Everton banter 10

05 Jan 2026 18:19:52
Happy New Year everyone.

Seems like everyone is out in force to criticise literally every player we have since yesterday's result. Yes, it was God awful, but why can't people use at least a modicum of sense in player assessment rather than (x) needs dropping and nowhere near the team ever again, and (y) is the worst player I've ever seen.

We all know the situation, the team being put out for the last few weeks is as threadbare as it can possibly be. The last remaining players we have are being run into the ground this festive period. Horrible results are sadly expected when you look at the starting 11 + bench every matchday.

So when I hear "Keane needs dropping" it's like, why? He had a stinker against Brentford for sure, but this season he has been head and shoulders above Tarky, who imo was even worse against Brentford. Keane is being pilloried because of his previous seasons, but it's this year that matters, and this year it is Tarkowski who is our CB liability.

People saying "we need the same defense next game that we had against Forest" - please tell me you are taking the p*ss because that defence had Patterson on the pitch. A player so terrible we can't even persuade Championship clubs to take him off our hands for zero fee and subsided wages. Anyone who ever advocates Patterson playing. Pipe down, you genuinely must be trolling at this point!

The people fawning over Dibling, are you insane? The lad is nowhere near good enough for this club. He's absolutely gash! He seems to think he's the second coming of Grealish but all he does is a few stepovers, refuses to pass, refuses to cross, keeps the ball all the way to a complete dead-end, then gives it away. Trying to blame Moyes for Diblings failings because "he didn't give him enough minutes so his confidence is shot" is a lazy excuse. Moyes didn't give him minutes for the very simple reason that he's not good enough. Diblings fault, nobody else's.

Now when you actually take into account the true nature of the team against Brentford, I think it's quite easy to see why we were embarrassed. Playing with both Dibling and McNeil was like playing with 9 men. Our other players are looking dead on their feet through tiredness, there's no way they could find the energy to make up for the deficit of two passengers in the team.

Of course there's other glaring issues, Mykolenko has never been good enough and should have been upgraded long ago. The idea that he was an upgrade on Digne still blows my mind as it's the biggest proof of a manager deliberately sabotaging the team as you can get.
Beto and Barry, clearly woeful and need addressing.
A dedicated RB, why was this not addressed in the summer when it was plain as day for everyone.

Quite a rant sure, but maybe before everyone continues with this bandwagon of driving Moyes out, take a look at the players currently at his disposal, our league position compared to the last few years, and perhaps acknowledge that he's probably doing much better than anyone else possibly could. If this campaign for him to go manages to gain any traction then we could find ourselves back in the dark days of only attracting managers like Allardyce, Dyche and Benitez. How would you feel then.

{Ed025's Note - you make some really good points there Worcester, but its not Dibblings fault mate, its the dick heads who do our scouting and recruitment that should be held accountable for his purchase..

05 Jan 2026 19:22:06
We are a work in progress mate £100 million spent bringing 9 players in in the last window, Rome was not built in a day, in Moyes we trust give him time.

05 Jan 2026 19:22:46
Happy New Year Worcester.

Post-match, the goals were scrutinised because every single one of them was totally avoidable and nothing but negligible defending. Both Tarkowski and Keane should be dropped but unfortunately we do not have JB fit or a plethora of talent to choose from like your Arsenal’s or City’s do.

I for one refuse to get sucked in by Keane having his best season to date. He is nowhere near good enough to be a starting CB for any PL club that has aspirations of finishing anywhere in the top half of the table. He has also had plenty of clangers this season, as has the entire backline.

Go back and watch the 1st goal and try and comprehend how a CB can have the only danger around him stood right in front of him, only to choose to step across him and lose sight of him. His positional sense is non-existent and he is consistently flat-footed. That ball should have been headed away with ease, instead of him flapping around in no man’s land. Fast forward a few minutes later and he gets done in behind by the same player after actually turning his head and clocking him. Rinse and repeat of Palmer at Stamford Bridge.

I don’t rate either of them and think they are responsible for so many errors/goals. Our defensive stats may look good but if a team sets up as negatively as we do, of course it is going to be favourable in that respect. That’s not even taking into account the amount of times that Jordan Pickford has bailed us out week in, week out.

Personally not one for calling Moyes out. This squad is beyond sh*** and he is working miracles with it imo. We have 6/7 players at most that are worth keeping. That being said, changing a winning team and a defence with a clean sheet is silly. I’ve made no secret of my feelings of Patterson on here - he is garbage but he is a natural right back and is more forward thinking than a 6ft 6 centre-back. Even in the Forest games he was forming triangles with our midfield to offer and option and stop the opposition doubling up on our winger.

