Everton hard to beat as Pickford saves Gordon's penalty

Predictable but we should have Gana instead of Doucoure in the middle.

We look way too light in the middle defensively.

Hoping for a positive outcome, but if not, have the courage to stand by and to explain your decisions.

They are going to have to work harder than they did in the last game from the start. Hopefully this is a reflection of a similar attitude in training.

Garner should be playing in a three-man midfield, he's not a full-back.

Dyche playing his favourites Doucoure, Young, Keane and Harrison.

If McNeil is playing behind Calvert-Lewin, you cannot have a midfield of one defensive midfielder. I think this is tactically stupid with Tim and Gana on the bench.

What has Iroegbunam done wrong?

Concerned that your tactical nouse is superior to our manager.

2-1 to the Blue Boys with a late winner to send the faithful home happy and the ToffeeWeb followers buzzing going into the international break.

If Gana had done it, you would have remembered.

We are playing at home with a defensive back four missing 3 first-team choices and offering them no defensive cover. Nuts...

Doucoure is the selection that continues to mystify me. I can not see what he brings to the table in any role and particularly tonight where we have no recognisable full-back.

But hey ho, Christine, what do you and I know? Only been watching 62+ years.

Hard to see a win today unless we get lucky like last week.

Very few teams ever win back-to-back home games.

Dyche tactically stupid?

How dare you! 😱

I'd have Tim and Gana for Doucoure and Harrison, 4-3-3, against Newcastle's three in midfield

But Dyche hasn't played three in midfield this season. We're overrun but Dyche won't change formation: stubbornness.

Just had an earthquake here... very wobbly — and I haven't touched a drop.

I thought Finch Farm was to train players – not injure them.

Lack of quality from players and management.

More importantly, Christine has been proved correct again. Every out-ball from Newcastle is going into the middle of the park where there is just too much space and puts us under the cost all the time. As things stand I will happily take a point and turn over and let Mrs L watch Strictly. (Just one tele here on holiday in Cyprus!)

I've not even seen a replay but I believe we've had a goal disallowed and again Doucoure doesn't seem to know the offside rule but our midfield again seems uncoordinated and very little support up front.

The penalty was an act of stupidity by Tarkowski but if VAR gets involved then it has to look at who started holding first and none of this "but it always goes on".

I only caught the penalty on replay but that wasn't the best and if Gordon had done as he did against City and hit it the other way then who knows. Mind you, Gordon does look better in central midfield.

A good omen? Not with Idrissa Gana's shooting!

And that, my friends, is the Dyche philosophy that will never ever change.

Hopefully, we have our defence back in 2 weeks.

Our squad is thin enough without having three quarters of the defence out injured, so I'm happy with today.

But Anthony Gordon should be playing for us, not them. Perfect example of what's gone wrong at this club. Very sad.

And that, in this instance, is no bad thing.

Big picture George, big picture.

Garner had an outstanding game. Gordon got what he deserved, missing two absolute sitters (one a penalty).

Grit in abundance, but creatively we weren't really there.

However, we are a poorly organised team and so hard to watch and to be excited by. I truly believe that if set up differently with a better tactical approach that we could be more positive and more challenging.

That requires a change of manager.

We totally lost the centre of the park tactically and they won every second ball. No real service up front.

Disgraceful decision not to award a penalty on Calvert-Lewin. Especially when you see what does constitute one now. Clear and obvious.

Will take the point but could so have been better.

But it seemed that Dyche had made his mind up 5 minutes into the second half that he was going to play for the draw and I didn't really see the point in Gana for Mangala unless there was an injury but he didn't look injured.

Or it was a matter of a substitution for the sake of it and the same for Iroegbunam for Harrison. Somebody should take Gana aside and explain to him where his shooting is going wrong in not leaning back, stay upright and just follow through rather than trying to put everything behind it…balance and weight transfer.

At times, I find it difficult to see what Dyche is trying to get them to do; what's the plan and pattern. And I don't think Garner brings much to the right-back position that Dixon won't.

MotM, didn't think we had one.

Gana might be 60 years old, but he's still a better player, despite that ridiculous miss.

What is beyond argument is that Gana should have buried the rebound. That could have been the game.

And yes. Your comments pre and post-match about our gaping midfield are so pertinent and so obvious. To us at least.

That was a dire watch. Newcastle are not a good side at the moment but we are absolutely shocking. Like all, I will gladly take a point but, Christ on a bike, that was a piss poor performance. If I was Calvert-Lewin, I'd be looking for a move to anyone come January.

To think I took time owing in work to rush home and watch that turgid shite… I don't know why.

But it's ok because with our advanced technology we can convince people that Calvert-Lewin actually kicked Burn.

No. Anyone who ever played football knows what Burn tried to do and what he did do.

Oh my God, how sad is that?

We're a poor team with a lack of quality. Yes, we're hardworking, but some players look almost out on their feet because of the demands of Dyche's tactics; no wonder we have so many injuries.

It's an excellent point. I've seen ordinary managers, lots of them, and this one knows what he's doing.

He's too much of a footballer for Dyche, I'm afraid.

We can all hope and wish things were different but they're not and probably won't be for some time.

And Ndiaye has a permanent contract already.

Young, Keane, and especially Garner did well filling in across the back. Idiotic from Tarkowski giving up that penalty.

And even though I generally expect Gueye to shoot over the bar, that was an unbelievable miss.

Take the point and move on, hopefully get some injured players fit over the break.

Was he fucking joking???

Doucoure is either playing just off DCL or he should be in the stand. However, we took a point from the game and, with some players back from injury, we will be better going forward.

Ndiaye is on a permanent contract, I think

Dyche should be more tactically pro-active and should look at making impact substitutions. Dyche can help us survive another season but he is surely not a progressive and tactically strong manager to take us forward playing front-foot football.

Perhaps when players like Jarred, Coleman, Patterson, Chermiti, Broja, Lindstrøm come up to full speed, Dyche may get more adventurous. But till then, he needs to build the foundations for the season, and he is doing just that.

If only the team had held on for the win against Bournemouth, things would have been looking quite different, so Dyche has had to press the reset button, and rebuild from there. 5 points from the last 3 games is a step in the right direction.

Great analysis Les and I'm sure that you will join me in congratulating Keane for being joint MotM with Garner.

Can you see why I frequent my beloved TW less and less now?

Add to that some decent stuff going forward, that on another day might just have come off, and it's a good day at the office.

Shame we didn't hold in against Bournemouth. Had we won that, we'd be sitting very comfortably right now.

Again, the area in front of the Central Defenders was empty allowing Newcastle to run at the back four. It worsened when Gueye came on as he ran up the pitch like a headless chicken.

Calvert-Lewin was isolated. Our sole tactic was to hoof the ball to him and invariably it came back.

The only bright spot was the performance of Garner who was superb at right-back.

The sooner the takeover is confirmed and Dyche booted, the better.

That 90 minutes was utter dogshit.

Have a nice trip home.

Do you really want the risk that open play causes? Or do you just wait for the outcome to complain about whichever is convenient.

Newcastle were clearly better everywhere but at striker. And that is an actual question, not a rhetorical one.

Dyche's formation leaves a lot to be desired, he leaves the midfield with only two in the middle under severe pressure… and yet again tonight.

A patched-up Everton went toe to toe with an expensively assembled Barcodes side. We got a valuable point. We kept a clean sheet. Not much to complain about.

We were totally wasteful in possession and, while I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of Keane and Young, I was very frustrated at all the percentage balls we kicked long.

With the likes of Managala, Ndiaye and McNeil, we have the players to build up play and control the game and don't mention Pickford and his wannabe midfield kicks to the opposition.

Also shout out to Harrison who I thought had another good game today and should not have been subbed.

I guessed that mate. 😁

Midfield never got involved. Hoofs from the back over their heads.

The football isn't exciting but, if we'd seen out the Bournemouth game, I think people would be pretty satisfied with the season thus far.

I have now found the mission of Dycheball: To baffle the opposition. The fact that he baffles Evertonians as well is a byproduct.

Good result.

Ndiaye is on a permanent contract, my mistake. Sorry, chaps. 😥

Tarkowski made a huge error for their penalty, and I can't make my mind up regards our no penalty.

Ndiaye reminds me of Gray - very few of our players are on the same wavelength as him attacking wise.

Ndiaye needs a player or two closer to him – quick one-twos, he is trying to do too much himself – Dyche and the coaches should know this!

He said no other Premier League team look so uncomfortable in possession.

We got lucky. Newcastle dominated us. That performance was just kick the ball as long as possible.

It was disgusting. We should be better than that.

What worries me slightly is that the performances and underlying statistics are worse than they were last season. We were pretty lucky today that Newcastle's finishing was poor and the likes of Keane, Garner and Pickford had good days.

Today was gritty but we will lose far more than we'll win of such games and, whilst I'm not expecting us to be dominating the ball against Top 10 teams, Dyche needs to find a better balance. Two shots and zero corners at home is not really good enough.

Still, 5 points and unbeaten in 3 games is a better little run and grinding out points is what will keep us safe ultimately. I suspect TFG will be expecting more though – and rightly so.

Avoiding relegation is the one and only goal this season, we are not good enough to win a cup even if we went all out for it.

This bizarre excuse that we had a patched up team and three of our back four missing is not really a valid argument. Branthwaite is obviously a huge miss but Keane played well today. When all are fit, Dyche has generally preferred Young over Coleman. So the other change was effectively Garner for Mykolenko which I don't think is a massive downgrade.

Just as we had lost our outstanding centre-back so have they in Botman, yet we never really tested them despite that. In addition, without Isak and Wilson, they were totally impotent, especially with Gordon forgetting his shooting boots.

Today was a great opportunity to beat Newcastle – we were woeful. I think the point was as much about their deficiencies on the day rather than a well-deserved one and a big moment from our much maligned goalkeeper who rarely gets the credit he deserves yet gets blamed for everything that goes past him.

But we need to play better. We can't rely on close games like that by sitting back. 6 points from the next 2 please.

