nyblue23

Can't see him playing tomorrow.

Who plays then? Back four of Oviedo, Jags, Browning, Coleman with precisely no one to cover if Stones isn't in the squad. Unless RM uses Barry to cover in which case... shit.

 

 

I don't know about this Call fella because Ive never seen him but Stones is light years ahead of Zouma and Terry is already looking like a spent force

Mourinho's ruthless. Would not be surprised if by the second half of the season, Terry and Cahill are out and Stones and Zouma are in.

Spurs 1 - 1 Everton

Lukaku

 

Definitely

 

We are in no position to be able to sell him now, even if we managed to bring in Mori and Evans/Van Dijk . Two have never kicked a ball in the Premiership and the other is permanently injured

 

I cant see Stones throwing a tantrum if we turn down his request and either way I would take an unhappy Stones over an injured Evans any day of the week

This. I'm shocked if the request was actually put in, especially because I'm sure Stones is well aware that that Martinez and Woods have both said there's no way we're selling now, Martinez going as far as to say that even if he puts in a transfer request he's still ours. Gutted that he would then test Everton's resilience by putting in a request anyway, but 100% we have to keep him until January at least. He'll still play, he'll still play well without the pressure of Chelsea, and we'll have 4 months to get in two replacements.

Yarmolenko is off to barca apparently.

This can't even be possible until January, no? I've only been an Everton fan (and soccer/football fan in general) for about 6 years in all honesty but I'm starting to feel the same kind of self-loathing and resentment towards everything that it seems only extremely seasoned fans are capable of feeling. The media will even make up horseshit that's not possible in order to squash us.

 

I'm just picturing my old man doing this and it's made my day.

 

Bernard no good at 82? That would make him in our top 3 or 4 players!

 

Yes I play a bit of FIFA myself...

Not top 3 or 4... that would make him equal to our best in Bainsey.

this for me

Thanks for the support, Matt.

If we do sign him (still hoping this is a false one and Paddock is right), he does seem to be a Harry Kane type from the videos. Not necessarily great on the ball or with a ton of skill, but all his goals look to be from good positioning or being in the right place at the right time; something neither Lukaku or Kone are great at. Seems to be a better finisher than Naismith who has the work rate but not much else. Granted they're highlight reals from a poor league, but I'm the slightest bit intrigued since nearly all of his goals come from that sort of situation.

what does it say? Link doesn't work for me

Allegedly said that Roma were hijacking the move but the tweet was already deleted from a third party.

He worked for the club and played for it. This will fall through, Roma are in for him.

I'm aware that he played for it but he doesn't work or play for it now. The twitter link disappeared no? and it was one Italian journo reporting. Everyone's saying Yarmolenko wants a move to the Prem... Roma are already pretty stacked with wingers and forwards. Doesn't make sense to me.

I just can't see us signing another striker. Martinez likes to keep faith in players and technically we're not really short in that area.

Looks like the striker is Leandro Rodriguez.

https://twitter.com/rhajidkhan/status/634790504115347456

How would Ronnie Goodlass know anything about it?

 

Out of left field that one. Eighteen goals in seventy-one games doesn't inspire too much excitement though.

Was going to make a comparison to Tevez' 26 goals in 75 appearances for Boca Juniors in his first stint and point to the fact that he actually has 17 in 64 for club, but I have a feeling the Argentinian Primera Division is a lot better than the Uruguyan equivalent.

Strange one. Hope he's not one of the three.

Everton 1 - 2 Man City

Mirallas

As much as I hate the term even as an investment he's a no brainer there's no attributes this lad doesn't have that will make him fall short over here apart from the mentality side of things (Di Maria)

I don't think that will be an issue either. Wanted to punch the guy in the face after the Europa league 2nd leg against us. Seems to have a pretty strong competitive drive unlike Di Maria.

Ha didn't even pay attention to the team.

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/au/news/transfer-rumours-league-targets-wilkshire-mariners-move-merseyside-striker

Must mean we're bringing in another striker???

I'm wasn't taking the piss out of a newcomer. If you don't understand the difference between different types of player that's fine mate, I'm not bothered. Call him a full back if you want.

Someone call the wahhhhhmbulance.

