Coleman: Europe would be a bonus but we have to go for it

We have gone from looking like a really poor team to one that just needs to strengthen in a few key areas. Although Arsenal are not doing that great results-wise, it is still a hard match at a stadium where we have “never ever won”.

Sod it, Go for it, go for Chelsea's Champions League spot. 5 points in 12 games... make it so, Carlo.

A well organised Premier League club should be able to prepare for July starts in Europa League qualifiers.

In 2017, Ronald Koeman spent more time on the golf course whilst Steve Walsh cocked up transfers rather than properly prepare for the Euro campaign.

The qualifying rounds should be tailor-made for the squad players and young players, everyone raves about the likes of Anthony Gordon, Ellis Simms or Beni Baningime so use these players in the Europa League, mixed with some experience.

Coleman is right: this club needs European football, there are far too few big games at Goodison Park these days. Imagine what a run in Europe would do to generate interest.

It is certainly true that the club needs European football experience to prepare us for what, hopefully, can be a Champions League debut in a year or two!

There is no point qualifying for the Champions League if it means we get hammered because we are not prepared.

We now have a manager who knows what European football is, and how to win it.

Also, winning the Europa would go down as one of the club's greatest achievements so should be a target.

It won't be easy, and we are outsiders still, and one game at a time and all that, but what a change of perspective, the season still has meaning.

Back in the real world of expected outcomes: 7 points out of those 12 would be an amount that keeps us well in the mix for Europa League qualification. A win at Arsenal would set it up nicely.

I cannot understand comments that Europa League qualification is a ball and chain. Use it to our advantage by giving opportunities and great experience to the best of our youngsters, give fringe players the chance to shine and force their way into the first team. Use it to reintroduce players coming back to full fitness. All that mixed in with a few regulars.

In our dark winters, a bit of midweek entertainment is welcome respite.

Personally I'd rather have 6 games in the Champions League group phase than an extended run in the Europa League.

In the Europa League, you don't come up against any real quality until the quarter-finals, it's a complete waste of effort up to that point. Whereas 6 games in the Champions League, crash bang & wallop! You never know what might happen, especially after we've been strengthened in the summer.

If there's any manager out there who can guide and get results for us in the Champions League, it's Don Carlo.

Wouldn't that be a miracle? Bottom three Christmas and Champions League qualification at end of season!

Still, Europa League would do to get our toes in the water. The next four games will tell us a lot really and, if we can get a decent points tally from them, we should hopefully be able to do it.

Matchday 35 is going to be a pivotal one though! Wolves vs Everton, Sheffield Utd vs Chelsea, and Spurs vs Arsenal.

But qualifying for the Europa League would represent tangible progress on the last two seasons' 8th-place finishes.

At the end of the day, Moshiri has been here and spending big since 2016, whatever way you look at it, we are behind in terms of where we all thought we would be in 2020, due to poor management and player recruitment.

The Europa League just six months into Ancelotti ‘s tenure here would be progress.

Next season winning a Cup and having a serious tilt on the Champions League places would be the next step.

Europa League??? Why set our sights so low? 4th is still very much "up for grabs" as I see it. Spurs, Man Utd and Chelsea are all hit and miss. Sheff Utd's bubble will burst. Wolves will drop away if they continue in the Europa League.

Come on, Blues. Go for the Champions League spot.

By aiming for the Champions League, the runners-up prize will automatically become the Europa League. It's a win or place with the same bet.

I do believe our club badge has something to say on the subject along the same lines.

It looks like we're the only ones shooting for the stars?

But as others (myself included) have pointed out, the next four games are monumental for a potential outside chance of top four.

Is anything possible under Carlo Ancelotti?

Has he brought about a long lost winning mentality?

Well Everton have not recorded a win at Arsenal since 1996 so if we were to defeat the Gunners in their own back yard I might start believing anything is possible.

Out of those four games there’s only the Liverpool game which looks (for every club at the minute not just us) unwinnable at present but who knows?

Arsenal, Chelsea and United are all more than beatable but it’s up to the players at Everton to go and show it.

I grew up watching Everton compete for everything. We had two poor goalkeepers. Mad Mike Lyons at centre half a few other also-ran players.

We had Bob Latchford, Martin Dobson and Duncan McKenzie. All seemed possible. In comparison we have a better squad today so why not believe we can compete. We are Everton. The longest-serving club in the top division of any league in the world. We are one of six clubs ever-present in the Premier League.

Why do some Blues feel we shouldn't be at the very top. We're Everton, not Exeter.

I think Arsenal have a longer unbroken spell in the top division than us. But we are 2nd to Arsenal who have never been relegated I believe.

Interestingly (and possible pub quiz answer here) Arsenal are the only team not to have won promotion to the top division, instead being elected to Division 1 in 1919.

Here's some info:

https://talksport.com/football/249163/revealed-top-flights-longest-serving-clubs-150302138289/

Anyway, it's a risk for the clubs (comparable with taking out a mortgage to help with your cash flow). There are also other clubs who do this, and with other companies, but whose transactions are not registered with Companies House.

Interest rates of 6%-7% - so the article points to the risks involved.

Macquarie says that in an ideal world the club owner takes on the form of a benevolent dictator and gifts the club the money through an interest-free loan "like Farhad Moshiri has done at Everton. But they are much harder to find".

It’s already been said but it’s up to the players to finally believe, and to realise what is expected now we have a top manager instead of a yts coach.

We are as good as anyone else in this current league. Finally the £20-£40 million players are looking like they are worth it. It’s a big if but if Schneiderlin can keep his form up and we can get Gomes firing, along with our top 2 we are in with a shout. Confidence is a fine asset to have.

I have never been a fan of these or International Breaks either, but unfortunately it looks like they will be a regular and unwelcomed hiatus in the seasons ahead.

By the way, are you Schneiderlin's PR man or agent? :-)

Being happy
Getting on with your team mates
Feeling wanted
Believing in the coach
Believing that every game is winnable
Getting some lucky points
etc, etc

None of these and other factors are about ability, they are about making players confident enough to achieve their very best. Carlo, seems to be doing that. Our best, fit, eleven is very good. We are not far away.

This is the start of a difficult run of games but this I see as our best chance of an away win; Man Utd winnable at home; Chelsea is winnable... and then Liverpool.

But Liverpool are beatable and can be beaten, and I'd love us to stick one on them... But Everton is what counts and let the rest worry about us.

Liverpool are about to win the league (22 points ahead) and still talk about taking each game as it comes.

We are not even in the European places and we set our sights 10 games ahead

There's a real mentality problem with our players. It's mainly because they're stupid and mentally weak.

Just concentrate on one game at a time, eh?

This is Everton we are talking about... Just when you think we are going to do something, they kick you in the nuts.

5 points from the next four games will be a good return. Europe? You're having a laugh...

Michael, Lyndon, shut it down until next Saturday, post up a picture of a lagoon and a swaying palm tree for 10 days.

I really believe players like Dowell and Baningime would be much further along in their development if they’d had the opportunity to play in the Everton first team alongside experienced players over the last couple of years. It’s looking like neither player will end up as Everton first teamers now, but at one stage it looked like both would. More competitive games should help us avoid the problem with other young players coming through.

Dowell has been a player I have followed with interest, believing that there was a star in there somewhere, but too often he has flattered to deceive. When he has had a chance in most pre-season games, he has failed to impress.

Equally when he has been on loan, he has set the world alight in his first couple of appearances, then extinguished in the weeks that followed. So I don't know whether it's his attitude, his reluctance to commit himself on a regular basis, or whether he is happy just to plod along and make a tidy living without hitting the big time.