Looking for Dyche to be more positive-ish. There might be another storm brewing

We have two holding midfielders, so he should be more offensive, but our two full-backs don't overlap or go forward.

And as you say, he has Ndiaye on the left, our best attacker, helping defensively, instead of playing him at No 10, where he said he's not suited, even though he plays there for Senegal.

We've thrown away points because of his poor decision-making.

"We have two holding midfielders, so he should be more offensive but our two full-backs don't overlap or go forward."

Which in my opinion is why we don't need 2 DMFs, we're playing with a back 6!

Although Mangala and Gueye can be called defensive midfielders I think both can and do get forward. Mangala especially gets into the opposition's box.

They have only played together twice and hopefully the partnership blossoms and especially against the poorer teams we will see more of them going forward. Well, that's my hope.

We seem to be compensating for Ashley young's age by playing deeper and supporting him from the winger positions which weakens our attacking ability and means we are playing 10 to 15 yards further back than we should be.

Not good news on Branthwaite as he's not signed the new contract offered to him and could be off in January, with Dyche admitting he could be sold if the right offer comes in. New Man Utd manager Rúben Amorim apparently wants him in January.

"Everton manager plays ultra cautious hoofball using two defensive midfield players against even the most inferior of opponents"...Shock horror.

I sometimes think people who are only now drawing attention to this fact must have been asleep for the past decade. Ever since We rid ourselves of Roberto's possession obsession we have had this drab anti-football forced upon us...And why do we always blame Ashley Young for sitting deep ? We were doing it long before he came along. He may be a shadow of his former self, but if he were to take part in a 50 yard foot race with Tarks, Keane and Seamus. The other three would be competing for minor places. Our back four, without Jarrad is slow to the point of still.

Our problem for me is DCL. No I'm not going to bash him. On the contrary. He does a fabulous job in the role he is given. His ability to retain possession under serious pressure from sometimes 2-3 defenders is second to none..But therein lies the problem. Like Big Dunc decades before him he offers a get out of jail card to players who wont taken ownership of the ball -"lump it up. He'll make it stick". Every manager he has played for has been happy for this to happen - I may be wrong, but to me he is looking increasingly like a player who has had his spirit broken.

Can you imagine the reaction of Lukaku or The Yak if they were given this sort of service ? They would just give the "hoofer" a look that said "Piss off". They were both tagged as lazy, but their reluctance to fight for and chase the big boot, virtually forced their team mates to be a little more creative.

We have got to get fresh idea's into this club. Drop the target man tactic and replace the big boot with a little guile.

Dyche out !... but not yet. He's the devil we know and will probably just about have enough to get us over the line. That said; Those expecting him to change would do better to spend their nights barking at the moon

Now is time to think about Saturday and Brentford at Goodison.

A horrendous travel schedule for me this weekend. The trip up to Liverpool from London on Saturday, back to London, then from London to Essex on Sunday to visit my cousin and back to London.

Followed by a trip up for the Wolves match, which will need an overnight stay. My sister is still insisting I stay at hers rather than the Adelphi!!

You've summed up the Calvert-Lewin situation pretty much perfectly. We know his limitations, but honestly playing the lone striker role in the Dyche set-up must be thoroughly demoralising. Chasing his own headers, for fuck's sake, with not a supporting player in sight, who wants that every game you're selected.

I don't think he will ever be a prolific goalscorer, he simply doesn't have enough talent to do that, but in the right set-up, he would certainly manage 12-15 goals over 38 games.

Reading other threads, it now seems 'his body language isn't right', but nobody elaborates as to what that means; amazing how many 'body language' experts there are around.

For the record, in 50 years of watching Everton, I've only seen one player 'going through the motions', and that was Alex Nyarko roundabout 2002, remember the fan incident at Highbury?

Tin hat on now awaiting the response...

I am positive for where we can go after the takeover and Dyche being given the taxi. I believe that, apart from Dyche, the club has been restructuring well after Billy Boy and that Thelwell can be a good DoF if given the powers that this position must have.

We're all fed up at being perennial relegation strugglers, playing poor defensive football with players who really shouldn't even be at the club.

Is it all the manager's fault? No.

Is the manager blameless? No.

Will we definitely improve our chances of staying up with a new manager? No.

Will we definitely stay up if we keep Dyche? No.

Will a new manager definitely play better football with this squad? No.

Will Dyche definitely be our manager next season? No.

Will Dyche definitely be our manager in January? No.

Is there an obvious, available candidate (other than Moyes) who could step in? No.

Do we need to overhaul the squad? Yes.

