to save the day. [Turned out he was given the day off.]

Time is of the essence; we can halt the slide if the board are decisive and take the action now.

If he's not gone before the next game, I won't be watching Everton again until he's out the door. I'm not prepared to drown in Silva's pond of mediocrity any longer

Having watched his gang of thugs against us at the weekend I would sooner keep Silva than have that mongrel-faced excuse for a football manager manage Everton.

I would sooner have Allardyce or Moyes than him and I don't want either.

If you look at replays of the Burnley goal, you will see Schneiderlin trying to get to the man to block him but being clearly held by Barnes. What happened to VAR or is that only for the RS benefit?

For me Silva's major problem is his demeanour and arrogance. He cannot motivate himself let alone the players and looks like he thinks he is too good to stand on the touchline screaming at the players.

He simply takes the view once the players step onto the pitch it is on them.

IMO that is why he will never succeed. I used to always say Howard Kendall's great management was to take pressure off the players. In Silva's case it is to put more pressure on the players. "We have to work harder" after every poor result.

No, Marco, we have to work smarter!!

Give him a contract till the end of the season, but don't be foolish enough to give him the gig full-time, a la Solksjaer. And let's have some fun watching Everton.

I guarantee we wouldn't be relegated, we might even finish 6th just through the joy/novelty factor alone.

Silva fails to fix long standing problem
Everton's form is a big worry.

But another huge concern for Marco Silva is his inability to fix a long standing problem.

It was a problem for him at Hull. It was a problem for him at Watford. And it's a problem for him at Everton.

Set. Pieces.

Theo Squires explains: “The Portuguese has so far failed to solve a continued problem he has faced on Merseyside, and indeed during his time in the Premier League, and it is one that, having been Everton's undoing once again against Burnley, could undermine his future at Goodison altogether.

FFS, how easy can it be to fix it, in other words don't use zonal marking. It's clearly obvious we can't defend set-pieces using zonal marking. I've said many times on here, for me man-to-man marking is far more effective. Little on little and big on big. Stop your man from making a run on the ball, the way Keane was blocked off from getting to the ball on Saturday before Hendrick was given all the time and space to score at the back post.

I said yesterday that I am prepared to give Silva time, providing he ditches zonal marking, two defensive midfielders, particularly at home, and all this dangerous passing along the back line. Will we see any, or all, of this happen against West Ham? 19th October will be judgement day for me.

Making a simple game into an IQ test, there is no substitute for natural ability. Next, they will be having coaches to tie their boots up.

I have always said Calvert-Lewin is not an out-and-out striker, he is a midfielder who has been pushed to play a strikers role. However, with another striker alongside him from the start, then we may stand a better chance.

Tosun has played the odd game, normally from the bench, I know some will say he's slow, but our slow build-up play gives him the chance to get into the box.

Playing Calvert-Lewin as a lone striker is asking for trouble. Surely Tosun deserves a run of games, until we can bring a proven striker in.

Ash #213, I enjoy your way with a flavorful metaphor. Personally, I generally use the drive-thru at this establishment, sampling on the run but only pulling in for a larger serving if something on the menu looks sufficiently interesting.

Rob #230, I'd give ya another hug if I could. Can't imagine how miserable Saturday must have been for you and your traveling mates.

Just try it!

Dare you!

I wonder what the people who are so outraged by the fact that he is "not worried" actually wanted him to say?

He's absolutely worried about losing his job. You can see it. It's plainly obvious.

What he's not worried about is his financial future. 😜

And his is seemingly buggered.

Worried about the defence!
Worried about our attack!
Worried we haven't won a trophy since I was 16!
Worried that we won't build a new stadium!
Worried that we have no creativity!
Worried that the manager is an emotional vacuum!
Worried we don't generate enough money!
Worried Moshiri will walk away!
Worried Brands isn't as good as I thought!
Worried Richarlison isn't as good as I thought!
Worried Sigurdsson hasn't scored all year!

For the first time today, I'm worried we might get relegated!

Marco I'm worried sick!!!

Moyes 5/4
Wilder 5/1
Benitez 6/1
Arteta 8/1
Mourinho 9/1
Howe 12/1
Neville 20/1
Bielsa 25/1

...and Fat Sam, Dyche, Ferguson, Gracia, Machin, Martinez, Puel, Viera, Southgate, Unsworth and others at longer odds.

