Everton Banter Archive August 09 2015

09 Aug 2015 23:43:35
In the short term, we have a problem at left back, Ashley Cole is a free agent, know he is a little past his sell buy date, but a one season contract, is, imo, better than playing a green kid out of position, not just for the team, but if he struggles, and saterday looked that way, it could shatter his confidence.

10 Aug 2015 00:12:23
I think the issue with getting Cole would be, when Baines is fit, we will have 4 Left Backs, 3 if Garbutt does not get recalled. I think he would want to much money just to sit on the bench for 7-8 months once Baines is back. I think we should just play Bryan if he is fully fit, if not, think Galloway has well considering it isn't his natural position. I get what you mean though, one more injury in that position and we could end up with Barry there.

10 Aug 2015 08:55:14
At least that would get Barry out of our midfield. I've always thought he should be left back(at home).

10 Aug 2015 10:01:57
Oviedo please. Galloway in the last 15 until Oviedo is fit enough to do 90

10 Aug 2015 11:51:34
As much as I like oviedo I think we will see much from him I'm surprised that injury has not stopped him playing ever again but fair play to lad just don't think he will do much for us

09 Aug 2015 23:24:49
.
Shaqiri apparently has passed his Stoke medical & expected to officially join them tomorrow.Evertons bid was just too late - what a joke of a club we have become. no money, no new stadium, no new signings.it's a joke!

10 Aug 2015 00:09:26
Says who? Shaqiri was at Stoke and yes Hughes says any deal would be permanent but no reports of any passed medical. Next few days will prove if we were ever interested as Stoke had a bid accepted weeks ago and he didn't sign plus its only an hour drive so he may be having talks there first or whatever. Talks of medicals is premature as its not been reported on tv news

{Ed003's Note - so you base your reasoning on sly tv news ? }

10 Aug 2015 07:03:54
Sly sports as you put it ed are more believable and have more reliable sources than twitter, which if that was the case Austin was signing 9pm on Friday just gone.

{Ed001's Note - you do realise that most of the Sly sources are just what they copy off websites right?

10 Aug 2015 08:56:33
Lets just hope he wasn't at Goodison for the first half yesterday.

10 Aug 2015 13:43:56
They are not perfect by any stretch. I remember in Moyes' last or second to last season they said we bid for Butand at Birmingham and they rejected it. But Butland was really annoyed and was desperate to join and then they interviewed the Birminham manager and he said we had never even been interested from what they knew let alone made a bid.

09 Aug 2015 22:43:30
I thought you lot were fan, Martinez been here 2 seasons
Season 1- he was god you all loved him
Season 2 you all turned on him and want him out
Season 3 the deserves a bit of credit he has taken over from someone who was here a decade he deserves more time and we are better than sacking when things go wrong if that was the case Moyes would of been sacked in his second season and we would not be the club we are now, our club is ran in a professional manner ie transfers, contracts and any other business is kept in house, yes I know you all love the media, Everton just sold there soul when they sacked Moyes I for one have always hated Utd but they always run the club well, youth policy gone out the window, basically trying to buy the title a phrase used by Sir Alex Ferguson, then they sack Moyes in a bad manner they they bring in van Gael with his Own philosophy rubbish and spends 200m finish 4th now spends another 70 80 m and squad still worse off than last year
Sorry rant over

09 Aug 2015 23:57:44
I thought this was a kopites post after reading the first few lines but then realised it was a blinkered blue. I never wanted Martinez and always knew this was were we were heading with him. What has he actually achieved? And don't say fa cup because the fact Wigan went down that same season cancels that out. He talks a good game but the end of the day he ain't got a clue

10 Aug 2015 00:25:37
Glad your rant is over, Martinez is possibly the worst manager I have ever seen at goodison, inc, mike walker and gordon lee, if he is not removed before xmas, he will take us down the wigan road, please remove the rose tinted glasses, THE MAN IS A FRAUD, and if Kenwright was the big evertonion he claims to be, he would man up and addmit his mistake.

