Rampant Seagulls destroy poor Everton

We also have a match on Friday. He might be needed for that one vs Man Utd.

For Brighton, no Trossard, MacCallister, Lamptey, Welbeck or Webster makes them look unusually weak on paper. We won't get better chance to beat them.

We should expect a win.

Randomly I saw their young Irish forward Ferguson play against our u23s maybe last season. Looked a good footballer and scored two good goals if memory serves me right. He's a tough looking and talented kid but hopefully Coady and Tarkowski sort him out.

I hope you didn't go wild and lump your entire £15.60p winnings on?

It does indeed sound ace. I think we should all have a beer Python. I just hope they choose the beers wisely. and keep the pythons clean as a whistle.

... if I had a python (steady on chaps) it would have a nice Pilsner, a decent bitter, an Alt style beer and a decent stout, perhaps Russian Imperial style. What would your python have?

The first two to numb the pain after watching us but hopefully not tonight.

Yep, I's like to see Vinagre further forward on the left at some point. Maupay can play either left or right too. He might be a bit up for it tonight.

Our form is pathetic. Our attacking play is shocking and we’re incredibly leaky

All points to relegation

We can't have a midfielder with no interest in playing in midfield. Save him for "backs against the wall" affairs.

Our players are fuckin awful when we have to attack.

Why the fuck after half a decade of mediocrity do we think Tom Davies is the answer?

If or when we do get a new man in charge, he won't have the chance to impose his ideas or try to work something in the transfer market.

During the World Cup we should have got a deal done for 1 January 2023. We didn't.

The club is run so so badly, it's untrue.

Look at how City are run in the boardroom. Or Newcastle. They're run professionally. We're run like a 1980s style football club. We're 40 years out of date.

Frank doesn't escape criticism: the money he paid for Garner, McNeil, Onana, Maupay was criminal ahead of investing in creativity and a goalscorer. What was going through his head?

You reap what you sow: don't invest in creativity and goals and simply struggle: it's cause & effect.

Just feels like relegation is inevitable.

Put Maupay upfront with Calvert-Lewin. Still in this.

Maupay is useless!!

Get him off, been on the gravy train for 5 years since scoring against Man City!

I have said time and time again, since we have lost Usmanov and his money, we are waiting to be relegated to get the parachute payments.

Poor team organised by a poor manager doing what he wants by a poor board equals relegation, and they put the season ticket prices up!

Why would anyone prefer relegation just to get rid of the board? It would be a catastrophe!

Mykolenko and Patterson are shite.

We simply can't or won't score because every single one of Gray, Iwobi, McNeil and Calvert-Lewin (now, post-injuries), the only players who might go anywhere near their box, are Championship quality at best. None of the others will get close enough to have a shot.

I like Lampard, but I'm not sure he knows what he's doing.

So why have a DoF? None of them at Goodson have come out and taken any praise for their astute purchases for one reason – they haven't made any.

It would be in our best interest to replace him. With hindsight, this should have been down ahead of the World Cup. It should be done this evening, regardless of the result.

What the fuck? So many mistakes and a serious lack of the required forward momentum and decision-making required to actually create chances, never mind actually score.

Time to bring on Ellis Simms!

1. Why do Everton pass back all the time?

2. Why does it look like the red team have more men than Everton?

3. Why...???

"Go back to your book love... please."

Fuckin joke.

We should have been in that transfer window on the first of January instead of sitting on our fuckin hands again.

We are down this season.

I can only assume they're still knackered from the City game. Plus they're all shit and Lampard is clueless.

Meanwhile, we're putting our faith in Davies, Iwobi, McNeil etc.

Joke of a club.

We need a new board, new academy, new players, EVERYTHING!!

This is now sad. Watching a football club fall apart.

Sack him tonight and put Farhad in charge for Saturday. We stand more chance of winning that way,

This has got to be it now, hasn't it?

6 years or fuckin wank.

He's an okay guy but not good as a manager.

He won't get us back up if we go down. Then again… who could?

But this isn't even a good Brighton side, it's their 2nd string. I don't think Lampard can survive this now.

With Moshiri AWOL, Kenwright will do an Ostrich and bury his head. I'll be staggered if they sack him because they will have not planned for it despite where we are. Amateur fucking wankers.

Kenwright OUT!!!

I do feel sorry for Lampard in that, his time is up, but a former top player looking at that performance. He should have changed it at half-time not at 0-4. Did worry about Ferguson's pace, and Godfrey back on the bench.

The board are an embarrassment, they bring back Simms, instead of buying a striker? What manager will take this toxic job now?

We have only mercenaries, an illiterate manager and the most incompetent board in the world.

And finally the fans... In my country, we would be asking for the immediate sack of the manager and ask the players to renounce their salaries.

It is shameful to watch what this fucking mercenaries are doing with EFC. We should sack all the mercenaries and keep in the club just the following players: Coady, Tarkowski, Pickford and Onana. All the rest should be released now.

We should start playing with the youngsters and build for the next season in the Championship.