Finding a replacement is the hard part. We could maybe tap-up Bielsa from Leeds, apart from that, I'm stumped, just like Silva.

The issue is he is an average manager who hasn't a Scooby do how to make it right again and therefore reverts to type. He lacks the presence to bring this back from the brink, it would take a God-like manager to influence these cowardly players.

Come on Brands, it is now that you need to show your quality. If Brands was any good, he will have dissected the on-going problem and already established the replacement required. It isn't who we haven't got, with regards players, it is the decision making, player influencing, quality coaching that is lacking.

Silva was always talked about as being a good coach, players loved the sections, I don't want to hear that! I want players dreading training and loving match play. I want players dead on their feet after training and fighting for their lives in the game so they don't get more training.

The effects of Silva's coaching has been his biggest disappointment. All we want is competence from our coach, time to shine Mr Brands, bring us a replacement that is a winner.

Couldnt agree more. I said over a year ago that zonal marking would eventually cost him his job.

We are susceptible to both short and long corners. Coleman and Digne have no idea what they should be doing. Schneiderlin and Calvert-Lewin only ever react AFTER the ball is in the net. Pickford is rooted and don't get me started on those two lighthouses masquerading as centre-halves.

Defending set-pieces is all about desire. You have to show more desire to defend your goal than the people attacking it.

As George Graham said to his famed back four "I don't care how you do it. You are the defenders. Organise yourselves. Just don't fucking dare come back in here having to admit the other guy had more desire than you."

Having spent loads more money we are in the bottom three, 17 pts behind Liverpool already and there is a no brainer who we can appoint without poaching him.

We will once again miss out on a big manager.

Our club has no idea how to move forward.

So naive, so very unprofessional, it was very easy to understand why he won so few big games whilst our manager, but he's got a whole lot more experience now, but please, please, no, please not back at Everton.

Christ, I thought I was depressed until the impact of that post!

Darren 243, well said, and bloody obvious too, It's too easy for opponents isn't it? Just fire the set-pieces in to the far post, Coleman and Digne will lose out to the well-drilled poorer side. Sometimes with two players to contend with. A goal or chance will ensue. Every single game the same tactics are employed by our lesser opponents, every game the same inability to defend this continually repetitive, obvious strategy against us.

Our opponents don't have to do homework on us anymore, it's common knowledge. Sit tight, close down, men behind the ball, give us no space and wait for the corner or free-kick which they will score from.

It's far too easy, and why oh what are we week after week, just giving our opponents the same set-up and tactics and ending up with the same dire results?

There is only one answer to that.

Where I agree is the lack of strength, desire and knowledge what they're doing. God knows what George Graham would do with our back four!

So might the issue be how things are explained/misunderstood, rather than the 'system'?

Kevin Ratcliffe recently said they played zonal, but 'it took some getting used to'. One thing Howard was great at was getting through to the players.

Either the players are hopeless, they're deliberately downing tools, or Silva's confusing the heck out of them and they're not going the extra mile for him.

My money's on the latter. Within five minutes of me starting work at Burnley last week, two people separately told me they thought Silva had lost the players.

There is a huge market for betting on Managerial changes. However its also one of the few areas in sport where the bookies don't have a clue.. . They invent a market where the can't lose.

These bogus moves are to create an illusion in order to tempt mug punters to follow the so called "smart money". It's one of the few markets where the bookies don't fundamentally agree. While Betfair want you to believe there is a huge wedge being punted on Moyes by making him 5/4. Paddy power are playing a different game and are now offering 10/1.

Dont rush in. Silva hasn't even been sacked yet. If he doesn't get sacked, the bookies make a killing from a market that never really existed. It's even more win/win than it usually is for them. Watch how serious they become if he does get sacked.

Those who want a fun flutter should go on Odds Checker and compare the odds on offer, but wait until he has been sacked and there actually is a market.

Failing that just look out for little hints from Paul Tran. That fella has a habit of seeing the writing on the wall before the wall is even built.

I was thinking that the bookies had been looking at ToffeeWeb, with all the voices calling for Moyes, Royle, anyone else who's worn Blue and the back to basics calls for the likes of Dyche & Wilder.