Agree ref Pickford, the bashers of England's No 1 have gone a bit quiet.

We should put in an official complaint – not that it would do much.

Sometimes it works and we scrape a draw. Often it seems we lose. Occasionally we win.

His shtick is always that we need to beat the teams around us, the shitter teams. Points against other teams are bonus points.

Dyche will be delighted with a point today and he'll praise the players for it because they ran about a lot and kept a clean sheet – largely through sheer luck more than judgement.

I'm rarely one to lay into managers but I'm beginning to lose the will to live watching us play. We're so uninspiring to watch, we offer very little in terms of the Premier League product.

I might start supporting Villa! 🤣

After the first bunch of games I'd quite like to see Keane next to Branthwaite. Tarkowski needs to have a word with himself.

We win the game if Gana gets his knee over the ball but it'd be great to win it through passing the ball to each other quickly rather than this attritional shite (and I think Dyche is perfect for these players ‘cos they can't do much of anything else).

Sorry mate but you can't physically throw someone on the floor in the manner Tarkowski did and get way with it. Watch it on MotD tonight. If we didn't get a decision like that there would be murder, stone wall penalty.

Ours was 50/50... the defender gets in front of Calvert-Lewin and his shooting leg kicks the back of the defender's leg.

I've now been banned but fuck 'em!

“Look up the word schadenefreude. And the new dictionary explanation is “Anthony soon to be a redshite Gordon having a penalty saved by geordie hate obsession Mackem Jordon England number one Pickford in front of fat, shirtless horsepunchers with inflatable TRexs who think they're a big club despite having won absolutely fuck all since the '60s and even then it was the fucking fairs cup (exactly!) deluded plastic koppites”

Up the fcuking Toffees!

🤪”

Best laugh I've had all week – and he has the bollocks to challenge the decision, ha ha!

James, fuck off and support Villa then.

Both teams might look upon it as 2 pts lost. Shovel foot Gueye though could've made it all moot.

Fullbacks, Garner especially, still too narrow for me.

Edit; to say that Tarkowski wrestled the guy to the ground is neither here nor there.

Branthwaite got nothing and at any corner there could be 5 penalties – but they choose not to see them. Penalise all or none.

Mangala was done but he had a good game until he tired. Doucouré stayed because of his energy and he never tires no matter how much we get bleedin‘ tired watching his multiple mistakes, lack of control and insane stupid fouls.

I think a lot of us wanted more subs, only two were used, but who else on the bench were we going mad to see? Harrison's work rate meant he was knackered, so it wasn't surprising he went off.

Pickford will get MotM for the penalty save. Young was again cool, calm and collected. Keane was steady and Garner made some well-timed tackles and little Ndiaye gave us a few more moments to savour, reminding us that we came to watch some football and not all grit, toil and hard graft.

One day we will be better than that, but right now we're not.

We didn't do enough in midfield to control the game or support the forwards... how could we score if we're just backtracking? Not like that at least.

We have had some decent defensive midfielders for years but nobody since Mikel Arteta to cause danger from the centre. Well, maybe James… but not consistently. We still can't figure that out after all we spent. Baffling.

And despite all his effort and athletic ability, Calvert-Lewin is not going to hit double figures, not in this team. It's been a while since his form was anywhere near that. We need to acknowledge that and find a different solution but, for me, it starts in the centre of the pitch.

People need to get real and understand we really are a painfully poor outfit with hardly a proper footballer in the squad.

We have to scrape points where we can and hope 3 teams end up worse than us but throwing the dummy out because we're not playing on the front foot is delusional.

The Calvert-Lewin incident is a penalty all day, great defending from Burn but a penalty. Pawson is a terrible ref.

I honestly don't know what people want from this squad. We have struggled for 3 seasons, sold our best players, got injuries across the defence, but we come away with a clean sheet and a point against a pretty strong Newcastle.

James Garner was my MotM and should be converted to full-back, the cross for Doucouré is something we haven't seen for decades from a right-back at our club.

Garner wasn't that good at right-back, he is not a natural for that position; he could have given us more in the middle and Dixon's pace would have been a plus too.

Doucouré's best moment was an offside goal; Gana starting would have helped our shape and possession.

Ndiaye and McNeil were not on song because we were playing the wrong tune; on another day with a better conductor, we could have a team reading from the same song sheet...

Pickford vs Gordon was a good moment. Our penalty claim was a 50-50, Tarkowski's blunder was awful. Keane had his back a couple of times today...

On balance, we take a point, but it felt like a missed opportunity to me.

During 90 minutes, Garner had to mark Harvey Barnes, Gordon, Murphy and Willock and kept them all quiet — what more do you want from a right back?

Oh and he put a world class cross in for our disallowed goal.

His cross was spot on, Rob.

Today, yet again, 33% possession at home — how can we improve with that stat every week?

He will be gone at the end of the season — purely because he is a limited manager. I like the bloke and wish him well but I can't stand much more of his Dycheball — it's awful to watch.

I'm not saying the posters were wrong to be worried; just that it's Sod's Law anytime there are a lot of pre-match worried posts that we do the unexpected, which in this case was keeping a clean sheet.

It's a decent outcome given what we have. Sad though to see how Newcastle can spend responsibly and give a manager time and do well… versus us doing the complete opposite over and over again for 10 years.

I would like to see 4-5-1 with Ndiaye and McNeil wide with Mangala, Gana and Iroegbunam down the middle. I would play Garner at right-back until we get someone better.

We lack quality all over the pitch. I don't see how we can play open attacking footy with this squad.

And if you say "better than that", then turn it around…

If Everton were a top-half club, in the Europa League, against a club in the bottom half, with a severely depleted back four, what would we expect?

The question should be how did Gana miss the open goal???

His delivery is good, hence he also takes set-pieces, so we should get him up the pitch as much as possible. Anyone who has watched us for the last 3-5 years coherently remembers those times and isn't happy with today's performance or result needs to give their head a wobble!!!

We are still in a mess, don't let a decent start to the season fool anyone. Dom is a major factor in our struggles, he only plays at 75% to not get injured.

We'll never see 100% Dom again I'm afraid and he doesn't contribute enough with goals or dropping deep to help play. I hope Broja is the real deal.

Young has been good of late too; two players I'd usually moan if I see on the starting 11.

Solid point today.

If Calvert-Lewin's touch was any good, he wouldn't have needed Burn to foul him, it was set up for a good first touch and shot… Hence why a tiki-taki manager would take us down IMO.

The team is full of workers and heart, the lads go into battle and give it their all — I'll give them that, but sadly only Ndiaye, Branthwaite and Iroegbunam seem to be ballers in our squad. Everyone else is a bit shit like…

Mind you, that same argument was used in the Liverpool game when St Virgil held Guehi late in the game. It's a foul and should have been a penalty.

Then we've got the Calvert-Lewin foul. If the ref gives that it doesn't get overturned. It doesn't get overturned because it was a foul.

I understand people making the argument that Calvert-Lewin kicked Burn – but only because they're being conditioned into thinking VAR judgements are actually rules of the game. They're not - they're massively inconsistent interpretations by people who are ruining the game.

That's a foul everywhere on the pitch at every level of the sport for the full history of football. Burn isn't standing still – he inserts himself into that position to impede Calvert-Lewin who is about to score a certain goal.

But hang on, let's check the slo-mo. For fuck's sake, that's not a decision that needed much analysis. Calvert-Lewin is about to score, Burn can't get to the ball, he can't get between ball and goal to block the shot, so he takes a risk and steps into the only place he can impede him. It's natural, it's instinctive, and it's a clear foul.

Of course Gueye should have rendered it irrelevant but it's Gueye. It's pretty expected. Except for the Expected Goals stats which would have expected him to score.

If you had uttered that post for the last two seasons, I may have tended to agree with you. However, this squad has had a massive upgrade in quality with the additions of Mangala, Lindstrøm, Ndiaye and O'Brien. The young boy Iroegbunam from Villa looks decent as well.

Today, if you go through the starting elevens, I would make a combined team of 6 Newcastle starters and 5 Everton. Moreover, Newcastle's superiority came from the full-back positions and the middle of the park.

The only real goal threats they possessed today were Gordon and Barnes. We have Calvert-Lewin and McNeil. Doucouré and Guimares are comparable in terms of goals. We have two players in Lindstrøm and Ndiaye who have excellent goalscoring stats (though not at Premier League level yet).

We were at home, we had arguably the more potent firepower of the two sides, and they had two elite players from the spine of their team missing, so why shouldn't we play on the front foot when they were weakened in both departments?

Play the man, not his reputation!!

We play this game with no Branthwaite, no recognized left-back, and another player brought in to replace a regular right-back, against a team in the Top 6 that held Man City to a draw last game.

I believe that the majority of supporters may not want Sean Dyche to stay but, if you give him the points back that poor management lost, he did not do too bad last season, but I will not be surprised if he is replaced when the new ownership comes in.

He is there to keep us in the Premier League, and so far he has done that, even though sometimes it is ugly. But to have to replace two regulars a couple of days before a game, he deserves a bit of credit. He is not on the pitch during the game…

Burns just moves across Calvert-Lewin, he doesn't touch him at all; there is no rule in football that says you can't move in front of a player. He got between Calvert-Lewin and the ball, that's all, it was good defending IMO.

Calvert-Lewin swings at the ball and kicks the back of Burn's leg. The crime was the follow-up shot by Gana that should've been buried.

Spot on fella – a sensible post that I 100% agree with.

It has been pointed out that he wasn't lasting much beyond 70 minutes in previous games but I think most people could see that was the trade-off for how much effort he put in every game (and the manager could have mitigated for it by earlier substitutions).

A young lad who joined a new club in the summer and really stepped up to the plate in the early games; I'm happy to forgive a few errors as we go along for the promise he has already shown.

A few of us called for more (able) bodies in midfield before the game; the manager stuck to his usual formula and it just about worked out as a ‘positive'.

Tarkowski's behaviour for their penalty was ludicrous.

