AlbanyNYToffee

Where the fuck do you start... 
From where I'm sat we're a big standard midtable squad. As Bailey says, we can't even put out a first XI of genuine top 10 Premiership players. It's the kind of squad which, if things started to slide, you could easily see us getting dragged into a relegation battle. 
I'd be gutted if we only make one or two signings in the summer. But I also understand another summer of huge upheaval would be dangerous, and besides, there doesn't seem to be any more cash forthcoming. I think Brands first job will be clearing all the crap on loan, trying to recoup what he can for the likes of Schneiderlin and Bolasie and getting them off the wage bill. 
I think we have to focus on the spine of the team. Kenny deserves a chance at RB and can at least do a job until Jan or summer 2020. We're overloaded with wingers/forwards without having a main striker, especially if Vlasic gets rehabilitated and we finally sort Onyekuru's visa. So I'd be looking:
CB: Pass on Zouma and go all out for a real leader in there, potential captain material. I don't like Keane and Mina could yet prove another huge mistake, but I think with a proper organiser and Holgate/one of the U23 CBs who are getting good reviews as back up we'd see an improvement. 
CM: I'd take up the Gomes option as I do think he's a very good footballer, just been inconsistent. I like him but I'd take the PSG money for Gana if it's still there, then reinvest it into more of an all rounder, someone physical and mobile who can still pass. Ideally I'd sign a third CM as I think we're really weak there but I doubt there'd be money for that. 
CF: Well that's the easiest one, we just need a proper goalscorer. I still think DCL is good enough as back up, but I'd sell Tosun and reinvest in a cheaper, younger prospect. 
If money was an issue I'd consider selling Walcott to fund the above. I also think the elephant in the room is Sigurdsson, he's too much of a luxury player for our needs right now and doesn't seem to fit any system other than the old fashioned 4-4-2 Iceland play (OK he did well at Swansea too but they built a team around letting him play). If we could get £30m+ for him from Germany or somewhere I'd consider selling. But that's maybe one for a future transfer window. Realistically, I don't see the full turn around of this squad to be complete until August 2020.

26 mil for a 29 yr old midfielder who relies on his athleticism is outstanding business. If this happens I’ll miss him though. 

I actually thought we played alright in the second half bar those bloody set pieces. We still fail to shoot and we still pick silly passes when easy passes are available but at least there was some urgency. 
Their second goal is a bit unlucky. The freekick was soft anyway and then we win the header but the breaks dont go our way and that happens. That 3rd goal is another fucking travesty. People will blame Silva but like the first goal, all that needs is the players on the pitch to be aggressive and have that desire to go and win the ball in the air. They all know whats coming, just get your fucking head on it. It was just pathetic. They should have been climbing over each other to win the ball but instead Coleman is getting bullied around y their players to win the ball whilst ours sit and watch. 
I honestly dont know what the answer is anymore. The manager doesnt matter. The good players are soft and the ones that do give a shit arent good enough. 

We often ridicule players who want to leave, it's only fair to say kudos to Yannick for wanting to fight for his place here. His mindset shows alot about his character, frankly that's something some our current first XI could learn from. 

We often ridicule players who want to leave, it's only fair to say kudos to Yannick for wanting to fight for his place here. His mindset shows alot about his character, frankly that's something some our current first XI could learn from. 

We often ridicule players who want to leave, it's only fair to say kudos to Yannick for wanting to fight for his place here. His mindset shows alot about his character, frankly that's something some our current first XI could learn from. 

We can't go back it wouldn't work. But what we could really do with at the moment is Moyes's ability to pick the right characters to build a team out of. We've become a spineless team. 

I wish our problems were as easy as the team sheet though. The whole mentality of the team is so fragile. There is a distinctive lack of leadership, composure, fight, I could go on. 
And we think of ourselves as a better than than Watford, West Ham, Bournemouth etc. We're not, were not even on par because we're not a team, and we haven't been since Moyes left.

Richarlison is basically doing what Haf accuses Rom did, only without the goals 

Same XI as Bournemouth.
Too often guilty of hyperbole and this is impossible to prove but I really feel this game can define our season - or at least January and February. Win at Southampton and the sustained momentum carries over to Millwall which carries over to the now manager-less Huddersfield. Then you're in or close to 7th with Wolves, Watford and an FA 5th round tie before Man City visits. We could be rolling.
I always come back to this - it's the hope that kills you...

