All the Hallmarks of a Death Spiral

This was same old, same old and it can’t continue any longer. Marco Silva’s position is rapidly becoming untenable, his status as Everton manager is in danger of being critically undermined by a stubborn refusal to change.

Lyndon Lloyd 05/10/2019 205comments  |  Jump to last
Burnley 1 - 0 Everton

Marco Silva needed to show something today — that he understood the problems that have underpinned what has been a horrendous start to the season; that in some ways he has the courage, desire and even capacity to change things up but that, more than anything, he understands the necessity.

What had gone before in the previous seven league games clearly was not working; it had become obvious to everyone… except, it seems, to the manager whose only nod to the clamour for something different came in the form of Alex Iwobi’s return to the starting XI on the left side. This was same old, same old and it can’t continue any longer.

The rigid, unchanging 4-2-3-1 system was retained, with Gylfi Sigurdsson, arguably the most glaringly under-achieving member of the team, deployed yet again in the No 10 role and, proving once again on the road to be a passenger in a dysfunctional team.

Morgan Schneiderlin partnered Fabian Delph as the dual holding midfielder unit that has been a millstone around Everton’s collective neck ever since it outlived its usefulness as a catch-all, full-time solution under Roberto Martinez… three managers ago.

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Up front, Dominic Calvert-Lewin kept the role of the isolated, fruitless lone striker before he was, predictably, taken off without having registered a shot on target in the customary reactive substitution after Everton had conceded.

So much about this match played out like a badly directed movie that you’re forced to watch on a weekly basis, the plot points, moves and characters all painfully familiar — the dead-end attempts to play out from the back before the inevitable boot forward from Jordan Pickford or a Blues defender; the flighted diagonal balls floating over the head of their designated target; the failure to find enough ways through the lines of the opponent’s low block; the lack of imagination or ingenuity from either the dugout or the field of play… the list goes on and it ended with another set-piece calamity that cost Everton a game they simply had to win.

Seamus Coleman’s red card, though… that was a different wrinkle but also entirely in keeping with this spiralling mess over which Silva is presiding. Two clumsy challenges with unintended consequences, the first a high foot that raked down Erik Pieters’s lower leg, the second surely avoidable by a captain with so much experience.

And yet, has a red card ever felt less consequential? Silva claimed that his side was on top when the Irishman was shown his second yellow card for catching Dwight O’Neil’s head on the follow-through with his shoulder but Everton were only superior in terms of possession which they again dominated with little to show for it. They might have won it somehow had they kept 11 men on the field but there wasn’t much difference to their play after referee Graham Scott had felt compelled to give Coleman his marching orders.

Their two real moments of incisiveness came either side of half time. First, Coleman dropped his shoulder brilliantly to sidestep his marker, Sigurdsson prodded his pass inside forward and Iwobi controlled before shooting on the turn but Matthew Lowton got his body in the way and deflected it wide of goal.

That came a few moments after O’Neil had had to clear from under his own crossbar when a corner from the right bounced off a team-mate and towards the goal-line.

Then, as the Blues showed flashes of what they’re capable of early in the second period, Iwobi led a neat passing move through midfield that ended with Richarlison driving a shot too close to Nick Pope in the Clarets’ goal.

Other than than, this was a tedious contest, epitomised by the two minutes of aimless long balls from both sides that served as its opening act and that had 0-0 written all over it until Jeff Hendrick punished the visitors for their almost juvenile ability not to heed a clear warning in the first half when the Irish international had almost scored from a deep corner but was foiled by Jordan Pickford’s right leg.

The England keeper was left stranded on the second occasion as Hendrick swung around at the back post and left completely open again by Everton’s zonal marking system to smash home the winner from the angle in the 72nd minute.

Moise Kean was introduced with a quarter of an hour to go and at least injected some direct running, attempted trickery and a little of the unpredictable to proceedings but, apart from Yerry Mina, who was comfortably the best player in blue on the day, the rest of the Everton side looked a beaten outfit as the match dragged to a close.

And so Evertonians head into the international break unsure of what might happen next. Five defeats from six and four Premier League losses in a row for the first time in five seasons is unacceptable form and it rightly puts Silva firmly in the crosshairs of both the inquest into what has gone wrong and what should be done about it.

Farhad Moshiri has suggested the club needs to show patience with and faith in the manager and Marcel Brands is believed to privately hold the same belief but Silva’s position is rapidly becoming untenable; like his two full-time predecessors, his status as Everton manager is in danger of being critically undermined by a stubborn refusal to change.

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Reader Comments (205)

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Neil Jones
1 Posted 06/10/2019 at 08:10:35
We all new before the season started that we need a CB with pace and a box to box midfielder and a striker who can put the ball in the net, Brands did not delivery on any he also needs to carry the can for what is a horribly start to a new season
Jason Lloyd
2 Posted 06/10/2019 at 08:19:45
Good article Lyndon.

The Board must now make a decision to stick or twist.

Stick with a manager who has a playing philosophy that concedes more goals from set pieces than any other. Dyche says set pieces are still 25-30% of goals.

Sticking with him means backing him in the transfer market in January. A proven striker and fast centre back is a necessity. Can we even survive to January?

Or will they twist and sack him? The best managers are under contract and will not be available. The only ones available are not employed for a reason.

Mourinho is not an option for Everton.
Very dark times for the club yet again. I don't think anyone can deny that there appears to be a bigger problem at club as to why we keep selecting poor managers and then when they get here the players don't perform.

Mike Kehoe
3 Posted 06/10/2019 at 08:24:48
I think the less reactionary feel it will take a few good windows to have the players we so obviously need at his disposal and that would be the time to judge. However, the stubborn refusal to change a system that consistently fails and keep faith with players whose form has been so poor is very frustrating and hard to accept. If things don’t change soon he will be gone and, as things stand, he can only blame himself.
Wonder what Moyes makes of it all?
Jerome Shields
4 Posted 06/10/2019 at 08:29:16
Jason#2

And there lies the problem.

Ken Kneale
5 Posted 06/10/2019 at 08:30:03
Lyndon. Another great piece of wordsmith. Our problem is the death spiral of Everton as well. Management at all levels hold collective blame and the ill advised mantra of the Kenwright/Moyes tenue around "plucky little Everton" have helped consign us to football backwater in my view. The employment of sub standard coaches is even more pronounced when a second rate journeyman and let's be honest with ourselves, that is what Marco Silva is, has arrived. His record between Everton, Hull manager and Watford in conceding 45 goals from set-pieces highlights his inability to both organise and importantly reflect and change. It also speaks volumes about the backbone and influence of his staff team. Someone somewhere needs to have an honest conversation with him.

Silva has stayed inside his dugout for the duration of the most game once we have fallen behind, - hand pockets looking crestfallen. What part of the art of leadership is that? No wonder the teams lacks combativeness and creativity.

Throughout his time as manager, Everton failed to create any real fluent and attacking style as he promised at first interview. Most games we are actually struggling to test the opposition keeper with any clear-cut chances.

We are in big trouble in my view. We have to act now to remove him and we need a manager with character to shake things up.

Gary Carter
6 Posted 06/10/2019 at 08:30:10
Has to go, not just because of the results but for his blindness to the fact his tactics don’t work and haven’t done for Hull or Watford either. He should never have been given the role in the first place, his record shows that and did before he was signed. He’s had more than enough time to iron out the problems we have and doesn’t, he doesn’t even trust in the thirty million pound striker he signed and chooses to play a striker that averages a goal every 8.5 games !
Put simply, if we keep him any longer we will end up relegated !
The board should this morning be on the phone to Mourinho, Allegri and Benitez asking them what they want to take over at our club. Proven winners with track records of winning that will kick this negative small club mentality out of Everton at every level !
Jim Bennings
7 Posted 06/10/2019 at 08:35:58
We can criticise Silva as much as we want, yes the lack of flexibility with team selection and the choice of players, reactive instead of proactive substitutes fall on his head, that’s true.

But for me Brands stock fell in the summer, regardless of the good work in summer 2018, he got it badly wrong this year.

We needed a central defender with pace, we waited too long for Zouma when by the middle of July it became apparent that Chelsea wanted to keep him there.

We needed a proven experienced striker that could play in difficult circumstances (we have needed one for two damn years) but we signed a kid that’s younger and more far more raw than DCL and frankly nowhere near ready to be starting as lone front man.

Everton must be the only club that signs strikers for big money yet never seems to have a clue what to do with them or even why they signed them.

We should have signed Moise Kean AFTER getting an experienced striker, that would have made perfect sense.

As it stands nobody knows where the goals are coming from in this Everton side.

There is no Lukaku there now who in bad times under Martinez or Koeman usually bailed us out against the lesser teams with bulldozer performances that just about seen us over the winning line.

Our away form is literally dreadful, we don’t score goals on the road, we keep conceding stupid soft goals.

We don’t resemble a team, we look static, boring, pedestrian and it’s a really difficult watch right now, it’s mind numbing if truth be told, slow motion football.

Moshiri can’t be happy, he headhunted Silva for 9 months and it’s going spectacularly tits up yet again just like the other expensive capture of Koeman, a manager with very little character or personality.

It’s nearly 18 months into Silva’s reign here and I’m still struggling to see what he’s trying to do, where is his own identity or game plan?

He just seems like yet another manager that can’t get his team scoring goals or attacking with any verve or cohesion, he won’t stray away from two holding midfielders ( why on God’s earth do we need Schneiderlin and Delph against Burnley?).

I believe his time here is very nearly up, if he doesn’t go before West Ham then I can’t see him being at the club past early November unless something miraculously changes but there’s little evidence of that happening right now.

The next appointment needs to be a man that has been there and done it, a man that suffers no fools and will command respect because of his Premier League record.

Stop scrimping on managerial appointments Moshiri and try and go right to the top man, no more “supposed to be’s “.

We’ve already frittered away too much money on average players and other teams castoffs, let’s not do the same with every managerial appointment.

David Greenwood
8 Posted 06/10/2019 at 08:39:30
Another great article Lyndon, bang on the money.

He has to go. There is no way back.

I firmly believe Brands has a plan in place and that Silva will be gone very soon.

Dick Fearon
9 Posted 06/10/2019 at 08:45:25
Lyndon, I fully agree with everything you said about Silvas' useless game plan. Since our chase for his signature I looked at his resum'e and wondered what all the fuss was about.
I also wonder when the penny will drop that having his fullbacks constantly racing down the wings only to gift the ball to defenders.
If we had a couple of exceptional headers of the ball that method might be succesful.
There is also the danger of our fullbacks leaving wide open spaces deep in the heart of our defence.
Silva In his post Burnley talk said we need to be more ruthless in attack. If that is the case why in hells name does he continually pick Calvert Lewin of whom a well known scouse might say, "ruthless my arse!"
With 10 team mates behind the ball DCL should be able to apply his mind and body on striking at goal. Instead he chases all over the pitch trying to do jobs vacated by his teamates.
Another sign of his bloody mindedness is that home or away and regardless of the opposition he plays with 2 defensive mids.
Bob Parrington
10 Posted 06/10/2019 at 08:50:10
Strange world this EPL. I predicted a loss and the sending off of one of our players in this game. Typical Everton bad luck still haunting us for some unknown reason. 30 or more years is a long time to endure it.

Still doesn't offer an excuse for the "once again" rotten start to the season. All that money spent and still nothing to show for it.

Give Silva until the end of October latest! I didn't expect to be writing that sentence this season.

Kunal Desai
11 Posted 06/10/2019 at 08:50:12
Get rid of the leeches at the top Kenwright and DBB notably. One has been sucking the lifeblood out of this club for decades. They offer zero value. Change the culture by bringing in people from the corporate world and can put strategic measures in place which can actually take the club forward.
Martin Berry
12 Posted 06/10/2019 at 08:51:48
An excellent piece, about a man who keeps repeating his failures yet will not change his philosophy.
Mark Dunford
13 Posted 06/10/2019 at 08:53:00
Huge risk either way. This is clearly bad relegation form - we’ve lost lamely to a series of, at best, mediocre teams. Our team doesn’t score despite a wealth of attacking talent, it can’t defend properly and it still plays endless tippy-tappy football that carries no threat. There seems to be no willingness to change and it is difficult argue that Silva doesn’t have decent players at his disposal- I accept we are one centre half short, but we do have cover in just about every position apart from there.

The recruitment of Boa Morte to replace the trusted number two who left appears to have had no positive benefit. If Silva goes, he’ll take the whole backroom set up with him and that is a major disruption. It isn’t just the manager who is going, it is the entire team he carries with him and the only reasonable time to make such a change is at the of the season. The dilemma now is whether the prospective disruption caused by dismissing Silva et al is likely to cause more good than harm despite the disruption.
Given where we are and the fixtures ahead, I’d say we should take advantage of the break if the Board know their preferred candidate and, more importantly, that he could be in post quickly with a team behind him. If not, I think Silva will be in post and we’re in for a
dreadful relegation battle under the guidance of a managerial set up that is not strong enough or flexible enough to cope with it.

