Young's penalty saved to end Everton's cup run

Likewise newbies Ndiaye, Lindstrom, Mangala and O'brien.

McNeil at LB will be interesting but I think everyone will be relieved to see him there given the alternative.

Coyb!

McNeill at LB, Jay Harris actually called that out earlier today, I thought it was a positive shout, really interested to see how that pans out, fingers crossed.

Come on lads our season starts here.

UTFT

Hopefully they up their game to the point the coaching staff are convinced they can be routinely be relied on, rather than just emergency cover.

Up the Toffees! Not desperate to progress in this competition but we want overall performances to improve massively and the results to come with that. Happy for that to start tonight!

Naturally we hope that whatever they get they can hold onto until the final whistle.

I really hope it turns out well for them tonight.

UTFT Dyche. Set us up for Saturday please, in a positive way.

The most rewarding thing I think is that Tarks gets more time to rest up, hopefully in time to team up with Branners at the weekend.
Plus giving JP the night off, might be the kick in the pants he needs to up his game.

An interesting line up and even more interesting bench.

1-0 and COYB (PS How come Doucoure still remains so talismanic to us?)

Jake O'Brien flicked the ball on at the back post, Keane headed it towards goal and then Doucoure had the final touch.

However, minutes earlier and Beto opted to go to ground instead of chasing after a through ball. Once again, the small margins come back to haunt the Blues.

The clamour for changes and giving Dixon, O'Brien starts is well heeded by the manager in this game.

May we win in fine style and make them undroppable.

We just are not a team nor are we even the sum of the parts. We need another ball player in midfield. Yes, Doucoure scored, but he is otherwise anonymous and contributing nothing.

This is Southampton. Mighty Southampton and they are controlling the game. Spaces everywhere. C'mon Dyche. Prove you can manage and make the changes/ adjustments we are desperate for.

Tim for Doucoure. I wish we had a left-back. McNeil doing okay but just too much space down both flanks and he doesn't have the pace of Dixon.

Can someone tell Dyche we can't play for a point here.

This could be our last-ever cup game at Goodison. It's like a pre-season friendly.

If it goes to penalties, we're out.

Lindstrom, Ndiaye, McNeil, even Harrison to some extent will have a chance to craft things without them being broken down by a weak link like Doucoure or Beto.

No real intensity. Like watching wallpaper dry for the most part.

Doucoure can score the odd goal but generally is poor as a midfielder. Why the hell does he bring Young on???

So bored of watching this style of football!

Analysing tonight's performance is pointless. It's the bigger picture. We are a shockingly poor team. Playing as we do and managed as we are, we are incapable of beating anyone. We are going down and badly.

Change is required now. Not after we fail to beat Leicester and Palace. Dreadful dreadful football.

You've just got to laugh.

He looked like a 12-year-old.

Extending his stay by a year was a big mistake.

Of course he had to miss his penalty.

He is done.

Surely it must be time to drop the embarrassing song.

Southampton looked streets ahead of us and they're our main rivals for the drop.

Thoroughly fucking depressing.

Uninspiring and pathetic — and I've got the 45 somewhere.

What a shit game in every respect – and it could be the last ever cup game at Goodison.

We were overrun in midfield again because Dyche won't change his formation, and they controlled the whole game.

Just sit back and give them the ball? I think he's lost the plot.

Beto was having a go — I can't fathom taking him off for Young? Was that like the seconds throwing the towel in?
Head scratcher, that.

Passing backwards and zero goal threat, it's soul-destroying watching this shit. When's the next international break again?

Thanks for last season, Dyche, but I think it's time to find the door.

The only minor comfort is that penalties can go either way and we didn't lose it in the 90 minutes.

Dyche now has one game to save his job. No points at Leicester on Saturday and he has to get the sack... Moshiri, Friedkin or Textor will have to pull a couple of million out of their pocket to pay the Dychosaurus off!

Players continually passing backwards. Beto isolated. No support. No runners. 25% possession.

Lone forward off, Ashley Young on. I never want to see him in an Everton shirt again.

