Zoo 2.0

I'm being deadly serious, I'd take off Davies now.

We're losing the midfield battle, Davies and Gomes not having starts to write home about. Keane too is looking really sloppy at the back and being carried by Mason at the moment. Hopefully we can get a grip in the next 15 minutes as I wouldn't fancy trying to break these down with a 1-0 advantage.

Daniel Farke has already stressed that this is a ''must-win'' game for them, the last time I looked they were seven points from safety so they really can't afford to drop points. Keeping things tight and frustrating them is the way to go here, the more it stays at 0-0 the more they will force the ball. Counter-attacking with a front four of Bernard, Iwobi and the two strikers should hopefully see us have some joy. It'd be nice to put the game to bed in the first half so that we can rotate and rest legs, I'd obviously take a simple 1-0 win but against what is factually the worst team in the division I'm hoping for some fun. As much as I agree, hopefully this is a chance for him to prove himself before the transfer window opens. If we could get back what we paid for him on what I've seen so far, I'd happily let him move on to another club. Great how we're lining up in an orange kit, always thought that yellow clashed with blue...

Throughout the upcoming transfer windows, I agree with Marcel Brands that we should be looking to bring in 2-3 players maximum however hypothetically speaking, which of the below players would you actually want to keep at Everton? The amount of deadwood has been famously lingering for a while now, so there's probably a ton from the Koeman/Walsh era that could be shifted. Perhaps this is the summer that we finally clear the decks, and can move forward over the next coming windows by adding genuine quality? Stay (18) Pickford, Holgate, Baines, Keane, Richarlison, DCL, Sigurdsson, Digne, Mina, Bernard, Gomes, Coleman, Kean, Branthwaite, Virginia, Baningime, Adeniran, Gordon Bin (9) Delph, Walcott, Tosun, Iwobi, Sidibe, Stekelenburg, Niasse, Martina, Besic Undecided (2): Gbamin, Davies Again, hypothetically speaking, 18 players is a decent squad size to start the summer with. With Jonjoe Kenny coming back from Schalke (who I'd use in rotation with Coleman) we'd have 19, meaning 4 signings would make up the 23 man squad - assuming we don't promote anyone from the Academy (Bowler/Gibson perhaps?). I'm undecided about whether I'd be open to offers for Davies (I really don't know if he's ever going to be at the standard we need) or Gbamin (the biggest glass statue I've ever seen) so they could if need be added to the 19 to make 21, before new signings. It'll be interesting to hear everyone's thoughts..

Don't you live down South?

Yeah, all confirmed. It's a chunky wage off our bill that simply wasn't going to be used enough to be justifiable. I don't think Morgan deserved the amount of criticism that seemed to come his way, but he was never going to be an integral part of our plans for the future. He will do well in Nice.

I'd be seriously pissed off if we don't take anything less than three points here, they're absolutely shite. Out of their depth in the Premier League and not good enough to be causing us problems (you'd hope). I agree with @markjazzbassist, same team as it was tonight against Liverpool. Keep it nice and tight as they're bound to leave gaps at the back, they're desperate for wins (draws won't do anything for them) so they'll be getting forward in numbers. DCL and Charlie on the counter attack should be the key to winning this. Kean getting some game time (hopefully around 60 minutes) would be nice too. Let's get him back on the scoresheet.

The key to winning this is getting at Dejan Lovren, he's way off the pace and not dealing with Charlie at all. I'd be backing a substitution for Kean/Bernard to get some fresh legs at him, either of those two chances could have been easier with a yard or two extra - plus why that second chance wasn't squared to Iwobi is beyond me, it would have been 1-0 on a golden plate. Davies should have buried his chance too, hitting the post ironically summing up his performance this afternoon. Not terrible, but not enough. Love the fight in Seamus though, a proper captain and someone who gets that little bit extra out of those around him.

