Manifest incompetence in the final third against 10-man Bees

It is now gone. Dyche is pathetic.

Once a manager can't do the easy and obvious things he has to go.

Centre midfield should be Mangala, Gueye and Ndiaye. No brainer.

I fail to see what he brings to the game!

Otherwise, nothing new or enlightening.

He's probably just another wanker to join the others on the bench.

That's Dyche for you.

Young seems to be losing his wide man as he seems to tuck in too much otherwise there is only Doucoure who isn't having much of a game and we have Pickford to thank that we are not at least one goal down.

I thought the red card was a bit heavy as there didn't seem to be any intent just two players vying for a ball that was close to goal, more 50-50 than anything.

Playing for a draw at home against 10 men… fucking disgraceful.

McNeil needs to work on his corners although we only seem to have the one ploy from them which is to try and reach Tarkowski as he backs off from the far post.

Beto looked good and seemed to offer more than Calvert-Lewin who didn't look like he knew how to play off or with another striker. On that basis I'd be keeping Beto and look to cash in on Calvert-Lewin in January.

I suppose a point is a point but we must be running out of teams we feel we should be beating, and I don't remember ever saying that about any Everton team and that's from my first game in 1962.

Does any other team start a home game in that manner??

Our problem is the ownership issue – there is currently no-one to sack him or hire a replacement. The takeover can't come soon enough and where a lot of us thought it made sense to keep Dyche until the end of the season, the situation now is that the club and squad desperately need a new approach.

I genuinely worry that we'll be relegated if we don't get rid. I can't see us ever winning a game with him in charge.

I am not sure if the new owners watched this game but, if they did, I can't see Dyche lasting much longer as his game plan never deviated until late in the 2nd half, and he seemed okay with 1 point.

Something has to change when The Friedkin Group takes control next month… but will it???

Mykolenko and Young plus McNeil put in shit crosses all afternoon which were gobbled up by either their keeper or their center-backs.

They sat deep obviously after the sending-off and were not really troubled – truth be told.

Troubled times ahead with this squad being so poor.

Maybe time to sell the crown jewel and get some quality in for the second half of the season?

Next up at Goodison is Wolves who hit four at Craven Cottage after going a goal down. We might be fortunate to score four this side of Christmas.

Roll on the new beginning next season.

Keep fighting, Bues – every point is vital!

We are being let down by our players. Lindstrøm is poor, McNeil blows hot and cold, and Ndiaye to be honest was poor too. If we have faster and better quality players on the wings, the outcome can be different.

Michael #21, mostly agreed. We have two players with real pace, maybe two who can shoot. When you have this many shots and exactly one is dangerous -- Beto's last crack was the only one with a chance to go in -- the problem is the players, not the manager. I only disagree on Ndiaye... I think he's quality but just trying too hard to force things.

John #22, spot on but we don't need to sell anybody. Assuming Friedkin has closed his deal before the January window, we will have funds to spend on players. And I'll guarantee Thelwell already has his shopping list in hand.

I honestly think it's too late now – this clown looks like he'll take us down.

This team has no pace at all.

What a negative twat. 😡😡😡😡

Hopefully a new manager installed in January.

Hopefully, the new owners will get rid of Dyche prior to the January window.

Me? I don't care one iota about any of that lot... they can put in their papers any time they like.

I'll pour myself a large Irish and thank all that's holy that I once watched Ray Wilson, Alex Young, Alan Ball et al.

Apologies to you youngsters.

Not only has he done a great job IMO but you need somebody in the office who actually knows the club. New owners rarely clean out the entire staff.

What will Moyes do differently from Dyche?

Who's on the bench that Dyche is leaving out that we would all play?

Truth is that the squad and team are crap after years of decimation and non-renewal of quality.

I really don't know where this ‘Dyche is underperforming' nonsense comes from. Who exactly is he leaving out that would change things?

We're crap — as evidenced week after week after week.

Dyche and Doucoure should win the Ballon de Merde!

First and foremost, I just want this parasite gone. But please, for once, let's use some creativity in the replacement.

One team is coached, has a game plan, freshens it up when it needs to.

The other is lost after having a man up. Playing against 10 men, you need to widen the pitch, wear the opposition down by keeping possession and moving it quickly. This was the perfect time for a 3-4-2-1 and bring Harrison on for Young.

No, we don't have a clue what to do. An uncoached uncohesive selection of individuals playing off the cuff. Dyche has no idea how to break a team down, he's never done it in his life.

He didn't even think about using Patterson. Say what you like about his defending but this kid can run all day and would have got to the bye line, something we never did all game.

Clueless manager, totally tactically inept.

Speaking on a level-headed mindset here, we have to accept the Dyche way is primitive and he will not change, he will not try to play a different style.

Our way of playing under this manager went out of fashion in the last century, teams just don't play like that anymore which is why they stretch their searches for upcoming managers far and wide.

His win ratio is absolutely abysmal, I believe one of the worst in any of the recent Everton managers and it can't go on. If we persist with this, then I truly believe it will end in relegation this season.

Thank him for the derby victory in April, shake his hand for the mini spell last December, but what's gone on before and after that has been some of the most mind-numbing dross I've seen probably since Walter Smith's first three or four months in charge.

Benitez was sacked for less.

People will say it's the players, it's not, trust me, the players will not enjoy never being able to express themselves during a football match.

You can get a bunch of players even in League One to pass move, construct little moves together and look like a decently assembled attacking unit.

But it all comes down to the management and his staff beside him.

This can't go on.

The manager in such circumstances is a light bulb and anybody half decent could be plugged in. We wrongly believe that success can be manager-driven and we believe that changing manager will do the job.

Everton FC needs a clean-out from top to bottom.

I have no doubt that they will rock up to Goodison and fully expect on their last-ever visit to the Old Lady to take all the spoils, like most teams expect these days at Goodison Park.

The predictable loss at Old Trafford next Sunday will be 2 wins in 13 with trips to Arsenal, home games against Liverpool and a rejuvenated Chelsea before Christmas and horrible-looking fixtures just after.

I'll be astonished if we are still above 18th come the first week of January.

This became a big game for the manager the moment they went down to 10 men. It did not go well second half.

If we could buy pace down the flanks in January, things could change for this squad.

We have a team that cannot create goalscoring opportunities. We just have no idea in attack and this all down to Dyche's negative approach to a game of football.

It's a long time since we had a good football team – too long for a club of Everton's stature.

Very disappointed today. It's gonna be a hard road ahead.

90% Dyche, 10% players' attitude and confidence caused by Dyche. ;)

Any other manager out there would get more from these players.

The way some of our fans talk, you'd think we had part-time postmen and milkmen meeting up on a Sunday morning to kick a casey about on a muddy field.

These are Premier League athletes, playing at an elite level, some of them with multiple caps at international level. This manager spreads fear amongst them.

Ever since he walked through the door and all last summer – despite finishing on a respectable points tally, the only word on his lips is relegation.

Relegation is Sean Dyche's only vocabulary.

I'm sorry, I agree with the players aren't good enough but they're not as bad as that today. The manager is tactically useless: Plan A is the same as Plan B and Plan C. He doesn't coach them cos, even at 10 men, Brentford were playing better football and had the best chance in the second half.

If McNeil and Doucoure turned up with broken legs, he'd still pick them. I actually wish for the first time I didn't go the match as it's too hard to watch. Someone made a point: 27 shots but only a couple of them were close.

Dyche has got to go and unfortunately we will be in the Bottom 3 at New Year. I hope I'm wrong but I can't see us scoring – never mind getting a point.

I've never seen such fan disengagement online as this season, and I put that down to Dyche and the depressing football.

I thought we might win this before the kick-off, but I did say Who do we have that might score? There is no threat coming from midfield which is a big weakness.

Anyone blaming Dyche today is talking nonsense in my opinion, we had every chance to win. I've no doubt though that the same suspects will pop up and be calling for his head again.

Despite a very slightly improved squad, the team has regressed this season. His decision-making and judgement of fitness have been poor.

And it's becoming increasingly clear that he appears to have little or no answers other than plugging away and hoping something happens.

Not good enough. Might be enough to have us finishing 17th, but not good enough.

It's on the manager that he can't set a team up to play on the front foot.

Some of the home games, in fact most of the home games under him, are basically us defending a 0-0.

He was a month away from taking Burnley down, and for me, that's his level now.

Only when the takeover is done and dusted can the change occur and we can welcome yet another wanker in to break our hearts!

Going to watch Everton is like Groundhog Day.

We can't score 1 playing against 10 for nearly an hour.

Whatever happens with the takeover, we need to buy a striker who can forge his own chances as currently the side isn't helping Dominic and the striker isn't helping his team.

