Sparks FC

Loan bid for Vermaelen. Subsequent loan offers made for 3 physios and a masseuse. I'm preparing myself by lowering expectations and forecasting to be bitterly disappointed come the 1st.

All depends on the overall league finishes. It was great when Martinez was all out attack and he we were pushing for 4th, not so when we were holding onto 11th and making Stoke look like Barca at home and hitting 4 past us. Koeman's first job was to swing the pendulum back to the point where we weren't conceding for fun against shit teams. He's done that, it's now his job to get us creating and scoring. Considering both our best attacking and creating outlets from last season (stats wise) are missing now, I'm prepared to give him some leeway, regardless of how much we've spent because of the 140 million or so we have spent, only 75 million of that is on attacking players. We've let 100 million or so of attacking players walk out the door in the same breath. Sometimes it never starts the way it's meant to finish, but I'm sure he has a vision and what we are seeing isn't the end game of that vision I'm sure.

Hate to see how we would fare defensively if Keane got injured. Personally a left sided defender is more important than even a centre forward considering we only have 1 recognised LB in the squad.

I'll give him more leeway with keepers as they typically aren't changed regularly like outfield players. Kenny has had 1 PL appearance from memory, and when he has played in pre-season hasn't been a significant step above anyone. Kenny needs games, but he'll be bought in like the other young players. Davies and DCL weren't starting every game when they came from the U23's either. Holgate started against City and I think Koeman will pick based on the RB role he wants - attacking with Martina or defensive with Holgate. Koeman has his faults, but picking his favourites hasn't been as bad as the last couple of managers we've had.

Yeah but I'm not in charge of the teamsheet. It was more a guess at what Koeman will put up than what I want. 3 at the back is the new false 9. We also had Stek, Cleverly, Funes Mori and Oviedo in that lineup to be fair.

Although his quality is obvious, I wonder how he would fit in with our squad, particularly someone like Rooney. I can't see him moving here on loan or otherwise though.

According to Koeman, Klaasen out this week and Sandro in doubt. Chelsea have been playing 3 at the back and a 4 or 5 man midfield for the past 2 games, so I can see us lining up with a pretty similar lineup from the City game. Pickford Williams Keane Jags Holgate Davies Gana Thor Baines Rooney DCL

Looks like he's off to Milan (bid accepted by Fiorentina). https://talksport.com/football/transfer-news-everton-miss-out-nikola-kalinic-ac-milan-agree-ps27m-deal-fiorentina-striker Options for a centre forward are dwindling.

Sign on name alone. Say Leander Dendonker 5 times quickly.

Yeah really want to see the tie effectively finished here with a truckload of goals. Goals conceded or a 1-0 win for us heaps pressure on the 2nd leg. Couple of bench players from last week starting, but the core should remain. Pickford Martina Keane Jags Baines Gana Davies Klaasen Rooney DCL Mirallas

Only thing better than watching this drag on is the Coutinho drama. According to FM, squad list for Europa qualifying rounds closes 2 days before the first leg, so we would need him in by Tuesday to get him on the list for the 2 Split games. Hopefully he's here by then.

Would he start over anyone else in a team who finished above us last season?

We paid the asking price for Keane and Pickford without argument. Both are good players with great potential, but Keane was on his last 12 months and Pickford was going to the Championship, if we wanted to drag them on for weeks we probably could have but it was more important (obviously) to get them done early than faffing around. While I don't want us to get dudded, at the same time we are playing 5 games in 15 days, 2 of those being against City and Chelsea away and wedging a trip to Croatia between them. The player hasn't played a minute of pre-season football. If we had wrapped this up weeks ago he could have been up to speed and gelling with the squad. The friendlies and Europa qualifiers showed our attack is probably the weakest area of the squad at the moment.

Last year of his contract, the club's hands are tied on wanting to keep him as it's reported he wants to go. It's less about the player and more about the contract and negotiating power. Only hope of collecting a fee close to 50m is a bidding war (if you believe the papers).

Arguably the most critical of Koeman's comments came at the end of 2016. From September through to December Ross had 2 assists to his name in the league and played pretty much started all those games bar 2. Mirallas had 1 assist, half the minutes. Bolassie had 4 and injured for the same period. He who shant be named had 3 (plus 10 goals). Couple from the rest of the squad, but yeah, he deserved to be asked the question. And each time, Koeman didn't treat him like Niasse, he was talking up his potential as being better than his current ability and performance in a lot of those pressers. Re: gilfi in Jan, what was Koeman supposed to do? not look at improving the squad to keep Ross happy? Koeman gets harsher on him, Ross dramatically improves in Jan / Feb. He needed the kick up the arse, and he performed better for it.

It's hard to swallow point 2, considering he's been offered a contract with a weekly rise of some amount, had his boyhood hero rejoin the club, the club is on an upward trajectory with new stadium plans and record expenditure with additional signings to take the pressure off. The fact we lured Rooney back is testament to that. Granted all that shows is that there obviously must be some major shit between him and Koeman, and he's staying silent to retain his bridges in case.

Would love to see him partnered up with a forward like Giroud and some additional pace on the right (assuming we get Gylfi). I'm not sold yet on him playing up front by himself.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/ross-barkley-must-take-less-10902409 Looking worse for Ross day by day. Not going to end well this one, I really hope we aren't carrying this over into the start of the season.

I think Koeman wants to avoid the drama. If Ross stays and runs down his contract, the media will be on it constantly. As it is its pissing me off and just want it sorted one way or the other. Koeman has basically come out and asked a club to put a bid in for him. Wouldn't be surprised if he goes for peanuts as we have no negotiation power whatsoever in this one. The 50 valuation is paper talk, we'll be lucky to get 25 at this rate. My biggest fear is he leaves us and becomes a worldie, and we shipped him off for a pittance. A pretty sad way it's turning out, can't help but feel this could have been avoided.

I'm in Australia and use Private Internet Access. Couple of dollars a month. Small footprint and easy configuration at the start, then simply select location and logon. For more #snowden, pay for it using a prepaid credit card paid for with cash. Missed watching us in Europe, even if it's a qualifier for Europa. Hope Rooney has a cracker.

I reckon (and I haven't looked at every single one) most of those young players on loan came from European clubs or an English team outside the prem. I can't think of very many players they have running through their "FFP loan farm" that were proven PL players (like Davies). I can't see Davies getting many minutes for Chelsea (just signed Bakayoko), and why would you leave us to play for an OS club on loan? So BS on the interest from me.

With Giroud under a cloud on Wenger's comment, wonder who Koeman and Walsh have as a backup option. I would still like to see a younger top draw centre forward come in, but thinking we're running out of time with who's available.

It's more of an opportunity considering todays market. Koeman has been using Besic as a centre half in the friendlies. Barry's contract runs down in a year. Dowell is more in competition with Klaasen and Ross. Schneiderlin, Matuidi and Klaasen as a midfield 3 (in a 4-3-3) would be a top engine room, with Davis, Gana and Ross/Dowell as very strong backup.

Checkin in (Although technically not of convict origin). Long time lurker blah blah. Following football for 25 years, Everton for a good 13 of those, basically since a young lad with Millwall decided to head North. That and the amount of unchecked Liverpool fans down here that need sorting from time to time. On topic, I think Rooney will turn a trick with us. I don't see him scoring 20+ in the league, but I think he will nab some very important goals for us and brings about the type of mentality in big games that we have sorely lacked in the past.