Everton banter 9

06 Jan 2026 21:48:31
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Fulham v Liverpool - A Quick Liverpool Perspective

06 Jan 2026 20:24:18
Alright lads, well I’ve given myself a few. Days to get over that sh*t show, and am still a little baffled as to what I watched. Now against Forest I was of the opinion that the back four all put in a good shift, and that includes Patto and Micky. So I was a little surprised to see Keane walk straight back into the team and O’Brien get pushed to full back again.
Now to me two things happened here, and this is just my view based on what I saw at Forest. Firstly Tarks and Keane became completely disjointed, it was as if they had never played together before.


Secondly where did Dibling go? Against Forest he had Patterson getting up with him and giving him an out. Now O’Brien just couldn’t or wouldn’t do that, and it’s not his fault the lads natural instinct is to hold position. This seemed to suck the life out of young Dibling and we probably would have been better off taking him off and playing our two “strikers” instead.
Will be interesting to see how we turn out for the Wolves game. Hopefully the gaffer has had a think about the changes he made after the Forest game and so changes things accordingly. UTFT!

07 Jan 2026 17:05:03
We can only hope AD.

06 Jan 2026 17:08:20
So who would take signing nobody this window and going with what we have and go for it in the summer? I’m now not really fussed as the main thing is unless something stupid happens we look safe for the season.

Getting into Europe could set us back with the extra games required and still short on bodies . Maybe see the season out hope for high enough finish and give it the big go next season?

{Ed025's Note -patience is a virtue they say Snods... something i dont really possess, im more of a Queen fan.."i want it all and i want it now", at 67 im running out of time mate.. :)

06 Jan 2026 17:38:32
Ivan Toney would be good mate, your only a nipper Ed mate.

{Ed025's Note - as a player Toney would be very good GB, but he does come with a lot of baggage mate..

06 Jan 2026 17:52:44
Take your point Ed mate but so did Jack but he’s been good.

{Ed025's Note - he has GB, but the thing with addiction is that there is always a chance of falling off the wagon mate...but lets hope not..

06 Jan 2026 19:08:27
Notoriously difficult window to recruit in.

Whilst we clearly need additions to the squad, think it’s wiser to wait till summer and get the right player at the right price rather than gambling on overpriced players this window.

Only if a player we really want this window comes available should we be signing someone.

06 Jan 2026 19:08:36
My only concern about us waiting for the summer is convincing the other players to wait, too.

If you're N'Diaye, Branthwaite, Garner, even KDH, and you've got some big clubs eyeing you up, why would you stick around into next season after suffering through this one?

Easy to say, but i think we NEED someone promising this window, or I can't see those players want to risk putting up with another season of playing with such poor players around them.

I can't imagine how N'diaye feels week-in-week-out about beating 3 players and putting a chance on a plate for a striker who invariably falls over his own feet en route.

06 Jan 2026 19:51:41
I was (and would not be upset if we didn’t qualify for a European tournament) of that opinion that maybe that we weren’t ready for Europe and all that it brings, however having European football would be a bigger draw when recruiting for next season.

So now I find myself wanting it because it’s the financial return that TFG were after and therefore would hopefully increase investment in the squad and that would only be a good thing. Hoping for a better performance tomorrow than we got on Sunday.
Anyway UTFT COYB.

06 Jan 2026 20:04:01
That’s a fair point too with what it will bring in mate.

06 Jan 2026 20:46:55
Ed025 for goodness sake, I could be your Dad! Feeling exactly like you Big C, one minute thinking we are not ready for Europe and the next realizing the enormous benefit it would be especially in keeping our best players and recruiting more good ones.


We have to get three points against the likes of Wolves and keep in the upper half of the league until our AFCON and injured players return.

{Ed025's Note - i just feel very old Mike, its probably watching that defence against Brentford mate.. :)

06 Jan 2026 21:11:33
Agreed Ed025. I have it on good authority that you will feel much younger tomorrow evening.

{Ed025's Note - i hope so mike, i have tried moisturizer mate but it doesn,t seem to be working.. :)

06 Jan 2026 22:31:28
But if we get into Europe think of all the players who will want to come and play for us because they want European football.

06 Jan 2026 16:52:41
Just switch off the undersoil heating, get the game abandoned and put back for when the lads are back.