“In the Premier L eague season 2024-25, Everton, struggling near the bottom and facing a hard run of fixtures, kicked off at home against Brentford who hadn't yet won a point away from home. Dwight McNeil took the kick-off to start the game.
What happened next?

a) Everton swung the ball out to Iliman Ndiaye who beat his man and crossed for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to get the Blues off to a flier?

b) McNeil passed sideways to Calvert-Lewin who lobbed the Brentford keeper who was off his line for an outrageous goal.

C) McNeil carefully and deliberately played the ball crisply back to Jordan Pickford, the goalkeeper, in a statement of intent and big Fuck You from Sean Dyche to the Glwadys Street, and Everton failed to register a much needed win. Again.

Mentality from the very first kick. Just fucking awful.
It's not the players – it's instructions from the bench.
UTFT and FOD

That will be because Ipswich have pace or because they spent £100M this summer.

Forget the fact that they were a League One squad before that injection or that Dyche doesn't want pace and his wingers bar Cornet never had pace (and he often played him upfront because he didn't do the hard yards).

We now have 11 points from 12 games. Lampard had 14 points from 13 games with a dreadful squad and no centre-forward and standard fixtures. After only 1 point from his next 8 games, he was eventually sacked with 15 points from 21 games.

That sacking came about 4 games too late yet we are probably already the equivalent under Dyche considering our fixture list til the New Year.

This is no longer about the shit football, tactical inflexibility and crap decision-making. This is breaking point now but just unconfirmed by the Premier League table.

You're talking to Evertonians, not some idiots who have no idea about football. Your excuse – that the club have been a basket case for years now – is true… but how on earth does that equate to not being able to beat a team, with 10 men, that have let in 22 goals in 11 games with 11 men??

Enough, Mr Dyche, you have run out of ideas, though using the plural of idea may be pushing it a bit far. The players need a new voice and a more positive outlook on how to approach a game.

No more of the "This is how we are going to make sure we don't lose this game" mantra. Oh and good luck against Wolves. Cunha, a player you would have in the stands, awaits your negative tactics next.

As the Moody Blues sang – Go Now!

People got their wish to see Ndiaye play No 10 for 45 minutes… Thoughts?

Countless poor decisions in the final third are the norm with this group of players. Lack of quality and guile cost us.

Lindstrøm was poor again, I can't see what he brings to us; Harrison at least puts defensive work in.

Dyche's job is safe until the takeover happens as there isn't anyone to sack him. The worrying thing is that Roma have had 4 Managers in 12 months and ended up with Ranieri.

It's another point anyhow.

We are currently appallingly managed. The players are effectively told they can't or won't win before they step out on the pitch.

His comments: ”The main thing is to not lose it.“ He should be sacked just for saying that.

What was worst for me though was that the straw I was grasping was that the fault is 100% Dyche's and that the squad is better than it is made to look.

My thoughts are that a new coach could make them slightly better – but only marginally so – as our manager-go-round seems to have proven.

Quality is what makes life worth living (Zen) but, as Evertonians, we have none within our club.

I don't blame Sean Dyche for his inadequacies as a football coach – he won't ever change his philosophy because he's too old and from an age of ale house football. If I was on his money, I'd stay too!!

I also don't really blame the players – let's be honest, they are shit, but are better than he is allowing them to be. Football is a mindset confidence game and his management style erodes your confidence to go play with freedom – too much instruction, too much forward restrictions, and zero continuity in attack.

I blame the institution that is Everton Football Club – whose standards have been allowed to drop to a depressingly low level, whose players, staff, and owners have shown a disgusting disregard and disrespect to its still ridiculously loyal fan base.

A new bloody stadium is not going to fix that. I hope these new owners ditch every single one of them and start afresh – and I mean the lot.

Beto at least let them know he was there with three headers and a shot that was blocked. He's not the answer but offers more than Dominic at the moment.

Some very poor performances out there today — was there a very good one from any of them?

So we really need this thing to go through fast, cos we are just treading water at the moment.

Calvert-Lewin contributed nothing today but it's not down to individual players. The manager picks the team and the tactics and is responsible for in-game management.

The DoF is responsible for the players and our style of play.

Is it any wonder, when you look at Wolves when Thelwell was there and Burnley when Dyche was there, that we can't score goals???

Today was a great example of the negative mindset. Young had the ball right side, he pushed forward then stopped, and simply passed back.

Maybe he was too knackered to run into the open space, If so, why is he playing? Not singling him out just highlighting the mindset.

I have dissed Beto too much though. There is actually a decent player in there and he could do okay in a decent team.

What about the corners? Perhaps McNeil shouldn't take them? His unerring accuracy in putting the ball into the keeper's hands was amazing.

Their left-back was good apart from that thing on his lip, wish we could afford him.

Patterson would have got to the bye line, something we never did all game.

Ndiaye? Cut back from the byeline, to nobody.

Mykolenko?? Sharp cross from wide left, 1 yard off the byeline, fizzed across goal ahead of statuesque Everton strikers.

He can't get down the wing, he can't cross and his defending is last ditch.

The whole "People's Club", Grand Old Team, will only change if everything about the Everton way of doing things does. It's been run like it's still the 1960s since the '60s.

Brentford down to 10 men, chance to make a couple of subs at half-time, but no: let them get fresh legs on. He then gets his finger from up his backside by finally, on 72 minutes, putting two subs on, one of those a like-for-like swap.

Perfect chance to go three at the back second half, Patterson and Harrison as wing-backs, to stretch them out wide, but too negative to try that against a team that had no intention of storming forward.

We were 3-nil up against Donny Rovers in the Carabao Cup, with a young 6ft-3in striker on the bench, perfect game to give him the last 15 minutes… Nah, he brings a defender on.

1-all against an almost reserve Saints side in the cup, no thought of going for a winner, throws a defender on.

Benitez, Allardyce and Lampard got the push and rightly so, but Dyche is up there with Mike Walker for me and still rolling the same dross football out every week.

Stood on the pitch at full-time clapping and high fiving the players after a point.

I've had enough of his shite football, the sooner the new owners get in and bin him, the better. Even the most optimistic cannot possibly be thinking, 'Be careful what you wish for'.

But it's only two wins in eight, and we haven't played anyone decent yet.

Frank put things on paper while Dyche tried to remember things. Frank brought on 'several' replacements in due time, Dyche frustratingly left things too late.

That is purely a simplistic view of the differences between the two. I would take Frank over Dyche any day of the week.

Oh, did I mention their left-back – what a player – and am I right in thinking that he chose Brentford over Everton recently? Or did he chose Frank over Dyche, I wonder?

This season, with arguably a better team, he has taken us backwards. The results have been poor and the performances have possibly been even worse.

He won't be going anywhere for the next couple of weeks but hopefully by January we will have new owners and that will be crunch time.

I suspect it will all depend on where we are in the Premier League at that point. If Dyche (somehow) pulls out some unexpected results in December and keeps us around 13th, 14th, or 15th, then I reckon TFG will want to give him the rest of the season and probably replace him in the summer, when there will be a wider pool of managers to pick from.

If (as looks increasingly likely) we limp through December with only the odd draw to draw hope from and finish the year around 17th, 18th, or 19th, then surely they will pull the trigger and choose a new man.

If the latter comes to pass, I'd quite like to see Graham Potter. A bit risky perhaps but he turned around the style at Brighton pretty quickly and I think the Everton fans might respond to a more aspirational style after the last 2 years of pragmatism.

The other option would be a caretaker, probably in the pragmatic mould, such as Moyes.

Michael @75; if you want to be clever make sure your literary skills follow.. Ndiaye is a left winger who you found one example and Mykolenko is a left back who again you found one example. This in 45 minutes against 10 men.

Just to be clear, Michael, Patterson is a right-back. I was looking endlessly in your report for Lindstrom to cut inside where Young overlapped and got to the bye line. Unfortunately I couldn't find it.

But, hey ho, join the band who tell us about all our shit players. Yet the team we faced don't have a point away from home, have their 2 full-backs missing and striker they bought to replace Toney. Yet their left winger had to play left-back but so little was he tested that he decided to play like Gareth Bale regardless... Our manager couldn't see him marauding and never thought to get Patterson on to see him go the other way.

So, it is with some dismay that some can still claim that Dyche shoulders no blame.

I've been trying ever so hard recently to not reply to Raymond Fox's cranky posts, but I can't let this one go:

"Anyone blaming Dyche today is talking nonsense in my opinion, we had every chance to win. I've no doubt though that the same suspects will pop up and be calling for his head again" (51).

I love the sneery "usual suspects" as if this Fox sits on some elevated plateau when, in fact, he types gump gibberish. He is dealt with firmly and quickly - like swatting an annoying fly - by Paul Tran in the next reasonable and well-argued post (52).

The hard-boiled egg merits no blame and therefore he should never ever be sacked. He's that good. Fucking blameless. As innocent as a new-born babe.

