The Regulator

Good to see you all! I still remember all these names to be fair!!
 
Glad some things never change  I never did become a rockstar or screenwriter, but if you work in the civil service and have a HR query you better know there's no one better  
 
Unless, you know, you count every other HR professional  
 
Hope you're all doing better than Sandro's midsection or Davy Klassen's hairline!
 
Don't worry, now im back we'll be in 5th again in no time...

Good to see you all! I still remember all these names to be fair!!
 
Glad some things never change  I never did become a rockstar or screenwriter, but if you work in the civil service and have a HR query you better know there's no one better  
 
Unless, you know, you count every other HR professional  
 
Hope you're all doing better than Sandro's midsection or Davy Klassen's hairline!
 
Don't worry, now im back we'll be in 5th again in no time...

I honestly think we reneged on our bargaining position with our transfers. The squad was dreadfully unbalanced when we started and we still don't have cover at left back, CB or on the wings.
Any manager looking at it would have thought we need at least 4-5 signings and could do with shipping out at least half a dozen.
We also have a real dilemma in the middle of the park, in central midfield (defensive mid and attacking) we have Davies, Gueye, Schneiderlin, Klassen, Sigurdsson, Rooney, McCarthy and Besic. That's 8 of our midfielders that all play through the middle of the park. With Vlasic not showing the promise he was bought for so far, that leaves Lookman and Bolasie as the only natural wide players we have.
I think any manager barring Sam would have baulked at the idea of inheriting an imbalanced, underperforming squad that needed key additions and had incredibly high aspirations and standards. We all expect Everton to be a competitive, European spot occupying side, however we flatter to deceive and although all our players in form are a force we have one of the weakest 11's in the league at the moment.
 
Kenny has improved massively but Coleman gives us so much more going forward, Baines has been missed, the older CB's need replacing and Keane needs to find form. Although we have quality, I feel we're a long way off our best 11, or even knowing exactly how that looks.
 
Tosun will add goals undoubtedly, I'm tipping him to have the Jelavic effect and be effective from the off, but it cant mask the quality we lack elsewhere.
 
I think Sam is going to stick with the same plan he came here with, defend, keep clean sheets and try and nick a goal. I don't like it, and it makes me think I'd prefer Martinez, but really the blend of discipline and man management is exactly what we need right now. We had a blip but it's because we are rudderless up front, despite DCL's hard work.
We'll be fine, and I'd actually be more interested to see how he'd line us up and what our results would be with all players fit and firing.
 
You can say what youw ant about his track record, but this is by far the strongest squad in terms of depth and individual quality, that Allardyce has ever inherited. I think he needs time as much as anyone else to figure out the best approach and then we'll really see the measure of him as a tactical manager.
 
Anyway, rant over  

Good to see you all! I still remember all these names to be fair!!
 
Glad some things never change  I never did become a rockstar or screenwriter, but if you work in the civil service and have a HR query you better know there's no one better  
 
Unless, you know, you count every other HR professional  
 
Hope you're all doing better than Sandro's midsection or Davy Klassen's hairline!
 
Don't worry, now im back we'll be in 5th again in no time...

yep still here! however back when I started I was EvertonLad or something. 12+ years for me now!

Still here!

Puts on his best Frank Ifield impression and begins to warble......
I remember youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
 

Pretty sure I remember you from when I first joined, was GalacticAracnid back then.
Welcome back either way

Still here Reg, welcome back.

On the face of it I'd say no. Dempsey had his best years at Fulham, and peaked a few seasons ago. I grant you, a Dempsey of 2 seasons back would waltz into our starting line up, and just about anyone else's he was that proficient in front of goal. I can't see him adding anything to the squad now though, except being a big name on the bench.
 
We need depth it's true, but Barkley will want to aim for the world cup and another AMC, someone in the vein of Dempsey, would probably do more harm than good. Really, I think we need another box to box player, Fernando would be ideal but if not him a player like him. It's that step up that we need, especially with Gibson out, a versatile midfielder with a good engine. Something Dempsey was, but I think is passed now.