06 Jan 2026 13:44:29
Bad news, Sensgal didn’t get knocked out yet.

06 Jan 2026 16:46:24
Bugger. You just know they will make the bloody final.

06 Jan 2026 21:32:08
They have a good squad tbf lol I reckon you might be right.

06 Jan 2026 12:34:08
Patterson should not wear the Blue shirt ever again, what an absolute load of tripe, he’s been injured he’s not played for a while, he came on the other day was ropey to start with but got better and better throughout the game, a young lad with plenty to learn, Moyes plays with what he has available, a couple more weeks without our best players so all hands to the pump to the moment.

06 Jan 2026 13:40:01
Wow what’s rattled your cage GB? Not like you mate.

06 Jan 2026 15:08:42
We have such a thin squad at the moment with AFCOM and injuries, our manager is playing with the best we have available, we need to stick behind the players and manager and give em some slack, when we are back to full strength then judge them mate.

06 Jan 2026 15:28:51
Understand that, but why have you lost it with Patterson?

06 Jan 2026 15:44:12
I’m sticking up for him fed up of him taking all the blame, we are a work in progress this will take time bound to be a rocky ride mate.

06 Jan 2026 16:48:07
Oh thought you were saying he was tripe. Get it now mate, and your not wrong.

06 Jan 2026 16:45:03
Looks like not much happening in the jan transfer window.

{Ed025's Note - lets not jump the gun just yet Dev..

06 Jan 2026 17:39:20
I think we will at least bring a couple in mate.

06 Jan 2026 17:47:30
Very harsh on Patterson, give the lad a chance to get his sharpness back, for me he’s potentially better than Mykolenko.

06 Jan 2026 18:31:04
He is mate that’s why I’m fighting his corner.

06 Jan 2026 21:03:59
Well said GB, I said the same and got ripped for it. He is not the best and is not our long term right-back but at the moment he is our only natural right-back. Injuries have held him back and he was OK against Forest. I hope that he shows the doubters wrong but will only show it if he is given a chance.

06 Jan 2026 07:39:03
{Ed's Note - Red Man has posted a new article entitled, Time to Reflect on Manchester United

05 Jan 2026 23:57:13
Links to Vanderson from Monaco, along with Spurs and Brighton. I think we were linked with him in previous windows so it could well be lazy journalism.

Attacking-minded fullback but is great in 1v1 situations defensively having gone up against some of the best wide players in the world in recent seasons, the likes of Doku, Rogers, Mbappe, Doue, Kvaratskhelia, Dembele and Raphinha to name a few.

Solid first touch, comfortable with the ball at his feet. Predominantly a right back having played most of his career there but has played a substantial amount of games as a right wing-back and right midfield as well. He has also been capped with Brazil a handful of times. Capable of finding clever balls that split through the lines to set the forwards way but also raking passes to switch the play to the opposite flanks. Would certainly be an upgrade.

Has managed approx. a goal or assist every 5 games for Monaco. 22 in 118 games.

06 Jan 2026 10:14:26
Bit old Viv Anderson but probably still an improvement.

06 Jan 2026 12:39:34
Hahah love it Shropshire!

05 Jan 2026 21:04:31
Silver linings. Imo there are only 6 1st team players that are worth keeping at the football club and 4 of them are currently unavailable.

Although some decisions may not make a whole lot of sense, perhaps Moyes deserves a bit of slack.

06 Jan 2026 12:38:07
Absolutely mate he can only play with what’s available to him.

05 Jan 2026 20:42:47
Happy new year everyone. Just curious to who the fans here would like us to sign as a striker. Realistically. Ivan Tony for me, and definitely not strand larssan!

{Ed025's Note - its above my pay-grade Tomtom but hopefully someone who has a modicum of skill and an eye for a goal mate..

05 Jan 2026 21:15:00
That lad from Brentford!

05 Jan 2026 21:24:17
I am not sure we will do much in this window, are there any strikers out there that we available now? Maybe Solanke. Sour may be an easier club to deal with now and a loan signing might work.

Summer may offer more hope, if West Ham go down then we could go for Bowen. Mane at Wolves is one to look out for on Wednesday evenings, looks a real player, could be another decent signing if Wolves go down.

05 Jan 2026 23:06:46
He looks very good Swinners.

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.