I'd take Davies off at HT, he's a mistake waiting to happen. Dallying too much on the ball and always taking that extra touch which against a high pressing side we can't afford. His forward play has been off the pace too, just a bit of a mish-mash performance that is likely to end in tears. I'd drop Sigurdsson in there, keep him and Gomes deep and let Gordon attack them as the link. Hopefully Kean and Bernard's fresh legs will be the difference, give them the last 30 minutes after the water break.

Ball retention has split the sides thus far, Liverpool have more players that can put their foot on the ball than we have. They've had possession for long periods in this game, knocking it back and forth whereas we seem to be trying to get it into DCL and Charlie as quick as possible which is just recycling possession to them. It's a good tactic with quality midfield players, but so far Davies and Gordon look off the pace so offering very little going forward. Overall, it's not a terrible start though. Neither side have really looked like scoring, with the best of the chance of the game going to Richarlison who kissed the post. If we can just control the midfield a bit better, as that's what is killing our chances at the moment then we'll be in for a very positive second half. Of course that is banking that we go in at 0-0 as Liverpool seem to be warming up second gear - Firmino should really have hit the target there.

I've stopped watching Sky Sports News for that very reason, like most I'm working from home at the moment and it's Liverpool TV 24/7. You've got Souness, Redknapp, Barnes, Carragher, Thompson, Murphy and Fowler on an irritating Kopite merry-go-round. They took a break from the Premier League one time to head up to Scotland but obviously their contact for that was Steven Gerrard. The amount of bias towards the red side of the city is simply astounding and even when it's a completely non-Liverpool related topic they manage to turn it around. The discussion around the restart/scrapping of League One and Two was turned into a Kopite discussion as the chairman of Wycombe (I believe) turned out to be a boyhood Red and obviously got asked about ''that night in Istanbul'' and how great it'd be to see them win the league. Haha, that is true. Mane's 90th minute winner off the post was the worst - although my first derby was Lee Carsley's 1-0 winner, which seems like forever ago now.

Besic would have made it here, and would have been a great player. His injury in Wayne Rooney's testimonial was at the worst time, and he never bounced back from it. Koeman had used him quite a lot that summer (and trialled him as an attacking midfielder as opposed to deep) and I'm sure that he would have been part of the first XI throughout that campaign. He would still do very well for a team in the bottom half of the table, an Aston Villa or a West Ham. He would provide better cover than Delph IMO, but to be honest I can't speak volumes on Fabien's positives. It was a questionable signing from the start for me and it's little surprise that he's not had the major impact people hoped. I'd sell both Mo and Delph, using the money to bring in a player of substantial quality and improve what is a wafer thin midfield. Only Sigurdsson, Gomes and Davies stay for me (and only André walks into a top club).

The whole buzz of a derby weekend is that one side (usually Liverpool) will have the bragging rights from what happens. At the moment even if we win, they're about to secure their long awaited title so it's a win/win for them. Add to that the whole 'Project Restart', which I didn't like from the beginning has meant that for me personally, there isn't much buzz around football altogether. My attitude towards these games are that they are glorified friendlies, in an extended pre-season before we can start the real football again for 2020/21. As a season ticket holder too, the feeling of watching Everton at home from my own home rather than the stadium is deflating to say the least. Normal for the fans that watch their games through a stream, but a real kick in the teeth for the matchday supporter - the sooner we are allowed back in grounds (safely of course) the better.

Yeah, they have. Their owner is an English billionaire who owned INEOS, and their plan is to rival PSG now that the owners of AS Monaco have dramatically reduced their funding. To be honest, injuries aside Morgan would be a great player for a Ligue 1 side (outside of Paris) so not a terrible deal considering they'll only really need to pay his wages.

Looks like Morgan's leaving, apparently the fee was rumoured to be around £7m, but has been reduced to £1.8m (plus add ons).