Same XI as Bournemouth.
Too often guilty of hyperbole and this is impossible to prove but I really feel this game can define our season - or at least January and February. Win at Southampton and the sustained momentum carries over to Millwall which carries over to the now manager-less Huddersfield. Then you're in or close to 7th with Wolves, Watford and an FA 5th round tie before Man City visits. We could be rolling.
I always come back to this - it's the hope that kills you...

Same XI as Bournemouth.
Too often guilty of hyperbole and this is impossible to prove but I really feel this game can define our season - or at least January and February. Win at Southampton and the sustained momentum carries over to Millwall which carries over to the now manager-less Huddersfield. Then you're in or close to 7th with Wolves, Watford and an FA 5th round tie before Man City visits. We could be rolling.
I always come back to this - it's the hope that kills you...

Séamus and Cahill.
Tim is the reason I chose this club. Not Howard, McBride, Moore, Donovan or Preki.

No problem Steve, delays the embarrassment for some of us.😊.    Good opportunity to thank you again for your efforts.  I am confident that I speak for all contributors.

Can we change the title to 18-19 FA Cup so it can live on with other draws/news?
Ball 7 tonight. Just want to be drawn at home don't care if that means we get one of the big boys. 

We are what we are: A mid-table side that is about as far away from the Champions League as we are from relegation. This is an opportunity to invest in process, not players. We absolutely shouldn't buy in-their-prime players in January. There are very few of those players that would actually lift Everton into the top six and even fewer that want to play for Everton and fewer still that we can actually afford. The ones that are for sale will demand exorbitant fees. The bottom line is that Everton is not in position to buy in prime players as a way to make it into the top 6. 
We can, however, invest in youth development and youth talent identification. We have very few players that have come from the Academy...off the top of my head DCL, Davies, and Kenny. All three of those are too young to make final judgments on, but they don't look (to me) to be Champions League quality players. Our academy has to improve. Further, club leadership needs to have a pathway/plan for the club. Are you confident that Moshiri/Kenwright  have a vision for how to lift us into the UCL? I sure don't...so far Moshiri's plan has been to buy in-prime players and hope for the best. It is hard to say how much of that is on the previous coaches and directors of football but the owners are the accountable parties for vision and club culture. Maybe Brands and Silva have taken steps in that direction--it is hard for me to tell from where I sit. 
The bottom line is that we are not going to be able to compete with the same strategies as nation state supported clubs and plutocrat owned clubs like Manchester City and Chelsea. But even worse, I'm not sure Everton has a strategy to compete with those teams at all. Not even a bad one. A well run club doesn't buy Cenk Tosuns and Omaur Niasses in January. (And I like both of those players more than most people.) In neither case were we a striker away from the UCL or relegation. 
That's why I think we stick with Silva and Brands. The purchases we made this summer were much more savvy than in previous years. You'd hope though, that those purchases would be a reason why you'd expect to beat Leicester City at home. We didn't do that (and haven't beaten Newcastle and Watford at home either), which is disappointing but it shouldn't lead us to panic and bring in an overpriced and mediocre striker this January. 
 

Virginia
kenny jags Mina baines 
davies McCarthy beni 
lookman tosun dcl 
agree on holgate being unavailable. Put some kids on the bench - sambou, Hornby, adeniran 

Well that was shit. Gana and Richarlison didn't justify coming back into the team. Tactically what's the point in Gana if you have a 3 centre halves on, and why would you swap Richarlison in for DCL to go against big centre halves? 

i was stating to get rid of all of them IF we don't have europa because we don't need a large squad.  honestly i would prefer no europa, it seems to derail all our managers recently in their second season.  i'd prefer to focus on a cup win next year and league form.
yeah i kept adding players to go and kept thinking they will think i'm crazy for getting rid of all of these but honestly we could lose them all and it wouldn't make a difference at all.  we have a massively unbalanced and bloated squad that needs revamping.  brands is doing the Lord's work.

Last point...never easy giving up 6 at home but I would so much rather do that (occasionally  ) than watch what we went through last year. I have never been more discouraged in 15 years as an Everton fan than i was just 6-8 months ago. We will never be top 4 if we don't try to play against them. Trying to go toe-to-toe with the big boys also helps us play better football, and take more points, off the lower teams. It's not happening yet and we shouldn't expect it to! This is a slow build. We lost 6-2 at home and we are still miles and miles ahead of where we were just in May. Patience is difficult, I screamed multiple obscenities yesterday I'm not proud about, but I see a team being constructed carefully and thoughtfully. That's where the bar is now thanks to Koeman and Sam. 

