Atrocious Everton snub Neto gift to lose at Bournemouth again

Pickford has been shown up for both today after his England horror show. Solanke heads the first from 3 yards out, Pickford again makes a move towards the ball before back tracking. Tarkowski leaves Solanke to Godfrey and Godfrey just doesn't get close to him. Both goals are a horrow show from a hesitant defence and keeper.

Looking at the remaining fixtures how can we be confident of beating anyone? Our away form is not good, our home form is the worst I can remember. We are on our joint worst non winning streak we have ever had. With Newcastle away next. We still have Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and lord knows who else to play.

Forest will probably get a couple of points back on appeal and one or two below us are bound to go on a some sort of run and pick up some points. And any loss to one of those teams will be disastrous.

The club is virtually bankrupt. The manager is out of ideas. The players are not good enough or don't care enough.

We were promoted the year I was born and just about 70 years later it seems to me that this once great club of ours is heading to the championship with nothing but a whimper.

When was the last time we scored more than one - Spurs and the time before that was our last victory against Burnley.

We can't rely on teams gifting us goals like today though.

Get the season over whether we go down or not, then move Dyche on for his and our own benefit

Virginia has to play against the Toon, as Pickford as we know has bad form up there, Geordies gonna have a party if he plays.

However, three weeks preparation for that performance, lays bare where this team is at and like others, I am wondering where the next goal or win is coming from?

If we had an owner, perhaps they would sack the manager, but I don't think that we have one, so it looks like more of the same.

Hopefully some honest and brutal team-building talks tomorrow and Monday. Beat the Skunks and, for God's sake, get some shots off. The season is passing by, and Everton can't rely on any but themselves.

End of.

I didn't even celebrate the goal because I was sure they were going to find a foul in there.

Putting the deserved abuse to one side, there is a very obvious consistency of opinion from the various posters. The performance was pathetic. This is after 3 weeks to prepare.

But why should we expect anything different when the manager is so steadfastly opposed to any change despite the consistent and appalling underperformance of his chosen 11???

We are rudderless at the moment so nothing will change but he has to go at season end, whatever our fate. He should go now. We are currently hopeless and hapless.

I am utterly dispirited to the extent that I barely care any more. That is a shocking admission and I am ashamed by it but watching my team is utterly joyless and utterly miserable.

Second goal, the ball can't bounce in your penalty box – let alone your 6-yard area. Tarkowski took the man and Branthwaite and Pickford expected the other to deal with it. Pitiful.

Context is everything and the context for this team is that they are dealing with something no other Premier League team has had to deal with.

Prior to the points deduction, my recollection is that the team were performing okay... not world beaters but okay. We would be sitting on 31 points (possibly more as the negative feeling has surely contributed to the current form).

They responded brilliantly to the initial 10 points but have had an appeal happening as well as yet another points deduction in the wind. We had a run of games without our key players and can not buy a goal at the moment.

There is an ongoing ownership debacle with constant talk of how broke and close to liquidation the club is. They are only human and with all that going on I think most of us would be impacted. I know I am and I don't have to play in front of 40k spectators every week.

Everton is not bringing me any joy at the moment but I know that this season is all about getting to the end in 17th at the worst. The squad has slowly but surely been denuded of talent but, from what I have seen, there has been no shortage of effort.

It is high time that the supporters started firing up for the team big time. Shouting at clouds about the corrupt premier league, Moshiri's ineptness, Kenwright, or the staggeringly unexciting 777 Partners buyout will not achieve anything but potentially watch us slide into the Championship.

It has been a tiring few years but the next four to five weeks on the pitch will decide the future of the club. I'm not suggesting we need to have the blue smoke out all the time but our boys need to hear that we are behind them 150%, especially when the next inevitable points deduction hits.

If we manage to stay up this season with a double points deduction, it will be a massive result and will need the spirit of the Blues to make it happen. The boys need our support more than ever.

Today, despite the warm weather training and without a game for a number of weeks, they looked slower than Bournemouth who looked quicker with more desire to win.

Forget the points deductions and the quotes of "we would be better off if we hadn't lost them". Fact is our record is P29 W8 D7 L14 – that gives us 31 points, with the 10pt reduction, 21 points, plus 4 points back is 25 points.