10 Aug 2015 00:55:07
Moyes took a team that were finishing near the bottom so he was never going to get sacked, Martinez took a team that consistantly finished top 7 so it's not the same, have u not seen the way we are currently playing ha it's shocking, all this buying the league stuff is nonsense aswell every team spends even man u before this Rio, Rooney, berba, veron they weren't cheap

10 Aug 2015 09:41:31
Are you taking the mick, well he did win a cup and gave us our best ever finish to a perm seasonand you say he is worst manager we have had, also layed the blueprint for Swansea you are either very young or have very short memory

{Ed001's Note - he never laid any blueprint down for anywhere. He followed the blueprint already laid out for him at Swansea, as have a number of other managers before and since.}

10 Aug 2015 13:22:35
Done well at wigan didn't he truebluemetz? Had them consistently over achieving finishing top half year upon year. Wait no he didn't he had them fighting relegation year on year until they eventually went down. His tactics are one dimensional, his persistance on playing cm in wide areas and 2 holding players didn't work last season yet he still trys it. Worst manager maybe not but it would be a close call between him and walker. Look what happened when we got shut of walker and brought in a man who has passion for the club we won our last ever trophy. I really do fear the worst if he stays and I have said it before and will say it again I cannot see us picking up another point this month.

09 Aug 2015 22:09:23
Well went to see the Pope today guys, he took one look at my shirt and started laughing. Said you wonta win matches with three defensive midfielders, this isno Italian football. You needa thee creative a player to win your matches, and why you no play two strikers for his holiness sake! He blessed me and said I shoulda be made a saint for the last twenty years of pain I have endured. I told him I would never give up believing. So he patted me on the head and told me to bugger off Silly leeetle scouser ha ha. Then he was gone?

{Ed025's Note - we may need more than the pope woburn..

10 Aug 2015 00:15:06
I needed something to cheer me up after our dreadful display against West Ham.

Cheers Woburn, crack'd me up.

09 Aug 2015 21:00:17
Shaqiri at Stoke today, what's to say he wasn't at our game yesterday? If we was then we defo won't be signing him, looking at a team with no belief, playing for a manager with no clue and fans who boo you off after one half of football? Would you sign for that team? Btw for those who start the slagging off, I'm as disillusioned as everyone else just don't think booing team that is clearly low in confidence is going to make them play any better!

09 Aug 2015 20:04:59
They will regret not sacking the fraud last season but only a matter of time

09 Aug 2015 20:40:49
We will Jonsey. Terrible manager

09 Aug 2015 19:22:34
NO AMBITION!!!

{Ed025's Note - at the moment that sums it up exactly ST..

09 Aug 2015 19:11:07
So wot dregs we going to be left with then? Maybe one already gone, charlie Austin signs for Acrington Stanley next, can u cheer up the blue Army Ed, tell us a joke, Everton sign Ronaldos Mother as a tea lady

{Ed025's Note - i cant cheer anyone up mogs...im as flat as a witches tit after that yesterday mate..

09 Aug 2015 18:40:12
For the last 2 seasons I have been accused of being negative and a doom monger when talking about our ageing squad and lack of goals and lack of tactical awareness from our manager. I will not reflect on the abuse I received but I will make the following statement again. Relegation is a real possibility for us. Our team lacks cohesion and does not resemble the same team that was looking close to challenging for Europe and silverware 3 seasons ago. If I name the following teams as being superior to us: Man City, Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs, Southampton, Stoke, West Ham and Swansea. I firmly believe all of these will finish above us. That's 10 teams. meaning our best poss finish is 11th. Add to this our poor hamstring injury list. Our lack of signings (so far) and our almost total reliance on Lukaku for goals and you have to question our ability to finish above some other teams. Our leaky defence seems to have returned and if we lose Stones have little cover should any injury happen (refer back to hamstring info above). I then see other teams like Newcastle, Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Villa possibly finishing above us. That puts us in the group with all the newly promoted teams and WBA. At this point teams tent to either gel or lose confidence and crumble. Having seen our performances for the majority of last season.I fear the latter will happen. I do not want abuse or negative comments. I am as Blue and Evertonian as anyone. This is genuine fear and I have had many arguments with one or two posters on here well before the majority of faans also turned against RM. Osman is still a must in this team because we have no other player capable of a creative pass on a regular basis. Oh how we need a young Osman. or Pienaar. Well guys my prediction depends on a few things, but I do fear we will be around the 5th from bottom position by Christmas.

