A huge Lampard disaster as Wolves steal the last-minute win

No way on God's green earth can we seriously sit and rely on this fella being our main striker anymore now.

We need a replacement — not just some toss-pot backup.

I wonder if he is another Dele Alli and lost motivation to play the game?

Must-win game though. Lose this and we're in deep deep trouble.

18 months of injury, it's stretching to the back end of Carlo Ancelotti's reign.

No other club would rely on a striker that's not been fit for that amount of time.

We need a replacement for him – not a back-up.

If we lose, I'd pull the trigger with Frank and relieve him of his position and get a proven firefighter in.

Happy New Year, ToffeeWebbers!

Lampard has learned nothing from the results, particularly at Bournemouth. He is setting the narrative after recent defeats that it was always a relegation battle. Get him gone.

Dominic must be well and truly fucked. Boy, we need to sign a striker in January!

Bang on, mate. We keep talking of a back-up – we need to put Calvert-Lewin as back-up and buy a proper out-and-out forward.

Basically if we are talking about signing backup, it's to Neal Maupay, and he's not even a centre-forward really.

Calvert-Lewin is out of things and has been for a long time now.

Big 'if' – if we have some energy and play in their half we'll win.

As for Gana starting... I now fear the worst, a truly shocking signing!

We have no new players yet. Coady can not play. Calvert-Lewin is not fit. In reality, not a lot of choices.

Would it not be better to get right behind our team and judge them and the management of them after the game?

Should they win well, or just win, the mood will be different. Any other result, then you Grinches can all fill your boots.

Simms just scored a good goal turning a couple of times in a packed box and prodding home. Maupay had better do something today or we are in schtuck even further.

Also, I think he offers a great threat in the opponent's area for dead-ball situations. Let's hope we get a few.

Thoughts and prayers, Everton.

This show can't go on. It is like the Titanic but only most will be lost but the good ones will be saved, not that there are many of them.

Can anyone one remember what the second division was like because we had better get used to the idea and better sooner than later.

I think when he is fully fit, and that seems a very long time ago, yes of course he is a talent and starts. Playing a single striker puts that particular player at a higher risk of injury anyway, whether backup, replacement or in addition to, we need a quality forward and creative mid or it's going to be a very bleak midwinter.

Happy Christmas, boys.🎄🎄🎅👮

Frank has today to get the right result. Anything less and it's time for a change, again. A proven manager with a full transfer window could turn things around.

Still, let's hope for Frank and us that we manage to pick up 3 points today.

3 points are vital today but with Calvert-Lewin not even on the bench, can we see anybody else scoring?

The majority of our goals have come from set-pieces so hopefully Yerri can generate some payback today and give us a goal.

COYBLUES!

Don't mess it up, Blues.

VIP again

Link

Happy Boxing Day, everyone.

Let's get 3 points.

Mina??

Look at this team that we are putting out today – a very good defensive team that got us to within striking distance of the top half of the table. It came apart a little with Patterson's injury as players were pulled out of position so as to not isolate our ageing Seamus Coleman.

Why oh why is replacing Lampard thought of as being even an option that would suddenly have three forwards that don't score many goals even when they are in top form suddenly transform into a lethal unit that would give a team like Wolves cause for worry?

I'm sorry to be sarcastic but this corrosive "lose this one and look for a new manager" mentality is just a tiny bit pathetic, don't you think?

This team will need several windows to fix. I am impressed by Lampard and Thelwell. The club is slowly dismantling Bill's little club and finally beginning to lay the foundations of being a big club.

Panic now and we go into a tailspin.

Seriously though, we still have many problems and need a piece of luck to get a win.

Mina??

Indeed.

Sunday league defending for their goal.

Ooops... sorry, Lads... Live Forum now up and running!!!

At this point, no surprise to see McNeil underwhelming (though far from his worst performance), Maupay useless and Gordon just lacking telling quality in key moments.

Maupay giving us nothing. Ball never sticks with him. Looks like a game where you could try Gray up front.

Their goal from nothing but was brilliantly worked.

Wolves subs:

Aït-Nouri
Jiménez
Sarkic
Gonçalo Guedes
Gomes
Ronan
Nunes
Traoré
Lembikisa

Everton subs:

Holgate
Gray
Begovic
Doucouré
Godfrey
Coleman
Davies
Vinagre
Cannon

I haven't had Wolves down as such before but they seem a right dirty, niggly team, Costa falling into Mina's back with his knee and then Moutinho with Patterson while this referee seems oblivious to it all.

As for us, Maupay and McNeil seem a waste of space and Gordon isn't showing much better. Time for Frank to have a word or sub them early in the second half.

If he lasts this game, I would also consider a contract extension as, when he plays, things happen and it isn't always him going off injured.

Seriously.

Gray on, McNiel off.

Man City up next. Kenright, the undercover refs dream of leading us to relegation is almost complete!

Wolves were awful, we had all the possession, and we still couldn't win. They offered nothing, yet we still gave them a winner.

Shocking... and now we are in deep, deep trouble.

Not getting rid of Lampard before the World Cup break is looking a very poor decision.

We are a shit show, 6 weeks off to come back to that laboured half-arsed dross. Talk about attackers in January saving our season is laughable. ‬

Fucking joke.

But great work between Tarkowski and Godfrey, absolute genius.

Both full-backs caught forward when we simply couldn't find a ball out of defence. Surely we had enough full-backs and midfielders to bother themselves to look to receive a pass?

Overall can't fault the effort. We just desperately lack quality in key moments. Wolves were there for the beating – we just needed to be good enough and we weren't.

Any striker should start next game. Tough gig for them though.

One has our name on unfortunately. It will be deserved, the warning from last season has been ignored by the club.

I feel it is probably time to just go pragmatic and Dyche.

Iwobi epitomizes it. He covers every inch of the pitch achieving fuck all with every step.

We will be relegated if the hapless nice guy Frank is allowed to continue. Worst Everton team I can remember.

Whoever signed Maupay and McNeil should be booted out along with Lampard.

I'm so glad we have Mr "Wants 𧴜k a week" as he's one of us and he "Gets Everton".

Stadium means nowt when we become another Sunderland.

How can a Premier League team not have goalscorers??!!

No goalscorers in the squad, the club is a shit show, but a decent manager is needed for us to have a prayer of staying up.

As it is, I can't see anything other than relegation

He's got to go. We'll be in the Bottom 3 after Man City then Brighton who have just scored 3 away.

One manager making changes as required to alter and improve. One doing nothing.

Cannon was stripped ready for at least 10 mins but Lampard kept shaking his head. Whilst he didn't have great options, he still had options but declined to exercise them.

It wasn't working after 45 mins nor 60 mins. It's not going to work after 70 or more. His time will be up unless there is a dramatic improvement imminently and not one of us can see where that improvement may come from.

We need the safest pair of hands we can find, either before or after the Man City game.

What have we had to prepare, a month, and the best that can be said is that our two corners were better taken.

Don't bother with Maupay again, just put some yard-dog up there. Give McNeil the Rondon option and put a rocket up Gordon. If I said what I truly feel about that performance, I'd be barred from the site for a while.

I thought we played okay in patches but, if you can't finish and you leak goals like we do, there is only one outcome.

In over 60 years of watching the Blues, I have never seen a team so ineffective.

Whoever brought Maupay and McNeil in should not be allowed an opinion on any players we bring in this window.

Lampard will go; we have no choice.

Next season in the Championship, it is mandatory to have players who want to play for our shirt. Lampard has not been able in almost a year to create a team that generates goal opportunities, that is enough to be sacked.

Dyche would be a great option. And no more 4-3-2-1 formation. Gordon, Gray and McNeil cannot score or create chances, so we need to play 5-3-2 and hire two wingers (any Premier League winger is better than ours... any (and I am not joking) and two strikers.

All our attackers players should be sold, the sooner the better; if someone offers any money for them, sell them.

Who the fuck sits back on a 1-0 lead at home to the worst club in the Premier League.

You have to expect at least one chance goes in from Gordon, or is he really that average at this level!

Time has run out for Frank Lampard and his expensive coaching team. Get rid now.

They will probably also let Frank during his last 2 weeks here spend the fucking entire transfer kitty. I'd bet my house on it.

Maupay? Onana? Gana? McNeil? Patterson? Mina? Doucouré? There is nothing in the lot of them.

What I am realizing very quickly is that Frank Lampard is making these players worse and even Iwobi's revival has stalled.

The players can't pass a ball, can't control a ball, can't cross a ball and certainly can't strike a ball. What on earth is Finch Farm used for??

It's gonna take a miracle to save us from here and the fallout from this has to be used to get that Strategic Review shoved right into Kenwright's face and force the fucker to resign.

You've taken the piss for far too long.

We are no longer a serious football club and until we get back to that core function, we're going to be a soft-centred joke.

Who signed McNeil and Maupay? Could they really not find anyone better? It's beyond incompetence.

Why did Lampard wait so long to put Cannon on? If we had a half-decent finisher, we would have won today. We certainly made enough chances.

Lampard should have bought one back in the summer. Instead, he chucked away 㿏 million quid on Maupay and McNeil.

Although I also partly blame the fans, pushing them forward for a late goal. Let's hope we don't need the point we chucked away today at the end of the season.

Our defenders are slow.

Our midfielders are neither defensive nor attacking nor much of anything.

We are just not very good.

I'd rather go down with the orchestra playing.

But is sacking the manager now the right decision when Martinez will be the likely replacement?!

New stadium in the Championship is nice but sponsors will walk away. Players with relegation clauses? I don't think so! We are in deep financial smelly stuff when relegation comes. I fear for the club as a whole let alone the next 4 months!

Change must come. Those say who? Stop!! We must change the manager now to give us a possibility of staying in this league. I had fear last season but now I'm just numb that relegation is more likely than not.

Perhaps lady luck has left the building and cannot save us yet again! Desperate stuff!!

Merry Christmas all!!

It's “early days” for McNeil but he got one assist last season and has 3 or 4 years Premier League experience so it's not like he's a 17-year-old with two appearances to his name so it's fair to say he was a bewildering signing and a waste of money.

The desperation move for Maupay was another 㾺 million wasted plus whatever wages Vinagre is on. So our Kev hasn't exactly changed our transfer strategy and let's not forget Gomes, Gbamin and Alli will be back in the summer to drain our coffers for a combined 𧷤,000 per week.

I have no answer. I only have another question:

"Do you think Frank Lampard has the ability to rescue us?"

No. On that basis, he has to go.

Who do you bring in. Villa brought in Emery and Wolves brought in Lopetugei so there are managers out there. I don't faith any in these people who run the club to get any decision right in appointment to preserve our PL status.

Lampard should stick to doing media. Management is beyond him.

Didier Deschamps, anyone ?

absolutely unacceptable

Lampard' s jacket hanging on a very shoogly peg.

Substituting Doucoure for Gana (our best player), also did not make sense. Onana should have made way.

A draw would have been a poor result, a defeat like that is a disaster.

All the best boys...that was as dire and predictable as I've seen.

We had 12 attempts on goal, 6 on target, but never looked like getting the winner.

If we'd had a decent forward that game would have had a different outcome. Hopefully, this debacle forces the club to sign someone.

Four defeats in a row.

Gordon showed today he is no sixty million player - I don't know what to say, other than I am utterly really completely fucked off with Everton.

And you know another thing Wolves are a good team according to our current manager.

Just had a look at our next seven matches - Man City, Brighton, Man Utd ( cup ), Southampton, West Ham, Arsenal, Liverpool.

Holy fuck !

We struggle in other areas, the midfield is not right, but a lot of our continued distress can be traced back to not getting a proper goalscorer striker in the summer.

40m for McNeill and Maupay should have been spent on a proper back up, challenger to Calvert-Lewin.

They chose not to and bet the house on Lewin staying fit and buying accessories instead. Criminal lack of basic planning.

I mean even with Weghorst or maybe even Chris Wood we win this match today , and others before it . I'm spitting blood with frustration at the club.

Lessons are never, ever learned, and the club continues to suffer. It's like a rudderless ship in a storm heading for the rocks.

Talk about crisis management! We've made it an art form.

This is the season we are going down. There is nothing in that squad that will save us.

Absolute garbage over last 10 years, its been mis managed for a long time, and that's what happens.

Maupay's on thru 2025, McNeil 2026. We're stuck with them.

A number of players we have are just Championship standard at best, Holgate, Godfrey (pass sideways or backwards man, and who caused their winner with his inept ability to put a forward pass), Davies, Doucoure, McNeil.

Our bench can't improve his starting 11, ever. He doesn't use them because he has no faith in all of them, either on ability or that they're too young to just throw on and hope they'll save us.

He needs a clear out as we all have known for years, but even Lampard and Thelwell are having to chance buy on the hope they'll come good McNeil, Maupay. Until we get a quality creative midfielder and a proven goal scorer or two we are doomed – irrespective of whoever is our manager.

The club are committed to the Thelwell & Lampard double act, but they know clearer day by day how bloody big the job is, whilst trying to keep this pathetic squad in the Premier League.

Utter garbage.

If we sack him and bring in yet another mid-season manager, we delay our progress by another 12 months. We're getting better, but it's going to take time to fix the damage built up over 5 years of mis-management.

Today's result is down to not taking our chances when we had them.

Wingers who produce nothing. Gordon is a fast pile of garbage.

The manager... oh, the manager. Absolutely clueless! Cannon should have been on at 55 mins. Frank is too slow, too reactive, not proactive. Looks lost. Tactically naive.

You look at Wolves' winner. They bolted forward. Midfielders and a full-back in the box!

Other than Paterson, the other fuckers get a nosebleed if they get near the opponent's box!

Getting tired of seeing no urgency. Passing backwards. No creativity. No pressing.

At home to the bottom club after 6 weeks off and we are really shite.

If we go down, we deserve it. As a club, top to bottom, we wreak of dogshit!

He will take us down. Nobody can make a case for him beyond "Let's have some stability".

His record is abysmal, and other than beating Crystal Palace, who are a shadow of what they were last season, this season has been a fucking fiasco.

Are Maupay, McNeil, Gana, Onana, Vinagre, Garner not being started since signed, among Lampard's perfectly decent decisions?

God help us if he ever makes bad decisions.

Hardly filled with match winners, Cannon comes on and doesn't get a kick yet the poor lad is being set up as some sort of answer to all our problems.

This is down to years of shit squad building without any discernible strikers to speak of, no midfield playmaker, just tackling machines that can't tackle and wingers with no pace or concept of taking a full-back on.

Gordon missed so many chances through lack of ball control, it was ridiculous. I would have pulled him off after 35 minutes.

It seems to be a familiar coaching scene at Everton. Lampard seems dull and unresponsive. I think he needs to be sacked now; let's not prolong this misery.

Pickford 5 - I don't understand why he'd want to stick around with a team going nowhere.

Patterson 5 - great engine, but terrible final ball.

Mykolenko 5 - steady, but offers little going forward.

Mina 5 - one burst and he's off. A joke.

Tarkowski 5 - can't do it all in himself.

Gana 4 - couldn't pass water.

Onana 3 - we can't afford to be carrying players, and if any midfielder can't get past him in the squad, be very worried

Iwobi 5 - ran around, but no final product.

McNeil 3 - no pace, nothing. 㾻M pissed up the wall.

Maupay 3 - we've had some terrible strikers, and he's showing that we know how to pick them. Has got absolutely nothing. More money pissed up the wall.

Gordon 3 - dreadful. If he's not falling over, he's offering nothing.

Lampard 2 - he's had 6 weeks to get hold of that group. But to me, we are going backwards. No Richarlison, no idea.

Even his sub was like for like. Just sack him now.

Mr Kenwright, Mr Moshiri… you really need to sort this out. We get beaten at home by the side bottom of the Premier League. Not acceptable.

I fear for us this season; we're not showing enough fight to stay up.

The same fans that protested against the manager that took us to 2 semi-finals and got 72 points. Reap what you sew.

However, the real culprits are the board and owner; if it takes relegation to be rid of them, then I'm conflicted.

You ask any pro: if they have nothing to train for, they won't bother. That's why so many players turn to shite at Everton.

Kenwright's fluffy family club run fronted by a CEO who has her roots in charity work. Astonishing!

Maybe relegation would clear out all the shite once and for all but I fear, if this club is relegated, it will be a long long way back – if ever. Bankruptcy is around the corner and there's a new stadium to pay for as long as it doesn't sink into the dock.

Kenwright has single-handedly ruined EFC and the poor brainwashed fanbase still think it's all about the manager. Shameful.

Man City and Brighton up next, so nothing there.

Unless we get at least 2 in January who have an idea where the net is, I really fear for us this season.

Too many average players – all on good money they don't deserve.

Like Romulus, Lampard has no money, no troops and no hope. The Barbarians are at the gate and there's nowt we can do about it. The decline has been slow but steady. The foundations were left to rot. Hope has ceased to exist. The mob is in charge.

It took Rome (Italy) 1,500 years to recover. It might take Everton even longer.

Defeat today to a poor Wolves side simply proves that such thinking is realistic. Other teams at the bottom of the league are better than last season, and we are poorer.

Under Lampard we'll always have one up front with no service.

But the passing and movement is way off and it's hard to understand how Frank is intending for us to play.

We appear to be a team set up to score from crosses, but with no-one in the box (like Calvert-Lewin) or arriving late (like Cahill or Fellaini).

If we can bring such players in, then surely things improve. But at the moment, it's pretty hopeless.

Ineptitude doesn't begin to describe this awful bunch and the moron's running it.

Lampard has a 2½-year contract and, after 1 year, I am sure he wished he was somewhere else.

He is partly to blame with his tactics and the club also for sanctioning the signing of some poor players.

Let's face it, the departure of Richarlison put us in a bad position, even if we had a fully fit Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The club just did nothing, save signing the useless Maupay. Gordon is just not a striker and, like a few others, should be in a lower league.

Lampard will probably be gone soon, especially with a Man City game coming up and also a Man Utd cup tie. That however, will not solve the problem unless some class signings are made.

The strategy employed by Lampard would be workable if he had the right players but this bunch are not up to snuff.

Signing Gana was a backward step. Lampard was an attacking player and is probably loathe to play defensively when necessary.

I dread to see where we will be at the end of January.

What's not to like about Lampard? Keep him and we'll be watching Everton on iFollow next season.

'Get Sean Dyche in!'

Forget stability, we need a change in manager immediately, thinking ahead to make sure we get a manager who stays on.

Lampard should've stayed at Derby County... it was his level!

I dunno what the answer is but calls for Dyche won't change anything, we will still go down. It's the God-awful squad.

If you want to be angry at anyone, aim it at Blubber Blue Kenwright. He's a parasite.

Who on earth would want to sign for an utter shambles of a club. They would have to be desperate or skint and there's not a decent player anywhere who is skint.

Give up hope of some saviour coming in who can turn this mess around. The only hope is Gordon, who had a few chances to wrap up the game by controlling a ball or by whipping the ball into the net.

Sadly this supposed 㿨 million player can do neither and sadly there's no-one else capable of doing it. I've read posts saying "Give these youngsters time to develop". Well simply we ain't got time.

Colin @190.