Today, 31pts would put us above Palace, and that is not good enough. For a Manager who prides himself on the defensive side of the game, he is failing. We may have one of the best defensive records below the Top 5 but it is not keeping the point we start with.

Other supporters may have more facts but he is supposed to have the worst losing record in the Premier League than any other Everton manager.

I don't care about it being too late, with this style plus the number of players we will lose, we will not get out of the Championship, and the next longest survivor will get all the accolades on Sky Sports weekly.

I want Everton to remain that team and if Dyche can't get them to perform, get someone who can before it is impossible.

I have been a supporter since the late '50s but for a long time have not seen games at Goodison, only through the media outlets, watching most games, and feel really sad for those fellow supporters who travel home and away and have to put up with these type of performances. I'm going to cry in my beer.

We have no goal threat whatsoever, Doucouré tries to link up with the forwards and scores some good goals but his control and distribution aren't that flash. I would like to see Onana playing off one of the forwards, I could see him feeding Dobbin some nice through-balls, given Dobbin's pace.

Playing Coleman was a mistake; after not playing for a while, he then goes and plays two full games for Ireland. He was always going to feel it – even a 20-year-old would.

Our problem is we can't do the basics, like passing a ball; shooting on goal is a joke; and marking and tracking your man.

We have owners who don't communicate the truth to their fans and a board who, instead of making things happen, they wait for things to happen and then hope they will go away by themselves.

Why did Tarkowski duck under the cross that Solanke scored from? Why was Godfrey nowhere near Solanke?

Why was Young on the bench when Dyche brought him in last summer as cover for Mykolenko?

When Beto scored, Patterson looked bored on the bench. Obviously he wants out and has had enough.

What was Pickford doing for the own-goal? He should have collected the cross.

Why do I bother posting this when I feel like I can't be arsed any more?

Any relation to Ian, a good friend long out of touch.

I was numb travelling home yesterday and just got my head down.

We will be ready for Tuesday night.

Well the supporters will be.

Jack, you'll be bothered come the next match.

I won't watch the highlights. I saw enough in front of my own eyes yesterday to judge that performance.

I am not understanding the fact that we are going with the same formation and same tactics which have not worked in last many games. What is restricting Dyche to change formation or tactics?

Doing the same thing again and again expecting the results will change is insanity. Every manager who has graced us in the last few years has miserably failed. This time I believe we are doomed. Only faltering Luton & Forest will help us stay up.

What the hell did they do with their time off? There's no understanding or cohesion amongst them. They play like strangers on the pitch.

I'm not a huge Ashley Young fan but he would've been a better option at left-back than Godfrey. He was superb for Man Utd playing there. And what has Patterson to do to get a chance for a game? It's obvious now that there's something going on between him and the Kettering koppite.

I could go on and on about his insistence on playing a lone striker. His reliance on Jack Harrison (a poor man's Iwobi). His poor, and late, substitutions etc… but it's not worth it.

I think we just might stay up, on 30 points, as the teams around us continue to fail to take advantage of our pathetic shittiness.

Like we were today, Danny, after three fucking weeks and 105 fucking days without a win?

Read Colin @26, Danny. Going the match is something I thank you for but it doesn't give you any privilege or expertise. Sorry, mate.

In fact, your blinkered optimism in the face of reality can be annoying – avoiding the reality, like, for example, the many times you have said, "I don't care who is on the pitch" – and I say this with genuine respect.

Get real for once, Danny, and please don't answer with the typical "We will be there and I hope the team shows up as well".

Answer these questions, Danny, with respect:

Is Dyche the right man, right now?

I think we will stay up but why do you?

Name one thing apart from the 1,500 that you saw today that made you believe that "We will be ready for Tuesday night"? One thing?

Do you ever feel embarrassed by some of your silly OTT posts when we have not won for 105 days? Reality must sometimes sink in.

Like many on here, I have affection and respect for you but you're in danger of turning into the court jester, mate.

This is the lowest I have ever felt supporting us and I only missed 6 matches home or away from February 1984 until I moved to Chicago in August 2000.

When it comes to Everton, I have always been an eternal optimist, until now. Dyche has beaten me.

I love your blue skies, Danny, but ......