Peter Neilson
14 Posted 06/10/2019 at 08:53:55
Can’t see Silva being here in January but the thought of blowing more cash with such a poor coach at the helm is frightening. Despite the summer transfer shortcomings he should be doing better with what he’s got. Start with ditching Gylfi.
John Boswell
15 Posted 06/10/2019 at 09:01:58
I recall that back in the good old days TV highlights were concentrated on one game only, followed by a round up of the other results on that Saturday afternnon.
I believe it would be beneficial for our coaching team to have a look at how we played and used our talent in those days. Yesterday at Burnley was turgid!
Derek Knox
16 Posted 06/10/2019 at 09:02:30
Good article Lyndon and as others have indicated pretty well bang on the money. Yes, I make no secret of my desire to have Silva deposed as soon as is possible. I still fail to see why he was head-hunted in the first place.

His track record in the Prem, is anything but glowing, in fact it has all the hallmarks of a serial failure, yet we still pursued him. I say we, that is not entirely correct, as many members including myself did not want him in the first instance.

I have said it before and will do again, Moshiri would not be where he is today financially without having some acumen, and yet while he has been with us, in the most part money has been squandered on both serious compensation for ill-suited Managers, and over-priced players.

It was patently obvious from the outset that Moshiri is not a footballing man, yet he has either been duped into flagrantly throwing vast sums of money away, or is somehow content to waste his millions.

Getting back to the sacking of Silva, which I hope is sooner rather than later, again he will be amply rewarded for failure, it beats me, what exactly is going on.

Gary Hughes
17 Posted 06/10/2019 at 09:07:40
Lyndon great piece again. I think the majority agree it’s time for a change. My only issue is who do we try and get. Some people on here are calling for Moyes to come back but surely that’s a step back. Hopefully Brands has someone in mind who can at least motivate a tired looking squad already. I don’t think all the fall out from the summer and not signing Zouma and Gana Gueye leaving was all down to Brands. They were out of his control but think he is to blame for not signing another center half. Whatever happens next is pivotal. Do we persist and hope like in 84 it changes or do we move on from the past and change the whole ethos of the club. I wouldn’t want to be the one making that decision.
Dave Abrahams
18 Posted 06/10/2019 at 09:08:55
Good article Lyndon, Silva just doesn’t realise how poor his tactics are, after last weeks loss to Man.City he said the performance proves that the previous games this season were only a blip, he really believes this.

As a previous poster said, one or two of his coaches should have an honest word with him, if they did they’d be earning some of their wages, they seem to be doing very little else.

I haven’t seen Burnley’s goal but from the description it looks like a replica of Sheffield Unt’s first goal the other week, with all the defenders watching the front of the six yard box and leaving the back of it without cover, Silva and his coaches are learning nothing and the same mistakes are allowed to be made game after game after game.

Changing the coaches so quickly undermines how the club is progressing, I understand that, and we have to start all over again, but I feel if we allow this manager to carry on we will be in very serious trouble.

Act now, those in charge of our club, or repent at your leisure, we fans have no part in what goes on but we certainly suffer the actions of what does go on.

Eddie Dunn
19 Posted 06/10/2019 at 09:21:33
Burnley away was a game we couldn't afford to lose. It was as predictable as the sun rising in the east. Our away record is dreadfull and our home form has crumbled. Fortress Goodison has it's portcullis open and our next game is against a resurgent West Ham.
The crowd will be restless and the atmosphere toxic.
Not the scenario that Moshiri would want.
When the investment is undermined to such a extent that our very PL survival is questioned, then the moneymen get worried.
The finger is surely on the trigger and the safety is now off.
I fear that Silva will get the West Ham game to turn it round but there must already be tentative contacts being made regarding his successor.
This season could still be saved with a fresh face with different tactics and we are still in both cups.
I hope the club can at the very least pop Unsworth in as a stand-by. Things really can't get any worse.
John McGimpsey
20 Posted 06/10/2019 at 09:26:18
There is an old saying "Buy shite buy twice" the whole first team staff are losers. Get shut quick and spend the money on the best who is sitting sunning his butt in Monaco a lot. The special one walking into Finch Farm would give the fans, the players a massive lump in the trouser area.
Come on Mosh get shut of these clowns. P.s. take that leach meltface on the front row of the stands and lash him in the river rant over
George McKane
21 Posted 06/10/2019 at 09:48:00
On this Sunday 1 Year ago I was laying in a hospital bed in Broadgreen - having had major heart surgery a few days earlier - lucky to be alive and with tubes everywhere - https://www.facebook.com/1580070248/posts/10217574615988811?sfns=mo - I was feeling better and woke early Sunday morning - saw that we had won 1-0 at Leicester - I asked the nurse if I could watch MOTD - the rest of the ward were still asleep - she put the TV next to my bed and I felt great seeing Everton win - a boost for my mending heart.
I don’t expect any of the Management or Players to think like me - nor do I say they don’t care - they are simply so far removed from us fans that I wonder if they know how it really feels to be a Blue just now.
The point is we - Evertonians - are full of passion, energy, belief, and creativity to find ways to watch our Team and yet this puerile band seem to not only lack any of these emotions but also appear not to care.
EFC right now represent to me an organisation caught up in money - so much so that the £ sign has dumbed their thinking - don’t plan and develop buy - and you get an organisation run on notebooks, Apps, iPads, flow charts and PowerPoint with no human passion, no real thinking and a total oblivion to how to change things - necessity is the mother of invention. I have witnessed this in my own industry - theatre and the arts - where courses in community arts let’ s in people with no knowledge of the community - no real belief - merely a stepping stone to something better/ more£.
Clear the place out - get a Big Henry to hoover all the garbage and fill the place with real Management (and I don’t only mean Silva) and real people with some understanding of who we are and what we stand for - two things that mean nothing right now.
I want My Everton.
Your friend George.
Jason Lloyd
22 Posted 06/10/2019 at 09:51:02
Let me repeat this.

Mourinho will not come to Everton for two reasons.

The scale of the club does not match his ambitions. He wants a club where he thinks he has the resources to win the league and compete, Everton doesn't.

The second reason is he knows the club is mismanaged by a lovee theatre twat and is not a credible business entity or footfall club. We are Soyboy Lover FC with no guts or determination to be winners.

Tony Everan
23 Posted 06/10/2019 at 09:51:30
Well summed up Lyndon, I felt your trepidation after the team sheet was announced yesterday. As most Evertonians did.

Yesterday was an opportunity to show he can remedy the inherent problems and motivate the players.

Neither happened. Same old ineffective performance. Sterile and insipid. No improvement and palpable regression.

Quality players under-performing in poor formations and under-motivated. We have a ''team'' that is dramatically less than the sum of its parts. And that is damning for a manager , as that is task no1.

Yesterday snuffed out hope that he can orchestrate an improvement. After 3 league defeats on the trot it was all on the line yesterday.

Can anyone say they have confidence in him after what we saw?

Trevor Peers
24 Posted 06/10/2019 at 09:58:01
All football clubs are run by owners who are effectively dictators, we have no say in who they appoint to any position in the club ( all pretty obvious ). The owner deservedly comes under scrutiny when results are so bad the team ends up in the bottom six. Continuing with the same manager isn't really an option, unless the owner is a fool and I doubt Moshiri is.

Everton are no different to any other team in this respect, the only thing that separates the successful teams from the rest is the manager and the amount of money at his disposal. If we stick with this manager Moshiri deserves whatever hardship that comes his way and it will. He can only keep trying with a great deal of help to pick a successful manager. If Moshiri does get it right and results improve with a manager who has a good win ratio, all this talk of something being wrong at management level would vanish overnight.

Rory Grant
25 Posted 06/10/2019 at 10:00:51
Silva as manager is not anymore worth of mention. Now focus is solely on Brands and Moshiri. How prepared, if at all, they were for this scenario? How deep into relegation battle they want us to be before accepting reality?

Next manager is not so much about the manager itself but about Brands and his professionalism.
Proven, experienced, tactically astute and a tough manager. Don't care who he is, RS connections or likeability. Don't really care if he is there for years or just 1 or 2 but the rot has to stop now.
Players must simply prove that they are worth the money paid. If not get rid.

Don't really care about Top 6, CL or other things as we are in relegation form. Must turn the trajectory upwards and become a team to be taken seriously once more. That's all I need for now.

Paul Kennedy
26 Posted 06/10/2019 at 10:07:21
I was hoping to read he had gone!

Just like Everton to let you down again!!!!

Joey Crawley
27 Posted 06/10/2019 at 10:08:58
The Mosh needs to get on the blower to the Special One now before he sees his 500 million investment go up in smoke, Jose would love this job, he’d do it for a modest sum, he needs to be back in action with a team he can take from the no hopers we are today to the winners we could be, it’s not difficult to sell him the project, new stadium, big kitty and a chance to repair his fractured legacy in the PL, he’d be a bloody fool not to jump at the chance to get the Royal Blue back to the top, make us Dream again Moshiri, please god go get him coz we’re dying inside, ahhhhhh!
Kevin Molloy
28 Posted 06/10/2019 at 10:10:21
I don't think it's anything to do with gameplans or tactics. He is clearly quite a knowledgeable coach, I'm sure the tactics down at FF are very clever clever. What he manifestly is not is a leader. That is a pretty essential quality in a manager. Peter Reid said he would have run through a brick wall for Howard Kendall. Sigurdsson wouldn't run through a field of wheat for this guy
Mike Kehoe
29 Posted 06/10/2019 at 10:16:14
Would prospective managers consider Everton an attractive proposition? Sure there is money to spend and potential, a ground move that may happen at some point, but does anyone think a top name would be willing to take the chance? On the evidence of the past few seasons, where potentially good managers - other than Allardyce- have been recruited, I think not. There is no way the likes of Mourinho will be watching with any kind of interest as he will replace Zidane soon and his last outing hardly inspires confidence; as for the other names that are usually put forwarded, Simeone, Ancelloti, Benitez, etc why would they ever consider Everton and risk their reputations, beyond the obvious financial rewards? The really frustrating thing with Silva and Martinez before him is their dedication to ignoring the glaringly obvious and steadfast belief that their way will eventually prevail, in spite of results and performances and reality. The tactical nativity displayed by Silva would be shocking if it wasn’t so predictable and consistent, which is brought into sharp focus when you look at the likes of Sheffield United, Villa and Bournemouth who are merely organised and play to their relatively limited strengths. We don’t need a genius, just someone who can identify a problem and react.
There are no princes waiting to save us, just frogs with no tactical awareness.
Dave Williams
30 Posted 06/10/2019 at 10:20:25
He will act on this. With BMD on the horizon he cannot contemplate relegation and the loss of Sky money let alone the inevitable drop in attendances and damage to our profile.
I cannot understand why he pursued Silva like he did. Never remotely successful in the UK and never worked in a big league overseas. Someone, maybe an agent, must have got inside his head telling him Silva was the next big thing. Very strange.
If we change now we still have a big chunk of the season to turn things around and I think we have a talented squad with which to do this but they need someone to breeze in and get them to immediately buy in to new ideas and a fresh new approach. Look what Klopp has done across the park- he is their manager so I naturally can’t stand him but he is exactly what our club needs. We can’t get him of course but there must be others around who can take control of a squad and get them to play for him. I think Silva has shown that he can’t.
Tony Abrahams
31 Posted 06/10/2019 at 10:26:37
A very good article that I wish you didn’t have to write Lyndon.

I very rarely agree with Jim Bennings, but his paragraph starting with “we don’t resemble a team” is exactly how I feel right now. I stopped travelling away once Koeman came, and I feel that it’s only “out of duty” why I’m watching Everton play at the minute.

Everton is life to a lot of people, some come out of a major operation, and want to know how “there team” have got on, (I wish they had your spirit George, and I’m glad you pulled through mate) and you only have to look at the Dixie-Dean statue, to see how many people take Everton to the grave, but it seems so soulless at the minute, especially out on the pitch were we have a team full of Zombies, who react to nothing, especially when they see a bit of space.

Tony Everan
32 Posted 06/10/2019 at 10:27:21
Rory 25

''Next manager is not so much about the manager itself but about Brands and his professionalism.
Proven, experienced, tactically astute and a tough manager. Don't care who he is, RS connections or likeability.''

You are advocating Rafa

I agree that Benitez, whilst there will be many reservations, is the safest bet and fulfills your perfectly worded criteria.

Furthermore, I think the reservations would be cast aside if he gave us our pride back and got us playing like a proper football team.

Neil Rogers
33 Posted 06/10/2019 at 10:27:34
Yet again another shameful performance. Silva has no idea whatsoever and has no Plan B. He has to go asap.

Also, I'm starting to doubt Brands; the signings he has made have been very very poor. Not buying a centre-back and goalscoring striker is unbelievable.

I honestly think, if Silva stays, we will go down. I've been saying for three years now we should have gone for Benitez. A proven winner who did wonders at Newcastle.

Bobby Thomas
34 Posted 06/10/2019 at 10:34:43
If we the fans are sick of the formation and tactics then imagine how the players feel. It's pointless. And they know it.

3 out of the next 4 are at home, to stabilise things and save his job. But long term, this is pointless. He doesn't inspire. Anyone.

I acknowledge he has been let down at centre back and after losing Gana then the injury to Gbamin is unlucky but - we don't have enough options in mid anyway and that's on him.