Yep summed up beautifully. I'm not a negative person but my goodness, I just can't see how we can get out of this mess.

As I've said, no good going on about getting new players. Who??? No good going on about a new manager... Who??? A new manager would have the same bunch of below-average players.

I dearly would love to be proved wrong and see some hope for the season. Gloom and doom.

I thought Gana was our best player. He broke up play and won the ball back all day. Bring on Doucouré and what happens…?

If we had someone who could put the ball away, we would have won that. We were the better team by far.

Maupay and Doucoure should not play. They offer nothing. I'd rather have a couple of kids come in. We just don't look like scoring at all.

You can't depend on a striker who wasn't even wanted at Brighton.

If we can sign a proper goalscorer in January, I'd rate us 50-50 to stay up. If we don't sign one, I'd give us maybe a 25% chance of beating the drop.

The big question is whether we bin Lampard, and I honestly don't know the answer. Ideally, I'd like to see us survive the season and then sack him because he's not the man to take us forward. He's too nice and he's tactically both naive and too risk-averse.

This is a terrible squad – not so much because of the lack of talent, but because there are so few fighters. We, the fans, dragged them over the line last season but, without Richarlison, I just can't see us doing it again.

It's all just so depressing.

Get shot of everyone on a managerial and board level.

Start again.

Most of us agree that Moshiri is a fool and his money has been wasted. Most also think that Kenwright is not the man to be our Chairman, nor that Ms Barrett-Baxendale is the right CEO.

However, it is as plain as day that Frank has failed to either motivate or organise this group of players to enable them to win enough games.

Him and Thelwell have brought in some more average Joes, just like the deadwood we have spent years removing.

Frank's in-game management is beyond stupid. Him and his young pal look like a couple of dads coaching Under-11s on a Sunday. Like-for-like subs, never a change in formation. It is just so lacking in imagination.

Gordon must have had a few Stellas last night, as his touch was completely off. Maupay tried hard but has no pace or technique and he muffed a gift from the hapless Collins.

Then, after a bit more effort second half, we see mindless interplay between Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, resulting in a meltdown as Tweedle Dum succumbed to the crowd and launched it long with both our full backs awol.

We got punished.

Poor players, even worse coaches, no ideas, not enough fight and a simply dreadful game from both teams.

I had already seen enough to sack Frank 6 weeks ago. He isn't our long-term problem but he should be able to do a bit better with this group. They are not as bad as their sum under him.

He has to go... it just won't get any better under him.

A focal point up top and someone who can dictate play from the middle of the park is an absolute must.

Do it now.

We were...

A couple of thoughts – the defence always seems to pass back but that is because the front 3 are like statues. There is often no forward pass on.

McNeil and Maupay are as bad as anything I have ever seen.
I think the back 8 are good enough to stay up but it's never going to happen with that forward line.

I had a season ticket since 1977 until 2019 and this is as bad as any Everton team I have seen – and we all know there has been some shite.

Finally... Frank – the players are awful but not making any meaningful changes until the 80th minute and taking off Gueye, who was our best player, is worrying.

I feel like Al Pacino in the Godfather and can't believe I have been dragged back in.

Coyb

As is normal, the Board will review the situation and decide on whether or not a change must take place. A target of 22 points has been mentioned.

I suggest we, too, give the guy the chance to achieve that goal before opening up the field to Dyche or Fat Stan!

Passing is poor and his chances created and attempts on goal are poor. We need better in midfield.

Martinez only succeeded initially because he built on the foundations that Moyes left. Once he fully got his feet under the table, it all went to shit. This is the man who didn't practice set-pieces.

Why do you want to see our midfield play slow crab-like passes? It was bad enough today for that. Why employ a manager who wants to play like that with players who aren't good enough?

I was one of Martinez's biggest advocates on here, but the man had no Plan B and he was found out at the end of his tenure at Everton, and also at national level with Belgium.

Having said that, I genuinely don't believe the club is playing at a level required to remain in the Premier League. Ball control was lacking but ,more importantly, the hunger to win the ball in 50-50s was hugely lacking.

Sometimes, if you just have that bite and aggression, you will win – even if you don't quite have the quality. I'm tired though of asking for a new manager. In total despair now…

For me Mykolenko was MotM. Defended well, got up and down the flank well, and gave McNeil repeated overlaps / easy passes which McNeil persistently ignored.

Please not Martinez, Moyes or Dyche.

Physically outplayed and bullied and giving up the ball so easily with Gana, Patterson, Tarkowski and Mylolenko the exceptions. They weren't great but fought for the ball and yet Gana was the one to be taken off while Onana ambled through another game and Iwobi ran all over the place and never put one full-bloodied tackle in but pulled out of many, as usual.

We've had 6 weeks to reorganise and come back with some new plans but decided to play practically the same team, just one change because Coady was inellegible, and the same plan which nobody knows and the players can't understand – although a lot of the players look like they couldn't care less.

If Frank Lampard had any morals or principles, he would resign tonight, but unfortunately football is the wrong business if you're looking for morals or principles.

I'm not convinced Lampard is a real thinking, strategic, manager; he's looking more like just a great ex-player. I'd be all for a managerial change but it depends on who it is.

Also, we need to be very careful about offering Iwobi and Gordon massive contracts. It should be more incremental based on performance and success.

18 goals last season in the Premier League. Just what we need. Bring on Ronaldo. Free transfer too.

Moshiri needs to protect his investment to get the price he wants for the club. No good us being in the Championship.

Just think of the shirt sales alone!!!! Come on, Bill, give us some good times again!!!

Most of his signings have been dreadful. His game management is non-existent. He's a poor man's Southgate. Conservative and bereft of ideas in the modern game.

He's a media manager and should stick to that. If we have a break clause in his contract, we should sack him now. There is absolutely nothing to suggest he has the ability to manage in the Premier League.

But in football you earn the right to play on the park, not in press conferences.

Get a pair of goalscorers who will play with no fear and die for the cause of Everton in footballing terms on the Park. That's gonna be some coup.

Pain like no other, but the next 8 games will define if Everton, will be in the run-in to stay up come May 2023.

Enough decent chances to win today, but it's become, sadly predictable.

Godfrey, in my view, is not ready and Holgate, for all his mistakes, is more match fit. Godfrey didn't have the confidence to do a forward pass, and Tarkowski must surely have made the management realise that the lad is not as good as many believed when we bought from Norwich.

The naysayers are out in force, and no surprise, and with justification, the stats don't lie, but there's still hope for Everton, if...

They can get a pair of die-hard strikers who can hit the goal, and will give their all, but the ball transition speed is far too slow, defence to attack, and it's a pedestrian press for 70 minutes of most Everton games – that is all the opposition need to do.

There's no reliability in Gordon, Maupay, and sadly I think that Calvert-Lewin must have some serious recurring injury, as effectively he's not been available for the last 18 months, and Everton can't wait forever.

The next game counts, let's see, but the lights aren't out yet, and there's still games to play.

2023, UTFTs!

After an abject and dispiriting performance like that, just for a bit of perspective, we would have won that game comfortably with a player of the calibre of Chris Wood.

Just saying.

We need to be organised, horrible and effective. He'd give us that and I think he's better than he's given credit for. He'd stabilise us. And if he can't go beyond that, we'll be better-placed to get someone 'better'.

All I was expecting this season was mid-table, front-foot football and some kind of identity. I can see the building from the back idea, I can see how hard it is to get a quality striker.

I'm not having this passive, awful football, with the complete lack of conviction going forward, the regular explanation that we played well (??) and didn't take our chances.

Hope this is true, and while he should normally be sacked for losing at home to the bottom of the league side when our own league position is perilous, the next manager will have the same issues, so maybe the onus should be placed on the board to bring in 2 attacking players?!

Personally, I think Lampard is setting us up naively, playing a passing game when we don't have the players to do it.

Gana also set up the scouse Claire Balding on a plate only for ‘star boy' to take one of his many woeful touches and miss a gilt-edged chance to put us 2-1 up.

As for Lampard, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. He appears tactically inept and unable to change a game for the better. He just looks dumb-founded on the touchline most of the time.

Guess it hasn't really worked out for him!

A transfer hit rate akin to peak Wenger is needed just to survive; McNeil, Maupay, Gana, Onana incomings suggest we haven't quite managed the trick.

Shoot me down if you like but I suspect we're not going to win the Premier League this season. 🤪🤪🤪

And, please, don't even mention Martinez. He is the worst manager, together with Koeman, that has been an Everton manager in the last 20 years.

Watch the Gunners' result tonight, if the hammers get a mauling there's a good chance they'll pull the trigger on knife-fight Dave.

We have to survive this season with our limited resources.

Metal mentality is needed as, very soon, the season could overwhelm this Everton squad.

Only Pickford, Patterson, and Tarkowski are worth keeping – as is Gana as he only has one season left. Godfrey has pace, heart and aggression but isn't even a footballer.

Iwobi chases down like a kid in the playground but never actually puts a tackle in, always arriving too late. Also not a proper footballer. He contributes nothing.

The others are a combination of too small, too slow, inconsistent, overrated, injured, lacking ability to beat a man, lacking in drive and creativity... Who put this squad together?

Did Lampard dictate Thelwell's recruitment or vice versa? Unless we have a mega transfer window, we're doomed. I'm not sure Lampard or any other manager can do anything with this squad.

There are two prima donnas seemingly thinking they are worth 𧴜k a week and the rest of the squad consists of previous failures or recently acquired players who are simply not good enough.

There is no ground swell against Frank as yet but it is likely coming. Half a billion spunked, and a relegation-quality squad. I honestly don't know which way the owner will turn now, but I can see an increasingly toxic season unless something is done.

So many good ideas when we had 5 minutes to play. Sideways, backwards, sideways, backwards.

In Frank I don't trust.

Right.

If we go down, we won't bounce back so survival is essential. This is no place for a newbie, as nice a bloke as he is. I hate the idea of constantly swapping managers but I think Dyche or similar is necessary.

Apart from Pickford, Mina & Gana, all the rest are average Scottish Premiership players with a mediocre manager. No threat upfront at any point.

I can't see any positives at all as getting good players in will be virtually impossible. Who'd want to come to Everton at the moment?

The window opens in a few days. We have to have a forward with physical presence lined up.

I don't normally rant after a match, but today the players reached a new low. I'm not going to single players out, there are too many! I honestly doubt they could finish a crossword – let alone get on the end of a pass.

Sorry, rant over.

A mess like that won't be changed overnight. Certainly not by Lampard who has imposed his own clueless game on top of the wreck he inherited.

There are layers and layers of dysfunction in the Club and on the pitch. If we escape relegation this season, it'll be a miracle.

When he did make changes, it was, as usual, too little, too late. Even in the few minutes he was on, Cannon had a presence which Maupay will never have.

So far, I've avoided criticising Lampard but sadly I don't think he's got what it takes to get us out of this.

That said, I firmly believe there are big problems beyond the current squad and manager; can someone explain to me the Kenwright effect?

There's a lot of blame heading in his direction but I for one don't know what the accusations are. Does he have influence on playing style, squad selection etc?

The World Cup was a welcome release from the PTSD Everton give you supporting them, making November and December more enjoyable.

The truth is – no matter who is in the dugout or on the pitch, nothing will change. It is painful supporting them and, until we cut the head off the fish, nothing will change. We are rotten to the core.

Watching Everton is like watching an unfolding nightmare that you can't wake up from.

The lad is clueless at this end of the Premier League. He has got this group poncing about loving being "Premier League Players" – living the fucking dream – and he enthused about three contracts up for extension: Pickford, Gordon and someone else. These lads are believing their own hype.

Gordon showed today that he is off the pace, has poor touch, and no killer instinct. Indeed, we have been lambasting Tarkowski for giving in to the crowd at the end and launching it but to see Iwobi and Gordon and Patterson like Bambi on ice was the reason the ball came flying back our way.

As a group, these pampered pricks have been shit for a year under him, and got rewarded with a fortnight in Australia. They come back playing two games in secret and now perform like, well like they had had six weeks doing bugger-all. They looked like they had sat at home watching their buddies in the World Cup.

This club has built a shrine at Finch Farm, a shrine to the over-paid, the lame, the weak and the clueless. Unsworth and Ferguson may have been shown the door, but Lampard's little gaggle of footie mates are a very expensive joke.

Ask yourselves one question...

Which other Premier League club would take Lampard?

The short to medium position involves sacking our shamelessly incompetent board and getting a new owner.

The anger of the fans today was pleasing to see. It was pure and visceral. Perhaps the Professor should resume her mysteriously interrupted job search from last season and perhaps the toxic toad at the root of it all could fuck off to his Southern estates, taking the billionaire Usmanov gimp with him.

Just some thoughts.

I watch the other 19 Premier League teams with increasing envy. They seem to have a style of play. They seem to know each other, where to pass the ball. They seem to have a certain intuition. They seem to play like a team.

If we are not careful, we could end up like Derby County under that fat, useless, rs prick, Paul Jewell.

We sell Brazil's centre-forward and buy two journeymen, what do think will happen?

The whole club has been a shit show for decades and, as embarrassing as it is, no wonder so many still talk about the 60s and 80s.

I made a decision during lockdown that I will never pay to watch Everton again until Teary Jabba has gone. The vile man has been responsible for so much damage and hurt.

The board have given funds, more than Rafa got, and still fighting off relagation. It's not a failure to sack managers for poor results. I think this squad has more potential than it's showing.

We must deal with the here and now. It's not working with Frank. This is the most important stage in the club's history with the stadium being built. Move Frank on and replace him. Those wanting Martinez back, seriously short memories.

The board must do everything to try and avoid relegation. It may be too late but they must give us a chance of survival.

We then went on another walk and I then saw Everton get caught out by a last-gasp goal. Something that has been a trade mark for an Everton team that is not working hard enough on the training ground and being allowed to get away with it. This team needs to put the work in before they actually are able to put tactics into practice.

Quite a few of the players have the idea they a Premier League footballers, but in reality they are second rate players who cheat on the training ground, watched doing so by a system at Everton that has cheated the fans for years.

It really does not matter who the manager is – performances like this we have all seen before.

It's not about tactical decisions or, for that matter, bad misses (if Gordon had put away that sitter, we'd have won).

It's about an entire climate of failure – and that comes from those in charge of the club.

The call now is to bring in another manager, and I am starting to lean towards that, but who can you bring in that can turn a bunch of misfits into a mid-table team that will look as if progress is being made?

We are being asked to wait for the transfer window to open, but we have had one transfer window that has not produced much satisfaction from some of the players brought in, and I am not sure that we have enough money to bring in the type of players we need that can turn the club around.

I am not sure what other supporters think but we seem in a more perilous position than last season, with the only advantage being a transfer widow and a longer number of games.

None whatsoever.

Not pining for him but maybe a deal is imminent for Michael, meaning money to spend with a new player coming in and wages off the book.

On the managerial merry-go-round, who would Moshiri blow more money on and, if they were any good, why would they come?

We should have gone for Ernie Howe when we had the chance.

Think Ernie Howe is still available after he left Sutton United but not sure even he would come!

I agree with every word.

Of course we've been here many times before, on the edge of a cliff called relegation, but have always managed to save ourselves. Last season being the most recent example. Our magnificent support managed to save us last season, just!

Lampard merely rallied the troops – it was nothing to do with his ability as a manager. Frank is a nice guy but he has zero ability when it comes to managing a Premier League club. Yet the board had arrogantly deliberated for weeks before appointing him, drawing up imaginary, fake shortlists and to nobody's surprise still managed to get it badly wrong.

I've no idea if the same scenario will happen again, because the owner of this club is a hard guy to fathom. You'd think this time he'd have done his homework and would act quickly and decisively, I doubt that, he's a hopeless fool when it comes to football. Yes, the whole rotten board needs replacing but that has to wait until the summer; what we need now is Premier League safety, a firefighter.

I'd say we have one chance to get out of this mess, appoint a good tactical organiser who's as hard as nails and who has a thick skin. Sean Dyche has those qualities and knows the Premier League backwards.

It might not work, we may still go down... but he represents a chance. At this moment in time, we don't even have that, we're totally screwed! Relegation is a certainty.

I would love to know who thought recruiting Maupay (who at 3'-6” cannot play without support) and McNeil (who offers nothing) instead was a good idea.

Thankfully though we learn from LMD that the Strategic Review has identified and resolved the key issues. Phew —what a relief.

I prefer his brother, Eddie, but you're right about the players who have got rid of a succession of managers. Who wants success if it might threaten your cosy position on a fat salary?

Onwards and upwards. Someone must have died somewhere with a vague link to the Club to whom we can pay sentimental tribute and then, after due cremation, add to the Bramley-Moore Dock fabric. Soggy nonsense, after all, means points.

If we fire Lampard and his team, does Thelwell go too? What would be the cost of terminating all of their contracts so that we can roll the dice with the latest favourites of Moshiri and Kenwright? The club's immediate future is in the hands of our players and coaching staff.

We need 7 more wins, and there are less than 7 winnable games left. We were up against it last season; this season, it looks hopeless.

Like I said, we are so lucky the World Cup break came; we have a chance in the transfer window to at least try and address the problems. We were in full free fall 6 games before the break, with only the odd result going our way.

That World Cup might just have saved us, because I dread to think where we would have been, had that not come.

How many other clubs in the Premier League would accept this abject and totally impotent run of form as being okay to continue?

How many other clubs would take immediate action and change the manager to try to rectify the situation?

Not many would allow this catastrophic level of form to go on.

I suppose ultimately they have to decide whether Frank actually knows what he's doing. Is he a real Premier League level manager or is he just trading on his past glories as an elite player? It's fair to say and it's probably backed up statistically that we have not improved at all for a year of his managerial input.

Right now, he will be saying to the DoF and board, “Give me the players (two forwards) and I will show you I can do the business.” I've lost faith that he has the ability to do it and even get the best out of any further players he signs.

His team selections are not right: Maupay up front on his own fails, fails and fails again and yet he continues with it. McNeil is nowhere near as good as Gray, who is not prolific himself, yet he starts McNeil.

I'd be very surprised if there isn't some exploratory talks going on tonight about, or even with, alternatives.

Nearly every one of our players put in huge effort in trying to look like they are making an effort. The faux challenges, the half-hearted chasing back, the avoidance of fifty-fifty challenges, the failure to demand the ball, the hiding, the pointing, the whole half-hearted feebleness of the fuckers.

Then, look at the sideline and see the entirely defeated, tactically inept, uninspiring, and thoroughly defeated specimen who coaches and selects this toxic crew.

If Frank really "gets" Everton, he should resign tonight, because he is done, finished and unemployable.

Lampard's had a year, been given a new central defence, central midfield, striker and winger. And we're worse.

I've been a supporter of Iwobi but I thought he was dreadful today, precisely in the way you set out, as were others.

Judge me after the January window!

Plus, it has the added benefit of us not being forced to watch wingers who consistently underdeliver on the basics of their game.

This feels like the year we go, but I suppose that may make the club a more attractive proposition because we'd be cheap. Moshiri would take a massive hit but a new buyer wouldn't have to overpay and would have more finance to rebuild, a bit like Newcastle have done but without imminent relegation and an incomplete new ground!

