Everton vs Fulham

Well, hopefully phew! come Monday morning.

Carlo's selection will be almost as ‘interesting' as my wife's reaction when I gently inform her that I'll be watching the game at 7pm on Valentine's Day!!

Fulham don't give up a lot of goals. The last time they conceded three in the Premier League was against us back in November.

Defensively they are pretty solid. Their issue is scoring. They seem to draw a lot or lose by the odd goal.

They reminded me a bit of Aston Villa last season, decent enough, organized, just lacking a je ne sais quoi.

If they go down, but stick by Parker, I can see them rebounding pretty quickly and sticking around for a long while, kinda like Burnley did.

Yes it's actually been 18 months now since he last played. Aside from the specific injury healing, that's a long long time to be out of the daily routine of professional sport and then try and condition yourself to come back.

Tony #1, King hasn't scored two goals in a league game in two years, so let's not get overexcited. Just one tap-in or penalty would be great.

I'll be especially pleased to see Allan back in the line-up. Doucouré, Davies and Sigurdsson have done excellent work in front of the backline in his absence, but his quality is very much needed.

Should be enough to get three important points... let's just hope it's not a 'Newcastle' performance.

COYBB

The massive question will be performance level. Will he still have the speed necessary to play Premier League football after those two injuries?

It seems inconceivable... But miracles do happen.

I was just thinking, in the last week we've been treated to two moments I'd define as nearing "iconic".

Ben Godfrey's "Fuck Off!"

Carlo blowing on his coffee.

The last reaction "iconic moment" was a while ago - Big Dunc hugging the ball boy.

What's next? Those two moments above make me grin ear-to-ear. Never mind the Dunc - Ball Boy moment which I just loved to death. I'm hoping there's many, many more of these snapshots in time to come.

Then there's the question of who to put on the left – Bernard, Nkounkou, King? Depends on how attacking we want to be.

Rest Calvert-Lewin, Digne, Sigurdsson even, for a proper tilt at the cup tie without ceding league points. Easy to say, but come on Carlo, we're now entering the “business” end of the season. You've got us here, you earn the big bucks, now deliver... Please!

Great point about Coleman there.

I don't think Fulham will be a banana skin, we have improved so much.

Fear no-one this season. I think everyone fears us more, and about time. 😉

Just consider his psychology should he find the required fitness to play a prem game. His team mates would have I feel sure have been gentle with him in training, he then in his mind has to be able to commit to full blooded challenges during a real match.

He'll know he's has this weaknes, the psychology job he'll need to be ready is atleast as big as the medical one.

He's at the right club to find his way again. Ancelotti is starting to create a Zen calm about our proceedings and I think Brands is part of that too. That's good for the likes of Gbamin and it should be good for fans like me who are impatient.

Absolutely, it's by no means impossible. And I'd like to see him put himself about on the park.

There's been some amazing recoveries over the years, but for me, it's the repeat nature of his injuries that dominates my thoughts.

I guess Sigurdsson will on the bench - he put a shift and a half in on top of his goal and 3 assists, so Gomes back in I reckon.

Will Iwobi be picked? Bernard?

Nice to have options again!

To Tom's point, do you remember Li Tie? He was good for us for some time, got injured then was never the same. Moyes had said after he eventually left that he was fearful of getting injured.

I don't even remember what the injury he had was but I assume it was painful if it affected him that much. Hopefully, Gbamin will make it -- both physically and psychologically.

This from our Past Player Profile:
But the new season started badly for Li Tie, sent off after just 12 mins from coming on as a sub at Arsenal and picking up two yellow cards for two silly challenges. Then he hurt his foot and missed a few more games then he went back to China to train with the national squad... and fractured his shin in training! Out for the rest of the dismal 2003-04 season.

And it proved to be a very long recovery period for Li Tie. He did not return to full training until October 2004. He got fit enough to play at International level for his native China on numerous occasions but he never played for Everton again.

In March of 2006, it was decided he needed another operation, which put paid to any chances of a return for the 2005-06 season, and his contract expired, leaving him as another Everton crock who was, remarkably, quite able to play for China!

He joined Sheffield Utd but only played one game for them.

I think we had a story recently about him going into coaching... Yes, he was made manager of China just over a year ago! How's he getting on, I wonder...???

I think he is the national team manager in China now. I remember in his first season he was a lucky charm, we never seemed to lose when he was playing. That being said, I remember bizarrely seeing a similar trend with Tobias Linderoth at one point in time. So it just goes to show, Stats don't tell the whole story.

Carlo will continue to rotate the squad with a view to keeping everyone fully fit and available while picking up enough points to maintain if not improve our league position. Hopefully by the time we face City in the cup he will be able to field a full bench and be in a position to make five substitutions if necessary.

I think Josh King will surprise many. He has pace, finishing ability and the motivation to earn a longer term contract.

With regard to Li Tie, we have had special links with the world's two superpowers now - US (Howard et al) and China (their coach). Have we made the best of that?

I watched King in the games he's come on late and I have to say he looks like he's got two left feet and is all thumbs with no fingers.

Probably early nerves, but there's nowhere to hide on Sunday, the adrenaline might do him some good.

Viv Busby, later to bizarrely rock up as Kendall Mk3's assistant in the near disastrous 1997-98 season, scored both their goals, one after a horror error by Dai Davies. Fulham went on to the Final where they lost to West Ham.