So, forgive me, again, what are your views on Dyche, Danny? Give me footballing reasons why we will stay up – not daft Spirit of the Blues stuff. Instead of the usual blue bluster, Danny, I'd love to hear your pragmatic reasoning for why we should believe in Dyche and Everton.

Genuine questions, mate, and I will always be ever so grateful for you, Rob, Neil, Mark, the West Country Blues, Brent, Paul Birmingham, and everyone else who turns up, week-in and week-out.

That was from the heart, you are not alone. I too don't refer back to the point deduction, or even state "we will beat this lot, they are shit".

Why? – because we have a striker who has scored 3 goals in over 20 appearances who starts every game. A keeper who cannot command his area or collect crosses, and a manager who has 2 relegations on his CV and doesn't want to use his squad – be it Watford, Burnley or Everton.

Everton have now won just 4 points from a possible 39. The football is woeful, and horrendous to watch.

Everton have rarely achieved much in the entire history of the Premier League… as we know, the Joe Royle years were 30 years ago. Enter Kenwright, and everything has crumbled since. It's a good job the club is obsessed with history, as that is all we have.

No wonder everyone wants us to go down, low-scoring, boring anti-football. When the Clarets scored in the Dyche years, the fans would chant "Anti-Football" as Newman & Baddiel used to say "That's you, that is". This is Everton 2024 with Dyche, Grand Old Team, Nil Satis…

Forget points deductions, we haven't won in 12 games now. Tell me any other club, with any ambition at all who would let this continue?

But wait, who's going to sack him? I've seen pub teams with better organization than us! 3 weeks away and we return with the same "tactics" formation and personnel that haven't worked every week.

If I was playing at the back, I would be screaming at Pickford to just give me the ball short instead of aimless punts to nobody every time.

We are so lucky that Luton and Forest can't get their shit together or we would be Bottom 3 already. We'll get beat by all of them, I'm sure.

I bet Branthwaite can't wait for this season to end so he can leave this shambolic, amateur run outfit of ours, and who could blame him?

And Patterson… it must be so frustrating sitting on our bench watching the same shite every week and thinking, what have I got to do to get a game?

Harrison is awful, I don't care about his work rate, he does zero with the ball. Coleman is a legend, but his legs went last season, and we have sunk so low that he is being called for as first-choice full-back! That's how bad we are.

All our chickens are coming home to roost this season. Get Dyche out, and get somebody who sets up to actually try and win a game. We must be the most boring side to watch in the Premier League. If we were winning, I could put up with that, but we aren't, are we?

Dyche in the 3-week break with 1 week in Portugal became part of the problem. He did not get his regulars motivated, mainly because they have no faith in his tactics on top of their lack of bottle, and he failed to incorporate those who are not amongst his regulars into what is a threadbare squad.

His substitution policy is the same with no rhyme nor reason. His performance against Bournemouth has exasperated this further. The next game needs a player rebound to get back on track. It will be the players themselves rather than Dyche who will achieve this.

Dyche would be sacked by any other club for his current run of results, but such is Everton's situation, he won't be. A lot now rests on the result of the second Commission. Though I think that Everton will survive in the Premier League based on the inevitable twists and turns in the run-in, but it is going to be brutal to watch.

I was full of thoughts on the terrible performance of yesterday's game going to bed, woke up at 3 am to the realisation of that game then was consumed by them until I got up at 7-30 am and started to get ready for mass this morning.

I hope I can keep my concentration, better than Everton's team did against Bournemouth, on the gospels and the sermon when I get there or it will be a complete waste of time.

Never felt as low as this about the Blues as I do now and I'm struggling to see how we will get the few points that will keep us up.

Dyche should go as it is quite obvious that all of our players bar one or two are playing well below their capabilities… but he won't because no one is in charge upstairs.

It all makes us nearly impossible to watch, you know there's no excitement to be had, just watching like a cabbage waiting for us to score a scrappy goal to achieve a draw or an unlikely win. Dire times for a great club.

Dyche has inflicted severe damage upon himself after a 3-week break including warm weather training. He's come back with no new ideas or attacking inspiration. We're exactly as we were before, if not worse. Predicable and inert.

It's no good moaning, we need solutions. The attack needs shaking up, try something new, it may fail but my god he's got to try after nearly 4 months with no win.

