Matt Tiger

Stekelenberg

Holgate Jags Williams Baines

Gueye

Bolasie Deulodeu Barkley Mirallas

Lukaku

 

Would be into this. I figure we could go to one defensive mid here.

Like the look of that. With Williams in just Gueye at DM should be enough. If not, I'd replace Mirallas with McCarthy and put him as the second DM.

We dont have to spend mega millions on big names to be the best team in the league.

 

I know it was a different era but Peter Reid and Andy Gray were cheap as chips and considered a gamble at the time. They worked out ok didn't they?

 

Let 's just trust Moshiri, Walsh and Koeman to rebuild this Everton team - as I think they are very capable of doing so. I have more confidence in the financial and management capabilities of EFC now than I have had for a very long time. We need to learn to trust them again imho.

I don't disagree, but when management and board are touting some huge transfer kitty, and we wait to sell Stones to buy players, It'd be off putting to say the least if we also waited to sell Rom before splashing on another crop of players.

So much speculation and hyperbole in this thread; it's becoming worse than the red tops! Can't believe that Lukaku is called out when he talks to the press and is now called out when he doesn't as well!

 

Hope he goes now for his own sake, because he's in for a very rough ride from fans if he doesn't. Can't see it being worth him staying from his point of view - though he did start all of this himself, so possibly deserves most of it.

Not sure who you're referring to... I very much do not want him to leave, and will continue to pull for him while he's with us. The man scores goals - with our upgrades in both pace and (hopefully) delivery in I see no reason why we should get rid of him now. SHould see his goal output only increase.

I'll be a lot less thrilled with this window if we sell both stones and Lukaku for a total of ~110-120m and bring in zero top class players in return.

I know we had tons of depth and squad issues but with that return, plus the money we'd quoted as available regardless, you could fill the squad and drop some real cash on a star.

Would Sissoko be the replacement?

If you're moving Barkley deeper, then sure... Keep Gerry and Bolasie as the wingers.

Begovic could be a perfect stopgap for us... We get a temporary upgrade who can help us compete for a CL spot (may not get there, but back to competitive is what we need), but can wait to drop real transfer money until we are known for competing with the top 5 and can attract top talent.

 

yes, gibson is the barry replacement, both of them are slow but pass really well. besic and davies are the gueye replacements to tackle, intercept, and link up. cleverley is a body, i would like him and mccarthy sold. we are getting down to 3rd and 4th strings central mids, not sure why we need so many of those yet we have one RB.

Not trying to rely on Gibson for a damn thing... If anything could play more attacking, slide barkley deeper, and replace him with some proper creativity in the lineup.

 

yep that was before the transfer. here's an updated lineup

 

Stekelenberg

Holgate Jags Williams Baines

Gueye Barry

Gerry Barkley Bolasie

Lukaku

 

i think we'll go 4231 to have 4 attackers to break down the parked pulis bus.

Love this lineup.. Would like it even more if we could get a stud central attacking mid (or a stud winger and move Gerry there) and have Ross play deeper. Like, this player is a pipe dream, but if we could go something like:

Stekelenburg

Holgate Jags Williams Baines

Gueye Barkley

Bolasie Gerry Draxler

Lukaku

With Barkley having room to get a head full of steam and linking play between the defense and attack. Could be very dangerous.

I'd rather have Hart.

Rather have Begovic at ~10 then Hart at ~30, though.

But yes, I'd rather have Hart generally.

Weird that ppl on twitter going crazy at the likes of James and Isco btu ignoring Draxler... To me, he's the only one of the three that we have a chance at signing.

He's no where near Martyn's level for me.

 

I'm unsure tbh, top class keepers win you titles, but we need to be challenging before we can attract one.

De Gea, Lloris, Cech, and Courtois is the bar we should be setting. I doubt any of their clubs would swap them for Joe Hart.

Can we challenge with the level keeper we have now though? Our current crop of Keepers may be able to maintain, but they won't cinsistently get us additional points like Hart would (Saturday's saves aside which were fantastic.)

Someone help me out with quoting on the mobile? Don't see quote or quick quote anywhere...

I understand this, but why move for sissoko regardless? We have solid midfield depth imo opinion, with the midfield signing we need being an elite game changer / creative type.. I know on sissokos day he can change the course of a game, but I don't think there's much to separate him from what we have.

Ffs that'd be just downright rude don't do this to me then unveil sissoko

Odds have dropped dramatically today. We are 2/1 favourites to sign Sissoko from Newscastle after he has announced his intentions to leave the club

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/15/crystal-palace-target-moussa-sissoko-newcastle-yannick-bolasie-sale

This scenario makes whole lto more sense to me... Why target Sissoko when we have Bolasie already?

Personally I'd much rather Bolasie, so I also hope Guardian knows what they're talking about.

I think one of the key things Koeman wants in players is positional flexibility. He clearly likes to be flexible with his tactics and have his front line rotate around as well. So, rather than focusing on how a player fits into one particular formation, we should probably be considering how adaptable they are to different roles. If this is a player who can move around in a front three or four and who has a diverse skill set (it looks like he is that kind of player), then he's somebody we might really want to have around the squad, pushing all of our forward players for a spot in the XI.

Fair point.. He said as much in his quotes on Bolasie.

can play across the whole front line, but prefers RW. maybe koeman does see Gerry as a Forward and this is his RW replacement.

Could make sense... Maybe a 4-4-1-1 of sorts with Gerry playing centrally behind Rom and Ross moving a bit deeper?

Ehhh ok seeing these quotes it's hard not to get excited for this one... Think I'm changing heart and agreeing with others - this side and Koeman will give him a much better opportunity to utilize his skill set than he had at Palace.

5m per year in wages. Wow.

Yup, still not crazy about him at 22.5. But, once this is finalized I'll be pulling for him as much as anyone.

I think Newtys point is an obvious one, even in this market. I've got no issue with Bolasie, and if this goes through I'll pull for him of course. But at 25m-30m we should be getting more consistent class than he's showed.

Bolasie just isn't class imo. Fair if koeman is looking for a different style player but if so find one better than bolasie.

I still think we need someone with mata's creativity. Would be great with rom.

Play Barkley a bit deeper and take Barry / McCarthy off the pitch?

What bullshit? Have you even watched him play in the last few seasons? I very much doubt it.

 

He's quality, yes, but 35 million for someone who hasn't even been average in 3 seasons is daft.

To me I know mata is quality, world class creativity at times. And I know he was frequently played out of position and perhaps just didn't get on well at United. Sure it's a risk, but this is the type of player we don't get a crack at without some risk. We have the money, to me we have to do it. I think he'll show up consistently as the featured player.

37.5 million for a player that hasn't shown up for 3 season?

37.5m in this market to get someone with clear skill in the middle of his prime that can provide creativity we desperately need? What more are we waiting for? Maybe we should wait to see if De Bruyne favors a move?