On the face of it I'd say no. Dempsey had his best years at Fulham, and peaked a few seasons ago. I grant you, a Dempsey of 2 seasons back would waltz into our starting line up, and just about anyone else's he was that proficient in front of goal. I can't see him adding anything to the squad now though, except being a big name on the bench.
 
We need depth it's true, but Barkley will want to aim for the world cup and another AMC, someone in the vein of Dempsey, would probably do more harm than good. Really, I think we need another box to box player, Fernando would be ideal but if not him a player like him. It's that step up that we need, especially with Gibson out, a versatile midfielder with a good engine. Something Dempsey was, but I think is passed now.

On the face of it I'd say no. Dempsey had his best years at Fulham, and peaked a few seasons ago. I grant you, a Dempsey of 2 seasons back would waltz into our starting line up, and just about anyone else's he was that proficient in front of goal. I can't see him adding anything to the squad now though, except being a big name on the bench.
 
We need depth it's true, but Barkley will want to aim for the world cup and another AMC, someone in the vein of Dempsey, would probably do more harm than good. Really, I think we need another box to box player, Fernando would be ideal but if not him a player like him. It's that step up that we need, especially with Gibson out, a versatile midfielder with a good engine. Something Dempsey was, but I think is passed now.

I thought that was going to say, "...can I take your virgin daughter?"
 

I may be the only one, but good as Lukaku can be, I think really we should be looking at him the same way he's looking at us, a stepping stone. Lukaku's goals might mean we can make top 4, if it were the case, we'd have extra cash and the prospect of potentially being in the champions league the following season to attract new talent.
 
Relying on Lukaku and his goals would be like Liverpool were with Torres, having only Babel and Ngog as back up because Torres was so nailed on to score at that time. Even if we did buy him, he could get a serious injury or simply lose form and we've spent the bulk of our available cash on securing teh services of a striker who has already provided us with what we needed, opening the door to the highest level of competition.
 
I know the point above could apply to any striker eg Jelavic's sublime half season followed by goal anemia, but I feel like we should be looking for the Michu's, the cheaper deals on players of quality who for whatever reason are not as recognised as players like Lukaku and Benteke. Don't get me wrong, I think the Predator is the best striker we've had in a very long time, but we have to accept he's here for one year only, and adjust our targets accordingly.

I may be the only one, but good as Lukaku can be, I think really we should be looking at him the same way he's looking at us, a stepping stone. Lukaku's goals might mean we can make top 4, if it were the case, we'd have extra cash and the prospect of potentially being in the champions league the following season to attract new talent.
 
Relying on Lukaku and his goals would be like Liverpool were with Torres, having only Babel and Ngog as back up because Torres was so nailed on to score at that time. Even if we did buy him, he could get a serious injury or simply lose form and we've spent the bulk of our available cash on securing teh services of a striker who has already provided us with what we needed, opening the door to the highest level of competition.
 
I know the point above could apply to any striker eg Jelavic's sublime half season followed by goal anemia, but I feel like we should be looking for the Michu's, the cheaper deals on players of quality who for whatever reason are not as recognised as players like Lukaku and Benteke. Don't get me wrong, I think the Predator is the best striker we've had in a very long time, but we have to accept he's here for one year only, and adjust our targets accordingly.

I may be the only one, but good as Lukaku can be, I think really we should be looking at him the same way he's looking at us, a stepping stone. Lukaku's goals might mean we can make top 4, if it were the case, we'd have extra cash and the prospect of potentially being in the champions league the following season to attract new talent.
 
Relying on Lukaku and his goals would be like Liverpool were with Torres, having only Babel and Ngog as back up because Torres was so nailed on to score at that time. Even if we did buy him, he could get a serious injury or simply lose form and we've spent the bulk of our available cash on securing teh services of a striker who has already provided us with what we needed, opening the door to the highest level of competition.
 
