Broken Window?

More than a few ToffeeWeb readers were in high spirits after the summer transfer window slammed shut on 1 September. Jack Grealish seemed to be the icing on a yummy cream cake.

We can be forgiven for a 100th-minute winner reaction to the last window after what we have had to put up with for so long. Many of us were rubbing our hands together thinking about our new ‘assets’ (didn’t someone on here recently refer to a player as an ‘asset’?): Tyler Dibling, Adam Anzou, Kieran Dewsbury-Hall, Thierno Barry, Merlin Röhl, and Jack Grealish (plus Mark Travers and Tom King). Does Alcaraz count? We also breathed a collective sigh of relief as costly mediocrity was at long last shown the door (was that the most successful aspect of the last window?).

Some of us praised the recruitment team and their achievements to the highest heavens. Many of us, perhaps more circumspectly, spoke of a good, decent, or fair job… but that there was a lot more to do. One of us, an American national, burst out in atomic prose proclaiming that our recruitment team — put together by ruthless and razor-sharp American businessmen —was top-notch. He also kept reminding us that we had two more high-flyers joining ‘the team’ in September. Awesome!

Message to self: in what month did the window shut? What ‘top’ businessmen, knowing (or should have known) that this was our most important transfer window for a while (with so much in and out and at stake), would allow two jewels to join us after it slammed shut? That sounds like poor planning to me, no matter if one or both of them had a job at the time. That’s what ‘ruthless’ businessmen do, isn’t it, they smash and grab?

The maple leaves are falling from my trees as I look out of my window. Summer seems a long time ago now. Just two of those players who joined us in the last window are regulars in our line-up (Röhl has been unlucky). Nine of the players who started against Spurs were with us last season.

Jack Grealish signing on loan from Manchester City was a real pick-me-up moment. No doubt about that. But as reality sinks in, for me at any rate, he seems now to be papering over the cracks (some of them are deep). He is a thin veneer. Peel it off and look underneath.

We did not look like a balanced team against Spurs and I think that this has been the case for a while. And then there is the ‘get the ball out to Jack as quickly as possible' “tactic” that too many times for comfort ends up with one of the following: (1) ball played backwards; (2) goal kick for them; (3) a shuffle, shimmy, shake, and sidestep, and the ball rolls harmlessly to one of the two or three defenders pouncing on our Jack in a pincer movement.

Ndiaye, arguably playing out of position because of you know who, has been our best player so far this season. I wonder how our ace recruitment team will manage him in the next summer window? Grealish, after a sparkling start to the season, has been second-best. Iliman was outstanding in the first half at The Etihad (Jack, of course, was not on the pitch) and he was our most threatening player once more against Spurs.

So, how does that last window look now… 2 months on?

I’ll get into trouble in some quarters for saying this but, to be honest, I don’t really care at all. It’s Everton that matters — not some bruised fiery typist. I would grade the window and our ace recruitment team at C+.

This is because some of the incoming have been barely used and, as we hear over and over again, we failed to address some deep structural issues. The parrot in me notes that the first player we were strongly linked with was a right-back, but that we were never strongly linked with a right-back afterwards that I am aware of.

The parrot in me also notes that only one of our last dozen league goals was scored by a striker. It was a fundamental schoolboy error not to effectively sort our two glaring issues: up-front and right-back. (I would also add left-back; Mykolenko is not good enough and he showed this again against Spurs, although he was astonishingly high up the pitch at times.)

A regular contributor on here keeps claiming that we are a top striker away from European football. It’s so frustrating, isn’t it? We can almost feel that prize… inches away. Said contributor reminds us that we do not have a top – I would say reliable – striker. 

Please don’t answer that we got Barry in, didn’t we. That’s like saying that the capital of England is Hartlepool. No doubt that that fella who comes on here with Barry’s stats from a season ago will dive on to show how wrong I am. But I have seen nothing of substance with my own eyes to suggest that he is in any shape or form an answer (I really hope that he is though).

We hear now that Moyes would like another striker, if we are reading him correctly. That is surely a significant comment on the recruitment boys. The rest of this year looks winter-bleak on the striker front. But I always have that Benny Hill running tune ready at hand to turn on whenever Beto charges into their penalty area with a keeper or defender to beat.

We have the worst ‘striking’ partnership in the Premier League. I would kill for that Sunderland striker. This is criminal. I’m at the point now where I would play Ndiaye up front. My team would look like this: Pickford, Garner, O’Brien, Tarkowski, Mykolenko (give Aznou a start?), Gueye, Dewsbury-Hall (Röhl?), Grealish, Dibling, Alcaraz, Ndiaye.

Moving forward, it’s still just 2 months since the window closed, so this is an interim report. Time matters, although as the late and great Bowie told us, it can fall ‘wanking to the floor’. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. But something has to change both on and off the pitch.

And hope springs eternal with the two new additions to the TFG team last month. Hang on. I wasn’t paying attention or might have missed it, but did those two fellas show up in September and are they now working day and night on recruitment to soothe my concerns? Perhaps our American friend could remind us what their names and titles, positions and roles are?

The January transfer window will give us another chance to comment on our ace recruitment team. Let’s see how they do. But every man and his dog knows that we are in desperate need of a striker and right-back and prices will reflect this. Can someone tell the TFG team that we do not need another midfielder in January. It’s way down the list of priorities: striker, right-back, left-back.

I know that there are other reasons for why things could be better right now. But the annoying thing for me is that we had a window to address our basic gaps and flaws. Perhaps we did our best? Perhaps we were short on funds (ie, backing from TFG)?

Nobody on here knows the full story, although many guess or claim to know. The Spurs game was the near-natural consequence of a C+ window. There were other things, needless to say – eg, subs, the line-up, some poor performances – but our crack TFG recruitment team let us down badly over the summer with regard to incoming.

What I do know is that we supposedly splashed out (take your pick) €35M, €30M, £27M before add-ons, or an initial €32M with add-ons, to sign Barry. I’m getting teary now. Gareth Barry cost £2M in 2014.

It all boils down to recruitment… Can I change my C+ to a C?

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