Next time we've got a manager in trouble, I'll be on Betfair backing to lay these candidates!

And PT, with regards to your three alternatives, I suggest there's a fourth: The players aren't confused, they're very clear on Silva's system, and they know for absolute certain that it's not going to work. So they're not "downing tools"... they're just depressed as hell. Like the rest of us.

Did you happen to notice there were no smiles after Calvert-Lewin's goal against Man City? The players gathered around Coleman were as solemn as Easter Island statues.

These things have been in the side for a long time and the warning signs have been there, only alleviated for short periods. When such weakness takes hold, it becomes the main characteristic of relegation candidates. Rooting out the fearfulness is the key but we also need to be generally tougher. I pray we have time to do it.

Mike, I'd put your fourth option under downing tools. I get the impression that these days, players give the manager a bit of time and if they don't like the cut of his gib and things go less well, they mentally down tools. Happened for two months last season, happening now.

This standard of pedestrian shit can't continue. Lose against West Ham and I hope he is sacked. Personally, I would've sacked him after Saturday's garbage showing. The fella is clueless and not good enough for our club. Get rid before it's too late to save our Premier League status because this man's record is disastrous.

About a year ago, he was interviewed about the tactics these two revered managers deployed. He said he didn't recall either spending any time on the subject. Instead, they explained to every player – in very simple terms – what his job was. Every time he stepped onto the pitch he knew exactly what was expected of him.

I think Joe Royle did something similar in '94 when brought in to save our top-flight status. I can't see Silva adopting such an approach, but at present, it might be just what we need.

Pickford is on his toes desperately trying to see whats going on. Mina is usually busy telling a centre-forward that he is going to break his head and Keane is like a Trappist Monk. What was that weak-arsed pointing about when he saw the Burnley player unmarked?

Could you ever imagine a team with born communicators like Dave Watson, Tony Adams or John Terry conceding a goal at the far post so soon after a screaming warning sign? They'd have had somebody marking the goalscorer if they had to physically throw him out there.

Nobody could get these players to successfully mark zonally. They are simply not cut out for it. I just don't understand why Silva persists.

Incidentally, I've just checked the odds. We're 1/33 to stay up. Under Unsworth I got 1/1 and 4/6. Second biggest bet I've ever had.

I bet you're not worried! You're going to get a cheque for about £4m in the very near future.

Twat.

I dunno...I don't see any signs of a plan other than "Do the same things again, play the same formation all the time". I believe in patience when I can see what a manager is trying to achieve, but I don't see that with Silva right now.

Regarding potential successors... any manager we hire will be a risk. If we wait another 8 games, and we're in the relegation zone or thereabouts come December, then we'll be more likely to panic and choose a "safe pair of hands" like Allardyce. That's a recipe for mediocrity in the long term.

The appointments with the most chance of taking us to a next level probably also have the highest chance of blowing up in our face. Arteta, Unsworth, maybe Howe, maybe Dyche. All people who either haven't managed before, or haven't managed a club this size or with these resources.

Choosing someone who has a vision, and a plan to implement that vision, and giving them at least a season where – acknowledging things may not be perfect – that's the minimum amount of time to see if there is progress towards that vision.

The goodness may be gone, but some ruthlessness will be back and we'll probably do something we haven't done for 25 years – win something?

If I'm told I'm about to get the sack, I will worry about the bills that have to be paid, Silva doesn't have these worries.

He's probably thinking "I'll do what the previous two jokers did before me, make the club payout and bluff my way into the next opportunity that comes along – and also blame the club or Brands for providing me with crap to build a team."

He is ever so slighty worried his professional reputation could take a small dint, but not in the sense that we get worried!

It's their agents that are clever!

Messrs Moshiri, Brands & Silva please take note!

It's like Stockholm Syndrome. It's so ingrained into us fans that I'm guilty of it. When Gomes or Gbamin are injured, as recently shown, then we panic about who the two holding midfielders are going to be!

It's absolutely mental to have only one system. It's a decent set-up away from against the best teams in the league and, to a certain extent, the best teams at home, but to play it every single week regardless of the opposition or their quality is insane.

I don't blame Moyes, he had what he had to play with and actually showed some variety occasionally. It sort of worked with intimately for Martinez and the same with Koeman. Less said about that big fat bag of shite Allardyce, but why, oh why, do we insist on playing it every week???