I'm not saying at all the options are good or there's a magic formula but, sometimes a change or two can reap dividends, something clicks.

I'm thinking Danjuma left, Gomes in the link at No 10 behind Beto, with Patterson replacing Harrison in the wide right-midfield role.

Gomes at least can play football and may create something or retain some advance possession, Danjuma* adds a bit of directness and unpredictability into our attack, Patterson has attacking genes and likes to run at a defence, whilst still retaining some defensive tenacity. Beto again is aN unpredictable player and looks more likely to score lately than Calvert-Lewin.

* If Danjuma is still unfit, play McNeil.

There is merit in saying that no manager could get a tune out of these misfits and has-beens, but I'm very confident in saying that we will look back at this point in years to come and wonder, if the trigger had been pulled, could the outcome have been different?

I don't think he will go, but surely it's time for a Hail Mary?

Surely there's a couple of decent performances somewhere in this squad.

Calvert-Lewin is Dele Alli #2 (albeit probably without the hardships that guy has suffered). Stone and Woan ought to be ashamed. They should tell Dyche to put the youngsters on and Beto upfront or they quit.

The players in the threadbare squad are unwanted misfits with the exception of Branthwaite. Each game that passes, we are in danger of devaluing him. Onana, Harrison, McNeil, Godfrey, Garner, Doucoure, Calvert-Lewin ought to reach into their very wealthy pockets and refund every travelling fan for every game including costs plus travelling time. Season ticket holders too should be refunded.

In total, that's collectively about 10 minutes of pay to that lot. Pickford should go for Electric Shock Therapy on match days. He ain't been the same since that ludicrous penalty incident. Watch him at corners and set plays. He is behind the goal line. He has become a vampire.

Can't wait for another points deduction. Financial bankruptcy here we come – we already are bankrupt on the pitch.

I keep reading “We'll be okay – there are still 5 winnable games to go.” Well, this time yesterday we had 6 winnable games left and before the West Ham game we had 7.

I can't figure out why, but I don't see us winning even 2 of those, let alone 5. The team is bereft of confidence and ideas and when nothing changes, loss after loss, then it's difficult to see an exit from this spiral.

I don't care about a bouncing ball and who should have dealt with it, Seamus didn't need to do whatever it was he thought he was doing. He'll have to take that one I'm afraid.

We are so so poor at the moment, there was no reset during the 3-week break, goals change games and except for Beto being in the mix, it looks likely that we will not survive if more points are deducted.

This bunch and the manager have almost sucked the joy out of football for most of us, but it is just football and can be turned around. It's on Dyche now 100%. Hoping that not wanting to be the worst Everton manager ever (and he's had some stiff competition) will help him come up with a miracle.

But the likely outcome the way we're going is probably just fine for everyone at the club from Dyche upwards.

I believe we'll drift to safety. This year at least.

Personally I think our club's leadership misses the point that safety can't be the only aim. It's the primary aim but there are a generation of Evertonians who I believe will be lost to this club and you don't recover a generation of fans that easily. They're losing the very thing that makes Everton a great club.

We're in all likelihood already around 3 points from safety. Morale is in the toilet and there's the very real prospect of a failed takeover resulting in administration.

The gig is up.

Then there is the manager, and our team. And the truth is neither are very good. No doubting Dyche does his very best in the most difficult of circumstances, but his tactics, selections and substitutions are all cautious, clearly not working and boring. Before yesterday he had 3 weeks to come up with something different and failed miserably.

Why for instance was Coleman allowed to play two full games for Ireland? Godfrey has been awful at right-back but he is switched to left-back, the midfield has hardly functioned all season, and the two wingers are slow and seldom put in dangerous crosses. And Calvert-Lewin, who has not scored for months, is played as a lone striker?

Yes, I know the manager has limited resources, but surely it's time for something different. Dyche did make us hard to play against, but that's gone, we are making mistakes in defence, the midfield barely exists as a unit, and we play with a single forward. Nobody wants this situation to continue so let's have something different so we at least feel we have some hope. Sadly, I well remember the Mike Walker days; it was awful then but it's far worse now.

Apologies to all for the moan, and the rambling words, but I cannot think of anything more hopeful.