Notes from yesterday:
Richarlison is completely anonymous when needed most. That needs to be fixed more than any other weakness in the squad. 
Yes Davies had a bad game. He was put in a no-win situation. Davies is a younger, far worse Gomes. As folks have said knife through butter with those two centrally. Say what you want about Gana, I happen to like him alot, but if we're committed to Gomes we need to be committed to Gana, or a player with a similar skill set. 
Sigurdsson's work rate is absolutely spectacular. I cannot remember a player who works as hard as he does in that role. Makes me want to watch the game while on a treadmill.
Spurs clearly the more clinical team but I do wonder what happens if DCL makes it 2 and Pickford stays on his line so Zouma can very easily head it back to him. Never a foul on DCL and Pickford had an absolute nightmare in the first half. Unsettled the back line for the rest of the day.
Said this last week as well. I love Seamus more than any other player in a blue shirt currently. I would love to see him on the bench every week.
Do we go to Mina and Zouma from here? Keane won every single aerial challenge over Kane. Not sure if CB's can be blamed despite shipping 6. 
Most discouraging was having to watch Schneiderlin make another appearance. Gutless loser should never be allowed to play for the club.
 
 

Last point...never easy giving up 6 at home but I would so much rather do that (occasionally  ) than watch what we went through last year. I have never been more discouraged in 15 years as an Everton fan than i was just 6-8 months ago. We will never be top 4 if we don't try to play against them. Trying to go toe-to-toe with the big boys also helps us play better football, and take more points, off the lower teams. It's not happening yet and we shouldn't expect it to! This is a slow build. We lost 6-2 at home and we are still miles and miles ahead of where we were just in May. Patience is difficult, I screamed multiple obscenities yesterday I'm not proud about, but I see a team being constructed carefully and thoughtfully. That's where the bar is now thanks to Koeman and Sam. 

Last point...never easy giving up 6 at home but I would so much rather do that (occasionally  ) than watch what we went through last year. I have never been more discouraged in 15 years as an Everton fan than i was just 6-8 months ago. We will never be top 4 if we don't try to play against them. Trying to go toe-to-toe with the big boys also helps us play better football, and take more points, off the lower teams. It's not happening yet and we shouldn't expect it to! This is a slow build. We lost 6-2 at home and we are still miles and miles ahead of where we were just in May. Patience is difficult, I screamed multiple obscenities yesterday I'm not proud about, but I see a team being constructed carefully and thoughtfully. That's where the bar is now thanks to Koeman and Sam. 

Notes from yesterday:
Richarlison is completely anonymous when needed most. That needs to be fixed more than any other weakness in the squad. 
Yes Davies had a bad game. He was put in a no-win situation. Davies is a younger, far worse Gomes. As folks have said knife through butter with those two centrally. Say what you want about Gana, I happen to like him alot, but if we're committed to Gomes we need to be committed to Gana, or a player with a similar skill set. 
Sigurdsson's work rate is absolutely spectacular. I cannot remember a player who works as hard as he does in that role. Makes me want to watch the game while on a treadmill.
Spurs clearly the more clinical team but I do wonder what happens if DCL makes it 2 and Pickford stays on his line so Zouma can very easily head it back to him. Never a foul on DCL and Pickford had an absolute nightmare in the first half. Unsettled the back line for the rest of the day.
Said this last week as well. I love Seamus more than any other player in a blue shirt currently. I would love to see him on the bench every week.
Do we go to Mina and Zouma from here? Keane won every single aerial challenge over Kane. Not sure if CB's can be blamed despite shipping 6. 
Most discouraging was having to watch Schneiderlin make another appearance. Gutless loser should never be allowed to play for the club.
 
 

Last point...never easy giving up 6 at home but I would so much rather do that (occasionally  ) than watch what we went through last year. I have never been more discouraged in 15 years as an Everton fan than i was just 6-8 months ago. We will never be top 4 if we don't try to play against them. Trying to go toe-to-toe with the big boys also helps us play better football, and take more points, off the lower teams. It's not happening yet and we shouldn't expect it to! This is a slow build. We lost 6-2 at home and we are still miles and miles ahead of where we were just in May. Patience is difficult, I screamed multiple obscenities yesterday I'm not proud about, but I see a team being constructed carefully and thoughtfully. That's where the bar is now thanks to Koeman and Sam.