I never want to see Dyche on the touchline again. He can wipe snot over his bald dome at some other club. Get him out. Now.

Dinosaurs don't rule the football world anymore.

I was a Dyche fan but not anymore, we are a Premier League club and yet we act like a 6-th tier club.

It's like he just said "Here's a bunch of guys who have had not much game time, chuck them together and let's see what happens..."

Not good enough, Mr Dyche.

It can't go on like this. Time for change. Who? I don't know… the club's a mess.

I've supported Dyche from Day 1 but my belief in him is ebbing away right now. He needs to turn it around pronto because this is joyless stuff currently.

He has to go!

Southampton stroking the ball around in midfield, and all we did was hoof the ball, and no striker? He'd no game plan whatsoever, and Doucoure a total passenger supposedly a midfielder?

I don't understand what Dyche thinks that 30,000 Evertonians turn up for in an early round cup-tie, a hot pie, a cup of half-time Bovril, a catch-up with mates. No! none of those they come to be entertained by a team that will give it a go and try and win the game, not sit deep and play on the break, hoping that something positive happens.

Lindstrom did have an opportunity to put us two ahead, and there were other chances on offer, however, the overall performance was lacklustre, disjointed and bloody damn awful to watch.

I'm not disappointed that we're out of competition that we seem destined never to win, because it would likely impede our chances of stopping up if we had progressed to the later rounds, but I am disappointed that we didn't try and dominate the ball, and ask more questions of a fairly ordinary Saints team.

Never mind off to Leicester City on Saturday with a back four that will include Keane and Young - there's always something to look forward to at Everton isn't there?

Beto is awful. Up there with the worst we've ever had. Yer Barlows etc. He's worse than The Stracq!

With our side so weakened, it's all about the weekend

I'm not that bothered by the result. We lost on penalties with a patched up side in a competition we had no prospect of winning.

But it increases the pressure for Saturday's game.

I predict an unbeaten run and we'll be up to 14th by the start of November.

But please, no more Young. For his sake and ours.

Misery after misery after misery!!

Shameful stuff from Dyche, I can't wait til he is gone. 25% possession at home in a cup game, for fuck's sake!

For fuck's sake, it's why we watch and play football to win trophies and games.

Fuck the weekend — tonight mattered as us fans have seen no trophies since 1995.

Take it in… 1995 — it does matter!

The club will have no choice but to make a decision on Dyche if he fails to pick up 4 points from the next 3 games. It's that simple.

I hate penalties. I often wish we'd bring that golden goal rule. Play in added time until first goal wins, although we did have a great chance to go 2-1 up in the second half.

As said above, over the course of the 90 minutes, the best team eventually won.

We didn't have much shape, although it's difficult to judge when watching on the tele. And with all the changes, it looked disjointed.

Onto Leicester at the weekend. Turn the tide and we could actually be 15th, results dependent. Then Palace. Fingers crossed, it could be a different landscape in two weeks time.

We shame Professional Footballer's everywhere!

Young is a fucking disgusting disgrace too.

Dyche should go tonight!!!

I always regard Bernie Wright who was dispatched after playing 11 games for us as the worst striker I've seen, but even his strike rate of 2 goals in 11 games was better than Beto's (to date).

God help us if Calvert-Lewin gets injured again.

I don't want to see him playing for us again, but he's not to blame for the shite we see every game. So give him a break – but not another appearance, unless we're really stuck.

Southampton, the only other pointless (in our case in more than one meaning of the word) side in the prem, made 11 changes.

We had 11 strangers, with no plan other than play in your position, try really hard and run about and if the opposition give you a chance take the ball off them. “What should we do with it then?” Erm, give it back until they do it again.
We were rudderless and a pale imitation of a cohesive footballing team.

I don't blame the limited players. Brereton Diaz, for example, is beneath even us, but we are simply not a football team - and that's down to the manager.

He has to go. Enough.

We were taken to the cleaners and made a Sunday league player a multi-millionaire in the process.

Who was playing up top? This clown had totally lost the plot.

Time for DoF Thelwell and CEO Chong, to pull finger and start Directing and Executiving - while there's still in theory, time.