Long term, Everton need someone that can rehabilitate the mindset of the club and dressing room. We need a heavy hitter with a track record. Bielsa is very gettable.

Joe McMahon
35 Posted 06/10/2019 at 10:43:25
David @8, have you any inside knowledge to back this up? If not then non of us have any idea of what goes on at this Basket Case shambles of a football club. The People's Cub
Tony Abrahams
36 Posted 06/10/2019 at 10:47:05
Good point Bobby, and that’s why I am calling the players fuckin zombies.

First deep corner, we got lucky, second deep corner, same player still unmarked, goal.

Blame the manager for the sterile tactics, but the players have got to take more of the blame imo, because they are not showing any personal pride whatsoever.

Brent Stephens
37 Posted 06/10/2019 at 10:48:47
"the dead-end attempts to play out from the back before the inevitable boot forward from Jordan Pickford or a Blues defender; the flighted diagonal balls floating over the head of their designated target; the failure to find enough ways through the lines of the opponent’s low block; the lack of imagination or ingenuity from either the dugout or the field of play"

I posted pretty much the same thing only last week. It was a walk in the park for us again yesterday - with the emphasis on walk. I stood for 90 minutes without a single moment of excitement for me. It's the same old birthday present from that uncle that you know you'll be getting again and again - a pair of socks that will just go to the back of the drawer. My drawer is getting full of these "socks". Only 8 games into the season (eight!) and we're 17 points (seventeen!) adrift of the top spot.

Pat Kelly
38 Posted 06/10/2019 at 10:51:47
The picture above the article says it all. How often have we seen Silva looking like that, a beaten man with no ideas. What message does he send the players on the pitch. He gives up and sits down. The players do likewise.
Clive Rogers
39 Posted 06/10/2019 at 11:06:10
It’s time to ditch Shneiderlin, Sigurdsson and DCL. Gomes and Gbamin should be available soon and Kean must be given a run of games to acclimatise to the PL. DCL has had long enough and just doesn’t look like a striker. Game after game he never threatens the goal. Time also for Gordon to be given a chance, even if from the bench. From what I have read, he would bring creativity.
George McKane
40 Posted 06/10/2019 at 11:06:19
Like a rolling stone
A like a rolling stone
Like Zonal marking and 433
And the BBC, BB King
And The Lone Ranger
Dixie Dean
Dig it, dig it, dig it
Dig it, dig it, dig it, dig it, dig it, dig it, dig it, dig it
"That was 'Can You Dig It' by Georgie Wood.
And now we'd like to do 'Hark The Angels Come'."
Neil Cremin
41 Posted 06/10/2019 at 11:06:32
Two comments.
Mourinho is not the answer, one he does not build teams with players who are available but only builds teams through the transfer market. Our pockets are not that deep.
We need a tactically astute manager. Benitez is an option. I remember two years ago I advocated we consider an English manager plying his trade in Sweden a certain Graham Potter. I got laughed out of it with comments on wands etc. Look at MOD and see how he tactically destroyed Spurs. I think we missed the boat.
As for replacements, we will look for the lower cost of option of Howe or Dyches most likely and still be in this position in a years time.
I believe we have the players but we do not have a manager who is an inspiring leader, tactically astute and capable of motivating his players. (He is no Klopp)
Fran Mitchell
42 Posted 06/10/2019 at 11:07:08
The sad reality is that Silva has been manager for 46 premier League Games for this club, and apart from about 6-7 games, we have looked woefully unprepared.

Tactics, poor. Selections, predictable. Substitutions, amateurish. Movement, slow. Defence, disorganized. Attack, impotent.

Poor, poor, poor, in every department. Any suggestion of 'giving time' is pathetic.

We are supposed to be targeting Europe, and once again, our hope is to rescue a disaster to make mid table and 'start again' next season. All the while, our neighbours dominate Europe, and our rivals like West Ham, and especially Leicester, make advances.

Silva has failed, it is over.

Marcelino - Rudy Garcia - Blanc - Allegri -Mourinho are all top managers who are out of contract - maybe they would reject us, but we can at least try.

Vieira (nice) - Arteta (asst City) - Marsch (R.B. salzburg) are all highly rated, albeit untested managers.

Howe is a talented manager who may develop at a bigger club - considering Bournemouth have a 11,000 average attendance, it is a miracle where they are.

I'd have any one of those ahead of this joke of a manager. His next job will be in Greece or Turkey, about his level.

Jim Bennings
43 Posted 06/10/2019 at 11:09:58
I may also add that I don’t think this current squad is as good as some people think it is.

There’s a lack of pace in defence, the persistent playing of Coleman on memory despite it being clear he can’t perform up and down like he used to is a weakness to us.

The midfield lacks any kind of creativity or pace, not a single central midfielder at our club could greatly outrun a tortoise.

The wide areas are another soft spot, Richarlison is no more a wide player than Bilyaletdinov was under Moyes.

Whilst Iwobi looks completely lost out wide and doesn’t get involved enough, then there’s Bernard who has the ability to link up well with Digne but he doesn’t really pack enough of a punch.

Up top we have zero options to get me really excited that we could torment opposing defences.

So whoever comes in looks like again inheriting a very lopsided mediocre bunch of average “hyped up before achieving that much” players.

Good luck with Everton of 2019/20

Tony Abrahams
44 Posted 06/10/2019 at 11:16:16
Good points about Mouriniho, Neil, but I’m not sure he would have had a fortune to spend at Porto?

Maybe Jose, is ready to go back to his beginnings, maybe not, but even though every managerial appointment is a gamble, and although Silva is still here, you can’t say there are not some very good managers out of work at the minute, and some with very big points to prove as well?

Tony Abrahams
45 Posted 06/10/2019 at 11:22:00
Tweaks to both the tactics and the personnel would change a lot of things imo Jim, and after reading some of Ian Latchford’s posts on T/W recently, then I can’t believe more people are not advocating Arsenal Wenger, who I’m sure Moshiri, had hoped Silva could replicate, when he identified him as the man?
Martin Mason
46 Posted 06/10/2019 at 11:25:56
Serious times indeed and it's maybe a spiral we can't get out of. We have no excuses now as we have money and having 3 successive managerial failures and a continuing and visible deterioration in skill and spirit seems to show a much deeper malaise at the club. United went down in their day despite everything going their way. We have no right to stay up because of our history, we are in serious danger of relegation if not this year then just a matter of time and changing managers will give us no guarantee of improvement just ever mounting risk. Keeping Silva is a dreadful option though, he is finished and looks like a beaten cur not a top manager.
Brian Harrison
47 Posted 06/10/2019 at 11:27:25
I doubt if even the most pessimistic Evertonian would have envisaged us being in 17th place after 8 league games, especially as the run of fixtures we have had were not that difficult. With all the optimism that surrounded our good finish to last season, but maybe we should have had concerns with what happened in the summer break.

First his assistant Jao Pedro Sousa who had been with Silva throughout his managerial career left to take over Portuguese side Famalicao, and is doing very well there so far. How much of an impact it had on Silva and the players, I don't know, and how is Luis Boa Morte fitting in or not. Then there was the disastrous decision to sell Gana Gueye, who was so integral to the way the team played. He has a terrific engine that allowed his other denfensive midfield player to push further forward in the knowledge that Gueye would be there to cover. Gana was top of the stats in the Premier league for tackles won and also very high up on ground covered per game and the number of interceptions. So why with years left on his contract was he sold and who was it that sanctioned the move. I can only assume it wasnt Silva as he was still saying days before the transfer was completed he was doing everything to convince Gana to stay. So it must have been Brands or Kenwright or Moshiri.

I know some will say that it was his dream to play for PSG, but we were under no pressure to sell, and even Gana himself said he thought the chance to play for PSG had gone when Everton turned the move down in the January window. We should have said categorically that he wasnt for sale then or in the summer.

Brands brought in Delph and Gbamin, but neither has the pace or the engine of Gana, and even more worrying Gbamins agent who he has had since he was 15 is suggesting we will get the best out of him by playing him at centre back.

I am not convinced that Brands is as good as some on here make out, mind I may be biased as I don't like the role of DOF and to make him a director within 12 months of joining the club seemed over the top to me. But lets look at what he has bought so far, Digne, Bernard, Mina,Delph, Gbamin, Kean and Iwobi. Well Digne is the best but you have to question some of the other signings. This team was crying out for a top class striker as towards the back end Silva had stopped us conceding goals and we just needed to add more firepower up front. But instead of getting that top class striker Brands brings in a very young Italian striker in Kean. This boy may turn out to be a terrific striker in time but this was bordering on madness to expect a player so young to hit the ground running without knowing the league the language or the toughness of the Premier league. Even the great Henry struggled at Arsenal in his first year and he was much more experienced that Kean. Zouma had stated all along he would be returning to Chelsea and with a transfer ban and a young manager he would be given a chance which he has been given. But knowing this Brands failed to bring in a centre back.

Added to these woes Silva couldnt envisage that his 2 main goalscorers from last season would start in such poor form, and certainly Sigurdson looks nothing like the player from last season.

So in conclusion we have an owner who has backed all his managers with lots of money but sadly doesnt have the ability to hire the right person. A DOF who hasnt even met the brief of what the fans were asking for at the end of last season a top striker and another centre back. And a manager who looks incapable of turning these players into something resembling a half decent team.

Christy Ring
48 Posted 06/10/2019 at 11:29:06
Great article Lyndon, looking at our toothless performance yesterday, yet again, and the same game plan, and tactics by Silva, for our 4th loss in a row, in the Premiership, he has to be sacked now. As for Brands, I know he got rid of a lot of deadwood, but not buying a centreback, after losing Jagielka and Zouma, and buying a 19 year old, to be the answer to our striker problem, were very poor decisions, which has cost us dearly.
Barry Gibbs
49 Posted 06/10/2019 at 11:30:46
The club has lost its identity and any semblance of the direction it intends to go.

The problem is there is no-one left who cares. The players don't care. If they underperform for us, they will just go somewhere else and do exactly the same.

Our last three managers have not been invested in the club, always with one eye on something bigger or better, and all of which have lost their jobs through stubborness and a failure to change when things aren't working.

Things on the pitch are as bad as they have been for a long time. We have a keeper who acts like a clown, a back four that can't stop conceding, a midfield seriously lacking in creativity and a forward line that has a hand full of goals (at best).

I never thought I'd say it but I'd have Moyes back (and I know I'll get stick for it). I thought we were past those days, but sadly we are not. We are not a good team, we are poorly managed and do not appear a good prospect for anyone.

No doubt our next manager will be someone who tries to play attractive football, but ultimately can't set a team up to defend and won't ever deviate from their 'masterplan'.

I understand why there is so much apathy to the club. I myself stopped going the match awhile ago. I got bored of constantly feeling let down by what was in front of me.

The title of the article is All the Hallmarks of a Death Spiral. Sadly I think it's true, but not for the manager.

Graham Coldron
50 Posted 06/10/2019 at 11:35:17
Bob@10 I also predicted a defeat and a player sent off.My only slight doubt that the game was not televised on Sky in which case there would probably an own goal or possibly two.The bad luck you mention appears to be a constant theme in our history going back to the Tony Kay episode, the 71 far cup semi final, the 77 league cup finals and others too numerous to mention.Back to the present Silva has to go.
Neil Cremin
51 Posted 06/10/2019 at 11:42:32
Accepted Tony but that was when he made his name and had a very talented squad where many went on to play with the big clubs in europe.
What Jose would bring is defensive stability and a belief that football is about winning games not about entertainment. In some ways I thinks he is a very sophisticated Big Sam or the former George Graham manager of BBA (Boring Boring Arsenal).
Either way, at the moment I would take anybody who would lift my bad mood every Saturday at 16:50.
John Kavanagh
52 Posted 06/10/2019 at 11:42:48
Jim @ 7. The problem is we haven't scrimped on managers - we've paid top dollar for crap. Once Silva is booted out (hopefully before it's too late) we will have paid out about £30 million in compensation alone - funding the Dutch and Belgian international set ups in the process. Our scouting for managers has been appalling. It's not a question of big names or even big money, but one of getting the right fit.

As for the players; Schneiderlin should have been booted out (along with Mirallas) after the training ground incident during Unsworth's spell. He's a Jonah in this squad - look at the performances/results with and without Schneiderlin. Sigurdsson can stay in Iceland after the current break - he is only bothered putting in performances for them. We're just the mugs who pay his wages. Harsh maybe, but he was a very poor buy. Walcott - say no more. Sadly, Seamus' legs have gone - he simply can't get forward and backtrack effectively any more - the sending off resulted from that.

It's time one or two of the kids got a chance to prove themselves - the failure to have Gordon even on the bench for the Wednesday match spoke volumes about how Silva will persist with useless players/tactics until it's too late. Give Silva till January and he will deliver - a place in the Championship. Get shut before the end of the month and we have a fighting chance of turning things round.

Knowing Everton, we will boot Silva out end November when we are on 10-12 points and instruct Unsworth to take over again as caretaker - promising him the job if he wins most of December's fixtures.