{Ed025's Note - any abuse you recieved was not because of your predictions degsy, they we aimed at your smugness and i told you so attitude mate, usually aimed at swan

09 Aug 2015 19:15:34
I know some of it was Ed.but Swan was always aggressive in his posts to me and very dismissive and critical.so if my predictions proved right, I naturally reminded people. Remember I was predicting all this when everyone else thought RM was the best thing ever. I am expecting less criticism now.and I do hope I am wrong. a few weeks ago people were saying "get real" to me for saying relegation was a possibility. I really believe the likes of Stoke, West Ham and Newcastle have strengthened big time. And all the factors mentioned above are coming into play. We really need a new manager before it is too late. The rate of decline is staggering.

09 Aug 2015 19:51:09
Can you 2 not kiss and make up after all your both Evertonians come on guys.

09 Aug 2015 20:28:08
Hey, I have absolutely no problem on here with anyone. People seem to have a problem with me. I really have no angst with anyone. I would love to see Swan back on here. and quite a few of my posts were aimed at winding him up like I guess some of his were aimed at winding me up. And I have certainly never fallen out with any Ed. Yes we are all passionate supporters of our great club. That's when I do get wound up.my negative opinion of Martinez has always been there. I was amazed after his 1st season. I never thought he had it in him. Then the reality set in. My negative view on him makes me no less an Evertonian like some were saying.some suggested I support another team. So when things go as bad as I had though they were going to, I reminded them. I really hope I am wrong and we go on to have a good season. I just cannot see it. Not only have we stagnated. other teams have improved dramatically.the teams that have been challenging us in recent seasons. Swansea, Spurs, Southampton and West Ham immediately spring to mind. Crystal Palace and Stoke are probably stronger than us too now. We have no real creative midfielders now. Osman and Pienaar are both at best squad players now. They were both our best assist players in Moyes ' last seasons. Mirallas signing might just be a life saver. but in the same boat Stones leaving might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. There are so many what if's and it could easily go either way.but I predict a long and hard season.

{Ed025's Note - i have never fallen out with you degs, but i must admit that both you and swan have stepped beyond the line at times in banter with each other, but i put that down to enthusiasm and passion, and maybe even a touch of egotism..

09 Aug 2015 21:12:28
Funnily enough Degsy, I actually agree with your assessment/predictions here. Palace look much better than us, the issue we have in terms of wide players imo is we have one fast/tricky player in Mirallas and the other flank is usually occupied by a Central Midfielder being pushed out wide like Barkley or Cleverley. They are not fast enough, that is not the issue, pace is not the issue, what Pienaar had little pace but could do something be it a pass from the inside or fancy flick that opens the back line up. Osman offers that to a lesser degree but still more so than Ross or the other fella. I think we will look better with 2 natural wide men when Doofy Loofy is back. Will it improve us a lot? No, I still think we will finish above Newcastle but not West Ham, Palace or Stoke. I am still hopeful for these 3 new signings but one of them has to be before the Southampton game otherwise I cannot see the crowd being lifted at all. We need to play 2 up front, Kone changed the game yesterday, now I'm not saying that makes him good, far from it but it allows Lukaku more space as there is one less Defender to occupy. It improves both of them considerably. I also think Barry or McCarthy needs to be dropped, we cannot have 4 Central Midfielders playing. It makes the shape of the team really odd and there is no Attacking options. I agree with Martinez that we need a Centre Back, Striker and number 10. My worry is after Kone's good cameo that he may decide we don't need another Striker. Big Mistake.

{Ed025's Note - good and fair assessment there swan..