I don't see how any reasonable person can switch it from "Burn used his leg to block Calvert-Lewin's foot", to "Calvert-Lewin kicked the back of Burn's leg"? Nailed on compared to so many we see given (and so many the likes of Shearer have ‘appreciated' as a clever forward's play). Nothing like when a player takes control of the ball without touching it just by taking ‘the ground'.

We didn't really lose out because of it though.

Why do folks get worked up by us having two goalies on the bench? You can only sub 5 in total anyway and Dyche usually uses less than that. No one is being deprived of a place on the bench – it just doesn't work that way so the complaints just don't make sense.

They didn't go into the specifics of every possible scenario because there was supposed to be some common sense understanding of what a foul is in football.

Calvert-Lewin is about to score. Burn can't get to the ball or make a block. So he impedes him by putting his leg between Calvert-Lewin and the ball he's about to strike.

There are plenty of instances where the fouling player doesn't actually kick directly into the attacker. Plenty of sliding fouls are someone moving in front of a player who then collides with them. Plenty of fouls are someone stretching out a leg that the attacker then collides with. In fact, in most cases, that's exactly what a foul is.

It really doesn't need this much analysis, which is why VAR is fucking up the game so much. It's clear. Burn impedes him because he can't win the ball from his position and it's a 99% goal if he does nothing.

For instance, if a player gets in the way of the goalie's swinging leg when they are booting it out of hand, even after the ball has left his hand, it is always given as a foul.

If Burn had made contact, then fair enough... but he didn't, he just got in the way of his swinging leg.

Harrison, Doucouré... Get the fuck out of here, Dyche!

We have the players. We need the coach.

Burnley were the unwatchable Scourge of the Premier League… Now, it's us! It's only a game, of course, but in footballing terms, I despise Dino Dyche.

Surely we've seen enough? We have some reasonable players… just no way of playing. We are absolute dog shite.

What do they do in training? So many lesser clubs have a way of playing, you can tell they have been coached.

Everton are a complete fucking shambles!!! Goodbye, turd-face Dyche.

But what you just described is a foul.

There is no way our new owner is going to give money to Dyche to spend on players who he won't play unless Young, Doucoure or Keane are injured.

With a new manager, be it Sarri or Frank, we might be able to keep Branthwaite and Calvert-Lewin.

The Premier League is corrupt and we fight against 11 players plus a referee most weeks. Unless, in the rarer instances, we play a team they want to finish below us (as we are a big draw for the Premier League and we have a bigger global fan base than most bottom-half teams)…

Too much money for it not to be corrupt, it's an entertainment industry now as opposed to sport (hence why some teams' fans would rather see good football than good results which infuriates me, ie, West Ham).

I still love it, though, and I'm just as addicted as ever. But It's easier when one understands it's not a level playing field and not worth getting upset over anymore. Makes it all the sweeter when we do get a win or a draw….

A draw is always a good result in my eyes because, if a team drew every game of the season, they would get 38 points and most likely stay up. Which is all we need to do…

I reckon Dyche has us finishing in the top half this season like, and you can mark this post. Screenshot it please.

That said, Dyche doesn't even have any hair so not sure how he qualifies as “ginger” versus childish insults directed against bald men.

I think Dyche gets it right with Mangala and Iroegbunam. Bringing Iroegbunam on late reduces the overall risk. Too many transitions will tire this team due to better teams passing more efficiently. Their speed creates positioning that forces us to chase much more.

We all see that Iroegbunam and Ndaye are the only ones who can make individual moves into open space without getting tracked down. The problem is the risk to the back line and we don't have quality on the bench.

Not to you, Si, I don't get the "Dyche is underperforming" criticism. Numerous times in this match, players had numbers and time but could not get it right or on time with their positioning to pass. Without enough players comfortable on the ball, sending more forward is just more risk and transitions.

Things are coming together in a frustrating way but a foundation looks likely. Keane, Young and especially Garner acquitted themselves well. It isn't all happening together at once but some pieces of a foundation are showing durability. Two weeks ago, just 4 points from the next two matches is all that was asked for. Come On, UTFT!

Both penalties were stonewall certainties but only one was given – not to us of course.

Keane put in a hugely assured performance; Garner and Young did excellently and Pickford proved why he is England's Number 1. Tarkowski was shaky and that was not taking that idiotic rugby tackle into account. He should be benched if Branthwaite is fit after the break.

Mangala did well in midfield, but he was covering 3 midfielders while Doucouré did his usual impression of a dog running round looking for its owner. When we play better possession teams, we should switch to 4-3-3 as we ceded a lot of possession and space in midfield. McNeil had a poor game today.

I don't mind switching play and using long balls or diagonals (Man Ciy, Arsenal and Liverpool do it), but you need to get players up there quicker to support; otherwise, the target loses possession. Once Branthwaite is back, so we should be able to shift the defensive line up high to compress the play.

But our confidence and control with the ball in possession was absolutely shocking and has been for years. That won't change unless the players with the technical skills to control the ball are actually picked. Lindstrøm and Iroegbunam should be in the side ahead of Harrison and Doucouré every week.

How did he miss that?

He was utterly shite in his first two starts at right-back this season where he left his winger in so much space. I had him as joint MotM today with Keane. But one game does not a right-back make.

Nonetheless, credit where credit is due (unlike the embarrassingly pathetic and juvenile response from Len Callan @116 after Keane's MotM display).

Garner is not in any shape or form the answer to our right-back issues. He is at best a necessary stop-gap in testing times. I wish him well.

Totally agree, I've said that the partnership between Tarkowski and Keane doesn't work for whatever reason. The question is: Who to drop? On yesterday's showing, and previous this season actually, it's Tarkowski, he was a liability.

Imagine if Keane had thrown that Toon guy to the ground like that with the ball nowhere near him, the posters here would have been full of it. It's football, for god's sake, not rugby. In every other walk of life, that's assault. Tarkowski needs a rest now.

Best players for us yesterday imo were Keane, Young and Garner.

Hopefully his performance has shut up some of the Jordan Pickford haters on here.

Criminal, Steve, he is a lucky man because everyone is talking about whether it was or wasn't a penalty on Calvert-Lewin.

In reality, that will go down as one of the misses of the season.

I don't think I've ever seen a player consistently clear the crossbar so frequently.

But great insight, Duncan, that really gets to grips with the principal issues that affect us right now.

However, they had a couple of injuries themselves. Apart from the disallowed goal that bounced off Doucoure's head, the excellent save by Pickford against Gordon he Closet Kopie, the stonewall penalty, which wasn't given, the glaring miss by Gana – a draw was almost a disappointment in the end. Funny ol' game, ain't it?

Apart from Mike Gaynes, I dislike most referees. Why is that Pawson nearly always in charge of an Everton game? As soon as I see him, Oliver, Taylor or (Winifred) Attwell involved, I know we are on an uphill struggle, even going downhill! Keane surprisingly had a decent game, as did make-shift right-back Garner.

As many have said, we were pretty hollow in midfield. Thanks to Dyche for noticing too late after he had picked those starting eleven.

Why does Calvert-Lewin continually drift out to the left quarter of the pitch, when there is never anyone in, what should be his position, centrally in front of the opposition goal?

Ancelloti, when he was with us, noticed that almost straight away and insisted he stayed in and around the box; result: he scored a lot more goals regularly, with the others urged to get the ball to him!

Easy to be wise retrospectively, but I do believe we, potentially had the players to have won yesterday, but team selection again from the African Sunset, follicly challenged, hard-boiled ovum (that should keep Kieran K happy :-) dictated otherwise.

Just when we seem to have some momentum, three games without defeat (sounds better than two draws and one narrow win) another International Break… what the fuck? Still, the injured have time to recoup!

Please send a link to where you have addressed "the principal issues that affect us right now" because I'm always keen to learn from The Prof.

Alhough I could be wrong....

I think a few more of ours were in the queue behind him. No Names – No Pack Drill! :-)

Ours? Not for me, if that went against us, then we'd have people on here saying, "What's he supposed to do? Just stand there and not even try to get back in? Just let him him fuckin score!! It's a conspiracy, they want us out of this League!!" Etc, etc.

I was particularly disappointed with our second-half display, probably the worst 'football' we've played in quite a while at Goodison. And I'm not sure we can blame injuries, as they were in defence rather than attack and I'm not convinced the 'plan' would have been very different had Branthwaite and Mykolenko been playing, either.

But, it's Dycheball and this is what he's built his Premier League career on. On the positives, it's another point and I'm certain we'll stay up comfortably given our squad and the lack of quality in the promoted teams.

Only 13 days until we play again now, can't wait.

In general, I agree that Gana's wedge-play isn't one of our biggest issues, but this thread is about a match where it cost Everton 2 points.

Still 4 teams without a win – and we're unbeaten in 3 now.

9th to 20th place is basically a group of clubs in very patchy or poor form.

O'Neil, Glasner, Ten Hag must be close to the sack. Hurzeler at Brighton will now be coming under pressure after their huge spending spree – pressure which will have eased a bit on Lopetegui.

McKenna, a very promising coach, at Ipswich is finding out just what a tough league this is – and hasn't yet come up with any answers. Hopefully he's under pressure himself after our next match away.

The sweet irony in the Geordies' most hated figure saving a penalty against their current champion to goad us with provided my favourite moment of the season so far.

Well done England's Number 1 – more like that please!

Kavanagh on VAR never thought to ask the referee to go and check his monitor when Rodri handled the ball a few years ago at Goodison, but he told the ref to go and have a look at the incident involving Tarkowski, even though the Newcastle player had shot wide rather than choosing to put a cross into the danger area.

Fair enough if it's a penalty by the letter of the law but, if this is the case, then there “must” surely be penalties given every single week now, if the VAR referees are genuinely going to start concentrating on this aspect of the game?

Michael Keane never got his arm out the way of the ball when Pawson gave Liverpool a penalty at Anfield last season, but anyone who has played football knows that the only way that Burn could have prevented Calvert-Lewin from getting to the rebound was by putting his body in the way to obstruct him. But luckily for him, the ref obviously never saw it this way.