He only: picks the team, makes decisions about each squad member, sets the team up, watches training on the “grass”, has ‘tactical’ meetings with the other hard-boiled eggs, stands on the touchline watching games unfold, makes decisions in accordance with the way that the game is unfolding, changes set-ups if necessary to respond to the way the game unfolds, makes timely and strategically astute substitutions, is supposed to encourage and take an open eye and mind to the whole squad and that includes younger players, gives utterly depressing pressers that are in so many places inarticulate and just plain dumb teasing the English language that leave many astonished by the audacious and self-serving drivel that pours out of his mouth.

That’s right Mr. Fox. Maybe you watch the pressers in fawning pleasure nodding along as

Dyche claims that he should take no blame or responsibility and it’s all down to the last ten years and lady luck (he called her Dame Luck) and thin margins and individual errors and … so and and so on ... add infinitum ...

Remember Raymond et al, he “smells” things.

Apparently Pickford wasn't happy after the game, and had a go at Dyche

He can then march off over the horizon with his pay-off, claiming some absurd statistic along the lines of fewest defeats since... blah, blah, blah. He's started already - "One defeat in 8" or whatever it is.

I really do believe that is his motivation now. Just avoid defeat. A win would just be a bonus, and what happens to Everton after he's gone — he won't give a stuff. He has no love for this club.

I did spot a few words exchanged between Tarkwski and Branthwaite during the match, and Pickford is never shy at calling things out, but I'd be surprised if he had a go at the manager.

Funnily enough the back-four haven't been the issue for the last few matches, it's in midfield and up top where the real problems lie, and those players in those positions don't seem to egg each other on, or show as much passion, as the defenders tend to do.

Dyche is trying to save us from Dyche Kim. His very good April saved us from his pathetic near four-month run from the middle of December. I laugh when some trumpet that Dyche kept us up forgetting perhaps that it was Dyche who put us in the desperate position in the first fecking place. Dyche saved us from Dyche.

I agree Kim that he has set a very low bar and that his expectations are avoiding relegation and it will be avoiding relegation the next season and avoiding relegation the one after and the one after that.

That's preservation Dyche for yer. A real grappler. Someone who is only happy working in his yo-yo Heaven.

And what's more if Dyche doesn't like it, resign and fuck off. You've been here 22 months – stop bringing the past up!

I honestly can't believe anyone still thinks he's the man for the job, he's absolutely fucking useless. It's embarrassing he's our manager, as far as I'm concerned.

Other teams seem to be able to cut through defences by some neat passing and give-and-go but god forbid, we don't do those!!!

Lewis-Potter would have been a great addition to our squad but, at £20M, I don't think we had the dough at the time.

Regardless, we should have done better today. Dyche and the players need to look at themselves.

Where is the next win coming from? I have no idea.

It's only down to the uncertainty at the top of the club that has saved him.

Who is next in the hot seat, maybe Potter? Carsley?

Whoever it is they, have their work cut out for them.

I really don't like that we have key players out of contract in the summer and a load of loan players that make up our first team. We are in a fight and I don't see the hunger in the players at this point in the season.

It was like watching a team from the '70s... only in colour.

Only three opinions, I know, but their consistency is worth taking note of (make a note of it, Savage with the dreamy hair).

In other news, the last one wanted Moyes back – hmmmm – on a permanent basis because it was his view that Moyes would not accept a short-term deal to the end of the season.

Those were indeed just two occasions when our players did get to the byeline — you said they didn't — and actually played what should have been half-decent balls.

But it made no difference. We had no players on the end of them.

It might have been different with Patterson, as you claim, but you can never know for sure. Let's deal with what we saw on the day. Not your fanciful hypotheticals.

Last season's run of 13 league games without a win would have finished off any manager at a functioning club. Dyche still being here says more about the state of our club than his capability.

Thankfully there are no more posts asking for him to be “given a chance” to lead us out next season. When his contract is up, maybe even before then, this marriage of convenience can come to an end.

Now down to 0.92 points per game, Dyche maybe reckons, based on last season, that around 35 points will be enough. He might be right.

Hopefully, the takeover will be the start of a much more positive era. The bar is set so low now, surely it will be?

I think the second half demonstrated that putting Ndiaye in the middle will not work with the players we have available. It was worth trying against ten men but unsurprisingly it just made the middle of the field even more incoherent.

The second half also demonstrated how poor we are in possession. It embarrasses them. We had around 60% today and if anything found it even more difficult to make chances against ten men.

That’s why Sean Dyche prefers to keep things tight because as Dave Abrahams says our players lack guile.

You put something in the front of my mind that because right now I cannot remove myself from the short-term weekly/daily trauma and slough of despond made me downright miserable.

Quite simply, The Old Lady does not deserve this joyless and soulless sleepwalking to the riverside. It's unfair. It is not what she represents. She deserves stuff on that pitch that respects who she is and what she has done for so long now.

I want some joy inside my tears on that last day.

"I blame it all on the players. I think the second half demonstrated that putting Ndiaye in the middle will not work."

Who decided to put him there, John, mate?

On home turf his teams have played 163 matches and scored 165 goals.

At Everton, Dyche has been in charge for 68 matches and his team has found the net 69 times, scoring one more goal (35) away from Goodison. Sean's teams are nothing if not consistent, when it comes to finding the net.

Only Guardiola, Arteta, Emery, Amorim and Slot make more than our Sean. Everton will be his last big payday.

All the players were poor I thought apart from Pickford and Young. We don't have anyone who seems to gee the team up. The second half needed an injection of energy and pace when in possession, but there was none!

The manager's tactics were poor as normal. Why weren't we stretching the play to make space? Why wasn't the bench emptied when we're at home against 10 men? Soul-destroying to watch today and massively worrying for the future! 😟

How the hell The Echo could give out some of the players match scores after watching that is beyond me. They must have been watching a different game!

The answer for me is a short term fix – Moyes till the end of the season. Complete reboot in the spring under Friedkin and that includes changing the current DoF. We have to go into the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock in the Premier League.

What a ridiculous red card though, the ball was there to be won, we'd be up in arms if it happened to one of our players.

As to the Taxi for Dyche debate, I think we have averagely decent players unimaginatively led.

If there's to be no 'old manager bounce' this side of our annual FA Cup debacle and exit, we may have to hope for 'new manager bounce' via new ownership.

On to Old Trafford to play the fall guys for their new manager bounce?
We'll probably get a draw there after throwing away a lead.

As they say - if you can't take a joke you shouldn't have joined.

It was a tough call for the red card decision; as you say, the ball was there to be won, but had the same incident have happened in the middle of the park, the referee would probably have issued a red card, without VAR intervening. I think the challenge might fall under the Playing in a Dangerous Manner rule:

Playing in a dangerous manner is any action that, while trying to play the ball, threatens injury to someone (including the player themself) and includes preventing a nearby opponent from playing the ball for fear of injury.

It'll be interesting to see if the panel overturn it on appeal.

I was hoping to see a change to a back 3 with wingbacks throwing in crosses to Calvert-Lewin and Beto, as everyone knows we can't unlock a tightly packed defence by playing through them. Unfortunately that never happened; shame Patterson wasn't given a chance too.

It's a bad time, but we'll get through it like we always do.

If he was getting results, I could stomach it until the end of the season, but it's plainly not happening with his tactical set-up. If you can call it that.

I'm more annoyed with the general mis-management of Everton FC than I am with the current manager. He's just a symptom of the malaise and my reaction is cynicism when I see posters recommending Moyes or Potter.

The club needs a huge shake-up, the manager is just one cog in the wheel. Another patsy in the hot seat with the same faces around him won't change much of anything. There's something rotten at the heart of Everton.

At this rate anyway, Dyche will be gone soon after Friedkin arrives, especially if December's games go the way we're all expecting. He's shown himself incapable of managing a club with supporters who have expectations about how the game should be played. It won't matter if there are new signings in January, Dyche won't know what to do with them.

Poor final season at Goodison, it's starting to look worrying.

Gueye was out on his feet after 75 minutes. Make a change, no chance. Cant help himself, as negative as they come. Nobody at the club to even sack him.

We deserve relegation as we are the most poorly run club in the Premier League. Doucoure is like crazy legs crane. Just an awful footballer, but he runs around so is a shoo-in for Mr Negative.

We need pace out wide, leave the 39-year-old full-back on and leave Patterson on the bench. Not even for the last 10 minutes to cover a potential counter-attack, not a chance.

A point gained will be his mantra. We have got to be the worst side to watch as even us die-hards hate watching this drivel. My kids have given up staying up to midnight to watch this negative boring rubbish week after week.

Only some deluded sense of duty is stopping me giving it a miss and going to bed in the early hours frustrated and wishing I hadn't bothered wasting another 90 minutes of my life watching this.

As soon as the takeover is completed, you'd think that before the new owner has even got to Goodison, he would be telling Dyche, "Pack your shit and get out!"