About the only option I can think of is to go 3-5-2, as that at least pushes the midfield higher to support Calvert-Lewin or Beto. Presumably though we'll stick with the usual 4-4-1-1 and hope to nick a goal from a set-piece.

But who's still in charge to sack him? The players clearly have no faith in the fella or his out-of-date Conference League tactics.

There are 3 winnable home games coming up and we need 9 points. Dyche won't win 9 corners across the 3 games. Get rid before it's too late.

All we have to do, pending the potential second points deduction, is keep up with the teams below us, and of course we play them so I suspect the only games that will truly matter, are when we play Forest, Burnley and Luton. Those will likely decide who goes down.

Yes, he makes good saves but there is always a mistake in him and he reminds me of Gordon West who was poor on crosses but a great shot-stopper. I'd be very tempted to play Virginia on Tuesday as he has looked commanding this season and ready to be played.

The Doucouré experiment up front worked for a while but isn't working now. Play him and Gana in centre midfield with Garner wide right and McNeil left (assuming Dobbin is unavailable). Two up front with one being Danjuma when fit – not that he has earned it but we must try something new and whoever thought Doucouré would be a success up front?

Putting Keane up front is not as silly as it sounds – at least for half an hour if we need to. I remember a centre-half for Sheffield Wednesday in the '80s called Paul Warhurst. They moved him up front in a crisis and he scored something like 11 in 13 games and got into the England squad.

Sometimes trying something different can just fire up the rest. Patterson in wide right midfield would help liven things up or give Chemitti some decent time rather than 3 minutes.

If we can't look fresh after a 3-week break, then we have to try something new. Newcastle have a number of good players out injured and their defence isn't great. Now is the time for the manager to earn his money and make some brave decisions using some yet-to-be-seen imagination.

We can't be worse than yesterday so roll the dice in an away game we are expected to lose and see if there is something new we can work with.

I can't see a lot of supporters on TW. The best he gets is that he has been dealt a dreadful hand but is trying hard and there is no one else.

However, if you keep playing your mid-ranged trumps when the picture trumps are still in someone else's hand, the outcome is inevitable.

When those players cross the white line, the only thing in their mind should be the game in front of them. That was so poor yesterday, it was beyond the realms of mediocrity. I was offered a coach seat and ticket for that game and chose instead to go fishing and boy am I glad I did.

That performance was down to Dyche, I've a feeling he's not respected by the players, they look bemused and bereft of confidence, structure and passion. God help us if Newcastle go at us full tilt, it could be carnage.

Branthwaite at fault for the first; Pickford and Branthwaite at fault for the 2nd.

Dyche played 2 strikers when we were chasing. We blame Dyche a lot but our players are crap and we don't have many options.

Dom won almost every ball to him and we got almost zero 2nd balls off him.

At present there is nothing to be confident about. All the omens are dire. The club's future off the pitch looks every bit as uncertain as the team on the pitch. There is nothing to take inspiration from. They all look like they're facing the firing squad week after week. We just need to survive somehow.

Most of them only care about the next big move they are getting and increased wages.

There's always an excuse, injuries, suspension, the colour of the grass, the shape of the ball.

Always an excuse.

They are pro footballers who are paid millions to play football. Do you really think if another club came in for 90% of those players with better wages, they'd stay? Would they fuck!

The way we play (or don't for that matter) is down to tactics and management, both of which are abominable.

No, dickhead, you had 3 weeks, yes, that's right, 3 weeks to draw a line under what went on before Portugal.

3 weeks to try different systems, 3 weeks to try different patterns, 3 weeks to get them super fit. Let's face it, them 3 weeks were a mini pre-season.

Yesterday our shit players looked lethargic, tired and downright lazy, there wasn't one iota of urgency from them when 1-0 down and 2-1 down.

I watched Brentford last night rattle the woodwork 4 times against Man Utd, I doubt we've hit it 4 times all season.

I said after the Palace home game we won't win another game under this fella while secretly hoping I was being reactive after another poor performance. I sincerely hope I'm wrong but don't think I will be.

I'm an NHS nurse and we all know what state that's in, do I psychologically let it affect the way I look after patients?

No, I don't; I do my level best for them.