Play two centre forwards against the shit teams with two wingers. It's not rocket science!

Good points.

The same thing happened under Koeman & Martinez and I think probably happenss under every manager that has hung on for too long.

Begs the question: What game is Brands watching? Moshiri is an accountant and I wouldn't expect him to see the "fault lines" unless he can bring similar experiences from other parts of his working life.

If Brands does see what's happening, then the implication is that he's got no power to do anything about it and Moshiri is making the "football" decisions?

If that's the case, we've got Randy Lerner Mk 2!

Although, if Everton change the name of their ground to the Vitality Stadium, it may bring more energy to EFC.

There's no reason why he shouldn't be seriously considered along side Dyche and a few other Brits even though British managers don't seem to be fashionable anymore.

The fact he kept his team up in the Premier League is always a positive and he plays an attacking game.

I'd be paying for someone who's been there and got the T-shirt myself, with a few wins under his belt.

Dear Lord... why why why does this media Lucy who plays his teams so dull but everyone thinks he's a wonder, our new tactician, keep getting wheeled out constantly... week in week out... jeez.

The Bournemouth mates I have wax lyrical about endless no Plan B... sound familiar???... Bring back Bobby Brown Shoes. If that's the model?

Oh hang on...he supported us in the day of the 84 Cup Final... well yes... we were trendy... on the up... media liked us... we were going places... so lots of little chappies in their blazers latched on too.

So let's forget this Boyhood Blue who talks the talk etc. No thanks, please!

Bosman and the EU; another good reason to leave.

Steve Ferns – You more than anyone would probably know where Keys is coming from given that you are in exactly the same position – being a good mate of Silva??

Losing Gana and Zouma were probably beyond his control, and the failure to get an experienced centre-half and striker was not down to him, indeed it was despite his statements that we needed to strengthen further.

He has to be given time, since we need an opportunity to establish not only some decent results but also consistency of them, to get away from this cycle of changing managers to no effect.

In the next two weeks, Mr Silva, go over all the matches this season. Review the tactics and systems. You may have survived the chop for now. This is your opportunity to change it. Even seek advice from mentors. Next five games will decide your future!!

If Everton sack him, he is done with British football!

"Two wins on the bounce and we are in the top ten."

That 's probably the what's keeping him in his job, watch that points gap grow and he's gone.

He performs like he did at Burnley in the next two games, he's gone!

"You can please some of the people some of the time..." you should know the rest.

Two wins on the bounce and we are in the top ten. That's the margins.

Problem is, we've lost to Villa, Bournemouth, Sheffield United, Burnley, and drawn at Palace.

Where in the world are these two wins on the bounce going to come from that you speak of?

If we beat the teams we should have, we'd be on 19 points and in second place. We had an amazing opportunity to start fast, and really send a statement of intent to the footballing world.

You say the next five games will decide his future? I ask, what in the hell are we waiting for? Silva has had his opportunity to succeed, and blown it in incredible fashion! Five games??

Home West Ham - maybe 3 points?
Brighton away - based on form, 0 points. We're awful on the road.
Watford away - see Brighton
Home against Spurs - 0 points
Away at Southhampton - see Brighton

There's a real chance we will be on 7 points after November 9th! If we take 12 points of the possible 15, we'll be on 19. Safe, mid-table.

Is that what we expected starting this season? Is that what Moshri should expect after dumping millions into players? Players that surely have the quality to win most games?

It's just underachieving personified. I can't wait five games man! If we wait, and it goes terribly south, we're in serious, serious trouble.

Yes Manager (Prime Minister)!

Quite like Adi Hutter as an option myself.

-Marcelo Gallardo
-Adi Hütter
-Marcelino
-Mikel Arteta
-Graham Potter
-Florian Kohfeldt
-Erik ten Hag
-Marco Rose
-Paulo Fonseca
-Gerardo Seoane

Why in the world have the board not sacked our manager yet? What's occurred this season is wholly unacceptable.

Someone needs to take the bull by the horns, find their man-parts, take action, and change the course this Club is currently heading NOW. Not in two to three weeks time.

There is just no excuse for our current predicament. It is infuriating having a board who will tolerate this level of performance. Infuriating.