But this season...of all seasons...might be the one our luck runs out.

We had 26% possession at home against a newly promoted side (albeit a patched team)… absolutely dire.

You can see it. I can see it. Everyone can see it. For goodness sake, there must be someone with the capacity and authority to act and do so now.

“But the players, they do know. All you’re really doing is pointing out things they know. We had a quick debrief in the dressing room afterwards. It was all that’s needed. There’s quite a bit of experience in the group, so they will know. You don’t have to keep showing them endlessly what went on, they know.”

Since Everton were dumped out of the League Cup last December (Fulham on Pens) they've played 30 matches.
They've won 6.

Crystal Palace (FA Cup)
Burnley (H)
Nottingham Forest (H)
Liverpool (H)
Brentford (H)
Sheffield United (H)

Is Mike Walker available?

A patched up,team tonight, who will turn out at Leicester, does it make any difference the way we are playing and set up to play.

It was painful to watch. The narrow defensive formation we use was gifting so much space to their wide men, that whenever they passed to one of them we struggled to keep our shape as inevitably someone had to run to mark the recipient on the wing who now had the ball.

They made one crossfield ball that seemed to take forever to land but it still hit their man unchecked as he was in so much space.

Sitting in the Upper Gwladys there weren't too many boos when Beto was replaced, just a silent puzzlement.

Immediately after, one of our defenders launched a ball up to the big man up front. Who was now sitting on the bench and N'Diaye watched it be, well, defended.

I'm not overly critical of Dyche normally but I am struggling to defend that performance. We looked more up for it in the pre-season friendly against Roma, which says it all.

At the end, after Southampton won on penalties there was just a stunned silence of inevitability about the place. There were very few boos and some of the players came over and clapped to the Gwladys street and got a smattering of claps back.

Dismal night.

Dixon played well against Frazier and should be in the 11 on Saturday. Young will probably play left back.

Armstrong looks like he could be a future first teamer but needs to be out on loan in the championship or abroad.

Mangala did ok, he shielded O'Brien and Keane quite well and helped Armstrong.

Our last ever league cup game at goodison won't be remembered for long.

Sickness in the camp will make Saturdays game even trickier.

Fair enough, Dyche was without his first choice full-backs, but would a long past his best Coleman on the right and Ripley from ‘Alien 3’ on the left really have made any difference to that lacklustre performance?

Calvert-Lewin may have held the ball up better and Branthwaite may have added composure at the back but we play the same cowardly, ‘not the face, not the face’, facade of football amounting to fucking nothing regardless of personnel or opposition.

We can’t keep hold of the ball for a minute, turn and play it all the way back when approaching the opposition box for the keeper to hoof it, huff and puff chasing around the pitch belatedly after the ball like the mad kid at school who wore a Super Mario coat and sprinted round the corridors humming ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ at the top of his voice while people chucked rubbers and half-full tubes of Vagisil at his head.

Doucoure, in particular, despite his goal, was diabolical and passed the ball like he had pins and needles in both feet and Peri Peri sauce in one eye.

Harrison was game when he came on but he plays like he thinks he’s just joined the X-Men and can simply phase through physical objects in his path. I’ve never seen someone lose the ball so often by simply running straight slap-bang into an opposition player. Time and time again.

The only one in blue who looked like a player was Ndiaye and the young lads did no worse than their more experienced, supposedly wilier teammates. They’re the only small positives I can glean from the game.

From his post-match comments, Dyche…as per usual…seems utterly unphased by racking up yet another piss-poor display/defeat combo and once more sending long-suffering fans home lamenting why they persist in putting themselves through this shite. At this point he’s beginning to remind me of Raul Julia’s ‘M Bison’ from the mad Van Damme ‘Street Fighter’ movie:

“For you, the day Dyche graced Goodison with yet another galling display, where Everton were passed off the park by Southampton, may have been one of the most frustrating days of your footballing life. But for me….it was Tuesday.”

On top of that the Manager thinks he can play the same type tactics, select players who do no perform, play the self same players out of position and make nonsensical substitutions. Games are lost and the same is tried the next game.