So, from tonight onwards, it's between us and the the 3 promoted teams, that's 3 from 4 teams. I wouldn't fancy our chances against any of them. Southampton have beaten us twice already this season.

The players also play with a positive attitude and belief. Ours play as if they are facing a firing squad or couldn't be arsed. From top to bottom at our club, you will not find anyone putting in 100% – they just don't care.

The consensus standing on the packed train afterwards was that Dyche is finished. The only name that came up was Potter, but everyone simply hoped that the new owners will actually have a plan already in place for a new manager in time for the transfer window.

The return of Moyes, even for 6 months, is for me too dreadful to contemplate… and I see someone on here mentioned Carsley. Seriously?

It's not about the money, but on tickets, ubers and trains, I spent £175 to watch that, before I consider food and drinks. And I got soaked for the privilege. Travel was challenging.

I'll reflect in the morning once I've got my head down.

I can't make Man Utd, but will be up for Wolves.

27 shots: Dyche had a front-foot plan today, and it worked… 27 shots.

Trouble was, the first 26 were off-target or pathetically weak. None had any chance of scoring. Only the last, Beto's crack from Dom's knockdown, was well-struck and on target, and unfortunately a defender was in the way. But that was it.

You can argue, rightfully, that Dyche should have gone for it out of half-time, or at the latest on 60 minutes. Beto and Mangala were the right subs 15 minutes too late in my view.

But that didn't cost us the win. 26 shots skied, scuffed, mis-hit or driven wide cost us the win. And Dyche didn't take any of 'em.

We'll likely get a new manager in December, courtesy of the new owner, but it won't matter much until we get what we need most -- 4-5 new attacking players in January.

Because there are no overlapping wingers crosses are diagonal balls to the far post which attackers are too deep to get to. Runs into the penalty are between two defenders and there is no attacking the near post, even at corners, and no trying to get first to the ball in front of a defender or pulling back to create space in front of goal, Klinsmann-like.

So Everton have a blunt attack that is easy to defend against. Beto does put the centre under pressure, but no-one else does. Everton do not have a player who can come up with that one off shot that has helped them for a number of seasons.

There is little team work in the final third, just get into position to shoot or head the ball, the latter being rare. Dyche will not provide the extra support for forwards. Forwards are prioritised in a defensive function and shape rather than an organised attack.

People are saying we can't sack him because we have no mechanism in the club to do so. Only the owner can do it and he's more invisible than Peter Brady. (He was The Invisible Man for anyone younger than 60!!).

So we have to wait for TFG to take over before there is any possibility of any action being taken, whenever that may be. In the meantime, we will have to watch the same turgid, inept rubbish and listen to incomprehensible pressers from Dyche, and hope against hope that he is replaced before it is too late.

I have seen no indication that things are about to improve over the second half of the season. He is a manager bereft of ideas of how to change our results, his stats are awful, his football is awful but he is still here. He must go now while there is some time left for a new manager to make an impact.

I do agree that there was more front foot-footy today – although as some suggest is this down to the players turning against Dyche-play? – but ultimate responsibility always rests with the manager for the unacceptable position that we find ourselves in.

Your 27 shots argument, Mike, can be used against you on the many many more times when the number of shots was pitifully low, including a run of games without one.

Is this your general position, Mike? Or are you discussing this one game?

I think that we've reached the point now where the only thing that matters is to get rid of Dyche. That could change if he is able to replicate what he was doing this time last season before one of the most distressing and depressing periods in my Everton life.

The players are not all bad. Some are. I know that they are human. And like so many of us, I'm sure that they have their own views on Dyche. My hunch is that most of them would much rather play for someone else.

27 shots? It's also scandalous that Dyche did not take the right sort of actions – some of which you mention – at the right time to get a win against a team with 10 men for the best part of an hour (and that red card was a gift).

Nixon was president when I went to my first match and this is the most misery I have ever felt since then. And I'm allowed to say that Dyche is the main cause of that.

We needed a firefighter and Dyche delivered. We got 2 points deductions and he kept us in the Premier League.

The footy is shite, we sell our best players every year… what do you expect?

I don't like the football, I know Dyche is limited, but do you think the next manager is going to have a magic wand?

We sack Dyche tomorrow and bring in Carlos Kick-the-ball from wherever, he isn't going to last 5 minutes as the players are shite and he can't spend money.

We have to do something; if Dyche gets sacked sobeit… but I wouldn't hold out much hope on an improved playing style until half of the players are gone.

At least it has become easy analysing the game now. Simples: negative, shitier than shite, embarrassing, Burnley-style purgatory. Ginger, ugly, gravel-voiced destroyer of the Beautiful game...

Due to the shambolic state of this once respected club, never has there been a manager so dreadful able to keep his job for so long, thieving many thousands of pounds.

Totally incompetent, never-has-been, arrogant dick Hhead.

We do not have enough good players. We have zero pace and, at the moment, nobody who can crack a shot on goal except our backup centerback.

When others back in August were predicting a mid-table finish, I called 14th. And that was without knowing that Tarkowski, Mykolenko, Calvert-Lewin and Harrison would regress from their form of last season, or only one of our newcomers would have an immediate impact, or that Jarrad and James and young Tim would miss so much time.

Whoever these guys want to play for is irrelevant when Gana gives the ball away in midfield seven times, several of them triggering dangerous counter-attacks. The formation is irrelevant when the one Dyche plans gives our best bal lstriker, McNeil, five clear shots and he scuffs or misses all of them (plus putting in six misplaced corners).

The timing of the subs is irrelevant when they don't play any better than the schlubs they replace. Go ahead, tell me how certain you are that Beto would have scored today if he'd been on at 55 minutes.

You'll see for yourself. Maybe the new ownership sacks Dyche in December and brings in Sarri or Allegri or Conceicao, and the psyched up players get a home 1-0 upset of Chelsea, and hoo-hah isn't everything great.

And then we revert to form and get 2 points from the next three games. Because Sarri or whoever can't make a player strike a ball well – no matter how much better than Dyche they are.

And that's when you'll realize that this club is going nowhere until Friedkin buys us some attackers in the January window. That's the problem that needs solving to keep us up. And it will be solved.

A lot of fans seem to assume we'll be okay, we're always okay. There's always 3 teams worse than us.

Watching our "displays", I'm not sure there's 3 worse teams in the top 4 tiers.

This has the makings of a nightmare of a final season at Goodison.

I was grateful when Dyche first came to us as we seemed to be in freefall, with the trapdoor of relegation looming. Then last season's point deductions etc, all seemed to be conspiring against us, and again, somehow, he and the team pulled off nothing short of a miracle.

I still believe we have some decent players, but Dyche can't just depend on historic performances and narrow escapes saving us again, playing totally abject football. When all said and done, he is picking the teams (wrongly in some areas imho) and must be instructing them to play negatively. Changes cannot come soon enough.

I don't see the same this season.

It is a better squad than last season. One first team contender sold – Onana – and six signed: Iroegbunam, Ndiaye, O'Brien, Broja, Lindstrøm and Mangala. The manager's challenge seems to be how to use them and his reluctance to select the new players. We will see the depth of the squad better when Broja, Garner and Iroegbunam return from injury.

First half, we played okay but, as soon as we gained possession after the sending off, we lost our way. I thought Ndiaye in the Number 10 slot did well but he was constantly running into narrow deep defensive lines as we were not offering enough width. He then go shifted out wide right when Beto came on.

We really need a pacey right-back, left-back and right-winger, so I hope TFG will spend the money…

And can we please work on offensive set pieces? Teams have sussed out the deep corner to Tarkowski at the back post so come up with other options. We could do worse than look at the variety that Brentford presented in the game.

Iroegbunam and Garner may have more to offer when they return. Broja (an unknown quantity) if he ever gets fit and Chermiti could bolster our otherwise non-existent attack. It was evident today for long periods that Doucoure is no longer of any consequence and Lindstrøm is totally toothless.

We are racing headlong into another relegation scrap at Goodison. What a fine mess to take to Bramley-Moore Dock.

We simply cannot wait a moment longer for Dyche to turn our fortunes around. If a new manager is not appointed with immediate effect, we will find ourselves in quicksand of our own making, that this time we are unable to recover from.

Read what I wrote again on that particular theory and you will see what I mean. (Oh and was there a question mark there somewhere?)

So, you have nailed your flag to the mast. Dyche is not to blame – it's the dross he puts out. This, mate, is quite simply wrong and the following all end up in the wrong bin too: “Whoever these guys want to play for is irrelevant … The formation is irrelevant … The timing of the subs is irrelevant”.

It's lucky you pointed this out Mike because no-one else on here has ever thought this: “And that's when you'll realize that this club is going nowhere until Friedkin buys us some attackers in the January window. That's the problem that needs solving to keep us up. And it will be solved”.

It's actually quite simple but the problem is the element of the unknown. Dyche is the main reason for the mess that we are in. He needs to get out of our club before anything will improve.