Frank should have kept the the 3-5-2 formation this evening. This side offers nothing and will offer nothing until the fullbacks overlap and get further up the field.

That's 1 point from the 9 available and 6 we needed since the break. The reality is we've been relegated since the Wolves result.

Until Bill is gone, so am I. I won't be missed, but I hope that wire-haired prick knows what damage he has caused.

Try to get a point from every game, and try to pinch the odd win. Only chance we've got of staying up.

You picked it and they read you like a book. Powder puff midfield with no legs.

5:20 am here. I woke up at 3:30 am to watch this. Three good chances for Brighton within the first 25 minutes and I feared the worst, even at such an early stage.

Switched it off now and will take a cup of tea and a laugh and a joke on the roof terrace watching the sun rise as the sun sets on 65 years of watching a once proud club.

I might watch us in the Championship as we could actually win a few games.

Frank is not our man.

Moshiri needs to spend some cash and worry about FFP at the end of the season, or sack the manager and bring someone else in who will get at least a short-term tune out of the dossers.

I say 'short-term', cos whoever comes in... this bunch of players will definitely get them the sack next season.

You started this, Bill. Now your legacy will be even more toxic than a sewer rat's poo.

Remember when we had one of the most successful club managers of all time in the dugout and the board still messed it up.

So it is the same useless lot to take us down. The decision not to make any changes at half-time spoke volumes. We are just dreadful and clueless. Play the kids at Man Utd.

In reality, we haven't improved under Lampard. We stayed up last season via the skin of our teeth with most of the credit going to the fans. With Richarlison out the door, I've said since August we'd be going down this season and I've only become more convinced of it as time has passed.

Something must change, right now. And we need to get angry. It's time for wholesale changes at the very top. We have allowed our owners, major shareholders and senior managers to get away with bloody murder for too long.

Honestly, the way I feel right now, the lot of them can just fuck off.

We have Simms recalled from loan. Liverpool have Gakpo. The club really is rotten.

I'm not even sure we can buy anyone (mad enough to join us). Apart from kids and mercenaries, who would even consider us?

Look at his pedigree at Chelsea. He then got money, messed it up, and was sacked, but still blamed inexperience. I stand by West Ham big fat, big fat Frank.

We're shit though.

Everton that.

The fish rots from the head down. What a bitter irony that it happened when we finally got a billionaire owner.

Gueye has been worse than useless since returned. Patterson a right-back who can't defend. Iwobi back to being a headless chicken. McNeil? Don't even know what to say about his ghost-like presence.

Brighton bring in some barely 18-year-old no-one has ever heard of and he hits the ground running while we argue about which of our “youth strikers” — all older than him — as to who is the least shit.

Brighton have Mac Allister and Trossard, previously unknown ,on the bench while Besiktas are begging us to take £100k a week Dele Alli back, and £30 million Gomes is part timing in France. What a shit show.

He's trying to retrieve the recipe for Betty's Hotpot, and getting Newton and Ridley Pumps at Finch Farm as a training aid!

This and the Bournemouth results are the most embarrassing I can remember.

His midfield is non-existent, his forward line is non-existent. He hasn't got any tactical nous at all.

Nice bloke, but poor manager.

Lampard's decisions are more and more baffling these days and I'm not even going to think about the starting 11 and other subs.

I absolutely give up.

An organized team walking through a bunch of overpaid individuals posing as professional footballers, making me feel worse instead of better. Lampard is digging his own grave and after this display there will be an awful lot of upset people willing to provide shovels to help.

Another kick in the balls — this is the first time Brighton have scored 4 goals away from home in the Premier League.

No other club in any league would accept this but I fear the custodians of our club will.

We aren't going to get a high profile manager, I don't know who we could realistically get. I think I'd go for Dyche or wait for Moyes to be sacked which shows just how bad things have become.

We are in deep, deep shit. Worse than last season and heading in one direction. We need to be outside Goodison Park and Finch Farm making our voices heard. We need to be unfurling massive banners at Goodison. Turning our backs. Doing whatever we can to get the message across.

Last year, we supported the team massively, and it worked. I don't see it working a second time. Dare I say there's even an air of acceptance that we'll be relegated. And with a whimper apparently.

My money's on Martinez or Moyes just to make sure we go down.

We are a complete and utter joke bringing in loads of shite players no one wants and paying over the odds for the likes of McNeal and Iwobi.

The club deserves all it gets but it's us fans who really suffer.

Kenwright & Moshiri Out!!!

How do Brighton keep finding great players from nowhere and we over-spend on utter shite?

Every single one of the management team should resign.

Every single member of the board should take a long hard look in the mirror and consider their worth.

I'll be gutted if he manages to avoid the sack cos of complaints about how the club is run. First things first.

Going to take myself to the cooler before I comment with any coherence.

I gave away a ticket today. I apologise.

If the club has any self-respect Lampard will be sacked tomorrow. If we go down, we won't be back.

Sad reality is that the club is rudderless as Moshiri no longer cares about the club - just the new ground.