Does anyone care that it ends up as a training ground rump for the opposition.

5 wins in 9 months may not be deserving of the boot but actually standing there, being interviewed and speaking aloud the words ‘last minute.com’ instead of just saying last fucking minute is definitely a firing offence.

Is Dyche sackable? With any takeover still very much in Limbo, I would doubt it. In our current financially precarious situation, where is the £10 million going to come from, that will be required to oust Dyche and his backroom 'band of charletons'? And just as crucial, how will funds be made available to find a suitably dynamic proven successor?

I can only assume that Dyche did not attach that much importance to tonight's competition. Perhaps he's saving himself for a determined challenge for the FA Cup and mid table safety.

Was that a pig that just flew by...?

Bayern Munich seems so long ago.

EFC is a rotting corpse.

Thanks Bill.

I didn’t comment after the Villa game as that was what Moshiri woukd call an “expected defeat” but this wasn’t neither was Bournemouth.

There seems to be a disconnect between players Thelwell rates and Dyche is willing to use. Granted no one played well but Lundstram is a number 10 who failed at Napoli out of position as a winger. So what do we do? Follow Napoli’s lead. Then O’Brien which despite Textors denials smacks of another cozy FFP deal like the sale of Dobbins. Help Lyon stay solvent and Textor will bail us out. Beto? Somehow has usurped Niasse as the most over priced crap player since God knows when. He’s another Straq but Straq cost peanuts and was moved on quickly he didn’t cost millions and sign a long term deal.

I realize Thelwell has a tough job but between duds like Beto and players Sean is unwilling to play in their position his record isn’t great,

Russell Martin supposedly leads the sack race despite this win and “good performances in losses” something we can’t boast. I don’t want to stick it all on Sean like some. I believe Sean as he admitted himself wouldn’t be here were it not for the dysfunction running the club. But it’s depressing, it’s predictable and there is little sign of hope on or off the field, even the new stadium makes me think of Millwall or Coventry getting new grounds then handing them over to creditors. It’s a sad state of affairs that began in the late 80s that was exacerbated by Kenwright and continued by his billion dollar buddy and everyone else.

The players do look bereft of confidence. Either that or they just tire, but we were very wasteful with possession, frequently giving the ball away too easily.

On the manager, I don't know how long he has and can't second guess. The current regime seem adamant he's staying. I have no idea who the new owners will be, but whoever they are, and I believe it will possibly be done in November, I'm sure in the background, they will be influencing any decisions.

My brother sent me a picture of Moyes after the match. Just no for me. It would split the supporter base, the last thing we need right now.

Paul @85, I remember kerby very well. We used to play Everton v Liverpool!!!

Harrison in effective. Beto couldn't trap a bag of cement. Lindstrom showed some good signs and linked up well with Ndiaye. Malanga did well.

A few positives but we were chasing shadows and conceded another set piece. This is going to be a long season!

For most of the game, we were losing and Beto looked lost, then he brought Martin Sherif on and it instantly transformed Beto, we ended up winning 3-1.

I know Tranmere aren't Southampton but why on earth didn't he try the same? Why have these kids on the bench if you are not going to use them? To see Beto come off and Young come on must make the kid think, this is shit yet he still won't give me my chance.

We should have won this in normal time. It just shows how bad we've become that we couldn't beat such poor opposition and to have conceded over 70% possession to them just emphasises how poorly managed we've become.

Yawn

And we wonder why teams eventually get us. And why players are tired/injured.

There's no secret.

That spell of pointless possession under Martinez has conditioned a generation of Evertonians into thinking that having the ball isn't important.

And someone like Dyche can put down roots.

Didn't I hear the commentator say Southampton made 10 changes from Saturday's team?

For fuck's sake, stop making excuses for Dyche and that shit show!

Booed, misses a crucial penalty, and gets his Winter Fuel Payment stopped.

If you can't control any aspect of your opponent's game, how can you exert any kind of pressure on them, let alone score goals?

Last night was a perfect example of the difference in coaching styles of the two managers.