It was a season we should have won the league, but ended up 4th, and the FA Cup was more than possible, but this 8-year-old was already hooked on the Everton drug.

Im backing him for first goal after reading your post

It may be a good thing we got King in before the window shut.

He has experience and although he doesn't have the youth of DCL he will be handy in other areas. Hopefully Richie and James can keep finding the net.

The next few weeks sees some tough games although I suppose they are all tough with this Jekyll and Hyde team but a Euro place is on the line.

I hope he's not going to be another Iwobi, damned regardless.

Please Everton, keep up the momentum and help my negative/inferiority mindset.

After 22 games, we're fighting for a CL spot while Fulham is 8 points adrift from safety with a GD of -14.

If we're even pretending for a European place next season, it's Everton wins, Fulham loses. The better team is Everton.

I actually think we are a lot commercially smarter now. Li Tie was at Everton in the early to mid-two thousands, then China was not a place to get a lot of money of merchandise I reckon. I was there in 2002 for a holiday, and all the western goods in Beijing - the capitol, seemed to be fake. Nowadays China is different, I work in Shanghai, though whenever I will get back to my job is another thing, and Shanghai is full of places that sell sports gear, and to get the genuine thing is a status symbol. The Chinese are huge consumers. However, the Chinese do not give two figs about Everton, I know, I lived in Wuhan as well as Shanghai. A lot of the kids who like football weren't born when Li Tie was at Everton, and Basketball is the most popular sport there.

Howard, and to a lesser extent Landon Donovan and Joe Max Moore were not utilised as commercial entities enough. Though it might have been that Everton weren't perceived as a big club back then, and football might not have been so popular in USA - Mike Gaynes will know.

It does appear though, that we are getting a lot of attention in Columbia, via James, and Mina to a lesser extent.

But, lets face it, Everton just haven't been trendy enough for decades, especially internationally.

But yes, we haven't exploited the popularity of international players enough,

What you don't want to hear.

By the way, I once bought a killer pair of adidas football boots on the street in Shanghai... to my astonishment they turned out to be genuine.

Re the USA, Everton is guilty of ongoing, gross marketing negligence here. ManUtd, Arsenal, the RS and even Chelsea and Spurs have done booming business here for decades. Us? Nothing. Zip. No leverage at all from the USA players who played at Goodison. Never even tried. To this day, buying Everton gear here is almost impossible.

But the team is pretty dismal. They will barely get out of the first round of Asian qualifying for the WC. In desperation for talented players, they have started calling up naturalized citizens -- English-born Nico Yennaris from the Arsenal academy via Brentford (now renamed Li Ke) and two Brazilians.

Last fall, Li Tie also called into his national team camp a powerful central defender name of Jiang Guangtai. We knew him as Tyias Browning. He is not yet eligible to play for China because he represented England at the U-17, U-19 and U-21 levels. Those rules are under review.

So two Evertonians could be representing China when they resume WC qualifying play against the Maldives this spring.

I have a son Everton mad and he's probably average / perhaps slightly smaller than an average 11 year old (last year of junior school). Anyway , he had to wear the biggest junior shirt and that just fits (perhaps a little small).

After that the next size is adults! Obviously even a small adults will swamp him. Therefore no correct size for an average kid between 11-18 - the age where they want to wear kits.

Not sure about King and a 6-month loan shows neither are the club but he's got the attributes and he could share the load with Calvert-Lewin.

Looking forward to seeing Antonee Robinson today and still sorry he had to leave. I think he is already better than Chilwell.

I'd like to see us start on the front foot, the desire and committment and application needs to be there against the lesser clubs as well.

I was really hoping to see Gbamin for Everton. I don't feel like that happens this season and sadly I'm not convinced it will at all. I sincerely hope I'm wrong on both counts.

I guess I sound a bit negative this morning. I'm not, far from it!!

I am sure we will win and have the momentum to do really well in the upcoming tough fixtures, that will really shake the luvvies at Sky.

Coming to today's match, I believe Carlo will rest Sigurdsson and Davies and bring in Gomes and James. He may also give Godfrey a break. I would also rest Doucouré, if possible, but that would be making too many changes to the team. So, my starting XI:

Olsen
Coleman Mina Keane Digne
Doucouré Holgate Gomes
James
King Richarlison

Subs: Virginia, Godfrey, Sigurdsson, Davies, Iwobi, Delph, Bernard

We seemed to need a spark versus Man Utd and Spurs so it would be nice if the boys were truly fired-up for Fulham as they are a good footballing outfit who will be very keen for the points.

On King, I like the lad and expect him to show us what he can do.

Olsen
Coleman Holgate Godfrey Digne
Doucoure Davies Gomes
King Richie Bernard

If we get enough ahead then give the Duke and Digne some rest for Onyango and Nkounkou to get some minutes too.

Equally I'm sure that Dom, for example could play everyday if asked – he just wouldn't be as effective.

They will be using that as their blueprint for this game. We have to be ready for the closing down, the pressure and be ready to fight in the midfield to win possession. The win won't come easy. If we are not up for the fighting part of this match to allow our talent to count, Fulham will do a Newcastle.