We have to hope that your Friedkin resists what seems to be his natural impulse right now to dump managers in a way that makes Moshiri look sheepish. We have to hope that some new players come to us and that they might make a difference.

Friedkin is not exactly flavour of the month with the Roma fans, is he? There's absolutely no guarantee that he will turn us round though you seem to pin high hopes on him.

I hope you're right and that you are a better judge of Friedkin and his team than you are of the sixth highest paid Premier League gaffer's liability, culpability, responsibility, and a few other -ity words for the worst time I have ever known since I first walked so excitedly into the Gwladys Street End.

Did you go back and have a look at the other post to check on my status as a conspiracy theorist?

I also agree with Steve (Brown) that, on paper at any rate, we have a better squad than last season.

But remember the genius that is Dyche claims that they are not "Premier League ready". But all blame and responsibility must rest with our shite players who can't shoot for a toffee on today's evidence.

Lindstrøm alluded to players being too far apart. But I think the rigidity of Dyche's 1-4-4 formation and emphasis on maintaining it as a defensive shape is the problem.

Players fall back to maintain it and are not available. Players will not be available as on overlaps. Opportunities for through balls are rare.

Calvert Lewin got one chance on a through ball that I saw, but he needed an extra touch which pushed him wider and played in the keeper's hands.

Beto did get chances but they were savable. It is back to shoot on sight, poor or little pass completion in the final third, and no crafting of serious goal opportunities. Brentford were comfortable defending. Everton players are sloppy in their play as well.

Dyche will be happy with a point and hoping for a bit of luck. The luck maybe three poorer teams, but another independent commission is a danger.

There are too many one-to-ones on Pickford. Some in Everton's defence maybe just too old. The lack of pace is a real problem. Dyche needs to bring in more pace, but he won't trust others with his defensive principles.

I said nothing about Dyche being "blameless" -- you shamelessly invented that. What I said was that the lack of quality on the roster is the larger problem.

You think I'm wrong? Fine. Wanna support yourself by citing portions of my sentences instead of full ones? Pfffft. Weak.

(And speculating that the players defied Dyche's plan today with one of their own is most definitely a conspiracy theory.)

As for Friedkin, I couldn't care less what the Roma ultras think. Besides, he's not 'my' Friedkin. He's yours too, or will be shortly. And of course I pin high hopes on him and his known business acumen and his $8B -- why wouldn't every Blue do so at this point? He will sure as hell be better than Moshiri.

I make no prediction that Friedkin will sack Dyche (thus my use of the word 'maybe'). I do predict that he will immediately leap to protect his investment and prevent relegation by having Thelwell bring in new players.

Which are desperately needed. I disagree with Steve Brown. The problem with your characterization that "on paper" it's a better squad this season than last is that it's not on paper, it's on grass (or on the injury list).

Apparently you and Steve disagree with my opinion that many of our best performers last season are significantly underperforming this season. Me, I see a weaker squad. And not that I would care about being in the minority with that opinion, but I'd bet you my next mortgage payment I'm not.

However, in the final analysis, the only opinion that matters is that of the new ownership team. Let's see what they address first, the coaching staff or the playing staff.

This is what happens when you have a leader who is just so negative.

Someone needs to remind this team what they did against Liverpool last season. Front foot, aggression, confidence.

They can be better than this. For the last 2 years, they've been told that they can't be and should abandon trying to play any kind of football.

I'm now patiently waiting for Everton to "change the story" and get rid of this draining individual. There's no real point even discussing match specifics until that happens.

That said, this is rich: ‘you shamelessly invented that … ‘ after you ‘shamelessly’ involved me in your conspiratory theory fantasy. In my work, I rise or fall by syntax. This is what I wrote: ‘ … although as some suggest is this down to the players turning against Dyche-play?. It’s not my view. Are you able to see that? I’m relaying something as in, here are the clues, ‘some suggest’ and, did you miss it, that big question mark?

Back to teacherly, I’m not grading you, but if you think that is me spouting conspiracy, well … I’m not American and I’m intelligent. Not the best breeding grounds for your conspiracy really. Weak, Mike, weak.

And: ‘you shamelessly invented that … Part 2. No where but nowhere do I say or even hint that I believe that ‘many of our best performers last year are [not] significantly underperforming this year’. Although I might not use ‘significantly’ at times.

You really put a lot of faith in ‘Friedkin’s ‘known business acumen’ and every word you utter on this is supposition and hope. Me? As a historian I prefer evidence. All I have right now in the football field – you see ‘business acumen’ is not enough for me as I prefer to see the uses to which it is put and business savvy means many many things – is Roma. And on that basis the best I can do is let’s wait and see what happens because he aint doing well in the probationary period.

The doubting voices on that score have grown on here recently.

I don’t magnetically believe that your Friedkin or anyone else for that matter or a bright jazzy new spot on the riverside will lead us back to the halcyon days as some seem to think they will. Mind you, I pray and hope every day that they will. And that will be down to Moshiri as well as Friedkin or any other new owner.

Hope you and yours are doing well MG.

Under Dyche, from December 16, we went on a winless streak slightly longer than one-third of a season, that finally ended on April 6 with a 1-0 win over Burnley (though you might remember that we lost the next game 6-0).

128 fecking days! Seven defeats, six draws (two goalless), nine scored and twenty-two conceded, beaten at home in the League Cup quarter final, and shamefully beaten at home by Luton in the FA cup.

Real firefighter stuff.

If you give Dyche plaudits for the second half of April, then for the sake of equity he ought to be given blanket criticism for those 128 dark days when he would have been sacked at any other club.

So, forgive me Rob, there is an alternative reading of ‘he kept us in the league’. That is, Dyche saved us from Dyche and no other serious club would have given him that opportunity.

Our hard-boiled eggs got very very lucky.

Working backwards, as it were, from the immediate to the more historical, and stating what surely nobody disagrees with...

We failed to score and got only a point yesterday (against 10 men) despite the players having so many attempts on goal, and so much possession; so even when unleashed (Dyche unleashes them? Or they take responsibility? I don't know…), they still can't deliver, that's on the players; surely that's undeniable, in this and other games...

And, if at other times they don't deliver because of Dyche's orders and tactics or formation (I detest the rigid way in which he seems to set up, and expect his players to conform to, that formation which demands they position themselves to ensure the opposition have to move the ball from defence out to the wings – his tactics at Burnley and with us), then that's on Dyche, surely...

And whoever signed various (detested and deficient) players, is on our DoF...

And whoever appointed Dyche takes a more historical responsibility; that's on (take your pick, depending on your prejudices) Moshiri, Kenwright, etc...

The blame lies in various places… all of them. We argue for and stress one or the other but I doubt if anybody sees only one culprit here. I don't see the point in arguing the toss about relative degrees of responsibility. To fix our problem requires fixing them all — current players, tactics, coach, player purchase, ownership and control.

The squad has been strengthened during the summer – you yourself laud the job that Thelwell has been doing? The manager has more options in most positions and the players recruited have generally improved competition in the squad.

I see Lindstrøm, Ndiaye, Iroegbunam and Mangala as good additions and, hopefully, will be able to say the same of Broja and O'Brien soon. Doucoure, Harrison, Gana, Keane and McNeil are all available for selection but now have competition for places.

If you are now saying that the squad is weaker because many of the best performers from last season are underperforming, then that is a completely different discussion – I agree with you there.

Tarkowski, Mykolenko, Doucoure, Harrison and Calvert-Lewin have been poor this season. With the exception of Harrison, the manager keeps picking them regardless. Selecting Doucoure over Mangala yesterday was another baffling decision.

We really need pacey full-backs and a right-winger. Since the manager evidently won't select Patterson and Dixon despite their pace, we will need to get a left-back and a right-back. TFG need to get the wallet out in January.

Mike Gaynes @117: ‘27 shots. Dyche had a front-foot plan today, and it worked. 27 shots.

Trouble was, the first 26 were off-target or pathetically weak.'

Check the facts:

27 shots. 5 on target. 12 off target. 10 blocked.

But don't let facts get in the way, Mike. Just warp and 'invent' things to suit you. 'Crapola' of the very highest degree,

I want my old Mike Gaynes back.

Fair and balanced

Dyche out!!! He's a Brontosaurus!!!

Hope you're doing well.

Kenwright is no longer with us (I bear no malice nor love). And Moshiri will surely soon be gone from any decision-making and influence, after The Friedkin Group takeover.

I suspect the DoF will be retained for reasons of continuity (the baby in the bathwater; who has had to deal with player purchases and sales with one arm tied behind his back, to mix the metaphors).

I suspect Friedkin will not renew Dyche's contract, and will replace him at a time of Friedkin's choosing (timing dependent on our position in the league as the season progresses or regresses; and getting he timing right will be a major challenge).

I hope Friedkin will release funds for our DoF, within the constraints of PSR and PSR2.

