Wall Writer

Hopefully the Brighton lads are out on a three-day bender after last night's result. 

Great relief for him and us.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/03/oligarch-funded-everton-football-club-while-barred-from-uk-alisher-usmanov

40 minutes ago, Btay said:

If we play how did against Newcastle for the first 20 minutes and Leicester (minus the individual errors) all games are winnable bar city perhaps.

That's the frustrating thing. We have the ability to put a bit of pressure on teams, but lack the cutting edge to make that count and have an abundance of error-proneness at the back!

I'd written off West Ham as regelation contenders but on reflection, I think they are by no means safe. Next two games are against the two Manchester teams, then they are away to Brentford, before two potentially massive 6 pointers against fellow strugglers Leeds and Leicester. In between all that they've got at least two high-stakes European games. They could well be in the back in the mix for relegation come the final day of the season.   

Felt the game was there for the taking. Why the fuck do you get the players to run themselves into the ground but don't bring on subs when they are blatantly running on empty from the 70th minute.

WTF Pickford!

We need a change. We've had the upper hand but have lost the momentum.

Onana on....NOW!

Lucky not to be going in 3-1.

This is the shit I'm talking about. We had much more of the play in their third, but still go in at half time 2-1, almost 3-1, down.

This is the type of clownery thats gonna see us going down.

Shame for Coleman. Thought he was having a really good match as well.

Looks like Coleman's season might be over

Nice move. More of that please.

Great save by Iverson.

Also...I've said it before, but I'll say it again....we have to make the pressure count.

1 hour ago, Palfy said:

Dyche conceded 4 goals in his first 4 matches then 18 in his last 9 since replacing Coady with Keane, he keeps alluding that we are close to having all the players fit who won the Arsenal game as if that’s going to give us the best chance of staying up, so it will be interesting to see if Coleman is fit whether he stands by his words and he drops Keane and DCL to try and recreate his Arsenal achievement, it will be interesting to see if he has the balls to walk the walk and believe in his own rhetoric with his team selection if Coleman is fit, but looking at the stats it’s surely time to revert back to Coady, because the back 4 aren’t playing very well as a unit. 

Read the same thing in the Guardian, and was going to post something about that line, because on first look it really seemed to be an eye-opener. But on further inspection...

"Everton are in serious danger of being relegated for the first time since 1951, having collected one win from the past 10 games. Dyche claims there has been positive change since he replaced Frank Lampard, whose final 10 Premier League matches yielded five points with seven goals scored and 17 conceded. Dyche took six points from his opening three games but his record over the past 10 matches reads seven points won, eight goals scored and 20 conceded. Everton conceded four goals in Dyche’s first four games but have shipped 18 in nine matches since he replaced Conor Coady with Michael Keane in central defence."

When I think about it the stats look like this:

I don't know about anyone else, but except for the new manager bump where Dyche got us 6 points from his first 3 games, I don't see a huge difference here.  

Admittedly, there has been a marked improvement in attitude, we certainly don't, or at least in the main haven't been, folding over as soon as we go down, which was the hallmark of Lampard's final games. And with DCL coming back in perhaps there is hope that we will see an uptick in the goals scored column.

And OK, maybe that 0.2 points per game, and change in attitude, will turn out to be the difference in whether we go down or not.

But what these stats speak to me more than anything, and this goes back to those suggesting Dyche should be moved on - if you make a cake with the same ingredients you're gonna get very similar results.

There's no one going to come in and start get us challenging in the top half of the table without serious and proper reinvestment in the first team squad. The team itself is simply not fit for purpose. It needs rebuilding, and that will unfortunately take time and patience - something a lot of fans evidently lack. 

We're in a shit place, it took a minute to get here - it'll take a minute to get back out. 

I honestly think Leicester will stay up. If it's not Southampton, Leeds and Forest...then it'll be us and two of them.

3 minutes ago, Matt said:

Anyone know what the table looked like this time last year?

https://www.worldfootball.net/schedule/eng-premier-league-2021-2022-spieltag/34/

3 points from the Leicester game would put us top of what I'm calling the relegation league (pos. 16-20).

It would give us such a boost going into the final 4 games. Leaving it much more in our hands.

However, can't see it happening.

30 minutes ago, Palfy said:

So you’ve seen lack of attitude from the players under Dyche, can’t believe you have said that but please explain in more detail, because I’ve seen more attitude from the players than under any manager they’ve been involved with, there’s no lack of attitude or desire that I’ve seen. Looking forward to your response because I’m at loss to why you believe that. 

I agree. Under Dyche, the players have indeed shown more attitude and desire. I'm sorry if my post was misleading in this regard. In fact, that probably highlights the fact why we shouldn't be getting rid of the manager so quickly.

The point I was trying to allude to was that the squad (and board) needs an overhaul not the managerial staff (again). Or to put it another way, you can't keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. (You don't have to be Einstein to realise that.)

He's only been in the job a couple of months. And we all know that the real problem is not the manager.

These players have time and time again thrown managers under the bus with their attitude, or lack of. 

And it's the board's inept decision making that has turned the squad into the dross we currently have. Not least the suicidal decision not to buy a striker either last summer or in January.

But...whatever, let's change the manager again, because that's what's gonna sort this mess out!

4 minutes ago, Romey 1878 said:

What's happening Tuesday?

I'm presume it's the funeral procession

Embarrassing goal

Well you could argue the effort is there, but they must have left the quality on the coach.

Have to make this pressure count