Olsen
Coleman Keane Godfrey Digne
Doucouré Davies
Iwobi James Richarlison
King

Everton 2 Fulham 0

Leicester v Liverpool draw.
City beat Tottenham.
Brighton peg back Villa.

And we beat Fulham with the game(s) in hand remaining.

Now I'm all excited again. It's the hope that kills! UTFT

What you on about?

Godfrey
Digne
Mina
Keane

Davies
Doucouré
Gomes

King
Richarlison
James

Not sure Sigurdsson can play 120 minutes and Sunday.

A tinge of regret at never staying in Shanghai for a few days as it looks good on TV – I don't know any Mandarin, so if I ever go I'll need to do it as an English-speaking tour.

In Hong Kong, where a few relatives and friends have chosen to remain and I visit every-so-often, there are many who love their football and Hong Kong football team, especially as a lot of UK bankers & IT people go to live there, so it's a good British feel in the bars (they sell pints too) – at least it used to be anyway a few years ago.

Plenty of Man Utd and Liverpool fans there, and small amounts who support other teams depending on where in the UK they travelled over from. On Facebook, there is a growing Hong Kong Everton page though, so maybe things are picking up. Also, Hong Kong is where Bruce Lee is from and origins of great old-school dubbed Kung Fu flicks, like Way of The Dragon.

The game: Would like to see Nkounkou get some game time. It's a club in the relegation zone, so a great opportunity if we are winning by 2 clear goals to get on in left midfield and see him edge closer to challenging for a position.

Richarlison – I think he has transformed into one of those players who lives for goals. Last season, he had a good taste of it as a striker and looks like he believes he should be a main goalscorer still with Calvert-Lewin, from the way I've seen him play and then the joy he got against Spurs.

Say like Frank Lampard or Van Nilsteroy, the types who will do anything to be in the box when the ball is coming in as they know they are likely to score. I don't think Richarlison is wrong and is one of the few who can strike through the ball cleanly from the edge of the box with both feet, not just curl it. Maybe we can sacrifice some width at times if he's allowed to come more central to get a shot off to keep him happy. It works for Sterling at Man City and Richarlison has just a good a shot on him.

Anyway, another win hopefully, Davies another step towards the most appearances for an Everton player, and Champions League music on the horizon, and plenty of interesting theories and debates on here in the next few days would make it another great football weekend.

What we have to bear in mind tomorrow is that our next two games are Man City and Liverpool. City is a free hit being our game in hand but whilst Liverpool are suffering they will raise their game against us. I think we really need to beat Fulham and resting too many or shoehorning players into unfamiliar positions must be avoided. Drop points tomorrow and it puts the pressure on to beat either Man City or Liverpool and whilst we are quite capable of doing that it would be nice to go into those games three points to the good after tomorrow.

I'd play Josh King from the start – he's a decent player from what I have seen and has always given us more trouble than most. Rest Sigurdsson for André Gomes and see how Seamus plays wide right after looking so good on Wednesday- he knows the role from way back.

Olsen
Holgate Godfrey Keane Digne
Coleman Davies Doucouré Gomes Richarlison
King

Every other team still does it. Everton's marketing and media just seems very poor.

I hope he plays King and Richarlison both centrally tomorrow.

Big push over the pond for merchandise? Don't be daft. Same with Cahill for Australia. Plus numerous ventures and iffy average kit deals. The three ground moves... ! Need I go on?

You can get 1/1 at the bookies right now and for those who see only a home win that represents decent value. Snap it up. those odds will not lengthen.

Everton again for me... but this lot are improving and they have good players. starting to come into form. They will not go quietly.

Don't want to get too off topic again! A few months ago we had a discussion about this - I was in Jiang Xia in Wuhan, then I mentioned Michelle Aboro is Shanghai! My first place was near the old Shanghai Station, my new place, can't remember the district because I was only in the flat a few weeks before coming back to England!

Shangahi sells a lot of genuine goods because shopping is a major hobby amongst those who have money there. Social status and prestige, as you know, go a long way in Chinese society. Shopping is a day out.

It is really weird that Everton have neglected the American market. A lot of Americans, because of the nature of America, I am sure have an affinity for British clubs, or would follow a team because they have American players in them.

Jason Li - 89

I lived in Hong Kong for 4 years, it was a great place. I lived on Lamma Island. Brilliantly different islands in one small place.

I have lived in a lot of countries, mostly in Asia, and Everton just do not register. I did my best when teaching by comparing their history to glamour boys like Chelsea, or letting students know that Liverpool were formed after Everton and because of Everton, but alas, if it wasn't Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool or Arsenal, they didn't really care. It would be a hard market to break, then you have the issues with fake goods!

As for the Fulham game, time to utilise the squad again. I'd like to see Holgate get his mojo back, and it will be interesting to see if Richarlison will be afforded more space in the absence of Calvert-Lewin, depending on how King plays. I am sure they haven't signed him just to sit on the bench, especially after being cup-tied.

I cannot believe this could be true... but, if it is, I find it unbelievable. Considering we have translators, other players in our team who speak Portuguese, and of Richarlison being in England 4 years or so, surely this must be bollocks?

"To talk with Richarlison is not easy because his English is not good, my Portuguese is so bad, so the communication is not so easy but I try to speak with him every day."

