Shy_Talk

 

I really don't get the extreme reaction - other than passion overriding logic. We didn't play horrendous football: we played entertaining football. We weren't even close to being relegated, we reached two cup semifinals, and played in Europe. Martinez' downfall was a lack of focus on defence leading to an inability to hold on to a lead. This led to clear discouragement, the players losing heart and confidence in the manager, and the fans doing the same. Let's not pretend we had two years of horrendous football near the relegation zone, because it's just not true.

 

Yes, it's possible to have rose-coloured spectacles, but it's also possible to have shit-coloured specs, and that's what I'm seeing here.

This millenias biggest crock of shit goes too....

Snideo (snide-oh) and Schneids (snides), + daffy and take a lookman. Whats not to like (besides ransoming a club like west brom)

Pour me one muck. (slang for mucker)

Selfishly, its best southampton dont make the final because in some far out way 7th can get a euro spot still, right?

the shyte were poor tonight and saints should have been further ahead, difficult to pick the ref or comms for most biased on the night, Redmond gets a double hat trick against us on tonights chances.

shyte vs manure final would be great for so many reasons....

"Oh that!" haha.

It's all on the weight.

Time gentlemen please...

Bertrand likes that 5 or 6 iron up the line doesn't he, very measured and a good route out.

Bellew will not win this fight. Unless there is a miracle (injury to Haye)

Going toe-to-toe?

We need a big lump to hoof the ball up to, and it'll mean Lukaku can find a much smaller defender to work away from.

Wonder if the recent addition(s) might signal his eventual move up to Celtic. We've made do with blooding Davies recently in his prolonged absence, he continues to pick country before club, and it would bookend the former regime if he, Robles and Kone were shipped out wholesale to underline just how amateur and fraudulent the manager that relegated them at Wigan was.

Granted, fresh legs and options from the bench would be markedly welcomed, but we wont get a fee for Barry, Davies is ours to run the rule over, I've just pointed out elsewhere that theres Barkley to fit in, so McCarthy seems a viable option to allow to be sold to recoup a few quid.

What a difference a day makes.

Theres some pressure on Ross now, it looks like Schneiderlin is as good as done, and theres increasing stories that Belfodil is very close to following him in. (lets say all things being equal, injuries not taken into account, simply first team choices...)

Stekelenberg

Coleman Jagielka Williams Baines

Lennon Schneiderlin Gueye Bolasie

Belfodil Lukaku

Simply put, where does Barkley fit in? Change it up to something more recent...

Stek

Holgate Williams Mori

Coleman Baines

Schneiderlin Barkley Gueye

Belfodil Lukaku

So Niasse seems Hull-bound, McGeady is Prestons (problem), we have Deulofeu (possible loan out option), Lennon, Mirallas, and Bolasie (knacked till 2018) I mean, could it be that we finally get a big unit target man in and suddenly find we aren't playing with a recognised wideman/winger? (or is a winger like Deul rotated in for Barkley??)

So thats it then, money on the draw.

Good luck to him and Hull, he kept working in the under 23's and it must be that or one hellof an agent thats got him a move for regular games. Can't fault his attitude, especially in light of some pretty shoddy treatment from his new boss, think the locker stuff is very naughty if true.

Sadly a relic from a time in our history that is thankfully now past.

Theres two missing as well, Bale and Walcott (spurs & arsenal).

Don't need a CB older than Williams coming in, we have three senior international CB's on the books as is.

This story is interesting because of how Fonte has fallen out at Saints - is it because his CB partners keep moving on for pastures new and fatter wallets? or were certain promises made that haven't been followed up.

I can't look at his name and not think 'Daffodil'

Same, gotta be nicknamed Daffy even if he doesn't play for us. Pic above lends a bit to him being 6'3.5'' unless its a barthez sized GK.

On 4th january, Standard Liège activated an option in his contract to keep him until june 2018.

A week too late, for that alone i'd swerve him. And what message does considering offers for him by his club send to him. Shambles.

That was January 2012 (was the game that guy cuffed himself to the park end goal posts pregame)

Howard

Hibbert Heitinga Neville Baines

Donovan Gibson Fellaini Drenthe

Cahill

Stracqualursi

That is some side right there....

The last midfielder we signed from them got the winner at Goodison with his debut goal, vs city.

awful pic quality, but very handy comms.

Ishak Belfodil linked apparently, now, call me nuts (please) but if this chap only signed a seasons deal in August with Liege why would we be considering a £9million bid? Surely we could just do a pre contract agreement, he'd suddenly aggrivate a back injury and we'd settle a small compo claim with Liege to release him early.

Besides the glaring issue with a 24 year old only being offered a seasons worth of initial contract, and the history of clubs he's already been at, that his wiki page says 6'3.5'' tall suggests about 6'1'' so not the stature i'm expecting of our target man.

Gomez, Ronald, the german striker, only 31 and available mate, superior record of scoring too (heavens knows the assists)

 

So you want us to play three holding midfielders? I don't get what you mean.