Reverting back to O’B at RB at home sent out the wrong message and simply invited Brentford on to us. Look at how high their full backs played, they squeezed us and forced us back into our own half. Simple.

The whole Christmas schedule and being tired is nonsense. We had 2 more days rest than Brentford and they travelled up from London. They also have small squad like ours and the only changes were Henderson, Henry and Lewis-Potter. Why weren’t Brentford feeling the effects of the winter fixtures? These are PL footballers, handling 3 games in a week should not write them off, prior to that it was the usual one game a week.

05 Jan 2026 19:35:27
Your correct Tarks has been awful O'brien was lucky with his petulant little kick at scade mybe he sugar was low or high being a type 1 diabetic I know it can make you do irratatic things at times ie hand ball the other week aswell. Dibling like Grealish will struggle without an attacking fullback overlapping obrien isn't going to do it. its not in his game and when Mykolenko does run past Jack he doesn't want to pass it him because he knows he will give it away.

and looks for Garner to try and whip 1 in. Tim gave the ball away cheaply as did Rohl but that's what we have. I would definitely start Armstrong against wolves after his little cameo he knocked the ball around with a bit of pace.

05 Jan 2026 20:03:09
Armstrong looks really good and played some good stuff.

05 Jan 2026 20:33:15
Well it's all a matter of opinion. Against Forest Patterson played OK and they did not score against us. He is the only true right-back we have and has hardly had a chance recently. Don't tell me that the defensive team we had against Forest would have done any worse than the one put out against Brentford.

The problem I have is as soon as we have a good game the team has to be changed to accommodate a player like Keane who was half fit. Against Forest the combination of O'Brien and Tarkowski played well and that's my opinion and to be called a "troll" just pisses me off.

05 Jan 2026 21:17:28
So you don’t think we should slag players off then launch into slagging players off.

05 Jan 2026 22:16:01
Sadly it appears that the occasional poster - BMD - struggles with the finer points of reading comprehension.

I did not say ". don't think we should slag players off. "
I said some people are criticising literally every player, and to therefore use a modicum of sense in player assessment. As that appears confusing to you, I will give you a simplified version of what it means.
Not EVERY player is an abomination who should be critically decimated. Yes, they were poor yesterday but the main reason for that is because of the utter pathetic waste of space players I criticised myself. A team will always be dragged down when carrying passengers and sub-par players like McNeil and your wet-dream Dibling. (I've very much noticed in recent weeks your outrage at any hint of criticism towards him, it's laughable. )

As for other responses, valid for the most part as subjective. Of course Keane is not the standard required for a club with Euro aspirations. Totally agree. My point was that he's not the worst of our CBs this season. It's Tarkowski by a mile.

I do not relent on my point about Patterson. Nobody should ever be advocating him playing a single minute. It's the very definition of capitulation. O'Brien is not the answer, no, but in no scenario whatsoever should Patterson wear the Royal Blue again.

05 Jan 2026 23:10:48
Can't argue with any of that Worcester. Agree on Tarks and Patt. Personally think now we have Armstrong back, we should play Garner at RB. Harsh to move him from his favoured position, especially when he has been playing so well but needs must and he wouldn't blink at doing what is asked of him - player of the season for me and by some margin.

06 Jan 2026 08:35:19
Play Armstrong and he will be next to receive pelters. Yes I am a supporter of Dibling and feel that with better support around him we would see the player he can be. Unfortunately it’s easier for “supporters” to target a young player than to actually take note of what’s happening on the pitch.

But hey you continue not to slag players off by err slagging players off. The rest of us will just nod and agree.

06 Jan 2026 21:28:48
I, too, agree with all you're saying Worcester. I still think and hope there is a decent player in Dibling and Barry. But only time will tell and so far they have both not been good enough.

The other players you mention need replacing asap. The majority of them have been with us for 4+ years and have never been good enough if we want to stay out of relegation battles. But every year these same players are in our starting line up far too often.

05 Jan 2026 16:44:28
Ed25. In the unlikely event that the club decide to cut their losses on Dibling, how much of the 42m do you think might be recoverable, think we would struggle to recoupe 15m, and perhaps less?

{Ed025's Note - if we could only get £15m AB i dont think its worth selling mate it would be safer to wait and hope he comes good, i have to say if im honest that im flabbergasted we spent that much money on him though, i had not seen much of him before he came to us i must admit but he runs like he is playing in treacle, he has skill and is quite strong but i still think whoever made the call to spend that amount on him should be shot at dawn..