If you live and work in a foreign land, at least try to make an effort. And before anyone starts with the xenophobia attack, I am the grandson of immigrants, I'm married to a non-English speaking foreign national, my kids are foreign-born who learnt English here, etc. I also learnt two foreign languages whilst working abroad.

It's easy if you are interested.

My German is rusty now, but I can converse enough to be understood; enough so that the locals don't feel compelled to do the polite thing and break into their much superior English.

I didn't do so well with Italian, but grasped the basics so I could get around supermarkets and restaurants without sounding like an ignorant English tourist talking in English really really slowly and for some reason putting on a very strange accent.

As you say, it just takes a bit of effort and is viewed on as being courteous. Even if you sound like a 4-year-old, I've always found people appreciate you making the effort.

Sometimes it isn't as simple as that, depending on how far apart the languages are. I speak from a bit of experience as I was a language teacher for a long time and have lived in countries in which the language was very different to English, and despite English being on the national curriculum, a lot of locals don't speak it.

I spent 6 years in Japan. They have 3 alphabets, really weird grammar that changes depending on politeness, and the sentence structures are very different to English. I could converse and hold a conversation there, but man it took a while, and I don't believe I am thick or disrespectful. I work in China nowadays – but been home a year due to the world situation. Mandarin has tones that change, so if you say a word with the wrong tone, it means something really different. Very hard to get your head around. French people can live in England for decades and still have a strong accent.

So I get the issue!

As Rabbie Burns said, “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may” – he never said a truer word. Get the three points in the bag and then worry about future matches.

Who did Rabbie Burns play for??

I suppose that comes from languages being in families and related. English is a Germanic language influenced by French. I found German easier but then I lived there longer.

I still agree with Colin; if you live in a country you should make the effort, however difficult you find it and how "stupid" you think you sound.

That might be a cultural thing. Working in multi-national environments where the business language was English, I used to find the Italians (for example) very difficult. If they couldn't speak it perfect, they would rather not at all and lean on a colleague who could. Even though their 50-60% mastery of English was way superior to my Italian.

Image-conscious, the Italians... Hence Carlo giving Duncan the stare when he almost messed his hair up with the Old Trafford celebrations.

Richarlison comes from an extremely impoverished background. Football was his escape route. Not schooling. He is typical of many Brazilians from poor backgrounds. Put to work at a young age to help with the family's precarious finances.

More than half of Brazilians 25 and over haven't completed High School. One in three haven't even completed Elementary School. 7% don't even enter school. Ever.

Richarlison is not stupid. He is anything but 'disrespectful'. His humility is very, very evident.

He is much loved in Brazil – exactly because he is just like so many of them. There is no other high profile Brazilian sports person who comes close to him who not only quietly gives his time and money to good causes, but also regularly speaks out on a wide range of issues like social inequalities, the Amazon and Pantanal fires, the debacle of the Ministry of Health's handling of the pandemic.

A very poor post, Colin.

I do like the YouTube post of Richarlison and Mina having a dance-off with the kids at what I presume is a Liverpool school with Spirit of the Blues as the background music.

Gets very competitive. Between the two of them, not the kids!

Anyway, I was worried about his confidence before the Tottenham game but not now. Those two goals were superb finishing and he's got his eye back in.

I don't give a toss about his language skills if he keeps playing like that.

I may be wrong, maybe Carlo misspoke. The lad might be quite fluent, who knows? But please don't equate poverty with a lack of interest in learning a new language. I've met Hispanic fruit pickers in California who through sheer need pick up the basics.

Like I said, not interested in creating a wider, endless polemic. If you are interested, and willing, you can learn the basic language skills wherever you reside.

Colin #103, agreed that it's respectful to work the best you can to learn the language where you live, but Barry and Danny are correct too that it's not always a matter of lack of effort, but getting your head around an entirely different system of human communication.

My wife has been in the US for 20 years and has worked relentlessly on her English, but still struggles with sentence structure, gender and tenses that are utterly alien to her native Chinese concepts. And the accent, for her, is simply unconquerable.

She could not be coached in a sport, for example. She would understand the basic language, but not technical concepts. So I'd suggest not being too harsh on Richarlison.

We were abysmal, particularly on corners. Digne trying to man-mark a big fella? Sigurdsson looking at the corner taker through his arse? If this continues on corners kicks, we seriously must limit ever giving them away wherever possible.

I think Colin is perfectly entitled to question Richarlison if he's been in England 4 years and doesn't speak a word of English. He's a grown man with unparalleled resources. It's not great. Not a capital offence... but just a bit disappointing.

It goes back to my earlier point. Regardless of background or education, if you live in another country you make the effort, however good or bad that effort is, at attempting to communicate in the language of the locals.

I did.

Sure that board might still be knocking about, in one of the removal boxes, when we left Bellefield...

Bernard speaks decent English anyway, so I'm sure Bernard could help Richarlison out with translation.

As others have also pointed out, it is not necessarily a question of being 'pig stupid' or 'disrespectful' as you blithely labelled Richarlison.

You will get no argument from me that poverty is not necessarily an obstacle to any learning, not just language learning, but it can most certainly be a life-long obstacle for many.

I for one didn't care for the character assassination, the assumptions and implication of your words towards a very decent man based on a couple of sentences from Carlo, taken out of context. It is worth reading what followed those comments.