I have loved football all my life and the game has always been ingrained into my soul but something has happened these last few years and, although it might be an age thing, I genuinely find the lack of transparency around VAR absolutely sickening; it won't surprise me if it eventually stops me from going to the game.

The game itself started at a rapid pace but it wasn't long before it became apparent that Newcastle were the much better team. I liked their style, organized and aggressive with loads of little set plays, and I also think that Anthony Gordon has definitely improved since he left Everton, even though he's a kid I will never take to.

I could go on but I think I'm best just saying how well I thought Michael Keane played. Pickford was much better defending his 6-yard box. Garner did brilliantly, sticking to his defensive task. Ashley Young, nearly 40, but incredibly “still competing” very aggressively in the top league, even though he his under amazing pressure and faces a lot of contempt from a lot of Everton fans, also played very well considering.

But Michael Keane, a player I often criticize, stood up yesterday and deserves a lot of credit for that performance.

Our lot sang “You've Never Won Fuck-All” and the best response they could come up with was “Oh, Anthony Gordon”…

The melts!

Tarkowski has to realise that mashing people up is going to cost us and him.

On the game as a whole (I was struggling throughout with the usual streams failing) but what I saw was a team trying their best, playing to rigid instructions, trying to protect their weaknesses. If we had been more attack-minded, then I am sure we would have created more opportunities.

However, last season, Dyche watched us get picked off when we took the game to the opposition. Not having possession suits this squad and we got a valuable point. But it is hard to watch.

Apart from Ndiaye, we have no pace. Dixon might have added some pace and width but that was the main difference. Pace and good passing.

O'Brien can't get a sniff, and is behind the despised Keane and fucking terrible Tarkowski.

Lindstrøm hooked at half-time last match and benched for the foreseeable.

Beto won't get a game whilst Dominic "Can't Score" Calvert-Lewin is there.

Tim Iroegbunam now has bench rash.

Mangala has proven ineffective when starting and is out of his depth. I think he will be bench pressing too, soon.

Harrison is starting because, as poor as he is, there is no other player in the entire club to put there.

(As is true of left-back and right-back where Dixon is suffering the curse of the Everton right-back.)

Garner may have started as a right-back, but moved to midfield for a reason; in the first half, he got creamed relentlessly. As he has done on his previous right-back starts.

Ndiaye has been a revelation. Thank the sainted toffee lady. We have been slowly bled to our near death over the past 30 years.

So during the past seasons, when recruiting has been so piss poor, to see the relegation regulars comprising the vast majority of the first team fielded, was no surprise.

To be fair. They did well for a dysfunctional team. Keane almost putting in an error-free performance. However, despite hundreds of £M's spent on midfield, it is still turgid and woeful. The attack fairs no better. Featuring calamity Calvert-Lewin and his replacement, the £45M man.

Everton's struggles aren't going away. Even with new owners, they cant invest much, even if they had it and wanted to, thanks to PSR.

The case in point being Newcastle. They seemed to cut a frustrated and misfiring performance. Being rule tied and stopped from spending on players despite their billions. Thankfully.

Our lads, like em, loathe em, whatever, did a bloody good job, all things considered. Add to the mix a completely incompetent and biased 'official', pathetic Pawson (who makes Clive Thomas and red-nose Clattenburg look like refereeing royalty), then the draw without conceding was a great point.

As for training, we manage to exhaust and injure players frequently and ever since Dyche arrived. He needs to chuck that assault course regime out the window.

Someone tell Gana the objective of football. Put him in front of a goal from 6 yards out and train him on making the net between the posts ripple.

And someone please take Garner off dead-ball setplays and freekicks.

COYB

Or should I go back to bed?

If Gana had scored the rebound, that maggot Pawson would've found a way to disallow it for a foul by Calvert-Lewin on Burn, I'm convinced of it.

On our penalty claim – definite penalty for me, Burn was nowhere near the ball, and fouled Calvert-Lewin although Gana should have tapped it into the net.

Theirs was never a penalty, as Guimares held Ndiaye at the far post to prevent him running out and putting their attackers offside. That was the first offence, and should therefore have been a free-kick to us. Watch the replays.

Dyche's selections are still baffling though; I'm not sure what film negatives Doucoure has of Dyche, but they must be very compromising!!

Lindstrøm was always a speculative signing because he was very poor for Napoli last season and will take time to acclimatise to a more physical league. O'Brien is a late developer and probably wasn't expected to play much this season. Keane, though despised, has been our best centre-back by some distance.

I doubt any clubs are playing all of their summer signings all at once. This is all very normal.

Playing like the away side on home soil is probably expected when the likes of Arsenal, Man City and a couple of others are the visitors; I suppose some would include a few more teams making that list very much longer.

I don't agree that our players are that far below others in the Premier League in terms of ability but obviously I'm wrong because we keep churning out defensive-minded performances and hardly lay a glove on the opponents or put them under pressure for prolonged periods.

Another defensive show is due at home to Fulham who look to be a team that has improved this season under the guidance of Marco Silva, who many thought wasn't good enough to manage Everton not too long ago.

A point is a point though and, if we can get 38 of them in total, we'll probably survive this season. Ever-fun it is not.

Disappointing that Newcastle didn't respect their final
game at Goodison by wearing their proper colours.

I was always slightly mystified about why Newcastle don those white & green jerseys, apparently those colours represent their current owners as reported in the Echo:

Although the Magpies snubbed their traditional stripes here to instead wear the colours of their financial backers, the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

There were lots of good points – Ashley Young's second good performance in a row and Michael Keane taking no silly risks – so let's be a bit more positive… as alien as it is here.

About misery, think about being a Barcode: last significant trophy 1955 (FA Cup), 1928 (League) – we had a quiz about this at half-time – not sure if the Inter-City Fairs Cup (in the 1970s) counts.

By the way, Mark (140), “You've Never Won Fuck-All” is a double-negative… which is a positive – but only if you go back to the 1950s. Shows how boring just complaining can be.

Thanks. I guess I should have elaborated. Dyche is compelled to play the poor Thelwell signings that are relegation regulars. I see no improvement from any of them, regression if anything.

This season's players are no help, other than Ndiaye. Thelwell should be signing players that assist the squad and in positions where urgent cover is required. Not hopeful and may develop. Not that any have. That is not what we need at this juncture.

If he had brought in a few more Ndiaye standard players and a goalscorer I'd be singing his praises. Plus we need a squad which he has depleted further without replacements.

So as such, us, as supporters, should not moan, complain or criticise if we think Thelwell's recruiting has been a success.
I don't think it has been (even in 'these circumstances'). But whilst they are here and wearing the beloved royal blue, I will cheer them on and hope they pull through.

Plus most of our buys have to be from teams happy to take payments by instalments, which ups the price and lowers the options.

And yet some people expect us to be challenging for Top 10!

The last 5 years have been a total mess. If we manage to stay up again and get to the new stadium with a new owner and still in the Premier League, then both Dyche and Thelwell will deserve a little credit given the circumstances.

I was surprised by Young and Keane who both did okay. We can take comfort they are not first choice and doing an ok job whilst we wait for the injured to come back. Garner was also a surprise at right-back, albeit I'd really like to see Dixon get a chance. Garner is one of our better midfielders so should ideally not be used as a defender.

Dixon, O'Brien and Lindstrøm all unused subs. If they need time to get used to the Premier League, I'm not quite sure how they do that sitting on the bench….

Basically, they're conditioned to the way VAR interprets the game now. Fouls and cards are decided in slow motion and freeze-frames from every angle. It hasn't improved decision-making, it's just completely changed it.

And there's a generation of football supporters emerging who won't know any other way so they completely accept it. And they still tune in. And still comment, like, subscribe.

I'm already starting to feel too old for this shit and I'm only in my forties! The modern game isn't a patch on the game in my day... but my dad used to say the same.

Gueye should have scored anyway, he puts it over from about 8 yards out.

If an opponent had been awarded a penalty for that, we'd have rightly go batshit crazy. For Dyche to moan about decisions like that reflects poorly on both him and us.

Guys, the amount of shit decisions we've had over the years and some of you are moaning about two that were both absolutely correct. Come on.

And also, not sure what this has to do with your supposed schism between Dyche and Thelwell.

Garner is definitely not a full-back, fair play to him for giving his all, but he plays too near to our centre-back, giving too much room to a winger. Dyche should be playing Dixon and playing Garner in his proper position in midfield, where we miss his runs.

Doucoure isn't skilful enough and we were totally overrun again in midfield with Newcastle having three midfielders to our two. Iroegbunam and Garner should be with Mangala, with Harrison and Doucoure on the bench.

Sean, how you say Calvert-Lewin is only giving 75% is totally ridiculous. He's completely isolated upfront and running his arse off across the front line, with no support whatsoever. Dyche's tactics have Harrison and Ndiaye playing too deep in a completely defensive setup.

A 4-3-3 formation would give us a stronger midfield and more offensive attack. But Dyche is too stubborn to change, and insists on playing Doucoure and Harrison, and nothing will change.

I didn't watch the match and only caught MotD this morning. We continue to have worryingly low possession, even at home. With Branthwaite fit and hopefully Patterson coming back and stepping up (a fool's hope that maybe), we should be having more of a go at teams like Newcastle.

I have watched the replay of the Calvert-Lewin penalty claim and I struggle to understand the rationale for it not being given (other than it's a VAR decision for Everton!). Calvert-Lewin only kicked Burn's ankle because Burn put his leg in the way, therefore it is obstruction and a foul? I hate VAR.

Let's take the point and move on. COYB.

If you think Burn 'getting himself between Dom and the ball' (which he absolutely didn't) was perfectly defended then Gueye's chance would have been irrelevant.

Dom kicked his leg and knocked him over, didn't he?

I was made up with that post (although sad to read your reasons for slowly falling out of love with the game).

