Everton

[The_Steve]

Everton are going to struggle more than some realise. More mid table obscurity which is shocking given the money spent. No identity and full of those on high wages with long contracts. They have such a questionable defence and money has gone on more midfielders and attacking options. 

[Dixie]

Everton fan in peace here.

Fairly surprised at some of the views being expressed. Here’s the deal:

We were a top 7 team for long time under Moyes & into Martinez first season. Then recruitment went wrong. Martinez lost his way & was rightly sacked. Koeman came in, steadied things, then recruitment was wrong again (even more so than previously) & he was sacked. Allardyce was a nightmare. We’d have probably stayed up without him but his football was appalling and he was purely there for the money & didn’t care about or get the club. Then Marco Silva came in. Bad appointment, job was too big for him.

Then we hit the jackpot with Carlo Ancelotti. Great appointment, massive manager, won the lot. Except the midfield he had, well, it was terrible. That in turn put pressure on the defence and made them look far worse than what they are. Last season finishing 12th was our lowest league finish for 16 years & only the 4th time in 16 years we’ve finished outside the top 8. Carlo has come in & in 6 months realised the midfield was rubbish & has effectively replaced it. If you have a manager of his calibre you back him to the hilt otherwise there’s no point having him.

Rodriguez is a superstar who has won the lot & excels under Carlo. Allan was outstanding under Ancelotti at Napoli. These are both players the manager trusts. Doucoure is a good signing too. 99% of EFC fans are incredibly excited for the new season. We will be getting rid of the likes of Delph, Walcott & probably Sigurdsson & Davies. These are now surplus to requirements. Anything less than at the bare minimum 7th will be disappointing for this season. 
 

Regarding the defence - Michael Keane is a good player who’s made mistakes because he’s had no midfield helping him. Holgate is a promising young defender. Digne at left back is class. I don’t rate Pickford but it is what is; he had a bad season, maybe this season he will be better.

I wouldn’t be concerned about the wage bill. It’ll get cut and anyway, FFP is being relaxed this season.

Edited September 8, 2020 by Dixie

[siminjo]

No hate from me, i`m just very suprised that Everton spends massive amounts on fairly mediocore players, and then you buy old players on top of that on probably even higher wages. This is a road Villa have travelled down in the past, and well it really didn`t work out for us. I don`t see it as realistic that you can recoup any particular helpful amounts of money from sales, though Davies probably has some resale value. Unless you break through and atleast secure Europa league, and supporters are allowed back soon, i think Everton might be in some real economic difficulties come next summer. Before this summer window you already had 85 % of income going to wages, and thoose numbers probably don`t account for the full effects of Covid. 

[Dixie]

To be honest, I’m not really expecting us to recoup any meaningful money from sales. Just getting people off the wage bill is the aim. Regarding signing older players, this is the first time we’ve signed players in the 27-29 age bracket for many years. We usually sign younger players - Digne, Richarlison, Mina, Gomes, all 25 & under when signed. It’s not necessarily bad signing experience, especially when they’re as good as what we’ve signed. Everton fans aren’t really worried about the finances, we’re lucky to have Moshiri backing us. We’re also lucky in that the loss of matchday revenue makes up far less of our revenue than other clubs, who have been harder hit.

The wage bill will be trimmed, I’m absolutely certain of it.

Edited September 8, 2020 by Dixie

[Xela]

I completely forgot Delph was there! 

[VillaChris]

6 hours ago, The_Steve said:

Everton are going to struggle more than some realise. More mid table obscurity which is shocking given the money spent. No identity and full of those on high wages with long contracts. They have such a questionable defence and money has gone on more midfielders and attacking options. 

Very light at CB. Mina is frequently injured and it's just Keane (who's been exposed outside of Burnley's system) and Mason Holgate. I do like their full backs though, think Lucas Digne is one of the best in premier league and Seamus Coleman was back to his pre leg break form.

Really surprised they haven't got in a new keeper considering Ancelloti was criticising Pickford in the press end of last season.

[VillaChris]

4 hours ago, Dixie said:

Everton fan in peace here.