The DoF will hopefully be able to repair the squad beyond its current patchwork and threadbare limitations.

The new stadium will put a spring in our collective steps (players and supporters) but spring eventually turns into a winter (of discontent?), so I don't bank on the new stadium bringing us much salvation, apart from some financial scraps.

Oh for the days of some honest graft… when all teams had little money and they had to build a team from within.

When pitches used to have some mud on the surface and were not watered at half-time.

When players really looked like they wanted to play and not just play for their pay.

The money pumped into football has sadly ruined the beautiful game, imho.

I never like to see us turning on each other as a way of exorcising our pent up frustrations, but I suppose deep down we know we will always have slightly differing opinions, and that is even when we have won a game! That was so long ago, I have almost forgotten what it was like!

It had to happen: Brentford in 0-0 Shock Horror Drama! I can't remember the last one.

I really can't add much to most of the comments already made. Everton bright and lively for first 20 minutes. But the second of Flekken's two fine saves seemed to remove their confidence and they reverted to a ponderous build-up with too many crossing opportunities wasted with poor delivery, easy for 3 big centre-backs and goalie.

Brentford have conceded a lot of goals from the full-back areas this season, due to lack of players in that position, but today it never looked like happening.

Brentford were well in the game when the red card occurred. I can see why it was but Norgaard is stretching to score a goal, Pickford is stretching to block it, a natural situation and no malice intended. One of the very few times I've seen Thomas Frank get really upset with an official.

I was surprised that, with all their experienced players, Everton seemed so clueless against 10 men. Brentford were calm and composed, obviously operating to Frank's Magic Tactical board, and really should have scored from one of the breakaways.

All in all, not an afternoon that will linger long in the memory. There'd better be at least 8 goals at The Gtech next Saturday or I'll have to start sulking.

Good luck for rest of season, you've got a tough run coming up. I still think there's enough decent players there not to get involved in a relegation scrap.

Worth noting that, 17 years ago today, Bees lost 0-7 at Peterborough in League Two, one of the darkest days, no money ,on the verge of extinction etc. Been a miraculous turn around, which is why I try to keep a sense of perspective and not get too upset by events on the pitch.

At least Marine had a fine 2-0 win over local rivals Needham Market... I go there when I can't get to a Bees' match. Always a great afternoon out. (I actually live in Lancashire.)

"I was surprised that, with all their experienced players, Everton seemed so clueless against 10 men"

Unfortunately this has become expected for us.

Good luck to Brentford for the season.

I saw this quote on Footbal365:

"Dyche's most staunch critics might have taken a perverse pleasure in watching his ultimate nightmare unfold: more than half a game at home against a beatable side reduced to 10 men. No scenario emphasises his weaknesses as a coach more."

Ain't that the truth.

The sending-off both helped Brentford and handicapped them. With 10 men, they mostly went on defence and easily coped with what Everton attacked(?) with. If the man had remained on the field, Brentford would been patient in their attacking but could have scored from the more attacking they would have done.

Didn't know you lived in Lancashire, John.

I thought your red card was very harsh but it is all about interpretation, some refs have discretion where others can't wait to consult VAR or brandish a card!

You must on reflection, feel happier about the result than we the home fans are!

Good luck to you and Brentford.

Our soon-to-be new owners don't fill me with too much optimism after seeing the way they are running Roma.

We can't even change manager while we are in-between owners. Dyche has quite clearly lost his grip.

Are we the modern-day Sunderland? A once great club with loyal supporters in no-man's land. As things stand, I can see us playing our first game in our brand new stadium in the Championship.

Brentford were very comfortable in defence and do have a good attack. Everton's lack of pace at the back would have seen them beaten in the second half had Brentford had 10 men, though it might have suited Dyche's system if they had the full team. Even with 10 men, they had the chance of beating Everton, that is why Dyche was not going to change the system, content with a point.

Pickford did have to push the point of dangerous play, even getting a reluctant medical attendant to do something. He knew it would look bad on VAR. Probably saved Everton the point.

Good Luck with the rest of the season.

Mike, I see the ownership issue dragging beyond January. At this stage, I don't see anyone being bought in. There might be a chance if someone is sold, but I think Broja was brought in as back-up in the Summer. You are right regarding the form of certain players, which is a major concern.

Talking Heads - Road to Nowhere

You come across as a lovely fella with deep footy nous and love for the Bees. Were you born in West London and moved to the North-West mate – and where in Lancashire, surely not Chorley, Marine's enemy?

Very accurate match comments, John.

I went to The Edinburgh (“The Bug”), next to Marine's ground, after the match for a pint, heard about Marine's win, and reflected that attending that game would have been a much more enjoyable afternoon than the one I had at Goodison.

The first ever 0-0 draw between Everton and Brentford had an inevitability about it pre-match, which became nailed on with the sending-off.

Best wishes to you.

The VAR incident ruined what was up to that point a decent game of footy played in terrible conditions.

We had the best of the early exchanges and Brentford the latter of the first half. I would be disappointed if, in the same situation, an Everton player didn't challenge for the ball like that.

The 2nd half was like the Fulham - Brentford game. The only difference we don't have the quality from the bench to make much of a difference.

A point is about right and we move on.

Agree with Brent 135, There are lots of things wrong at the club. We have to get things right in the right order:

New owners and board
Finances in place
New DoF?
New manager
New players

If any of the above goes wrong, we have to hope all 3 promoted teams go back down as we are in a dog fight with them. No other teams will get dragged into it.

Given what's going on at Roma, my confidence is low with the new owners making football decisions.

We need another Kevin Campbell type signing in January.

Getting very difficult to defend the manager as he sets the team up. But apparently, after the first four games, we now have the best defence record, woop de fuckin do..

Keep serving dross like we are watching and the new stadium might be empty.

If he (Dyche) stays much longer, we will go down.

Yet we've still got fans on here defending this clown. Dyche selects the players, Dyche selects the tactics the style of play the subs etc, so 100 fucking per cent this is on him and him only.

Keep this bastard at our peril, because he's taking us down. goalless at a team who hadn't won a game; goalless at a team who had 4 key players missing; and now goalless against a side who had 10 men for 50 minutes. Win a game we'll be lucky to score another goal with Mr Ultra Negative in charge.

Our last season at Goodison and we go down because you can only play Russian Roulette for a certain time… and Liverpool win the Premier League, nightmares don't get any worse.

But hey it's not Dyche's fault, is it Mr Fox?

With the fixture run in December, we could be bottom on Christmas Day. A present from the club that keeps on giving.

This season is our last at Goodison and I have been lucky enough to have watched nearly 70 years of continued top-flight football. But we could see our last season at the Old Lady as us being relegated and our first season in our new stadium as us in the Championship which would be disastrous.

Sitting in Goodison, you can feel and almost taste the fear of this happening, and with each passing poor home result, this doomsday scenario is looking more and more likely.

I would imagine this scenario is also playing heavily on the Friedkins' minds as spending all this money on a Championship side is totally unimaginable.

Also, although there is a parachute payment, being in the Championship will hardly attract the manager or players to take us where we need to be. I am afraid this manager has now lost most of the Goodison faithful and the few that still believe in him is dwindling by the day.

I thought his statement about Ndaiye and him seeing no evidence that he could play the Number 10 role shows his complete lack of vision. Then, just to compound this stupid statement, in the 2nd half, he moved Ndaiye into the No 10 position, but by then Brentford understandably were defending deep so there was no room for Ndaiye to operate as he would playing in the No 10 role against No 11.

I think the most startling difference between Frank and Dyche was, when Brentford were down to 10 men, when they did break, they had at least 3 or 4 men in our box. Contrast that with (except for the last 15 minutes) we were hard pushed to get 2 or 3 in their box.

Just to finish, I hope Friedkin gets approval very quickly and is already talking to possible new managers to take over.

A great time to be a Bees fan and nobody could begrudge you your time in the sun. A well run club with a top class coach. You must surely feel for us long-suffering Everton supporters, there is usually more goals in a Bees home game than we get in 6 or 7 games.

Everton's problems are multiple in nature and I for one just want to see us stay out of the Bottom 3 this season. We have declined since last season and the annual transfer window helping of loans and budget-priced additions has taken its toll. We have a significant negative net spend over the past 3 seasons.

We have very little pace in the team since the departure of Richarlison and Anthony Gordon and, whatever his failings, Onana was not adequately replaced in the last transfer window.

We are definitely one of the three worst teams in the Premier League with the ball; thankfully, we are close to being a mid table side without it. We still should survive but it's going to be a hard watch.

The fact that so many players are out of contract next summer will be a blessing as it will assist in the fresh start that needs to be made.

Don't expect a miracle from the new owners, they are taking over a club at a very low base, Roma were in a different place when they arrived into town.

Dyche is playing for fourth from bottom. Job done again.