Asked if he has to routinely keep Richarlison motivated, Carlo said:

"No, I don't think so. He's a professional player and he tries to do it all 100%.

"In this sense no he doesn't need to be motivated, I think he's a young player and I think he has a great desire to be at the top, but he has to follow step by step this desire to improve."

Carlo gave evidence of Richarlison's desire from his performance vs Spurs.

"What I saw is that he scored two goals. There are two kinds of players. The players that can run and the player that can decide games by scoring goals. He was decisive for the game and so he didn't need to run. But when he's not decisive in the game, he has to run. He knows this."

Richarlison is an extremely driven footballer. I just roll my eyes when people bring up his frowning 'sulky' face as evidence of... well, I really don't know what.

That is his game face. He is extremely serious about his profession and always wants to perform well and WIN!

When it doesn't happen, he is not happy. Who saw recently at the final whistle when we drew or lost a game him go down on his knee and repeatedly thump the pitch in frustration?

Who recalls his home truths about himself and the team following the thrashing in Silva's last game at Anfield? About the need to be stronger, smarter, braver in such games?

So his English isn't great? Plenty of native English speakers I could say the same thing about.

I used to use one to speak to Derek Knox. 🤣

The likes of Gomes who has been rested midweek needs to put a performance in tomorrow and maybe King will get more minutes too with Calvert-Lewin out?

Yip, don't want to get into a language debate either, too much like work! And yes, they could have the best language teachers available, and a latin to latin language is easier in a lot of ways. I did see something posted about Richarlison doing his English homework. All's I will say, is that I met very intelligent people who couldn't grasp or retain a new language, and uneducated folks from poor backgrounds who could much quicker. Different types of intelligence I suppose! And yes, you do have to be motivated.

Danny O'Neill- 111 You've alluded to cultural issues. For example some nationalities are shy when it comes to speaking foreign languages because they believe mistakes will make them lose face. I had no qualms about trying, but have often just been met with blank faces. That said, it happens when I speak English too!

With Richarlison, he is in a weird situation. For one, he is in an international arena where English is spoken in a number of dialects, and I am not sure how Italian, or Italian English commutes over to Brazilian Portuguese. Also, he is in a city with a very strange accent. When abroad, if someone wants to speak to me in English, but if I am not in the mood, I put on a thick scouse accent, and this usually does the trick. I have actually been asked which part of Germany I am from! What might happen with Richarlison is that one day it may all click. After 2 years in Japan thinking I am never going to get my head around this, I amazed myself by having a 15 minute or so conversation with a taxi driver in Japanese. It wasn't until I got out of the taxi and thought, whoah, wait a minute.

Mike Gaynes - 117. Does Li Tie speak English? You will know the difficulties from Chinese To English and vice versa. My Chinese is basic, and the year away has not helped!!!!!

What I will say, footballers do have a lot of time on there hands, but we must not forget that they are young lads too. That definitely comes into the equation I think. Bit generally, a lot of the modern footballers have excellent language skills, but we must also be aware that sometimes they might use literal translations that don't take into account the subtlety of meaning at times. I think Martinez suffered this a little, and it actually gets more pronounced the more advanced you get, paradoxically.

The modern football player is often multi-lingual, and that has to be lauded.

However, I am sure the football language is well understood.. But you have to remember how hard different English accents are for foreigners. Imagine having Ferguson, Rooney and Gascoigne all advising you about tactics at the same time.

I get Mike's point but Asian languages are entirely different than European dialects. I've never learnt or studied Spanish but through interactions with Spanish speakers I've picked up enough to understand the key words of my industry.

Now if you talked to me in Spanish about another industry, I'd be clueless, but the work lingo I understand. I'm surprised to hear Richarlison is still struggling. He doesn't need to understand the grammar, just the key phrases which surely he hears every day?

Given any number of resources Ancelotti would have at his disposal, this surely should never be the case with any of our players. That's my point and why I was surprised reading what he said.

Everyone's brain works in different ways and we are all good or not so good at different things.

Random one before I get back to the football, but in my young professional days, I discovered I had a natural knack for high speed Morse Code. No explanation, I just took to it like a duck to water. Language is similar, some people have an aptitude for it, others can be Cambridge qualified scientists, but they don't take to languages. I've seen people with no GCSEs end up speaking fluent Arabic.

Fulham gave us a tough game last time out. We were in seeming cruise control but they came back well. I'm not taking their league position or ours for granted. We need to be professional and focussed tomorrow. This season is in our hands now. Cliche yes, but right now, we put ourselves in a very inviting position with a win tomorrow evening.

You are correct in many ways. Even as an English speaker, when I was teaching in Azerbaijan, I didn't understand some of the technical English my Russian/Azeri speaking students were using. Thus, I had to learn some new English words related to oil rigs. And I am English.

Same with my Japanese students in the medical profession, or the engineers and those in other industries too. I'd have to look up the English my foreign students were using; so there will definitely be some stock phrases that will be used in football.

However, Ancelotti seems to be a manager who likes to get to know his players, and maybe that's what he was alluding too. It might be more to do with an emotional message than a tactical one, which would be a lot more difficult to get over correctly.

I worked with so many English speaking expats who simply refused to learn the local languages as their attitude was, “I'm the boss, they can talk to me in English”. And let's not go too far, the countless thousands of Brits who have retired to warmer climes and can't be arsed to learn even basic conversation. Hence the disrespectful comment.