Fairly surprised at some of the views being expressed. Here’s the deal:

We were a top 7 team for long time under Moyes & into Martinez first season. Then recruitment went wrong. Martinez lost his way & was rightly sacked. Koeman came in, steadied things, then recruitment was wrong again (even more so than previously) & he was sacked. Allardyce was a nightmare. We’d have probably stayed up without him but his football was appalling and he was purely there for the money & didn’t care about or get the club. Then Marco Silva came in. Bad appointment, job was too big for him.

Then we hit the jackpot with Carlo Ancelotti. Great appointment, massive manager, won the lot. Except the midfield he had, well, it was terrible. That in turn put pressure on the defence and made them look far worse than what they are. Last season finishing 12th was our lowest league finish for 16 years & only the 4th time in 16 years we’ve finished outside the top 8. Carlo has come in & in 6 months realised the midfield was rubbish & has effectively replaced it. If you have a manager of his calibre you back him to the hilt otherwise there’s no point having him.

Rodriguez is a superstar who has won the lot & excels under Carlo. Allan was outstanding under Ancelotti at Napoli. These are both players the manager trusts. Doucoure is a good signing too. 99% of EFC fans are incredibly excited for the new season. We will be getting rid of the likes of Delph, Walcott & probably Sigurdsson & Davies. These are now surplus to requirements. Anything less than at the bare minimum 7th will be disappointing for this season. 
 

Regarding the defence - Michael Keane is a good player who’s made mistakes because he’s had no midfield helping him. Holgate is a promising young defender. Digne at left back is class. I don’t rate Pickford but it is what is; he had a bad season, maybe this season he will be better.

I wouldn’t be concerned about the wage bill. It’ll get cut and anyway, FFP is being relaxed this season.

Andre Gomes no good anymore after his leg break? I saw loads of him at Valencia and he's always been up and down with form and lacks confidence at times. I thought he did have a good run of form at some point at Everton (not at Villa Park though where he couldn't pass water).

Everton's big problem is always mentality and your recent seasons seem to be bookended by results v Liverpool. In 18/19 you actually had a decent opening 3 months under Marco Silva then you lost in 96th minute at Anfield to Origi goal and went on a terrible run up to March. Then you drew 0-0 at home to Liverpool and finished the season very strongly (had wins v Man. United, Chelsea and Arsenal at Goodison to end the season).

Actually was the opposite this season. Lost at Anfield in Silva's last game and big Dunc in caretaker role got the season going again and Ancelotti took it on. Then again drew 0-0 at home to Liverpool and that was basically your end of season given the quality of your performances against us, Wolves and Bournemouth.

For thread sanity I'll leave out analysis of the FA cup defeat.

[MaVilla]

11 hours ago, Dixie said:

To be honest, I’m not really expecting us to recoup any meaningful money from sales. Just getting people off the wage bill is the aim. Regarding signing older players, this is the first time we’ve signed players in the 27-29 age bracket for many years. We usually sign younger players - Digne, Richarlison, Mina, Gomes, all 25 & under when signed. It’s not necessarily bad signing experience, especially when they’re as good as what we’ve signed. Everton fans aren’t really worried about the finances, we’re lucky to have Moshiri backing us. We’re also lucky in that the loss of matchday revenue makes up far less of our revenue than other clubs, who have been harder hit.

The wage bill will be trimmed, I’m absolutely certain of it.

to be fair, on paper everton are going to have a very good team this season, will be interesting to watch them this season.

It does feel like some of your so called big players haven't performed well recently, but you additions have been impressive and it might help the others reach their potential.

would love to have richarlison, Rodriguez and digne here, all finances aside (as we probably couldn't or chose not to afford them right now)

Edited September 9, 2020 by MaVilla

[Zatman]

I think the issue with Everton has been for last few seasons people have tipped them for an outside run into European spots (me being guilty as well) that you just feel they will let you down

I think Villa fans have a healthy respect for Everton as a club as we have similar histories, a similar fight against the top 4 a decade ago and now a similar bad transfer policy of shitty contracts plus I think we all agree Delph is shit. Much prefer them than the scummy neighbours

[villa4europe]

agree with that, Everton with the size of the club and the fanbase started to fall victim of Sky's brilliant PL where everyone is competing and everyone can beat anyone and on the quiet they just became a bit of a nothing club, not sure how apathetic the fanbase is or if they buy in to this notion that they are getting better and with 1 or 2 signings or a bit of luck they'll be back up there

the next problem is the PL problem, what does "back up there" actually mean? they're miles off top 4, understand that 7 is the minimum expectation but I think that's a stretch

been making up the numbers for a long time now, as an outsider sometimes looking in id say they have a surprising lack of regard for the cups too, 2 Wembley appearances in 20 years (FA cup semi and final) we've been largely shit and had 7 I think

[Tomaszk]

16 hours ago, Dixie said:

Everton fan in peace here.