He cannot change, the same as any negative survive-at-all-costs manager: Allardyce, Dyche, Cooper, Moyes, Ten Hag, Benitez etc.

We have from now till next season to find the right man.

The midfielders and forwards are being paid a lot of money, it's not asking much for one of them to score occasionally.

I agree with your points there with the exception of not replacing Onana... a player who simply didn't need replacing as he actually never existed.

Derek @ 166, I would say it is Dyche's fault with his persistence in playing a proven feeble disinterested striker whose goalscoring record is a joke.

I can't agree more. That's exactly the way I feel. When I was a boy going to my first games with my Dad, we were big time, we were class.

Now we are not worth a mention, we are just a boring hopeless outfit there to make up the numbers. No light at the end of the tunnel.

No it is you who misinterpreted the post then made a pointless, pedantic remark. Now after challenged to provide one example of when we did get to the bye line on that side you quickly backtracked and diverted your attention to the opposite flank. No fancy hypotheticals you were asked about realities, of which you could provide none. I'll know in future when explicitly referring to what Patterson would bring to his side of the pitch that Young didn't to overtly state 'we didn't get to the right-sided bye line all day' just in case the pompous police are on the lookout.

Mike G@117

You are now suggesting that our lack of cutting edge is down to poor finishing and the quality of our players.

On a previous thread, I highlighted how Iwobi has performed on goal involvements in the last 3 seasons. Under Lampard and Silva, he is roughly 1 in 3 in terms of minutes played, under Dyche that falls to 1 in 6.

Jack Harrison was 1 in 3 in terms of Premier League goal involements at Leeds scoring 21 in only 110 games. Under Dyche that drastically falls to 1 in 7 in terms of goal involvements with only 3 goals in his 40 appearances.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin has 10 goals in 50 for Dyche, yet 46 in 175 without. In terms of minutes played, only Lampard comes out worse with the likes of Ferguson, Benitez and Ancelotti doubling his meagre 361 minutes per goal record under the present incumbent.

Players like Ndiaye and Lindstrøm have had decent goal involement returns admittedly in inferior leagues but aren't replicating them under this manager.

Mike, you don't need to heed Paul F's views that Dyche is responsible for our lack of cutting edge, or a large section of the Everton Fanbase. You don't need to even listen to the words of Dyche himself when our supremely smug all-knowing manager appears as bemused in his pressers as he does on the touchline when pressed on how to rectify the issue 'If I knew the answer to that'. Nor do you even need to look at his entire career stats in terms of goals scored.

All you need to look at is a flabbergasted fed up player who is solely responsible for about half the points his team has accumulated, imploring his gormless, passive manager to show a bit of dynamism as he could see we weren't going to score in a month of Sunday's doing the same thing over and over again.

When you tell us that roughly half of the outfield players are regressing under this manager, I wonder if you are actually making a case for the defence.

I hope the new owner gets into the driving seat fast and makes a managerial change very soon. Thank you, Dyche, for all your services but a new manager is needed fast if we are to have Premier League football in our new stadium next season.

I agree that he knows he is going and that can't help anyone.

On top of that, he isn't up to the job, so a recipe for disaster.

There is absolutely no doubt Sean Dyche is out of his depth with Everton, the job is too big for him, he wouldn't know what to do if we had a young Wayne Rooney coming through.
With respect to Burnley we are not them!

Calvert-Lewin is rubbish, folks, Beto cares more but just can not finish. I have said before, I really hope Broja and Chermiti can hit the ground running and score goals when they return. Any team that doesn't score goals finds themselves in a relegation battle, that's a fact.

Survival this season is paramount to future plans moving into the new stadium; if Dyche is replaced in the next few months, I think Moyes will be the one. Discussions with him have probably taken place, I would say.

For me, I would not want him long-term, but it makes sense now in our current circumstances. The club needs a huge overhaul if this takeover ever gets completed.

‘If Mark Chapman doesn't take over on MotD, I will consider boycotting it before Everton come on and put me to sleep on the sofa as yet another counter-attack comes to nothing and the ball dribbles out of play.'

At least there was no mention of Dinosaur Mk 1 coming back.

But, if so, I do wonder if it is also the case that other bottom-half clubs have improved their squads by a greater degree than we have?

Pretty sure our American cousins will have a rough idea of possible CIA influence that night in December.

He got the better of Nixon, with a new Republican in power late November 1980, Reagan was not going to go the same way, with Lennon back in the headlines, after 5 years out of the news.

Dyche couldn't even win a sack race.

We are weaker across the backline than we were last season -- Branthwaite, Tarkowski and Mykolenko all playing less well. I believe injuries are the reason, as all three have been slow to recover (Jarrad) or struggling with ongoing issues (Tarkowski's back, Mykolenko's leg).

We are weaker at defensive midfield. Onana is gone, Gana was a nightmare yesterday and I believe has been forced to play too many minutes with Iroegbunam, who started out like a house afire, injured long-term. I know you like Mangala, and he is certainly professional and tidy on the ball, but he wins few defensively and lacks pace.

And we are weaker in attack, with Ndiaye's delightful contributions not quite making up for McNeil's form having disappeared for the moment (again, I believe, niggling injuries) and all the players you correctly cited as current non-contributors, plus Chermiti and Broja missing the entire season.

Like you, I see all the new additions as being positive long-term, and I do think Thelwell has done great work with almost no money. But at this moment, in my opinion, we cannot put a side on the pitch that is as strong as what we put out last spring. And we are not likely to be able to in the near future.

And I simply don't think it is all Dyche's fault.

None of the blocked shots was well-struck except Beto's last. 26 weak efforts, many from good positions. Dyche can't shoot the ball for them.

Conor #170, I love Pickford, but if being screamed at by him were a sacking offense, we wouldn't have enough players left for five-a-side. And as I said, Dyche isn't blameless by any means. I just think the lack of talent is a bigger problem.

I personally think with Iroegbunam and Mangala we are actually stronger in that department and I have a little sympathy for Dyche in that Iroegbunam and Garner are not available at the moment. Personally, I thought Gana Gueye was our best player after Ndiaye yesterday.

My frustration now with Dyche is that he isn't giving Patterson (and Mykolenko) a go at overlapping fullbacks, and is persisting with Calvert-Lewin on his own up front.

He's safety first in games we need to be brave. If, and it's a big 'if', he gets 0-0 draws v Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea next month, I'll probably say he's done okay… but I'm not okay with nils against Brentford and Southampton and the like. He's got to go.

Also, I saw Mykolenko get forward on almost every foray yesterday, even into the 6-yard box for that missed right-footer. After Dyche flipped Ndiaye into the middle and moved McNeil out to the wing, Mykolenko was often ahead of McNeil.

Honestly I'm tired of the Onana debate, because it's irrelevant now and we made a great sale, but he gave us nothing? No way. He was the joint top midfielder in Europe last season winning high balls -- we now lose every aerial challenge in the middle of the pitch -- and he and Jarrad gave us a pacy spine we are largely missing now. That's why young Tim's injury has been such a huge loss. He looked to me like the perfect replacement for Onana.

Dave #186, I'm still laughing about Holgate getting sent off against the USA!

“Onana was the joint top midfielder in Europe winning high balls and he and Jarrad gave us a pacy spine we are largely missing now”

Jesus! “missing now”… that's the one thing Onana was absolutely brilliant at!

But we'll agree to disagree on Onana. My personal biggest disappointment since we signed Davy Klaassen. Onana nursed his own stats without making one iota of a difference to the team.

He's a good, potentially great, player but wasn't arsed about us. Once Villa fall outside the Champions League placings, he'll fade there as well.

I miss Gordon and Richarlison far more than I miss Onana...

I can't Imagine.

Drop Calvert-Lewin for Beto, play McNeil on the right flank, Ndiaye on the left. Gueye, Mangala, Doucoure in midfield. Leave the back four as it is for the time being.

Play 4-3-3.

How many high balls did he win in both boxes? How many goals did he score? How many assists did he get? Can you count his cutting through balls on the fingers of more than one hand? How many penetrating runs did he make? How many games did he change? How many games did he stamp his mark on? Why did he not start in more than a few games?

But, no worries, he won some headers around the half-way line!

Break the bank. Get him back.

Pound for pound one of the worst players I have ever seen at Everton.

We do not miss him at all.

It really grates me therefore that having not long ago switched off the Ipswich - Man Utd match to think that Delap, a classic strong bullish 21-year-old centre-forward cost Ipswich an initial £15M and scores and plays every game and we desperately needed a Number 9.

We picked up Jake O'Brien for about the same amount over the summer and all he does is warm the bench from one week to the next and arguably centre-back was not the highest priority of the positions that we needed to fill in the last window.

I can't be certain, but my hunch is that Delap would have preferred the short hop along the East Lancs and keep his Salford Quays flat rather than a life-transforming comprehensive uprooting to a foreign land of tractors, yokels, turnips, folk beliefs, morris dancing, conjuration, superstition, goblins, and the fella who started England's largest ever witch-hunt lived a few miles away in Manningtree where they still church the mothers of new-borns.