 

You're wrong mate, Pienaar isn't a natural winger like Mirallas, Geri, Lennon etc. wingers are quick and like to run the line, pienaar is deployed out left to link up with the full back when he's attacking, he's never going to roast a player and dance down the wing and whip a ball in he's going to link up play and offer support when the full back bombs on amongst other things.

Jesus. Is anyone even reading my posts before disagreeing? Not once did I dispute that Pienaar is a different type of player from those other names, nor did I say he was a natural winger. I said that he would get a start/has always gotten starts in place of one of them in Martinez' or Moyes' system, and so when talking about squad depth, you have to count him in the same group, which, as StevO alluded to, you can now count Cleverley among and apparently even Kone among as learned today. Clearly not the same players, but players that Martinez is willing to start out wide in his 4-2-3-1 formation.

 

StevO likes this.

I don't. I've enjoyed reading this forum for the past couple years but a few of you like taking the piss out of newcomers a bit too much. What I said was true and I was even defended by a couple of the less cynical of you. Wrong thread to discuss too much, but it was clear that I meant for depth in squad building, Pienaar should be defined as a winger as he will always be started in place of a Deulofeu/Mirallas/whoever else on the left side. Not too nice of two mods to continue their jabs in a totally separate thread.

Not gonna lie StevO.... sounds like semantics. There are different kinds of strikers, CBs... hell... even GK's. doesn't change the fact that Pienaar is a winger and will be started in place of wingers in Martinez's (or Moyes') sides when healthy.

As far as Cleverley... I certainly hope he's not a direct replacement for Pienaar. May be a bit stronger on the ball with the same workrate, but will never have the IQ or agility of Pienaar in my mind.

Thought he was decent at United but we simply don't need him

This. Oviedo/Galloway good enough cover for 2 months.

problem with Austin

Is he's got dodgy knees so to me at 15m he's a big gamble.

I can't find anything online about Austin missing any amount of time with knee injuries. Is this a known thing? He had a hamstring injury and a bruised foot that kept him out of a few matches but that's all I see.

Pienaar isn't a winger. He is also never fit.

Where does McGeady play then if he's not a winger?, may not have impressed in his time at Goodison but is a winger, and still at Everton unless Chelsea are buying him as their new team doctor.

Pienaar's never fit, but he hasn't been played anywhere but on the wing since Martinez came in and generally featured on the left wing under Moyes, too, no?

I was hoping by omitting McGeady I could wish him away. Really, I remembered him right after I pressed the post button but figured even with McGeady, the premise still stands. He's just not good enough for the first team.

I've supported this club for as long as I can remember, and that's along time indeed. I went missing in 1974 to 1979 to NZ and was completely out of touch with football in a rugby-mad country. I got the odd Football Echo from me Dad, but that was it. A couple of years back in Blighty and off to OZ since then.

The reason for the potted history is to let you know that my close attachment to the Blues has been marred by distance a couple of times so there are long periods where I had little idea of what was happening.

When I was in UK the blues were a team to be reckoned with, a team with a long and glorious history that counted for something, a team that other clubs looked up to, wanted to emulate, and had no trouble getting players. It seems that somewhere between 1980 and 1990 it all turned to shit. My old man, God rest his Evertonian soul reckoned it was all Mike Walker's fault. But I looked and found that most Everton managers have been middle of the road at best. In fact, Martinez has the best win % ratio of any manager. WTF?

However, this post is more concerned about how we have fared compared to others.

Some folk on here are horrified that a player would rather go to W. Ham or Stoke or, god forbid, Palace than come to us.

 

What went wrong somewhere (and why) that we have fallen so abysmally into the abyss that the likes of Swansea and Soton are considered better bets than Everton when it comes to signing contracts?

 

How do the supporters of other teams see us? Or am I just an old man locked in the past?

If the latter is true maybe I should just enjoy it.

 

You can find the stats on managers here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Everton_F.C._managers Odd reading!

Poor sample-size and non-updated Wikipedia article. Martinez's win percentage is actually 44.79 with Everton (43-25-28) with a (21-9-8) premier league record in his first season, meaning (22-16-20) in his second premier league + all other competitions (.379... not so good).

If we're to sell Stones, we have to spend this. Stones to Man U for £30m plus Evans who we can turn around in two years for the same cash once Holgate is ready. That leaves £20m to spend on a backup striker and #10.