09 Aug 2015 22:48:46
Degs, I think the problem a few people had with you on here was that you only made 4 posts, which went like this:

1.Osman is God (to be fair, I'm not quite sure what it is about Osman, we do look a better team with him in it, maybe it's just his sly little touches, interplay and intelligence that nobody else in the team offers, but still no need to make out like he's Messi lad)

2.Random Predictions (I'd say you're correct about 50% of the time,not a bad hit rate to be fair)

3.Not enough goals in the squad (incorrect at the time you said it, as we were in 5th and scoring goals from all over the park. However since then, the goals from Barkley dried up, and Baines/Coleman have been marked more tightly so have been unable to create/score as many)

4. Smug 'I told you so, I was given loads of stick when I predicted ages ago, I am nostradamus' posts (These were the most irritating posts as you can imagine, no one wants an 'I told you so'.

The most annoying part was that you often repeated these posts a few times a week saying the same things, so maybe you just need to tone it down a bit mate, as over the last season us blues have been moody enough, so it's no wonder a few people bit when you said 'I told you so'.

That being said, I agree with quite a few of the things you have said on here, and I appreciate your passion mate. Everton fans are the best in the world.

On a side note, welcome back Swan

09 Aug 2015 23:10:22
Great to he you back mate. I agree with w you say and would add that the problems are even deeper. We need a good creative midfielder. Gibson is good but always injured. already mentioned Osman and Pienaar. We are so light in this dept. and if Stones goes.we are light central defence and we are light left back now with Baines and Garbutt being out. It is criminal that RM has not signed 3 players already in these positions.and Howard obviously needs replacing too. maybe Joel should have had more chances for sure. Maybe it's the board? Who really knows? It's just not right that a great club with our support should be in this situation. I agree Kone looked brilliant yesterday. Great lay off and great finish. Barry is just past it. So slow. And like you say, his formation is so predictable. You can hear the groans when the teamsheet is read out. Oh well.lets hope we are all wrong and it will all turn out ok.

09 Aug 2015 23:52:21
Welcome back swan. What about the ratings for yesterday? In fact sod it they all got 4. Anyways your right when it comes to the flanks there was a fella sat not far from me who always tbonks he knows best no matter what the score and how we are doung that was calling for Galloway to be taken off because in his opinion he was out of his depth! Now the way I seen it was, you play cleverly wide left who is naturally a central player he is going to drift inside which then leaves Galloway isolated. There lies the problem with playing a cm wide left! This is were it all comes back to the manager he picks the team and formation and after 10 minutes I could see this was our weakness but he couldn't?? As the saying goes 'horses for courses' His team selections and formations make me think this fella has no backbone and won't drop under performers I.e Barry amd just selects based on name alone. Martinez either grow a set or flump off!

09 Aug 2015 18:20:59
First game of the season, showing good fight coming back twice but people are writing us off straight away. If we continue to play as we did in the second half we will be ok. Cleverly did ok, he will be a player that will make others look good, played some good "forward" passes and spread the play out to the wings. I think that we will play better against sides who will attack us now that we can get them on the counter. Counter attacks with rom, kev, bark and doufy. Keep the faith. Coyb. I had the arse to win the league and look at them.

09 Aug 2015 16:52:32
I really fear for us this season with our current squad West ham and Swansea looked miles ahead of us in style quality and tactics

09 Aug 2015 18:03:00
Agree billydean almost everyone has strengthened their squad all we've done is stood still where as palace,Stoke,hammers,Swans,soton are playing much better than us.
We play like wigan mate only way is down unless the board act swifly & see sence.
Can't see it myself though they won't until were in bottom 3 after 1st 10 games.
Were in 4 a long hard season.

09 Aug 2015 19:21:51
jonsey it's not like we don't have a good starting 11 it's just how this fraud gets them to play I can see a dog fight this year and I don't think we have the stomach for it oh to have a carsley or a Tommy g

09 Aug 2015 16:26:51
shakira at the britannia so he must be going to stoke

09 Aug 2015 16:22:45
Shaquiri at Stoke game. Not sure what that means about us going in for him.

09 Aug 2015 16:17:55
Xherdan Shaqiri at the brittania watching stoke, if I were betting i'd consider our chances of signing him to be very slim.

