Zoo 2.0

An identity - Let's face it, we don't have one at the moment. Out of the players out on the pitch which ones scream ''Everton'' to you? I could probably count on one hand the players that I could convince myself would put everything on the line for the shirt. I'm not tarring everyone with the same brush and saying that we have a team full of mercenaries but I don't think we have that identity and togetherness that we had in the Moyes era. At the moment we are just another modern football club, pissing money into the wind hoping our number comes up. I want us to spend money wisely, invest in the right people and have an identity again both off and on the pitch.  A new manager - I don't hate Sam as much as others do but I agree 110% that he isn'tt the man to take this club forward, isn'tt the man that should be managing us next season and shouldn't be given a penny to spend in the transfer market. He deserves a lot of credit for steering us away from the relegation battle we found ourselves heading towards (because under Koeman and Unsworth we looked worse than Swansea and West Brom's U21's at times) so I'd like us to start 2018/19 with a new manager. Someone who is going to get bums off seats, someone who is going to get the Gwladys Street singing and someone who is going to bring back a feel-good atmosphere at Goodison Park.  Half-time pints in a proper glass - A man can dream!

An identity - Let's face it, we don't have one at the moment. Out of the players out on the pitch which ones scream ''Everton'' to you? I could probably count on one hand the players that I could convince myself would put everything on the line for the shirt. I'm not tarring everyone with the same brush and saying that we have a team full of mercenaries but I don't think we have that identity and togetherness that we had in the Moyes era. At the moment we are just another modern football club, pissing money into the wind hoping our number comes up. I want us to spend money wisely, invest in the right people and have an identity again both off and on the pitch.  A new manager - I don't hate Sam as much as others do but I agree 110% that he isn'tt the man to take this club forward, isn'tt the man that should be managing us next season and shouldn't be given a penny to spend in the transfer market. He deserves a lot of credit for steering us away from the relegation battle we found ourselves heading towards (because under Koeman and Unsworth we looked worse than Swansea and West Brom's U21's at times) so I'd like us to start 2018/19 with a new manager. Someone who is going to get bums off seats, someone who is going to get the Gwladys Street singing and someone who is going to bring back a feel-good atmosphere at Goodison Park.  Half-time pints in a proper glass - A man can dream!

An identity - Let's face it, we don't have one at the moment. Out of the players out on the pitch which ones scream ''Everton'' to you? I could probably count on one hand the players that I could convince myself would put everything on the line for the shirt. I'm not tarring everyone with the same brush and saying that we have a team full of mercenaries but I don't think we have that identity and togetherness that we had in the Moyes era. At the moment we are just another modern football club, pissing money into the wind hoping our number comes up. I want us to spend money wisely, invest in the right people and have an identity again both off and on the pitch.  A new manager - I don't hate Sam as much as others do but I agree 110% that he isn'tt the man to take this club forward, isn'tt the man that should be managing us next season and shouldn't be given a penny to spend in the transfer market. He deserves a lot of credit for steering us away from the relegation battle we found ourselves heading towards (because under Koeman and Unsworth we looked worse than Swansea and West Brom's U21's at times) so I'd like us to start 2018/19 with a new manager. Someone who is going to get bums off seats, someone who is going to get the Gwladys Street singing and someone who is going to bring back a feel-good atmosphere at Goodison Park.  Half-time pints in a proper glass - A man can dream!

