AlbanyNYToffee

Record is West Brom with 34. Certainly hope you're right.

Wasn't sure exactly where to put this thought but here it goes. Spent a lot of time recently thinking about Goodison. Obviously no one wants to see us relegated it very well could lead to a disaster we can't even fathom. That said and considering how special the Old Lady is, I wonder if her last dance is meant to save us from oblivion. In other words she's largely responsible for getting us promoted back immediately and transform our fortunes as we enter the new stadium and premier league again with solid finances and hopefully, by then, a functional board. Again in no way am I suggesting I want to see this happen and I'm not a religious man at all but sometimes sport seems to have this feel of destiny about it and I'm thinking this might be hers.

22 points from 26 matches leaves us at 32.15 points after 38 matches. Shite away 1 (0) leeds home 3 (3) Villa home 3 (0) Arsenal away 0 (0) Forest away 1 (1) brentford home 1 chelsea away 0 Spurs home 0 utd away 0 fulham home 3 Palace away 1 Newcastle home 0 leicester away 1 Brighton away 0 city home 0 wolves away 1 bournemouth home 3 Original projected points: 36 points Current projected points: 32 points

I agree this was a must not lose. But by not winning it's also made Saturday a must win. We needed 4 pts from these two games. Six more home games this season - Brentford, Spurs, Fulham, Newcastle, City, Bournemouth. If we can't win away we sure as hell need to win at least 3 of those. Realistically 4.

Forest 0 - 1 Everton Mykolenko

Arsenal 0 - 0 Everton None

Back home. Another unforgettable visit to Goodison and my last. Will be back in Fall 2024 for the new stadium. Reading through this thread and unsurprisingly everyone's opinions are spot on with mine. The ref certainly didn't cost us the game but he was abysmal. Absolutely abysmal. He didn't even see the foul on Onana, I promise you and 38,000 other people can verify that as well. He booked him based on the player's reaction and was incredibly late in doing so. That really fucked us as Onana had to be careful for 80 minutes. We were by far the better side box to box but we will be relegated if DCL doesn't get fit soon. Points are earned inside the 18yrd boxes and we haven't got the goods in either at the moment. The balls into the box were plenty good enough and there were quite a few of them but Maupay was never going to win one. He is the most useless player I've seen in a long time. Anyways despite the result still had an amazing visit and like everyone here I will really miss the Old Lady. One of the last true proper football venues.

Everton 1 - 0 Villa Iwobi

Third voyage to Goodison for this one. I was sweating on Onana's fitness all week. Over the moon to get to see him in person. COYB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

21 points from 23 matches leaves us at 34.70 points after 38 matches. Shite away 1 (0) leeds home 3 (3) Villa home 3 Arsenal away 0 Forest away 1 brentford home 1 chelsea away 0 Spurs home 0 utd away 0 fulham home 3 Palace away 1 Newcastle home 0 leicester away 1 Brighton away 0 city home 0 wolves away 1 bournemouth home 3 Original projected points: 36 points Current projected points: 35 points

F***.

Everton 1 - 1 Leeds McNeil

Don't disagree at all, that's why I'm saying get Keane and Godfrey in there. Our offense depends on it. They can score goals (or at least win the initial cross) better than Seamus and Conor.

Denis Stracqualursi would suit me

Can't believe I'm saying any of this cuz it goes against everything I stand for but I feel now we've reached the point of not only using Godfrey as a full back but getting Keane back out there. Godfrey Keane Tark Myko. Our best chance at points moving forward rests on defending and attacking set pieces.

What feels like decades ago when we were comfortably mid-table with top 6 aspirations I was always beating the drum in terms of how many points we could pick up against the big 6. Now the opposite is true. We could have avoided the stress last year and this year if we just took care of business against the crap teams. 21-22: Southampton 15th - W 3-1 and L 2-0 ; Leeds 17th - D 2-2 and W 3-0; Burnley 18th - W 3-1 and L 3-2; Watford 19th - L 5-2 and D 0-0; Norwich 20th - W 2-0 and L 2-1. 14 points in 10 games. 4-2-4. 22-23: Wolves 15th - L 2-1; West Ham 16th - W 1-0 and L 2-0; Leeds 17th - D 1-1; Bournemouth 19th - L 3-0; Southampton 20th - W 2-1 and L 2-1. Absolutely horrid. This season we've played 7 games against teams 15th-20th and taken just 7 points. 2-1-4.