09 Aug 2015 16:34:13
Just as well he wasnt at Goodison yesterday otherwise he would have signed for Stoke last night!

09 Aug 2015 16:16:00
Shaqkiri at the Stoke game. Guess he's another one missed out on

09 Aug 2015 16:05:27
So, Chelsea held at home by Swansea - who looked a decent outfit.
Arsenal beaten at home by West Ham - who also looked a decent team.
Does that put our result against Watford into perspective? The hell it does!
Watford were organised and worked hard and took their goals very well, but we were abysmal in the first half and only showed some determination, ambition and effectiveness (albeit not enough of all three) in the second half. If we play like this in the forthcoming fixtures, then we're on course for a series of embarrassing spankings. Add in the injuries we're picking up - and what may or may not happen in the transfer window - and we could be fighting for Premier League survival. Anyone reckon that Sam Allardyce will replace RM (by Chrstmas maybe) in order to keep us from relegation? Or would the board risk putting DF in charge?
Or - being positive - we get better news on transfers and on injuries, RM gets the team formation and tactics right, the players cut out the individual errors and perform to their best, and we get good results. Hmmm - glass half-full or glass half-empty - which camp are you in?

09 Aug 2015 15:30:23
What a mess this clubs in with this manager, he ain't a clue. I wouldn't wait too much longer before sacking him, if it was up to me he'd of been booted out last season. Let big Dunc takeover and get players playing in there correct positions. RM is destroying this great club but chats as though everythings rosy. PHENOMENAL.

09 Aug 2015 15:58:32
Unfortunately, I agree with you. although part of he will come to his senses and get everything right. but I know he won't. I was slated by a few posters on here for suggesting last season that he made easy/lazy signings. ie Kone, McCarthy, Barry, Alacaraz and others since. Cleverly, McGeady. all of which were brought in without any chance of adding to our goal tally. yet talk of Mirallas leaving. our 2nd highest scorer. Eto'o was another. although he did score goals.but went as quick as he came. it is obvious to me that the players do not believe in his tactics. I do not believe in the players he has signed and he chops and changes so much so often that the players are obviously confused and playing in positions that they clearly do not suit. He has got nowhere near replacing Osman and Pienaar. and that is where I think our deficiencies lie. Lots of good tackling strong running physical midfielders.but none with the guile to break down a defence. Perhaps Shaquiri could be the answer? He is the sort we need.I just don't know if his attitude is right? And RM seems to turn players into bad attitude ones. eg Mirallas, Eto'o, Distin. and he has only been with us 2 seasons!

09 Aug 2015 13:51:33
Really hope we're better than last year can't cope with another one like that

09 Aug 2015 13:39:22
Know everyone is crying out for a striker and c/back, but, givern that second goal, which should have been a routine save for a top flight keeper, we are desperately in need of a new keeper, a good keeper is worth 10 to 15 points a season, and after yesterday, boy are we going to need 10 to 15 ponts, just to stay up!

09 Aug 2015 13:07:17
Lennon snubbed villa in hope of a move to us, if he's only going to cost £5m I don't see why we wouldn't sign him - surely someone like Sunderland or Celtic would give us £5m for McGeady so that's what I'd do (No Brainer)

09 Aug 2015 11:04:58
No matter how complementary or critical we can be about players performance yesterday the overall result was a disgrace plus having to come from behind. It is Everton we are talking about. NOTHING BUT THE BEST.
The club are a top half one at the absolute minimum playing a newly promoted club at home. The result should have been a win for Everton, 3 points for Everton and excuses are not acceptable. Responsibility for it is management to get it right.
It might be the first game of the season but at the end of the day it was 2 points lost at home. Those 2 points lost may prove invaluable later in the season.
Having watched Swansea take on Chelsea compared to Evertons performance no comparison. Absolute disgrace.
Another problem where is the leadership on the pitch. If jags gets injured where's the captain. Baines injured, Barry not a certain starter. The only other would be Howard but wouldn't consider him.