I feel so sick when I see our fans queuing up to attack our players before a ball has been kicked. The predictions, the outrage and faux astonishment when the team was announced and Garner, Keane and Young were going to start – who would have guessed?

If people are going to lambast our players before the game, you would kinda hope they would have the decency to admit they were wrong when their targets perform well. Unfortunately it's never going to happen. Being right is far too important to them.

That's the fourth time Ashley Young has played really well, but it's a safe bet that he will be slaughtered before the next game... and the one after that. They won't have it in them to credit a good performance.

Unfortunately, these desperate-to-be-right fans will simply bide their time. The cries of "I told you so" will be heard in Scotland next time he makes an error – ridiculous pressure applied by our own fans.

The match may have been crap, but I loved the way Garner, Keane and Young responded to the usual pre-match drivel.

I think that there were many better players and options available despite our predicament. As proven by results and lack of cover and a squad, Thelwell hasn't done a good job. What players has Thelwell bought in you rate and why?

Dyche has one tactical style of play. The players purchased fail to fit into that. Like you said, the club is a mess. Don't add to it. Dyche deserves great credit.

Robert, so skint we bought Beto @ £45M when there were many many others that were highlighted here were less expensive, better, and available.

Maupay for £15M. I am going over old ground and nothing has improved. How do you think it has?

So Doucoure alongside Mangala instead of Iroegbunam. Keane and Tarkowski preferred to O'Brien. Calvert-Lewin can't score. Why isn't Thelwell's most expensive buy not on? Who replaced Maupay? Another great acquisition. We needed a replacement striker.

Tell me where we have progressed and not regressed? What positions have improved or been covered? Most on here rate our team as Championship quality.

A dog sniffing around looking for his owner. Made me laugh. Spot on.

A funny thing happened on the way from the forum. We got 4 points and two weeks rest and the Skunks got fuck-all.

You should do what I tend to do, avoid all football-related websites prior to full-time on a matchday. Nobody can predict how any game will pan out, both in terms of individual performance and result, but many seem to believe that they can.

You also have to account for some people being in permanent wind-up mode, to get the reponses and attention they crave in order to give themselves a chuckle.

Young and Keane and the other easy-to-attack players mostly put in the effort yesterday, but some of our play is absolutely woeful. Is it the formation and tactics or is this squad as poor as some think?

I agree with Phil McNulty's observations about our team.

Everton will take this point and a clean sheet, but there is a lack of threat and ambition about their approach, with Calvert-Lewin often a frustrated figure as he was too often outnumbered and left to chase lost causes alone.

This was a gritty and resilient Everton performance but if this is going to be transformed into something other than another season of struggle, they will rely heavily on Pickford – fortunately for Sean Dyche he has proved up to the task time and again in recent seasons.

He's in the best place to judge how good certain players are.
The players who get rubbished regularly on here were our best players yesterday.

On paper, we are a 14-15th grade team and that's where I think we will finish.

He had a decent game. I'll always give him individual credit for his professionalism. I do maintain that he makes mistakes that cost games simply by virtue of being an older guy in a young man's game. He doesn't do it every game - not even Everton would select a player who costs a goal every single game.

But he will do it. It's not a case of being right when he does and wrong when he doesn't. It's over a spell. And when it comes to that, he hasn't typically let us down.

Personally I can understand him playing on the left. That's too much of a job to throw Dixon into. When it comes to right back though, I'd much rather be getting experience into Dixon. I'll accept errors in that scenario.

My twopenny worth. What was Tarkowski thinking of when he practiced his WWE body slam for their penalty? For us, it was a penalty all day long as Burns impeded Calvert-Lewin. But how on God's green earth did Gana miss the open goal???

in general, we are poor (understatement to say the least) and 33% possession at home is not acceptable. Dyche will not be going anywhere but Everton are slowly dissolving my soul.

But Keane and Young had a good game — and do try to not slag off our players

Do you have a problem with playing Mangala and Iroegbunam together? As far as I remember, they haven't been used in tandem, and I don't understand why not.

Mindful of Tony's excellent post @139, I know and feel exactly the same way.

I am not saying the game didn't need to change, but the inconsistency of officials was bad enough but has been compounded by those subjectively interpreting VAR. It's added a new layer of self-importance to officials who subjectively apply their own interpretation of rules.

Obstruction was, amazingly, written out of the rules in 1997, replaced by the term 'impeding" which to all intents and purposes does not apply in a penalty area. (When did you last see an attacking team awarded an indirect free kick in the penalty area?)

But again, impeding itself only seems to be applied when the ball is in play and within playing distance of the players concerned. Hence why grappling in the box is generally ignored!

But wait, the law depends on the subjective view of the referee or VAR, hence Tarkowski's stupid throw was so obvious it was laughable.

But Burns impeding the ability of Calvert-Lewin to shoot was okay (which it wasn't) the basic principle must hold. If an action is deemed a foul anywhere else on the pitch, then it must be so in a penalty area.

Deliberately putting a leg in front of a player so that contact is unavoidable is impeding a player. Burns, just for good measure, leaned his body into Calvert-Lewin from behind.

It was a beaten defender's last-gasp action to prevent the goal, but it was still impeding. To say Calvert-Lewin initiated contact suggests it was done deliberately which is clearly not the case. Penalty.

Penalty area holding needs to be stamped out, for that matter, last week's rugby tackle of Branthwaite in the penalty area was ignored... what was the difference? Where was VAR then?

Whilst VAR was supposed to take subjectivity out of the game, its selective use brings the game, and its officials, into disrepute.

Btw, those misses were not Iroegbunam's only signs of youth. Check positioning once play settles in our third.

We are not strong enough, in my opinion, to play 4-2-3-1 and there have been a number games the 2 have been clearly overrun.

I would play 3 in central midfield then allow Ndiaye and McNeil to play behind Calvert-Lewin.

Did anyone notice yesterday when we had a free kick in the second half, just outside the Skunk Maggots' penalty area, and Pawson done his foamy white line, and yet there were about three Skunk Maggot players about 2 or 3 yards further forward towards the ball. Despite 1 or 2 Everton players pointing this out to Pawson, he made no attempt to push the Skunk Maggot players back.

Useless gobshite of a referee!

Regarding the penalty which we were denied, it looked like a penalty to me as it happened at the game, I am even more positive after looking at the replay on Sky, Everton should ask for an explanation from Webb about the decision and not the nonsense that was written on the two screens at Goodison after VAR told us why the penalty was refused.

As for those written explanations on the screens. What a crock of shit. Apparently the skunk maggots penalty was given for a “Non Footballing Action”. WTF does that mean? Why didn’t it just say “Tarkowski done a fireman’s lift on Tonali before throwing him to the floor”!!

He made a couple of mistakes but you'd expect that from young players.

I remember Jarrad made a few early in his Everton career. Some on here had him written off as not good enough, which amuses and annoys me in equal measures.

Ashley Young being vulnerable to pace and quick feet is reason to support him from where I stand. The guy is surviving on experience alone. People dripping poison over him before a game, or booing him onto the pitch, or coming onto forums with their side splitting "Red card waiting to happen" comments are simply not interested in encouraging OUR player. They're far more interested in looking clever in the eyes of fellow band wagon occupants.

Fair play to you though Ernie. You call it as you see it and you don't go into hiding just because a guy you wouldnt have chosen has a decent game.

Fred

Thats the best advice I've been given today. I hope I can heed it in the future

Some negativity on some comments has me a bit baffled as I, without any influence from the Live Forum as I watched with two of my sons and didn't log on, thought we played relatively well?

And the reason for my post is this:

Can anyone explain to me how in the world that was not a penalty on DCL????

Their defender came no where near the ball, kicked DCL's leg actually stopping a shot, and there was no pen? To add insult to injury VAR looked at it and said, "Ya, nothing to see here."

WHAT???

The three of us were screaming at our TV up in GA and my fifteen year old let a few exceedingly unsavory words fly out of his mouth. I didn't reprimand him at all, as quite frankly his outburst was justified.

That's a pen all day long, surely???

Again if this topic has been done to death above, apologies. Now I'm off to go fishing.

Having watched it again I now think it is a penalty.

For me, Burns clearly knows what he is doing, he already is leaning on Calvert Lewin and how VAR haven't told the ref to go have a look shows just poor VAR is a lot of the time.

Like they tell Pawson to go have a look for their penalty.

Not one Newcastle player complained with Tarkowski pulling Tonali to the ground and it was not a cross into the box - it was a fucking shot - that should be relevant - I get that Tarkowski should know better, but my point is this goes on all the time.

How many of these have we not got ?

Needless to say Evertonians will have many examples from now to the end of the season where we will witness "one rule for us and another for them"..

CORRUPT.

COYB

PS,

By the way the open net miss from Gana was fucking awful.

That situation was the definition of a penalty for me.

Tackle attempted.
Zero contact with the ball.
No where NEAR the ball.
Stopped a scoring opportunity.
Pole-axed the attacking player in the process.

It's just maddening!!

"The apology letter pen"

The EPL will be issuing a letter of apology to Everton Football Club approximately Tuesday this week saying they missed the call.

We had an "apology letter pen".

Garner played Right Back for England U21s when SLC won the World Cup.
Ian Snodin was signed as a midfielder but was converted into a full back and actually called up for the England team in that position (except he then got injured).

So could James Garner be the answer and becomes a modern day Snods? Solve the Right Back problem with someone who can defend (may need polishing) and also can attack.

What gets me is the schizophrenic nature of the performances. We can get games like Bournemouth and Brighton in parts followed up by Palace and then yesterday.
Just no consistency at all.

My only hope is that once we have achieved some kind of financial security and accessed the new revenue streams that the new stadium will open up, then we can start to build a strong squad and begin to play entertaining football again.
Until then I am afraid we will just have to suck it up.

I don't even want to think about VAR at the moment. It is just not fit for purpose. It seems totally subjective in its application and shows no consistency whatsoever, yesterday's incidents demonstrate that clearly.

