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brisbaneblue

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brisbaneblue last won the day on September 9 2016

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    Tim Cahill
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    Brisbane
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    Australia

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  1. Would be surprised if he didn't tweak the midfield 3 and yank Tosun. Expecting something along the lines of this: Pickford Kenny Zouma Mina Digne Gueye Sigurdsson Bernard Walcott Richarlison Calvert-Lewin Bench: Stekelenburg, Holgate, Baines, Schneiderlin, Lookman, Niasse, Tosun Personally, I'd keep the faith with Tosun for one more match. The combination of Walcott, Tosun and Richarlison looked good up until Richarlison's red card.
  2. I thought letting Sandro go out on loan was a mistake. We've only got 2 natural wingers remaining in the squad outside of the starting XI and if Lookman leaves as well then we are down to just Bernard. It's going to pain me when Calvert-Lewin or Dowell inevitably gets subbed on as a winger at some point.
  3. I'd take Sandro as a winger over Dowell as a winger any day of the week. Can't bring any players in until January..
  4. It's maths - we don't have enough players to let Sandro or Lookman go. We only have 5 wingers in the senior squad now - Walcott, Richarlison, Lookman, Bernard and Sandro. In Silva's 4-3-3, we need 2 in the starting XI and 1 or 2 on the bench for every game, can't see how we'd survive until January with only 4 (if one of them goes) or 3 (if they both go) wingers in the entire squad. Richarlison is suspended for the next 3 and injuries are inevitable.
  5. I respect jags but I can't see him starting ahead of Mina, Holgate, Keane or Zouma when they are all fully fit, he turns 36 next week and I don't see them renewing his contract at the end of the season either. The Mina-Jags pairing might make sense if you're thinking of it as a youngster paired with an experienced head, but tactically they don't compliment each other - Mina is 6ft 5in and built solid, he's strong, slightly pacey with his extremely long legs over short distances when running forward but is particularly slow on the turn, he'd be better served pairing with a faster more mobile defender who can sweep behind when he challenges for headers or when we're caught on the counter. I'd be scared ever pairing the two.
  6. Holgate out for at least one more week, probably needs an additional one or two after that to get back to full fitness. Gomes most likely out until at least mid-Septmeber . Can't see Bernard, Mina or Zouma? starting so shortly after their arrivals. Haven't heard anything about Bernard's fitness given he hasn't trained with a club since May. Mina was still in Barcelona as of Thursday night so I don't imagine Silva would chuck him straight into the matchday squad by Saturday afternoon. Silva is going to play a 4-3-3 so I'd say the starting XI will be: Pickford Coleman Keane Jagielka Digne Gueye Schneiderlin Sigurdsson Walcott Tosun Richarlison Bench: Stekelenbeburg, Baines, Pennington, Davies, Lookman, Calvert-Lewin, Niasse I'd put on a £20 bet that this will be the last league game that Jagielka ever starts for Everton. Wolves were already far and away the best team in the Championship last season, they kept 24 clean sheets in 46 matches. Very well coached. Have been shocked by some of the players they have managed to sign. Moutinho, Jiminez and signing Jota permanently were are all class additions to a team that was already full of talented players. I can't see us dominating this game, and we might struggle defensively given that were going to have to put out the two weakest CB's we have. First game of the season is always a crapshoot so i'll fence sit and say draw.
  7. Squad Depth Happy to be corrected but based on pre-season and Silva's comments I'd say at this moment our squad depth looks something like this: GK: Pickford, Stekelenburg, Virginia RB: Coleman, Kenny, Holgate, Martina, Zouma?, Browning CB: Mina, Zouma?, Holgate, Keane, Jagielka, Pennington, Browning, Galloway LB: Digne, Baines, Galloway, Martina DM/CM: Gueye, Gomes, Schneiderlin, Davies, Besic, McCarthy, Dowell, Baningime, J. Williams RW: Walcott, Richarlison, Ramirez, Bernard, Bolasie, Calvert-Lewin, Vlasic ACM: Sigurdsson, Bernard, Vlasic, Dowell, Lookman LW: Richarlison, Lookman, Bernard, Bolasie, Sigurdsson, Vlasic ST: Tosun, Niasse, Calvert-Lewin, Ramirez Players to Leave: The squad is still way too big so i'd say there is probably going to be at least 6 outs. Probably Gone: Martina, Besic, Bolasie, Vlasic (Loan?), Galloway(Loan?), Pennington(Loan?), Browning(Loan?), J. Williams (Loan) Possibly Gone: Ramirez, Baningime (Loan), Dowell (Loan) We're going to need to keep one of Bolasie/Vlasic/Ramirez otherwise we will have no first team wingers outside of the matchday squad as you will see below. If Zouma's deal falls through I'd say we'd need to keep Pennington at the club as CB cover. Starting XI Silva has already said he'll play a 4-3-3 this season saying last month “Depending the profile of my No. 6, I can play one and two or I can play two and one behind the striker depending on the profile of our No. 6. If we play Schneiderlin, he is a player who likes to play more alone which gives more freedom to the other two midfielders and this is the system I use more”. I think Gomes will eventually be the No. 6 in this system, relegating Schneiderlin to the bench. With Gomes (or Schneiderlin) sitting behind Gylfi I think it's going to work more like a 4-2-3-1 in possession but then a 4-3-3 behind the ball and counter attacking. So I think our full strength starting XI will eventually look like this: Apart from the CB pairing, I think the rest of the starting XI picks itself. I'd be surprised if Mina is paired with Keane or Jagielka. Given his height, size and lack of pace I think Mina will need to be paired with a more mobile defender who can track back in counter attacks (in the same way that Mertesacker was always paired with Hummels or Friedrich for Germany or Koscielny for Arsenal) which will either be Zouma, the 9th fastest player in the premier league, or Holgate who also has an impressive recovery pace. Thoughts blues?