Do we have the money for a spending spree of Brighton's proportions this summer (over £200M net)? No.

Do we have the money for a spending spree of Ipswich's proportions this summer (over £100M net)? No.

Will we definitely at least break even for the season with a more modest spending spree of, say, £30m in January? No.

Might our rivals in the bottom half also strengthen in January? Yes.

Will Calvert-Lewin's replacement definitely be better than him? No.

Might we have to sell Branthwaite to buy some new players? Yes.

Not easy to reconcile all of this, I'm afraid.

Along with the already mentioned Walker and Benitez, there's also Allardyce to add. The last for me being the worst appointment of all time for what it represented.

Just gotta suck it up for a short while longer. I can't imagine Dyche is the manager Friedkin wants. At least the club is in a better place than it was a year ago – Kenwright's gone, with Moshiri shortly to follow.

Things looking up.

Amazing job paying £5M a year!

Would Nistelrooy definitely come to Everton?

No, not definitely. He might. But he might also head back to Netherlands or even get the Netherlands national team job. He might also get the opportunity to manage the much richer West Ham. £4M is the average manager wage in the Premier League so there isn't anything massively special about what he'd be paid.

I suspect it would ultimately depend on promises around investment, expectations and over what period.

Would Nistelrooy definitely keep us up? No. He might do. It's impossible to tell because he's never managed a club (or played for a club) remotely like Everton.

Nistelrooy has managed PSV before – when it was one of the two best resourced clubs in the Netherlands, with players who were better than the opposition pretty much every game.

He's managed Man Utd as a caretaker, with access to a really good squad that Ten Hag couldn't get a tune out of.

Has he managed a team of perennial strugglers with an injury crisis and possibly no budget to recruit? No.

It was the whole concept of Everton taking this, at best lower Championship standard coach, in such a key position. All of the others like Walker and Benitez proved to be poor with the benefit of hindsight but all had managed decently, producing decent sides; that is, conceptually they were fair choices.

Dyche is a known quantity and that was obvious; he has also proven to be totally incompetent in practice and for me we stayed up against the odds despite him being Head Coach – not because he kept us up. He is top of the pops in my worst ever manager – or perhaps worst ever choice as Everton manager.

It probably won't ever happen, but it would be interesting if it did.

And with Dyche underperforming us so badly, where do you think we'd finish with a 'decent' coach?

For posters saying we should be playing more attacking football, we might do better who knows, but I doubt it.

Dyche has kept us in the Premier League before, sure we would all like to be playing sexy football – whatever that is – and nudging the top of the table, but he must reckon that we haven't the players to do it.

I'm willing to go along with that; he should be a better judge than me. We have to stay in the Premier League – that's the only target this season.

I probably will and will have the cousins around henpecking me!!

Well done.

I'm sick to death of this "What manager would come here?" question. Well, I suggest plenty would – especially to manage a team in a brand new stadium and £5M a year salary with bonuses.

Dyche sucks all the joy out of going to Goodison. I've honestly never been more bored or watched such dull insipid football than the shite Dyche serves up. I've never hated an Everton manager more than I hate Dyche.

As Martin says, you could see why Benitez was hired as he was a trophy winner; but all Dyche has ever served up is "a point and a goal a game" career.

I'm honestly counting down the seconds til he is history; the thought of kicking off next season at the new stadium with him in charge doesn't bear thinking about.

I would like to see somebody young and with some thought dynamics. Experience is a bit overrated for me, especially if we have a good DoF and all the incumbent had to do was coach, not do any admin or management functions.

Previous success, I would also say, is an overrated requirement. Remembering also that the Head Coach can hire staff that can make up for any deficiencies which he may have; nobody is perfect.

So I would say Lee Carsley or Van Nistlerooy; Potter may still have some mileage; but somebody of that level and many are available who could come and grow with the team not drag it down.

Very risky in a very difficult situation but every Head Coach appointment is a risk.

The takeover isn't complete and will it be?

How will they be as owners? — Their record at Roma suggests a flavour of Moshiri's reign of horror!

Are we getting any more sanctions from Masters and Co re interest-free loans and/or the interest on the stadium costs treatment in the accounts?

Will Dyche still be able to keep us up this season?

Who is available and willing to take over from him that could get better results?

The only conclusion I can come to as a personal opinion is Dyche cannot be trusted to keep us up this season so get Moyes in in January with a modest budget to spend on a 1-year contract with an option for Year 2 and then headhunt the best up-and-coming coaches such as Corboran or Hoeness to take over once we have stabilized.

For the reasons you say, I think McKenna would be an excellent choice. Lots of similarities with Rodgers and Martinez, in a good way.

