AlbanyNYToffee

Loss to Arsenal has done absolutely nothing to lower my excitement for this season. I believe strongly RM has prioritized match fitness/sharpness over winning a completely meaningless Asia Trophy. I would rather see Kone look like the worst footballer in history, barry/cleverley/mccarthy struggle now than during the real season. We need everyone to be ready by August 8th which means everyone needs to be playing in preseason and that includes starting games.

August 8th cannot get here soon enough. COYB

The CB argument is pretty simple. Would you rather have Browning/Galloway step in or someone of Alcaraz's quality?

I could go either way but to pretend we could get a quality CB to come in with the understanding that they are 3rd choice at a "mid tier" PL club is madness. Complete madness.

Love it. Umbro went 2 for 2 in my opinion. Nike made some wretched kits, nice to see Umbro actually putting some thought into it.

I enjoy the transfer window as much as the next guy but i really dont like rumors for rumors sake. Martinez has gone on record multiple times in saying we will not be signing a goalkeeper. Can we please stop with gk rumors? Its all hear say and nothing will happen on the gk front.

Not sure i buy into all of this no. 10 talk. How in 365 days did we go from "Barkley England's greatest hope" to Everton "in desperate need of a no. 10".

Barkley needs to be first choice in that role August 8th. Period. If he gets hurt or truly isnt up to it Cleverley/Mirallas/Deulofeu can step in and do an ok job.

Few teams in the entire premier league have the midfield depth we have right now. DM Gibson, Barry, McCarthy, Besic AM Mirallas, Barkley, Osman, Pienaar, McGeady, Cleverley, Deulofeu.

Anyone with thoughts on Michu? Set the league on fire two years ago. One year remaining on his contract. RM obvious connection to Swansea. Could he solve our No 10 problems for relatively cheap?

It's not like we don't know him already...If he was able to produce anything consistently (other than frustration) he would not be coming here.

 

Besides, he's great in youtube and highlight videos but he doesn't track back and even in the videos you can see he's a black hole with a decision making problem.

Spot on. Good purchase for 3mil but not a player I can see getting behind as a fan. All potential and no effort/results is incredibly frustrating.

Deulofeu got me thinking about our transfer record in recent years. Curious on people's thoughts. Here is a list of noteworthy signings/sales since 2010:

I miss the days of Arteta, Cahill, Neville, prime Pienaar, prime Osman, prime Distin. Seems like a trend of buying too young and too old. Where's that sweet spot of buying 25-27 yr old established first team player. Gibson and McGeady were swings and misses.

He's being sold for 3mil because Barca realize he just doesnt cut it. Incredibly talented and incredibly non-existent too often. 25 PL appearances for Everton 3 goals. Not worth it for a prima donna.

I will never forget the 3-3 draw vs liverpool. NEVER. Everyone sang his praises because he was such a threat. He also selfishly shot from no angle on 3 different instances when he had a simple square ball to the penalty spot where other everton players were waiting wide open to slot home. Check the tape he cost us that game. One of my favorites of all time.

City (H), Sunderland (A), Chelsea (A)

How do you gather that Everton have "no" money? Where has this been quoted? Or, from what figures are you drawing this conclusion?

 

I've been under the assumption that we have a fairly decent kitty for the summer, since we have significantly paid down some of our debts and have the TV money coming in. I think the number thrown around has been somewhere in the £20-30m range. I can't be sure though. But, I certainly haven't read anything about this being a sell-to-buy summer. So, where are you getting this dire view of things from?

Sorry nothing quoted and i dont mean to make it sound dire. I just laugh when i see Everton linked with players whose value is far too high for the club. By "sell to buy" what i really meant was to make a big splash (i.e. need to sell Mirallas). I see 3/4 signings in the 5-10mil range. If we want to replace some of our aging/poor players thats where it becomes sell to buy essentially.

In other words we have funds for 3/4 new players as is but if we want to replace some of Barry, McGeady, Pienaar, Osman then we have to sell Mirallas to get the funds.

Late to party here and didnt have time to read through whole thread so forgive me if im repeating others.

RM has said 3-4 additions. That also means 3-4 leaving.