A correct new manager appointment gives us a small chance of dodging the bullet but that chance is shrinking fast.

Take a chance on Scott Parker, as someone – Joe McMahon, I think – suggested above. Maybe? I rate the fella.

And yet, and yet, something tells me we should stick with Frank. People say excellent players make for bad managers but I don't think that's true of people like Lampard – a self-made winner, a relentless one, without oodles of natural talent.

Stick with him.

If Lampard is still here tomorrow, then we are doomed.

Unless you're Everton…

Apologies.

● He plays a back 4
● He plays 4-4-2
● He has experience
● He won't do anything stupid
● He will organize the team better
● He will give us new face factor and hopefully the 'new manager bounce'

Reasons not to get Dyche:

● He might be shit

But we now have to try something. Lampard has got us 3 league wins only this season, we have been beaten at home 4 times already.

His Plan B will be a back 3/5 and that won't help anything.

If we had not sent Simms out on loan and had kept Allan and only signed Tarkowski, Coady and Gueye (MotM today), we would be doing better.

If we had signed a decent striker, instead of wasting the money on Onana, McNeil and Maupay, we would be doing much better.

Bad management means we have to get shut and try something different.

You quite enjoyed that performance?

Please tell me you are taking the piss. That was fucking abysmal, truly abysmal. No shape, no pattern, no fluency, no guile.

Our chances – yes, the whole 3 of them – came about because of Wolves players' mistakes, nothing else.

This is a football side that is in need of 6 players – not just a fucking striker… what would a striker do with the service he receives from that midfield?

Onana is fucking dreadful; Iwobi has reverted back to type, looked like he was shitting himself today shocking player; McNeil… please! Gray – did he touch the ball? And the worst of all: Gordon. OMG, what a shithouse that cunt is: 㿨M? Yes, of course he is.

I was banging the drum to give Lampard 4 years; unfortunately, enough is enough – he's going to relegate us. Nice lad and all that but, sorry – Fuck off!

I'm sick to death of going there to see us outplayed by shit teams. The worry for me is they'll sack him and bring Martinez back. Goodnight for me then after 55 years of going to watch them.

However, the immediate danger is relegation. We need to get Fat Sam in to steady the ship while we have time. Preferably before the January window.

Just give him a 1½-year contract with an option to extend, if the performance and results were good enough.

We can't score goals and we can't keep clean sheets.

I'd take Bielsa in a heartbeat. Dyche will run into the same problem as Allardyce, his lack of imagination will lose him support.

The numbers on Lampard are in. 5 defeats in a row. 3 wins in 16. Outplayed a poor team today and were still beaten. He's had his chance, it hasn't worked.

I appreciate you're likely thinking about stability and giving him enough transfers to overhaul, but he's not showing anything in-game. If we keep him, we're getting relegated.

Really?

😂😂🤣🤣😂😂😄😂🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

We have to stop this impatience and intolerance or it will be a never-ending cycle. Get some serious ammunition in the transfer window and give Frank until February to earn a stay.

We are at the edge of the abyss as a club, we cannot afford relegation, and we're being led by a guy who is actually doing worse than Benitez (fucking Benitez) did, having spent far more money.

I honestly feel like people don't realise the predicament we're in as a club.

Kean, Rondon, Tosun and Maupay. All utterly shite, no service in the world would make them other than that.

As for your demented cries for Martinez... well, he relegated a Wigan team that were better than our current bunch and could have been saved by any coach not insanely deluded and poisoned by vanity.

He would have relegated us and then conspired to turn the best squad Belgium will ever have into an infighting laughing stock.

Yes, Ian, bring Martinez back… why not Rondon and Tosun too, and let your Messiah show that his magic can destroy a bigger club than Wigan.

Apparently Frank was the fans' choice – according to some – so perhaps...

I wish I could have blamed it on predictive text but, really, I didn't know Eddie had a brother.

The point really is that he hasn't spent a real wedge of the Saudi money available to him but managed to take a shambolic group of players out of the relegation zone and has continued to move them on.

We've a succession of flops who spend a fortune adding to the woes of the next guy by purchasing crap players who can't be moved on.

We're Everton, after all, you know.

The club's problems are structural, financial and moral. By all means bring in Dyche and then hound him out after a few adverse results. Then you can get someone else to pile on... and on and on it goes until we are in League One, or administration, or both.

The real problem isn't the manager – it's the useless dimwits who hire them then sack them once the boos and banners start.

We are in a downward spiral but, if changing the manager every couple of months gives you a sense of hope, then go for it. But be quick because clubs are falling over themselves to hire Sean Dyche.

😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🙄🙄

My 8-year-old grandson, Charlie, received a special Christmas gift, a book for writing up his match reports. Mooching along County Road, he asked me and his dad, “Would it be good if we go down, we might win some matches?”

Heartbreaking.

We need someone who is a manager first and foremost, regardless of what they did or didn't do as a player. We're still a Premier League club with ~35-40k home gates, so an attractive proposition, whichever way you look at it. Plenty of games left.

Right now, we need to stay up, period. Getting rid of Kenwright and Co needs to come second. If we go down, I just cannot see us coming back up soon. We could easily be another Forest and take 20-odd years to get back.

Give Lampard one more game (even if we know it's just window dressing) and call the inevitable after the Man City game. I just hope the powers that be have at least used the last 6 weeks to draw up a shortlist – for what was pretty much set in stone anyway.

The new manager will then have the January transfer window to do something.

If we think Lampard is going to get us relegated, all we can do is try and influence the dimwits to get shut of him and try someone who can hopefully keep us up.

Nothing else matters at the moment but survival!

Please get Charlie signed up!! I'm sure he'd show more bite than the lot we had on show today!

The likelihood is we go down. The new stadium will cripple us. We're in so much trouble. How can we sell Richarlison, replace him with Maupay and expect to improve? We're a rotten club from top to bottom.

As for Allardyce, really… I mean fucking really, again?

Is Benitez in work? Might as well give him a shout if we're playing silly beggars.

Didn't Emery take a few fire-fighting jobs after he left Arsenal? It's not beyond the realms of possibility.

Or we could just rely on Bill's Rolodex of local contacts.

Let's stick with Frank then, Anthony, I'm sure it'll be fine.

Make no mistake, I chose to watch Everton play rather than play myself many times when I was younger, so to make the choice today to go and watch somebody else play rather than Everton showed ‘me' my own thoughts about how I feel towards the only club I've ever truly loved in my life.

I've said it many times, but my feelings are right now, that I honestly believe that Bill Kenwright's chickens are coming home to roost. (Mr Moshiri was only one man's choice after all…)

The man has been nothing but a curse on Everton Football Club. Throughout our existence, I've never ever known Everton Football Club, to be known as "plucky"? Pragmatic – yes; defiant – definitely, proper fucken scousers, it goes without saying... But "plucky" wasn't in the Everton vocabulary, until Mr 'Phoney Good Times' steadied the ship!

Lampard seems out of his depth but my guess is that, even though he's been at Everton for only a short space of time, he already loves Everto a lot more than Bill Kenwright has ever genuinely loved us!

Don't blame Bill! It's obvious he's only ever wanted what is best for Everton Football Club!!! 🤮

The fanbase is either completely delusional or just plain thick. Like children with no sense of reasoning. It's sickening to watch (and read and listen). Pitiful.

Contrary to what some believe, I thought Patterson was poor today. His positional play was hopeless while his use of the ball was carefree to the point of carelessness. He and Gordon are not fit for purpose as a right-flank pairing. And what was Patterson doing so far upfield with the score level and only a minute remaining?

Gueye was our best player, the only one making things happen in midfield. He it was who set up Gordon for the first-half chance which should have been buried. Onana needs a rocket. He should be the player driving the team forward. Instead, what we are seeing is square passing and pedestrian movement, very much in the mould of Morgan Schneiderlin.

The 7-week break offered an opportunity for a tactical reset. On the evidence of today, it has been completely and utterly wasted.

As one who desperately wanted Frank to succeed, I am sorry to say he has made things worse. Seven of today's starting eleven were not at the club 12 months ago. It is wrong to say the same players are letting managers down.

There's a putrid stench coming out of our headquarters. I don't know how to fix it. I don't think anyone does. Maybe we should do an exorcism or call the Ghostbusters because what we've been doing for the last 10 years has completely failed.

So, like I said, if you want to jump back on the managerial merry-go-round, feel free. I think Frank is our last chance because this club has become poison and only a fool, or
a mercenary, will take the reins – and there's plenty to choose from.

I've reverted to praying.

However, the same is almost certainly true of whoever takes over – Dyche, Pochettino or Tuchel. It's a really weird poor squad.

We managed to spend 㿨M on 3 midfielders without any discernable improvement on Allan and Doucouré. We still don't have the specialist holding midfielder we've needed for years.

We then spent 㿊M sprucing up the attack with Maupay and McNeil. We still don't have cover for the injured Calvert-Lewin.

So, in many respects, the manager is not the issue.

The issue is January recruitment.

The Strategic Review came and went, aka, marking your own homework. Moyes and Martinez – please not him! – are not the awswer.

Just get it over with and get relegated; I'm hardly arsed any more. I can then just sit back and watch the mega-fume, all the wailey, wailey gnashing of teeth etc.

Everton and Me, stick a fork in us – we're both done.

We lose at home to Wolves and you want to slag off the manager of a team above us losing away at the Premier League leaders?

Is that what we're reduced to?

John Rafferty knows as much about Everton as anyone else on this website; he's never (imo) been a man to jump to conclusions and has always chosen to be balanced because he's not delusional.

John loves Everton, and probably understands them more than anyone, so when I read his post @328, I believe it's time for change – once a-fucking-gain!!!

I said a while back: Give Cannon, Price and Mills a run of games; we're too deep in the shit now to be brave and adventurous, another missed opportunity.

Bracing myself for "Too young", "How do we know if they are any better?", "Send them out on loan" ... take your pick. We don't know but, unless we come up with a Plan B, instead of playing the same faces and subs every game, we will never know...

Maybe some people prefer to just go down without a whimper?Don't you know ya history, lads!

Stuck with Moyes:- Man Utd, aye for 9 fucking months; Everton, not 11 fucking years.... no wonder you became plucky little Everton – you stupid scouse cunts!

Sorry but the truth hurts.

We cannot rely on buying a striker in January who can score 10-15 goals despite sod-all service.

And we cannot rely on the fans pulling us through like they did last season.

Either the senior players pull their socks up and find us some unexpected results... or Lampard gets fired and some other poor sod comes in to try and turn water into wine.

Years of bad stewardship are coming to the fore and much will rest on the shoulders of Thelwell. Our moves this summer, whilst not entirely idiotic, we're also not very clever and don't give me much optimism.

They need to spend a bit less time on EitC and more time on the jobs they're paid to do.

Perhaps both Cannon and Maupay in a 4-4-2? Can't be any worse than our 4-3-3 formation that specialises in losing.

Frank Lampard was a top player who spent most of his career surrounded by other top players – so I'm guessing he knows what one looks like – and that Maupay & McNeil wouldn't satisfy the criteria.

With that in mind, I'd love to know what say he actually had in last summer's recruitment?

"And what was Patterson doing so far upfield with the score level and only a minute remaining?"

Trying to win the game, obviously. He didn't have his best game but I thought he was the only bright spot today – trying to play first time balls, get behind to make the cross etc. At one point, he looked visibly pissed off taking a throw-in because nobody was even moving to receive the ball.

And that seems to be Everton's problem. We have so many players who don't actually appear to enjoy the enjoyable bits of playing football, like scoring or winning.

Some don't even want to take the ball near the opponent's goalmouth – like Tarkowski and Godfrey. When they started that shite in extra time, I knew we deserved to lose.

The club is dead... might as well shoot it in the head and be relegated.

Get another striker on earlier, try the two strikers for a while… anything – but we need to try something – and quick.

With this personnel, I think it would be a very deep 5-3-1-1.

Three centre-backs: Keane, Mina and Tarkowski. The point being to pose a threat at set-pieces.

Wingbacks as per today. Maybe swap Patterson for Iwobi.

Holgate and Gueye in the midfield engine room. McNeil roaming free and on set-piece duty.

Onana playing much higher up the pitch to create an aerial / physical threat close to Maupay.

Allardyce might even have kept Rondon.

Now plenty will say "Forget Sam fucking Allardyce!" And others will say "Play the kids."

Well, let's remind ourselves that, whilst Sam was an arsehole and wasted much money on transfers, he certainly found a successful formula for getting out of trouble (genuinely a formula based on specific principles).

And let's remind ourselves how two of our most highly rated kids are doing. Lewis Dobbin: no goals in 19 games for Derby in the third tier. Tyler Onyango: no goals in 14 games for relegation-bound Burton in the third tier. Both much further on in their development than Cannon and Price respectively.

Simms, I accept, would add something but he's committed to his loan at Sunderland. In much the same way Kean would add something but he's committed to his loan at Juve.

We have to buy in January and we also need much better organisation. Frank managed it late last season but has managed to forget what kept us up. (Or maybe it was just Richarlison's refusal to give up?)

I'm not "scouse" but stupid... guilty of course.

"Cunt"... it's a word I abhor... never met anyone on this website who deserved that description.

I just don't think Frank has the tactical awareness cut out for the Premier League and he doesn't have the experience to find gems in other leagues that we need to operate in.

Who else? Anyone! My Wish List:

Biesla
Pottechino
Didier Deschamps

Realistic Options:

Postecoglu
Marco Rose
Jorge Sampaoli
Lionel Scaloni
Rube Amorim
Matthias Jaissle
Marcello Gallardo
Quique Setien
Vladimir Petkovic
Adi Hutter
Marcelino

Left Field:

Walid Regragui
Villa Boas
Gasperini

Who not to get:

Dyche
Martinez
Moyes
Allardyce

And that's what concerns me most. This was the current side giving it everything. They chased, they pressed, they moved the ball more quickly than usual, and they actually created chances.

And it wasn't enough against the league's bottom side. That tells you something about the lack of quality in the side. And it's an indicator of some troubled times ahead.

Humour... if only it could win trophies!

Correct, that is the way I saw the game; with this current team, we are going down. We can't score goals and can't keep clean sheets.

We have lost our last 3 League games against Leicester, Bournemouth and Wolves, 2 of them at home. We are in big trouble — and our next 2 games will be much tougher than the last 3.

Only for Jordan Pickford (against Leicester, Man Utd) and the supporters, we were gone last season.

I cannot understand why a coach cannot change formation during a game? Stick to two wingers: one like a rabbit caught in the headlights, and one who thinks he's better than Kanchelskis.

Then you have a 5ft-8in dwarf alone up front... Need I go on?

Pickford and our great supporters got us out of the mess last season. Frank? — you didn't!

Frank, are you a better manager than Joey Bluenose Barton? No Fucking Way!

Sorry, Blues, I've got this gut feeling. Just saying...

Additionally, they wasted money on back-ups McNeil and Maupay who aren't any good. Neither Sam nor Sean can fix the problem that these guys can't score, run or stay fit.

I suspect we will be relegated. A Sam type might save us relying on goals from comers but it's a big 'if' and kicks the can down the road to another fire drill next summer.

Dark days indeed... like many have said, I hold the board responsible for this mess. I can't bear to say the man's name but he is nothing but a charlatan, interested in his own ego and image.

Back to the Old Pulteney... it kills the pain, for now.

Most successful sides have a fan base that wanted to pull the trigger on a struggling manager but were thankful that the board held their nerve as it preceded a successful period in their club's history.

Who would you want to replace Mr Lampard right now?

We allowed it to slip away and here we are now in an even worse situation caused by the same board.

Who signed off on the signings of Maupay, McNeil, Doucouré etc???

We can go on blaming the owner and the board but us supporters are ultimately responsible for allowing this mess to continue. Even now, it seems that all we want is a magical change of manager which would be hand-picked by the same people who can't get anything correct.

Sack the Board! I'd be a lot happier getting relegated without them at the club.

So, after reading some very well-written posts, I think Dave Abraham @223 puts everything into perspective for me.

Rob Jones @307 points out how deep we are in the shit with his last paragraph: "I honestly feel like people don't realise the predicament we're in as a club."

As for my view, yesterday finally hit home to me what a cowardly group of players we have that just pass sideways or back to their nearest teammate rather than create something.

I was thinking to myself, " Yes, Boxing Day Home Fixture, the crowd will be right behind them, having not seen them for over 6 weeks, the players having trained together will be sharper and injury free..." etc, etc.

What an absolute letdown; the crowd couldn't have done much more. In the first few minutes of the game, Wolves looked like the home side, with our lot hardly crossing the halfway line, but luckily Wolves didn't look like scoring for all their dominance.

I felt, "Weather this early storm and then kick into gear!" An earlyish goal for us should have been the catalyst for some serious action... but no: again, we stuttered and found finding a teammate so difficult, and on the rare occasion we did, it came to nothing.

Thoroughly disgusted and getting colder as the game went on, I thought to myself "These players (mostly) are neither good enough nor do they deserve that marvellous support that other teams would be envious of". I shall seriously think about attending again, unless there is a massive change in both personnel and style of play... (?)

Lampard continues to pick puzzling combinations to start a game, and then equally, when it is obviously not working, is so reluctant to try something different until it is too late. He takes players off who should have stayed on, while the real culprits are allowed to almost disgrace the shirt.

I am convinced, having watched Everton for 60 years, that the more money these players get and the more ridiculous transfer fees are going, the worse they get.

At the risk of sounding ambivalent, I don't think changing manager will achieve much at this stage unless we get a magician who can polish turds and turn sow's ears into silk purses. By the same token, we can't continue like this or the unthinkable will become reality.

For those still defending Kenwright, his narcissistic ways and newspeak, and 28-year gradual demolition of this club from within while steadily filling his own pockets – get to know the facts, and re-examine our declining history with him in charge.

Like you, I thought Boxing Day and a big crowd after the break would offer the chance for a reset. We should know better.

I've be re-reading some Marcus Aurelius stoic philosophy to help me reframe the things I can control and those I can't. Obviously, I can't control Everton so I have to try and detach the emotion and choose not to let it affect me…otherwise, I'll go quite mad! But it's easier said than done!

Well, I suppose it was a tough, emotional afternoon for us all.

We are simpy paying for failing to invest in a quality cover for Calvert-Lewin. It nearly got us relegated last season and it threatens to do the same this season.

I haven't read the previous 360 posts because I fear for my good health, but at some point he has to be used; right now, we need a striker because in front of goal, we missed.

Then, 3 minutes to go and we are playing 10 passes between the centre-backs. Godfery… heaven help me;
Gordon, not worth his place.

Reading Lampard's post-match comments, he is trying to be positive but he looked really angry pitch-side. He has to play Calvert-Lewin, drop Godfery, Gordon, Maupay, Gray... put Seamus back in, no legs or not... stop Gray and Gordon taking free-kicks.

The list deepens into depression...

Yesterday's display was no different than some we have seen at various times under Moyes, Martinez, Koeman, Allardyce, Silva, Benitez and even Carlo on occasion.

So what should that tell us?