This is a one time in a hundred when you'd be all over a player that's 35. Someone who has captained the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Kylian Mbappe, David Beckham, Neymar. You just can't put a price on experience like that, especially as he will be for one in a position that we need to strengthen and two alongside Mason Holgate, for whom he would be a fantastic mentor. Not to mention that his leadership skills would work wonders for the South Americans in the team (Bernard, Mina, Charlie). He's not exactly a bad player either, won it all domestically for PSG and held his own with a marquee squad around him - we would do a lot worse, and there's plenty of interest.

Apparently he was playing foot-tennis when the injury occured, although it's only what I've seen on Twitter. I think the game against Palace (or Watford, can't remember) will be the last we see of him. He was injury prone at Mainz and we took a gamble on him, looks as though it's backfired massively. The worry for me is that he looked completely off the pace in the two games that he did feature in so he will only have gone backward after around 18 months of no football. I just can't see this being the romantic story everyone hopes it'll be - he won't play for us again, and it's £25m down the toilet. Wouldn't be surprised if we mutually agreed to terminate his contract and he goes back to mid-table/second tier German football. Can only wish him well, and hope that his mental health doesn't suffer after what has been a horrendous injury period.

I've said since they were announced that sleeve sponsors should be charity based. Football clubs didn't have this revenue stream three or four years ago, so they won't suddenly miss it now. I know it contradicts my last post, but if all 20 Premier League clubs would agree to a charity-based sleeve (NHS, Cancer Research, NSPCC etc) then it'd be a great achievement and some much needed positivity for the Premier League as a whole.

I'm in the camp that couldn't care less what the main/sleeve sponsors are, so long as they pay the most amount of money. The reported figure for Angry Birds was £3m, so anything over that would be a step in the right direction. For what it's worth, Angry Birds was as purely text generated logo, so much better than some of the more "notable" sponsors out there. USM next, please.

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Happy Birthday @StevO

I read it when he was managing Bayern, just because he's a fantastic manager, who has been there and done some of the most magnificent things in football. It's a different book in the sense that after each chapter, there are 3-4 pages on Carlo written by a player that he has managed; Zlatan Ibrahimovic, John Terry, Andrea Pirlo. The amount of names that adore and respect him speaks volumes for his presence in the game. I can't recommend his book enough, it was a great read when he was managing in Germany and will be even better now he's at Goodison.

Riccardo thought that he could take Renault from the midfield and develop them into a top three team all on his own - romantic, but not practically possible. His move to McLaren (the team he turned down when moving from Red Bull) is an interesting one as they'll have Mercedes engines and are surely the front runner to challenge the Red Bull's and Ferrari's. It does feel to me as though he has gone all around the houses to get back to where he was originally, but I understand that a change of scenery mixed with being Max's wingman was what pushed him out of the door. Sainz has also been confirmed for Ferrari in the past few minutes, I'm not convinced that he will be the #2 driver as everyone thinks. Charles is the poster boy because of his amazing speed, but Carlos for me is one of the fastest guys out of the main teams, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he was able to equal or better what Leclerc does. The final question is who fills the Renault seat for 2021? A romantic return for Fernando Alonso? An all French squad with Pierre Gasly or promote from within and give China it's first F1 driver in Zhou?

I really can't be arsed to debate with an obnoxious person like yourself, which is why I wasn't going to respond in the first place but saw you'd asked two questions so thought I'd give my thoughts. The roll on/roll off substitution statement was an extension of the point I was making about high-risk injuries coming as a result of players going from zero games to a tight schedule in such a short space of time, this has been raised by many players (most recently KDB and is rightfully being brought up in any discussions surrounding 'Project Restart'). The social distancing aspect of the post is all over the internet, in the article and doesn't take a genius to work out. A room filled with multiple people is no different to a pub or restaurant and as it hasn't been part of football since the sport began until 2018/19 it makes sense to temporarily suspend it. I hope this answers your questions sufficiently, however note that I'll be leaving this discussion here. It also doesn't take a genius to work out why this forum is so quiet (when others continue to prosper) when you have staff that interact on a daily basis in such a laughable manner to any opinions or post that differ from their own.