Everton have "no" money, its a sell to buy summer for the most part.

RM also said GK and ST very unlikely to change. Whether you are on team Joel or team Howard the fact remains having both of them is a luxury. No way a GK is added with such limited funds. Same argument (sort of) for Lukaku. He struggles yes but he has to be the starter in 4231 formation so RM wont shell out $$$ for another ST.

So, in my opinion, and im trying to be realistic based off RM comments the summer will look like this:

OUT: Distin, Atsu, Lennon, Alcaraz, Garbutt

IN: CB, CAM, LM, RM

Dont think we agree a fee for Lennon and Garbutt off to promoted squad. Starting Galloway last two games tells me everything i need to know about that situation.

Removing Hibbert, Pienaar and Osman clears wages yes but there are no transfer funds to replace those players. Two very different pots of money. They stay and contribute as best they can.

I would like to see Mirallas and Barry sold. Mirallas' value will continue to decline unless he signs an extension. Barry can be valuable for recently promoted club. Similar to cambiasso at leicester. If they are sold i could see the number of new signings shift from 3/4 to 5/6 which would be great.

Always reserve judgement on kits until i see it on the field/television in game action. Must say i absolutely love it. Best home kit since 08-09 (umbros last under old contract before switching to le coq)

I hope the training range is a hint that away kit is orange. Always loved the color.

Howard
Coleman Stones/Alcaraz jags baines

Atsu McCarthy Barry Mirallas

Lukaku Naismith

QPR 0 - 2 Everton

Lukaku

Everton 2 - 0 Newcastle

Lennon

Prediction:

Howard

Coleman Stones Jags Baines

McCarthy Barry Besic

Naismith Mirallas

Lukaku

Hoping for:

Robles

Coleman Stones Jags Baines

McCarthy Barry

Naismith Barkley Mirallas

Lukaku

I supported RM for a very long time but something must give and im afraid its time to let the axe fall. He wont get us out of this. Its up to the players but I dont think they know what they are supposed to do. Thats a management issue. I want RM gone

Thing i miss most is the passion. Plain and simple. I became an everton fan because they "did more with less". They did that by sacrifcing their bodies week in and week out for each other and the fans. That has totally evaporated. That i miss more than anything.

At this point i blame the players for nothing. RM is solely to blame for this. He doesnt put our players in their best positions and as a result doesnt put the team in a position to win.

McCarthy is our attacking center mid. Complete joke.

Naismith needs to play centrally either in 9 or 10 role. Not as one of these 2 weird wanna be wingers spots.

Lukaku might as well be in another postal code. He has absolutely 0 support.

Coleman and Garbutt overworked because they have no support in front of them.

Natural positions = good results. It really is not that hard.

http://www.evertonfc.com/news/2015/03/04/kyiv-away-leg-ticket-information

Closing part of the stadium?

Our three upcoming matches are

 

Stoke

Newcastle

QPR

 

I would love to be salivating like a junkyard dog at these, but at this point, I don't know if we'll win any of them.

 

If we come away with four points after this trio, I'd consider it a positive result.

 

I keep waiting for things to turn around. But maybe if I stop hoping, the pain will subside.

 

My Minnesota Wild hockey team is on fire, so I've got that going for me. Which is nice.

Spot on. QPR is a 6 pointer

Overall record this year: 11-14-14

Domestic record: 6-12-13

Europa League record: 5-2-1

The only thing saving most people from cliff jumping is the Europa League. Here's how i define the season assuming of course our premier league form continues but we dont get relegated:

Eliminated from EL in R16: Disaster/Nightmare

Eliminated from EL in Quarters: Horrendous

Eliminated from EL in Semis: Really bad

Lose final: Needs improvement

Win final: Absolute cloud nine. I will be piss drunk in the local viewing pub singing non-sense.

There's too much risk in how the EL plays out...

Overused description but it fits so nicely for RM. He truly is an insane human being.

Definition: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result

Fielding the same squad and using the same tactics over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over v and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over v and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over v and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over v and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over v and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over v and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over v and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again! Perhaps he can manage from the asylum.

No, will revisit my answer on Christmas 2015.