RuffRob

Pickford Coleman, Keane, Godfrey, Digne Allan Doucore Gomes Townsend Richarlison Grey I think Digne will be back in the team. He is not injured and the point has now been made - so now all concerned should now be professional and get on with it. We should be looking for a positive reaction from Digne where it counts - on the pitch. He now needs to get some solid defensive performances under his belt. You have to start Townsend going back to his old club - he will know this pitch and ground inside out. I am sure he will be well and truly up for putting in the proverbial 110%. I think Gomes did enough in the Arsenal game to warrant a start in the game, and this should give us a nice solid centre.

Benitez has the team set up slighlty different, the players he brought in are essentially wingers who can deliver a ball, he is also moving Docoure up the feild, so he is not covering the backs so much. Given the numbers of goals and assists Gray, Townsend and Doucoure have contributed so far, then if Digne has to sacrifice being our main person for delivering a cross and concentrate a little more on not being caught out of position when defending, then so be it. Rafa will just bring his own player in place of those who don't want to get on board. I prefer a strong manager, whoever he is - as no player is bigger than the club. There has been to many players at this club taking liberties, and it time it was stopped. One of the main reasons Ferguson did so well at United was he took fuck all shit of ANY player .

https://www.teamtalk.com/everton/aaron-ramsey-transfer-newcastle-panic-toffees-winning-race not sure I believe this, it's a bit early as the transfer window is still some way away.

but I don't think it works like you say if you have two or three teams that might be interested in player. It might work like that if you only have one team interested or if a player has his heart set on a particular club. No point in selling him cheap. Benitez has simply made a strong stand with Digne - nobody in the squad is undroppable. A bit of strong leadership, how refreshing. Benitex is the gaffer and he is behaving like one. Digne may as well get on board with that and just sort his defending out in the first instance.

I don't think he is on that sort of money. We will not be paying silly James type wages for a while and think he will probably end up going to Newcastle as they will probably be willing to pay up to get players in as not so risky for them at the moment. We might talk to him to see if he would come on affordable wages, but he'll get better offers. I am not for us paying high wages on ageing players either, Delph and James alone are enough to put anybody going down that root.

https://amp.theguardian.com/football/2021/oct/07/aaron-ramsey-insists-fitness-for-wales-no-problem-in-veiled-swipe-at-juventus As a welshman, I do follow Ramsey and watch the Wales games. He is still a very classy midfeilder and would massively improve us in the immediate term. He always puts a shift in and is a very versitle player. A bit of a risk, but if free then could be a shrewd bit of business.

https://www.101greatgoals.com/news/transfers/everton-on-the-tail-of-10million-rated-argentine-striker-in-breakout-season/

I think the sentiment of 27 minutes for 27 years seems to have done the trick to a certain degree. Changes do seem to be afoot at boardroom level. The 'model' they have been using over the past 5-6 years to improved the club has only proved it to be a shit model of basically how not to run a football club. Whether the changes going on will be enough, only time will tell. I do know for sure that the plan over the past 5 years wasn't to make us a worst team and club, so I do believe those at the top actually want a positive change as much as us.

He might have changed his mind if him and Digne are at odds with each other. Unfortunately, in neither position do we have great back up.

There would be no reason to sell him cheap - if clubs think he would be available there would be plenty of takers for this 28 year old proven Premiership LB - I don't think we would have only one suitor who could drive the price down. Don't get me wrong, I would prefer a on form Digne that a big fee, but form has been missing for a while. Given the players we have that would bring in a decent fee - DCL, Richy, Doucoure, Godfrey or Pickford - In this line up Digne would be the one who I would maybe move on (subject to a replacement being in place). Having to sell good players is a bit of a sad reflection of where we are - but its just the way it is.

At 28 he is a player who would bring in a decent fee, but main problem being we don't have somebody waiting in the wings to cover left back. I wouldn't be against him signing for a Man City or Chelsea as they are better than us and Digne wouldn't improve them. Wouldn't like to see him go to a direct competitor. I must admit I have been a little disappointed in him both defensively and offensively this past 18 month - maybe because he showed so much in his first couple of year. He has definitely not maintain that standard. The irony being Smalls moving on this summer, he could have had a fair few first team chances this year - enough to allow his to try and stake a claim in a season or so's time. It sounds like we are going to have to raise a bit of cash - We have not got to many saleable assets that would bring in useful fees. Sounds like somebody might have to go.

I think this is a massively important step. It sound to me like the last five or six years has basically been three or even four people trying to have there say at anyone time - owner, Bill Kenwright, DoF and manager. Now it seems this could be just down to owner and a manager who is not afraid to say - 'I am not having that' to the owner. The fact that some are not happy with it being Rafa Benitez of all people does make this a little awkward in it own right. However, at least for the next 12-18months at least there should be some clarity in who is making the footballing decisions at the club. I am sure there will still be the over riding remit to bring in player that offer good value and the longer term development - rather than just spend to make us great ASAP. Not sure you actually need a DoF to overseen this approach.

And now Brands has gone - snippets of true are coming out like, like Brands had no intention of signing Iwobi - Moshiri did it as a bit of a panic buy and spunked best part of £30M away. What a joke of a club. Brands is better off out of it, his biggest error for me he just became a 'yes' man to Moshiri. He should have had the balls to stand up to his employer and threaten to walk, especially if neither Ancelotti or Bentitez where managers he was fully behind. One good think about Benitez, he will not take that kind of shit from Moshiri and will stand up to him in a way Brands obviously didn't. If Moshiri decided to buy some players that Benitez didn't want - I am pretty sure Bentiez will let us fan know. This in itself is a step forward.