18 points from 22 matches leaves us at 31.09 points after 38 matches. Shite away 1 (0) leeds home 3 Villa home 3 Arsenal away 0 Forest away 1 brentford home 1 chelsea away 0 Spurs home 0 utd away 0 fulham home 3 Palace away 1 Newcastle home 0 leicester away 1 Brighton away 0 city home 0 wolves away 1 bournemouth home 3 Original projected points: 36 points Current projected points: 35 points

It's only February and there's obviously so much left to play for, but just the way my mind works I can't help but look ahead. Here's our squad depth at season's end: GK: Pickford JVirginia Fullbacks: Patterson Mykolenko Nkounkou CBs: Tarkowski Holgate Keane Godfrey Branthwaite CMs: Onana Doucoure Iwobi Gueye Garner Dele Gomes Gbamin Wingers: McNeil Gray ST: DCL Maupay Simms Out of contract: Begovic Lonergan Mina Coleman Coady Vinagre Davies Townsend

Reds 0 - 0 blues none

Swap Gray for DCL. Maupay can't do the job anyway so keep the structure we showed against Arsenal and work all week on countering down the channels with Gray's pace. Easier said than done mind you but can't see another way to do it with our crap up front.

Only 1 more point than predicted but the level of optimism has improved greatly. Certainly still in the woods but the tree line is in sight. 18 points so far from 21 matches leaves us at 32.57 points after 38 matches. Changed some predictions which leaves us at 36 points. Is that enough? I still think Forest and Palace could find themselves in the conversation with Leeds and West Ham also staying close to relegation. Wolves and Leicester look like separating into mid-table. Shite away 1 leeds home 3 Villa home 3 Forest away 1 brentford home 1 chelsea away 0 Spurs home 0 utd away 0 fulham home 3 Palace away 1 Newcastle home 0 leicester away 1 Brighton away 0 city home 0 wolves away 1 bournemouth home 3 arsenal away TBC 0

Putting a trip together for Villa. My brother is a Newcastle fan - anyone have a mate with access to Carabao Cup tickets? We'd be willing to pay well above the ticket price.

Everton 1 - 1 Arsenal Onana

Im grasping at straws now just looking for any glimmer of hope but I genuinely believe 4-4-2 suits our squad best. Our fullbacks are limited going forward. Our centerbacks can't play in space. Gueye is past it so he can sit deeper and disrupt. Onana wants to do more but often lacked space in the middle 3. Iwobi is versatile. Maupay is only successful when he has support. DCL could use some too since he hasn't been a threat in a year now. Pickford Coleman Pick 2 CBs Mykolenko Gray Onana Gana Iwobi Maupay DCL I would prefer Maupay never play again but at the very least this is giving him a chance to show what he can do despite all the obvious limitations in his game.

We have no control over the owner, board, DoF or manager. All we can do is look at what lies in front of us and want better. We all want better. January deadwood doesn't make us better. Everyone keeps pointing to all these teams that signed players but I'm not in any way convinced they've all improved. Bournemouth signed a bunch of fliers who have absolutely no experience in this league. Villa signed a LB from Spain to cover for Digne, that's it. Palace signed a midfielder who wasn't playing for Arsenal, wouldn't say they've strengthened in a big way. Fulham signed one guy from Italy and Arsenal's backup RB. Forest signed 7 more players I certainly wouldn't want in our starting XI. Southampton have certainly gone for it, credit to them but again right now we don't know that they've gotten better. West Ham signed Ings. Does that really scare anyone? Wolves, Leicester and Leeds have all done well, credit to them. I've always been fascinated by the idea that an active transfer window means you've strengthened. We've been active for 4 years and continually get worse. Perhaps we did ourselves a favor.