It hasn't improved the standard of refereeing one bit, in fact you could make a strong argument for the opposite or eradicated wrong decisions in games, just check the “winners and losers” stats at the end of the season. A terrible waste of money for no improvements in the game experience for anyone.

The reason I would only resort to 433 as forced or as game management is Ndiaye needs to play off 3 or he becomes an easy target for a double team.

Jake O'Brien was not bought for next season. You say he is a late developer, but he had accumulated more experience at a better level than Jarrad Branthwaite did at a similar age.

Last season, he came into a Lyon side flirting with relegation and brought them to European qualification for the first time since 2021-22. His introduction was transformational.

Jarrad was excellent in Holland where the standard isn't as competitive. I'm not implying that Jake is a similar level of player to Jarrad but your hypothesis is essentially symptomatic of Dychespeak being sponged by our fanbase.

Last season, Jarrad only got his place due to having no-one else. His performances were so remarkable that he became undroppable. Would you suggest that Jarrad was not ready for the opening game when Dyche opted for Keane and our results suffered?

Likewise this season, Ndiaye was left out and only for his excellence in the League Cup has Dyche's hand been forced. Our capitulation at Bournemouth came about because he made Ndiaye the fall guy when he was the last man that needed to be sacrificed.

Sean does not hold any of his preferred players to the standards of our young players or new signings. There has been a lot of chat about the lack of money invested over the last few seasons but I'm sorry that's an old argument.

Oriel Mangala has been brought in on loan. Over the last 2 years, he has dovetailed with Tielemans to partner Onana in Belgium's midfield. That's the same Tielemans who swaggers for the fourth best team in the country. Whether you rate him highly or not, he is a £30M player.

Jesper Lindstrøm tore up German football and got a €25M move to Napoli. Liverpool were said to be very keen at the time. Yes, he failed at Napoli but was brought by a manager who was sacked, then played as a wideman rather than the Number 10 role where he excelled.

Jake O'Brien himself cost £20M and, had he produced the same performances in the Championship or Premier League, you could probably put another £10M on that figure.

Tim Ingrebonum looks a steal at under £10M and Broja is effectively another £30M player we have signed who becomes available after the international break.

For the last few seasons, we have flirted with relegation and perhaps understandably so. Dyche has done a commendable job because we needed strong leadership, pragmatism and the ability to deal with adversity and crisis management, and so he was exactly what was required.

Today, however, this is nowhere near a relegation squad and the current predicament is more a reflection of the manager's shortcomings, mismanagement, amateurism, stubbornness and lack of tactical acumen. Tim Iroegbunam had a Freudian slip when comparing Emery's compulsive detail to Dyche's 'we just go out and play'.

Our fans have now been conditioned to accept any point as being remarkable and five points against a Palace team in crisis, a shocking Leicester team and Newcastle without their key firepower and leaders as exceptional and that we have a pile of hobos representing us.

Brentford will be fighting for a Top 10 finish again this season. Go through their team from yesterday and tell me the players you would love at Everton. Maupay was a key signing for them last season and Nathan Collins is their best defender.

I have followed his and Jake O'Brien's careers being Irish. I have no doubt our man has a higher ceiling and will have a better career than his compatriot yet he is deemed our fourth choice centre-back by Dyche.

Although Keane did play well yesterday, he's not our long-term solution. Even Tarkowski, however dependable he's been over the last few seasons, is ageing and sometimes that drop off can be massive and sudden.

Surely with Jarrad Branthwaite being out, it would be the perfect time to get him game time, because with Tarkowski being captain, organiser and leader, he starts if fit. So, even when Jarrad is back,he won't get a sniff!!

Dyche likes to talk about experience and how Keane is proven, and it goes for Doucouré and Calvert-Lewin to an extent. All that they have proven is they are not good enough; their experience is of relegation battles, they have underachieved season after season.

These players are not getting better!! O'Brien could at least give us something we haven't got or had.

“If people are going to lambast our players before the game, you would kinda hope they would have the decency to admit they were wrong when their targets perform well. Unfortunately it's never going to happen”.

Couldn't agree more, Dave. We have an even worse example on this thread. Have a look at Les Callan (13) and his pitiable juvenile post-match comment after it was pointed out that Keane was some people's MotM (116).

Sean Kearns (197): Why do you never have the decency to respond to any of the many reasonable questions that are put to you when, as often happens, you either get something wrong or say something ludicrous (are they all “club moles” and therefore not deserving of your further thoughts?)?

Case in point on this thread. It's been pointed out a few times to you that Garner is not “a natural right-back” and that right-back was not his “original position” as you wrongly claimed. What do you do? Respond and stick to your guns or admit that things could be seen a little differently? No. You just sail on to your next piece of stuff.

I did have to smile at this from Mr Kearns (197), who says that he is “fine with it [not sure what] though, not complaining” after thirty fecking lines of non-stop complaining.

Also, Sean (‘at halftime [Wimbledon '94] the gaffer just opened the window as the team talk”), I might be wrong about this, but does our dressing room at the Old Lady have any windows? Maybe you're getting confused with Stoke away, 1984?

On the first decision when the ref was told to go to VAR, (great spot, Keith Harrison) he took at least two minutes to decide whether it was a penalty. Why did he take this long, I was wondering? And the only genuine conclusion I can think of is that he's been put in a very, very, very bad position by the VAR.

I'd love to hear what Howard Webb says to Kavanagh, I was thinking… but I'm sure I've just seen his name saying he was reffing another game today?

Decisions like yesterday can open a massive can of worms, and I'd like to hear what the chief of referees has got to say about it considering how rare it is for a penalty to be given in these circumstances.

On the Calvert-Lewin incident, the ref was on the spot and decided it wasn't a penalty and the VAR had no objections.

I think football is a lot better now than when I used to play it. It's faster, it's played on pitches that complement skill, and most of the players are now athletes, but it's littered with cheating footballers and the best word I can find for some of the officiating is incompetence, but I often find myself thinking it's now become a lot more cynical than that.

VAR has improved officials getting offside goals like Doucouré's yesterday wrong, but it's still way too subjective and controversial, meaning it has done nothing whatsoever to improve the sport.

Why did that make me think I was going to have a good game? Because for a split second it just reminded me of Goodison, and I remember shutting my eyes and thinking I fuckin love it here. Mad but true, Highbury reminding me of Goodison, definitely helped me get the MotM that night!

You say you know the situation and yet keep asking why we haven’t improved? I’d say it’s very tough to improve when you have a positive net spend and can’t land most of your top targets because the only payments structures you can offer are unattractive. Let’s not forget that Thelwell targeted the likes of Diaz, Kudus and Minteh and would have got some over the line if not for the lack of resources.

Of the players he has bought I’d say McNeill, Garner, Gueye and Tarkowski for about £25m was excellent value finding in his first summer and Onana obviously went for a healthy profit.

Last summer we spent almost no money but came away with Beto (who’s struggled) Young (a squad player who’s featured more than we’d like) and Chermitti (who I have high hopes for) for about £5m initially (we’ll take a loss on Beto of course).

This summer we’ve got Ndiaye, an absolute bargain at £16m and young talents O’Brien and Iroegbunam for about £27m plus Broja on loan (which might yet prove a coup).

Other than Beto (who was probably the best we could get on those terms) I’m not seeing many slip ups. Im not saying he’s nailed it but I think Thelwell has done pretty well with such restrictions and if TFG keep him (they may well want their own guy) I’m excited to see what he might manage with the resources to attain his primary targets.

Away fixtures - Spurs, Villa, Leicester [Sheff Utd], same outcomes points wise this season as last.

Home - Brighton, Bournemouth, Palace and Newcastle, Eight points last season compared to only four points won this season.

I also had a very good game in the round before that at Goodison, even though I never scored, like I did in both those other games, (I did score at Goodison in a central league game) but I was average at best, in the two home games we played against Everton, (it went to a second replay) and in both the home games we played against Liverpool and Arsenal.

Has this monkey looked up at the stars, and I thought to myself - that memory is a stranger and history is for fools, I suppose we are nothing without our memories, and my favourite memory is walking out of the Feyenord stadium after just beating Rapid Vienna, and the hairs on the back of my neck still stand up, when I remember that version of WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED.

I wonder how many ToffeeWebbers I walked past that day, or sat down next to, had a word with, celebrated with, played footy with, lifted up off the deck (as when I ran into a tree!) ...

Improvement over TFG era will be gradual but the likes of Villa/Brighton have shown what can be done over 4/5 years with good recruitment of players and managers.

I'd forgotten about Broja and I'm glad we got a clause in the loan deal. So, let's see. Fingers crossed.

I'm not sure we could realistically do much better in terms of options to lead the line. We're not going to be making the kind of huge investment needed to improve on those options.

Timing is important on DCL. I wouldn't blame him for not signing on promises for the future. I think he'd need to see actual action - a manager who might evolve the style to be more suited to a striker, some January intent in the market.

I think he can start negotiating with other clubs from January? Then he can weigh up our offer against others. I'd say others might offer more money, but an Everton that is threatening to develop is a pretty attractive option.

I hope he stays but I do agree with the culture that the club is trying to build around cutting salaries, Doucoure is on 130k a week I believe and he will be gone at the end of the season.

Unforgettable and still vivid in the memory. I just hope these very loyal young supporters get to experience the same.

And I can rest knowing we have won our 10th league title, our 6th FA Cup and that evasive League Cup!! The Lord can take if that happens!!

What I experienced was unbelievable. Let's give these kids something to believe in.

If he's not staying I'd imagine we'll auction him in January and take what we can get.

"In just over 2½ months, it will be 25 years to the day that the biggest curse in our history got his horrible deceitful mittens on our club," is what I told them. And the only reason I believe Everton are still in the Premier League is because of our younger generation of very proud and fanatical fans.

The kids kept us up, and when those kids finally see a trophy, those celebrations will include scenes I don't believe many people will have seen.

Boxing Day 1999, and the start of an era of abject mediocrity, will hopefully end soon.

A gentleman by the name of Josep Guardiola Sala.