What metric are they using to evaluate where we are presently?

Go ahead, wait until it's too late. Watch your investment in Everton drop 60% to 70% in value after you've reacted far, far to late to avoid the drop.

I don't think we'll actually go down, but when it's this secure in the, "oh fuck, this might happen" column, you fucking do something about it.

I've owned my own company for 14 years. I've worked tirelessly to have it grow. If I hired a manager who'd been on the job 18 or so months, and was completely fucking up my investment and years of back-breaking labor, I'd make a change immediately.

Does obscene wealth buy you more time, or just stupidity?

David @288, Unsworth seemed the logical choice, and Boa Morte, was the only at Everton choice!

How that Boa Morte just happened to get the job, is still a mystery as he appears to offer less than the Finch Farm Cat.

Just like we let Lukaku go without a replacement when we didn't strictly need to, we let Gana go in a similar way. Both incidents were typical of a club that aims to make a profit whilst maintaining midtable mediocrity.

And the trouble with that mediocre attitude that's been so prevalent at Everton is that when it goes wrong it can do so big time, with midtable suddenly becoming yet another skirmish with the bottom.

Silva, like many managers will always believe they can sort it out because you do need be able to take the flack when things are not going wrong.

The players, no matter what the tactics, are the ones who play the football and currently this Everton team (did I say team) are absolute shite.

Brands the genius according to some also has to take his share of the blame.

Anyone guess why he's saying nothing!

Something very deep seeing us in the bottom three. Even my rugby mad friends look at me with pity. Pat me on the shoulder with real empathy. They see my pain and fear of the unknown that lies ahead. I know it out of my control but doesn't stop me worrying. It's a waiting game now and all we can do is hope.

The same is being mentioned about Zouma and Gana Gueye, they knew Zouma was only on loan and with the Chelsea Transfer Ban there was little chance of him making the switch at the end of last season.

As for Gana, the player wanted to go, and did have the chance to go in January, but stayed and instead of sulking played almost better than before. Players who have contracts but want to move on these days, are rarely denied that move, because they won't give their all if they stay.

Hypothetical I know, but just imagine if he had picked up a career threatening injury, and there was little chance of him ever playing again. Silva would HAVE HAD to alter things to accommodate such an important loss, why hasn't he?

No instead he insists on two DM's, home or away, one of them Schneiderlin, whose name on the team-sheet triggers loss in my estimation each time, and I think the stats will bear that out, apart from the rare exception.

A decent manager must make contingency plans as in the hypothetical case above, players do get injuries and suspensions, which affects the balance, and losses should be compensated with players who will put a shift in.

Silva has been proved to be clueless, time and time again, and still persists with the same old strategy that never worked the week before, so why so should it conceivably work the week after?

Any other club with an ounce of self-respect would have sacked 'head down, looks like he's about to burst into tears' Silva immediately after the Burnley debacle or at the very latest, after Newcastle had beaten Man Utd to send us into the bottom three.

But no, they sit on their hands and wait for... What exactly? Are they expecting a miracle, some form of divine intervention that will suddenly turn serial loser Silva into a tactical and motivational genius that will suddenly produce a run of six victories to turn our season round? Even if he did, the fact that the clubs above us will continue picking up points in the meantime, we would probably still be in the bottom half of the table.

Like you, I've run a business and also like you, if had (and sometimes did have) a manager who despite having his failings pointed out to him, failed to change, I would conclude that the person was incompetent and take the necessary steps to dismiss the individual.

So Why is Silva still here?

Will they wait and wait until we're mathematically unable to escape relegation before waking from their zombie state and finally take action, too little too late?

If we head into November in the drop zone, it's going to become harder and harder to get the results needed to escape relegation.

Jamie, I'm becoming filled with despair and disillusionment with the state of our beloved Everton. I've already decided not to watch any more games while Silva's in charge. My angina has seriously got worse since the beginning of the season. I can do without this stress and strain when watching your football team is supposed to be a pleasureable experience. Under Silva, it is anything but that.

Silva is a cancer eating away at our club, and it is now on the verge of entering the terminal phase. Only the board has the cure in their hands, but do they have the guts to act before it's too late?

So did you sack your manager in your business or what and, if so, did you have a new manager lined up already?