Getafe were in talks with Joel Robles last summer and a deal was only pulled off the table as they couldn't agree on personal terms. Getafe's current goalkeeper, Vincente Guaita is set to become a free agent himself and is being linked to Crystal Palace and Atletico Madrid as an understudy to Jan Oblak. As a result, I'd expect Joel to probably wind back up in his homeland with Getafe, with a deal coming to fruition now that he doesn't have a transfer fee tied to him (and because Guaita is off the wage bill). 
Jagielka I can see staying, but only for another year with a view to taking up a coaching role. When a defence contains the absolute calamity that is Ashley Williams keeping Phil is an absolute must however that does hang in the balance when you consider we have no idea who is going to be managing next season. Will they go for youth? Will they stick with the old guard? I'd like to think I haven't seen Phil in an Everton shirt for the last time but who knows. 
Conor Grant I don't know enough about but he's been around long enough to make a big impact and clearly hasn't. He must be 21/22/23 now and this is the age where special talents are already getting 15/20 first team games a season. I'd expect him to be on the released list and wind up at a League One/Two outfit.

No, not unless it's between him and Sam.

People were abusing Allardyce and calling for his head from the Gwladys and I’m sure elsewhere too. Stupid really - yes it’s ugly but he’s come in and taken us from 18th to 9th (with a few points cushion) in a very short period of time. I dread to think where we may have been without the upturn in form on the back of Sam’s appointment. I don’t think any Evertonian sees Allardyce as a long term appointment - he came because Fonseca or Silva or whoever wasn’t available - I, like many, think Sam will be gone by May having met the brief of steadying a sinking ship.
I have not enjoyed the tactics of late but I’m a lot happier looking at the top half of the table and speculating about how/when we’ll catch/pass Burnley and Leicester rather than looking at how many points we are off bottom.
Basically, 2017 was a year of many missed opportunities and some very poor management at all levels at EFC - if anything it reaffirms how far behind the ‘top 6’ we are in all areas on and off the pitch.

Like the signing of Danny Drinkwater in the summer this is merely to bump up the numbers to fill Chelsea's ''home-grown'' quota. He's not going to break into their first-team and after 18 months of being bored and crying will link back up with David Moyes at West Ham (you heard it here first). 
I'm not really arsed in a way, I think he's always been given a free-ride because of the fact that he's come from the Academy. If he'd been signed from some Dutch club he would have been shipped out years ago. Despite having some potential and popping up some some magic every now and then he's 24 now and hasn't exactly set the world alight. If he thinks that he's going to join a Champions League club and stand shoulder to shoulder with Eden Hazard and Alvaro Morata then he's more deluded than Garth Crooks after a crate of Absinthe. 
I normally wish our ex-players well but I hope Ross falls flat on his arse. I understand that he wants to move to try and further his career but backing out of a Chelsea transfer at the eleventh hour to then sit on our injury table for six months and then move to Chelsea anyway is just as sly as it comes. He's no better than Fabian Delph committing his future to Aston Villa and declaring his love for them as captain only to turn around and leave 48 hours later. 
You won't be missed Ross, the next Lampard my arse.
It's totally spineless. Hopefully this changes the illusion that Koeman fell out with him and proves that Ross was being an arse from the start. He's had this planned for months (even years) and had no intentions of ever playing for us again. 
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Like the signing of Danny Drinkwater in the summer this is merely to bump up the numbers to fill Chelsea's ''home-grown'' quota. He's not going to break into their first-team and after 18 months of being bored and crying will link back up with David Moyes at West Ham (you heard it here first). 
I'm not really arsed in a way, I think he's always been given a free-ride because of the fact that he's come from the Academy. If he'd been signed from some Dutch club he would have been shipped out years ago. Despite having some potential and popping up some some magic every now and then he's 24 now and hasn't exactly set the world alight. If he thinks that he's going to join a Champions League club and stand shoulder to shoulder with Eden Hazard and Alvaro Morata then he's more deluded than Garth Crooks after a crate of Absinthe. 
I normally wish our ex-players well but I hope Ross falls flat on his arse. I understand that he wants to move to try and further his career but backing out of a Chelsea transfer at the eleventh hour to then sit on our injury table for six months and then move to Chelsea anyway is just as sly as it comes. He's no better than Fabian Delph committing his future to Aston Villa and declaring his love for them as captain only to turn around and leave 48 hours later. 
You won't be missed Ross, the next Lampard my arse.
It's totally spineless. Hopefully this changes the illusion that Koeman fell out with him and proves that Ross was being an arse from the start. He's had this planned for months (even years) and had no intentions of ever playing for us again. 
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I bought him for Everton in FIFA LMAO