We made Southampton look like feckin Real Madrid at times. By the way, they made 10 changes to their own team last night.

I think the manager is in a 'death roll', and I'm not sure he has the answer.

Thelwell's summer crop seems to have had next season in mind although, on last night's showing, not too many of them are up to Championship standard!

I don't rate Michael Keane but I thought he was a lot better than O'Brien. Still, it was very concerning that they never seemed to be close to each other (one of the reasons we are conceding way too many goals, maybe?) even if Southampton never really opened us up.

There's no partnerships in the Everton team, and this is the biggest problem imo.

I've said before that I'd just give one job to Doucouré and play him on the right. Although he's not a winger, he will run all day and won't be bullied.

Dyche has got to find a system before it's too late. I personally think he has already lost too many in the crowd.

From Day 1 with Dyche, the football has been horrible to watch. He has got to go now.

But the lack of possession in most games is killing us
26% last night was criminal against a promoted side who made wholesale changes
His team selections are truly baffling: Keane, Young, Doucoure, Beto etc.

I know the club is in a terrible state, probably more than we all know, but I think it's time to pull the plug on Dyche and his backroom staff because they just seen totally bereft on any positive ideas. I don't know who would make the decision because the owner doesn't give a flying one.

Fans are divided on bringing back David Moyes. I personally don't think he's the answer. Totally worrying times at our once great club.

The whole squad has been banned by RSPCA from owning a dog… until they can prove they are capable of holding on to a lead. [Stolen joke.]

We can argue about individual performances all day long though it's clear as day to me that the team is bereft of confidence and cohesion, whoever gets to play.

No one moves, no one wants the ball, it's all completely lacking in teamwork. It's get rid of the ball as quickly as possible. Everyone appears too terrified of making a mistake that no one tries that special pass or move that can unlock opponents that you see when a team is brimming with confidence.

That has to lie with the manager. We desperately need a new manager bounce, even if it is only a short-term appointment.

Moshiri is waiting until someone else takes the reins, that's a foolish strategy imo, by then it could be too late.

The problem is that we only play well for short periods in any matches. It could be down to the instructions. However, it is clear to me that the players are once again unhappy.

Could it be that coaches have only a short period in charge before their ideas become stale and players lose focus?
Obviously I am not talking about elite Man City lads here but average Premier League millionaires.

Ironically, Lampard failed to get a tune out of half of these despite being the epitome of the "modern" coach. Lots of possession and a big reputation from his playing days.

Lampard dropped Doucoure out of the side for a long time. Dyche brought him back and he rewarded the manager with huge physical effort and quite a few goals. It seems that he is now a shell of that machine.

Indeed, Tarkowski had some terrible howlers last season but, on the whole, that defence came fifth in clean sheets.

Dyche deserves some credit for the shit situation he inherited but he is very well paid. Most clubs would have sacked him last season during that lean spell. Now we have seen another run of abject misery.

I actually think the squad is better than last season. However, the manager has proved that he lacks ideas and his continual deflection of blame for anything suggests to me that there is a divide between the players and him.

His reliance on Young, Tarkowski, Keane and McNeil tells us that he has his Burnley favourites and Young is from Stevenage and they are old mates. I wonder how the rest of the lads feel watching the Dyche old boys play every game?

Last season, we won lots of games one-nil. I can't imagine us doing that right now. If Dyche continues in his manner, we will be adrift by Christmas.

If we go to Leicester and defend, we will lose. We need to go there and go toe-to-toe with them. It is already a six-pointer. If it's another shit show, I want him gone.

Bit harsh on O'Brien. I eem to remember one or two on here questioning whether Branthwaite was up to it early doors. Let's give the lad a chance to shine when the team calms down and starts winning football matches (hopefully sooner rather than later).

Guys, Moyes left over 11 years ago, let it go. Somehow we need a manager Brighton would go for, and that certainly wouldn't be Sean Dyche or even Moyes.

Joe, I agree. Moyes is the past. If we are going to change, think different. I appreciate some are calling for him to return, but I don't think it would be a good idea personally.