Paul Birmingham
53 Posted 06/10/2019 at 11:49:08
This chronic malaise at EFC, is terminal and the last 30 years by and large has been dire and very painful.

There’s no shame in defeat when you’ve given your best.

For me now this squad has lost all cohesion and belief. It’s the most boring slow football I’ve seen by an Everton team, and tactically flawed.

The team have lost the plot, I hope there’s no players stating in the media, “time to atone”, they are permanently in atonement.

This form is relegation form and I reckon, Marco Silva has now lost any vestige of hope and goodwill from most supporters.

A defeat by West Ham, could be the end but even a victory will paper over the cracks.

Time to start recovery plans and Moshiri, BK, and Marcel Brands have to get their act together, and face reality.

A cure is needed quick for this terminal malaise, as another broken dream, is closing and a life time of broken dreams, for many Evertonians.

It’s sad when the reality of being an Evertonian, now is that you don’t expect any decent consistent football and never expect to win, many games, and little flair and style, it’s so slow and pedestrian.

Lincoln was a struggle, Wolves we were lucky.. Burnley played like a team, heart and guts. This team has lost its soul.

What pans out the next few weeks, only time will telll.

Tony Abrahams
54 Posted 06/10/2019 at 11:52:33
The money Everton have spent on hiring and firing managers since Moshiri came in is absolutely staggering.

Scary, scary stuff, Hugh amounts of money, only for the next man to come in and want to sign different players, and load the club up with even more dead-wood once again?

I think that this is the first summer we have really balanced the books since Moshiri took over the ownership? And this is what worries me now.

Ian Pilkington
55 Posted 06/10/2019 at 11:58:38
Another great article Lyndon and a particularly thoughtful response from Brian @47.
Silva must go immediately, we can’t wait a fortnight for yet another “must win”, “last chance” game v West Ham, plus we are still in the Carabao Cup.
Brands, who to be fair, appeared to have no input in the appalling decision to appoint Silva, has to save his own job and we can only hope he makes the right choice.
Derek Taylor
56 Posted 06/10/2019 at 11:59:07
Of course Silva should go - for all the reasons stated above as well as on other threads. But will he go? Now that's another question.

Personally, I think two things will save him. Moshiri's pride and the need to conserve funds for the BM project. After all his persistence to hook the manager from Watford almost at any cost, the owner will be loathe to admit he's got it wrong. Again. And given how much dough he's squandered on getting rid of Martinez, Koeman and Allardyce and their extensive list of helpers, another golden goodbye will not be on his agenda. Or in the budget.

And then, if relegation doesn't scarper the stadium project - just like at Arsenal and Spurs the supply of funds for football projects will dry up very considerably.

So, as we await the inevitable vote of confidence in yet another no-hoper, we might as well put the keyboards away until at least next summer and hope and pray that things will improve.

Sorry folks !

Paul Le Marinel
57 Posted 06/10/2019 at 12:01:33
I have just read an article on the BBC Sport website and Marco Silva pretty much said that he can turn things around.

Its all well and good him saying that we have to do this and we have to do that, but the fact remains that he can't get the team to perform and his managerial methods are putting us worryingly too close to the relegation zone.

I really don't think he is the right manager for Everton and he doesn't have it in him, to take us forward and win trophies. He cannot bring a winning mentality to the team, he is running our club into the ground, I wouldn't give him one more game in charge and now is the time to sack him.

Trevor Powell
58 Posted 06/10/2019 at 12:05:47
We are back to the start of Koeman's second season. Koeman had money spent for him and then had to read an early fixture list where the Blues had the top six sides in the first seven games with only Stoke at home as any relief. This came after a Europa League qualifying campaign affecting pre-season training. Koeman's defenders could point to this in his defence!

This is Silva's second season with the complete opposite fixture list, with six potential bottom half finishers (or even relegation candidates) with the only top six opposition being the champions at home, and no unnecessary distraction of the Europa League.

We all know how it ended for Koeman!

Jimmy Hogan
59 Posted 06/10/2019 at 12:09:07
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result
Rob Halligan
60 Posted 06/10/2019 at 12:14:57
Silva is as stubborn as Koeman was with regards to tactics. Koeman would never play width despite having the players who could play wide. The game under Koeman was too narrow. With Silva it's his stubbornness to stick with zonal marking and playing dangerously across the back line instead of getting the ball forward a lot quicker. How many times have we seen free kicks end up back with Pickford? When we have a chance of a quick break, we don't take the opportunity to do so, and so we give the opposition time to get back and set up to defend.

I do think we have a good squad capable of challenging the top six, but it's the way we set up and play which is crippling us. If Silva came out and said he would drop zonal marking, change formation and only play one defensive midfielder, then I'd be prepared to give him a chance, but I don't think he will change, so unfortunately it's time to bring someone in who will change things.

Jim Bennings
61 Posted 06/10/2019 at 12:19:36
Koeman was very similar yes in that he refused to play width.

If only we could get a manager with Martinez attacking prowess and Moyes defensive capabilities and marry the two together we’d be in very safe hands.

Michael Lynch
62 Posted 06/10/2019 at 12:23:41
Just a word about zonal marking - I seem to remember Kevin Ratcliffe saying somewhere that our title winning teams always used zonal marking. Rafa, who is being mooted on here by many as our saviour - doesn't he use zonal marking?

Basically, what I'm suggesting is that it's possibly not the system that's at fault. It's either the players or the coaching, or both. As we've had a reasonably settled side, it can't be down to unfamiliarity with each other, so either the players are really stupid, or they're not being drilled and taught properly. Or both.

Tony Everan
63 Posted 06/10/2019 at 12:24:00
Silva saying ''I can turn things around'', could be translated as, ''I'm going nowhere without a full contractual payoff''.

He has been given a chance to turn things around already and failed abysmally. Confidence in him to ''turn it around'' isn't low, what lingering hopes there were have been categorically extinguished yesterday.

How anyone can believe he has the capability to turn it around is beyond me now. If Moshiri backs him for October, talk about being on borrowed time.

Tony Abrahams
64 Posted 06/10/2019 at 12:33:36
Yeah Jim, a cross between Moyes and Martinez would do, 14 years wasn't enough between them, let's give us some more!
Ken Kneale
65 Posted 06/10/2019 at 12:36:06
Brian 47 a thoughtful summary. It makes depressing reading but sadly is our current plight.
Nicholas Ryan
66 Posted 06/10/2019 at 12:37:36
Saaaaaaaaaaam!!!
Jim Wilson
67 Posted 06/10/2019 at 12:41:08
Silva is not up to it.
His appointment was ridiculous.
Silva has no clue.
The board haven't a clue.
We have installed yet another management team, we have had another clear out of players and made more signings and yet we are as poor as ever.
I am fed up of saying it. The manager is everything. If the manager is not up to it all the structure in the world, all the money in the world counts for nothing.

We must bring in a big manager, with a big personality, he needs to get the best out of what we have, shape a balanced team, stop making constant changes and we need to become hard to beat.

The good football can come later.

We have some really good players, its now about gelling it all together.
But what we do need to find is a leader on the pitch, a character player, who will boss the players on the pitch. He does not have to be a young player, constantly looking for young players is also stupid. We need experience.

Rick Tarleton
68 Posted 06/10/2019 at 12:42:05
I repeat, the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result. We are set up to have possession, but only in our own half. We haven't the players to execute zonal marking effectively, yet we persist with it.
Total insanity on Silva's part.
Rob Halligan
69 Posted 06/10/2019 at 12:52:52
Nick, # 66. Please tell me you're joking? If not I'll get John Robbo onto you!!
Barry Thompson
70 Posted 06/10/2019 at 13:13:41
I think all ToffeeWebbers are well versed as to the ‘definition of insanity’ by now given the number of posters who keep reminding us. Is there not the slightest hint of irony here in that it keeps getting quoted with exactly the same result.
Rick Tarleton
71 Posted 06/10/2019 at 13:14:05
If you sign players from Barcelona or Juventus, they are going to have a weakness. Digne is the best, but defensively as a full back he is very average. Kean may develop into an excellent player, but if he had that potential, one wonders why Juventus sold him.
Silva has signed so many wide players, Koeman was obsessed with number 10s. Can't we have a manager or Director of Football who assesses what we need and signs them rather than a reserve from a bigger club who happens to be available. Iwobi's not a bad player, but he wasn't needed and isn't an obvious improvement on what we already had.
Silva is lost and more importantly, he hasn't the nous to disguise how lost he is. He keeps repeating the same formations and the same tactics when they are manifestly not working. He has an idea of how to play that needs totally different players to the ones we have. He cannot therefore solve the problem.
Tony Twist
72 Posted 06/10/2019 at 13:24:01
It will all be very interesting, if it happens. I don't think Silva was picked by Brands, I think it was the majority shareholder and chairman's choice. It was a Martinez moment yet again with lots of us identifying the negatives of getting such a coach but quietly confident that people knew what they were doing. How wrong we were. This coach is just flawed, he thinks he can sort it, given time, I am sick of those sorts of statements. There are twenty four hours in a day, lots of time each day to sort out the December mess of last year, it took an absolute age until we were out of contention, out of the cups and with the only pressure being winning a game of football for it to improve. This will now be the making or breaking of Brands as at the moment he is squeaky clean and avoiding the fire, we await his reaction. I ain't holding my breath.
Derek Knox
73 Posted 06/10/2019 at 13:58:20
Tony @72, I think you're right there regarding Silva's appointment having nothing to do with M Brands, because it was after we found out about Silva being the ' chosen one ' (God Forbid) that Brands' appointment was even mentioned.

Many people are still quick to blame Brands for it, as the transfer of Gana Gueye to PSG, but if a player wants to move these days the contract is rarely adhered to in respect of time. He is also blamed for the lack of a recognised Striker and CB, possibly so!

As I understand, an agreement was all in place for us to get Fikayo Tomori from Chelsea, as they wanted to hang on to the experience of Zouma, with their transfer ban in place. I would imagine the idea was for Tomori to return and we could get Zouma next summer.

David Luiz jumping ship to Arsenal at the vinegar stroke of the window scuppered Tomori's move. As for the striker situation I think in all fairness to Brands he did have a striker lined up as well as Moise Kean, but the striker whose name I don't know turned us down.

Again this was late in 'our window' and a lot of European players were hanging on for another three weeks, to see what came along.

Peter Neilson
74 Posted 06/10/2019 at 14:06:41
Michael (62) you are right that’s what Ratcliffe said April last year. "All I'd like to offer to the debate, is that we lived by zonal marking under Howard Kendall.”

“Zonal marking is all about starting positions, for me. You have to be touch tight all the time and as people move about your starting position has to naturally change because you don't want people to get a run on you.”

"We had men who understood the system inside out."I was always the middle man. We had a near post man, Gary Stevens or Graeme Sharp, then there was myself, Andy Gray or Dave Watson and Derek Mountfield picking up behind me.”

"As a manager I used it myself and I have to admit it did take a while for the players to understand it.”

Habib Erkan Jr
75 Posted 06/10/2019 at 14:32:35
Yours are always great reads Lyndon but this article is top shelf. Like a physician having to tell a patient he is carrying a malignancy you have accurately identified the problem infesting our football club. Trouble is the solution is not without its own perils. Rough time to be a Toffee. Even the more sadder as this manager has access to funds Moyes could only dream of and is driving the team into a ditch. I know not what the solution is but I do know if we don’t find one soon we will loose our kids and have to start anew again.
Derek Taylor
76 Posted 06/10/2019 at 14:34:52
Go to Michael Cox's recently published book 'Zonal Marking -the making of European Football', the better to understand the subject.

My conclusion is that Silva ain't teaching it right ! Yesterday's goal concession at Burnley should never have happened if the basic principles were adhered to !

Jamie Crowley
77 Posted 06/10/2019 at 14:57:09
I just got to reading this piece, having been caught up in reading 500 or so posts on the Matchday reaction thread, and what a great summation of the game and our frustration.

The galling thing is the end of the article. The calls for patience by Mosh and Marcel.

I understand where they are coming from. No one, I believe, wants this. We don't want another manager, we want stability and a winning environment.

But it's time. And someone has to point out, if Mosh and Marcel don't act soon, they're complicit in the Death Spiral by allowing it, by their very inaction to introduce change.

It's so fucking Everton, in'it?

Andrew McLawrence
78 Posted 06/10/2019 at 15:10:47
Watching Chelsea match and seeing how after three forward passes and heads up football they get into attacking situations, our problem is one of shite tactics and coaching. Need someone experienced to turn this around quickly. Too good to go down??
Derek Taylor
79 Posted 06/10/2019 at 15:16:37
And it's just what befell Aston Villa, Jamie, when their version of Bill Kenwright ( Deadly Doug Ellis ) sold out to a monied guy who hadn't 'a scooby doo' about football.

Five managers and about half a billion later, he sold up for about 10% of his investment.

PS Then they were relegated !

Jamie Crowley
80 Posted 06/10/2019 at 15:36:27
DT @ 79 -

Your point absolutely bears mentioning, and keeping in mind.

Fortunately for us, I believe there's no way we'll be relegated. Newcastle and Southampton are awful, and there's four to five other clubs who don't have half our talent.

