Keith B

When I'm not watching Everton, I follow Dortmund. I think Thomas Tuechel did a fine job with them and he seems to be very good about bringing young players along. I'm not sure he would be in for Everton, but as far as I know he's unemployed right now. I also agree with the David Wagner shout, even though he's very close friends with Klopp, he seems to get results better than his team's talent would justify.

As a slight aside, the Bundesliga is a very much more experimental league--the top level teams routinely hire guys in their late 20s-early 30s. Not all of them hit, obviously, but for a team like Everton, who isn't going to get a Pep, Ancelloti, or Mourinho, it might be a good strategy to hire a young-ish guy with a record of tactical innovation in the Bundesliga. 

It's early, but I've yet to see or understand how Gylfi, Rooney, Klassen, Schneiderlin, and Gueye can all be deployed together, effectively. It is, admittedly, a tough question because maybe they can't all play together. I trust Ronnie to figure it out and in any case, he makes 6M annually to solve the problem.

Everton 2 - 1 Spurs

Klassen

CIty 3 -1 Everton

Rooney

Because it's a symbol of slavery and pro slavery and for people who's relatives were enslaved it's a graphic reminder they'd like to not see anymore. Last time I checked there is a nazi museum in Germany and a couple small ones. Not a statue in the center of half of the major cities in the country.

 

In New Orleans there were 4 massive monuments in prominent city areas reminding black folks that state wanted them enslaved. Not a nice reminder matt

An additional point: Some of the monuments are relatively recent phenomenon--a lot of them weren't installed until the 1960s during the Civil Rights movement. These things weren't intended as historical markers, they were outright symbols of white domination and power installed to intimidate people of color. Case in point: there are a bunch of monuments in Arizona, which wasn't even a state during the Civil War.

Opposite of the type of player we should be trying to sign right now. Need pace and youth at striker to cover for Rooney.

Not bad.

 

I couldn't justify dropping Rooney, I think he is vital for the big games with his experience.

 

You just know he will put Martina in before Holgate even though Holgate is a much better all round player.

 

Would like be to see Lookman get a start and cause some damage with his direct running but I am skeptical of Koeman to even give him much game time.

 

Mirallas offers the square root of bugger all these days.

 

I suppose the only thing I would change from your line up is go with Rooney again over Mirallas.

Same for me. Rooney looked really good when he dropped a little deeper in the second half. Great vision and passing. I think Mirallas is a super sub at this point.

I would hope that we could rest Keane, Schneiderlin and Rooney and still win this. The City game will need them at 100%. Will be on Koeman to ensure guys are fresh. I hope he can do it.

Since our first minute goal, we've not been very good. Sort of like the entire preseason.

Everton 2- 2 Stoke

Sandro

Predicting a draw because we have drawn on opening day each of the last three seasons, at least.

RIP Bradley. He was an inspiration and brave fighter.

Everton 1 - 0 Chelsea

I think RK will go with 4 at the back. But this is a fascinating match for us. We wilted at Stamford Bridge. But we are much improved since then and really, really good at Goodison. There's a statement to be made here and I think our boys will be up for it. I'm not sure we'll win the match but I expect a much better showing than in November.

West Ham 0 - 2 Everton

Lukaku

Everton 5 - 0 Burnley

Baines

 

I really don't see how a striker of any quality can be expected to "boss" a game if he has zero service; what's he supposed to do? Go get the ball off Joel, dribble the length of the pitch and tap home a couple I guess, easy.

Just as a matter of interest (which I've not seen mentioned in here) what about the penalty we should've had first half. Summeriser on Sky, can't remember who it was, reckoned it was stonewall and they've certainly been given.

It's a fair point. He didn't have a lot of help, but I think he has to find a way to be more assertive in a match that isn't going his way. Even an average striker is going to be good when he gets good service. If he wants to be one of the best in the world, and I think he can be, he'll need to figure a way to impact the games like this one.

I thought Ron's starting lineup was largely driven by who was out injured. I can't criticize him too much for that as two absolute critical players were out (Coleman and Schneiderlin). That said, he probably should have made the change to a back four at half time as it was obvious that it wasn't working. I was disappointed that they boys played right into their hands--Liverpool makes its living by converting midfield turnovers into goals and the third goal was such a bad giveaway. Anytime an EPL player gets a clear run on goal from the center top of the box, it's going to go in.

Ross and Lukaku were the most disappointing players. For Rom, this is the match that you need to boss if you want to play in the Champions League. It always drives me crazy when players talk about wanting to play in the Champions League--like, you have some control over that no? Play your absolute best against the absolute best and you can qualify your team. I don't think Rom would tell you he was at his best today.

Ross looked like Ross under Roberto. Trying to hard, over dribbling and taking heavy touches--all of it was there today. That is the mark of a player wound too tightly. It's a balancing act for a manager. You've got to get the boys up to play but not too up. I hope this is just a blip for Ross. He's been really good in the back half of this campaign but today was a setback.

Lot's of blame to go around today but think--Mingolet makes the only save he's made all season and we had a soft turnover that led to the 3rd goal. It's wishful thinking but that the margin between 3-1 and 2-2. So maybe it's not as bad as it seemed. /grasps at straws

Liverpool 1-2 Everton

Barkley

Mega-huge match for our USMNT vs. Honduras this coming Friday. Apparently Fabian Johnson and Bobby Wood are both out, but the US should still have the depth to overcome. For me the lineup is

Howard

Cameron Brooks Gonzalez Beasley

Bradley

Nagbe Pulisic Bedoyha

Altidore Morris

4-1-3-2

I'd go with the same lineup as vs. Hull unless Morgan can't go. If that's the case, McCarthy slides into the lineup. Mirrallas is first off the bench if we need a goal. If not, Funes Mori and we go three at the back to protect the lead.

Professional job today. We struggled to break them down at times but I thought the boys were in control for most of the match. A couple of dumb individual errors that we'll need to clean up and let's hope that Morgan is healthy for the Derby.

Everton 4-0 Hull

Lukaku

Professional performance today. Thought Barkley was very good and Lukaku great. 3 points always has me flying high for the rest of the weekend.

Nice work by Kev on the goal.

Question for the American's. Do you think the system for football, in terms of having academies and the way transfers work, is a better way of doing things or do you think drafts and trading are better?

 

I must admit I find the American system a bit mad. Not so much the draft but the way trading works (if it works the same as in baseball where the club just tells a player they're going to another club and that's that).

Easy. The European system is far superior to our "system." The US development system is improving but it is still miles behind what works in Europe. There are all sorts of cultural issues at play. Among them: American insistence that everyone go to college; obsession with ensuring that billionaires don't lose money on an investment (which is the most significant obstacle to pro/rel in the US); existing professional sports models that rely on the NCAA system for development; and general resistance to anything labeled "European."