The one game plan was Tarkowski or Pickford to Calvert-Lewin who didn't look like winning anything all day.

If this is your only tactic, then at least Calvert-Lewin needs to be a good tactic, no-one around him, no-one winning the 50-50's around the box, no urgency in pressing loose balls, DCL continues to lose 90% of any aerial duels.

Giving away possession every time is just criminal, especially in the current game; teams will absolutely just come at us again and again (like Bournemouth, Aston Villa etc).

This football is absolutely Sunday league mentality, it doesn't get the best out of the players, it hands over the whole game to the opposition and is not sustainable.

We need a new manager ASAP!

I hate that we are in a position where we need to question if our manager is the right man for the job, especially as we have started picking up points. However, he is setting them up for a poor display each week.

I know we have the lowest net spend by some distance but 28 percent possession at home against an injury hit Newcastle… 😬

C'mon, Danny – don't let your readers down!

Young Blues Face Replay

24 February 1988

Everton's youngsters followed the example of their more illustrious seniors by getting in the replay grove last night when a 3-3 draw with Nottingham Forest means the teams must clash for a third time to decide their FA Youth Cup fourth round tie.

Everton went tantalisingly close to earning a fifth round chance to play Liverpool and Anfield. Three times they were in the lead but Forest, who packed plenty of firepower, came back to level each time and then won the toss for the right to take the tie back to their City Ground.

Jimmy Carberry, with a crashing 30-yard drive, shot Everton ahead in the fifth minute but the tricky Alan Lamb equalised from close range on the hour.

Keeper Chris Taylor hurled defiance at Forest's dominance with a string of great saves and Everton looked to have nicked it when Phil Jones, brought down in the area, picked himself up and netted with a 71st-minute penalty.

But with just two minutes to go Lee Glover converted a chance created by Tony Abraham to level once more and seconds later Forest were denied when Mark Hurst hit a post.

It meant an extra time stint and though Jones cracked Everton in front for a third time with a deflected shot, Forest came again for Glover, a lad with First Division experience, to show his class with a tremendous solo effort to make it 3-3 and take the tie to a third game.

Happy birthday to former #NFFC defender Gary Charles!

Facebook · Nottingham Forest
420+ reactions
Tony was a superb player, I'm surprised he never went on to become a household name, not sure what happened to him after Forest?

After drawing at Arsenal, we threw it away at home in the second leg, when we conceded another early goal, (our keeper was fuckin terrible) and although Gary Charles, was genuinely the best player I ever played with on a regular basis, he was a fullback and not a central defender and Kevin Campbell, was just too physical for him in the second leg, and Arsenal had put the game to bed after an hour.

My dad, said Dyche came on as a sub in that semi-final, and even though he was only a sub, he thought he was our best player, but my mind often wondered after that game because I think Everton, might have beat Arsenal, because my arl schoolmate Eddie Youds, had the physicality to match Campbell, and I thought Everton were the best team we played in the competition, even though Arsenal beat us.

I always blamed Archie Gemill, who was telling us to play into the corners and settle for the draw at Highbury, because Arsenal had started the game like a house on fire, but we had definitely began to put out their flames, I'm certain if he would have left us alone to play our natural game, we could have taken a lead into the second leg.

Gary Charles ended up in jail, because of alcohol, and although I'm glad to hear he's been clean for years now, I genuinely don't think he would have ended up this way if people would have been wise to his predicament.

As nice a lad as you could wish to meet but a lad on a motorbike killed himself trying a crazy manoeuvre and crashing into my mate's car outside the City Ground one day, and Gary was left to suffer the consequences.

It doesn't bother me in the slightest that I never made the grade because I've had a great life, but I wish I'd have stayed at Forest longer because I'd have definitely seen the warning signs and I'm certain I might have been able to help my mate who was an absolute cracker.

I think that mediocrity is sadly our present state, maybe not even that. But the future is a different land and I'm optimistic that TFG and the new stadium will give us an opportunity to compete higher up the table and with a better quality of player.

Thelwell has undeniably been operating under severe restrictions and, though our wage bill is not small, the majority of the bigger wages (Doucoure, Pickford, Calvert-Lewin, Keane) were handed out before Thelwell arrived.
The likes of Ndiaye are only on £50k per week. So you see Thelwell has had neither the transfer fees, nor the wages nor even the ability to pay up front to help him secure his preferred players. Plus it is well publicized what a mess we have been off the pitch.

Ndiaye, McNeil, Tarkowski, Garner and Chermtti have all been good acquisitions at low cost. Time will tell what Iroegbunam and O'Brien are capable of. The only duds have been Beto and Maupay and we probably didn't lose much money on the latter thanks to loan fees etc.

As much as we might all hope for better and feel Everton should be better, we can't ignore reality. History and good intention alone does not entitle us to be in the Top 8. It's been a total and utter mess, whether we like it or not. And survival rather than improvement has been the aim.

Hopefully we are coming to the end of that unfortunate era now. If you look at the players we have supposedly targeted but been unable to land, that suggests to me that Thelwell and his team have a decent eye for talent.

I feel that Calvert-Lewin may never quite have forgiven Everton fans for booing him a season or so back, something he's referenced a few times. I could be wrong but my gut tells me his mind may be made up. But I'm sure it will depend upon the offers he gets.

Manager-wise it will be interesting to see what TFG make of Dyche. Assuming the takeover is complete by December, you'd have to think that, unless Dyche has us playing a bit better and a good few points clear of the relegation zone, they will bring in someone new.

Dyche has never been that popular with the fanbase in general and they will probably see it as a chance to win favour. Lots of decent options out there though it might be that they prefer to take stock and keep the ship steady till the summer. Either way, it's hard to imagine he'll be in charge next season unless things improve dramatically.

Sadly that is really the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and I also think there are brighter days ahead when we move to the new ground and are still playing in the Premier League.

Beggars can't be choosers but little apples will definitely grow again.

Whatever you or I may think of a player's commitment, what the fuck drives such idiots to scream shit like that at another human being? I would die of shame if any of those screeching, hysterical and poisonous voices were mine or my kids!

I "almost" wish Gordon had scored that pen now… Almost.

When you say that Dyche has never been that popular with the fan base, who has been?
We have changed managers too much, because of a section of fans who got too loud too soon each time they got another manager in their sights.

I look at Alex Parker, and in my opinion, the best we had in Tommy Wright.

Later we had Gary Steven, Hibbo and Coleman.

On the left side the best, Ray Wilson. Fabulous. Later Baines

We seem to always have had little if any problem over the years with full backs. All of a sudden we seem to be struggling

His face looked full of fear on that little clip, but he had just been carrying on like a little wrongun was the story I heard and this explained a lot to me because why would a kid from walton, who was playing for Everton, have any reason to be fearful otherwise?

Why would a kid from Walton be fearful?

Posters think we've only started slagging players recently. I remember Derek Temple getting dog's abuse because he didn't tackle above the neckline!

Players getting dog's abuse has been going on forever. Actually the only player I can recently remember who never got it is Richarlison after he'd just scored 2 goals against us!

Even Bobby Collins got shit!!!

Also, I'm sure I've been told many a time that against Wimbledon on the last day circa mid 90's and we were down heavy at half-time, the crowd went mental chanting and the manager just opened the window and let the players listen to it for 15 minutes with no team talk.

Deffo been told that like… but true about no windows at Goodison changing rooms now.

Maybe I am confusing another game but I'm sure it's the Wimbledon one; maybe there were windows in the '90s.

The only time I've heard about the 'window team talk' was prior to the Stoke City cup game at the Victoria Ground in 1984, when Howard apparently told the players that they couldn't let all those Evertonians down, thousands had descended on the ground that day chanting all of the Everton songs etc.

Of course it may have happened on other occasions too.

Also, the game was fixed anyway… So he prob didn't even need the window incident.

There's always been talk about that game and fair enough, however, disregarding what went on before, look at our third. Unstoppable.

Where's there corruption, there's money!

That game definitely wasn't fixed before Barry Horne delivered us a goal that was sent from the Goodison Gods.

Who knows?

Great days.

1) Stoke away in the FA Cup, and <:>2) At half-time against Bayern Munich, when Howard Kendall told his players to keep playing and the Gwladys Street would suck the ball into the Bayorn net, which is exactly what happened that wonderful night!

No way would the Referee have been able to remain with his decision of awarding Everton a penalty for Limpar's histrionics.

I've been in them, not on playing duty, I took the stadium tour earlier this year (actually just a main stand tour, but still worth doing for about £25 while it's still there).

Let's put it this way: Do you think it would have been no penalty and no VAR check if Salah, Haaland or another player from the favoured teams had been involved? They would have given it in a flash and all the usual suspects in the media would have been busy telling us why it was a clear penalty or how the striker was entitled to go down.

I've seen lots of penalties given for similar things over the last few seasons but it depends which team is asking for it.

Watch the angle from the keeper's side and you can clearly see Burn put his foot in to stop Calvert-Lewin following through with his kick, and nowhere near the ball. Why didn't VAR show that angle, as well as behind the player? Shocking decision.

I cringe when I watch Rob Whotton and Gallagher, Rob thinks he's a comedian and Gallagher is nearly always trying to back the official.

I do believe that you are confusing that story with Stoke City away in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup in 1984 at the old Victoria Ground.

I'm familiar with it because it was my first ever away game, the fans were absolutely fantastic that day, a 2-0 win Alan Irvine scored one, can't remember the other scorer.

Should have been a moot point really because Gana should have buried it. One of the misses of the season so far for me.

Shame on you, it was Andy Gray who scored the first goal for Everton and unbeknown to me, until I checked, Stoke had a caretaker manager by the name of Bill Asprey.

Bill Asprey was another that wrote his name into the history books at Stoke as a player, with over 340 appearances for the club from 1953 to 1966, but similarly to Eastham, he also struggled in the dugout at the Victoria Ground.

He became temporary boss in December 1983 after being assistant to Richie Barker for the 18 months prior, and was initially very successful in his task of keeping the Potters afloat in the top-flight in 18th place, but then oversaw a torrid 1984/85 season as full-time manager.