But stranger things have happened. And the beautiful thing, for this American, about European / English soccer, is that relegation demands success.

If Everton were part of a non-relegation format, as we have here in America, I might be singing a different tune.

We should (cough-cough) be in the final 8 of the League Cup. I'd take 16th -17th and silverware, and let the Marco project go through hell in the name of economics and stability, were it not for relegation.

The set-up of teams going up and down dictates you simply can't flirt with disaster.

I don't think we'll get relegated. But the very existence of the dynamic, and the catastrophic affects it would have on EFC, demand we simply have to do something.

In short, no matter how remote, it's there. Looming. And we can't sit back and do nothing. You have to act.

You're forced to.

So, for me, it's time to make the change and attempt to reverse our fortunes. The Death Spiral looms too close, like four horseman of the Apocalypse starting a slow gallup in your general direction.

You fucking run out of the way, quickly.

John Kavanagh
81 Posted 06/10/2019 at 16:05:22
And just to emphasise how bad we really are, Wolves win two nil at City - showing up the much improved plucky little Everton that got beat 3-1 at home. We are being conditioned to accept Championship football.
Brian Williams
82 Posted 06/10/2019 at 16:07:58
Or you could look at it from the other direction and the fact that we beat Wolves and scored three against them when City couldn't!
Bill Gall
83 Posted 06/10/2019 at 16:12:55
Just finished watching the Wolves game it was not only a good game to watch but demonstrated what Everton lack and that is leadership and an organized team.
Paul Jeronovich
84 Posted 06/10/2019 at 16:16:55
Best getting shut of Silva now. The league is still wide open and a few wins under a competent manager makes all the difference. Time for Brands to really earn his money.
Joe McMahon
85 Posted 06/10/2019 at 16:17:25
John @81I apart from Martinez first season we've basically been playing that standard for years. Just couldn't stomach relegation the same year the media darlings win the title. Man this is Grimm stuff!
John Pierce
86 Posted 06/10/2019 at 16:19:24
Measure for measure the pressure is there on Silva. That’s what the Everton job is. The next manager has to live up to that.

Results, performances, money spent, them across the park, Nuno (a comparable Portuguese manager), Wolves, Leicester, West Ham, and faltering top six clubs.

The only thing in his favor is the dross that has gone before him, and he’s not even up to that pitiful standard.

Silva is a coach, an idealist, over complicating his message. He is not a manager, a pragmatist or able to react to changes ‘in game’.

Take one, two or all of those measures and he’s failing against each one. Offer all the mitigation you like, give him a pass on a poor window, injuries etc. Much much worse Everton teams have harvested a far greater points return against the sides we’ve played.

People talk about top drawer managers who wouldn’t give us a first glance let alone a second. The board are tasked with spending as much on a manager as they do on players. If they choose to skimp on it you get what you pay for. Mediocrity.

That nexus moves us onto the players, who some feel are equally responsible. Well that’s not an argument which I hold with. Players today have been brought up in an over-coached, micro-managed environment. They rely totally on the coach, when adversity comes they cannot solve the problem ‘in-game’. They are bereft because there is no whiteboard to bail them out. The best managers give one or two simple instructions and let the talent come through.

Players need simplified instructions not because they are dumb but they need to be focused and present. Each waning week the same guys get picked and tactics get repeated, they lose faith. It’s there writ large on their faces, did any player look happy/relaxed in the tunnel?
Happy players produce good results.

Ultimately it’s up to the board to lead and show what standards are expected. If they don’t then the club deserve all the stick and vitriol they get. Currently this is a dereliction of duty. Moshiri deserves far more criticism than he gets, time to stop being thankful he brought some cash, time to lead Farhad.

Michael Lynch
87 Posted 06/10/2019 at 16:19:37
Paul I think you have a point - the PL is wide open this season and we could still finish top six, or be relegated. Time for a brave decision.
David Pearl
88 Posted 06/10/2019 at 16:23:49
Well. Zonal marking can work. If it didn’t then no team would ever use it, would they?! Both attacking and defending free kicks has not changed either, you need a leader on the field to set us up. We don’t have one.

Last game we played 4411 and the natural width worked better as it simplified the players movement and made us more compact.

Against Burnley Silva reverted to the same way he played all the other games. We do not play with 2 defensive sitting centre backs. Schneiderlin plays deeper than Delph. I struggle with the fact people can’t see this. He sits in to mop up and does what is required of him. The troubles in midfield come from the shape ahead of him. We looked better against City because the midfield 2 played next to each other. In this formation Delph plays alone ahead of Schneiderlin and it leaves us wide open through the middle. With our 2 wide forwards also set up way too wide and running back to our goal we are so stretched it’s not funny, oh, and it’s not clever. Silva is a numb nuts who needs to go now. I’ve said it all year, we have gone backwards and he hasn’t a clue. If we have Schneiderlin then play 2 midfielders just ahead of him, or that’s what l see we should do. Sacrifice a wide forward, make us harder to break down and more compact going forward I’m wasting my time.

Why would Mourihno be a good idea? Well, apart from being a winner he also speaks a little Portuguese l’ve heard. Arteta does too... The players need a coach, a mentor and a manager. Not a big brother. And please, if l hear anyone say we should go for Benitez or Eddie fucking Howe, l will look for you... l will find you... and l will throw a milkshake on you. Don’t let me waste my money.

Brian Porter
89 Posted 06/10/2019 at 16:35:22
Well said Lyndon and yes, it's time for Silva to go. Some people are saying we won't be relegated as if we have a divine right to be in the Premier League. When you looj at the teams we've already lost to, and who we've yet to play, then yes, it's perfectly possible that we could be relegated, UNLESS we act now and sack the man who is presiding over the weekly dross being served up at present.

No two ways about it, Silva's time has come and gone, he's had plenty of time to fix things, but just keeps on doing the same things over and over and over again, ad nauseum.

How much more are we expected to take? Even our loyal away following turned against him yesterday and some managed to confront Brands after the match and made their thoughts known to him,.

Moshiri needs to act NOW, before it's too late.

Ken Williams
90 Posted 06/10/2019 at 16:44:45
Just had a nightmare thought, this could be the season the blues are relegated and the shite will the league
Michael Lynch
91 Posted 06/10/2019 at 16:53:59
Can't believe I'm watching the footie hoping ManUre win so we don't go into the bottom three.

Sack him.

Rob Halligan
92 Posted 06/10/2019 at 16:59:36
Michael, a Newcastle win might finally force Moshiri to take action. He won't like looking at the league table and seeing us in the bottom three anymore than we will.
Andy Houghton
93 Posted 06/10/2019 at 17:03:48
Don’t forget Mourinho bought Fred for £52 million 😀
Michael Lynch
94 Posted 06/10/2019 at 17:05:44
Deja vu though isn't it? Remember when we were all on here arguing about whether we were really in relegation danger before Koeman got the boot? Then arguing whether it was Unsie or Sam who rescued us, assuming we needed rescuing?

Who would have thought it eh?

Jason Broome
95 Posted 06/10/2019 at 17:15:16
Good article. It's articulate, sensible and yet as venomous and angry as I feel.

There is no rot at Everton. We have so many off-the-field things going for us at present. No suck eggs list required.

Our problems start on the shop floor!

Everton remains a red brick institution led by a polytechnic minded manager.

No leadership on or off the field, no game plan, no vision, no adaptability, no desire, no passion, no characters, no winning mentality, no energy, no excitement... nothing that identifies the things that I fell in love with football. It is the managers job to get these things in place. Fail to prepare... prepare to fail... and we are failing. It is a simple art of war.

Further, Mr Moshiri needs to STOP HIRING RELEGATION FAILING MANAGERS if he wants to avoid a relegation dog fight. Cold, hard math!

Watching Everton yesterday was like watching an 80s episode of Coronation Street. Slow, uninteresting, ponderous and dire!

What surprised me was that the majority of the players have been playing with the same despondent body language and appearance of one Ademola Lookman.

In fear of changing my tune. Maybe it was never Lookman? Maybe the manager just can't play to the strengths of, and motivate footballers?

I'll give him till the end of October to prove me wrong. That should give us enough time to find someone capable of getting us back up to and hopefully past the old Davie Moyes level.

How sad does that sound?

Soren Moyer
96 Posted 06/10/2019 at 17:16:00
Sack him before it is too late! There won't be any sort of transformations to the better under this clown. The longer we wait, the more we will be involved in the relegation battle. He is clueless! Doing same mistakes, week-in & week-out and expecting a different outcome!!!
Ron Marr
97 Posted 06/10/2019 at 17:19:33
Koeman was fired after 9 games with 8 points, losing to Chelsea, Spurs, Man Utd and Arsenal. Silva has 7 points from 8 games losing to Man City and Mediocrity.

21 set piece goals conceded and losing 20 games after falling behind first is just not good enough.

Derek Taylor
98 Posted 06/10/2019 at 17:22:10
I wonder if BK has already told Moshiri that when, in his Boys Pen days, we were relegated, the directors kept our manager, Cliff Briton,

After three seasons in Division 2, he got us back to the promised land. Not so much money at stake then though!

Back to the future? Nah.

Peter Neilson
99 Posted 06/10/2019 at 17:31:05
Jamie (80) I watched a good documentary the other week called “Too Good To Go Down” about the Man United team of 1973/74 and their relegation. They had good individual players and youngsters coming through but they weren’t a team, had no confidence and the club had lost its identity. Sounds familiar.
Mike Gaynes
100 Posted 06/10/2019 at 17:40:26
Lyndon, I'll add my voice to the chorus. Excellent article, superbly written. The "millstone" line is thoroughly apropos, and you're absolutely right about how inconsequential the red card felt. Even to our MotM from the City game.

DK #73, spot on, and I would add that the failure to sign a CB has had nothing to do with our situation this season. Mina was the best player on the pitch yesterday for either side, and he'd have been the one on the bench if we'd re-signed Zouma or brought in Tomori.

John #86, I agree with everything you've said, although I assign less blame to Moshiri than you do. His only failing to this point has been taking bad advice, and he's given unstinting support to Brands for everything he's done. Moshiri's best move now wouldn't be to lead, it would be to stand aside and have Brands pick the new manager.

Jason #95, I'll blame Koeman, Fat Sam and now Silva for a lot of bad things, but it may be time to acknowledge that the problem with Lookman was Lookman. His much-ballyhooed return to Leipzig has been a complete failure up to now -- he has played exactly 41 minutes the entire season, and in the one sub appearance I saw he had the same schlumpy body language when he didn't get the ball he wanted. He hasn't been off the bench since, and Leipzig are playing superbly without him, so that isn't likely to change.

Gerard McKean
101 Posted 06/10/2019 at 17:44:19
"This was the same old same old, and it can't continue any longer," sums it up succinctly, Lyndon.

At half-time my mate suggested it would be sensible if Silva took Coleman off as the referee will be made aware during the break that the yellow he showed to the player should (arguably) have been red. My mate's reasoning was that it will only take half an excuse and he'll show another yellow to Coleman, and it's not like Silva doesn't have a ready-made replacement right-back available.

Lyndon is also correct to assign much blame to an experienced captain for giving the referee all the excuse he was looking for, but ultimately, as we effortlessly predicted in our half time discussion, Silva was never going to make such a proactive substitution and he insists on lying in the bed of indecision he has made for himself. He seems neither capable nor interested in changing things.

Like all of us, I wanted Silva to succeed and personally I wanted m'learned friend, Mr Ferns, to be proved right. Unfortunately, Silva has looked himself in the mirror and seen the same lack of depth as when he looks around his backroom staff. His lack of decisiveness should have been apparent when he accepted as his first team coach a guy who once let it be known that he didn't like football very much. Not many top class leaders in any profession would take on a role that is certain to be closely scrutinised without making sure they did not have to carry passengers as well.

But this is Everton. An owner who allows the previous owner to continue as Chairman. A training ground that doubles up as an EitC inspired rehab centre for recovering bad boys. A haven for managers to make millions out of failure. If we were irritated by Moyes running down the clock to go to Man Utd without compensation, astounded at the pay off to Martinez, truly shocked by the fact that EFC is generously subsidising the remuneration of national manager of the Netherlands, and disgusted by the willingness of Moshiri to pay obscene amounts to Allardyce, then why will we not be surprised to see Silva ride off into the sunset, probably in the direction of Sporting Lisbon, amply rewarded for his failure?

The rumour is that Sporting Lisbon approached EFC to check on Silva's availability. They can see from over a thousand miles away what those in charge of our club cannot see in front of their noses; Marco is out of his depth in the Premier League. If this rumour is correct then EFC spurned the opportunity to move on without having to pay shed loads of compensation to Silva, Boa Morte et al. I don't think Silva is a bad man but in the situation he now finds himself is he going to fall on his sword for the abysmal start to the season or will he wait until he's asked to go by a suitably devastated Chairman, taking with him a bulging bank account and life back in sunny, less stressful Portugal? This is why I suggested earlier that our manager may not even be interested in trying to change things.