I'm sure Richarlison, and Aguero, are lovely lads and if they don't feel the need to communicate adequately with their teammates in a common language, then that's their choice. I think of it as more of a wasted opportunity.

Anyway, let's just beat the crap out of Fulham!

Language skills today. Boxing earlier in the week. And Russian politics / democracy last week.

Anyway, Richarlison is a diamond so how about some of our other lads helping him out by learning a bit of Portuguese?

When I lived in Lyon as a student, my French was passable when talking to the locals but I really struggled with the Spaniards on my course. They seemed to speak French so differently from me in terms of accent.

And as for the two Polish students... no chance.

One teacher was originally from the Netherlands, with a mixed Dutch / Aussie accent. Another teacher was Aussie born and bred. And me with my scouse accent. Wal Gerard was the dept head, a pom with quite a refined English accent.

Students didn't know if they were coming or going!

I never studied but was taught German a couple of times a week in school 1951-55. I went to Germany with a boys club in 1956 and could read signs and a menu, but the dialect that was spoken in the area we were in, I didn't understand a word they said.

As they say, Scouse is a unique language and we are supposed to speak English but how many struggled to understand a Wigan accent?

Very true Bill. We have our accents, which a foreigner who speaks English but in many European countries it goes beyond accent and is a dialect. Germany is a good example. I really struggle in Bavaria, Austria and the South Tyrol area of Italy.

Some things he couldn't understand but he had an overall grasp on what was being said to him.

Also worth remembering that Aguero, after many years here, and being a true global superstar, doesn't speak enough English to do a proper interview! His after-match ones are always as basic as can be and very brief.

I saw an article with Lomachenko and Usyk, the phenomenal boxers and great friends, who both said their lack of English was costing them millions in endorsements etc in the USA, but it didn't bother them as they were boxers, not marketeers.

He's been in this country long enough to be able to do interviews in English now. Carlo spent two years at Chelsea, but that was over ten years ago, and although not great, his English is understandable.

Also, valuable health information has been exchanged here... and once in a while the jokes are really, really good. (Not often, but occasionally.)

Nothing like a bit of Latin, Barry, remember it well. Amo, amas, a -fuckin'- bat.

Didn't you just 'love' it!!?

I have come across the Brits who just can't be bothered learning any of the local language too, in many places. A bit of arrogance in there, might be a colonial thing!

Robert Williams -153

There was definitely no Latin teaching going on in my school! My smatterings of Latin are from dinosaur names. Don't ask!

But just thinking now that Everton have become a team of many nationalities, it must sometimes be hard to communicate in match sometimes, but be able to swear at other players and officials in your own language.

Against Spurs we had English, Swedish, French, Columbian, Icelandic, Nigerian, Brazilian, Irish and Norwegian players on the pitch, with instructions coming from an Italian and a Scottish gentleman.

Something to ponder me thinks!

I speak Spanish but struggle with both Portuguese and Italian so not sure what you mean? Portuguese sounds Russian to me whereas I can understand Catalan.
Gomes and Richarlison will understand each other but not Carlo.

How's that for a bit of Latin

Against Spurs, they both seemed to have finally listened to Ancelotti, especially Richarlison, who was transformed in his forward positioning. It is easy to forget that, after he was out after his red card, the calls on ToffeeWeb were that Everton couldn't perform without him. When he did arrive back, Everton did seem to get their act together, though I myself did wonder about Richarlison's performances. Credit to Ancelotti in that he continued to praise his contribution and, it seems, by his communication comments, may have blamed himself for not getting through to Richarlison.

But, like myself, who has two 20-something sons and have felt the same inadequacy myself, I am glad to say that something must have got through, given the recent performance of Richarlison, as it has slowly but surely with my sons.

In Brazil, I bet he is being celebrated as a star at the moment. It was a star performance against Spurs.

Olsen
Coleman, Keane, Godfrey, Digne
Doucouré, Davies, Gomes,
Rodriguez
King, Richarlison.

On Richarlison. The lad must play on the left – that is where he is most effective. I was blown away by the way he took his second goal. Head over the ball, hardly any backswing and not much to aim at. Absolutely fantastic technique. A great goal.

With the results today, it is imperative that the team and Carlo focus on this game. Forget about the midweek game – this is the one to win.

Our 2 games in hand are against really good teams so getting 3 points on the board tomorrow is a must.

Man City and Brighton did us a turn keeping Spurs and Villa below us. Leicester City put Liverpool in our sights and we have to get level with them tomorrow no matter how.

I didn't quite get my wish list, but not far off.

Over to you, Everton. It's in our hands now.

I think the Bielsa thing goes back to my cultural point earlier. He's confident enough communicating at a basic level and barking out a few orders around those he knows and is comfortable with, but doesn't feel confident enough to talk in an interview. He probably get's by in day to day conversation (colloquial) but is far from fluent.

Mark, intrigued by your Italian-Spanish-Portugese assessment. I don't speak either but lived in Italy for 2 years (yes I learned colloquial but don't confess to speak). My Italian colleagues always said they kind of understood Spanish but that Spaniards understood or could interpret Italian better the other way around. Portugese I get; without understanding any of them in detail, you can just hear that it is very different.