I remember the true story of a Liverpool Murder in 1931 (no, I wasn't around then) which fascinated me so much, I made it my endeavour to read as much about it as I could:

Julia Wallace Murder

The link to Marcus Aurelius was from the husband, who was 'accused' but later won an appeal, only to die a couple of years later, but it was the readings of Marcus Aurelius that instilled belief in himself, and kept him relatively sane, during his life and whilst in prison.

Sorry for digressing but, as I said, it was certainly a reminder to me, and anything to get away from the match yesterday is welcomed in my book! :-)

Given the incredibly low expectations I now have, I actually would've been happy with our performance if we'd nicked this game, as we should have if Gordon or Onana could finish easy chances. We gave up only one chance, their first goal, until the end and didn't make any horrendous mistakes, unless you count Patterson losing Podence on the back side for the goal.

So yes, we're boring and difficult to watch, but with Maupay leading the line, and Gordon, Gray and McNeil always seeming to lack that end product, a 2-1 win with solid defense would've been justified and also mildly satisfying. Had we done that, Frank would've had some breathing room and the team a bit of confidence.

Of course there is plenty of criticism to send Frank's way, namely taking Gana off for Doucouré; at least put Davies on if you need to bring off Gana. Tom would've been better positioned and more dangerous at the end.

But to me, the biggest stain on this season will always be the failed summer recruitment. If Frank was heavily involved in signing off on McNeil and Maupay instead of spending it all on a 㿏 million winger/striker — which we now know is enough to land you Gakpo — then he deserves to go. If that's mostly Thelwell, I would cut him a bit more slack.

Onana was always going to be a gamble, one that needs time. And Gana was always going to be Gana, a solid defender but nothing special on the ball. Garner I think could've been the game-changer if he'd stayed healthy and gotten game time.

But we put all our eggs in the Calvert-Lewin-staying-healthy basket and it's backfired. It didn't help when Patterson got injured. And we needed Gordon to start putting away chances with regularity this season, which he hasn't done. And so here we are.

At this point, whatever we do with the manager, we have no choice but to overspend on a striker and take a chance on a winger that can actually strike fear into a defense. Then,we just do as at least one or two on here have mentioned and we just pray, something I've never done in my life. But I'm prepared to take drastic measures if it helps us avoid relegation.

Last thought: We stayed up last year only because there were 3 worse teams. I think our best hope is that again that's the case. I'm going with Southampton, Forest, and Bournemouth being shittier than we are when it's all said and done. I'm awful at predictions but I'm making that one.

I am done with this board and lack of ambition and money.

Rodriguez - goal or assist every 2 games
Sigurdsson -10 goals a season + assists
Digne - 10 assists a season
Richarlison - 13 goals + assists
*Calvert-Lewin - 15 goals

We have replaced them with:

Gray - 4/5 goals a season
Gordon - 4/5 goals a season
Maupay - 9 goals a season (if the system suits)
McNeill - 2 goals a season
Mykolenko -.

It really is plain to see. Self-sabotage.

Did you pass out after drowning your sorrows?

We signed McNeil and Maupay because the selling club allowed us to pay on the drip. So, while it may look like 㿏 million down the drain, in reality it was probably only ٣-6 million this season.

But on the plus side, were gonna have the greatest stadium in the Championship or League One.

Taking us away from the club that has been on a one way mission to destroy itself and now is finally nearly at it's last chapter.

Such a shame we will move into a new stadium with a quite horrendous team, a quite horrendous record at Goodison and players simply not befitting the right to wear our shirt in the final years at the Old Lady nor begin at Bramley-Moore Dock.

Bastards.

We could do a lot, lot worse than Pukki at Norwich. Works hard, doesn't throw himself to the ground or sulk.

He scored more than Richarlison last season, in a relegated team. He's reliable and effective, and not Maupay.

Apparently, we were lucky to get rid of James, Digne and Richarlison in particular. It's gone well since we stripped all those goals and assists out the squad.

No creativity from the midfield 3. Onana played well but we need him to be more dynamic! Cannon should have been brought on early in the 2nd half.

Another relegation battle is underway for sure with the only hope being that we can avoid the drop due to other battlers' inadequacies.

I watched the game and it was plain to see the shortcomings of several of the most recent signings with Maupay and McNeil way off the pace. Iwobi, for all his endeavor, created very little. That's three from the eleven starters who were not up to the job.

Granted we should have taken some of the chances we created but it's the same story every week having no focal point up top and lacking a midfield dynamo. Taking Gana off was mystifying as we brought on Doucoure who never had a kick and is surely on the way out.

Mina actually gave us over an hour and was pretty solid until his knitting yarn hamstrings gave up. Dominic seems to have lost the will to play and couldn't even make the bench after 6 full weeks recuperating. He is looking like a thing of the past and to rely on him ever returning for a continued run, as we have done since the start of the season, has turned into a nightmare.

Is Frank the answer? What do we expect in the transfer window? Who would want to come to a team of perennial strugglers?

Answers on a postage stamp to pleasehelpus@efc.com

Sad Xmas for all Everton supporters. May we rest in peace.

What can be said that hasn't already been said? Wolves tried their best to help us. They were poor. But we decided to outdo them in levels of poorness. No midfield shape. A gaping hold in the middle of the park. Poor Gana trying his best to plug the gap like in the story about the Dutch boy who tried to plug the dyke with his finger to stop the flood on his own.

Tarkowski done his best, Mykolenko at least put in a shift. Patterson was ball-watching and switched off for the equaliser. He's young and will learn.

Maupay was clear through on goal but done a Jamie Carragher against Thierry Henry impression of jogging on the spot to make the defender look quick. And Gordon should have scored. Why did he opt to pass it to the keeper's body instead of lifting it?

Playing too much of the game in our own half... at Goodison! Against the then bottom team in the Premier League.

No teeth. No balls. No tactical ideas. Players seemingly afraid of the football. A manager who seems lost.

Changes (significant ones) once again came too late. I think by the time they had made their 4th one, we had just about made our 2nd. And then a token run out with 7 minutes of normal time remaining. Wolves had the momentum by then. I knew it was going to be a goal as soon as we lost possession. You could see the shape of play.

I'll need to write separately about other matters; otherwise, I'd be here all day and night. I will post.

I'm really hurting after that. I hope those players are hurting just as much. I hope those in their heated seats in the Main Stand are hurting even more and look at themselves in the mirror.

Change is needed. Change of manager will paper over the cracks again. I can't speak for everyone on this website or every Evertonian, but I know where I believe change is needed – even if it wouldn't impact this season.

My younger brother, now approaching 34, was 5 when we last won a trophy, so he barely remembers it. My son was 5 months old, so has never seen Everton lift a trophy.

You (you know who you are) try bringing them up watching what they've had to endure and wonder why they stick. Look them in the eye and tell me you are fit to run Everton Football Club. You and your cohort are not even close.

Apologies. Very raw this morning.

36 / 28. Time to go. Enough is Enough.

Or we give up and prepare for Championship football, blood youngsters, cash in on those like Pickford, and focus on playing a certain style with no worry for the results.

What we absolutely should not do is give 𧴜k-a-week new contracts out to this underperforming lot, sign 2 bang average 𧴜k-a-week players, and just hope our 'istory saves us.

But we'll definitely do the latter…

Does anyone actually believe that Everton will sign them?

Prepare yourselves for the inevitable as unfortunately mismanagement by Everton FC for a lot of years is heading towards it.

Do we trust them to fix anything?

McNeil was poor again but I see he is getting all the stick as our new whipping boy; others were just as bad. The crowd pressured Tarkowski to launch it forward and we got caught.

You can't blame the crowd for wanting it more than the players, it's up to the players and manager to ensure we have the shape to manage the breakdown of an attack.

Frank's decision to bring on Doucoure for Gueye was baffling. I think some of the criticism launched at Patterson was unfair, he looked bright going forwards and will improve.

We should offer Tom Davies a new contract as he will be really useful next season in the Championship – I really don't see us staying up this year.

I think Frank has to go. I don't usually take that stance so early but he has not changed anything really; the crowd will only stay with him for so long and we have been unusually patient with him.

I got ridiculed a couple of weeks ago for suggesting Bielsa but he has a history of whipping them into shape quickly. It's a risk but we are in free fall... again!

We were really poor, but not in the way you have described:

1) Both of our fullbacks were pushing on at the same time rather than rotating;

2) Gana was withdrawn while Onana stayed on with Doucour – we lost all defensive shape in midfield when that happened;

3) Our decision-making in the final third was really bad.

Despite that, we had ample chances to win that game. Both managers went positive towards the end, but their bench was far better than ours. Two of their subs combined for the winner.

Until we get a replacement striker as cover for Calvert-Lewin, this will happen all the time. We knew this at the start of this season and last season, but did not secure deals. That leads to panic buys like Maupay.

Also, we made a mistake to spend such a large sum on Onana. Our recruitment team should be targeting young players with his profile when they can be secured for 㾶-15 million, then developing them. Despite the potential and the price tag, he is just not ready for the first team.

Nothing sticks, no strength to hold the ball up, no pace to break free. Why, oh why keep repeating something that is failing every time he tries it? It makes me think that Frank is strategically unaware and incompetent. He can't see the wood for the trees. This is not the hallmark of an astute football manager.

McNeil offered nothing whatsoever yesterday, almost completely ineffective, why was he included ahead of Gray who is a better player?

Iwobi offered next to nothing too, back to his semi-passive closing-down routine that looks good but doesn't pressure the player. He also offers little as an offensive threat. We have to be careful not to overdo his contract.

Nearly everyone wants the byword for failure – Kenwright – to go asap, today if possible. But what's got us into the relegation dogfight this season is pathetically naive recruitment yet again.

Buying Maupay and McNeil for 㿊-40M was an act of self-harming madness. McNeil's goalscoring and assist stats were appalling. Maupay is an accessory player to be used off a target man or as a sub in that role. Nothing else!

Were we originally relying on the Venezuelan wheelie-bin to back up for the lynchpin of this team, Dominic Calvert-Lewin? If so, this is more incomprehensible madness.

There were many of us waiting and expecting a proper back-up or challenger in the summer as the No 1 priority. Various names were mentioned too but never materialised.

The club is killing itself with its spellbinding incompetence and admittedly bad injury luck with Calvert-Lewin, but even that should have reasonably been predictable. To dismiss that likely eventuality is a gross dereliction of duty and is delivering a massive and real threat of relegation.

It is gut-wrenching to say it but Frank has to go; he is too tactically naive with selections and in-game management.

To have the best chance of staying up, Moshiri has to give the club a lift, right now. Yes, it's a gamble… but isn't every big decision? Keeping Frank is looking the bigger gamble.

Install a proper manager, someone who knows how to structure and create a systematic football team. It may not be pretty for a while but we have the players to grind it out. (With the obvious striker or forward signing the new man would immediately recruit.)

There's no malice towards Frank at all, he's honestly tried, but is not an authentic Premier League manager. The irrefutable evidence is in the continued impotent performances, current form and dire statistics in his year at the club.

I am torn and racking my brains as to solutions and what would be best for Everton Football Club in its hour of need.

Advice to the top – make these changes:

1) Mr Moshiri, get Kenwright out of our club. Pay him off if you need to, to negate his weasel contract. Just do it, the club needs a complete professional reset and this is the ultimate start of that process.

2) Then appoint an experienced real, proven manager.

3) Back him with all that you can, signing two forwards.

4) Then fasten your seatbelt.

I was wondering to myself whether we could persuade Pochettino, Tuchel, Deschamps or even Bielsa to join us as manager right now? I honestly couldn't think of one selling point we could deploy.

That leaves us aiming for a journeyman or a young manager. This squad and club hierarchy has a fantastic track record of chewing both profiles up and spitting them out.

Traore, a player I don't rate too much, done what he is best at; being introduced as an impact player.

I never look at stats too much, but those you pull up say it all.

Possession means nothing if you don't take your chances.

I remember being at Goodison watching us against Leicester the year they amazingly won the Premier League.

We had more possession. We had more chances. They had 5 chances, 2 of them penalties. They beat us 3 - 2.

We are lame at best in front of goal. Rabbit in the headlights, rush of blood to the head. A number of phrases could spring to mind.

I guess we're doing this the hard way.

Again.

Onana and Gueye can't create (apart from that great ball to Gordon). The wingers don't create much. The full-backs rarely contribute.

Then even Maupay would have enough chances from which to score.

We're a massive 2 points away from 13th place with well over half a season to go and 69 points to play for.

Reading this thread, a guy could be forgiven for thinking some people have only just realised how shite we are. It''s been a while now.

We won't be competing for trophies anytime soon. Every Evertonian should already know that. Until we get to the new Everton Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, and hopefully get some new owners, survival is the name of the game. Gormless Frank and his merry band of barrow boys won't change that.

Despite the apparent horror and astonishment, yesterday's defeat wasn't that hard to predict. We are a poor side with a poor manager and we are capable of losing to anybody at any time.

I suspect the fans will have to play their part again this season and it may soon be time to get out the blue flares again. But for fuck's sake, it's not even New Year's Eve yet! Can we please put away the white flags? ... It's more depressing than watching the games.

It's not over, of course it's not. But, on the balance of probability, we're already relegated. Time to start adjusting to that. We're heading for a massive loss of status.

If we're all being pragmatic and have lost all hope of being anything better than a team that aims to finish 17th, then perhaps now is the time to ditch the cockneys and appoint Sean Dyche (or similar).

It will cement the depression for us fans, but it will probably make the team more likely to avoid the drop. What a mess we're in.

Your comment on the fans and blue flares speaks loudly.

If there is one thing from this heat-of-the-moment thread that springs to mind (and I've read most of it), it is the divide-and-conquer attitude of the leadership of the club. I don't know if that is deliberate and appreciate TW may not speak for the majority of the fanbase, but there are enough different views on here to suggest it may reflect just like an opinion poll.

But whilst we bicker amongst ourselves, nothing changes in the bigger, and more strategic, scheme of things.

God forbid we unite against them and force change. Real change. As long as we are divided, nothing changes. Just like it hasn't in 36 years.

Rest on our laurels and stand still as we have done, and we are effectively walking backwards. As we have done since our last league title. And that has come from a lack of leadership and vision at the top.

Still raw, so excuse me.

Derek Knox had replied to my text on WhatsApp around half-four this morning, as he was too choked to reply to my text after the match.

Choked, gutted, angry, despairing, seeing our club and our history sinking into the Mersey.

Derek called the man he sees as responsible 'a maggot', and that's just what he is. Since he's wormed his way into our club, the club's being eaten away from within, while he's now a multi-millionaire.

Just crawl away, Kenwright! and take your circus with you!

If people say I shouldn't blame him, well I am. Not for this match, not for the last match or last season, but for the whole disastrous time that this man has sucked our club dry.

The game? Danny's said it all and so many have. Michael has written a top report. Just said what happened in an incisive, accurate report.

It's what happens now and from now on that we're depending on to save the Club we support from sinking in the mire.

And Fran Mitchell has written, aiming at what happens from now on. That's all that's left to us. think it's good that he's suggested the two options and I like them both.

The trouble is; with all of their strategic plans and rejigged Board, do any of us have any faith that path and strategy would be clearly set out and followed with anything like a positive sign of leadership?

My view is that we will be hard-pushed to avoid relegation. I don't see there is any point in sacking the manager, unless there is a top manager, willing to come here, and if that manager has the money as Fran suggests, to bring in four or five players to try and avoid the drop.

I think Lampard has been given the task of avoiding the drop at all costs. This will just freeze up any style of attacking play, through fear. Try and pinch a goal while not giving any away. It's been going on like this for the years that the Board have recognised that we were not going to break into the Top 6. As each season has played out, the anxiety of the drop has increasingly frozen our football.

I think the Board have to decide (heaven forfend!) which strategy they should follow. And if there's a better manager that can carry it out, then get him. If they think Frank can carry it out, then back him.

But Mr Moshiri, if he cares, could start by bringing in a Chairman and Chief Executive that can run a football club.

ps: Well said, Duncan!

Sorry Mate, your name hasn't come up.

Yes, we are all allowed to vent today. I was too angry to post yesterday so I gave it a miss, but you can't be reading the same thread as me if you think there are no white flags being raised.

Everton never cease to amaze me. Just when I think we can't get any worse, we plunge new depths. Yesterday was one of those occasions. But you can't simply write off the rest of the season because the present is shite.

Footy isn't like that.

A mate of mine who's a long-standing Chelsea supporter told me when we hired Frank that under him they were win one, lose one, then looked confused and shapeless.

Whoever the manager is, we need to play in the opposition's half and move the other team around. We're playing like a team that knows it won't score. Managed by someone who's run out of ideas. Who is managed by people who never had coherent ideas.

I too had to have a cool-off period. And that's me.

I meant no white flags from me. Anger and frustration, but not throwing in the towel. There are too many points to play for.

Some seem to have, but as I said, I think we all get a vent pass today.

We could of course just sit back, calm in the knowledge there is another transfer window and half a season to go.

Jokey Instagram posts from Onana, Iwobi and Gray!

Funny little, "What's the best Christmas film or your best Christmas present ever!" Videos from the club!

I don't want to hear a ‘It's not good enough' rallying cry from a player.

A stadium update!

Things I do want to see:

A centre-forward, winger and creative midfielder signed.

Rumours that Conor Coady has got into these players behind closed doors.

Meanwhile, Dyche is still staring at his phone, Bill is still pondering the compensation for Moyes, Farhad is still trying to find Kia…

I was 60 in September, actually reached that mark on the day that Queen Elizabeth passed away. Unless radical change comes about in the short to medium term, I don't expect to see our club lift a trophy before I depart the scene.

In some ways, it's easier for those who have never seen silverware come to Goodison as what you don't have you don't miss.

As for the immediate future, I was in the 'stick' camp as regards the current manager; however, we are not starting to put a run of results together that resemble those of the last manager but he was moved on. If we lose our next home game, assuming we will definitely lose at Man City, then it's a big call to leave the current manager in situ.

I tend to judge managers by their signings and credit must be given for the purchase of Tarkowski and Coady; however, as the weeks pass, those signings at the top end of the pitch are looking like mistakes.

What must not happen is that we allow the current manager to add to the squad in early January and then move him on later in the month or after the window has closed, thus leaving any new manager with no opportunity to bring in their own players.

When one looks at the available candidates, who might be interested in taking on the role, should it arise, then we are looking at our former manager(s) and the former Burnley manager.

Yet another year facing into a relegation struggle after Christmas; eventually our luck is going to run out.

We all hoped that this was a marriage made in heaven, we were getting a top player who had won everything and played under some of the best managers in world football, what could possibly go wrong?

Well, as Derby and Chelsea found, being a brilliant player doesn't translate that you become a great manager – the game is littered with top players who failed in the management game.

Unlike your predecessor, who was given next to nothing to spend, you have been allowed to bring in 7 or 8 players and most have been flops. So you can't even complain that you weren't backed financially.

Onana at 㿍 million has to be the worst of the lot. He strolls through games and shows no awareness of where danger lurks, and how he stayed on till the end yesterday for me highlights you can't spot the problem – let alone put it right.

