Everton Banter 4

13 Feb 2026 19:57:40
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13 Feb 2026 18:17:22
A friend of mine said he was told the derby is going to be moved from the Saturday to the Sunday can anyone confirm this, its just I've to book flights.

13 Feb 2026 20:05:54
Wish it was being moved to next year. :)

13 Feb 2026 23:31:09
Can we move it to 1991 and repeat the FA Cup tie? I got my first season ticket that year, but I didn't get to the cup game as it was a school night and my mum wouldn't have it; I was 7, to be fair. Would have loved to have seen that game!

13 Feb 2026 17:29:59
"They need to do a bit more before they're ready for the first team". David Moyes reply when asked about academy players.
Now normally I would agree with this comment. However, given our failings in some positions and the fact that we are safe from relegation.

Surely now is the ideal time to integrate some of these players into the first team squad.
Armstrong has shown that age is no barrier if you have the talent to go with it. Might also give the fans a bit of a lift seeing academy players on show.

13 Feb 2026 18:24:16
Unfortunately there is little to no chance any academy players will get time under Moyes.

He is way too stubborn to do something like that.

He’d rather stick with players he knows, play players out of position, persevere with out of form players, not use some of the players he chose to sign and set up the team negatively and deploy boring tactics than try something fresh and dynamic.

14 Feb 2026 00:10:21
What more is there? Take the game by the scruff of the neck by scoring and creating goals. Show more technical ability than the first-team strikers in front of you. He said he isn't big enough or quick enough.

Fair enough on the size thing, but there are plenty of smaller players in the league. The pace thing is laughable; he moves quicker than any of our front line with the ball.

14 Feb 2026 09:51:30
He's not big enough if your only tactic is to lump it up the pitch for a loan striker to head it on to nobody. Here's a thought: play him behind the donkey; he can pick up those silky lay-offs he makes.

{Ed025's Note - love it BMD..

15 Feb 2026 14:51:48
The size thing has got to be more to do with his physique than how tall he is, and I do get that; it's an unforgiving league. That said, Barry and Beto are big fellas; they just don't have the ability.

I'd certainly get BG on the bench and look to give him minutes if we are well in control of a game, so there's less pressure on the lad.

{Ed025's Note - im with you BP..

13 Feb 2026 14:41:14
Jimmy Kranky and Warwick Davis are tiny but they know where the onion bag is.

13 Feb 2026 12:22:43
Tony Cottee and Tim Cahill weren't giants but could find the back of the net regularly so size shouldn't be a issue.

13 Feb 2026 17:47:52
Jermain defoe 5ft 7 Robbie Keane 5ft 9 same as Graham give the lad a go i say.

14 Feb 2026 07:07:05
Mo Salah banged a few in. He's small compared to our giants. Maradona, the greatest ever, was small. Big defenders hate having to mark smaller, quick players. Their brains don't react as quickly. Just keep it on the grass and not up in the clouds.

14 Feb 2026 09:52:33
If only, Toffeeloyalist.

13 Feb 2026 07:39:02
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Matchday 25 - Quick Round Up

12 Feb 2026 23:38:25
Whoever is in the recruitment department, have, to say the last, shown there total incompetence, but now it seems see John Stones as a desirable target . They have already proved that they are unfit for the job, recruiting Stones would be the final proof that they would be better employed cleaning the toilets.

13 Feb 2026 09:46:53
There is no chance Everton would be interested in John Stones, at his age, his injury record, hardly played for City.

{Ed025's Note - i cant see it either Uran..

12 Feb 2026 21:59:45
If anyone is interested, take a look at Grahams goal against Ispwich in the final minutes. He may be a kid and he may be small as Moyes said, but the lad clearly has ability. Don't think I have ever seen Beto or Barry even shoot from that far out, let alone strike it so cleanly and effortlessly.

There are plenty of players in the Premier League that are diminutive these days. Give the lad a go .

13 Feb 2026 00:13:13
Agreed, and I seem to remember another youngster who was diminutive in height and size as a youngster scoring goals like that by the name of Rooney…and he dint end up doing too bad did he? This policy of not using the youth absolutely stinks! The lad clearly has talent and much more than the 2 scarecrows we currently have up front.

13 Feb 2026 00:27:41
Well Messi was small in height, he was however stocky. Messi however was a very intelligent player, many of his goals were passed into the net. Moyes ideal striker is 6 feet four inches tall and a target for the ball being lumped upfield. If you play that tactic you need a tall player who can head and/or control the ball and we don't have that type of player.


I would like to see Graham given a game, can't see how we would lose anything by doing that, tactics however, would have to change if he did play and I really can't see that happening.

13 Feb 2026 09:34:13
Not even asking him to start Mike but if we are needing a goal in the game, why not have someone like Graham on the bench who can create something out of nothing.

Put it this way, if you give Graham the chances that Barry has had this season, I would be more confident that he would be capable of slotting them in the onion bag.

He may get a game and not perform but if he isn't given a chance, how are we to ever know. I would much sooner see him come on at the end of the game than Michael Keane, that is for certain mate.

13 Feb 2026 09:53:44
He’s a natural goal scorer unlike the ones with the 6ft + frame and then coached like mad to put the ball in the net, play him in the last 15 minutes in the away games, less pressure on him playing at home, what have we got to lose?

13 Feb 2026 13:56:49
Totally agree with everything above, he has to start putting Graham on the bench that's for sure, we are mid table in no danger at all so yeh why not, I would also like to see more minutes for Rohl/Alcaraz/Dibling/Aznou/ between now and the end of the season, also as mentioned surely has to be Branthwaite and O’Brien from here on in (apart from Man U game obvs) to get them to form a boss partnership ready for next season.

{Ed025's Note - a lot of us think the same i think Col, trouble is mate...we dont pick the side..

13 Feb 2026 16:46:28
Agree with you there Col. Although I was disappointed with O'Brien for that 2nd goal against Bournemouth. He is 6ft 5 and bottled challenging for the ball. If he goes for that, he simply wins it and the goal is avoided. I do wonder some times if we have an analyst team pointing out these mistakes in games, because they seem to happen time and time again.

It isn't even a question of skill or guile with those two goals on Tuesday, it was sheer lack of desire and commitment.

13 Feb 2026 17:11:55
Adrian heath wasn't tall either but football has changed i guess. If your good enough your old enough that's what my dad used to tell me. What harm can it do.

12 Feb 2026 15:42:18
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Matchday 25 - Quick Round Up

12 Feb 2026 14:21:52
Ed 25, Just. a question, is O'BRIEN, suspended for 1 game or 3 games?

{Ed025's Note - just 1 i believe AB..against United.

12 Feb 2026 20:56:04
Patterson in for one game and then dropped again you’d imagine.

12 Feb 2026 14:39:31


Toffebwoy1 has submitted an article entitled, Everton's Midtable Reality and the Need for Change

12 Feb 2026 20:28:04
Glad you have faith in our recruitment team TB as I’m on the other side of the fence. Would like to be proved wrong but recent experience dictates a handful of gods recruits mixed in with several flops.

12 Feb 2026 15:40:00
Good read. Well played.