I really do hope Benitez does get a fair crack at the whip. When he as had a reasonable selection of senior players available he's not actually done half bad. I am assuming the bargain basement players brought in are all Benitez's signings. So far goal and assist return for money spent has been very good - and arguably better than all the wide players we have seem in the past 5-6 years, many who have cost £20-30M. The Gray signing has been a stroke of genius, so for this signing alone he deserves the chance to bring a few more players in to suit how he wants to player. This lad is hungry, a bona fida match winner, British, 25 years old, can carry the ball, got pace and can put in a delivery, and has a shot on him - he is every bit the £25M+ player Iwobi isn't. I really hope in the second half of the season we are a lot luckier with injuries and we have a decent crack at seeing what our best 11-15 players can do under Benitez, maybe with a sprinkling of new additions in January.

3 strikes in the back of the net, some great finishing from Richy tonight. Could have dropped his head after two disallowed efforts, but kept on working and got his reward.

Digne form has been pretty erratic since Baines retired. No competition and pretty much a free run at the left back spot. Can be frustrating when you know he has so much more to his game than what he is showing. We have been needing our big player to step up this past month and he has not really been anything to shout about, maybe Benitez just letting him know he is happy to play people ahead of him

big shout to the fans tonight

for fucks sake, when your lucks out!!!

I think a lot will depend how much closer Douncoure will be to being match fit and sharp, in his first matches back he has understandably not at his dynamic best. We are a different team both defensively and offensively when he is at the races. Can be the difference between picking up points or not.

https://theesk.org/2021/11/20/part-iii-evertons-ownership-and-leadership-the-director-of-football/ this is an interesting read - some it up nicely

What a desperate situation we are in after all this money spent. because he is now at the helm, I desperately want Benitez to do well, as whether we like it or not, he is going to have more of a say on how this squad develops over the next 12 months with no DoF in the wings. You are probably right, he may not last that long as fans will simply not take to him, especially as you say the sacrificial lamb of Brands has now gone. One part of me says get rid and lets just be done with it as Benitez is simply to fractious other part says as the bloke is now hear and getting used to the squad lets give the bloke a chance. It's supposed to be enjoyable following your team. This is like purgatory - a wealthy investor finally comes in and seems to be a footballing fuckwit of epic proportion!.

Article sound much like I feared - too many cooks spoil the broth. Not so much since Benitez has come in as been very little time and no money to spend. but over the whole time Brands has been here and with Walsh also. Its a big problem managers and DoF not agreeing - I was surprised when we brought in Ancelotti and didn't see him aligning with what Brands remit was and we heard the same when Benitez was appointed. What is the point of DoF at Everton? If all it true in the articles why on earth didn't Brands just walk? Was getting an inflated pay cheque that's why, just like the players he's been trying to dump. Severance pay will now have to come out of moneys saved this summer. No point at all having a Brands type at the club, if owners are only half letting them do the job. Mixed messages, interfering and impatience from owners is the crux of our problem - I think we all know this. I think all of us fear are that unless the owners change the way they run this club its going to continue be groundhog day for us. My fear is the only way out out this nightmare any time soon is that if Benitez does the business. The ongoing circus of the last 5-6years is now driving me mad.

I don't think anybody can argue with that, given the money spend. I am not wholly positive that the DoF we have had have had the degree of control they would have liked - a lot was thrown at Walsh, but I have read since that some of the signing in the Koeman regime where against Walsh's recommendations and also Walsh had brought Erling Haaland for a trail only for the club not to support him in bringing him to the club. I think some may have had starry eyes for bigger name players. My issue perhaps with Brands is that he hasn't really brought much to the party - there is not really a squad bulging with carefully and skilful bought young talent, which I thought was his remit. Richarlison - played in Prem and we paid extremely good money for him. A Silva player, so no real DoF vision in this transfer. Iwobi - paid massively over the odds, and all seemed to know this, my only hope was that Brands was somebody who had cleverly seen something others hadn't. This has not proved the case. Kean - we seem to be lucky we are getting our money back. His persona did not ever seem to fit this club. We are paying very good wages to three Barcelona rejects. Nothing special done there - we paid decent money for they along with top dollar and taken our chances with them. Bernard was always going to be light weight for the cut and thrust of the Prem. As uninspiring as it maybe a Townsend type free transfer serves to be far more useful. Delph - enough said Gbamin - injury aside, we still paid good money for him, not really a hidden gem. Deadwood - he shifted hardly anything, contracts simply ran down and player released - Hell, even I could have done that. Top and bottom is there was never enough evidence for me for him to get another contract in April. Maybe we will find out further down the line that had his hands ties or was vitoed in some of decision. but whatever the case on the evidence he has very little to justify his role this past 3 years.

Unfortunately, the money spent on Iwobi alone was enough of an alarm bell for me. Pretty much everybody - Everton supporters, - Arsenal supporters and media alike knew from day one we paid massivly over the odds for him. That signing should have never happened.

Ridiculous - the Everton team Ancelotti left behind was diabolical, the play and in the end the results since January has been as bad as anything we have seen. Benitez start of this season in the first 6 or 7 game was actually better than the start of last season for Ancettoti - So I call Bullshit on your statement about Benitez not coming close to Ancelloti. With a fit squad of player the team looked considerably better under Benitez in the first 7 games than it looked in the second half of last year. Result have gone to shit since what is an injury crisis, so actually injuries is a perfectly valid excuse. Do you really think our middle of the league squad should be just as strong when a considerable proportion of our best players are not available? Fact remains no matter who the manager is with a a fit squad we are basically a 7th to 11th place premier league team, you have a prolonged injury crisis to two or three of our better players and this squad is a 12th 17th place team. This is the harsh reality - at best a we have an ordinary squad of players by Premier league standards. That's out main problem and not that we have a ex Liverpool manager at he club.