Stoke won just three games that season after financial constraints had left him without an assistant, trainer or physiotherapist at the start of the season, and he was sacked in April with the club bottom of the First Division, leaving his role with a PPG record of 0.89.

Asprey did manage to get a draw with Everton the week following the famous cup-tie, when Philip Adrian Heath leveled the scores following his brother's (Adrian Paul Heath), opener. Apparently Everton tried to sign Philip, at the end of the 1985-86 season but Stoke turned down a bid of £150,000 from Everton for his services.

Thanks for your reply which explains how you see it. Up until this season, Tarkowski has been a bargain. However, the way I see it is that Dyche was the guy who was responsible for him and McNeil's moves. Possibly Garner too. Almost certainly Young. The rest I would say are almost certainly the endeavour of Thelwell.

The two duffers are arguably the most important and worst mistakes out of Thelwell's tenure. We already have an expensive duffer (who was unfit to play for a long time). That was an occasion to cement his position as a DoF who attracts stellar signings and players who will stop the rot.

This was huge. Two big signings. Vital ones. Guys who cannot score and are terrible. When you don't have much room for manoeuvre, as you describe, you live and die by your judgement.

The risk Thelwell took with both are a reason why we have regressed. Just one reason out of many, I grant you, but a vast one. Apart from Ndiaye, Thelwell's gambles on players have not been progressive.

Our difference of opinion remains. As to your last couple of paragraphs, I can partly agree. No way are we Top 8 nor entitled to be so. I am a realist.

The wreck this club has become because of Kenwright cannot be under-estimated. We are an archaeological dig.
This will take a long time and many phases to put back into some kind of recognisable shape.

PSR has killed clubs outside of Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man Utd from doing what they have been allowed to do.
It is a long long bumpy road ahead for Blues fans. It will be exciting, frustrating and dotted with regulatory barriers.

Once the new owners are finally in place, then the past 30 years can be finally dropped into the grave of Goodison Park. Who they retain or replace will be a marker for future intentions.

Seems very unlikely Dyche was responsible for McNeil and Tarkowski joining since he wasn't at Everton at time.

You are a very patient man!

I just remember as a 13-year-old being crushed in the packed away end. I don't think I probably even saw Gray's goal but I remember Irvine's as if it was yesterday.

The skeleton ain't got anything right for centuries.

I would think Dyche would like to take credit for the signings but they were signed before he came.

Yup. Gonna plug myself back into national grid and pour some water on the fuse box.

You made me think of one of my favourite quotes from the late and great Anthony Bourdain (if Lyndon and Michael will indulge me):

“Eat at a local restaurant tonight. Get the cream sauce. Have a cold pint at 4 o'clock in a mostly empty bar. Go somewhere you've never been. Listen to someone you think may have nothing in common with you. Order the steak rare. Eat an oyster. Have a negroni. Have two. Be open to a world where you may not understand or agree with the person next to you, but have a drink with them anyways. Eat slowly. Tip your server. Check in on your friends. Check in on yourself. Enjoy the ride!"

Lampard persuaded Tarkowski to join on a free, and signed McNeil for £20M.

He drove us to the ground and was saying how quiet it was and they're musn't be much of a crowd today, even parking up on Goodison Road before he realised his mistake!

Lovely read, you must have been a tasty footballer playing in that company, and winning the toss means you were captain as well.

I know it was tough back then to make it to the top. Who did you leave Forest for, and did injuries curtail your development?

Reading your comments, you had a mature mind on young shoulders.

One of my favourite lines was when Oliver Reid turned up on Wogan, intoxicated, and the Australian, Clive James, who I had always thought was alright, was absolutely disgusted with my favourite ever Bill Sykes!

I was only a kid but I instantly thought James was being a little bit snide when, with a voice full of disdain, he asked Reid why he drunk so much? I was glad he asked the question though, when Oliver answered by saying, "Because some of the finest human beings I have ever met in my life were usually met in pubs!"

Live and let live, or as the slogan I read today in Liverpool said. "If people learn to love each other more than people love power, only then will humans be able to live in peace!" Signed by the great Bob Marley!!

With the funds available, I think that Thelwell has done a decent job (not just in the first-team squad but also the possible beginnings of some better Academy recruitment too).

You're a sceptic, that's fine. At the end of the day, we all just want to watch a better bunch of players playing some decent (winning) football.

I think Thelwell and Dyche too have played a big part in making sure we have a chance of doing that in the Premier League. I'd like to see what they can do with the support of more engaged, professional owners and a competitive budget to work with.

I expect we'd see more players like Ndiaye and no more has-beens and crocks etc. And better, more successful football as a result.

It was too close to home and, although I honestly don't think I had a bad game for Blackpool reserves, I genuinely believe if I'd have been given just one first-team game, my life might have turned out differently.

Blackpool got relegated and training with the first team everyday was actually boring. I'd been used to two-touch five-a-side games, but there was no way on gods earth you could have had a two-touch game because it wasn't often we could get ten passes in a rondo.

I have only one regret. Remember the Middlesbrough team that played three FA Cup games against Everton? Well, they were going for promotion and, when Blackpool reserves turned up to play them, they had for some unknown reason inexplicably decided to start the game against us with eight of their first team starting that night.

I loved it. We lost 4-1 but I had a really good game which was probably in my Top 10 all-time performances, and I remember talking to Peter Davenport, who remembered me from the weeks I used to spend at Forest (he had already joined Man Utd by the time I got to Forest full time) when leaving the pitch at half-time.

After the game, all the Blackpool players were saying "Tony, Davenport is waiting for you," But I wasn't falling for that one until I left our changies and he was standing there saying "Hasn't anyone told you I was waiting for you?"

I said, "Sound, Davvy, I can't believe the team you put out tonight but I really enjoyed it, mate!" And he said "Well, our gaffer must have enjoyed watching you because you're alls he's gone on about."

Serious this, and I don't even know why I'm writing it, but then I remember Stuart Ripley walking past, saying "Don't come here, son, the gaffer's a cunt."

I never even said anything to the Blackpool manager, and I remember talking to Tony Kelly, who was talking about Rioch from his Bolton days, and I reeled off this story. His reply was "You would have done well there, lad, because Rioch always loved touch players."

Ah well, I was already back home in Liverpool every weekend and I had to agree with Oliver Fuckin Reid!

I was in a pub with my son in Lancaster a few years back, the John O'Gaunt.

Its claim to fame: Reid was taking a leak and punched the wall and cracked a wall tile. This was witnessed by a local. There is a note over said tile "Oliver Reid drank here".

ps: No one knows why he did it!!

Tough times for Howard then but the turn around in our fortunes around that time were unbelievable.

Memories of the back pass away at Oxford that Inchy latched onto to get us a draw in the Milk Cup.

Some said at the time that was the goal that saved Howard's job.

I was lucky enough to meet the great man years later and have a good gab to him.

I have a treasured photo of me and him together!

It must be hard to look back and know you were every bit as good as those players who were lucky enough to get the break, and it didn't work out for you.

I don't think I've told anyone but my dad that story about Boro, and if my partner read this thread, she would start asking me why I've never really mentioned this to her but I'm telling hundreds on ToffeeWeb.

The truth is I went to the wrong club, but I still enjoyed it very much in Nottingham because I had some good mates and the way Forest played football made 90% of my experiences very enjoyable.

I was lucky because I could kick a ball, and looking back at our lives, anyone who has played football knows how much joy and freedom we got from playing the beautiful game.

No bitterness but I suppose it's very hard for the kids who don't make it because, once the dream has gone, then I suspect that at least 50% of us do end up lost for a few years.

It's why I'd make every single club make sure their young players educated themselves.

It might be a personal thing, but not attitude, but I never liked coming on as a sub. I could never get into the game fully.

But, when you've been a sub as much as me, then you definitely learn to adapt, mate!

Was Hooters open back then Tony??

Danny #275, I never played at your level, but I had the opposite problem with being a sub. I'd come roaring off the bench with too much pent-up energy, and generally my first touch was crap and my first tackle was a foul.

With that record as an impact sub, perhaps you should contact Sean Dyche, it's never too late!

I was more of a Besic than an Amokachi. (Notwithstanding one memorable corner kick...)

This was done because the police were concentrating that much on the shooters (not Hooters!) that had suddenly started plaguing Nottingham not long after I left the city.

Nottingham quickly went from being one of the most desirable cities in the country to one of the worst because of all the gun crime but I always preferred Liverpool even though we had nothing in those days because I have always loved living by the sea and the people are funnier!

I'm not sure I will be saying that after a December night match at the new stadium but I'm sure Liverpool has got a Hooters now about a mile from our new stadium if you don't fancy the cold!!

I once had a lovely time when I was an Intasun rep with a very pretty Nottingham WPC on holiday at my hotel. I believe Nottingham has the highest percentage of pretty ladies in the UK.

Happy days – that was the year we won the FA Cup vs Watford.

Going to Forest away reminds me of climbing up the floodlight in the corner to get at a decent view. Probably not very safe!!

I'll never forget that day at Wembley. Before, during and after. A bloke who travelled with us said if we won the cup, he would strip naked. Apart from his Everton cap, he did and danced on a table in a pub near Wembley. Somehow he didn't fall off or get thrown out.

I never knew if he got his clothes back to travel home as we left before he had finished celebrating!!

With the old full-backs we have, our wingers and overall back line is forced to stay deeper. It is harder to play a more cohesive attacking move without getting caught out by an opponent's counter-attack. So I'd expect direct long ball more often especially when Branthwaite is not on.

I don't think I know one Evertonian who thinks that game against Wimbledon was fixed.

Loads of red noses do, but I've not met one Evertonian.

Alongside Davey Klaassen, possibly the most disappointing of all our "recent" signings (since Mickey Walsh) given the excitement I felt when they signed.

Hadn't seen you for 2 years… haven't seen you since. What a night that was!

Said with a smirk and a wink just to wind them up.