Fairly surprised at some of the views being expressed. Here’s the deal:

We were a top 7 team for long time under Moyes & into Martinez first season. Then recruitment went wrong. Martinez lost his way & was rightly sacked. Koeman came in, steadied things, then recruitment was wrong again (even more so than previously) & he was sacked. Allardyce was a nightmare. We’d have probably stayed up without him but his football was appalling and he was purely there for the money & didn’t care about or get the club. Then Marco Silva came in. Bad appointment, job was too big for him.

Then we hit the jackpot with Carlo Ancelotti. Great appointment, massive manager, won the lot. Except the midfield he had, well, it was terrible. That in turn put pressure on the defence and made them look far worse than what they are. Last season finishing 12th was our lowest league finish for 16 years & only the 4th time in 16 years we’ve finished outside the top 8. Carlo has come in & in 6 months realised the midfield was rubbish & has effectively replaced it. If you have a manager of his calibre you back him to the hilt otherwise there’s no point having him.

Rodriguez is a superstar who has won the lot & excels under Carlo. Allan was outstanding under Ancelotti at Napoli. These are both players the manager trusts. Doucoure is a good signing too. 99% of EFC fans are incredibly excited for the new season. We will be getting rid of the likes of Delph, Walcott & probably Sigurdsson & Davies. These are now surplus to requirements. Anything less than at the bare minimum 7th will be disappointing for this season. 

Regarding the defence - Michael Keane is a good player who’s made mistakes because he’s had no midfield helping him. Holgate is a promising young defender. Digne at left back is class. I don’t rate Pickford but it is what is; he had a bad season, maybe this season he will be better.

I wouldn’t be concerned about the wage bill. It’ll get cut and anyway, FFP is being relaxed this season.

How have you been able to spend so big in the last five years?

Your first XI on paper is going to be very very impressive. Allan and Doucoure in CM, good grief.

In the battle with Wolves in a race to seventh.

[penguin]

16 hours ago, Dixie said:

Everton fan in peace here.

Fairly surprised at some of the views being expressed. Here’s the deal:

We were a top 7 team for long time under Moyes & into Martinez first season. Then recruitment went wrong. Martinez lost his way & was rightly sacked. Koeman came in, steadied things, then recruitment was wrong again (even more so than previously) & he was sacked. Allardyce was a nightmare. We’d have probably stayed up without him but his football was appalling and he was purely there for the money & didn’t care about or get the club. Then Marco Silva came in. Bad appointment, job was too big for him.

Then we hit the jackpot with Carlo Ancelotti. Great appointment, massive manager, won the lot. Except the midfield he had, well, it was terrible. That in turn put pressure on the defence and made them look far worse than what they are. Last season finishing 12th was our lowest league finish for 16 years & only the 4th time in 16 years we’ve finished outside the top 8. Carlo has come in & in 6 months realised the midfield was rubbish & has effectively replaced it. If you have a manager of his calibre you back him to the hilt otherwise there’s no point having him.

Rodriguez is a superstar who has won the lot & excels under Carlo. Allan was outstanding under Ancelotti at Napoli. These are both players the manager trusts. Doucoure is a good signing too. 99% of EFC fans are incredibly excited for the new season. We will be getting rid of the likes of Delph, Walcott & probably Sigurdsson & Davies. These are now surplus to requirements. Anything less than at the bare minimum 7th will be disappointing for this season. 
 

Regarding the defence - Michael Keane is a good player who’s made mistakes because he’s had no midfield helping him. Holgate is a promising young defender. Digne at left back is class. I don’t rate Pickford but it is what is; he had a bad season, maybe this season he will be better.