These points about our last managers, along with, just for example, paying £45m for a player for whom there was absolutely no interest from any other club and the crazy contracts given to the likes of Sandro et al indicate not only an owner with no understanding of football but, far, far worse, a club riddled with people with no understanding of commerce and who lack even a nodding acquaintance with the art of negotiation. We are, in local parlance, a soft touch from top to bottom.

Annika Herbert
102 Posted 06/10/2019 at 17:47:29
The worst part of all this is there is absolutely no excitement watching this team at the moment. No sense of we could produce a top class performance anytime soon.
As many have previously said, why keep playing players who are so badly out of form? We have zero creativity from our midfield, yet Sigurdsson continues to be guaranteed a place. Whilst he is far from the only player under-performing, he is also one of the senior players ans was bought to provide the midfield spark we are so badly missing.
It's clear Coleman's days as a top defender are well behind him and we have a chronic lack of pace at the heart of our defence.
Our promising young players never get a look in, this despite Silva's claims he would be looking to give them a chance.
All in all, supporting Everton at this moment in time is simply soul destroying
Tony McNulty
103 Posted 06/10/2019 at 17:48:09
Lyndon,

Unusually for you, yours is a tired report: weariness runs through it like a red thread. You have had enough.

It was a nice idea to try appointing young, up and coming managers, hoping they turn into the real deal. It worked up to a point with Moyes, when there was no money. It has flopped with Martinez, and now it has flopped with Silva big time.

I am sorry for Marco. He seems a genuinely nice guy.
So is my local newsagent. But he couldn't manage Everton either.

If we seriously aspire to being a top four/top six side, Moshiri now needs to appoint someone with a proven track record.

Steavey Buckley
104 Posted 06/10/2019 at 17:48:44
Everton are sleeping walking into being relegated for the first time since the early 1950's, as there is little energy or belief in the Everton team at this moment. Not enough chances are being created and not enough belief in how to score goals. The writing on wall was made very clear during pre-season, Everton played as badly then, as they are doing now, but Silva has no idea how to change things. He will stick with 2 defensive midfield players even if he was playing a local pub side in the Sunday league. As a pedestrian Schneiderlin and Sigurdsson look on, and hopefully their Everton careers are ending sooner than later.
Dermot Byrne
105 Posted 06/10/2019 at 17:54:11
Wayne Rooney thinks we will be fine. Phew, was worried for a mo!
Paul Smith
106 Posted 06/10/2019 at 17:54:56
I am not sure if the summer's recruitment was good or not but we have sold/given back our best and not replaced them.

Is it Brands fault ? No idea, but to then say he should be in charge of picking a new manager is a huge gamble.

A mess is an understatement.

Rob Halligan
107 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:01:03
Newcastle now lead 1-0.
Brent Stephens
108 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:01:17
Bottom 3 now.
Neil Lawson
109 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:02:05
An insightful article as always. Beautifully written. That said, many/most of us would come to the same conclusions even if we were not able to reach the same levels if wordsmanship ( if there be such a word). The solution is all too obvious. Sack Silva. Appoint Lyndon.
Michael Lynch
110 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:02:24
Fucking doomed. Can't see us getting out of the bottom three before Christmas.
Dave Abrahams
111 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:02:25
Derek (98), I think Kenwright would have relished telling Mr. Moshiri that story, adding that Cliff Britton never spent a penny on any new players during that three year spell and brought the club back up with the same group of players who got them relegated.That’s if the chairman knew that, which I doubt.
Sean Randles
112 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:05:01
Watching Brighton yesterday was so impressed with Graham Potter's approach- he has built a team a bit like Moyes used to do- a mix of locally produced talent, free transfers/loans, a couple of 'big' signings - but they played together as a team. Not saying we should poach him but we need someone like him, who knows how a team is crafted. Slaven Bilic or Eddie Howe are other contenders- but lets wait till the end of the season- hopefully still in the Premier League!
Brent Stephens
113 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:05:48
If I read my fixtures correctly, on 3rd November the first team have a home game against Spurs and the U23s play at Kirkby. I'm half tempted to go to watch the bloody U23s game instead of GP! Do we have another few thousand who would join me (I'm not offering to pay, mind!). That might send a message, while still supporting the blues. I've genuinely had more excitement from the U23s this season (as in previous season's) than from the first team. Come and watch Gordon, Adeniren, Feeney, Gibson, Evans, Baningame. You won't be disappointed.
Ray Roche
114 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:05:58
Bottom 3? Good. It might make the hierarchy sit up and appreciate the state we’re in.
Daniel A Johnson
115 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:07:28
Bottom 3 after a favourable start shit gets real
Annika Herbert
116 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:08:27
Bottom 3 here we come!!
Brent Stephens
117 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:09:23
Annika, not bottom 3 here we come but here we are.
Kevin Prytherch
118 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:14:10
The following is from Ebbrell after the U23’s loss today. How I’d love this straight talking instead of the usual “moments” that Silva whines on about...

“I hope it is a wake-up call. We don’t like losing games but we didn’t deserve to win that one. The players have set their standards and 100 per cent we were not at those standards for the first 45 minutes.”

Brent Stephens
119 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:17:54
Well said, Kevin. And Unsie is not afraid to loudly bollock players during a game, no matter how well we're playing as a team - nobody rests on their reputation in the U23s, nor on their previous performance.
Ray Roche
120 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:26:15
United are shite as well.
And what a cheating twat that McTominay is.
Bill Gall
121 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:27:45
I always thought to become a billionaire you had to be ruthless, people who waste your money are not wanted, people who you employ must exceed your expectations and those who don't are fired. Moshiri must have these qualities to become a billionaire, unless he just earned it on the coattails of Usamov. who I doubt very much would allow what is going on at Everton if he had money invested.

Will Moshiri admit that a mistake was made in hiring Silva or will he not admit it was a mistake. What is going to happen, unless this team gets back on track is supporters are going to stop going, starting with people that have long distances to travel to get to Goodison. It is really hard to get supporters back once they have left. No progress then supporters who may only have to travel a couple of hours to travel will stop going and this trickle will continue.

Mr Moshiri it is up to you unless you want to hand the decision over to Brands, oh we dropped down into the bottom 3 now, he who hesitates is lost.

Sid Logan
122 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:31:23
Gueye and Zouma are huge misses since they, together with Digne and Gomes were the driving force behind our late season revival. We don’t know whether Brands or Silva are equally culpable for not replacing them adequately.

Having said that, we should gave done a whole lot better considering who we’ve faced so far this season. Silva might love his training ground interaction with his players but when it come to setting the team up motivationally or tactically he’s fucking clueless!

Martin Mason
123 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:33:22
Was the summer's recruitment good? Absolutely not as we didn't spend to stand still, we spent and were left behind. We're serious relegation material.
Dave McDowell
124 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:35:46
So the “weekend from hell” almost secures the RS the Prem title and leaves us languishing in the bottom three. This could only be Everton.

Looking through our first team squad of 26 players, 30% of them are a waste of time and would struggle to get a game in the Championship (this is aside from all the “loaners” we have out).

Classic relegation recipe is “can’t score enough goals, can’t keep a clean sheet” - that my dear friends is our identity.

Look at our attacking options, Walcott, Niasse, Tosun, DCL & Kean.

A team with strollers such as Schneiderlin, Sigurdsson makeweights such as Martina, Baningime.

Too be fair you pity any manager (apart from the small fortune we’ll pay) coming in to work with this squad.

It’s abundantly clear now (hindsight) that Gana was simply priceless.

I have no answers, I have no managerial suggestions, I’m just fucking pissed off, we are just fucking cursed.

Trevor Powell
125 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:37:59
Silva was appointed by Moshiri, on his own admission, on the basis of one game at Arsenal. Moshiri was so impressed with Olympiakos beating Arsenal in the Champions League group game that they won 3-2. He made up his mind then that he thought Silva was the best thing since sliced bread!
Martin Mason
126 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:38:23
I will volunteer to drive Silva to Lisbon.
Andrew McLawrence
127 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:40:32
Let's hope Ken and Moshi had a deal that when we were in bottom three the guillotine would be wheeled out. Lots of other Prem Managers could be axed too, so probably end up with a Solksjaer Carrick dream ticket. Everton that.
Dave Williams
128 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:41:32
So now we’re in the bottom three! Wonderful!!
Whatever the extremity of views on our squad there is no way that they are bottom three material on paper. A well organised and gutsy Wolves win at City, likewise Newcastle against MU. It can be done with the right team selection, motivation and pattern of play. We have such potential and it is being squandered along with Farhads cash. It is not too late to make a push for the top ten at least but it will be soon.
Act decisively, ruthlessly and give us a team to be proud of.
Christy Ring
129 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:53:07
Officially in the bottom 3, and the redshite 8pts clear, a really shit weekend. Silva has to be sacked, hopefully tomorrow. He says he can turn things around, I presume by that he means, swapping backs and forwards, because, yesterday was our 4th loss in a row, and his shape, tactics, and formation, haven't changed one iota. Enough said.
Joe Foster
130 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:55:29
That's it. If there was ever a sign from God to say fuck this clown off it's just happened.
Simon Kennedy
131 Posted 06/10/2019 at 19:02:15
When are the hierarchy going to learn that we can’t keep attempting to ‘cheapskate’ on managers. If we want ‘top four football’ we need a ‘top four manager’. It baffles me that we persist in appointing managers who have track records of relegating teams!

We are now in the bottom three and something has to change now; and if the manager won’t change his ineffective style of play, then the club must change the manager. Three interim managers who would cost us nothing to appoint are Moyes, Jose & Benitez. Personally, I would break the bank to bring Massimiliano Allegri to the club. Any thoughts Blues?

Ken Kneale
132 Posted 06/10/2019 at 19:12:38
John Moores would not have hesitated in these circumstances. We need an owner with similar levels of ambition and love for the club
Steve Carse
133 Posted 06/10/2019 at 19:12:51
Dave (124), you're probably not far wrong in suggesting that 30% of our 26 man squad would struggle to play regularly in The Championship (by the way I'm not sure Martina or Baningame are in the 26) but it still remains that all bar one of those who started or ended the game at Burnley are current internationals. Finding ourselves in the bottom 3 after the easiest set of opening fixtures I can ever recall in my 60 years of watching the Blues simply beggars belief. Or rather it would beggar belief if it wasn't Everton we're talking about.
Derek Taylor
134 Posted 06/10/2019 at 19:13:30
Satisfy an argument for me, please. When was the last time we were actually in the relegation places. I say it was in days of Moyes- my son says it was under Martinez ?
Jimmy Hogan
135 Posted 06/10/2019 at 19:17:08
Trevor 125, Silva may be the best thing since sliced bread, but we now live in a world of Artisan loaves, sourdough, baguettes etc. All tastier and more nutritious than sliced white mother's pride. What we need my friend is a superior baker.
Barry Gibbs
136 Posted 06/10/2019 at 19:18:18
Derek #134, it was under Koeman. That's why he got the bullet!
Trevor Powell
137 Posted 06/10/2019 at 19:27:58
Jimmy at #135. At no point did I think Silva was the best thing since sliced bread! All I have reported is that Moshiri thought so and that Arsenal v Olympiakos game is when Moshiri thought hewas starry-eyed that he had seen a really great coach, based on one game! I did want to end my piece by saying that Moshiri should watch bread night on the Bake-Off and realise that the world of baking has moved on! It seems that Moshiri's one sallow definitely has not made a Summer!
Mike Gaynes
138 Posted 06/10/2019 at 19:33:53
Jimmy #135, yes, and we'd better be prepared to lay out some dough for him.
Brian Porter
139 Posted 06/10/2019 at 19:51:12
In the relegation zone and people are still saying we can't be relegated. Why is Silva still here?

For the good of Everton FC, the history of our club and everything it has ever stood for, SACK SILVA NOW

Len Hawkins
140 Posted 06/10/2019 at 19:52:22
Ken #132 John Moores was a proper chairman who wouldn't stand shit like this, what have we got now bloody Tiny Tears who couldn't bollock his kids. The cull needs to start at the top obviously the money man is safe but the Chairman should be thanked for his overseeing the worst dross in Evertons history and a lift to Lime St Station.

For Christ sake someone slip a taxi card through the letterbox at Goodison quick.

Kenwright is like Ronald Reagan he thinks Stallone is going to come over and put some boots on and single handedly drag EFC up the table.

Don Alexander
141 Posted 06/10/2019 at 20:01:36
Jimmy (#135), on baking analogies our problems stem from the presence of a master-baker in our boardroom for the past thirty years. He's spunked sour dough into us whenever he thinks it's been needed but the recipe remains unpalatable as a result, no matter how much yeast/money is inserted afterwards. We'll never rise with Kenwright. FACT.
Ron Marr
142 Posted 06/10/2019 at 20:04:40
Silva’s yeast isn’t rising.

If Man Utd can be relegated so can Everton. Brands needs to earn his corn, no vote of confidence bs.

Derek Taylor
143 Posted 06/10/2019 at 20:17:07
No longer appropriate to blame it all on Kenwright, Len and Don.He may have insisted on retaining Board status via a clause in his share sale document but he wields little influence these days.

That he's still be hanging on may actually be desirable given the ignorance of Moshiri in matters of football. Just think what a balls of it all we would have had the owner been left to his own devices.! We'd be playing Salford City next game not West Ham !