GK: Virginia (Pickford needs a time out).
RB: Patterson (Coleman 4 games in 10 days too much, Godfrey's an athlete not a footballer, Young a late sub now and no more than that).
CBs: Tarkowski and Branthwaite (The best pairing we have by far).
LB: McNeil (Godfrey is not a left-back, Young, see above, If Mykolenko has had flu, he will be in no shape for this game. McNeil has started at left-back twice under Dyche and we have taken 4 points – Wolves away last season and Burnley at home this season).
RM: Garner (last 15 minutes, Young).
CM: Gueye if fit with Onana (otherwise Doucoure with Onana ).
LM: Harrison (In the hope that playing in front of McNeil will bring the best out of both of them).
AM: Gomes (I know, but when he played v Spurs in this position, he did okay).
Beto: He's scoring goals – 2 in last 3 games (for EFC forwards, that's miraculous).

Virgina, Patterson, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, McNeil, Garner, Gueye, Onana, Harrison, Gomes, Beto. and may they do the business and shut the Barcodes up!

Dyche is so scared of conceding a goal that his tactics prevent us from scoring.

The last thing we need is him dicking about, he's made a few elementary errors lately and I'm not doubting him as a goalkeeper here but he does have mental lapses at times.

What gets me is Dyche takes them away for a warm weather training break, then tells reporters that he's just had them doing the same things as always during training, why not try getting them to play some other style?

Chermiti and Dobbin... can't get any worse than what's currently happening.

I know where you are coming from, but Dyche's squad utilisation since before Xmas has been poor and he seems to have had no attacking coaching ideas. What this game showed was that he hadn't addressed these issues over the break.

Coupled with that, we got the normal lethargic after-the-break display we normally get. What we could get the next game is a step up in performance as the whole lot realise they have to put some effort in.

But Dyche's predictable tactics is a problem since the level of the defensive performance has dropped. I don't think many of the players give a fig leave about PSR Rules as long as they are getting their wages.

I wonder if Dyche is bladdered all of the time with his team selections and god awful play.

Maybe they were bladdered when headslapgate happened.

Patterson asking why an athlete who can't play football has taken his place, and why he's also behind two finished players. The athlete is then moved to left-back when we have 2 left footers in the first team.

Brings on (not so) Young when the game needed to be won. Agent Rafa, they said. Drunken Dyche these days.

I truly feel for the fans who travelled (and my dad who made the long trip as well). The recurring nightmare continues.

I used to feel great sympathy for fans who made long trips and were rewarded with consistently disappointing performances.

However, after speaking with one of my mother's neighbours (who missed only 2 games last season), he said I shouldn't as it's so easy to predict what is likely to happen.

They know what is coming before they set out. He admits it's an addiction that he cannot wean himself off.

Sorry about the rant people, I know you are all feeling it too, but I was completely gutted after the performance yesterday, never mind the result. Like we have said so many times before, it's the hope that kills you ! I wish I didn't care, or could stop caring, but I can't.
I am not religious, but I will pray to the God of Goodison - Howard Kendal - for some divine intervention. 🙏

Dyche and his own words about Frank Lampards Everton in April 2022 "they don't know how to win".

This came at a time when Dyche's Burnley team had won a meagre 4 games all season prior to beating us 3-2 that night at Turf Moor and was a week later sacked by the Clarets.

Now Dyche find himself in that very same situation almost two years to the day he spoke those words which arguably were nowhere near as true then as they are now.

At least under Lampard we did beat Newcastle, Manchester United, Leeds, Chelsea and Leicester around that period.

How can we expect an out of form DCL to score with such atrocious service?

Addiction being the correct word and why we have the best and most loyal fans on this planet.

I wish there were rewards and awards for it.

The big concern is that Dyche apparent strength before Xmas was a improvement in individual player stats.He has even quoted stats admitting being baffled by failure to improve, blaming players. The stats seems to have deteriorated further in the Bournemouth game. It looked like no work was put in to rectify this.What more in the interests of improving this selection and substitutions totally ignored any attempt address this.Everton at this stage of the season fall away in stats for every recent Manager.The problem with Dyche is that his formation and tactics are. 100 percent predictable throughout a game and the opposition can spend

time prepareing to exploit or snuff out any chance of players improving in the certainty of how Everton will play against them. In the Premier League such predictability is a gift to other Teams.