Last season, we had Richarlison to rely on but he went in June and you thought 4 midfield players and 2 centre-backs were the priority, so there is no need to wonder why we are amongst the lowest scorers in the Premier League.

I know many say quite rightly you can't keep changing managers all the time but, if you keep hiring poor managers, then that is always going to happen.

There are still some who unbelievably still think we should stick with Frank and let him spend whatever money Moshiri has left in January.

I see absolutely nothing that has improved since Lampard has arrived; the passing is poor, we never see our midfield in the opponent's box except for corners, and our build-up play is slow and ponderous, which allows sides to get back in possession.

I know you're not a scouser, and I also don't believe you are stupid, mate. My first paragraph was aimed at you because I thought that Jason was actually asking for Moyes back, the way he phrased his question.

The second paragraph was aimed at us Evertonians who clapped Moyes out of Goodison and thanked him for 11 trophy-less seasons, and then had the temerity to sing to the Mancs, stuck with Moyes – Man Utd playing football the negative way.

They got rid of Moyes after 9 months, but we stuck with his negative football for over 11 years, meaning that, once the dust had settled they probably laughed at us, and thought we were stupid scouse cunts?

The problem is stubborn Kenwright won't shift as Chairman.

There was the one season where Bobby Brown Shoes got us playing positive footy. See, Bill was right – there have been some good times!!

Therefore, I assume there is money to spend in January.

Klopp played yesterday with 3 very exciting youngsters in the team, one of whom sealed the game for them. Frank dropped the best player in Australia (Price), and used Doucoure and Davies as backups once again. Stanley Mills (who should be competing with Gordon) is getting nowhere near the team, and Cannon given 10 mins in favour of a 5-ft Brighton reject playing a lone striker. What the fuck…?

Whilst Klopp is today snapping up another young goalscoring winger in Gakpo a full 4 days ahead of the window, there are zero credible links between us and anyone who will improve the team or looks likely.

Instead, we are likely to blow 𧶀k a week on new contracts Iwobi and Gordon, no doubt committing to 3-5 years of more mediocrity and blank goal contributions from ‘attacking' players… but hey, they look good running after stuff.

If changing the manager is the only way to get hope (and after the last two windows of his signings, I can see nothing else) then do it today!!

I want a ruthless cunt to come in and tell Gordon and Iwobi they are getting fuck-all until the team is away from danger. I want someone who signs a keeper to put pressure on Pickford and tells him to sign now or be dropped.

I want no player to think they're a starter. I want Gordon and Gray to know that no goals means no place. Most of all, I want a battering ram forward that gives us an outlet.

I want Lampard out now. Today,… Dyche, Bielsa, Moyes, Martinez, Touchel, Pochetinho, Tite, Enrique, Kompany, Ferguson, Hjulmand and more are all experienced enough to be utterly ruthless with the squad and would all give me more hope than wet Frank.

For fuck's sake, Everton... do something! – you've lost our hope. The stadium is a weight around our necks only right now. We need something to cling to… and quickly.

But I certainly would have known you wouldn't be resigning yourself to the drop.

I was just taken aback by how many people are taking the view that we have already gone. We haven't and we won't.

We just have to hope for new owners to take us into the new Everton Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock and a bright new dawn. There has to be more to a club like ours than mere survival.

We'll end up where we deserve to be and I doubt we'll be back. This board, owner, and chairman won't resign because they are on the gravy train, and you'd have to have integrity to go.

No doubt they'll bleat on like a politician who's been caught out saying “I've done nothing wrong!”

I can't support anyone else so I'm stuck with you, but shame on you, Everton 'Football' Club, shame on you!

Wolves were that bad yesterday, it's like they were almost inviting us to score. I can't remember too much about the game as a combination of a toothache, paracetamol and a shed full of ale since Saturday doesn't work too well for the memory, but what I do remember, funnily enough, is what Danny posted at # 373.

Maupay, with a clear run on goal, caught before he'd barely started. Gordon's sitter. Maupay with another chance in the first half, and then finally their winner. When I looked and seen the amount of space Traore was in, I immediately thought “Trouble”.

My only hope was that Traore would do what he always does – his Forrest Gump impression and run the ball out of play, or put a cross over that would end up with the Wolves fans. Even then, having watched it on MotD, it took a deflection (I think), before reaching its target.

I really don't understand the thinking behind why Lampard is playing Maupay as a lone striker? He needs someone to feed off, he's not a target man or someone who can hold the ball up and bring others into play. I could understand playing McNeil if Calvert-Lewin was fit.

There has been a lot of criticism about McNeil's assists column, which looked poor last season at Burnley, because he only had one, yet he did put over the second-highest number of crosses from the wing in the Premier League last season. It just wasn't his fault only one of those crosses was converted, but Maupay is not going to get on the end of those crosses, so there's no logic in playing McNeil.

I for one, have certainly not given up on this season, unlike a few on this thread. There are certainly three teams worse than us: Wolves, Southampton, Forest and even Bournemouth, who I think we will finish above.

But for fuck's sake, get a striker or two in next month, or else it's going to become a real struggle, particularly if what I heard yesterday was true, that Calvert-Lewin could be off to Newcastle? I don't know the reason why he didn't play yesterday, as he's looked okay on those training videos the club release.

One final rumour I've also seen is that the club are lining up Didier Deschamps to replace Lampard. Could be the reason why there was no movement in replacing the manager during the World Cup break, as the replacement was too busy getting to the World Cup Final!!

Now then, where's that paracetamol??

1 - The fucking stupid celebration dance after we scored our goal. Why for fuck's sake?

2 - The abject shite I sat through following that.

I switched the TV on this morning after coming in from a little farm work, coincidentally just as MotD's last game was covered.

What a start to the rest of today that was.

I would agree that most, if not all of the names on your list of possible managers would be an improvement but I can't for the life of me think that all of them would be interested in the role.

It's the performances – not just the results. The team isn't performing. They look scared.

Spot on, lad. Enough is enough. Frank overloading us with bang-average midfielders and not improving our forward line is crazy.

Depending on an injury-prone Calvert-Lewin to come back strong is stupidity of the highest order. We need to find a striker that Calvert-Lewin will have to compete with to get into the team.

The question is: Do we give Frank or someone else the cash, if we have it???

When you cannot hold an early lead and concede to a team as bad as Wolves so late on, you just know the team is absolute shite.

Lampard's tactics are very questionable. They have no control in the middle of the park and even teams like Wolves expose them too easily.

God only knows what Man City will do to them.

The Everton job may well be a poisoned chalice, but it's a poisoned chalice that pays well, and you walk away with millions if you're a failure.

Other Premier League clubs have at least three or four players that can score goals. At the moment, we have none... Disgraceful!

How on earth can we even think about holding our position in the Premier League!?!

We can see the mistakes they are going to make before they even think about making them – the poor passing and absolute lack of movement are still there and have been handed down from each passing manager as they moved on.

One of the few people who is blind to all these faults is the man getting a massive wage to manage and forge a squad out of them, an awful lot of money being wasted weekly.

It should end this week, well last week really, or a month ago if the club was in much better hands.

A sack-load of money and the promise of the new Everton Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock should be enough.

I don't get this defeatist “no-one will come” crap. We got Carlo, Villa just got Emery. Anything is possible.

What really grates is the CEO's gaslighting statement a few days before. They really are taking the piss out of us to secure their own survival. I Wonder who they are planning to blame if we get relegated?

Lots of support still for Frank Lampard – fair enough, but he'll take us down. A good day out every couple of weeks in the new Everton Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock is what we aspire to, irrespective of what league we're in.

Sorry if it's an inflammatory statement but I believe it's true for some.

I think he'd be taken straight to the asylum for his own safety.

We are now evens to go down, the shortest odds I've ever seen at this stage in the season. Looking at it rationally, this may well be the season we go.

Things keep repeating so often, it can't be luck or coincidence. Calvert-Lewin is never fit, Mina can't last 90 minutes, the panic buys we bring in, McNeil, Onana and Maupay, are clearly duds.

The club is in an ownership crisis and the leadership in the form of Kenwright and Barrett-Baxendale are so far out their depth, it is almost laughable. The latter's programme notes for this match are the best comedy of 2022.

It seems that some think our best hope is an untried youth striker who is actually behind our other 'youth' options currently achieving little at Championship level or lower.

On the upside, I'd expect us to win a few more games in the Championship, given we have a squad of largely Championship players.

Yes, he inherited a crock of shit. But he's doing himself no favours persisting with the current line-up and formation. Again, what was the rationale for Maupay and McNeil starting – and both emerging for the 2nd half? If Frank does leave, we can but hope that whoever was responsible for our summer signings goes too.

Meanwhile, in a move that the North Korean regime would be proud of, it was great to learn from Little Miss Dynamite that the Strategic Review was a great success! As Paul the Esk often pointed out – it's good to see those marking their own homework reporting on how well they are doing.

Glad you find it funny, Mason.

What also concerns me, if true, is the fact that not one of our beloved troika was in attendance yesterday; plotting the recovery of our beloved football club, I assume!

The concern is that we bet the farm on Lampard righting the ship, when most of us can see he's run out of gas. The real danger for us is that Frank is retained long enough for him to spend the money. If that happens, you would have to think we'd be sunk.

If we give Iwobi a big new contract, we deserve everything we get. Why would he sign for us if he's so good and in demand? No one else is interested and he knows he would get a fraction of his current wage anywhere else.

All this "There are three worse teams than us" makes me laugh; are Wolves and Bournemouth two of them teams? Because we have just been beaten by both.

I want Lampard gone. I wasn't sure he was the answer when we got him, but there really wasn't much alternative.

Who do I want now? I'd go and get the Celtic manager, this fella will be managing in the Premier League next season anyway – he's going to be a top manager.

If not him, give it to Dyche till the end of the season, he might actually get a tune out of McNeil. He's an organiser, doesn't play this tippy-tappy crap football, and I feel he has more chance of keeping us up than Lampard.

I just wish football never came back.

Make a statement, sack Lampard and clear out this squad in January before it's too late, if it's possible given our financial issues.

However, he has now alienated himself, and but for a couple of other players, he will be now disliked. Lampard will let this happen instead of backing him because Kenwright will be in his ear telling him Everton don't behave like that.

This is the rub – good players accept bollockings, it stays in the dressing room amongst men, and if it gets physical, then so be it. But performances will improve because good players want to win. Everton have 3 good players who want to win – the rest don't give a shit and are crap.

Some say it's not over yet and there is a long way to go so let's see what happens after we have played Brighton or Southampton or anyone else. I don't agree at all.

Everton have shit, weak players because that's who the managers target – the same managers who are targeted by our fucking useless board.

Everton's Board picks these managers, deliberately, so they can be manipulated to suit their agenda – and the Board only give the thumbs up on a transfer if it suits their agenda. Weak fuckers who won't rock the boat is who they target. The first team is full of them.

Coady and Tarkowski are only here because they cost fuck-all (Kenwright all over) but they won't stay. If I were them, I would be kicking shit out of these wankers in training and scrapping any of them to lay down markers – it's called fear and targeting the wankers so they fuck off and play golf instead of taking the piss out of the fans and your teammates.

No bottle, no desire, no guts – just weak-willed mummy's boys who are robbing this club blind – just like the fucking board who instigate their purchase, because those fuckers are just the same.

Go through the team of the mid-80s and tell me if you'd fancy your chances in the midst of them? It would have been awesome: piss-taking, speaking your mind, sticking together, scrap any fuckers, refusal to get beat... good lads who want to win – not go on fashion shows.

Then Kenwright turned up and destroyed the true ethos of Everton FC – hard work, loyalty, bravery, appreciation and being straight. Not one of these fit into Kenwright's character, and he knows it, so he set about destroying it so he has total governance over all of it.

Destroy the Board and then get rid of this owner and start again in the Championship. This team is going there anyway, so what have you got to lose? The owners want you to think it would be the worst thing to happen – no it wouldn't. They would all fuck off and so would the tossers in our fist team.

Without fighters, you can't succeed; with apathy comes dictatorship and acceptance... with change comes hope and desire.
Stop going and the tossers will soon come looking for the reasons.

Maybe it's just my anger at our current plight but just about everything I saw yesterday showed how fucked this club is.

Lampard, our coach, experienced professional footballer, and highly intelligent human being, chose to play a bang-average slow-as-a-snail Maupay up front on his own... Again!

Not alarmed by his first-half showing, he allows him another go in the second half. Same with Onana who gave a complete no-show for both halves.

Gana, who despite being average himself was having a decent enough game covering for anyone around him, was dragged off at a very important time for a player who is clueless at best. This substitution cost us that game.

Why McNeil actually started is beyond me and he looked shell-shocked during his brief appearance. He's fragile.

Anthony Gordon, who definitely has the ability to beat defenders and get shots off, is looking like he trains alone at Finch Farm. This is his second full season now and he looks bereft of any composure, as do most of this squad. I thought Lampard had brought along his expert coaching team??

So, all-in-all, we have recruited very badly and our coaching methods are looking like that of a Sunday league team.

Frank's had his chance and it saddens me to say that, if he can't see what we can see on that pitch, then he's never gonna be a good coach. He has made us clearly worse and looks lost himself.

The club are finally getting what it deserves for decades-long ineptitude and ignorance.

We did get chances (even if some were gifted, not created). Get a proper goalscorer in, and we may stay up. I think our fate comes down to the transfer window, as it's impossible to see the current team staying up.

I am indifferent about the manager. I can't believe any replacement willing to come would do much better. Maybe a Dyche type, but I'm not convinced.

Lampard's time is up. He is not a Premier League manager... tactically inept and unable to recognise a good player, poor use of substitutes are all part of his failings.

I am expecting him to be gone today.

People, may I introduce Brentford, this season's Premier League Champions. Why, well they did beat Man City prior to the World Cup break, so that must naturally mean they are the best team in the Premier League and are going to walk away with the title.

Unfortunately for West Ham, Southampton and Crystal Palace, but you're the three teams going down. After all, if you can't beat Everton, then you can't beat anyone.

Is that how logic works? There are three teams worse than us, in fact I'd say more, Wolves, Forest, Southampton, Bournemouth and even West Ham. As it stands at the moment, there are definitely three teams worse than us, because they are all below us, and but for us not being able to hold on for another 10 seconds yesterday, there would have been four teams below us.

So cheer up, everyone – logic tells you we are going to stay up this season!

We need to put all the pressure on Kenwright and his silly sidekick.

By tomorrow, I'll be claiming a point at the weekend is a possibility.

By Friday, you'll have me believing the seemingly impossible can happen.

Lots of points to play for. Right now, the team is the most important thing and we need to lift them.

The so-called custodians of our club, well that's a separate issue. The key word being that it's our club. Not theirs.

Sorry, still feeling wounded.

There is some comfort in what you mention. Not one team is anchored to the bottom. A group of teams are equally as shite as each other.

I think West Ham will pull away from the drop but usually someone else drops like a stone. Maybe Brentford if Toney gets banned?

We need a Kevin Campbell type signing to see us good for this season.

It's the lack of scorers that's killing us. Most of the rest of it is in place.

Can you get three goalscorers in a January window?

We think we own this club but Moshiri and Kenwright think otherwise. They see it as theirs and theirs only as they have invested financially to a far greater extent than we have.

They will do what's best for them and we can only hope some of that is in the best interest of the team.

Do Brentford have a better manager than us? One that actually has a plan, who can change things mid-game? Yes.

Do Brentford have a better squad than us? One that actually gives a shit? Yes.

Are Brentford a better-run club? One where they are all pulling in the same direction? Yes.

The only reason people think we will finish above Brentford is because we're Everton. Sadly, in current football, it means nothing.

Too many people on this site are still living in the past, the '80s or later. Well, it's nearly 2023 and we are now sadly a second-rate football club that has been allowed to rot for the last 30 years.

Can we get back to being a top club again? I hope so. But I won't hold my breath.

We missed out on a good striker in the summer and it has killed us. Finding one in January could transform the team, even if we buy nobody else, our squad could otherwise be quite good.

We must support the club – not run it down and give up. No more white flags, please; it isn't the Everton Way.

Thanks, Moshiri & Kenwright. Lampard's tactics with a small striker on his own, with two wingers, is definitely a mistake.

By the way, saying Patterson was at fault for the first goal and in their half for the 2nd goal, he'll learn he's only young? If it was Seamus, he'd be abused and hounded.

Doucoure didn't even try and tackle for the breakaway, another waste of space, Mina is made of glass... We're in big trouble if we cannot buy a striker.

And Merry Christmas for the other day, mate, hope the bastard covid didn't have you down too much! 👍🍻.

He's a wet, Tory lettuce out of his depth with no man management skill and no innovation.

And it is not normal for any clubs to attract their players "on tick.' Most clubs are in a financial position to purchase players.

This is the reality until we buy a striker.

Tactically, Frank is a fool. Expecting long balls or crosses to find someone from the wingers is plain daft. It's like playing with 10 men.

Maupay is not a centre-forward. Simms should have been called back months ago. Give him his chance and let Maupey feed off him.

Any opposition seeing how we line up is afforded the luxury of playing further forward,, therefore putting more pressure on us.

As Frank won't admit his mistakes, he won't change anything; instead he gets at the supporters insisting we get behind the team.

Well, Frank, give us something to get behind instead of a badly set-up Sunday league team. My advice to Frank: take the money and fuck off.

Okay, like the Blackburn lad we were linked with in the window, we are talking about Championship players, but these lads have an eye for goal and are hungry to score.

I imagine Lampard is looking farther afield but, if the matter was not considered urgent in the summer, it sure is now.

About the only thing I can find in our favour is that, compared with other teams in the bottom half, we don't concede many
On this basis, Frank Lampard (or whoever might replace him) might be better adopting a 4-5-1 formation and hoping to score from a set-piece (like yesterday).

The arrival of a couple of goalscorers – or the return of Calvert-Lewin – may change this, but if neither happen, I don't see any other options.

We should have won yesterday – but not to take at least a point was amateurish.

Oh, and by the way, I don't think, or see, anyone saying we will finish above Brentford… in fact, according to your logic, nobody will!!

Everton can't score goals, defacto can't win football matches. If you can't win football matches, confidence goes and the downward spiral is amplified.

This is realistically where we are and there is no fight in this squad of overpaid shite who think they're better than they are.

The totally incompetent owner and board (is there actually even a board – I'm doubtful?) knew this when they sold Richarlison. They also knew this when they sold Lukaku, and Gueye from under Silva.

The whole place is shambolic from top to bottom yet the loyal fans are the ones who always suffer and are left out to dry by that fat teary fraud, comfortable in his Directors Box.

You should all be demanding better — rather than hoping it.

Absolutely spot on mate. It is the only way. Keep the back 4, put an extra man in midfield, win the midfield battle against the lesser teams, keep it tight, reduce the opposition chances created and nick the odd goal to pinch a win or get a draw.

Our back 4 plays deep and we can use Gordon's pace on the break. He was starting to perform in this position early season but then it all got changed.

Unfortunately, I am sure Lampard will use his Plan B of back 3/5 that has never worked!

And while there is every chance we could be bottom come next weekend, in order for that to happen, can you see Wolves beating Man Utd, Southampton beating Fulham and Forest beating both Man Utd and Chelsea?