I find this totally unacceptable, it's not as if we were playing Man City away, we were at against a team that is expected to struggle to stay up – well, they were better than us.

I can see us losing to Leicester if something dramatic doesn't happen. The style of football has got to change along with the whole dynamic to get the best out of the talent we have. The continual "hoof" is a pain in the neck watching it.

As for a manager, I think Graham Potter will be the next to come forward, Moyes although a decent bloke would not offer that much more than Dyche's style of play.

I don't believe in ever going back – we saw that with Howard Kendall. My suggestion on Moyes is to steady the ship which is rudderless. It is highly unlikely that we would get a quality manager in our current predicament where there is no guarantee that he would be retained by new owners.

Of all the available managers, I think Moyes would be the most likely (only one) to take the job but I would only want him on a caretaker basis.

If we lose the next 2 games, something has got to change.

The lad then becomes a hate figure.

Offer him the job on an interim basis subject to review at the end of the season when we shall probably still be waiting for Moshiri to find a buyer.

It's not really Young's fault. He's only doing what he's asked to do and is aging.

The reason much of the hate goes towards him is because he epitomises everything that's currently wrong with the club. He's the obvious target. If it wasn't Young, it'd be Keane. If not Keane, someone else.

The question is where is it going wrong? Take the England performances at the Euros. We have players who are stars for their club but few of them played the same way. Everyone said 'Southgate didn't tell us to play that way' but no one is doing anything differently – so was it the players' choice?

Reflecting that to Everton. We've had multiple managers who have struggled to get the team to play consistently well, only poorly. Is that the manager or is it the players?

Every team needs synergy, and we have 11 strangers not knowing where to pass or what runs the other players are making. On top of that, I don't know about Gaffers Days but our lot look physically unfit or worn out.

We started to see some semblance of partnerships with Harrison and Coleman, and with McNeil and Mykolenko, and with Iroegbunam and Gana but that has disintegrated the last couple of games and the most important partnership is up front.

How many times have we seen breakaways with a player over running alongside and the player on the ball fails to see him or pass to him?

Our goals from open play stat under Dyche is an absolute disgrace.

We'll probably be bankrupt by then!!!

They kept possession, were tidy, patient, probing, while not really possessing a real cutting edge. At least they try to play football, with a purpose and an identity, a plan and philosophy.

It just shows a manager can implement a style with players, not outstanding players either, even if them players are not performing under another manager and style.

I don't agree with people saying another manager wouldn't or couldn't get us playing a better, not just style of football but, a more successful style that yields more points. He's added players with ability this summer and we still play the same way as we did without them.

Okay, players were out, but it wouldn't have changed the style or pattern of this match one bit.

Now I suppose the only saving grace is we haven't been relegated from the top division in 70 years, but if true that has to be the most depressing stat I have read about us for a long time.

I am sure somebody a lot cleverer than me will be able to check if that stat is correct.

A bit difficult to get promoted from the Premier League...

I don't know where you read that stat but sounds typically Daily Mailish!

I believe that's been the case for a number of years now. The longest wait for something positive to shout about of all the league clubs. It's a miserable place to be. It's a pointless place to be.

Maybe the increased commercial revenue from the new stadium can get us back to chasing the European spots. But that's about the best we can realistically hope for. It's not much to go on.

Everton have not been about winning competitions for years. What they have been about is self-serving owners and the gravy train kept going for staff: Admin, backroom, and playing at the club. As a matter of fact, playing in cups was extra work and, under Ancelotti, European competition was not wanted for the additional reason of FFP rules, having already had problems with P&S rules.

There has been a predominant anti-competitive culture at Everton for years. The arrogance is to the extent that the club can be put in risk mode of relegation just to get rid of the manager.

Dyche either is looking for a payout or being put to the sword as other managers have. Remember they dared attempt it with the almighty Ancelotti, one of the most successful managers of all time.

I've seen that before although I think there was another team sharing the accolade with us.

I don't quite get your angst... 70 years in the topflight versus possibly a promotion from Division 3 some 20 years ago.

I did an article in 2021 about it after that awful game where Josh King scored a hat-trick for Watford shortly after we let him go for being crap and fat.