Happy New Year (and a belated Merry Christmas!) to everyone involved in ToffeeTalk. I have been in and out of this place since my school days (which seem further away than I'd like to admit !) and it's nice to see that the same faces that were knocking around then are still here today. Let's hope that 2018 is a happy and prosperous year for you all and with it Everton follow a similar path, COYB!
Hope 2017 is an enjoyable time for you mate, any tips on who might replace Obama ?

Shut it.

Hurts to say, but at this point my local club can beat Everton wherever they meet. And I'm from Bulgaria.

And who signed Vlasic you tool?

And who signed Vlasic you tool?

Shades of Bournemouth for me, we started OK but concede after yet another calamity from Ashley Williams who's becoming a bigger car crash as the weeks go by. To concede like that 12 minutes into the game shatters confidence and that's exactly why we've had yet another disappointing half of football. Everyone on here knows my stance on Koeman so I'm not going to repeat myself but he seriously needs to have a look at Williams. Having a weak link as big as that in the side could literally cost him his job, if we don't win tonight and then suffer dropped points against Burnley and Brighton then he might well be out of the door.
He was rimming Lukaku 13 seconds into the game so it was to be expected. 
Are you a professional misery or is this just some kind of hobby?

A mature and knowledgeable answer I see. 
If ''any fucker'' could look good around players in that team then why was Andre Gomes being put in the shop window this summer in a desperate attempt to get rid? Why was Jeremy Mathieu sold after coming in just a few seasons previously? Why was Cristian Tello shipped out on loan and then sold this summer to Real Betis? The reason is because they wasn't good enough for the squad and as a result got sold. In other words, not just anybody can go to the Camp Nou and succeed like you've naively suggested, not to mention that Paulinho has been something of a talking point in Catalunya at the moment as he's totally reinvented himself from the flop that everyone saw at Tottenham, he's been a key cog in the Barca machine and has won them points on his own, most notably at Getafe when he bagged the winner.
What am I bothering for though, you clearly watch enough La Liga football to know that anyone could look good in Barcelona and Real Madrid. The mind boggles as to why they bother having a scouting department .

A mature and knowledgeable answer I see. 
If ''any fucker'' could look good around players in that team then why was Andre Gomes being put in the shop window this summer in a desperate attempt to get rid? Why was Jeremy Mathieu sold after coming in just a few seasons previously? Why was Cristian Tello shipped out on loan and then sold this summer to Real Betis? The reason is because they wasn't good enough for the squad and as a result got sold. In other words, not just anybody can go to the Camp Nou and succeed like you've naively suggested, not to mention that Paulinho has been something of a talking point in Catalunya at the moment as he's totally reinvented himself from the flop that everyone saw at Tottenham, he's been a key cog in the Barca machine and has won them points on his own, most notably at Getafe when he bagged the winner.
What am I bothering for though, you clearly watch enough La Liga football to know that anyone could look good in Barcelona and Real Madrid. The mind boggles as to why they bother having a scouting department .

Glad I'm not the only one, I really do struggle to support Everton at times and stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the wooden spoons that follow our club.
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The friendly against Wexford Youth ''B'' Team was dominance to say the least .
We'll be five games into the season, there will be 33 left to go. Plenty of time to turn things around and I'll be very surprised if we're anywhere near a relegation scenario. Like I said in my earlier post, we've played all the hard games so in theory we're now playing the teams that are below us so we should make up ground. I'll only be worried if we start to drop points against the Burnley's and Brighton's of this world, losing to Manchester United this afternoon shouldn't ring alarm bells to people about going down. 