I wouldn’t be concerned about the wage bill. It’ll get cut and anyway, FFP is being relaxed this season.

Is it that easy though, I can see you guys really struggling to shift much of the "dead-wood" as who's going to match their current wages? (Walcott's earning £100k a week?).

 

[The_Steve]

Absolutely wild wages if these figures are close to being true. Some names have left but Delph is on an outrageous amount. Granted Digne is an exceptional full back but there’s no way we are anywhere near that currently. 

• Bernard - (£6.24m/£120k)
• Yerry Mina - (£6.24m/£120k)
• Andre Gomes - (£5.835m/112k)
• Jordan Pickford - (£5.2m/£100k)
• Morgan Schneiderlin - (£5.2m/£100k)
• Gylfi Sigurdsson - (£5.2m/£100k)
• Theo Walcott - (£5.2m/£100k)
• Richarlison - (£4.8m/£90k)
• Lucas Digne - (£4.8m/£90k)
• Fabian Delph - (£4.16m/£90k)
• Yannick Bolasie - (£3.9m guaranteed salary) - on loan at Sporting Lisbon
• Seamus Coleman - (£3.64m/£70k)
• Leighton Baines - (£3.38m/£65k)
• Sandro Ramirez - (£3.38m guaranteed salary) - on loan at Real Valladolid
• Michael Keane - (£3.12m/£60k)
• Cenk Tosun - (£3.12m/£60k)
• Oumar Niasse - (£2.86m/£55k)
• Moise Kean - (£2.765m/£53k)
• Alex Iwobi - (£2.6m/£50k)

[Zatman]

Sandro Ramirez still on the books? Lansbury be proud of him 

[VillaChris]

4 hours ago, villa4europe said:

agree with that, Everton with the size of the club and the fanbase started to fall victim of Sky's brilliant PL where everyone is competing and everyone can beat anyone and on the quiet they just became a bit of a nothing club, not sure how apathetic the fanbase is or if they buy in to this notion that they are getting better and with 1 or 2 signings or a bit of luck they'll be back up there

the next problem is the PL problem, what does "back up there" actually mean? they're miles off top 4, understand that 7 is the minimum expectation but I think that's a stretch

been making up the numbers for a long time now, as an outsider sometimes looking in id say they have a surprising lack of regard for the cups too, 2 Wembley appearances in 20 years (FA cup semi and final) we've been largely shit and had 7 I think

They were rubbish in the 90s, constantly battling relegation nearly every season. They lack the mentality and grit they had in the Moyes era when they weren't amazing to watch but you knew you'd be in a tough game against them home and away. We obviously had some good battles with them when O'Neill was here and had good quality like Arteta, Pienaar and Cahill to balance out the graft.

Now it seems just a collection of players who've come in demotivated from bigger clubs (Walcott is the textbook example) with the odd good one like Digne and potentiall Richarlison if he can improve his finishing.                                                                                                               

[VillaChris]

27 minutes ago, Zatman said:

Sandro Ramirez still on the books? Lansbury be proud of him 

Been loaned out to Real Sociedad and Valladolid last two seasons, 3 league goals in that time so he's their Hogan.

[TrentVilla]

I like Everton, proper club and decent fans. One of my favourite away grounds as well.

[Genie]

Bit of a nothing club now. 

Edited September 9, 2020 by Genie

[blandy]

52 minutes ago, TrentVilla said:

I like Everton, proper club and decent fans. One of my favourite away grounds as well.

Yeah, they're a decent lot and it's a proper club, Everton. The ground though....I dunno. It's tired. Sure it has character, but a lot of the views are restricted, not just from the away section, but the whole Bullens & Gwladys lower in particular must have a heck of a lot of restricted view seats. And there's the pillars. And the concourse are is tatty and dilapidated and cramped. Of course it's still got that Old School atmosphere if their team's doing even half decent. But I can't say it's anywhere near to a favourite of mine. I'd miss it though, so I get your point.

[The_Steve]

2 hours ago, TrentVilla said:

I like Everton, proper club and decent fans. One of my favourite away grounds as well.

Always had a soft spot for Everton.