I know the point above could apply to any striker eg Jelavic's sublime half season followed by goal anemia, but I feel like we should be looking for the Michu's, the cheaper deals on players of quality who for whatever reason are not as recognised as players like Lukaku and Benteke. Don't get me wrong, I think the Predator is the best striker we've had in a very long time, but we have to accept he's here for one year only, and adjust our targets accordingly.

I may be the only one, but good as Lukaku can be, I think really we should be looking at him the same way he's looking at us, a stepping stone. Lukaku's goals might mean we can make top 4, if it were the case, we'd have extra cash and the prospect of potentially being in the champions league the following season to attract new talent.
 
Relying on Lukaku and his goals would be like Liverpool were with Torres, having only Babel and Ngog as back up because Torres was so nailed on to score at that time. Even if we did buy him, he could get a serious injury or simply lose form and we've spent the bulk of our available cash on securing teh services of a striker who has already provided us with what we needed, opening the door to the highest level of competition.
 
I know the point above could apply to any striker eg Jelavic's sublime half season followed by goal anemia, but I feel like we should be looking for the Michu's, the cheaper deals on players of quality who for whatever reason are not as recognised as players like Lukaku and Benteke. Don't get me wrong, I think the Predator is the best striker we've had in a very long time, but we have to accept he's here for one year only, and adjust our targets accordingly.

Birmingham, Portsmouth and Wigan were going to be in the dogfight. A better example is Swansea. Their cup run did not effect their season and they have just heaped more glory on themselves by a. matching The Shite on Monday and b. winning at The Mestia last night.
 
Wigan returned to London a few days after their Cup triumph and gave Arsenal a game for over an hour. As pointed out by Hafnia thier season was devastated by injuries to key players - a couple of whom even missed the win over City. We have a much stronger squad than Wigan did.

We did superbly in the transfer window.
 
Mucha OUT Joel IN
Neville OUT Alcaraz IN
Anichebe OUT Kone IN
Hitzlsperger OUT Barry IN (Albeit a loan, but he's on a free, and if he plays well, I can easily see him getting a contract)
Fellaini OUT McCarthy IN
Lukaku IN (Loan)
Delofeu IN (Loan)
 
Add the fact that Martinez is actually playing our most promising talent and Stones and Oviedo actually look like getting games, I can't understand any argument to say that we're not on track. Every single player above is an improvement. You could argue Fellaini but honestly, I don't care. He had 5 years here, and now we've got someone younger to build up while selling a player we had already improved for a £10mil profit. That and we're still unbeaten ffs

Heitinga's case is a weird one because he has played against bigger and stronger striker's that the likes of Benteke and Cole and absolutely dominated them but for some reason the year after he won player of the year, he went to the Euros (or WC!?) and put in some of the worst performances I have ever seen from him and that transferred into his club form last season.
 
I think part of the problem is that he is a confidence player and he needs to play week in week out. Even when he came into the first team, he looked dodgy and it was after a run of games that he started to really dominate some of the best strikers in the league. He was dealing with situations that Jags and Distin hadnt even thought of some of the time and his ability to play that accurate long ball was a really good outlet for us, not to mention someone that was happy to draw a defender in without panicking. Now though, he cant even do that properly and those long passes we used to take for granted arent hitting their man, or at least regularly enough and instead of using his aggression and attitude to bully the striker off the ball, now they are doing it to him. Not to mention, when he did fuck up before, he at least put the effort in to rectify the situation but now he seems to accept it and sulk a little.
 
I have no doubt that he is the best CB we have at the club if you looked at this all round ability, but the confidence was knocked out of him last year and I don't see any sign of it returning.

Well thought out rational response as always Brett.