No, neither can I.

I thought Gordon was very poor and I'm still not convinced Iwobi does enough: he can't tackle, and is not a scoring midfielder. Familiar territory, giving big contracts to average players again?

The goal was scored by the lad who took the corner. I do appreciate that Patterson's job is to protect our right defensive flank and he was in a correct position for the corner, but Gordon was stationed out near the corner taker, presumably to protect against a short corner being taken.

After he had delivered the ball into our box, the lad moved in to the edge of our area, strolling past Gordon who to my eyes at least, should have tracked him in. He was left unmarked when the ball was played back over the top of our defense and the rest is now history.

I'm not saying he was top dollar yesterday but, watching the game, I figured Patterson was one of our better players, if not our best of a poor bunch on the day, so I do struggle with some of the comments. No player at any level is going through a game without a single error or misjudgement.

Yesterday was a travesty but it is funny how people see games through different lenses.

I should add that I watched the game from a little over 300 miles away so did not see things close up, as it were, so opinions based ont' telly.

I hoped beyond hope that Frank could make a fist of getting us back where we belong but it's just more of the same; whoever manages us just can't make any headway with the players inherited.

I hoped Cannon would get a run-out – not just 7 minutes as Maupay may as well have got a deck chair and sat watching 10 men struggle. The laundry lady can just run the iron over his kit – it won't need washing.

Fortunately, I watch Rugby League and my team, Saints, are playing at a different level to the others in Super League; they play for each other, not for themselves... or like Everton – not for anyone!

I'm getting to the point where Everton Football Club is nearing self-destruct and I am getting immune to seeing the same thing year after year. It isn't hurting as much as it should be. It seems there is no hope and no one at the club gives a toss to change the malaise everyone knows there is around the club.

No one in the shambles of a board is coming out and laying the law down. I'm not going to mention Tiny Tears because he has run this club into the ground and hearing his name is vomit-inducing.

Where do we go from here? Hopefully to a new owner or owners who rule with an iron fist and demand success.

And our Strategic Review revealed that we were short of administrators. Next thing we will learn is that they all need assistants. This incompetence will go on until we have a new owner who can then fire the board of clowns who are a clone of "The Men from the Ministry".

I agree with what you say, except for one small thing: West Ham have scored one more than us, but also conceded one more.

Incredibly, looking at the Premier League table, 14 teams have conceded more than us, including the likes of Spurs and Man Utd. So obviously we must be doing something right, with the problem being at the other end of the pitch.

As Nick at #445 says, and as does everybody else, we simply aren't scoring, and this is putting undue pressure on the defence. I reckon, had Coady been able to play yesterday, then we don't lose that game.

We haven't been turned over good style by anybody, other than that Bournemouth game in the league. (Forget the cup game, you might as well lose a cup game 10-0 as 1-0.)

Every other game we've lost has been by the odd goal, except Spurs, who were given a dodgy penalty and some poor shooting by us which could have seen us 2 up at half-time.

So the problem up front needs to be sorted out PDQ in January. Some of those defeats could have been draws, and some of those draws could have been wins if only we had the firepower up front.

I'm going to go all Danny, and say things will improve once we sign a striker or two.. and we will — we simply have to.

Regardless of yesterday, Patterson is going to be a great player for us. You can see it in the lad, he'll never be one to give anything less than his best – and that best is going to be formidable in time.

Patterson is going to be a great full-back, hopefully with us, for a very long time. Any criticism towards him is unjust.

It's like the many pundits, and also some fans, blaming Pickford for England losing to France in the World Cup, when we all know the real culprit was the person who missed the second penalty in that game.

Assuming it's the manager (again) or the new Everton Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock that will fix everything is just ostrich behaviour and lets the real culprits off the hook.

During early covid and the recent World Cup, the absence of Everton was a blessed relief – this pitiful organisation would be put down if it was a dog.

Overall, we've bought badly since the 70s but always had one or two who could play and keep us safe... but not this time.

There's not a footballer in this crew – and I don't care who is manager, this team is as near relegation certainty as you can get.

I'm guessing you were there yesterday. How would you assess the mood in the crowd – similar to this time last year when Rafa's time was coming to an end?

In the cold light of day, we did enough to win that yesterday but for our woeful finishing. A proper forward would have finished that Maupay chance when he was through on goal after their mistake, and a proper forward would have scored that Gordon chance that Gueye put on a plate for him.

Until we sign players capable of scoring, then we are going to continue to lose a lot of these 50/50 games. I say 'players' because we need two of them.

Before and after, in The Brick, again there are no ill-feelings towards Lampard, but again this could all change if things don't improve in the next few weeks. I'm still in the “Give him time” group, but only if we get the necessary forward(s) next month.

We need to pay 㿙 -㿞 million for a striker that can make his own luck in front of goal as our midfield and wingers are not good enough. Save for Patterson, who is fucking brilliant, but has no cover when trying to get forward.

Can anyone see us buying a top striker? No. So we need a top manager (just like Carlo) who costs less than a striker and can keep us up.

Somebody on here said they heard a rumour that Eddie Howe is interested in signing Calvert-Lewin in January – why so is beyond me!

We need to find a creative midfielder and goal scorers from somewhere. I ask myself: Who the fuck would want to sign for Everton right now? Any lure from one of the best midfielders England has produced in the last 20 years is gone — I can see no signs that Lampard has what it takes to build a strong team.

We all know he inherited a load of bang-average players, so why is he signing the likes of McNeil and Maupay?!

If we are humiliated by Man City, I reckon he will be gone.
And I agree — any talks regarding improved new contracts for Gordon and Iwobi should be put on hold.

Had you down as an Upper Bullens man. How wrong I was!

Upper Gwladys… only ever been in that section of Goodison twice – both in the 1970s. Beat Colchester 5-0 in the FA Cup and drew with Panathinaikos. Happy days.

He needs to play 2 up front and remove the terrible duo of Gueye and Onana.

What are you on about, "never never": 㾻M and 㿀M is 㿏M plus what their contracts amount to.

Both have been awful – why would Lampard sanction or even think these players would make us better?

Giving Simms a chance makes more sense to me!

Apparently, I was nearly blubbing yesterday, according to my family. I thought I just had bad eyes.

I have no shame in that accusation or my emotions. I was very upset, which carried on to this morning.

I'll be fine, Rob, and back on form.

If anyone doesn't fancy Man City away, just let me know. I'll snap your hand off. I'll follow this club anywhere.

See you soon, Rob. Brent, Pete, John Raftery, Tony, Brian, Derek, the Chris's and hopefully Dave A and John Senior. Anyone else I've forgotten, I apologise. Blue family.

Chris Williams. Thank you for the wisdom and the discussion. Keep it coming. Thank you to those who help me follow Everton.

If I can't be there at the next one, I will be at the FA Cup and Southampton. They don't deserve us, but they have us.

Still hurting. Sorry.

In my view, the present team is right up there with the worst.

You view the clips uploaded on YouTube of training sessions at Finch Farm and the players are having a great laugh; however, there does not appear to be any intensity in the training sessions.

When the players take the field on matchday, they look physically and mentally incapable of beating the first press. This is why the ball is continuously being played backwards, putting ourselves under pressure. We don't have the class to play from the back with pace.

When Frank played, he was a serial winner and – just like me – he must wake up every day thinking, "What The Fuck???"

The players who do care and have a bit of passion are in the minority. For years now, we have been recruiting mediocre journeymen on big bucks, some are even made out of tissue paper. They are bleeding the club dry. It's a toxic situation from top to bottom with no sign of abatement.

Most of the players in our squad fail to put the hard yards in when they step onto the pitch. They think effort and sweat is down to someone else; the shirt means nothing and this is a disgrace.

Instead of blowing smoke up their arseholes, Frank needs to tell it as it is. He needs a Black Harry moment – like when our reserves got beat at Bury or when Howard told Micky Thomas to do one.

If you pull that Everton shirt on, you fight to the death every week. If you can't do that, you should not be at this great club!

They have three 6ft-plus forwards who never stop hustling and bustling. They hunt down every ball and they are incredibly fit and have a great team spirit.

The complete opposite to Everton.

I'm just watching Bournemouth at Chelsea now and they look like a League One side, yet they battered us twice in the space of a few days, so god knows how bad we are.

Yes, we aren't getting hammered but give it time. Look who's up next. Oh yes, someone on here thinks we'll gain a point there. I just hope they don't score early because it really could get embarrassing.

You mean they do the basics?

Something our squads haven't done in years.

Hustling and bustling gets you so far.

Quality wins matches and trophies.

Until we find some backbone, I can't see us getting out of this mess. This is a squad of cowards and weaklings. God only knows what the likes of Seamus and Coady think of this shower.

I can't understand why Lampard doesn't go with substance over style, especially because he hasn't got that many real quality footballers.

I keep saying it but every team should be able to play with massive intensity nowadays if their manager uses his bench properly, simply because he can now change half his team over 90 minutes and use 15 outfield players.

We need a centre-forward but we need to play with more intensity; we need to play with less space between the lines, and we need to become horrible and fight.

I haven't watched us nowhere near enough this season, but Iwobi and Onana don't do enough, imo. One floats in and out of games and the other runs around with loads of lung-busting effort but never really goes and wins the ball?

One goes missing and the other breaks rank, meaning we constantly lose our shape; this is something a player should only do when he's certain he's going to win the ball – something Iwobi rarely does.

I've never felt so low about Everton since the Walter Smith days; listening to others, it appears I'm not alone.

Just why just about everyone in successive squads ever since Moyes left takes the soft option so very quickly after arriving at Finch Farm would be funny if it wasn't so serious.

It's almost as if, as seasoned professionals, they spend a week or so disbelievingly looking around at the sheer lassitude and ineptitude of those allegedly in charge of them and think, "Meh, fuck this, I'll just see out my new, years-long, absurdly long contract".

Can't think who's been the architect of this lassitude and ineptitude but maybe someone should immediately phone Everton for welcome advice as to how to rectify the engulfing disaster we're now in.

Then again... maybe not!

After the break, we get beat by the bottom team, and a manager who claims he's happy with the direction were going in.

Frank may well be a nice guy and seems knowledgeable, but practically he is useless. Had this been any of the previous managers, there would be people calling for his head.

The longer we put off the obvious, the more trouble we're in. I would like them to target Christian Streich as the next manager.

The midfield and 'forwards' don't move enough, so the centre-backs pass it to each other; then, one of them whacks it in the air to the tall striker we don't have. Against Palace, and in flashes in other games, we had more intensity and created more space for everyone to play.

I'm shocked that footballers have to be coached to have intensity, but my hunch is that the manager creates and maintains that culture, helped by his lieutenants on the pitch.

I'd regard Coady, Tarkowski and Gana as lieutenants. That says to me that Frank needs more of them, or he needs replacing with someone who can instil that culture.

Maybe this is because, from the outside looking in, you would expect every single professional footballer to realise how important being able to run for 90 minutes would help their game and also help them develop into becoming much better football players.

Iwobi's lung-bursting runs are good to watch... until you see the end result. Better than he was, but a bit on the headless chicken (or clockwork mouse) side.

Tarkowski, Coady and Gana have been repeatedly breached because they offer an open invitation to opponents to come and try their luck.

Pickford can't have a blinder every week. Offer up enough chances and even Wolves can score a couple. Coady may have had the day off yesterday, but he has been present for all the other embarrassing defeats.

These three have been the first names on the team sheet as we have plummeted. If they're the lieutenants, no wonder the troops don't know what the fuck they are doing!

Perhaps that's what they worked on at Finch Farm during the last 6 weeks?

Onana is being encouraged to go forward in the Doucoure role and is not ready for it; he does not know where to expect other players and does not have Premier League vision for that.

Iwobi is allowed to set up in defence on the perimeter, where he regularly chases without support and leaves gaps. It is rare to see lines advance all at once to create space for the ball while in possession.

Frank is not building on the back four's stability as much as using it to gamble on some chicken-headed final-third moves.

What the fuck happened to the 4-5-1 with Iwobi deep and how did that reach its expiration date? It's all the fuck we got.

I agree wholeheartedly regarding Iwobi. He is constantly doing alibi pressing where he pretends to press, the ball is passed by him, and he is lost.

I was enjoying Messi in the World Cup. He walked around a lot, but when he joined in the pressing, he was highly effective. Made the right press, right timing and with a purpose. No alibi pressing.

So I would take Messi over Iwobi for his defensive work alone.

Probably no need to compare their offensive qualities. But please don't give Iwobi an improved contract. We will be stuck with him and will not be able to move him on for 5 years.

Shows me that the messages they're getting are leaving them and the rest of the team look so confused...

Gana is long past his best, Tarkowski already has relegation on his CV, and Coady couldn't get a game for yesterday's opponents.

Maupay, Gordon, Gray, McNeil, Patterson, Calvert-Lewin, Garner, Coleman, Davies, Mina and Holgate have not had consistent runs. They've all been injured or rested.

We've conceded a dozen league goals in the eight games since the Southampton game. These three vastly experienced men are offering a really poor example to the younger players... who continue to take the flack.

I look for the common denominators. I think people went right over the top praising the new signings and now can't admit that they are having their limitations exposed.

The unholy trinity need to be broken up...

The returns have to be far better to justify that long-term outlay. Defensively, the optics are better than the reality; he doesn't get close enough in his press, he is happy to stop and stand way off. He is still too nice a player.

Again, there is no malice because he is trying his heart out, it's just the end product, offensive and defensive, is not a good enough standard.

The club cannot reward mediocrity and expect to escape from that plague. Do these stats even hit the heights of mediocrity for an attacking midfielder?

Put it on hold until the summer, and make a pragmatic decision for the squad.

I think that's been true of Onana in recent games, but yesterday, he stayed largely in front of the back 4 with Iwobi and Gana given the license to roam.

For me, this is how we must play Onana. He's cocky at times, but can tackle, and can turn too. Not a 㿏M anchor, but he's got the promise at least.

The problem with that system, though, is that Gana (despite a good game yesterday, imho) is not a scorer. Neither is Iwobi. Add in the underwhelming Gray and Gordon and it's fucking barren in the “front 5”. Mykolenko and Patterson look decent, but there's little goals and assists there either.

It is utterly imperative we get at least 5 players on the pitch capable of scoring goals, plus 2 centre-backs who offer them from set-pieces too.

If we are sticking to 4-3-3, I'd want Price and Garner either side of Onana or Gana in a 6, as they offer more chance of goals. Unfortunately Garner is still out for a bit so it's still Iwobi and Doucoure battling out here.

Move one of them on in this window, and look to bring in a ‘Barkley' or a 'Cahill' type player. One who adds goals and assists first and foremost.

In defence, if Coady & Tarkowski can't add more, I'd keep and play Keane (and sell Holgate and/or even Godfrey as they don't offer the goal threat). I'd also look at long-term competition for Patterson and Mykolenko.

Give a front 3 of Maupay, Cannon and Mills a go, but imperative we add two or three new players here above anything else.

So, that's at least four or five new players needed once again. Well done to Frank and Kevin for creating the most disjointed squad since Koeman and Walsh had the number 10 cock-off.

Moving on Holgate, Godfrey, Doucoure – and maybe one or two of Gray, Gordon and Iwobi to fund it all – is the way to go. Unfortunately, not likely in January.

I still think the bigger issue is the lack of movement and goals.

Lack of movement is definitely an issue. Lack of goals will kill us, eventually, but while lesser experienced players struggle for fitness and form, our most experienced are folding on an increasingly regular basis and they are still being praised.

Watching Everton is upsetting. It's gone beyond anger for me, it colours my day, my week, my life. I am sure I am a better, more considerate individual, when we win, or even draw.

My doctor in this far-flung outpost, as far away as you can go on this planet before you are on your way back, he came here a couple of years ago from working as a GP in Stonycroft. He is a red, he pities me when I go and see him and tells me anti-depressants don't work if you're an Evertonian.

Everton are like someone you loved, fabulous moments great memories, but few and far between. Not bitter for what we had but bitter because the irrational part of me tells me it's a direct result of one man's greed that underpinned bad decision-making.

I feel bad for Moshiri. He was conned out of his money because he was a fool. He is trying to get out and cut his losses because he is in too deep. He couldn't give a flying [insert your own expletive here] about Lampard, or the team, he is over it. All because he was conned.

I bet if you asked him about Kenwright, he would be as vocal as we are. But he is between a rock and a hard place, no more money to the club, get out asap? His reputation is in tatters unless he can deliver the stadium and sell up.

Right now, Forest are the latest example of a club who thought they could spend money and ensure success. They will probably be relegated. We probably won't, not because of the board or Moshiri, but because people like many here love with a passion all things Blue.

We will drag the team on, in the hope we will all see an end to this 28-year chapter of pain, soon.

I had replied to my doctor, more in jest, that the best anti-depressant is seeing Everton win. He laughed and shook his head.

I don't look at the morning news hoping to see if Lampard has been sacked because I know, whoever they put there, it's going to make no difference. I look to see if Moshiri has sold, because that will be the end of the chairman and his legacy.

In my option, although he is no world-beater, Maupay is capable of scoring goals provided he is played off a target man. But Frank not only refused to play the only fit target man we had with him, but also got rid of him last month???

This squad is crying out for a target man. He doesn't have to be a prolific goal scorer – just someone who can win an aerial battle, hold the ball up, and score from set-pieces. I will be surprised if we find him in January! If we don't, I would play Keane as a stop-gap until we can get one. He can have Iwobi's spot.

Neither Pochettini nor Bielsa are coming so I would offer Ferguson a deal – caretaker manager till the end of the season. If he keeps us up, offer him a permanent contract. He wanted the job when Carlo jumped ship.

One ray of hope – we do have some fighters. We just need someone with a plan to organise them. So into the trenches and 4-4-2 it is for me:

Pickford,
Patterson, Coady, Tarkowski, Mykolenko,
Gordon, Gueye, Onana, Gray,
Maupay
Keane.

Maupay isn't going to fit into any system we could reasonably adopt. He needs to be moved on, along with McNeil, Keane, Iwobi, Mina etc.

Agreed about Lampard though. He should have gone last night.

All Iwobi had to do over the last 9 months was show endeavour. That was enough to redeem himself in the eyes of many, myself included.

But he does pull out of tackles, he looks busy but achieves nothing. He doesn't ever look like scoring, he is good at looking good, and in this awful team, with its inept uninspiring coach, that is enough to get him picked.

Every one of them is having a laugh; defeat and humiliation doesn't bother them. They literally stroll around trying not to look shit.

There's not a man among them.

What a bloody opportunity for us yesterday…. Fucking idiots!

Darren, regards your list who have been injured, not getting a game etc, in my opinion, from what I see regularly when they play, it wouldn't matter one fuck how many games you gave to Maupay, Gray, McNeil, Davies,… these guys are not good enough for Everton.

Coleman will give everything when on the pitch but he is way past his best.

Calvert-Lewin can score one out of five, Patterson might make it, Gordon needs a lot of work, Mina is a sick note, and Garner –- who the fuck knows?

Yes, he did improve towards the end of last season, and probably earned himself a bumper contract, but he's back to his ineffective best.