I went from there to France for 6 months and surprisingly, despite my school CSE grade 4 and with a little help from my future Missus, got by a lot better. Wherever you go, take a phrase book cos they love an English speaker who at least has a go, basic manners really. So feck you, Bielsa.

Sorry mate, thought I'd replied. Must have imagined it. Yes, aptitude goes a long way, and teaching language to students, you study all the different ways that they can learn. I won't go into it here. For me, I forget symbols so quickly, so I have forgotten say the Japanese katakana alphabet, love playing guitars, but can't read music.

I guess it is the same in sport. Some football players can look equally skilled, but one can just be more intuitive to reading the game better than others.

And English seems to change with at least every 7 miles sorry, 11.2 km, you only have to go to Widnes. Did I learn a foreign (you can't be both English and foreign) language when living abroad (somewhere outside of the British Isles)? Fair dinkum bloody oath, G'deye mite, while Christine might like to explain a sux of fush n chups.

We are lucky in many respects; watching Brighton last night they were a much better team than Villa but had no quality up front compared with us to convert their many chances.

I expect some changes with a view to Wednesday, but Everton will have to be focused and let's see how Fulham set up, as they have improved since we last played them.

Potentially some changes in midfield but Tom Davies I expect on merit to retain his position. Richarlison and King will be interesting and let's home Josh King, if he starts, gets a couple of goals.

Looking forward to the match and a few beers.

I have to agree with you about Gomes's inclusion for Iwobi. I think it makes the midfield a bit more compact and enables it to function better. It should wrestle more control of the game, I think we should expect Gomes's improvement in form to continue. It looks linked to overall physical fitness to me. I am no physio but he seems to be moving a bit for freely and seems to be a fraction faster to the ball and on his toes a bit more. Something has clicked with regards to his training regime.

Steve, I think the game could be shared between James and Sigurdsson today. James doing the first shift for 55-60 mins and inflicting some damage. The Sigurdsson doing the late shift and taking advantage of some extra space in his no10 position.

It would be wrong to dismiss this game as easy. It is a game that will show we can leave behind the one step forward two steps back disease. We have to prove we are progressing enough to be ruthless against teams like Fulham, like genuine top 4 contenders would be.

COY Blueboys!

The Fulham game will test the strength of the squad and give King an opportunity to shine as he gets his chance due to Calvert-Lewin's injury.

Let's put this one to bed and get some momentum for the Man City game in midweek. Our top four European dream is within touching distance.

Then I stopped learning. Why? Because so many people, even in a city like Vienna, prefer to speak fucking dialect. This is a completely different language. As different as Cantonese is to Mandarin.

However I have come to realise just how difficult English is, not just to learn, but to speak. German is simple and correct, in one respect. You pronounce every letter.

So our opponents today should be called Full Ham, not Fullum as we say!!!!

I agree also that Gomes's improved form over the past 4-5 weeks seems to coincide with improved mobility and fitness, let's hope the injury is finally behind him because, when he is on song, I love watching him play. COYB!

I think that you will find that it was Robert Herrick who write the poem about gathering rosebuds. He didn't play for Everton either. However, the Herricks were Irish footballers and, sadly, they never made it to Goodison.

Tom is also looking fitter and more settled in his role and I can see him taking the holding role allowing Allan to play further forward once Allan is fit again.

As someone above posted we have fringe players starting to show significant improvement so our coaching and fitness teams have to take some credit together with Carlo with his man-management skills.

With Bielsa, his touchline instructions are all basic phrases – he's probably learned them specifically – but I understand that he really doesn't speak English, not is he interested in learning it for some reason – he's a complicated one.

Back to today – UTFT!! Come ON!!!

Like your German analogy, I think Americans say: "If you do the math" and it sounds correct in comparison to "If you do the maths." Although, it needs someone who knows the origins in terms of why both ways are said to understand which is likely to be the right way. Also Birming-ham rather than Birmingum.

Looking at the fixtures, even if we get 4 points out of the next 9 (from next three Premier League games), when we've got potentially our hardest league fixtures out of the way, the coast is pretty much clear and in our hands running into the rest of the back 14 or so games. Plus when James, Allan, Digne and Richarlison were out, we still picked up points against the best which means we are truely running like a top 4 team that can rotate quality – whatever the reason, and are not reliant on a first eleven anymore like the last few seasons.

Everton didn't exploit the South African market, either, despite Steven Pienaar being so iconic.

It is not easy to get Everton merchandise here. Others certainly did.

When we meet a team that's down at the bottom of the league and we are at last looking like we might actually achieve some success we lose.

Sorry to be a Job's Comforter, and maybe this will be different, we definitely have a better more competitive squad now than for many years.

Pity that Calvert-Lewin is out, could King step in and become the hero? Let's hope so.

Jason # 180 - 9 would be better but let's get the first 3 on the scoreboard ;)

I'm feeling cosmic waves eminating from the Wallasey / New Brighton zone.

https://www.evertonfc.com/news/2024596/king-feeling-evertons-big-club-vibe

Stick him up there with King wide, and/or rotate them a little bit - that's what I reckon Carlo will do tonight. Losing DCL felt like a blow, but we do have rotation options among our forward players now so it's not all bad.