Yes, I wave the white flag to you.... Your superior knowledge of the blues and all they stand for is insperational to us all....MUPPETT!!!

just writing here to say how our great club has gone stale.
 
firstly id like to talk about the atmosphere round goodison or lack of its like a library our new song is we only sing when were winning. secondly the new badge what a disgrace we had a great neon sign outside the ground which has been replaced with a cartoon cardboad cut out they have even took the scoreboard down from the park end . thirdly i want to to talk about the way we treat away suporters with so much distane we sick them away in the corner whod wana pay 40 quid and get whiplash for the privalage havin to look round a post every 2 seconds. lastly what team phones up sky sports news at 10.55 on deadline day just to let the everton fans know that the macarthey deal was nothing to do with Fellaini being sold what a joke say no more

Right, thought I'd throw my 2 pennies in since I was actually at the game, but I'm acutely aware that people may not read my sometimes overlong laboured posts. So I'll keep it to the players that played and how I thought they did:
 
Howard - Solid game, never really challenged too much by Cardiff but never really looked like being beaten.
 
Coleman - Good performance in an average game. Spent most of his time in the opposition half and made some half decent runs, but was stifled by our inherent lack of directness.
 
Jagileka - Great game. Played well, found a man with almost every pass, pushed forward when he could and looked calm on the ball. Certainly seems comfortable adopting to RM's methods.
 
Distin - Saved himself with some important defensive work but he was awful positionally. Read the game wrong at times and had to rely on his pace and power to save his errors. Not teh strongest performance by him but made up for it with his usual effort.
 
Baines - Fantastic game from him. True professionala nd convinced me in 90 minutes that there was no way he was leaving. Crossing hasn't been spot on but he can't be perfect every game.
 
Mirallas - Very, very poor. Had several opportunities to run into space and neglected to do so. Chose the wrong option on several occasions and not even a hint of a barnstorming run ala stoke being made. Needs to up his game.
 
Osman - Please for the love god let the arrival of McCarthy and Barry mean he doesn't start anymore. No sort of impact whatsoever.
 
Fellaini - Basically played as a defender. Showed a complete lack of motivation and made it obvious that his time with us was over.
 
Barkley - No idea why he made man of the match. Seriously. A good performance in parts, including some great incisive runs, but teh amount of times he tried to do too much, lost the ball and we ended up chasing back was ridiculous. Seriously guys, how anyone can say that this performance deserved man of the match is beyond me. Granted he was losing the ball in their final third as opposed to ours which is a big imporvement, but he was still trying far too hard. He looked a lot better distributing the ball and acting as a playmaker than as an attacker. Although his ability to create chances was hindered by the inferior quality of the rest of our midfield, barring one...
 
Pienaar - Man of the match. By far. First half saw a few moments of individual brilliance but he couldn't link up well enough to create a solid threat. Second half though he and Baines looked like they always used to, overlaps and underlaps, Pienaar would burst in and out of pockets of space allowing runs from 2 or 3 of our players. Everything good about us going forward involved at least one key pass from pienaar, if not a sudden burst of movement. I was in the ninian stand and second half he was in fornt of me the whole time. Everytime he got on the ball he lokoked a threat and more than once cardiff fans had to say "fair play" as he was a class above the opposition.
 
Jelavic - FFS sums up his performance.
 
Delofeu - How is he not starting? 5 minutes and gave us more threat than we had for the other 85. Superb player on the looks of it, direct skillful and put in a few crosses one of which had every cardiff fans heart in their mouth. Seriously, should start the next game ahead of Mirallas. Or at least get a good 25-30 to show what he can do. We've got a player here.
 
Kone - leave the poor bastard alone!! Kone came on and then it looked like we actually had a striker playing!!! Good first touch, good link up play, and at least he took a fucking shot!!! Jelavic on his current form is a good few steps behind Kone. Kone will score for us, he looked like Saha when fit and firing for the short time he was on. Again, I'd say he should start against Chelsea. I think we underestimate this guy.
 
 
In summary, although it was a lacklustre, uncreative and scrappy draw, there were elements and passing movements that suggest we will be playing very good football and winning games by good margins before too long. And if nothing else, Pienaar and Kone are getting way more flak than they deserve.
 
Anyway I rambled again. Yeah....sorry bouth that

Something about this thread doesn't add up.