Anyone thinking that we should sack Koeman needs to give their heads a wobble. I'm not saying that he should get a free pass but we knew when the fixtures were released that it was going to be a hard start to the season so it's mind blowing how some people are now calling for Ronald's head now that we're dropping points. I'll admit that the second half of Spurs and the first against Atalanta were a disgrace but are we really going to pull the trigger on the boss because of 90 minutes of football?! We're Everton Football Club, I grew up believing that this club was about loyalty and honour, we kept David Moyes for 11 years and he didn't do half bad. Even though Roberto Martinez turned into an absolute car-crash of a manager we gave him a few years to at least try and turn things around. 
We'll struggle to get a result this afternoon but from there we play Bournemouth, Burnley and Brighton with APOEL in-between. If we lose all of those then by all means start emailing Moshiri but until then let's keep a lid on it and get behind the team. We signed a full squad in the summer and it's going to take time for this project to come to light, do we really want to become another Crystal Palace who sack managers after 40 minutes in the job? 
This post isn't directed at anyone on here for the record too, it's more aimed at the idiots on social media that make this club look like a laughing stock.

good to have you back Zoo

A mature and knowledgeable answer I see. 
If ''any fucker'' could look good around players in that team then why was Andre Gomes being put in the shop window this summer in a desperate attempt to get rid? Why was Jeremy Mathieu sold after coming in just a few seasons previously? Why was Cristian Tello shipped out on loan and then sold this summer to Real Betis? The reason is because they wasn't good enough for the squad and as a result got sold. In other words, not just anybody can go to the Camp Nou and succeed like you've naively suggested, not to mention that Paulinho has been something of a talking point in Catalunya at the moment as he's totally reinvented himself from the flop that everyone saw at Tottenham, he's been a key cog in the Barca machine and has won them points on his own, most notably at Getafe when he bagged the winner.
What am I bothering for though, you clearly watch enough La Liga football to know that anyone could look good in Barcelona and Real Madrid. The mind boggles as to why they bother having a scouting department .

People are forgetting about the summer Gylfi had, for those that are in the forgetful camp he didn't get one. He was exiled from the Swansea squad for most (if not all) of their pre-season games and was then thrown into the mix as soon as he signed for us against Manchester City. I know that he's not tore the league apart but then again who would in an Everton side that has had it's confidence shot to pieces after massive defeats against Chelsea, Tottenham, Atalanta and Manchester United? 
Just like Koeman, the lad needs time. He's not had a pre-season and has had to adapt to a new team and a new way of playing against the league's best sides in a time of turmoil. If he's still anonymous come January then by all means get on the lad's back but to do it just a month after he's signed it absolutely ridiculous. 
You could say the same about Paulhino though and look where he is now. Scoring winning goals for FC Barcelona in La Liga alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez. 