05 Jan 2026 17:54:21
How is his replacement doing at Southampton? Fellows I'm sure he was called.

05 Jan 2026 18:46:19
4 assists and 0 goals Ron.

05 Jan 2026 19:20:52
Paid £10 million or something like that didn't they because I do remember loads on here saying to buy him. do you reckon he would of been better than Dibling for us? Just asking for opinions I haven't really seen him play. Just wondering what made us pay £45 million out if we could of spent £10? And which scout chose which 1 to buy.

{Ed025's Note - im not sure who would own up to it Ron..

05 Jan 2026 20:55:08
Hard to say mate. I think he would have been used just as sparingly due to Ndiaye being ahead of him in the pecking order. It is also much easier to chalk numbers up in the Championship than the PL.

I still think Dibling has been handled terribly since he arrived with us. Any confidence he had built up during his first season in the PL has been decimated. Add to that, he hasn't played a game with us where he has had any support from the lad behind him. Every game the opposition know to double up on our wingers because they know the only option then is to go backwards.

Ndiaye is a special player so he can cope but the kid is 19 and has been drip-fed 5/10 minute cameos throughout the season. When he has come into the team we have been missing our 3 best players.

He has certainly not looked as good as I expected him to but I personally won't be judging him or writing him off as a bad signing. There is a reason the top clubs were rumoured to be interested in him. Had his price tag been slightly more modest than the fee we paid, I think one of those clubs would have pulled the trigger.

05 Jan 2026 21:19:43
Well said BN.

05 Jan 2026 21:48:12
Have to agree BN. I too think Dibling will come good as there is definitely a player in there. He would definitely benefit from a run in the side, but unfortunately we are too slow and predictable in transition, making it far too easy for the opposition to double up on both Gealish and Dibling. Then we have our full backs, or lack of, who offer no support, don't overlap and don't make themselves available to receive the ball off our wide players when they are overloaded.


So both wide players have a thankless task. Both full back positions should be a priority for Moyes in this window, along with a striker. I just hope that he doesn't think that Barry has turned a corner, because quite frankly he hasn't.

06 Jan 2026 08:36:59
Finally someone who sees what’s going on??.

05 Jan 2026 16:27:49
Team for wednesday night .
Pickford, Paterson, Tarks, O'BRIEN, ? Garner, Armstrong, ? Barry, Grelish.
My two question marks! I don't see much alternatives then Mecolenco, and O' Neil but we do not seem to have any alternatives Other than giving one of the young players a start,

05 Jan 2026 15:14:16
Pace, we don't have any and when we come up against teams that do we get tonked. Moyes said we don't usually concede four at home, which is true it's normally three.
Have to beat Wolves now and it has to be a convincing performance, sit back and play at a slow static pace and Wolves will beat us.


Lastly can we please practice defending corners. How can a team score when the ball is played into our six yard box? that should be the keepers all day long, but he stays rooted on his line, not good enough.

05 Jan 2026 17:41:17
We play Armstrong he’s quick mate.

05 Jan 2026 14:49:50
Callum Wilson could be free now WH have signed 2 strikers.

{Ed025's Note - hes ok Dev but not a lone striker for me, the whole ethos and formation would have to change and i just cant see DM doing that, plus his age is against him..

05 Jan 2026 15:20:31
If you play as a lone striker he will just become another who will fail. This tactic does not work and didn't work for previous managers. It's about time we had a change especially when playing at home.

05 Jan 2026 16:34:22
He’s 33 can’t see us even looking at him mate.

05 Jan 2026 18:29:07
Dunno about that Moyes probably sees that as a perfect age.

05 Jan 2026 09:42:08
Without being the harbinger of doom (as I appreciate its a crappy, cold Monday in Jan) , but is anyone else worried about the Wolves match on Wednesday?

We’re iffy at home and they’ve just started to pick up points.

Sorry, but just wanted to see if any of you were in the same school of thought as me.

{Ed025's Note - dont be the prophet of doom Benny...but yes im worried as well mate..

05 Jan 2026 11:13:27
I've watched Wolves last 3 games Benny they break very quickly going forward which will be a worry for our slow back four.

05 Jan 2026 11:17:18
Im confident we always seem to bounce back after a poor performance like yesterday. I’m that confident I’ve put us in my last man standing only 4 left in it aswell ??.