PS I am far from one of the showman's admirers - just facing reality.

Phillip Warrington
144 Posted 06/10/2019 at 20:17:51
Even if we don't get relegated we are in a dog fight all season with relegation under Silva, but the thing with Everton is I have supported this club for 45 years and for the first time I am dumb founded in how they go forward, I mean although the last 3 managers have not been the top but have not been the worst at other clubs yet at Everton they become the worst.

I believe current squad more suitable to 4-4-2 and would love to see Moise Kean and Richarlison as the two strikers, and would also love to hear a better reaction from Silva after another shit gutless display then we have to be more brave.

Dave McDowell
145 Posted 06/10/2019 at 20:19:18
Steve #133 I looked at the first team squad on the ToffeeWeb menu which lists both Martina & Baningame.

Word of warning don’t check it, after the weekend we’ve had seeing the first team squad in all its stark nakedness left me depressed but it was only when I looked at our players out on loan that I quickly reached for the fentanyl.

My hope is Gomes back and fit will give us the quality our midfield is sadly missing.

Was it Harry Catterick who said a team is only as good as it’s midfield.


Rob Marsh
146 Posted 06/10/2019 at 20:21:01
Derek # 143

That's brought a reasonable bit of balance to the sometimes OTT criticism Kenwright faces.

Jay Tee
147 Posted 06/10/2019 at 20:23:30
John Pierce
86 Posted 06/10/2019 at 16:19:24;

John you are exactly right about the players. They have no idea on the pitch as to how to turn it around. They steadfastly stick to the coaching plan absolutely lost. I
said something similar on Saturday and I am dumbfounded that their natural ability and early years of playing gives them no alternative way of sorting the mess out.

Mick Conalty
148 Posted 06/10/2019 at 20:34:23
Derek #143. It has been 25 years with Kenwright at the helm. The worst period in EFC's history. Are you kidding saying he is not culpable. The buck stops with him. End of.
Kevin Prytherch
149 Posted 06/10/2019 at 20:36:07
Dereck 134 - Twice under Koeman - after the 4-0 defeat by Man Utd, and again after the 5-2 loss to Arsenal when he got sacked.

Incidentally Unsworth (the man who was apparently so bad) left us in 13th.

The last time we were in the bottom 3 before then was 2009 when we hit rock bottom before finishing 7th.

David Pearl
150 Posted 06/10/2019 at 20:36:45
This has got fuck all to do with Kenwright. Or Walcott, or Schneiderlin, or Hibbert or Osman...

This started with the decision to go from the style of a Martinez to the style of a Koeman. Throw some money and spin the wheel. Doesn't work. So for your next brainwave Moshiri choose the style of play we all want to see and a manager capable of choosing the best 11 to carry it out. Oh and by the way, don't give him a 3 year contract. Have him prove himself.

Derek Taylor
151 Posted 06/10/2019 at 20:43:27
MIck, the least you can say for the man is that he kept us in the Premier League when the likes of Villa, Newcastle, Sheffield U. and W, Leeds, Sunderland and even Man City have suffered relegation.

I am aware of his faults and weaknesses but he has been far from the game's biggest villain !

Derek Taylor
152 Posted 06/10/2019 at 20:46:16
Thanks Kevin@ 149, I had overlooked Koeman's lowest point !
Tony Abrahams
153 Posted 06/10/2019 at 20:51:11
He’s only a pantomime villain...honest!
Rob Marsh
154 Posted 06/10/2019 at 20:51:29
Derek # 151

I'll agree with that Derek.

At a time when clubs were spending silly money they didn't have and amassing debts that resulted in relegation it was Kenwright who kept us in the prem, but that will be recognised by few on here.

And few are prepared to recognise we had no money to buy big players.

Eric Paul
155 Posted 06/10/2019 at 20:55:27
Blaming Kenwright for our current malaise is like blaming the queen for the problems surrounding brexit, the buck stops with the manager he sets the team up, he decides the tactics and he makes the substitutions
Tony Abrahams
156 Posted 06/10/2019 at 20:57:12
We had no money to sign big players, but we made an absolute fortune on some great young local talent. I’m still waiting for the genie to put Bill in his bottle, but I must be mad to still believe in happy endings.
Derek Knox
157 Posted 06/10/2019 at 20:59:18
That's another I meant to mention before, when Silva was appointed, knowing his poor track record why did they offer him a 3-year deal?

If they had offered less (say 2 years or even eighteen months), I'm pretty sure he would have still taken the job, and if successful that could have been extended. This way, he walks away with a King's Ransom or reward for abject failure!

Moshiri can't complain as he must have agreed to these things in the first place.

Joe McMahon
158 Posted 06/10/2019 at 20:59:31
Rob and Derek, we will never 100% know if Kenwright kept us in the Premier League. We may be in the Premier League but we always do nowt in it.

Kenwright gave us a massive blow letting Kings Dock go down the drain. We could have had a docklands stadium for the past 10 years plus. That really set us back, others have now overtaken us.

Dermot Byrne
159 Posted 06/10/2019 at 21:01:31
Agree too Rob. But don't think there is as much ire with Kenwright here as you suggest. There are some very vocal critics but that is always the case in the blame game.

I think most of us see a combination of badly timed factors that began during our last successful period.

The real shame is we seem to have developed an "unlucky victim" kind of outlook. Strangely luck breeds luck and adopting the unlucky victim role can often bring more misery.

Tony Abrahams
160 Posted 06/10/2019 at 21:03:20
Agree with that 100% Eric, even if this transfer window left Silva short, he’s doing nowhere near enough to keep his job at present.

Been reading through some of the posts on the different threads, and the things that stand out for me, are the ones who criticise Silva for never looking at the opposition, and also his complete lack of pragmatism, and honestly don’t know how anyone could become a good “manager” without either of these qualities?

Len Hawkins
161 Posted 06/10/2019 at 21:05:56
Anyone who says it has nothing to do with Kenwright is deluded, would you sit in the stand like he has done over his generation long period of dross and not come out and say "This Is Not Acceptable at this Football Club"?

If he is advising Moshiri on all things football then, the money he has spent, it is a wonder he has not had Kenwright tied to a bag of cement and sunk to the bottom of the Baltic.

Eric Paul
162 Posted 06/10/2019 at 21:13:07
How can Kenwright be to blame for the manager being devoid of any tactics or the ability to change a game even with a squad loaded with internationals?

I am not a Kenwright supporter

Jason Lloyd
163 Posted 06/10/2019 at 21:16:52
Gerard McKean @101 — you nailed it, mate.
Tony Abrahams
164 Posted 06/10/2019 at 21:22:36
Len, imagine if Kenwright had come out and said that, mate! The pantomime would have been over fuckin years ago.

Some like Bill, he kept us in the Premier League, he took us on when nobody wanted us, and he never ever took a penny in the process.

Others, like myself, feel that to tell the truth would have destroyed his plucky little Everton story, and how the boy with holes in his shoes became their owner.

Like his side-kick, Moyes, they played a great game, but neither of them was ever genuinely good enough for the Everton. I have long forgotten, but hopefully that genie will get Kenwright into his bottle soon enough.

Hopefully the freeze on the Goodison timeline will soon be over, although I wouldn't put a cent on it, until that genie does his fucking job, and takes away all the sentimental bollocks that has become Everton.

Some people think Gerard has a vendetta, I think he just loves Everton, Jason.

Mick Conalty
165 Posted 06/10/2019 at 21:25:36
Derek #151. The reason Kenwright is now getting the flack ls because them across the park are invincible and we are incapable. So Kenwright will have to wake-up and smell the coffee.
Rob Marsh
166 Posted 06/10/2019 at 21:25:54
Dermot #159,

All things considered, and with especially the economic climate the club was operating in at the time, I'm happy we had Kenwright in control rather than Randy Lerner or Ken Bates.

Sadly, we might actually have Randy Lerner now?

Alexander Murphy
167 Posted 06/10/2019 at 21:30:45
Tony @164, mate you pretty much put My view of Blue Bill into a nutshell.

I've had a complete gutfull of:

Plucky Everton
Nostalgic Everton
Unlucky Everton
Apologetic Everton
Kenwright's Everton

I want…

EVERTON!

EVERTON!

EVERTON!

Danny Baily
168 Posted 06/10/2019 at 21:32:36
Rob 166, exactly. The parallels with Villa under Lerner are eerie. Cosmetic changes to the stadium? Check. Two or more seasons struggling to hit the 40-point mark? Check.

Hard to believe such an expensively assembled squad could be so poor.

Rob Marsh
169 Posted 06/10/2019 at 21:37:48
Gerard McKean #101,

Excellent post.

Begs the question: Who the hell is running the club?

Tony Hill
170 Posted 06/10/2019 at 21:39:34
All recent managers have said the same thing: we lack confidence and are afraid. We've failed in pretty much the same way every time.

Perhaps the truth is that everyone – senior management, the coach, the players and the fans – are paralysed or thrown off course because of the weight of expectation and because we are all too tensed up. The way we are playing, I think, bears that out.

It is all going to take some undoing and it's how you get into a death spiral, of course, because the harder you try to get out of it, the more trapped you become.

Rob Marsh
171 Posted 06/10/2019 at 21:40:55
Danny # 168

There's no reason why Moshiri shouldn't become pissed off with all this and accept a low ball offer of some chancer who's even worse than he is?

Marvellous!

Ian Riley
172 Posted 06/10/2019 at 21:40:56
Blaming Bill Kenwright! Laughable beyond words. He may have his faults but he can't be blamed for this situation. The Director of Football is getting off lightly here, past and present. Key players have gone and not been replaced.

The manager and coaching team are weak and the statistics prove that. Up to now, we have got lucky we haven't been relegated based on change of management and players over the past five years.

It's a wake-up call tonight for the board. Statistics tell a story. Currently, we are relegation-bound. Mistakes have been made but it must be fixed quickly. Silva is in panic mode or too stubborn to change course. The plane is heading for the mountain and, unless we change course, were crashing.

Interesting week ahead.

Tony Abrahams
173 Posted 06/10/2019 at 21:46:46
I reckon it will be a very quiet week Ian, because I can’t see anything happening this soon, especially with Moshiri thinking he should have given Koeman a bit longer, unless Brands tells him differently maybe?
Alexander Murphy
174 Posted 06/10/2019 at 21:58:41
Ian @172?

"Blaming Bill Kenwright! Laughable beyond words. He may have his faults but he can't be blamed for this situation."

Yes, he can, Ian. Kenwright sat twiddling his thumbs as Everton became "The Premier League cuddly toy". Fact.

Did he improve us one jot? No! Meanwhile, Spurs went from a second-tier club to one of the Sky Six.

Also, Kenwright was a board member when our greatest ever club side was dismantled. He is our most unsuccessful EVER Chairman. As Royal Blue as Me or You, but shite as a Chairman all the same.

Rob Marsh
175 Posted 06/10/2019 at 21:59:06
If we don't hear anything tomorrow; Silva will have another 5+ games to further fuck things up.
Jack Convery
176 Posted 06/10/2019 at 22:04:56
If we replace Silva, the new manager will be asked to stick to the ethos of buying potential and only buying experience as a last resort, and only if it is a free transfer or costs less than any experienced player we may have sold, ie, Gueye sold and Delph bought and EFC made a net profit on these two transfers. Mourinho won't come anyway as he's going to Real Madrid and he most certailnly won't play with kids only players with proven records in the main. He complained at Man Utd that he had to play Martial and Rashford - what the hell would he make of DCL, Kean, Tosun and Niasse.

The ethos of the project since Brands came in is to buy potential and when it is realised we can sell at a vast profit or players young enough that a profit can be made -– although before Brands the sale of Lukaku was the beginning of this process. Players earmarked for this process are Pickford, Mina, Digne, Richarlison, Gbamin, Gomes, Kean and Iwobi. Profits will be made on Lossl and Bernard as they were free transfers.

Having taken a hit on many, many transfers since he became owner, Moshiri will not take it lightly that at all and, given we are now in the bottom 3 after the barcodes bee money invested in this squad will be wasted again. For that reason, Silva is in real danger of that fabled taxi cat Man Utd, it's highly likely in my opinion that a cab will be ordered if Brands has someone up his sleeve as a ready-made replacement.

Sad and bad times for all concerned.

Rob Marsh
177 Posted 06/10/2019 at 22:08:52
Alexander # 174

Spurs were always one of the Nations big clubs and being situated where the money is hasn't done them any harm.

Considering who our neighbours are in our small city, Kenwright did not do badly, there's a lot of unreasoned vitriol on here toward him and he most definitely is not responsible for the teams current predicament or its manager's inability to turn it around.

Andy Crooks
178 Posted 06/10/2019 at 22:12:30
Excellent post, Ged @101. Time for an article from you.
John G Davies
179 Posted 06/10/2019 at 22:24:18
Gerard 101,

A perfect summation of where we stand as a football club.
Not nice to read but very accurate.

Paul Birmingham
180 Posted 06/10/2019 at 23:04:33
Each to their own respective view, as is right the malaise is complex, factors beyond our clubs control – events in 1985, poor boards that has been consistent, and poor choices of managers.

