Calvert-Lewin hoping 'factory reset' has put his injury hell behind him

Dyche is managing him very sensibly, but with us being very scarce on talented forwards, I don't think our manager has got any other option really.

I personally think that Dominic splits a lot of the fan base, but my own opinion is that Everton are a better and also a much more effective team when Calvert-Lewin is leading the line.

It's clear to see we are a different team with Dom playing up front. The whole team functions better, him winning possession allows the team settle and look more organised in their approach. He changes the dynamic.

There were hints last season that he has added more maturity and creativity into his play. Particularly against Brighton when he put in a quality centre-forward performance. With a run of games and full match fitness we would be in dreamland if that type of performance became the norm, I don't see any reason why it shouldn't.

It's ironic that we bought McNeil to feed him with crosses last season but he was out injured. Now he's back and guess what. Hopefully he will be back soon and they'll forge an understanding together. It wouldn't surprise me to see Garner put some great crosses into him too, starting on Saturday.

Regardless of any of this, the necessity of having a back-up striker hasn't gone away.

Understandable that playing when not 100% fit you would be thinking this injury could reoccur – we need to hit the ground running against Fulham, we don't want to be struggling at the bottom end again.

Get a back-up striker in and get shut of Kenwright and Moshiri once and for all or this club will die with those two clowns in charge. UTFT

But I'd still like to see us download a Window Update this week.

Good luck, but try and hit the ground running when you do recover, we cannot continue in the Premier League without a recognised goal scorer.

Let's be honest: when Benitez played him with a broken toe, everything escalated from then.

I hope he's back fresh and like a new signing. He doesn't deserve all the criticism, and we're a different team with Dom up top.

Having another viable striker will certainly ease the load on him and ease the load of worry on all of us too.

UTFT.

Also, fingers crossed we get 1 or 2 more forwards in and 1 or 2 wingers in to ease the burden and pressure on him.

He reminds me of Graeme Sharp the player, in Sharp's brief pomp. He scores enough goals and occupies defenders plural to make him a real worry to the opposition, albeit Sharp had quality goal-scorers all round him who profited from his work, unlike Calvert-Lewin.

No, he doesn't yet have a history of scoring an occasional screamer but, if he can achieve full fitness, pace, and aggression, I suspect we'll do well to hold on to him in the next two seasons.

Once again, the idiots who run the club have not secured an adequate back-up striker, so another relegation scrap is more likely than a hopefully mid-table finish.

Good luck, Dom, you deserve that.

The new young Striker may be helpful, but he is still an unknown.

A striker is as good as the supply and support. I watched Sharp as a teenager every week.

To use a more recent example, it was telling towards the end of last season when Doucoure was busting a gut to get in the box. The first goal against Brighton away sums it up for me. He had support and something to aim for.

Dominic, like most Everton strikers of late, often cuts an isolated figure.

If he plays 15 games this season it's a bonus for him.

Much like I said this time last year, it's not about getting him on the pitch, but keeping him on it, that's the hardest part.

Also why I said 12 months ago that we needed a first-choice replacement and then it was up to Dom to fight when fit to win back his place as Number 9.

This is all on the football club as per usual.

In today's game, we don't need players who play 90-plus minutes of every game. But to support that, we need depth in numbers in terms of the squad.

There lies our problem. Not just the past two seasons, for years now, we've been relying on a core of about 14 players.

Hard not to be a little sceptical or doubtful but a fully fit Calvert-Lewin will probably manage 10-15 goals this season and will have Chermiti and hopefully one other to give him a rest when needed.

Daka was mooted as a possibility last night. Not my favourite choice but rapid and a different profile to Calvert-Lewin and Chermiti.

Certainly a fit Calvert-Lewin plus Chermiti plus Daka would be a big upgrade on an unfit Calvert-Lewin plus Maupay plus Simms.

I can't find the stats showing how many subs were made by each team last season, but my guess is we'd be one of the lowest in the Premier League. We usually had several goalies on the bench, such was the weakness of our squad last season, and this season the squad looks even more threadbare.

Our players will have to be able to last 100 minutes, with the new guidance on extended injury time, because we have no options on the bench, or none that Dyche is willing to use, going by last season.

Richard Keys has been aware of how bad Moshiri, is for Everton for a long time now. It's all gone quiet on the MSP development.

Let's face it, until we get new owners, most Evertonians would bite your hand off for a 12th-place finish. Oh dear, what have we become?

When Sean Dyche first came in, wasn't one of the first things he did was look at the bed that Calvert-Lewinsleeps in, and immediately changed it to one that suits his body better?

Having the right bed can be very important for things like spinal support, and having a dodgy back can sometimes lead to weakness in other parts of the body, mainly your legs.

I seem to remember Michael Owen suffering with continuous hamstring injuries, simply because of having a bad back.

Dyche is necessarily being very cautious, he has both Calvert-Lewin and Dele Alli in different tracks of rehab towards match fitness, and he seems determined not to make the same mistakes of his predecessors.

My own abiding concern is how the club move away from the crippling record of long-term injuries which have beset the first-team squad for a very long time now. I am hopeful that Dyche and his backroom team will somehow begin to square this circle, and we will see players on the pitch who are match fit.

I would not rule out a move for Weghorst, who is seemingly unwanted by Burnley, but who is capable of effective hold-up play and would probably cost a moderate fee.

Dyche rates him, and he was, I gather, something of Stracqualursi-esque cult figure at Man Utd, showing good ability and a very strong work ethic. A season-long loan as back-up to Calvert-Lewin might be a good idea, whilst Chermiti adapts to English football.