Ipswich. have already doubled their money. O'Brien would at the moment sell for less than we splashed out on him.

Great stuff, Thelwell.

He will grind out points in our next six games and will be praised.

I expect him to pick up at least 8 or 9 points between now and the turn of the year but I still believe he deserves the stick he is getting now.

I wonder if the bookies will offer a price for that?

Unfortunately, it looks very unlikely we will hold onto Jarrad Branthwaite. I will be gutted if that comes about; as a once poor defender, I love watching him.

O'Brien looked a good player, albeit in a pre-season friendly at Preston. His acquisition has the stamp of Séamus Coleman on it, let the lad develop out of the spotlight.

I would find it hard to believe that Delap was not on our potential purchase screen (that is, if we have one of course), and I don't think that I was the only one on here who mentioned him in dispatches.

I hope you're right about O'Brien, Peter and I know sadly that you are right about Branthwaite.

What a fire fighter!

Not one of his signings have really made a splash, Ndiaye started off brilliantly but is fading by the week. Lindstrøm has done absolutely nothing, Iroegbunam looked the part before he was unceremoniously dropped, then injured. O'Brien hasn't even made a Premier League start.

Broja is injured and I don't think we'll see him til the New Year, what a fucking masterstroke signing that was! Chermiti when I saw his cameos, didn't really convince. The less said about Beto. the better… absolutely garbage 10 out of 10 for nuisance value though.

There's others as well but we can't score a goal to save our lives, so I'd like to know how Thelwell has done a great job? I wouldn't trust him to go the sweet shop for me.

Let's just hope this takeover gets sorted and by god isn't that dragging on. Hopefully they'll jettison Dyche and his boiled eggs as Paul F brilliantly calls them – and this imposter Thelwell also.

Come Thursday, Dyche will roll out, "...got some minutes under his belt, too early to give him 10 minutes from the bench…" but yet he can allow McNeil to miss training all week and still play, Doucoure to come straight back in, and even play Tarkowski, who has been struggling with a back injury all season.

One rule for his favs; the others have to sit it out for weeks.

We saw it in the Bournemouth game (or it may have been Brighton), he had McNeil on the left, then moved him to left-back for a few minutes, then moved him in midfield. Dyche did everything he could so he would not have to sub McNeil off, he would rather stick McNeil there than have to take him off.

And that's the problem, he has McNeil, Doucoure, Tarkowski and Calvert-Lewin, who he has to have in the team, and yet they are the biggest problems.

You can make an exception for McNeil on his stats, out of form, not a bad player, but does not deserve an automatic pick every game. Personally, I thought Tarkowski should have made way for Branthwaite, not Keane, he has been consistent over the last 6 or 8 games.

Tarkowski, Doucoure and Calvert-Lewin have been very poor this season, but they all get picked, yet since the slap, Patterson has been frozen out. O'Brien cannot get a sniff, and our best centre-back had to sit on the bench for 3 weeks.

Nothing will change, he will continue to pick certain players. Southampton, West Ham, and a Brentford team who picked up their first point away from home with 10 men… the whole of November we have gone without scoring a single goal.

We had the easiest 10 opening fixtures on average compared to other teams this season, yet only 2 wins out of them, 7 wins in total since last December.

What other manager in a home cup tie, against a second string Southampton, would take your striker off and put a defender on at 1-all???

You can look at Kendall, even Moyes, and one thing they both did was they were not afraid to give the youngsters a chance: Rooney, Coleman, Rodwell, Anichebe, Hibbert, Baxter, Osman…

Dyche would not even give 18-year-old Martin Sherif the last 10 minutes of the Doncaster Rovers game, when we were 3-nil up. What better time to throw him on? He has Harrison Armstrong getting splinters, yet the same personnel come off the bench every week.

Calvert-Lewin, Tarkowski, McNeil, Doucoure, they are his go-to players, every single week, if fit. The sooner the new owners come in and get rid of Dyche, the better.

Good news. Yesterday it was confirmed that TFG takeover was complete. Thelwell and Dyche are to remain in situ. The Premier League, feeling guilty about our treatment over the last few years, have granted us a 'Black Sunday' where we had one day to complete transfers outside the usual windows.

Thelwell agreed with you on what the requirements he needs for the squad;

Dennis Cirkin has been signed from Sunderland. Thelwell sees him as the best defender in the championship and will provide pace and ball playing qualities that Mykolenko lacks. One to make that position his own for the next decade.

Nordi Mukiele has come in after his loan from from PSG to Leverkusen was terminated. Thelwell believes his power and athleticism on that right side will make him the perfect heir to Seamus. His elite level experience and mentality are seen as invaluable to the changing room.

Finally Edon Zhegrova has been identified as a player to get bums off seats. The Lille man it is hoped could follow in the footsteps of Eden Hazard from Lille and bring goals and pace to the right hand side of the attack. They have identified his big game temperament in European competition and Internationally as something lacking in the squad.

All three players are due at Finch Farm this morning, fit and ready to go for a week of intense training ahead of Sundays trip to Old Trafford.

Friday comes Vinny OConnor opens up a buzzing presser with the excitement, anticipation and invigoration visibly palpable in the air:

So Sean fantastic news with the takeover complete and three high quality signings that have given the whole club and indeed city a lift. You must be delighted as many feel that's just what the squad has been lacking.

Can I ask you Sean, can we expect to see them to come straight into the side on Sunday?

ARRGH!!!

It was set up for a smash-and-grab from Brentford and Dyche realised it. We could easily have been beaten. Calvert-Lewin is off form and Beto looks more likely to score but our gameplan is so predictable.

We need a bit of luck and we just aren't making it happen. Perhaps playing the better sides will suit our 20% possession game.

"Perhaps playing the better sides will suit our 20% possession game."

I wouldn't bank on it, mate.

I also thought Gana was hopeless in the second half, never seen a fella with such poor shooting ability, and his passing was woeful but he runs around a lot.

Get Broja fit as an alternative to our currently misfiring forwards.

I have defended Dyche because I believe he can surely offer us more but Saturday maybe proved to myself that I have had a clearer vision of things only in my head.

Four season tickets in my pocket, I got two very late phone calls telling me to give their tickets away, and then my son told me he wasn't going either, so only one ended up getting used.

Two other regulars were missing, and this asked me to pose the question: How many empty seats would there have been if Dyche was still our manager and Everton were already playing at Bramley-Moore Dock?

Football is a hard game and it is also usually about who has got the best players so I've been giving Dyche the benefit of the doubt because of this.

It changed on Saturday, 11 vs 10 and we still couldn't pass the ball to create a 2 vs 1 out wide, and it suddenly dawned on me that, even for a limited squad, it must be soul-destroying, constantly having to play without the ball; it looks like it has totally sucked the aggression out of Everton when it comes to trying to play positive offensive football.

You can take a horse to water but you can't make him drink.

Tarkowski, McNeil, Branthwaite, Calvert-Lewin, Mykolenko and Doucouré are all playing inconsistently. That is an issue of individual performances – not squad talent. Nevertheless, the manager continues to select these players. That is part of the reason why Sean Dyche is attracting a lot more criticism this season, including from me (I was happy with him last season even if many weren't).

To Conor's point, imagine if TFG opened the wallet in January and signed Cirkin, Mukiele and Zhegrova (or equivalent) to fill our issues at full-back and right-winger. Based on this season, Sean would probably deem them not “Premier League ready” and select Young at right-back (or left-back), Mykolenko at left-back (injured and / or off form) and Lindstrøm or Harrison on the right wing (second striker and left-winger respectively).

I think he must be braver with selection, tactics and substitutions because, really, what does he have to lose?

I don't think the players have confidence Everton can score under Dyche's low block 1-4-4 system, bar by a one-off strike. Brentford down to 10 men just added to the pressure, with no change by Dyche.

Pickford's outburst was more a plea than a criticism. Brentford defended very comfortably.

The main reason it was easy was because Everton had two at-home fullbacks which negated our extra man advantage imo, mate.

The two full-backs did as you said, but they were under Dyche's instructions.The three times that Brentford got in on Pickford in the first half, Dyche read as the possibility of defeat by 10 men Brentford in the second half. The full-backs lacked pace, except Branthwaite, and Mykolenko getting back from his inverted winger role was not going to happen.

Dyche really needed a supported two forward attack to break Brentford down, something he has only done once when he moved Keane forward. Beto partnering Calvert-Lewin I don't consider effective, no play interchange. But he decided to settle for a safe point and keep the low block. Think of the headlines and reaction if Everton had got beat.

The loss of form of his stalwarts McNeil, Harrison, Doucoure, Tarkowski and Calvert-Lewin could point to a confidence in Dyche problem, which would be serious if that is the case.