The past is the past and regardless, we can't look back but we must face the current hell, and get the club on a fresh road.

This season, bar a miracle is a right off. But we must start a new era soon, with belief and passion, and soon. Somehow, the players have lost the art of the press, the defence, the cross, the positioning, the teamwork, the care, the lot!

We are serious dead meat and cannon fodder for any team and relegation. No team has a divine right to stay up, but this team plays, like there's no issue.

There's something wrong, in the Finch Farm, and one of the darkest weeks, in recent times for Everton at all levels, this is a very serious issue.

West Ham, is a must-win.

Jack Convery
181 Posted 06/10/2019 at 23:07:35
Just seen the Newcastle game highlights. How refreshing to see two young local lads playing for their team, with one of them scoring the winner v Man Utd.

That's what football should be about – the dream come true, not the money, the agents, the egos... two young lads living the dream.

Even though it condemned us to the bottom 3, who would begrudge the kid his debut goal?

Ian Riley
182 Posted 06/10/2019 at 23:11:32
Alexandra # 174. Sorry but your blame of Mr Kenwright has no basis in this current situation. Tottenham Hotspur have always been a television networks top six even back in the eighties and nineties. A London based club may have something to do with it. Ex-England managers and players from the club.

The demise of the team in the late eighties was due to the European ban. Players moved on to gain such football and financial gain. Kenwright was a board member and had little options if players wanted to go. The ban affected recruitment. Our club suffered the most.

As a chairman the club stayed in the league, mainly top half. The community has benefited from projects supporting those in need. The current owner needs a re think but putting this at Mr kenwrights door step is a no-no. You may not want to know this but up to now Mr Kenwright installed our most successful manager since 1996: David Moyes.

Dick Fearon
183 Posted 06/10/2019 at 23:14:29
We are back to our usual situation of glancing over our shoulder to see how the teams below us in the table are faring. I can tell you there are not many of them; fact is, there are only two!

I Have just viewed Newcastle beat Man Utd 1-0 with a really good goal scored from outside the box by 19-year-old Longstaff. That scoreline dumped Everton into the bottom 3.

We can forget any idea that the Magpies will take one of the three relegation places. Their display was more organised and exciting to watch than anything produced this season by Everton.


David Smith
184 Posted 06/10/2019 at 23:21:01
A great article which makes all the salient points. The December fixture list is very tough. I would let Silva get through that and then a judgement about him and how the team are responding to him will probably be a more complete one.

Hopefully this will allow a new person enough time to dig us out of the bottom of the table if we do continue the form of the last 4 games up to Xmas. We had a similar spell last season and came out of that so – as a true fan does – I will remain optimistic until then!

Jason Broome
185 Posted 06/10/2019 at 23:38:24
Tired of people blaming Bill Kenwright for every ill that we suffer. The man is NOT to blame for this mess.

I would be more confident allowing Kenwright to choose our next manager over Moshiri. Under his Chairmanship (albeit with little to no money) we never got relegated (came bloody close though), reached an FA Cup Final, cracked the top 4 and finished in a European place multiple times. He also hired a manager that stayed for 11 years and we were a club with an identity and ideology.

Now we are a joke. We have flaunted our cash like Floyd Mayweather and are being laughed at and left behind by teams that have adopted the Moyes method of management.

We need a manager who doesn't throw money at his problems and little else, but has the shrewd tactical ability to motivate mid-table and lower division players to play like top-4 calibre Premier League footballers.

Let's stay focused. As of now, Marco Silva is a failure.

Geoff Cadman
186 Posted 06/10/2019 at 00:32:59
Tony 170. I agree the pressure at Everton is the worst outside the top six. We expect to win every game, then vent our feelings in no uncertain terms when we don't. Pundits and Media jump on the Band wagon. Big Sam delights in putting the boot in at every opportunity. Is it any wonder confidence is low and performances are poor?

I agree, Silva needs to mix it up a bit, why not 4-4-2? It can' t be any worse and, with his track record, teams wouldn't be expecting it.

It was obvious that Burnley had done their homework yesterday. Should Tarkowski have been penalised for excessive holding at both corners, which created the space for Hendrik?

Peter Barry
187 Posted 07/10/2019 at 01:06:02
We are now in the bottom three. Can anybody in all honesty tell me they believe we can climb out of it playing the way we do?
David Currie
188 Posted 07/10/2019 at 03:39:35
Eddie Howe should be our next manager, he has performed superbly at Bournemouth and gets his team playing good football. He has also had some bad times where they have slipped down the league but he gets them back on track. He is at a good age and would have the hunger to get us back up the league playing attacking football.
Ed Prytherch
189 Posted 07/10/2019 at 04:50:35
Prior to joining us my lasting impression of Silva was of him showing no emotion as he watched Hull City throw away their chance of survival. He hasn't changed. How can this man inspire anyone?
Ken Kneale
190 Posted 07/10/2019 at 06:28:03
Whilst accepting this is from the Echo, it makes worrying reading if even partly true given the comments attributable to Marco Silva

Marco Silva says recent meetings with Farhad Moshiri have left him confident he will be given the time to turn Everton's form around.

And the Blues boss is sure that the defeat to Burnley will not have changed the mind of the club's hierarchy.


"All the feedback I had in the last few days and last week as well, goes in this way. If they saw the game, and for sure they saw, they can analyse and they will have seen the same thing that I saw and I don't see that as being reason for things to change, to be honest.”

Silva confirmed he has met with majority shareholder Moshiri twice in the last few weeks and added:This is not the moment to be worried, it is not the word. I have the same confidence I had at the beginning of the season, the same confidence with our quality, the same confidence with what we are doing every single day. Of course, the detail is playing against us, or we score a goal, we are not being clinical like we must be or like we should be and in some moments of the game.

“But I am not worried, of course I am not happy, not happy with the results or where we are in the table but there is just one way (to rectify that) being more brave, being more clinical, more assertive as well upfront to score and win games.”

I have no idea if this was before or after the Burnley game but the reality is it does not matter. Burnley changed nothing - it just provided more evidence this manager is completely out of his depth, delusional in his thinking and simply is not going to change.

Brian Porter
191 Posted 07/10/2019 at 07:19:11
Ken #109, if Moshiri is truly happy with Silva's performance as manager, then that makes him as delusional as our manager and if even one result goes against us after he has backed Silva, that makes him equally culpable for whatever befalls us in the coming weeks and months.

I don't think I can remember seeing so many different threads running simultaneously, all concerned with one main subject, in this case Marco bloody Silva. I use the word bloody deliberately because if Silva is allowed to continue in his position, he will have the blood of our Premier League status on his hands.

Across all those threads, unusually, I have yet to see anybody leaping to the defence of Silva or who confidently thinks he can turn things around.

I think we all know that isn't going to happen and that Silva is just a lame duck manager. Ffs, his body language on the touchline screams that out more and more with each passing game.

I hope Marcel Brands has people tasked to keep a close watch on Social Media activity. If he's as good as he's reputed to be, he'd be a fool not to. He has to have his finger on the pulse of the club and he will want to be aware of the fan's feelings about the current situation. I hope that's the case because if you trawl through all the available fan forums, and pages on the net, you'll find numerous threads all equally as damning about Silva. Taken together we're looking at at least two to three thousand people who have expressed their feelings in the short time since the Burnley game.

Back to the beginning, if Moshiri is still backing Silva, it shows his utter naivete when it comes to running a football club, and his stupidity in thinking the new ground can go ahead with a team in the championship, which is our likely destination if Silva's allowed to continue.

For God's sake, WAKE UP FARHAD. Your fledgling empire is crumbling all around you. Are you going to do something about it, or do a Nero, and fiddle while Rome, or in this case, Everton FC, burns?

Laurie Hartley
192 Posted 07/10/2019 at 10:11:02
I have tried to post on a number of occasions over the last couple of weeks but I keep deleting what I have written.

All that needs saying is - he has to go otherwise the dream will be over.

Len Hawkins
193 Posted 07/10/2019 at 10:26:20
You defend Kenwright but as Chairman (even if it is only in name) why is he not spitting razor blades over the absolute dross being served up. Someone has to carry the can he wants the job so he must carry it. I know one thing if Kenwright (who has presided over decades of F. ALL) is not laying down the law instead of sobbing his heart out looking at photo's of past greats then we will never have any greats in the future.
Iain Latchford
194 Posted 07/10/2019 at 10:35:00
Getting out of the bottom three (or near to it) is tough. You need to put a run out results together to escape. Winning one then losing one just keeps you around the same positions. With the games coming up between now and Christmas we're likely to lose more than we win.

We are in deep shit and Silva isn't the man to save us.

Tony Everan
195 Posted 07/10/2019 at 10:41:28
If Marco Silva is capable of turning it around why did we see the same old formation, no creativity or goal threat against Burnley.

Surely that was the time to prove to Farhad he can have confidence in his man to turn it around.

How much evidence does he need, the proof is in the pudding

Don't listen to soundbites look at what you can see with your eyes, that's reality. What I saw at Burnley was no change from the majority of games this season . bunch of quality players playing worse as a team than a bunch of lesser players.

The manager has tried, been given time and patience, and has failed.

Time to part ways and get someone in who can pull these players together as a proper motivated team and get us playing proper football.

No time to lose.

Tony Everan
196 Posted 07/10/2019 at 10:41:28
If Marco Silva is capable of turning it around why did we see the same old formation, no creativity or goal threat against Burnley.

Surely that was the time to prove to Farhad he can have confidence in his man to turn it around.

How much evidence does he need, the proof is in the pudding

Don't listen to soundbites look at what you can see with your eyes, that's reality. What I saw at Burnley was no change from the majority of games this season . bunch of quality players playing worse as a team than a bunch of lesser players.

The manager has tried, been given time and patience, and has failed.

Time to part ways and get someone in who can pull these players together as a proper motivated team and get us playing proper football.

No time to lose.

Tony Abrahams
197 Posted 07/10/2019 at 13:41:17
If it’s true that he said the detail is against us at the minute, then I can’t understand why he is constantly continuing with the same fuckin details?

No pace at the back = how can we play a high line and press. No energy in midfield = how can we play a high line and press. Tactics that isolate the centre-forward= how can we go and press, when the players are playing so deep?

Modern football is about pace and energy, and at the moment Everton are very sadly lacking in both.

Nicholas Ryan
198 Posted 07/10/2019 at 14:07:12
As if our total inability to defend wasn't enough; it seems Luke Garbutt is absolutely tearing it up at Ipswich!
Phil Lewis
199 Posted 07/10/2019 at 14:31:55
The only way Silva can gain respect right now is to display a ruthless streak and drop players whose performances are substandard. Especially the ones he himself signed, or those with big price tags which he inherited.
He needs to lose his one track minded football philosophy and be humble and willing enough to alter certain methods that he preaches, which clearly are failing. I care not one iota whether he keeps his job or not. My fear is that his 'Portuguese Machismo' could ultimately lead us into the Championship.

Nobody is 'too good to go down'. We need action NOW! Consecutive defeat brings fear, lack of confidence and desperation. We need a powerful leader who is prepared to listen to the people who really matter, the fans, to get us out of this mess.

Nicholas Ryan
200 Posted 07/10/2019 at 18:06:40
Rob (69) I was joking, but even if I wasn’t, I certainly am now! Is JR still around, and does he go to the match?
Nicholas Ryan
201 Posted 07/10/2019 at 18:12:36
I suspect that the decision to fire Silva has already been taken. The reason there's no public announcement, is that they don't know who will replace him.

My fear is that not only will Mourinho & Co not come, but the likes of Eddy Howe and Sean Dyche might say "Thanks, but no thanks!"

Rob Marsh
202 Posted 07/10/2019 at 21:21:06
Nicholas # 201

There's a danger Unsworth may say "Thanks, but .... ", after his last experience and that ties in with your theory they're ready to sack Silva, but have no-one to replace him?

Rob Halligan
203 Posted 07/10/2019 at 21:24:21
Nick, he certainly is, and he sits about 4 or 5 rows behind me.
Ed Prytherch
204 Posted 07/10/2019 at 23:59:26
Stan Collymore in the Mirror is touting Big Dunc as an interim manager.
Francis van Lierop
205 Posted 09/10/2019 at 14:18:44
Good article, once again Lyndon.

I voted to give Silva till the end of the month. Clearly I was in a minority. it wasn't difficult to see why.

Regarding the Burnley match, we were playing tippy-tappy possession football without going anywhere, once again. Lessons haven't been learnt. Gylfi was doing his ghostly invisible trick again, his only consistent act this season.

I think it was the Villa game, there was one shot of him having a look of bewilderd panic. I've been surprised nobody has mentioned it. Maybe there's something going on in his private life, like his marriage?

Their goal should never have been, as someone else noted. we had a let-off prior, with Pickford sniffing it out at the rear post. Schneiderlin is seemingly too easy to push out of the way. As with happened when they did capitalize on this defensive error.

What now? It appears most of us want rid of Silva. A rumour over here is that Erik ten Hag is the guy Marcel Brands is looking at. Ten Hag is the current Ajax coach. The big question being: Will he want to go from playing the Champions League to playing relegation football?


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