05 Jan 2026 11:30:19
Well Wolves have let in 40 and scored 14 this season so the last thing Moyes should do is revert to a totally defensive team and go for a draw.
Use the defense we had verses Forest, no Keane, and have both Beto and Barry together up front. Even those two Bozo's should be able to find the net.

{Ed025's Note - i think playing 2 up top was a sign of desperation Mike, i cant see it ever being the norm mate and it will be one of either Millican or Nesbitt to be the long range lamppost for Wolves...leopards and spots and all that..

05 Jan 2026 12:10:34
They looked like they were still up for the fight against West Ham mate and seemed to have the desire. I watched that Mane v Liverpool and then again v United. What a young player he looks.

05 Jan 2026 12:30:15
If Mykolenko starts again after his latest displays, what message does it show. Aznou may not be ready but he cannot be any worse and will certainly offer more going forward.

If we could drop the CB's, that would be the correct decision as well.

Harrison Armstrong showed more in his short cameo than any of our midfielders. Jimmy can get a pass as he has been nothing short of phenomenal this season and he seemed to look a little bit leggy. I think we have to put him at RB as we simply have no one else to go there and we can't play Tarkowski and Kean at CB.

Pickford

Aznou
O'Brien
Tarks
Garner

Tim
Rohl

Grealish
Armstrong
Dibling

Beto or Barry.

05 Jan 2026 13:13:56
That’s about as good as we have at the moment mate, good shout.

05 Jan 2026 14:16:34
What’s the betting that Larsen fella scores.

05 Jan 2026 15:14:39
Jimmy needs to be played at rightback move jake to centreback Armstrong needs to start as does beto I'd play 442
Pickford
Jimmy tarky jake miko/ asnu
Tim Harrison rohl jack
Beto barry
Can't be any worse than that lineup v brentford.

05 Jan 2026 08:01:11
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Liverpool v Leeds United - A Quick Liverpool Perspective

05 Jan 2026 07:39:03
{Ed's Note - RPD has posted a new article entitled, Why Chelsea's Ownership Is Playing the Long Game

05 Jan 2026 04:19:22
Yesterday just highlighted the same problems again.
Our centre-backs are too slow and make too many mistakes. When JB is back, him alongside O’Brien might be an improvement, but I still think we’ll need another CB if we’re serious. At the minute we get punished far too easily by pace and movement.
Full-backs are a massive issue. We need players who can actually defend properly and contribute going forward, offering width without throwing the shape out of balance.
Mykolenko loses possession far too often, his crossing is poor when he does get into a decent area, and technically he just isn’t good enough for this level.
On the right, we’re desperate. O’Brien isn’t a RB, and he offers nothing going forward. There was one moment where he left Dibling isolated against two players in the corner without offering any support at all — that simply isn’t good enough.


Tim isn’t a Premier League player. He gets bypassed too easily and doesn’t know how to dictate the tempo of a game.
McNeil was, yet again, ineffective — no real influence, no impact. There was no link between defence and midfield, which is killing us. We need a more dominant holding midfielder and a proper creative No.10 who can take responsibility and move us up the pitch.
I really hope Dibling comes good, because the talent is there, but he’s getting no help. If he had proper support behind him, along with Grealish on the other side, then Barry and/or Beto wouldn’t be so isolated up top.
Right now, we seriously lack any reliable, consistent attacking outlets, and everything feels disjointed. Until the balance improves — especially at full-back and in midfield — we’re going to keep seeing the same issues repeat themselves.

05 Jan 2026 12:17:22
Spot on with that post OS, other than the fact that it isn't even pace and movement that trouble us. Go back and watch the first goal. Keane has all the problem in front of him and decides to run across and lose sight of it - criminal defending.

Need to go and get Morten Frendrup to sit in front of the back 4. Bags of stamina, never stops harrying the opposition. 10 may be too difficult to find for a decent price in Jan. We need 2 fullbacks and the price won't change too much between the two windows, so we should try and bring Robinson home and then try for Sanchez, Doue, Preciado, Alebiosu or anyone, as anyone would be an upgrade on what we currently have.

If we get those 3 positions sorted, I genuinely think we will get Europe. It will flip the whole team on it's head and all of a sudden our forward players will reap the benefits of getting some decent flankers in.

05 Jan 2026 01:16:38
Moyes saved us from relegation last season, something for which, I am extremely grateful.
However, if we are to progress, and become a top six regular competitor, we must thank him, then seek an alternative who is in tune with the modern game.


We can have death by a thousand cut, or a swift clean break. Bed someone in now, to do the ground work for next season .

