nogs

I don't really care. I don't think Kean will be the 20+ a season goal machine everyone thinks he'll be, at 19 the pace and physicality of the Prem will take some getting use to. And even if he'll never be prolific, DCL has that side of the game sewn up. What I'm just as interested in is Richarlison, Sigurdsson, and Iwobi scoring, Bernard has made a start so keep it up. We'll rotate in all four forward positions, let's have goals from them all

Not better off, not worse. On basis of first two games we look to have picked up exactly where we finished last season, defensively solid, could do with being a bit more clinical up top.

I'd love to see Morgan Schneiderlin's win ratio starting games for Everton FC.

Think the complete opposite tbh. Don't think we'll tear many teams apart, but don't see us suddenly shipping tons of goals either. We're talking one replacement on last season's starting back 5, and the DM you didn't rate has gone.

Gbamin can play there too.

Await the standard 'after the deadline' confirmation we seem to be involved in every window... But I'm not at all disappointed by our business this summer. Let's not forget that Gbamin is meant to be able to play CB as well as midfield. So while it's odd we haven't got an out-and-out replacement for Zouma, I don't see us being short there, with Holgate plus the U23 options there's plenty of cover for Keane and Mina. Let's just hope they develop a good partnership quickly. Bit gutted about Zaha tbh, he could have been the x-factor signing that made us a threat to the top four. I think Iwobi is a decent player but not in the same league. Reckon there'll be a big onus on him and Richarlison to score us goals in a front three. Interested to see what Silva will do in midfield - Delph/Gbamin, Gomes and Sigurdsson as first choice presumably?

Is that why we signed Silva's boy Richarlison?

Yeah I've noticed you struggle with counter arguments a lot. It was a joke we finished 8th under Allardyce. We were lucky we weren't the only team in the Premier League that played some utter shite that season. Burnley qualified for Europe, enough said. I credit Silva over Allardyce because the recruitment has been better since he's been here and the football has shown signs of heading in the right direction. Tosun is a flop and Walcott has always been massively overrated, he's also now over the hill. Allardyce would also never have been able to work under a DoF like Brands who has made clear his philosophy is on players under 25 who can be coached to improve. But hey, you keep wishing Fat Sam was here. He isn't, he's part of the history of the club now, Silva is our manager regardless of what you think or say, there's a new season upon us, the squad is getting towards the overhaul it badly needed - I'd have thought there's reason to be looking forward, not backward.

Silva did not have an easy time taking over the squad he inherited. Nor did Brands. The previous 12 months had seen the club make arguably the biggest mistakes recruitment wise in its history, tear apart a solid squad and replace it with an unbalanced expensive mess created by a DoF and manager working on completely different wavelengths. Your numbers about how many 'better' players Silva had at his disposal last season also seem to be going up for some strange reason. Truth is the season hasn't even started and you're already doing everything you can to prove how knowledgeable you are by slagging off the manager rather than just supporting the club. I really hope we sign Zaha and a CB and are 4th at Xmas just to hear what you come out with then.

Statement signing this one. Says something about how Brands/Silva/whoever are selling the club that we can attract genuine prospects from big clubs without even having the carrot of European football to dangle

Well, I have to say this always sounded like bollocks to me. Happy to be proven wrong and certain kicks a frustrating window into life! Now for the CB, RB and Gana replacement...

When he's got enough players in that he thinks are good enough.

You said 'most' teams don't bring in 6 first team players over the course of two close seasons, using that as a pretext to imply Silva should be happy with what he's got. I've already shown you're wrong about Liverpool and Man City, who have both signed 6-plus first teamers over the past two years, and that's from positions of having much stronger squads than we do to start with. They are the current best examples going of how to invest to progress, which is exactly what we should be doing. BTW, just had a quick scan of Transfer Markt. I count 9 first team Chelsea arrivals since summer 2017, 6 for Man Utd, 4 for Spurs, 9 for Arsenal. So in the two close seasons we've had under Silva, we've still signed less than the average number signed in the previous two years by all the teams we're trying to catch up to. And that's while trying to undo the damage of the 2017/18 summer window. Just an opinion, but I'd be fucking furious with any manager and DoF who was 'accepting what we've got' at this stage.

You should be PM mate you could show BJ a thing or two about spinning your own bollocks!

What period are you talking about now? Bernard Silva arrived at City the same season as Kyle Walker, Ederson, Mendy and Laporte - a pretty major overhaul which ended up in them dominating the league. That same season Liverpool signed Salah, Robertson, Oxlade-Chamberlain and then Van Dijk in the January. Allison, Fabinho and Keita came a year later. Or should double Premier league winner Guardiola and CL winner Klopp have just got on with what they had? Its a pretty simple concept, if you want to improve you need better players. Or at least have a squad good enough to give you quality cover in all areas.