It's essential considering Calvert-Lewin's fitness is still unfortunately a gamble. It can't be construed any other way. If things don't go to plan, we will be without an experienced focal point striker until February.

The likes of Adams or Ings, Weghorst or Moore for around £15 million is surely not too much to expect.

There aren't any other clubs at either end of the Premier League that would not have long since looked at that return and realised action is immediately needed.

Calvert-Lewin said, after the 45 minutes against Sporting, it had set him up to start against Fulham. Yet Dyche reckons he hasn't completed all the fitness that Dyche says will mean he won't start against Fulham.

Dyche also went on to say Dele Alli is miles off being ready to be considered, yet supposedly he was first back into training, so did he just turn up and do nothing, or is he still recovering from injury? I have no idea.

We sign a young striker from Sporting for between €15-20 million but the kid has only played 16 games. Now given that we have very little to spend, is he that much better than Cannon, who we are prepared to send on loan again?

Also, there are reports that we may bring in a couple more players before the window closes, but I thought the big idea was to make us the fittest team in the Premier League. But how do you achieve that if you sign players who won't have been put through the rigorous fitness regime the rest of the squad have been put through?

However, we have had many false dawns re Calvert-Lewin over the past few years, so I will believe it when I see it.

Yes, several other realistic options are out there, there's also Alcaraz, who Southampton may sell, however, I feel Weghorst has three or four attributes which make him a good fit as a potential Calvert-Lewin fill in:

1) He has Premier League experience and a decent fitness record.

2) He won't cost much, and a loan arrangement might be acceptable to Burnley.

3) Weghorst will know what is expected of him under the Dyche system and one would expect him to settle in quickly.

4) He probably would not need to relocate his family, as he is already based in the North West.

So, being realistic, it's Wout for me. I think the fans would take to him, too.

See you there. Or hear you from afar.

We are going into this season fighting. If we have to do it on our own again, then we will.

Our Everton. Not their's.

I was going to blame Kenwright and Moshiri like I always do, but then I thought about it and realized that wouldn't be quite right because the self-appointed Chairman and his exasperated owner only appear to be minding their own fucking business.

He's going to have to learn to deal with it, and have the in-built determination to fight back harder and come out on top. It's one thing having the height and some technical ability, it's another having the never say die mentality to succeed in the Premier League.

I'll be watching to see how he deals with the rough part of the game, seeing if he is up for the fight or not.

You know I will travel up and down the country to watch that team. And I will.

I will do on Saturday.

Meanwhile, there will be vacant seats in the Directors' box and continued a lack of communication whilst genuine supporters can't get in because we are sold out. Give your seats to supporters.

Total disconnection from the most loyal and passionate support base in English football. Total disregard and disrespect.

There was a WW1 phrase about Lions led by Donkeys.

I'd go one further. We appear to be led by ostriches with their head in the sand. Oblivious to what is going on around them.

When Saturday comes. It's about the team. I can't wait. They can do what they have done for the last 18 months and leave us to it. Abandoned, but we will get on with it.

They are not taking my or our Everton away from me or us. They never will.

Apologies, it's getting closer to matchday and the adrenaline is starting to flow.

As I often do, I agree with your sentiments wholeheartedly. Heading towards 70 years of going to Goodison, and I can't ever remember a time when I was less looking forward to the new season, but for some reason I just don't have that feeling.

Maybe it's an age thing, maybe consecutive relegations battles have something to do with it. Maybe because of this owner and Chairman, I have never felt so disconnected to my football club. Hopefully come Saturday and sitting in my seat in the Upper Bullens, all the old feelings will come flooding back.

I've just read, over 98% season ticket retention.

Unbelievable. They don't deserve us. But they are ours, not theirs.

I feel sick when I think about what the man has done to our club, and am just very thankful that the people involved in KEIOC never put their heads in the sand.

People like Bill Kenwright love ostriches, and this is evident by the empty seats which remained unoccupied whilst Everton were fighting for their lives to stay in the top division.

Even ostriches have shame – but I doubt Bill Kenwright's ignorance has ever allowed him to have such feelings, Danny?

Something does seem a bit suspect about the amount of time this deal is taking anyway. Alan Myers confirmed 7 days ago about a medical in the coming days… no idea what takes so long to arrange a medical?

I don't think it's purely an age thing. I began to feel it was useless having great ambitions for Everton hen someone sat near me explained that, even if we had an extraordinary, very good season on the pitch, it would likely result in finishing 7th at best, and that was a couple of years prior to our recent relegation battles.

Mind you, I'd snap your hands off for a top-half finish this coming season.

“James Tarkowski has recovered from his knock against Sporting on Saturday and is back in training ahead of Everton's fixture against Fulham.”

Excellent news.

There were loads of blues complaining when Moyes had us finishing mainly 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th during most of his years. It was not good enough apparently. It was for me, given the competition and the money they had to spend. You just can't please some people.

Well it sounds like we've missed the boat there.

And this is all after Dyche rang the bell loud and clear 3 months ago, saying 'This club is all over the place, it needs sorting'.

Even after all that, we've not had one fucking statement from the club commenting on any of it. You have to say, that Chairman we have is one cheeky bastard, he really is. I'm not buying the line 'Have patience, we have a plan and we're sticking to it'.

No, we should have got in someone to play up front. It should have been done weeks ago. It's an absolute farce.

I think he will put Danjuma in. I really hope it won't be Maupay. With McNeil out, it will be a tough one. With no additional signings, we are gonna be relying on a weaker squad yet again.

Three keepers on the bench perhaps… 🤣

Prove 'em all wrong, Dom.