This could all change in January, should we land a proven striker and manage to get Zouma in, but we could certainly be in deep trouble before the transfer window reopens.

December's fixture list is shocking. We are relying on three teams being worse than us, at the moment, I am struggling to name three.

Last season we finished the season well, chances of that happening again in December is very slim, with the system and same players being selected.

The board needs to act now, the perfect time during a break, to bring someone in and get back to basics.

In the past, I have always felt there were poor teams below us, this time the gap has closed, we always had fighters in the team who could roll their sleeves up in a relegation battle, This team is weak with the system they are being forced to play. Leave it any longer and we could be deep in trouble.

The same or similar could happen again, indeed I'd put money on it. That's how it tends to work with Everton, ridiculous ups and downs. Assuming another upturn, sooner rather than later, and one or two more signings in January (perhaps including Zouma?), things could be a lot brighter. Especially so if the Brothers of Dracula across the park implode (even a little) and Man City find their mojo.

I'm with you. It's maddening to me. Cling to hope brother.

Stan -

I've thought the exact same thing. Hell, I'm a hypocrite. After the turn-around last season post-international break, I said I'd give Silva three seasons.

It seems within the realm of possibility we can turn this around, especially with three winnable games next up.

But what puts me over the edge is seeing the Premier League landscape. Man U in chaos, Chelsea in transition, Spurs a bit of a mess, Arsenal still not firing on all canons, Wolves with Euro commitments, the list goes on. The door was wide open to walk through, and we've simply, pardon the expression, shit the bed.

I don't feel, despite a heck of a lot of posts on TW to the contrary, it's the players. I've watched intently, through my elementary and naive prism of American eyes, at our system and play this season. I've seen nothing to give me hope. I've documented why on other posts, so I won't rehash. But I firmly believe this set of players under a different manager and system would be much, much further up the table presently with the weak schedule we've played to this point.

And I don't see us breaking through any of the top spots this season. Again, when that door has been opened about as wide as I can ever remember.

And for that reason, I just feel he's got to go, and now.

I long for the days of 100 post articles, post-victory, on TW. Reading this much is almost a second job these days; cutting through 600 posts in an article! Posts full of anger, vitriol, remorse, flabbergasted wonder, etc.

But I don't blame anyone. When something you love is doing well, you leave it be.

When your kid is out of the house, with a good job, in a solid relationship, and happy, you wait to hear from them.

When they are struggling, hitting hard times, and unhappy, you reach out to them. You don't wait for them to call, you call them. Why? Because you care.

I see this analogy as valid when comparing the number of posts when things go wrong for Everton.

Something has to give. We have to affect change, not wait for our fortunes to change. Like right now.

New centreback again unlikely to change alot, the goalkeeper never claims crosses or comes for corners. Any centreback or defender will be under pressure defending this way.

The joke defending has never gone away we just had a little more luck and got away with it post Millwall in the cup.

Silva has us set up not to concede goals 2 defensive midfielders yet we look more vulnerable than ever. I have no confidence at all in this squad.

January cannot come quickly enough, its never a ideal time to sign players but unless we sign a handfull at least for the 1st team disaster awaits.

West Ham a must win game eh Silva, Anderson, Haller, Rice and Yarmelenko to name 4 would walk into are team and have the type of quality we can only dream of. Siggurdsen, Schniederlin, Calvert Lewin and any of 4 I know which group I would choose.

Wolves (A) 2 -2 (played well, should have won)

Southampton (H) 2 -1 (won)

Bournemouth (A) 2 – 2 (Draw away from home. played well with 10 men, should have won)

Huddersfield (A) 1 -1 (hard fought draw)

West Ham (A) 1 – 3 (won – ran rings around West Ham, could have won by 5 or 6. Football was outstanding)

Arsenal (A) 2 - 0 (lost – played really well again. Plenty of chances to win and Arsenal were really lucky)

Fulham (H) 3 – 0 (won resoundingly)

Leicester (A) 1 – 2 (amazing performance at a really difficult ground. Sig scored Brazil 82 goal)

Palace (H) 2 – 0 (solid win against a really well organised Palace side)

Man U (A) 2 – 1 (lost – but again had multiple chances to at least equalise. Played decent)

Brighton (H) 3 – 1 (another solid victory with some great play)

Chelsea (A) 0 – 0 (solid draw away at the bridge. Played decently again)

Cardiff (H) 1 – 0 (solid win against a team set up with 11 behind the ball)

Liverpool (A) 0 – 1 (played brilliantly against arguably one of the best sides in Europe. Should have been a well deserved draw had Pickford not done a Pickford. Could easily have won this on another day)

Then we went on a really bad run. I just want to point out he has had two good spells. I share the frustration - but I think he deserves these October fixtures. We can't keep sacking managers or no one will want to come. There is another international break in November if there are genuine relegation worries.