Really? Not many clubs average 3 new players a season? Look, you've made your views on Silva pretty clear, and will no doubt spend the rest of this season ramming those opinions down people's throats like you do with Gana. But it's the same pattern - you go completely OTT. Where's this insult to Brands you've imagined? For all you know Brands is just as frustrated at the hold up in getting identified targets through the door and 100% agrees with what Silva said. You're making up reasons to criticise an individual you've decided you don't like. Which really is just deflecting from the bigger picture of the situation the club finds itself in. The identity of the manager does not resolve the total mess we were in 14 months ago when Silva and Brands arrived.

Zouma is irrelevant as he is no longer at the club, Walcott even more irrelevant as he was brought in by the previous administration and has hardly suggested in 18 months he's of the quality we need to improve. Yeah we've brought in 6 new first team players since Silva arrived. But what's wrong with him saying we need more? Hardly being rude imo, just being ambitious. And recognising the weaknesses in the squad Bailey does an excellent job of detailing.

Klopp also bought Mane, Matip and Wijnaldum in his first summer transfer window. In his second, he bought Salah, Robertson and Oxlade-Chamberlain, followed by Van Dijk the January after. Klopp has done what most managers do at a club, impose a preferred playing style partly through acquiring players suited to it. Silva is trying to do the same, and if he says he needs five more players to improve on what we did last season, I see no reason not to accept that - especially as it is obvious to everyone that he inherited a horribly imbalanced yet bloated squad which, when you remove the dead wood, is threadbare on quality in key areas.

Not the happiest manager two weeks before the season starts. Not like any of what he says is a surprise, we needed strengthening in those positions in November. Can only assume the difficulties clearing the high wage baggage out is screwing our plans.

Matt - my memory of that Portuguese side was that they were very well drilled defensively with a set of players who were clearly very good at carrying out a tactical plan. Which is why every top club in Europe is now falling over themselves to sign Portuguese players, they are brilliantly coached from a young age to be highly effective. Yes, having a world class goalscorer helps, but Ronaldo was hardly Maradona in 86 in that tournament. He just did what he always does, bangs in goals. Pete - the thing with Messi is it isn't just his goals, and his goal scoring record is up there with the best ever. He is also a creative genius, he has vision and the ability to weight a pass like very few other can, he can dribble, he has sublime touch. Goals are just the icing on the cake. And you can't blame him for Argentina failing to live up to expectations, they've been a consistent let down since 86. That late 90s post Maradona team was wonderful on paper, won nothing. The 2006 team they took to Germany led by Riquelme, best side to watch in the tournament, lost. Argentine football as a whole has a bigger chip on its shoulder than England even. Messi's record of losing three major finals with them isn't bad! Anyway, back to Everton - when does the PL start again?!

See I have to take issue with this. What tournaments has Ronaldo won at Man Utd, Real Madrid, Juventus and Portugal with rubbish players around him??

But Messi has also scored 100-plus CL goals. And has scored more goals for Argentina than Aguero. Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic, the others you mentioned, have hardly played for shit teams have they?

Might know you'd not fancy a player who has scored 600 club goals and has a one-in-two record in 136 internationals! Shit him, get him to PSG with Gana!

Don't see anyone getting near Man City or Liverpool again. Spurs should be comfortable for a CL spot, as good as anyone on their day but don't have the depth of squad for a title tilt imo. After that it's anyone's guess. Expect Solksjaer to flop and be sacked by Xmas, Lampard could go either way at Chelsea, flounder without Hazard or galvanise a talented squad with talented kids and surprise a few people. Arsenal are nothing special, Leicester could do very well under Rodgers, Wolves will probably find Europa football harms their league form, like most do. As for us... I still think the squad is woefully light. I was hopeful we'd have done a lot more business at this stage, including shipping more out, but that's what happens when you have players on wages no one wants to pay. I think until a few contracts expire we're hamstrung. Wouldn't be surprised if its another frustrating season ending in a 9th/8th place finish, without some major changes in the coming weeks I don't see the squad being better than that. More optimistically, Silva really proves himself with what we've got, we get on a role and make a serious push for top 5 as other teams flounder... At the other end of the table, Newcastle nailed on to go down. Rest will be a real dog fight, wouldn't be surprised if West Ham got dragged into it again. All 3 promoted clubs have a chance of staying up.

Or he could just fuck off.