We are fortunate that there appear to be three worse teams than us.

The failure to improve is only fractionally the fault of the coach at this level

These are professionals and should be judged accordingly.
Our players are awful and don't look bothered

I do agree that the only reason we stay up is 3 worse teams

I would give anything for one player like Odegaard. Skill of a 10, puts in the yards/effort of an 8, not afraid to tackle like a 6.

If I look at who is being played to their strengths then it's probably just Pickford, Tark and Braithwaite.

Not one of the other players would want to be playing this style. And it shows - they're working hard but they don't look like they want to be there and they're certainly not enjoying their football. Every one of them would rather be somewhere else.

Yes it's their job, but they're still people. Anyone who has led people in any kind of sporting or professional environment will know that it's no way to get the best out of people.

The despicable PL has unfairly punished supporters for the Board's incompetence and has prevaricated over dismissing the most obviously unsuitable prospective owners, whilst we are presented today with more awful financial news.

Meanwhile Dyche, after guiding a squad of mid-table players into what should be a comfortable mid-table position has proved over the last dozen matches what many of us feared; that he is an intransigent manager in all aspects of team selection, tactics and match management.

Epitomising his approach is his continued selection of McNeil and Harrison. The former (26 appearances) has been unfortunate as he has been clearly unfit for some games and has suffered serious domestic concerns, plus he played well last season, but Harrison? We have had some awful players in the past who've played only a handful of games but I cannot recall a worse player who has “enjoyed” a run of 23 appearances.

Danjuma (when fit) and the now injured Dobbin have been overlooked in favour of two wingers whose only consistency has been a failure to perform week after week. Thoroughly depressing.

How many nurses work for doctors they don't like, performing a treatment plan they may not agree with, and manage to not let the patient suffer?

Don't relate ordinary people to these overpaid prima donnas. You're right, they don't look like they want to be there. But if your boss has the power to make you not want to perform at your dream job, then the problem is not your boss, it's you.

Frank had us playing soooo much worse, how do we forget that? We leaked goals constantly. Now we have one of the best defenses and midtable xG.

After the trip to the South Coast, we now head up to the Northeast.

Amazing supporters. If only the team could match them.

To give ourselves a fighting chance of survival, Dyche must make radical tactical changes, drop players who have clearly underperformed, and promote those who've been waiting their chance.

Ditch the two wingers strategy, it's not working. Start playing through the middle. Harrison ought to be dropped immediately. Personally, I would be tempted to revert to a 4-2-3-1:

Coleman, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko.
Gueye, Onana.
Garner, Gomes, McNeil.
Calvert-Lewin.

Nobody's place should be automatic. Pickford included.

The longer Dyche continues without changing selection, the more dire our perilous situation becomes.

A squad galvanising exercise has backfired. Up until the break we had a team fighting for each other albeit with low quality but they were fighting each game and I give credit to Dyche for that.

The slap on Patterson may well have been blown up out of proportion but that display yesterday was of 11 players that didn't fight against a struggling team. Nobody complained about the pen, no team spirit.

I visit this site multiple times a day to catch up on news and opinion. I enjoy the posts of many on here even if I don't agree with them. By nature I am pretty cynical and generally a realist about most things especially the blues.

I enjoy the reality check I get from the optimistic posters who show a real passion that I don't naturally have. The never say die attitude does pick me up and gives me hope even if I know in the back of my mind that we are shite.

The many travelling fans that will make their way up to st.James park on Tuesday know the odds are stacked against us but the beauty of sport is that we do have a chance.

Hopefully their injuries affect them and complacency sets in after their recent stirring comeback.

Yes - Whitby Rangers! That's brought a smile to my face, I remember him talking about them and all the stories following Everton, with his mates! Days on the Echo etc.

I'll contact the admin here and see if they can pass on my email to you?

Hope you're well and sorry you had to find out about my Dad this way.

I'm sure you and I have met briefly, once when you and your brothers returned to the Netley as you didn't have enough to get in the ground as you'd bought hamburgers on the way up, and Callister rather than McCallister and I think I helped your mother with you in your pram up those stairs at the Chester Echo office, knees up Mrs Brown at Leeds Uni, and numerous Whitby 'Gers stories.

I hope Admin can help.