He feigns involvement only to pull out of every 50-50 ball. He does some amazing mazy runs only for his brain to shut down as soon as he gets close to the box.

His goal scoring ability is zero. He's enthusiastic but useless. I like the lad but would accept any bid(s) in January should be accepted.

Iwobi personifies this current spineless mob of wasters and cowards.

I fully empathise with the desperation but the very thought of that footballing skiving, Kenwright-ass-kissing, fraud Ferguson being any sort of answer is to me ridiculous, I'm sorry to say. With this owner and chairman, even Alex Ferguson would be neutered.

Iwobi, despite recently looking sometimes competent, is a lesser version of the inadequate conundrum that is present-day Nice's latest headache, Ross Barkley. Only an idiot hierarchy would improve Iwobi's already opulent contract, even though he's one of our better players in a sea of ineptitude.

I hope Coady has enough energy to go into Finch Farm and fucking hammer the very many players who completely lack any moral fibre or football dedication. If he can do it, he'll be right up there to me with Popeye the Sailorman.

"Redeeming himself" should mean starting to earn the wage he was on when we paid 㿊 million for him based on his Arsenal form. He hasn't actually done that yet consistently. So the idea of doubling his money now to fend off vultures is laughable.

Don't get me wrong: I think we've got a waste of space for an owner. But we are completely beholden to him. He is at the point at the moment where he just wants out. And he's got more than one way to get out. And the unconventional route would be a disaster for us.

Everton may be worth more to him, if it is sold as a fire sale. There is more than one report tonight that Everton have failed to put forward the new contract for Pickford, which is leading to speculation he's gonna be sold.

Moshiri could then just sell the club to speculators once he's sold eg Calvert-Lewin and anyone else he can get his hands on. We wouldn't know about it of course until it was all done... And we'd be stuffed.

Moshiri – being the self-serving money-man he's proud to be – will sell anything and everything to recoup every penny he's spent in his doomed-from-the-start partnership with the self-serving bastard who's the only one to have become mega-rich as he destroys the club from within.

But some of us still like him, I'm told.

Bizarre!

Don #501 - I am getting desperate because I could see the Wolves result coming after the Bournemouth debacle. But everyone capable of making a change just sat on their hands.

Something seismic needs to happen... and soon.

We have an overall better squad than Brentford or even Brighton, IMO, and we should be good enough for a mid-table finish. However, that won't happen with a clueless, rookie coach who has been sacked from his only Premier League job previously!

He has brought in 8 new players in 2 windows and we are worse than last season!

So sack him now before all hope is lost!

٣ mil, Pay Frank off, he's not very good.

㾶 mil, Get Steve Cooper in (Forest compensation included)

Knocks forest for 6 which is one of the 4 potentials going down.

You do the math 🇺🇸

Ironically I've not done the budget maths. It's cos I don't care and neither know the facts. Never will.

But it really is plain to see, Frank Lampard is going to be a part of Everton Football Club's history by taking us down.

He has to go.

An example of another terrible scouting mission from Brands; he isn't a footballer.

Confidence is bred from the back and recruitment is king, and again who we have brought in aren't good enough. There's no goals in this side, the amount of chances we need to score is scary.

However, I am still with Lampard at the moment. Looking at other options, I do not want to see Dyche, Allardyce or Moyes like I have seen many advocating for.

I believe we have a good coaching staff and I'd like to give Frank the benefit of the doubt with a proper striker and winger in the side. I think long term he is the man for the job, we just need short-term results to allow the squad to slowly build into something.

Like many have said, take Digne, Sigurdsson, Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin, James and even Bernard out of this side since Ancellotti was here and replace them with Rondon, Gray and Gordon and it's no suprise.

He needs points from Southampton and Brighton, though... otherwise, he's gone.

Don is right, Laurie. Despite the frustration, Duncan is not the answer. Not even short-term. Our problems are much more deep-rooted.

Duncan is now 51 and never had a full-time job. He would be a lacky and cement the protective shield around the Chairman. And despite having left to further his managerial career, I have yet to see his mailbox full of offers. He seems to be tentatively edging into punditry. Good luck to him, whichever way he goes.

I know we don't always agree, Darren, but we don't always disagree.

On Coady, Tarkowski and Onana, they have been decent signings. Leadership and youth – the latter needs time and I will agree, all 3 need rotating.

The problem being for whom? Holgate could come in but I suspect the club are preparing to sell Keane, which I don't mind. Onana? Who comes in? Tom Davies? I'm not a persistent Tom basher, but it's hardly an up-sell.

I think the biggest issue is how the team is set up. The defence sit deep. The full-backs both go forward at the same time rather than just one of them, leaving the centre-backs exposed. The midfield are somewhere, but I don't know where.

At times on Monday, apart from Gana, I wasn't sure if the other 2 were actually on the Goodison pitch. Vast spaces between defence and attack.

Attack: Maupay, who could be decent playing off someone like Calvert-Lewin being asked to be Duncan Ferguson on his own with his midfield nowhere to be seen, wide players who don't supply but try to win it on their own.

I'm talking myself back into a bad place.

The main problem for me is the midfield which you quite rightly say goes missing for large chunks of the game. Iwobi and Onana look like they don't know where to play.

Iwobi should be playing farthest forward where he can do some damage and not have to look like he is tackling (Dave Abrahams is right in that Alex avoids a tackle, if he can, by running around looking like he's busy).

Onana played a half-decent game against Wolves but well within himself and it looked to me like he was under strict orders to stay deep. Gana can't do the defensive role on his own, as was clear first time around.

Like you, Danny, I am not a Tom Davies basher and he could be useful until Garner is fit. Would it be worth trying Davies and Onana either side of Gana with Iwobi further forward in the centre?

Our wingers are doing very little and will most likely be redundant against Man City and the much-criticised five at the back is an option with Coleman an option to play centrally. He has played well in that role before and would allow the full-backs to get forward.

We know Frank won't play the young lads in this game – quite right too – but he has to close up those gaping holes in our midfield.

One question: why, when we don't currently play decent football, do we soak the pitch before the game? This favours the teams that do play slick passes — which certainly isn't us at the moment!??

You told us a couple of days ago that Duncan Ferguson doesn't rate Patterson – even though, according to both men, Dunc is one of the reasons Patterson is here.

Today, you tell us what you haven't seen in Duncan Ferguson's full inbox. Let me expand for you. You haven't seen any of his email account. You don't know if he has had offers. Neither do any of the other FFFF's. Ever thought he is waiting for one that suits him? You know, a bit like the rest of us?

What you do apparently know is that it doesn't matter who manages this club... but Ferguson is not the answer.

I can't be doing with speculative nonsense. What we all know is that Duncan Ferguson was ousted from the first team picture by Frank and his Barrow Boys and we have been desperately trying to stay out of the Bottom 3 since. That goes for your much-vaunted signings too. We have struggled since they got here...

You mention Tom Davies (for some reason)... Why? He's has not been part of this awful awful slide.

Both men have been out of the picture… This is what it looks like!

(I'm helping you, Bill – now help yourself, help Farhad, and help Everton Football Club, please)

Ferguson knows and loves the club, but I get the feeling that the man hasn't got any footballing ambitions if they are not connected to Everton. I might be 100% wrong.

Once the club is taken over, and becomes free of nepotism, I wouldn't mind Ferguson becoming Wayne Rooney's assistant manager. Although my own feelings would be that Duncan would probably make a better man-manager, whilst Rooney would be better off being on the training ground for 3 hours every day.

A dream team – like Kendall and Harvey? Life is but a dream!!

Frank has won about 9 league games in about 30 odd games since he arrived, which by any standard isn't great. He said after where we finished last season, it was asking too much to expect us to be in a stronger position.

But since the season finished, he and Thelwell between them have signed 8 new players, so did he not think these signings would have an impact on our Premier League position?

Just as a comparison, last season, Newcastle were in the Bottom 3, but Howe quickly changed that into mid-table and this season they are unbelievably in the Top 4. I also think he brought in less players than Frank has done here, so it is possible with good signings to improve your position.

But let's look at Fulham, a newly promoted club that still has the nucleus of the side that were promoted last season, yet sit comfortably in the Premier League table.

The problem is that Frank is painting a scenario that it's not his fault we are where we are. Well, if you think like that, you shouldn't be manager of Everton.

For those arguing to keep him: Do you really believe that any signings he and Thelwell make in January will actually make a difference considering the dross he has already bought??

I am not sure even a change of manager will make much difference to this poor squad of players... but, given the type of football Frank has served up since he arrived, could it get any worse???

Against Wolves, Gueye was literally on his own in midfield, putting in a huge effort, while Onana was passing the ball to the opposition and Iwobi running around chasing shadows and never even putting his foot in.

Doucouré came on for Gueye, pulled out of a 50/50 challenge, and they caught us on the break. I'm sorry if them three are the problem, I must be looking at a different Iwobi, McNeil, Gordon, Onana and Maupay.

I caveated that they were unfounded and speculative rumours that Ferguson didn't rate Patterson. You missed that bit out.

I only mentioned Tom Davies to highlight the scant options we have available. A player I have criticised for individual performances but have equally stuck up for.

Post for the sake of it? Okay.

You need your mates on a football pitch, and whenever I watch Everton play, I don't get the feeling that the players actually work on this.

It's a bit like the possession "Tom Davies gave away at Leicester twice" or claiming Kenwright was to blame when Andy Gray turned down the manager's job.

Some people will attract enough stick on here. No need for embellishment.

I only mention Tom as that is our backup.

Ironically, supporting your view that the "unholy trinity" should be broken up.

Which I don't disagree with.

We just don't have many options.

Not playing as a team, not playing as a unit, Tony.

Not according to Duncan himself, who clearly states on video that Frank wanted him to stay.

Spot on about Iwobi. No-one is interested in him and no-one would pay the wages he's on at the moment. If we give him an improved contract, that will be a decision that haunts us for years to come.

Reading this and other threads, it's starting to feel that the only thing that may fundamentally change things is relegation, regime change, and a full reset.

Evertonians don't deserve this.

We desperately need someone that can score us some goals; the management are surely pushing the boat out to find one or two.

What gives us hope is that there are 10 teams in this relegation scrap; we are poor… but there's also many others that are too.

I've said a few times before, it's as if the club is cursed. I don't believe in that stuff but it sure as hell feels like it. I was waiting for Wolves to score in the last minute and there it was.

Every supporter needs to feel that their team can win something but in this league, apart from the usual Big 6, you have next to zero chance – that can't be right.

Let's be honest – supporting anything that you have bugger-all influence on is a mug's game. Yes, we pay admission fees and shout a bit – but does that individually make much difference? I'm seriously thinking of throwing in the towel.

I think we will stay up if we can find a decent striker, but it's another nail-biter again.

There is a difference between asking him to stay and including him in the first-team set-up.

You do know that Frank brought in his own men to assist him with first-team matters and had already offered Joe Edwards the post of assistant manager?

Yes, I get that… but he was included as a first-team coach and he wasn't kicked out or asked to leave. Duncan chose to pursue other options.

Most probably because he realised that Everton were not about to give him the manager's job anytime soon (last sentence is my own view, not Duncan's words).

The other interesting parts of Duncan's own words in an interview was how highly he rated Big Sam. Not only him but the players also and he states that he thought Everton let Sam go too early.

Opinions are like arseholes, everyone has one.

What decent striker would want to come to our shambles of a club? They'd have to be desperate or skint as I've said before and, as you know, there's not many decent strikers who are skint.

If Everton buy anyone, they'll likely be an average type –another Maupey or McNeil – which will send us all into a major depression.

I'm not normally negative-thinking but my beloved club is rapidly sending me that way. Even the most positive and optimistic blue in the shape of Danny O'Neill is leaning over!

Oh would I love to be proved wrong and this bunch of players turn up and give the best supporters in the land some hope! I'm holding my breath… but whether I can hold it till May without blowing up is another story.

I didn't say he was kicked out or asked to leave. I said he was ousted. I couldn't and still can't think of a better name for somebody else being given his job.

The fact remains that, since he was ousted, we have been battling to stay out of the Bottom 3.

I don't agree with him on Big Sam. I hated him being manager. Perhaps he was talking from a purely results point of view. That may be because we were heading south when all the other managers left us – including Carlo.

Let's see where we are at the end of January.

If you're prepared to look beyond the Premier League and Championship, I'd say there are at least 25 decent strikers across Europe and beyond who would jump at the chance and make a real difference.

Not superstars or famous names but certainly enough to keep us up.

I guess that sums up Everton over the past 30 years or so.

I know some have views on Ancelotti and will point to a 10th placed finish. But with a limited squad that we still suffer with, he got us to within one game of European qualification.

At least he realised early he had to change the tactics to get a tune. Frank hasn't yet woken up to the fact he doesn't have Drogba, Ashley Cole, Lampard or John Terry at his disposal.

You're absolutely right about opinions and arseholes but it takes a really big arsehole to repeatedly disparage any fellow Toffee who has an opinion contrary to his own.

Apologies then on the 'ousted' bit as I did read the post I initially responded to as inferring that he was kicked out.

They'll also have to think about the "if" and "when", would they not?

The manager's already said they are looking at goalscorers, so would it be Frank who picks them with Kevin Thelwell? Because, if the club are considering options, who chooses the players and who's going to manage them? I should imagine (hope) that, as soon as the transfer window opens, they will be talking to their targets.

I'd have thought a prospective player will want to know who he's playing for.

You at least put up an actual interview to offer reason to your train of thought.

It's people offering made-up nonsense and passing it off as opinion I don't get.

Wouldn't he be a bit too young for that? Though, as far as our club is concerned, he has been a major influence on where we are now.

If that's the case, I sincerely hope our DoF has got this knowledge and has his finger on the button and the scouts are lining up some quality strikers. I really hope so but I will continue to hold my breath – maybe January then and look forward to you telling me "I told you so".

I will come out of my gloom and be a Happy Blue.

Drive out or expel (someone) from a position or place.

Semantics maybe, but just saying...

If it helps... :-)

Surely Boa Morte coming on board as Number 2, given his history, was a pretty big clue that the cone mover was no longer wanted?

Then, according to Darren, Carlo's son was running the show which means Coney was further down the pecking order than his title suggested.

Also to your idea we've gone downhill since he left, why don't we flip that and look at when our steep decline began – the end of the Moyes era… which just so happens to be the time that Moyes brought Dunc in as the cone boy slave labourer.

This is an open forum, everyone is entitled to their opinion, without being slated. Duncan wasn't ousted, he probably had a better relationship with Frank than he had with Benitez.

Regarding opinions, so we had a stronger defence before Tarkowski and Coady arrived.

You don't talk nonsense. You give an opinion based on your view of all things Everton.

Reason? We can all use stats, interviews and alleged "facts" to support our reason, but mostly we talk off our instinct. I do anyway.

I know what I know about Everton and football, Darren. It will inevitably differ from others' opinions, yourself included. But I say what I see.

Just as you do.

See you at Old Trafford or Goodison (Southampton) if you want to meet up. I think we'd get on fine.

“It was incredibly difficult for me to leave Everton, a club that I love, but I had made up my mind more or less 6 months before that my time was up and that I had come as far as I possibly could. I had to do the honourable thing. I think when you get interviewed for a job and don't get it, it becomes a bit difficult.

“Frank didn't want me to leave. I spoke to him two or three times, said what my plans were, and I felt he genuinely wanted me to still be at the club. I think he will do well. Frank is a great coach, a great communicator and the players like him. You have to get respect as a coach and he has that. He has invited me back to the training ground in the future and I have spoken to him a few times since I left.”

His own words, make of it what you will.

If we want to play a central midfielder close to Gana, I would select Tom Davies given the options we have available to us. He has good positional discipline and plenty of experience.

Thoughts?

He has the mobility of Metal Mickey so I'd pass on Tom.

Before huge pay-outs became the norm, managers often resigned when things got sticky under the guise of 'mutual agreement'. Did not our man excuse himself from Derby County on this premise or was it Rooney who did so?

Either way, I think Lampard is decent enough not to hang around for the 'Fuck-off 'money if many more disasters occur!

Big Dunc was ousted from a position. Not only that, he was sent down the pecking order as the barrow boys arrived and he disappeared from sight.

The "culprit" was on the fringes. New people were calling the shots. We have been fighting to stay out of the Bottom 3 ever since.

He left about 5 months ago and we are still fighting to stay out of the Bottom 3.

Christy,

Danny wasn't offering an opinion. He was telling us about something he didn't know anything about himself. Duncan Ferguson's inbox.

Not the first time this week he has got carried away and said something to support his post which simply isn't true. On this occasion, to counter Laurie's opinion. You call that opinion. I don't.

You're right, people can say anything they want. It's a free country. But if it's made up, it will be called out.

Was Joe Edwards assistant manager or assistant to the manager because according to the club itself coney was the assistant manager up until he left. EvertonFC.com "Everton can confirm that Duncan Ferguson has left his role as First-Team Assistant Manager to pursue his managerial ambition."

Was Joe Edwards assistant manager or assistant to the manager? Because, according to the club itself Coney was the assistant manager up until he left.

EvertonFC.com "Everton can confirm that Duncan Ferguson has left his role as First-Team Assistant Manager to pursue his managerial ambition."

Fair one.

But in the world of football, I've not read many rumours or seen any links.

It was an opinion. That's what most of us offer. And most of us, me included, don't know in reality.

Maybe you do. I don't confess to.

Joe Edwards's role or job title had nothing to do with it.

There isn't even any logic in your claim. If he left simply because he didn't get the job, he'd have gone as soon as Frank was appointed.

Ferguson was always prominent on the bench, but once Frank and his entourage arrived, you'd have needed sniffer dogs to find him on matchdays. (Yes, I saw him celebrate Calvert-Lewin's goal). He was confined to the back benches and it is to his credit that he left without showing bitterness.

Danny,

I denigrated nobody's opinion. I simply called out stuff which was clearly made up. I could have done it 4-5 times this week alone.

If the made-up stuff doesn't get called out, debate dies... opinion becomes meaningless.

Anyone with a bit of football knowledge knows it's not working. Our full-backs are better going forward than our wingers, who are not good enough, and offer nothing whatsoever.

What does Paul Clement bring to the table?

Just saying…

Sean's upbeat take gives me the chance to offer some not-so-comforting thoughts on our situation.

Our toxicity is reinforcing itself through our reactions and the pressure on Frank and the squad. Yes, yes oh yes, things are untenably shite at the top but we have to look to how we did it last season and find a way to inspire these shits again (sorry shits, you know I love you or I wouldn't watch or care now).

It's not easy taking the upper road here but we need positivity, even if it is just more tactful negativity. Once you take the magic out of playing football and it becomes a job with incredible social weight, some of these can't handle it and fold like a taco while the "lookout for #1" types are doing some career planning while in the training room.

I've got no answer, I'm a cynic myself. I'm just stating that we've got to find a dimension of this team that we can get with and support so fucking much we can temporarily ignore the rest. That is my cognitive dissonance suggestion for surviving the rest of this season.

Up The Fucking Toffees once again! And then we'll sort the suits out.

I have no insider information. I don't profess to know.

I come on here to discuss Everton and football.