Sometimes forced changes can make a positive difference - we've seen it before. Tonight is a must-win game (a daft concept since they all are really) for keeping pace with the European places. The league feels like it's beginning to take shape now, so winning our games against the lower teams takes in extra importance.

Tonight is the kind of game we always arse up in the last 20 years. It's time to step up.

The Latin of the mighty Roman Empire is now a dead language. Welsh, the oldest language in Western Europe, is still alive and kicking – not bad for subjugated nation.
Anyway, I deviate, Hail Carlo cont!!p

Against Fulham. Am I missing something here

Even money at home looks a steal but there again anything can happen in the Premier League.

Football Italia on Sundays! I'd forgotten how much I missed that! Brilliant stuff.

And good luck with the missus – mine thinks I'm winding her up about us playing this evening – she'll get the right hump when I leave the table half-way through our “romantic” dinner...

Yes, that guy who read the Gazetta Della Sport with no socks on in a suit with a coffee al fresco. Brazil's Ronaldo, The Divine Ponytail, Del Piero, George Weah, Batistuta (the debates I had with mates on Batigol vs Shearer if both played in Serie A and then the Premier League to compare) ... great footballing days.

Must remember if I'm watching the Everton live preview, to sit back away from the phone when Sarah is speaking today – might get sensitive... :)

COYB.

If we're serious about the European places we come away from this game smiling, any other result is unacceptable,

Considering Fulham's position relative to ours, this is the biggest game of the season so far (for us), West Ham and Chelsea will most probably win on Monday, at that point the gap will be there between the contenders and the pretenders.

As someone who grew up on 4-4-2, I don't actually like it in the modern game as the midfield tends to get overloaded.

But I do like the thought of those 2 as a pair tonight. Just need to think about how we set up the midfield.

It could give us a different approach to what I believe is a defence that can cope reasonably well with balls into the box and obvious set pieces? Someone who has watched them more than me would need to clarify that.

“This boy is tone deaf to foreign languages; I'm sending him to study metalwork with Mr Hickman.”

Needless to say, I was crap at metalwork too. But, 35 years later, I decided to prove my old Spanish teacher wrong and enrolled on a conversational Spanish course run by a native from Seville.

Turned out he was right – I was hopeless!

Interestingly, I spent two years living in Germany and quickly learned to get by.

What I don't want is James and Sigurdsson in the same team or either defending against wiley bruisers on corners. Saying that, whatever team he puts out will probably surprise me.

It's weird isn't it? At the time we had Pienaar, the club was strapped for cash, you'd have thought they'd exploit every conceivable avenue. Made no sense to me! But then a lot of things don't!

Ancelotti needs to be brave and learn from the defeats to West Ham and Newcastle. We only need one holding mid and play an extra offensive player instead of leaving them isolated. He needs to grow a pair. Go straight on the offensive, press and pen them in.

Interesting.

What team would you like to see selected today?

My team would be

Olsen
Godfrey Mina Keane Digne
Iwobi Doucoure Bernard
Rodriguez King Richarlison

cue poor performance

Lets hope not...

Interesting. I spend a lot of time in South Africa as my daughter lives there and I have developed a few business interests locally. I see lots of Everton shirts, mostly Pienaar and Ferguson in both Jo'burg and Cape Town. Certainly more than Man Utd or Liverpool.

We have better players than Fulham. If we want it as much as Fulham ( and my God why would we not?) we will win well.

Excellent - I have hardly seen any in Asia, and I have lived in quite a few countries there.

The strangest sight was in Hong Kong, when a load of locals descended on the pub me and my mate were in; they were all in Everton tops. It was the Everton Hong Kong supporters club I think. That was about 15 years ago though. It was an interesting spectacle. I think my mate got a photo and posted it on bluekipper or the like, not sure.

The two things that make me go up to strangers abroad are Everton tops, and Motorhead T-shirts! Both, not in popular demand!

Its a big ask to win all three of course and we are not as good as Man City but I can see where our tactics and set up may be successful enough to finish top four, if we are prepared to spoil a good few games.

The energy simply wont be there to go toe to toe like we did with Spurs last week. Every game will need a different approach and we'll need everyone wanting to achieve success.

Going forward to the Derby, yes I left the City game out for now, what I saw in the highlights of our neighbours game, was a Leicester team not going toe to toe, but playing balls through to Vardy.

He ripped them to shreds, if we can get James pinging those balls to Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin, we have the beating of our neighbours next week.

Anyway back to today's game, do what we have been doing the last couple of weeks, same amount of graft, play the simple ball, no game is a gimme, players need to focus on this game and forget for those 90 mins, the next games coming up, once we achieve our goal, then start to set a game plan for the up coming games.

Like I say Friday, I would get the players in, put the hilights of the Leicester game on, and work on trying to ping those balls through to Richarlison, or Calvert-Lewin.

That is their weakness, being turned around and chasing back.

"In defense of Richarlison, maybe the scouse dialect is confusing him?"

Especially the versions of this dialect used by Big Dunc and Carlo.

But teams in their position are always dangerous, and our last home game against Newcastle another club in a similar position won by 2 clear goals. If we have any real ambitions of a lofty finish we have to beat these sides. Also you want to go into our next 2 games full of confidence, not having doubts if we don't win today would create.

So no shooting ourselves in the foot today, be confident and clinical in front of goal.