I'm not bollocking. Please don't take this the wrong way.

You're citing a run of games that saw three draws against inferior opposition that should have been wins, and not a single three-pointer against any team above us.

This was before the rest of the league figured out Silva's style of play, and have summarily shut us down since - 6 goals from 8 games being the example, against garbage competition.

Can't buy it. Sorry. I take your point. I just respectfully disagree.

See my post @ 144 in which I acknowledged how encouraged I was by the opening fixtures you list (but you DO get your WHU appraisal wrong: we were run ragged and lost 3-1 at home to the hammers, giving them their first win of the season. I'm guessing you got mixed up with the impressive 2-0 away win at der Hammers in the closing fixtures of last season).

And all those results do, together with the collapse in form mid-season followed by a strong close, is cause puzzlement and exasperation. It's feast or famine under Silva. No in-betweens.

The players ARE capable. He HAS got the team playing well at times. So why has he failed to consistently do that, or build on the solid finish to last season from this season's benevolent opening fixtures?

Based on performances in the here and now, the team has regressed, not progressed, when the overwhelming majority of the players should be well-drilled and well-versed in what he wants them to do.

I'm worried we won't get into the top 6. I'm worried we won't get into the top 8. Should I be worried we will go down?

Is he similarly worried we won't get into the top 6??!

If not, why not?

Has he seen enough from us to suggest we WILL get top 6? If so he's mad

If he hasn't seen enough from us to suggest we'll get top 6 then why ISN'T he worried ? What is his bar of aspiration? Of expectation?

I actually don't understand a word that comes out of his mouth what exactly is this clown not worried about?

If he's not worried about getting the sack great. That' shows his ambition

If he's not worried about relegation then great I AM worried about relegation. But why are we even talking relegation when we supposedly have a very good squad?

What is this man not worried about? Can anyone enlighten me please?

Of course, if you don't come out and say something you will get blasted for hiding in a time of crisis. But no matter what you say it's going to piss people off.

This is why Marcel Brands has been conspicuously quiet. There is nothing to be gained by saying anything - so say nothing.

If you don't believe me, then reflect for a minute and please tell us what Silva would or could have said that would have made you feel even marginally better about him and the club at the moment?

I'm not a Silva apologist, just trying to be a realist here. The man isn't fit to pump up a football let alone manage a premier league team IMO.

I'd be happier if he'd said any of the following:

"We need to be more incisive and create more chances. I need to look at the team and address the style to make us more productive"

Or

"We aren't playing well but we need to find a way to avoid losses when not playing well. Then we need to find a way to win when not playing well."

Or

"The players are underperforming and they need to show the quality or they'll be replaced."

Or

"We have to avoid conceding from set-pieces. It's simply not good enough. At this rate, we need to score 2-3 goals a match to win games. Right now we're struggling to score at all."

His team selections are so dire. Where's the goal potency? Where's the goal power? We're boring to watch and we can't get results.

I expect improvement of sorts: either results or performances (if not both). I'm starting to hate the man.

Thank God you noticed that! Issue solved. Very happy we're on the same page now. ;0)

Another thing, people go on about our strong finish at the end of last season. Man Utd were shite, and everyone was beating them, and Arsenal and Chelsea were mediocre.

Also, these games were at home. What happened at Newcastle and Crystal Palace away????

His CV is shite, yet we pursued him. And got fined for it, FFS. Sooner he's out, the better.

So, don't worry about a thing Marco, at least you can go home after another defeat and check your six-figure bank balance. Should give you a warm glow, that.

Us plebs will just shiver and freeze as we trudge home feeling even more depressed than we did after the last mauling at the hands of another relegation-threatened team.