I thought that the Bournemouth goal came at a bad time and as a result what ruined what could have been a good performance from us. I thought that we actually looked decent in the first half and whilst we didn't cause Begovic too much trouble you could see that we were growing into the game and looked the more likely of the two teams to break the dead-lock. Fast-forward three minutes into the second half and Joshua King has pulled the visitors ahead and we hit the panic button. You could see the cracks from the past few league games creep into the side and from there it turned into something of a nightmare. Kudos to Koeman (who is still being bashed despite us winning) for changing things around and bringing on Davies and Niasse who totally changed the game, without those two changes being made I do believe that we'd have lost.
Once we got the first it was only a matter of time until we got the second and let's not forget that we would have had another had the ball not been cleared off the line when the score was at 1-1. Once we got that first goal we were a totally different team and had we played like that for 90 minutes would have won considerably and comfortably, I just hope that we take this run of wins as a confidence boost and play Burnley off the park in a week's time. We've got the quality to make things happen, it's just a case of things clicking into place and us catching that big break.
Jordan Pickford I thought did well, he smothered the long balls that were thrown his way when Bournemouth were behind and denied Jermaine Defoe from close range just after King had scored to make it 1-0, if we had conceded there then it would have been curtains for us so he deserves as much credit as the rest of the lads for the points that's we've claimed today. 
Cuco Martina had another poor game for me, I know that it's the flavour of the month to get on his back but I thought he was awful in most departments. Even when he managed to get forward his crosses were gash and either hit the first man or found the opposition, you could really see the game change in this respect when Ronald added Kenny into the mix and I'd really like Jonjoe to start in midweek against Apollon.
Ashley Williams again had a mediocre game, it wasn't as bad as his performances against Spurs, Atalanta and Manchester United but he's still about as much use as a chocolate fireguard, I'd much rather we brought back Phil Jagielka or Mo Besic rather than playing a David Haye look-a-like for hire that struggles at the most basic aspects of defending. Mason Holgate alongside him I actually thought did well and looked the more experienced of the two, hopefully he gets a run of games now either in the centre of defence or instead of Cuco on the right flank. Leighton Baines had a quiet game for me but did what he needed to, we were rarely exposed on the left and he did make some moves in the oppositions third that gave them something to think about, I do think that he would have done a lot better if he had an out and out left winger to work with. (How I miss the days of Steven Pienaar in his prime...).
In midfield, Idrissa Gueye was awful and probably the worst player on the pitch in many ways. I'm actually a big fan of Gana and think that he was a cracking purchase but today he was totally incapable of finding a man in a blue shirt, I lost count of how many times a move ended with him and worryingly a lot of his misplaced passes were on the edge of our own box. Had we been playing a Chelsea or Manchester City I fear we may have been punished in this respect so it's lucky that Bournemouth are no such team. 
Alongside Gueye I thought Morgan Schneiderlin did OK although I do wish he would pass forwards more. It seems that sometimes his first instinct is to play a pass to Pickford rather than passing it through the lines but hopefully once we start playing better he takes the risks that he needs to in this respect, he was a great player for us last season after his move but has struggled to get going in this campaign. 
Gylfi Sigurdsson was anonymous (sadly) and Davy Klaasen didn't seem to get into the game, I think that the 90 minutes passed both of these players by. Wayne Rooney I thought played really well up until the elbow in the face which knocked him for six. At first I thought it would be good for him to be wound up but he seemed to just grow more and more frustrated as the afternoon went on and in the end started becoming a real weak link, I was glad when he was whipped off and replaced with Oumar.
Up top, I thought that Dominic Calvert-Lewin was superb as he was all over the show. He brought down the long balls that Pickford pumped forward like Fellaini used to do in his prime and did look a threat on the rare occasion that he was let loose in the box. I was begging for him to add to his account following the brace against Sunderland but it wasn't to be, hopefully he starts again against Burnley and finds the back of the net as he's turning into quite a player for us. I still think that we need a striker in January but I'm more than happy for Dom to serve as our number two. 
Overall, it was a shabby result in the end, there's still plenty of questions to be asked but at least we're winning again. Hopefully this serves as a confidence boost and snowballs into the Burnley, Limassol and Brighton games. If we can get through the next three or so games unscathed then we can hopefully put this bad run of form to bed once and for all as the quality of the team is there for all to see it's just that the machine isn't quite oiled up yet...
Oh, and Martin Atkinson really is a walking advert for contraception isn't he? What a complete bellend.
Yeah, I remember many ''fans'' on social media calling for Koeman's head last year and it was all forgotten once we started winning again. It'll happen this season too, we'll start beating teams and all of a sudden the same ''fans'' will be rimming him and buying ginger wigs. Football fans are fickle unfortunately but that's just how life is.
Amen - +1.
He was all set to sign for Manchester United and they announced the signing of Victor Lindlehof, because of this Keane turned his attention elsewhere. I'm not sure on what basis you've decided that he was ''scared to go back'' considering how he's a Manchester United fan at heart and because of the facts that I've just stated.