09 Aug 2015 11:53:50
Totally agree keenone, we are so lacking a confident swagger it is hard to believe most of these players made us top five a couple of seasons ago, defending is unorganised and woeful, Stones and Jags both jumping in on their second goal is not what you expect from current international players.
We MUST bring in players to add quality and composure to our play, we need a more cutting edge up front and lack competition for places to get players performing. We need to adjust our strategy at times we are predictable and have not changed since last year which was clearly not good enough, if the manager is not capable of this then it is up to the board to recognise the signs and make changes that can affect the rest of the season.
We cannot go back to what happened last year!
NSNO!

09 Aug 2015 10:25:03
Personally i'd be happy if we sold stones for 34m got Austin shaquiri and van dijk or what ever his name is.

Also brought in another cb to play second fiddle

09 Aug 2015 10:46:22
I agree mate. Get the money. Brilliant player but we can get 3 more in and it will settle team.

09 Aug 2015 12:00:58
We need players now and john stones although brilliant he does have a mistake in him and he's young and niave.

Sell one and bring 3,in would give us more attack.
Were so slow in the middle its a disgrace .

09 Aug 2015 12:32:00
Do you think if we sold stones Martinez would change his targets no I don't think so he has said he want 3 more so selling stones won't change anything other the balance books on transfer fees, don't think for one minute that selling stones we would go out and buy a better calibre of player better than what's being known as targets at moment, end of the day he will go in next 12 months regardless so we have to get best price poss, we are in no rush as he has 5 year contract so unless £40m plus comes in don't sell providing he plays well this season his price keeps going up and let's be fair although he played well at times last season he only played 20 games and was part of shambolic defence, terry last season for sure mourinho know he needs to get a defender in for next 10 years he will be desperate come end of season let's keep him and sell next summer just before euros when he is England's first choice and his price will go through the roof, if he has a average season his price won't go down so let's take Chelsea to the cleaners on this one

09 Aug 2015 00:15:28
For the first time in many years, I was fearful of stepping foot inside Goodison today. On paper it was a nice way to start the season but newly promoted teams can always rise to the occasion. Watford are a decent team and will shock a few teams this year imo. The crowd was rocking when the first whistle blew, the anticipation and relief that football is back was more than evident. Then. nothing. Within a few minutes of that whistle, we could all see how this game was going to pan out. We struggled to move the ball around with any sort of penetration, the movement off the ball was shocking causing us to lose possession because we didn't show for a pass. We looked short of ideas. The second half was much better in terms of creating chances and getting the ball up front at speed. The biggest difference was having to sacrifice a cm to accommodate Kone, and it worked. There were more options in the final third and we should have scored a couple more, both our forwards should have found the net with headers.
The formation we finished with could very well keep RM in the job longer if he uses it more often. Neither Rom nor Kone look too comfortable on their own but they link up well enough to cause opposing defences trouble. Hope to see two up top more often! To me, at least, the way we usually play stifles our players causing us to try and play safe. There wasn't much difference to last season the way we started off, this needs to be addressed asap if we want to improve on last years position. Yes we are only one game and there is no need to panic but I expect us to play much better with no euro games to distract us.

09 Aug 2015 02:13:22
I agree SpudV. I think the biggest problem Roberto Martinez has is Gareth Barry. I thought James Mac and Tom Cleverly did really well. When he took off Galloway (who was playing really well) and slotted Barry in his position, my first thought was typical stubborn little Spaniard. Why don't you just take Barry off. When Baines comes back and we are in the Same Situation, who is going to take off, because it won't be Barry. One goal doesn't make a season with Kone but surely Martinez must realise we need 2 upfront now. We Need to sign another striker and a creative midfielder. When that creative midfielder comes in Barry is the one that has to be left off the team sheet. I bet that doesn't happen!

Ps Ross Barkley well played son and a great goal.