05 Jan 2026 07:22:41
How about Nuno, Frank or that young progressive manager at Celtic?

05 Jan 2026 08:39:06
Frank saved us? Look what happened. Dyche saved us? Look what happened. Moyes saved us? Anyone see a pattern forming here?

05 Jan 2026 08:55:43
Maybe our fans should be more realistic? Constant change hasn't been good for the club in the last decade and caused us to flirt with relegation far too many times. For the first time in years, we are in January and not looking over our shoulder at the bottom of the league. All this after having to bring in 9 players to integrate into the team/squad.

I think we should let him have time to build a proper squad rather than jump back into the unknown.

05 Jan 2026 09:27:23
So I get it, because we made the wrong choice of managers since moyes left us for man utd and they where, all crap, that means we now have to keep moyes here because we might make the same mistake again, so let's just keep the dinosaur and make no progress.

05 Jan 2026 09:54:02
So who are you going to replace him with? Any idea?

05 Jan 2026 10:12:18
Not at all, skylark. What i'm saying is that we have made progress under DM, especially in comparison to previous managers, whether those of you who hate him like it or not. With a couple of windows, the squad will vastly improve and then we can worry about the style of play.

So, you think Ancellotti was crap? Hard man to please eh.

05 Jan 2026 10:29:24
Ancellotti was / is a great manager but he also was the wrong choice as he was never going to stay so we just wasted time and money bringing him in , I just want this club to have a bit of ambition, man utd and Chelsea have both sacked there manager and are sitting above us, moyes just doesn't fill me with excitement.

05 Jan 2026 10:59:56
There was only one club he was going to leave for and, unfortunately, they came calling. That was the best appointment of the FM era without a shadow of a doubt.

I get your point about ambition but it takes time to get to that stage. Firstly, the building blocks have to be put into place. We lost 13 senior players last summer, some that were classed as first team players, which is basically starting from scratch. We also moved to a new home, of which we will see the benefits in future seasons, which has proven to be a hard task for the majority of teams that have done the same. It's about patience for us fans more than anything really.

The team we have at the moment will change over the next few windows and then we will see a better style of football. We can't expect too much right now as we are playing square pegs in round holes, yet again, in some positions and we have a fair few players who just aren't good enough. It will take money and, once again, patience from the fans. It's like we've been in transition for a decade!

I known the answer already but I will ask anyway. You always comment that you didn't want whatever manager we get, so, who would be your ideal replacement? Either for right now or next season? For all these 'crap' managers that we've had, who would excite you enough into becoming more positive?

05 Jan 2026 11:18:43
I will ask you the same question, who would you like besides moyes, it's not an easy question to answer but it's easier knowing who I don't want , , most teams are looking for the perfect manager to take them forward and win trophies and they are hard to find but my god the ones we have picked since moyes left have been shocking , frank, raffa, dyche, Sam, Ronald, have got to be some of the worst Dessissions this club has ever made.

05 Jan 2026 12:41:00
I'm not after a change of manager just yet mate. As I've alluded to above, I can see progress happening, it might not be rapid progress but things are definitely moving in the right direction. Just bolster this squad with more quality, improve the areas that need attention and I think we will see further progress over the next couple of windows.

I'd let DM continue to steady the ship for another season or two and then see where we are then.

05 Jan 2026 13:02:27
We can’t keep sacking managers mate because we loose a game, our backup midfield is echos of a past we will repeat again if not sensible, I agree with most our fullbacks hinder us more than help.

05 Jan 2026 14:51:32
Agree with blue potato. The table doesn't lie. We have made progress. As i have said on a few occasions enjoy the wins and take the losses with a pinch of salt, we will frustrate as we aren't the finished article.

05 Jan 2026 16:57:18
The job was to save us from an almost certain relegation under Dyche, and improve the squad in the summer. Whilst there are still many positions that need improving, Moyes has achieved both these things.

We’re a win off 5th place. Makes no sense to get rid now, there’s a case for changing in the summer and giving the long term manager the war chest. Iriola would be great.

04 Jan 2026 21:35:32
At least Mykolenko is keeping up his performances with consistency. Another game with 60+ touches and 18 occasions losing possession. That is simply incredulous for a fullback that barely gets into the opposition half.

If we (club/fans) are to be happy keeping him as our LB, then we are consequentially happy with being mediocre.

05 Jan 2026 08:42:58
I think the problem BN is supporters now are accepting mediocrity. When a lot of today’s supporters have never seen us win anything it’s not surprising I guess. Hits hard with an old boy like me.