  8. Could not agree more. Some of the contracts signed this season have been questionable to say the least: - a 1 year extension for 36 year old Gareth Barry who plays in a position where we already have Gueye, Schneiderlin, Davies, McCarthy and Besic. - Matthew Pennington getting a new 2 year deal, when next season he's going to be 24 years old and probably the 7th choice CB. - Dominic Calvert-Lewin signing a new 5 year deal when he was already on a 4 year deal and hadn't really done anything too impressive since making his debut. - Seamus Coleman, who still had 2 years left on his deal, signing a new 5 year contract weeks after suffering a double leg break with no return date. - Kevin Mirallas getting this new 3 year deal after 2 consecutive underwhelming seasons. I can't see how any of these are even transfer market-minded contract renewals. I thought Steve Walsh would help us make better decisions in the transfer/contracts market but my fear is that we still don't have a capable board and management making these decisions. To transform the club, half of it has to be on the field and the other half has to be off it.
  9. A new keeper would be nice and we probably will buy one, but this should be like the 5th or 6th priority in terms of signings. Robles is a B to B+ keeper. Someone list me the occasions where we dropped points because of Robles this season? And then give me the list of the available A-quality goalkeepers who are realistic transfers? IMO if you want to increase efficiency in this squad, the priority of signings should look like this: 1. a quicker, ball-playing central defender to partner Williams 2. a quick tall target-man striker to either replace or supplement Lukaku 3. a right winger who can get 8+ goals and alleviate the goalscoring responsibilities 4. a creative attacking play maker to either replace or supplement Barkley 5. a new goalkeeper 6. a designated right back who has greater crossing accuracy than Mason Holgate 7. a backup left back
  10. Mirallas has been ineffectual as a sub this season so I don't know if I buy into the argument that he'll be a handy squad player next season. Valencia has looked much better coming off the bench than Mirallas, but I doubt he'll be signed permanently next season. Sample size is too small as Valencia has only started in 4 league games, but I think most people's opinion would be that Mirallas is a better player than Valencia - but IMO i'd rather have Valencia on the bench than Mirallas..
  11. Looking back at why we didn't crack the top 6 this year, it comes down to the 10 game stretch between Late-September and Mid-December where we dropped 23 points from an available 30: Bournemouth L 1-0 Crystal Palace D 0-0 Manchester City D 1-1 Burnley L 2-1 West Ham W 2-0 Chelsea L 5-0 Swansea D 1-1 Southampton L 1-0 Man U D 1-1 Watford L 3-2 Kevin Mirallas was poor in all 10 of those games, and especially so against Bournemouth, Swansea and Watford in particular. If you took the 11 most used players in the squad and averaged their performances over the course of the season, I'd say Mirallas would be last barring maybe Funes Mori. I think Mirallas falls into the Deulofeu category of player - high max, low mean..
  12. I don't even care that we've conceded two, this has been great to watch
  13. I can see us getting around 5 new players: one or two bargain buys from relegated teams such as Gylfi Sigurðsson or Jordan Pickford, two players around the £25-30m mark, like Virgil Van Dijk, Xherdan Shaqiri or similar, and then a couple of Steve Walsh gems. If Lukaku goes, then I can see us using that money on a couple of high-profile strikers, I think one will be Wayne Rooney and the other will be someone much younger but I'm struggling to come up with a name of one that's realistic..
  14. I think Galloway will have to go out on loan again if you don't leave that backup LB spot open for him. I think the same could go for Holgate and the backup RB position if we sign another CB and don't sell Funes Mori or Jags. I don't think Galloway and Holgate will be content being 4th and 5th choice CBs and 3rd choice fullbacks.. I've always thought it's better that your backup RB and LB's are equally adept at playing CB as it means you can have an extra attacking player on the bench and also it means that those players get more opportunities - Oviedo and Hibbert would go for months at a time without a minute of first team action and then would suddenly be thrust into the start XI.
  15. The hamstring injury where he missed 6 months between July 2016 and January 2017 is the only major one, but somebody please correct me if I am wrong. He started 4 games last season (in which we conceded 9 goals while he was on the pitch), he's got another two games this season so far and with Williams suspended he'll probably start against Leicester. I think by the end of the season I could say he's had enough chances - I mean guys like Ryan Ledson and Shkodran Mustafi didn't even get a single minute in the premier league before we let them go. I think Kenny and Foulds deserve a chance more than Pennington
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