Bailey

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/everton-chief-farhad-moshiri-questions-8762936.amp?client=ms-android-samsung

 

 

It wont be allowed to lie so im sure we will hear more.

 

My bet is elstone

Nothing more than conjecture...

Don't forget about Lucas. Gabbiadini was more or less our plan b to that deal. It might be that even the Lucas deal was a backup to someone else that we didn't hear much of anything about. To assume that the club just sat on its hands with only a few possible targets in mind is a bit absurd.

Course, forgot about him but again that was done a week ago or something like that?

Im not assuming that the club sat on their hands at all. Dunc said that we shouldn't blame the negotiators for not getting a deal over the line whereas I am saying that they should take some stick.

Finally! Keeper should have saved it though!

Dele Alli has been decent since he came on.

Walcott on the other hand...

Thank you for your pity Romey! And fuck you Matt!

But that is precisely what the club did do. They tried for Witsel and couldn't get him so tried for Carvahlo, couldn't get him either so signed Gueye

 

They tried and failed to get Mata, then tried for Ghezzal couldn't get him so went for Brahimi before moving on to Sissoko

 

There are even suggestions that we tried for Yarmalenko after tgat

 

 

 

Witsel has been a no go for months.

There has been no confirmation of an actual carvalho bid albeit that was also dead in the water months ago.

We signed Gana but then Besic got injured til the new year. That was at least a month ago and you are telling me that the only name on that list was Sissoko who has made it pretty clear that he wanted CL footy?

Same applied to the other players you mentioned. They were either reporter bullshit or no goers for a long time.

Gabbiadini must have also only been the only striker on our list and we knew for a long time that his deal also depending on other transfers so what is the excuse there?

Sissoko was called off about 10.40pm.

 

Pretty impossible to then turn to another target.

Not according to Sissoko or Mohsiri.

I have got to the stage where I would quite like Slovakia to score

Deli Ali needs to come on for Henderson.

They need to approach this game like Koeman did against West Brom (after the subs).

Central striker, two wide men playing high up the pitch and not cutting inside until late and then Rooney playing the Barkley role with Henderson supporting and Dier stopping any counters.

At the moment we have no width in the final third as Lallana perennially cuts inside, Rooney is too deep, Henderson just runs forward without thinking about the space he is running into and running from and basically marking himself and Cahill, Stones and Dier are seeing most of the ball.

Let's hope the 2nd half is an improvement.

Back ups? The last targets were back ups.... do we just do a newcastle or stoke and get 3rd choice players costing mega bucks?

 

We have a pretty strong squad bar striker. I trust us to get the right targets in january or next summer.

As in we must have had a list of players that we were after in each position. If the first one isn't working out then you need to start working on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc.

I'm not expecting us to buy for buying sake but we have money and we have serious depth issues in certain positions. We are an injury to Gana and Lukaku away from having big problems!

We will have to agree to disagree because I just can't see how else they could have dealt with the Sissoko deal

 

And I'm pretty sure the lads we were trying to get in on TDD were the backup plan

 

 

 

But we didn't pursue another Sissoko type midfielder on TDD.

Allardyce said Rooney would play as a number 10 and yet he is playing a deep midfield role, albeit one that allows him to break forward.

Quite literally nothing has changed.

That's an incredible statement to make! It will be interesting to see the fall out.

Well lads, quite a strange one really.

 

No doubt Williams is an excellent player, feel he will strengthen the squad, albeit with less sustainability in the medium term given he's 32 but didn't show many signs of ageing last season. Seems Koeman wants proven reliabiliy. It doesn't surprise me because ultimately if he's to improve his stock as a manager, by getting guaranteed better results than last season, even if he only stays at the club for two years, his focus will be on proven success, not sustainability.

 

The others seem decent, Gueye, Bolasie, can't knock Bolasie from last season was a handful! I really rate him and I think he will be very good for you. Still do not rate Stekkers from his time with us but hey, maybe he'll rediscover his form with you lot....like he has already tried with Monaco and Saints but still...

 

Holding onto Lukaku was a great achievement but I still feel like your window was a bit underwhelming, excuse the directness.

 

It was banded around that one of the key reasons Koeman left us for you was about money, since you had a new owner, and Saints financial power was never going to match Moshiri. The Liebherr's are great but giving a pot of 50m without sales every window is just not something they are going to do. It ties into strategy/Saints ambition because for Koeman he sees another window where the owners aren't ready to commit the big bucks and cement a top 8 place. Instead we sell three quality players and bring in young tots to replace them.