For me, the issue is When? – and honestly I am undecided on that.

Realistically, I think Moyes and Potter would be the likeliest appointments in January because they are available and know the Premier League.

I'm not convinced that's a meaningful upgrade on Dyche. They would also want a 2- to 3-year deal – and the prospect of that is quite depressing.

Could we get someone we really want mid-season? Possibly, and there's been mention of other out-of-work candidates like Allegri, Sarri and Terzic. These are possibilities, I expect – just less likely than Moyes and Potter.

Nistelrooy and Carsley would be a huge risk and increase our chances of relegation by some distance, in my view.

If we stay up, there's a very good chance we could get McKenna and start the ball rolling with him on a 3- to 5-year deal. I like the idea of that (or someone like him).

In the meantime, I think it's worth Thelwell continuing to strengthen the squad in January to give Dyche the best chance to keep us up – and indeed give Dyche the opportunity to improve the football.

You just don't know.

Why do you think Craig Bellamy would be worth a go?

What's he done or achieved to earn your vote?

On Saturday, Sean Dyche will be the manager. After that, who knows? The new owners will decide and we won't have a say in it.

I remember it like it was yesterday, I was 13 years old and mad on football, my last lesson of the day was IT and I recall looking at the clock and counting down the hours until kick-off. Great times were on the way over the next 6 months but I didn't know it at the time.

Things can change quickly in football, and this absolute shite that we've had to sit through over the last few years can't change quickly enough!!

Just a gut feeling about him really, I like the way he's set up the Welsh team and he looks as if he's positively inspired his players.

It's early days for him as a manager, but I'd rather take a chance on an untried rather than have another retread.

I watched the Turkey - Wales match rather closely and saw nothing inspired in that performance.

Ex-kopite with a chip on his shoulder and form for bullying youngsters and attacking teammates with golf clubs. A nasty piece of work.

Wasn't just in Student Union where the ale was ridiculously cheap. The Welly, Waterfront, LAs, The Roxy, Pipers Schnapps bar and the coma inducing Spiders (20p a shot!)

Could go out on a bender with a tenner and still have enough for a kebab and a taxi! The night we beat Wimbledon was one of those nights!

Pintagalastic Gargleblaster. £3 that's all you needed, and a young lady to share it with of course.

And Everton won the derby 2-0.

It is an "0" birthday for me and I came home from the restaurant to that news. Could not have had a better birthday.

https://x.com/Jim_Keoghan/status/1859591212405076315

Hull has quietly swerved the worst accent league with the prominence of the thick fat Geordie twats and the Brummie ... (I don't know what to call it, although my 'partner' the adorable and deeply sexy Jackie when we were both conductors on the buses in Torquay was from there: Go Devon General).

But how on earth have the Hully Gullies Codheads escaped universal condemnation? It's such a docile lazy don't give a shit accent.

'Eee have a skeg at that pattyslapper wouldn't mind taking that to a tenfoot and have a pattie and breadcake after and get a croggie home from me duvall mate if his bike is not brock'.

God give me strength. Davros and Hawking have better vocals.

Hull has some good memories for me.

I said a couple of weeks back that we were in a false position after a string of games where it was a reasonable expectation that we might win.

We should be 10th or 11th with 6 more points in my opinion. That would have given us some sort of safety net with December lurking around the corner where it is a reasonable expectation that we might not get that many points (here's hoping the reverse happens once more).

We could possibly be in the Bottom 3 by New Year's Day. Possibly. It's not out of the question. There's also a reasonable scenario where we will not in the Bottom 3 when the big ball drops. This is a close-run thing.

What's happening with the November takeover trajectory? It seems absolutely crucial to me that it is done and dusted over the next 6 weeks that include a fair bit of holidaying and partying.

The shape that we are in as 2024 becomes 2025 might well require some root-and-branch changes.

This is our last season at the famous Old Place, and the drivel we are being served up is atrocious.

I despised Benitez for obvious reasons, I couldn't stomach Koeman with his smug gob and inane ramblings, but this fella for me takes the biscuit.

I watched his presser yesterday and his talk saying Ndiaye can't play the Number 10 role was the biggest load of nonsense I've heard from an Everton manager in my life.

He almost sneered as he was talking about it, it was one in the eye for us who know where the kid is best deployed.

I pray to God this anti-football specialist is living on borrowed time. Hopefully, we get a good young progressive coach in who will turn this around… because there's plenty out there who'd take this project on.

Do you think Man City supporters are asking the manager should be sacked?

I think you know the answer.