Schneiderlin is an obvious replacement for Barry.

 

I know the last four years haven't been great, but that doesn't make me expect to see us lining up with three players in there sitting. I've also not seen us commiting lots of men forward under Koeman, we did under Martinez but not at all under Koeman.

No not 3 DM's more a situation like if a luxury like Deulofeu is played on one wing that someone who will work back everytime operates on the opposite side, a la Lennon. It's this quality that I think saw us get Bolasie, that he's much bigger than your average winger and so offered us an outball not usually associated with a winger.

Its the capacity upfield to do something different, Pienaar was a revelation because he was a two footer with loads of football brains, short sharp passes and and understanding of exploiting space, its heartbreaking knowing Baines will never look the same without him. (and vice versa)

Looking at Koemans Saints side, he got goals from wide players, one in particular, and his side beat teams in a variety of ways, I'm hoping theres a lot of total football coming our way and that it is all based on a solid base of defence and a shored up midfield, hard to beat first then lots of options going forwards.

Mario Gomez please Ron, 31 is no age and hes available.

 

If he was then I would buy him.

 

Lets get some "real clarity" on Naismith - if his name was Stefano Naisarrelli from Naples then opinion would be far different.

 

The lad was absolutely brilliant for us in so many ways. A fantastic one on one finisher, intelligent player, remarkable in the air for a lad of 5ft 9, and he got stuck in.

 

Unfortunately wasn't the most athletically gifted or technically great. He lacked power in his shooting and I think 2 knee injuries took his best away from him. He knew what he needed to do but sometimes couldn't pull it off.

 

One of my favourite players of recent years for his attitude alone.

Indeed, and quite adept at the dark arts on pitch. Happy to throw a crunch in, wind up someone on a yellow card, buy a freekick, and remind the snides in the opponents ranks that they kick Ross or Gerard that he'll happy kick them and get away with it. Always gave his upmost, did so with a smile, and active in his own right with charity in the community. Proud he was a blue. Still a toffee at heart.

Haye or Bellew then ladies and gents?

 

Haye for me, as soon as he lands his first proper punch Bellew will be on his arse looking at the stars.

Depends on the weight, so many years out and not much in terms of comeback fights (opponents) it's no Haye gimme, Bellew I believe is naturally heavier, Haye only two years older, if it's a brawl it's evens, if Haye sticks & moves then he should be too slippery, but Bellew turns up near a stone heavier and wraps Haye up in a corner it could be a bit nasty.

Yep. Definitely. I like his style. He's got the real athletic look. Just a shame his Dad got involved as soon as he started tasting some success.

Boxers struggle to stay away, and the more success they've tasted the bigger the draw back to the limelight. Its actually quite sad in a lot of cases.

So, moving forwards, as a support it would be really helpful to the new regime to give them all a bit of margin to work in, demanding/expecting signings is a little rich, we are going through a healing process and that process hurts and hurts for every minute of it, and its no overnight fix.

On one hand things could be a lot lot worse, some early season luck and a flash or two of form somehow have been topped up and we're somehow seventh though a distance from endangering the top 6. On the other hand things could be a lot better, we've been damned unlucky with injuries, and in Bolasie's case a very severe injury, the goalkeeper fix hasn't worked out but perhaps we might shuffle a few that never play out of the door to make room for some performers, regular performers, regular performers that can play a bit. Oh yes.

So far as the fraud goes, although he might have had good intentions his beligerent and stubborn sticking to a losing formula and calling it out as amazing is almost like some sitcom pisstake, but it actually was happening to us, in real life, as the seasons came and went, and things went bad to worse. An awful man, an awful liar, and the worst manager in the history of Everton fc.

Koeman has turned up to take on a big job, has coughed up some quite remarkably honest home truths, he's trying to get something out of a shell of a squad, but he's no miracle worker, we plod on for the remainder of the season and let him find his feet. He and the players we've supported previously deserve the chance to put right all the wrongs of the recent past, out of the ashes and into/onto something new. Theres reason off the pitch for some optimism, I strongly suspect we'll get a couple of Koeman/Walsh players in this January, so long as we get Gueye back safe and well as well as, then we consolidate this season and start to setup proper into the summer.

I hope the direction and style of play improve enough for Koeman to keep Lukaku on board, because as a really high quality finisher he could get 30 league goals a season for us. We'll struggle to improve if we lose/can't keep the better parts of the squad that we have, we have a core of fairly young players and with a bit of guile and character and no small extra skill we can be a side to be taken seriously again.

Everyone needs to sit down....

 

The Guardian are reporting that the fee agreed with Hull to make the deal permanent is £10million! And it's them paying us £10million, not the other way round .

If thats right then I can't wait to find out what the contract stipulations are that he must achieve to make the move, find life on Jupiter with his own two hands, negotiate world peace in his dinner hour, singlehandedly carry them all the way to the FA cup final....