 

In any case, I'm really surprised that Everton didn't spend more, not that it's all about money, but according to what's out there on transfer fees, seems you could have spent 45m and us 44m. Not that different, and I would have expected you to blast us out the water. When Everton were linked with Axel Witsel and the like, I figured it made sense that Koeman went. Top quality signings, clear strategy of not just keeping the ship afloat like Martinez did but rather pushing on and likely finishing top 6.

 

The thing is that four or five years ago that would have been a solid transfer window for you. But let's not look at your signings in isolation. Leicester spent 70m this window, and Watford for Pete's sake spent 50m. I'm not saying we've got it right by the way, I think Southampton will finish 10th or thereabouts. But I wonder if Everton's window has really given the push that you needed to finish top 6 or so again. I'm not sure it has, sorry to say!

 

Be interested to hear your thoughts.

 

Saints will be alright, main thing for us is that we've always had a focus on youth/academy prospects. Academy hasn't been so successful last few years, and those that have come through (Shaw, Chambers, Lallana) we've sold. So we've brought youth in, Hojbjerg is 21 and Redmond and Boufal both 22. We have now the second youngest squad in the league, and that says a lot. We want to go back to the 'Saints Way' (whatever that means) of developing young players and we've got a manager who reflects that now. Bear in mind last two seasons Koeman hardly played any youth and publically said the academy wasn't up to scratch - in fairness he was probably right..

Good post and I would completely agree. I work down your way and one of the Saints fans there said exactly the same thing.

I think the difference with us is that if Keoman had really wanted to keep Stones he probably could have but given the money and that he wasn't looking the best last year or in pre season, it probably made sense to do the deal and bring in proven quality which we have done with Williams (especially as we liked physicality and leadership). Barkley, Mirallas, Lukaku have all stayed whereas if the former and latter had been with Saints, there is a good chance that they would have moved on by now.

It will be interesting to see how you do under Puel as by all accounts you have been a little underwhelming, even though you have largely dictated games without putting the ball in the back of the net. I think you have had a solid window, as you always do, and our games will be a good contest as usual!

Why are people assuming that our 'negotiators' are to blame?

We were attempting to attract top players to sign for a mediocre mid table team, that was always going to be a hard sell

I think some people need to have a reality check, we have to walk before we can run

 

 

 

I wouldn't necessarily blame them for not getting in their main "statement" targets but they should have also been working on viable back ups as well which is the problem I have with this window.

Judging by Sissoko's comments it also sounds as though they were given the run around. A good negotiator doesn't get mugged off!

Yep..... id like to know who signed off niasse myself.

Kevin Reeves I believe... I'm sure that Martinez said that they had scouted him for some time too!

 

I find it impossible to care anymore.

 

My mum's maiden name is Lewis and Welsh blood in me somewhere, I'm switching allegiance.

Traitor!

He had to move on to get away from a manager who had already been sacked....

 

Fuck off John. You got your move, stop trying to rewrite history. You arent anywhere near perfect and I look forward to watching you fall flat on your face.

 

Martinez lost the dressing room, he got sacked. You kept your gob shut and it should have stayed that way.

Exactly that. It's a weird ole interview, he might just be psychologically trying to protect himself by blaming others rather than just looking in the mirror and accepting responsibility.

I'm not having the bullshit of pep taught me row z either. Makes him sound like an idiot.

I am naively still hopeful that Allardyce will bring more success to England than previous managers.

I think we will play with an "identity" rather strolling about like an under 12s game.

Only three changes to the team that started v Iceland, that's the way to shake it up Sam .

In fairness to Sam it wasn't necessarily the personnel that was the main problem. Hodgson, a bit like Martinez, completely lost his marbles as the pressure ramped up.

 

We won't be playing twice a week other than occasionally if we progress in the League Cup so he won't have to .

That's my point... I don't know when the matches are schedule for in truth but McCarthy will be out for at least 2 months I would have thought and Besic is out until the new year. At a guess I would say we will have 4 weeks of midweek games?

(Actually I have just checked and it's only the EFL cup that is being played midweek until the 14th Dec)

Who else would you put in?

I would switch Cahill for Jags and I would have avoided starting Kane seeing as he looks out of form (probably for Vardy).

Henderson is probably the only awkward one because I don't see who else can play that box to box role, other than maybe Delli Ali?

I'd have Kone every day of the week!

I'd love to know how many times some of you lot have watched the lad play. Match of the Day experts.

Thats a fair point. I have probably seen him in a dozen games in total albeit probably not watching the full 90 minutes in at least a couple of these but when he has been playing he has been largely anonymous and that is my concern. He seems to be a cross between a winger and a striker but not good enough to stand out in either position.

Interestingly Whoscored have a page on him and list his positives and negatives:

https://www.whoscored.com/Players/83895

That pretty much sums up what I have seen from him but he did look good in the WC.