Crisis Point

If I do say so myself, it's a surprisingly apt article (and set of comments) despite the passage of time.

We are bottom of the Premier League table. It's time to come together. Play, manage or support this great club – we are in a hole. Saturday we go again as one! Yesterday has gone! Brighter days ahead!!

Your article is very apt and has been since it was presented.

The team, the product of the management of the club and the management of the player on and off the pitch is very much determined by the culture that exists within the club.

It has been said and I'm inclined to agree, notwithstanding income, it would be considerably less depressing but I'd rather be competing at the top of the Championship than the bottom of the Premier League. Even if it was in the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.

Obviously it would be nice to improve our status in the Premier League but I can't see any other direction right now. The old stale, never funny in the first place, "best stadium in the Championship" joke looks more than less likely to happen in my opinion unless something momentous happens soon.

He did an accumulator bet comprising several teams in domestic and European games. He attended the game against Southampton and was absolutely gutted realising that all of his other selections were successful. The timing of the matches gave him no opportunity to 'cash-out'.

I told him that Everton would be the last team I'd choose for a win on current form. Cheers blues, for wrecking an unbelievable payday for a fervent young fan.

I'm not sure about that in terms or worst team.

I guess it is generational. The later Gordon Lee years weren't pleasant. And December 1983 was doom and gloom and we were staring down the abyss before we turned the corner in the New Year.

There are those who remember Everton being relegated in the 50s.

We have good players, but they aren't playing as a team and lacking confidence. They need that first win.

To me, and I've credited Dyche for the job he's done in difficult circumstances, but this season, it is down to tactics, instructions and seemingly throwing a group of players on the pitch without a clear plan.

All opinions and viewpoints.

It's still only September. A long way to go and we have Leicester to look forward to on Saturday. We can turn this ship around.

Our problem at the moment is that we give up possession far too easily and as a result we give up far too many chances.

It was the same last season but because we had a very good defence for the most part and had a consistent centre of defence partnership we managed to deal with a lot of the dangerous moments in a game.

That is not the case this season because the right-back situation has been a mess as has the centre of defence because Tarkowski has not been fit, Branthwaite has been out, and Keane does not have the ability or character to put out the fires.

We cannot strengthen the defence fully until Tarkowski is fully fit and Beanthwaite is back so the only thing we can do at the moment is:

1. Solve the right-back situation by sticking with Dixon
2. Strengthen the midfield to protect the defence more than it has done

Dixon has done well and with games will only get better. His pace is a great asset for the team. Give Seamus time to get himself fully fit and if Dixon does lose his way he could then come back into the team.

Teams are running through our midfield at the moment so to solve this we need to play 3 of the 4 we have: Gueye, Garner, Mangala and Iroegbunam. With two wide players and Dom. An over-reliance on Ndiaye's creativity may be inevitable.

The midfield needs to be tighter and must be equipped to keep possession far more comfortably than it has done, especially when we have been under pressure.

I cannot believe that Dyche thinks sitting back and letting teams come at us is the answer to our defensive frailty. The answer surely is keep the ball more and away from our box, and stay on the ascendancy as much as possible.

I started reading some of the comments in reply to the 'Crisis Point' article and it was shocking to read that many of the issues that were spoken about then in October 2021 are similar to today's issues.

Different players, different manager, but the same scenarios.

Some were mentioning our European ambitions being derailed as a result of the Watford reverse, some were warning that the Watford game showed that we'd be struggling for the remainder of the season. Unfortunately the people who were warning of potential catastrophe were proved correct as we ended up in 16th place.

Since that day in October 2021, we have more or less occupied the lower reaches of the league, have struggled to score enough and conceded far too many, both contributing to a lack of league victories.

In the article, you related a story about Morons carrying bricks from one side of a field to another, I'm not sure that we even have the bricks today.

It's been very apparent since that was when the arse fell out of Everton Football Club from a financial perspective. Everything that has happened since (mostly bad) is because of that.

He has that look and tone of a man who knows he's done and waiting to be kicked instead of walking.