I will continue to do so. See you at the next match.

You can't expect a top chef to make a gourmet dinner out of eleven turnips.

He said the crowd are intense and want the ball to be played forward, and he felt that Wolves controlled Everton without having to have control of the ball.

The players get nervous and end up trying to play through gaps that are not there because the crowd want the ball played forward. This equates to the players not being quite good enough and could force a debate that could take this thread to a thousand posts...

When Duncan Ferguson left Everton, my own thoughts were that Kenwright can't have long left now… but I'm still waiting impatiently!

I totally agree, the crowd's frustration is now becoming a real problem. There is a huge amount of negative energy at Goodison.

We wonder whether the club is cursed but I think we are sabotaging our own efforts and it is that which is bringing the 'bad luck'. I thought we had learnt our lesson last season but we seem to be reverting to old habits.

On this thread alone, you've typed to TWers you've named;

"I denigrated nobody's opinion. I simply called out stuff which was clearly made up. I could have done it four or five times this week alone."

"You don't know it for a fact, Steve. You just claim you do. There isn't even any logic in your claim."

"Danny wasn't offering an opinion. He was telling us about something he didn't know anything about himself. Duncan Ferguson's inbox. Not the first time this week he has got carried away and said something to support his post which simply isn't true."

"It's people offering made-up nonsense and passing it off as opinion I don't get."

"Why even mention Ferguson and Patterson? If you thought the "rumors" were unfounded, it was irrelevant to anything else. Some people will attract enough stick on here. No need for embellishment."

"No, Danny, you are doing what you do. Posting for the sake of it. Why not concentrate on stuff where you know what you are talking about? I can't be doing with speculative nonsense."

Dazza, if you can't see the cretinous way you come across to just about everyone, I feel truly sorry for you.

Happy New Year!

And yes, that part about the debate of who is most culpable is the hole we need to avoid. It hurts when you're the one who feels hard done by and yet you're the one who has to get it together and support something you could just about put a foot through. I thought last season was the struggle to remember.

And thanks, Kevin, just saw yours as I posted.

There's no-one in that team who can regularly score. The defence and midfield know it, so they try and look busy, without being effective. Every so often, they forget and put a chance on a plate, for someone who misses it. And the cycle starts again.

We're at a point where we've been with the last few managers: a sense that the players don't really know what they're doing, either because the messages aren't clear or [personal opinion alert!] they're getting too much information and it's stifling them. And their belief and confidence drops.

Will he get through it? Will he get the chance? He has to show he's learning and can apply the learning.

Not holding my breath.

I don't buy it myself and think back to the Crystal Palace game for confirmation. Losing 2-0, with our Premier League status on the line (you simply cannot have a higher level of pressure than this, imo), the players kept going and actually started playing with a lot more intensity.

Play with intensity and you will always have the crowd behind you at Everton, but play slowly and without craft or aggression, and the crowd will get frustrated. End of debate!!!

Which obviously isn't true after reading what Paul T, was posting whilst I was writing my own bollocks!

Well, knock me down with a feather, I've heard it all.

Conned out of his money by who exactly? I'm sure he didn't become a multi-billionaire by being conned out of his money.

I don't feel bad for anyone connected with that amateurish board and never will. God help us.

So, if Ferguson stays, we wouldn't be in this position – is this your view?

Who knows, no-one can say for certain but I very much doubt it – is my opinion.

I guess the only way we will ever know is when he becomes a manager.

If Ferguson still wants his fairy tale to come true and manage Everton, surely he has to show us he is capable first?

Our last few managers have talked about intensity, without their teams consistently showing it.

We got Frank in who, in my view, is not a great motivator (I say this because our performance against Wolves was cowardly and insipid), nor is he tactically astute (I say this because I believe his set-up of the team is negative, and his substitutions late and inept).

So, where do we go? We need a short-term solution before we throw the dice again. Hands up, I thought Frank was worth a punt; it has been a disaster, though. He will relegate us.

Forget Kenwright just for the moment, the club stinks of his malign influence but, between now and next May, he is irrelevant. We need a short-term fix to keep us safe until Kenwright is drummed out.

We need a motivator who can make the grinning hired hands who masquerade as Blues actually stop faking and stand up and be footballers. We pay them enough.

I don't say what would have happened if Ferguson had stayed or got the job instead of Frank. As you say, nobody could know that.

I talk about what has happened since he was ousted from his job and since he left. We were led to believe that he was a major part of the problem by some on here. Do you see an improvement?

On Bushmills?

This pedantic shit is tiring. We are supposedly on here to discuss the club, the players, the board, and our continuous decline.

This forum is so fucking predictable. We start off in unison and descend into self-defeating bashing of one another. It's like an alarm waiting to go off.

I wouldn't be surprised if Billy Bullshit is in the background waiting for it to kick off. After all, it's a forum for venting – not just opinions, but anger at one another.

Jesus wept, direct that anger and energy towards the real problems at this club. Divide and conquer – that the first rule of management in any crisis.

We all come from different backgrounds, different countries and cultures. If we cannot find common ground in getting this club and team to achieve our goals, then we may as well chuck it in.

I've never met any of you on here but would find it extremely irritating as I have a very low tolerance threshold for bullshit.

Grow up, for fuck's sake, and get behind Everton.

Divide an Conquer.

Sean, we feel you, Man.

I can't help but think it might be a tight result. I know I was missing it during the World Cup… but I'm a bit shit like that.

Honestly though, good spirit, Sean!

I'm never interested in who is the best Evertonian ever, although that cretin Kenwright claims that spot. Not for me he's not. That accolade goes to the men and women who scrape the money together to support Everton home or away.

I'm not interested in who is right and who is wrong in argument. It the result that matters. Sorry for venting my frustrations but seriously, folks, we are in real shite this time and this team needs us more than ever.

Can we put the bullshit to one side and help get this team get further up the table despite the obvious failings of our manager and the current squad?

When we get there, we can rightly vent our feelings towards the club and remind them we were promised last season that we would not be in this precarious position again.

Happy New Year to all you Evertonians.

I'm with you all the way, mate.

UTFT!!!!

Kenwright Out!!!

The only opinion that matters to the owners is their own... Bill Kenwright, as we all know, is a narcissistic, lying, backstabbing low-life who would rather rake in millions than do whatever is right for the club.

Money now rules the game, the "People's Club" never existed... it was a slogan, a one-off soundbite that was jumped on by the marketing men. If for one minute the owners thought they could make more cash by being relegated, they would gladly let that happen.

We as supporters count for fuck-all... sheep that will turn up every week regardless, read the corporate stance by Barrett-Baxendale in her annual address, all about maximising the potential of the company and brand – nothing substantial about football or the mess we are currently in on the field.

We are in a bad place, granted... but the owners see a bad place as a place where profits drop, not a low Premier League position. There's 20,000 apparently on the season ticket waiting list; home games sell out every week — that's what they look at.

If we go down, they will sell the club up the river in a fucking heartbeat and won't give a flying fuck for the fans.

Get over it, lads: "It's football... but not as we know it."

Trust me, I am not trying to join this particular debate here, just clarify what I have been told. It was Duncan himself who shared his reason for leaving with my brother, who knows him well.

As I understand it, he really set his heart on getting the manager's job in January and was pretty devastated to lose it as he realised that was probably his last chance. That might not be the whole truth, as you say, but that is all I know.

I have always had the utmost regard for Ferguson and he definitely brought something vital to the training ground – why else would every manager he worked with hold him in such huge regard? That pride and passion about what it means to be an Everton player has gone missing since he left.

This squad of players is going to need the fans who carried them over the line last season if we are going to survive again.

I look at the substitutions Frank made against Wolves and I ask myself – if I was a member of that squad, how would I feel about them? For example:

Gana – tackles anything that moves then gets hauled off while Iwobi remains on. (Once again, he pulled out of a 50/50 in the centre circle at about 14 minutes in.)

Maupay – gets taken off to be replaced by a target man instead of being asked to play with him. (Same thing against Newcastle when Calvert-Lewin came on to replace Maupay.)

Keane – Godfrey; who has been out of action since Game 1, replacing Mina when Keane has been training all season and it was him who scored the crucial goal in the second half against Palace.

I wonder if similar thoughts go through the players' heads. If they do it's not good for morale.

This is why I don't think Frank is savvy enough as a game manager and tactician. These may of course be the ramblings of an old codger with agricultural or prehistoric views on football. I hope he proves me wrong – soon.

I don't like the People's Club phrase. It is cringeworthy.

I admire and respect the club for what it does for the community. I'd like to see it expanded across the city and region rather than just being L4 focussed.

But I'd also like to see a version of Everton in the football community. Get out there and support grass roots football. We might just uncover a few gems or the next Rooney.

This might not sit well with everyone, but I'd ditch Grand Old Team (I think we seem to be doing so gradually). Get rid of that People's Club tag. I'd even go as far as saying Z Cars can go. Maybe that's too far.

My point (view) is we need to move with the times. We should have done that in 1987 when we were top of the pile.

Living with the past? No. The club has done a good job with that one.

Football is meant to be enjoyable and getting behind the team like we did at the end of last season definitely helps the team. Therefore I definitely agree with what Sean says in earlier posts about getting behind the team.

However, I think there has to be a parallel stream that applies pressure to the owners and board about their continual poor performance as a happy crowd will definitely be perceived by them that we are happy with everything.

“Get rid of that People's Club tag. I'd even go as far as saying Z-Cars can go. Maybe that's too far.”

Correct. It is.

The new stadium will be about the future – not the past of decades ago.

Funny thing is, when we'd beaten the likes of Arsenal or Chelsea and Grand Old Team was being belted out and Goodison was rocking, no fucker stood up and complained.

Maybe if we didn't sweat on the small things, which lots of fans have enjoyed, and make sensible comments on our current plight…?

All valid points. I wondered if Gana was fading (though he looked fine to me).

Maupay has only ever enjoyed success when played alongside another striker – so why anyone thinks he could be a solo target man is baffling.

I agree re Godfrey. I was expecting either Keane or Holgate to come on – for two reasons: (1) both are fully fit, I think; and (2) both have scored from set-pieces – which is the only way we are likely to score these days.

I suspect you are correct. The other issue will be timing. On his latest podcast, Paul the Esk suggests that financial reasons will probably see any recruitment happen in late January.

My guess is that he is correct… but also because potential players and their agents will be looking to leverage other interest, better deals, or more attractive clubs etc, right up to the close of the January window.

Incidentally, it's got nothing to do with the rare occasions we win a match. The fact Everton FC last won anything was so long ago John Major was prime minister just underlines how absurd playing the song is.

I'm aware we spent a lot of money on McNeill and Onana, but my guess is they will cost X-amount each season, but we probably couldn't find and then acquire a decent centre-forward on these terms?

If that was the reason for not bringing Keane on, that would make some sort of sense to me… but Doucoure? – I don't think so, Tony.

I am not holding my breath for any super signings in this window. However, if we do sign a target man who can score a few goals, then in my opinion, he will have to be played in tandem with Maupay.

So that means one of Gordon, Gray, or Iwobi will have to make way. It's sticking out like a sore thumb to me.

Nowhere... because the players and manager do not subscribe to ToffeeWeb.

So, ToffeeWeb is merely an exhaust for supporters' frustration without any chance of changing matters. Why bother?

He's not a great player, but it's a16-man game nowadays and I think every single player is going to be needed if Lampard is to get us playing with intensity.

Doucoure isn't the greatest footballer but he's got a great engine and you can't say this about many of our current squad.

We have to try something in the meantime as I just don't see the current “front three” starting to score goals.

Quite simply, we have two options: play young Cannon with Maupay alongside him, or if we can, bring Simms back from his loan and start him with Maupay. If Calvert-Lewin gets fit, then that is a huge bonus but a big “if”.

Frank has to sort out Gordon, who is not contributing; he has to get a solid structure to our midfield. I'd play Seamus and move Patterson forward or give Mills a chance.

The crowd has to get going again – far too quiet and putting pressure on the players. Let's restart the blue flare welcome and non-stop noise – we can't pick the team but we sure as hell can do much more to motivate and encourage them, like we did last season.

We have had these periods before of not scoring: 1983 comes to mind when, bit by bit, we started scoring goals and could defend a lead.

At present, we have plenty of defenders and midfielders and Frank should be capable of fielding a defence and midfield that will be solid. Forget trying to play out of defence – go for solid defence and a goal will win the points.

Our attackers don't score many so, until we get more in, we must grind out some draws and wins. Frank might not like that style of play but none of us do – we have to be pragmatic and go with what we've got.

There's no point in trying to play like Man City or Arsenal – we don't have players who are good enough, but we have plenty who can defend well if they are told not to worry about passing aimlessly in our own half.

Play to your strengths in all walks of life – it usually works!

We meet online, we meet at matches. Virtually or in person, we meet people through Everton that we otherwise wouldn't and they become friends, even when we have different views.

It's no different to those people I met following Everton home and away in the 80s. It was just not online in those days, but some had strong views.

I've mentioned the Anfield sausage roll incident previously and there was a bloke who got on the Amberline coach at Runcorn who was a complete bigot. He used to stand near me in the middle of the Gwladys Street just behind the ledge. Earache… and that was when we were winning.

I'm with that call on Doucoure. In a squad game, he's useful to the squad. Not been at his best of late but then we've been an off-form team. I'd keep him.

We might need to give Coady or Tarkowski one of those extendable dog leads that I see a lot of owners have. They can wind them back. Mine; one stays close, the other is a free spirit. He's out there, but I know he'll come back.

I don't see it and I can't think that anyone has, at least while he's been at Everton, so is it just grasping at straws or based on something that has eluded me?

It cannot be any worse than what we are seeing currently and, if he has what it takes, then his character should only grow from playing the best. Surely it is better than being blooded and still losing against the likes of Bournemouth?

You only grow in any work environment when you are thrown in at the deep end.

I don't want to hear it either - but have a feeling it is correct. Until either Calvert-Lewin returns or we source another effective striker, I agree that we should play to our strengths.

Compared to the other Bottom 10 clubs, our relative strength is defending – so this means a 4-5-1 formation and a game plan based on defending deep and nicking one on the break or from a set-piece.

I said on another thread (or maybe this one) that Allardyce would set us up in a 5-3-1-1 right now – with 3 big centre-backs to pose a threat at set-pieces. Onana would be pushed forward (as Fellaini once was) to provide some height and heft around the opposition box, giving Maupay a chance to feed off the scraps.

Obviously this is not a long-term approach but we are where we are.

At Sunderland years ago, he bought a big centre-back, Kone, a big central defensive midfielder, Kirchoff, and one of the best set-piece takers in France, Khazri, and it transformed them.

We are not going to play our way out of trouble.

An owner with no patience – a board with no excellence – a team with no spine – and a manager with no clue.

This season, we have lost to Leicester at home when they were in the Bottom 3, and Wolves at home who were also in the Bottom 3, and Bournemouth away in both the Carabao Cup and the Premier League.

So where are we going to pick up the points to keep us safe, especially when we have forwards who have an awful goals-per-game ratio and a midfield who never get in the opponent's box.?

I have said for ages, apart from Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin, there aren't any goals in this group of players, so how does Lampard think we can possibly win games/

Let's not forget, he watched last season how only Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin carried any goal threat… and what does he do in the summer window? He signs 2 centre-backss and 4 midfield players who score very few goals.

Then, to compound this, he signs Maupay, 3 days before the window closes – another player with a poor goal-per-games ratio. Then, to add insult to injury, he plays Maupay who is 5ft 7in, as the lone striker!

Yet there are people saying '"Stick with Frank". I can't think of another Everton manager who has spent practically a year in the Bottom 5 and not been sacked. So I would love to hear why anyone would keep him.

Not that I think he'd make much difference on Saturday… so, if he needs another week, might as well use it.

No disrespect but I wouldn't even ask the question anymore. We need to move on from "Will he? Won't he?"

In considering our current predicament, I'm reminded of Jack Charlton's reported fallings out with Liam Brady when Ireland manager.

Jack went for a simple, aggressive ‘long ball' style as this suited the majority of the players at his disposal. If he'd had a group of players with Brady's skill set, they would have played a different style. But he didn't, so he couldn't.

I think at present Frank could do worse than adopt Jack's approach.

I know its too early to make plans the way the trains are being cancelled. I will look out for your posts on how you will be getting to Old Trafford – Travel plans permitting.

First one in buys the ale!

Steve,

Fair enough. Let me know if he plans a trip to the dry cleaners.

Take the poster you have on the wall and he might sign it for you.

I have a lot of time for the man, as you know, but my heroes are all older than me.

They're quite literally a dying breed.

Sadly, Brady was past his best when Jack took over, but I disagree regarding the players at his disposal. In my opinion it was the best squad we ever had and they could play football, unfortunately he wouldn't let them.

I couldn't believe he played Tony Galvin ahead of Sheedy in his prime, played probably the two top centre-backs in England, McGrath and Lawrenson in midfield and had a donkey at centre-back, Mick McCarthy.

Hopefully see you there.

I think USA is his last throw of the dice…

The board don't seem to be worried and, as long as they make money and satisfy the shareholders, they won't do much at all.

However, maybe a spell in the lower league might shake them up as the monetary pickings there are a hell of a lot less than the Premier League.

Having said that, none of us want that to happen so we may have to bite the bullet and hope Frank (or whoever) can make them a little more competitive after this bad run.

Would be a miracle to get anything against City unless we play 22 at the back.

Yes, there are other Tim Cahills out there. Brighton have no problem finding them – inc Mac Allister who has just helped the Argies win the World Cup.

Brentford are another who have done a more-than-respectable job (while spending little – and not having an Academy).

But it's not a disaster, just look at the bottom 10 teams in the Premier League; only Wolves won and took 3 points, the other 9 clubs all lost, just as Everton did.

So we are no worse off or better off, we just have to get behind the team. After the Man City game, we may be in the Bottom 3, so we just start again.

As for the clamour of Everton players out on loan, I cannot see any of them making it in the Premier League and that
includes Branthwaite.

You just have to look into his eyes when he is on the pitch. He is like a rabbit caught in a car's headlights and, by the time he wakes up, it's too late.

Spot on. Anything against Man City is a bonus.

We are one of numerous teams who will be in the mix at the end of the season, and results against them are the ones that will count when it comes to it.

Branthwaite is one for the future. We have plenty of centre-backs without him.

However, Simms scored again last night and should be recalled. His all round play may not yet be Premier League standard – we have more than a few players in that boat – but the lad knows how to score goals and how to find space.

We need all the help we can get and Simms is surely worth a try, he can't be any worse than what we are trying at the moment.

Why look at the Coventry lad for 㾻-20M when he, like Simms, has been scoring outside of the Premier League? We may already have a goal scorer on our books albeit that he is not the finished article.

We don't need pretty footballers at present but we do need someone to score goals!

"Everton fans, would it bother you if we had the first player to come out? Wouldn't bother me."

He got a reply: "Be good if one of them came out as a fucking footballer at the moment!!"

5-0 seems like a realistic prediction to me. Praying we miraculously win 2-1 to kick start the Oxford level turnaround…..but I also still do the lotto after 27 years+