Feel for Ellis Simms tonight, he scored the last-minute winner in front of over 43,000 just a few days ago and gets recalled to this toxic shambolic fuck-up of a football club.

I have no words for the board, including Graeme Sharp. (How can he be part of them?)

I'll be gutted if he manages to avoid the sack cos of complaints about how the club is run. First things first.

Had the exact thought! The fans signing about the board and not Lampard himself.

We should have adopted the same approach tonight as we don't have any creative players – at least not at this level.

I also wonder if Lampard actually wanted Ellis Simms back or if that was a Thelwell decision.

We are only up this season because Burnley pissed their chips up the wall with four games left.

We were actually FIVE points adrift in May at one stage.

We ain't getting out of that this time.

It was obvious the problem in the first half was our set up. Both wide players out of the game, Calvert Lewin isolated.

We were getting murdered down our flanks.

It was crying out for 3-5-2. But nothing changed.

Add to that we were out battled and had a number of players who looked like they didn't want to be there.

Taxi!

He should have gone at the World Cup break.

1. Patterson injury (Coleman has to play)
2, I am supposing Lampard is out
3. Price cameo. I am looking forward to this kind of player playing the next matches.

My line-up: Pickford, Coleman, Mina (or Godfrey), Coady, Tarkowski, Vinagre, Onana, Whitaker, Price, Calvert-Lewin, Simms
Subs: Crellin, Welch, Mills, Higgins, Iwobi, Gray, Gordon, Cannon, Okoronkwo.
Release: Patterson, Gueye, Davies, Doucoure, Keane, Holgate, McNeil and Maupay

Heartbreaking what this club has become.

I've said "I'm gone" once already, but if this man stays, then I am gone and sticking to Latvian porn 38 times a year.

If they bring Dyche in, then I'll be back. Either way, we're going down.

But... for a former world class midfield player, he is unable to organise or even put out a midfield that fucking resembles a midfield.

With a heavy heart… he has to go.

Everton reminded me of Norwich last season: toothless, heartless and utterly out of our depth.

Make no mistake, we are in more danger than last season. If something radical doesn't happen straight away, we are down. No doubt in my mind.

Everton chairman Bill Kenwright said: "One very famous football club said to me two or three days ago 'Whenever we have a problem, we say 'What would the Everton board do, because they always get it right?' '"

The whole shit show is an absolute disgrace to this club.

Kenwright, resign now if you've got an ounce of decency. No payoff.

Lampard is not a Premier League manager and never will be, lovely man but no, he needs to resign after this latest home debacle. No payoff.

Gana, what the fuck are you doing here? You don't look remotely interested. Resign now, stop taking the wage.

Get a proper manager in who can organise! Jesus fucking Christ, do it now!

Then let this experienced manager sign some players who can give us a fighting chance.

No dithering, Farhad, get it done.

Calvert-Lewin isn't fit and should not be played – he needs to be sold. The midfield has lost its steel and Gueye seems to be a spent force, which is probably why PSG were happy to let him go.

My biggest worry is the apathy and resignation in the ground.
We are going down and everyone seems to know it.

Sack everyone – not just the board.

Since the end of last season, I have been preparing myself mentally and emotionally for the distinct possibility of relegation. I say this because our beloved club is terminally ill and is in its dying days under this board of incompetent morons.

Blame Moshiri. Blame Lampard. Blame previous managers but the basic fact is that Bill Kenwright has overseen the demise and destruction of EFC over the last 20 years. He has been a malignant presence with his lies and Machiavellian ways.

If or when we go down, our only salvation is running this man out of town and our club. It's our only hope. He has become a rich man thanks to his manipulation of his gormless benefactor.

Bill will go down as the man who destroyed Everton despite whatever his groupies say. What a legacy.

Fuck FFP, spend, spend, spend.

I didn't see us staying up last season. I certainly don't this season.

I'm not sure where the hope comes from. I'm not convinced we need a change in manager. That doesn't mean I'm a huge supporter of Lampard – more of the idea that changing him doesn't fix the problems nor the lack of quality in the squad.

Moshiri, Lampard and Thelwell need to know right now whether we can improve this squad in the next week or three. If we can't, we're down and Lampard shouldn't even wait to be sacked.

And then? Well I shudder to think what we do. I suspect we just accept our fate and start selling anyone we can. Because we don't want these players and wage bills in the Championship.

Either that or get the fuck behind the protests and demand better. Fuck this season, it's the future that is at stake.

The owner and so-called Board are just going through the motions. Out of money, out of ideas… but unfortunately not out of Everton.

Sell out every home game, away from home sold out… just stop going, vote in numbers and empty seats will do the talking.

Chants and banners fall on deaf ears and blinkered eyes.

If Moshiri wants fans behind the team, he needs to get rid of Kenwright and Barrett-Baxendale immediately – they have been at the helm for years of decline.

Although in fairness I believe our Under-13 Community Scrabble team is one of the best in the north end of the city.

It's a simple game that Frank does not seem to be able to drum into them. Swiss cheese of a team. No fight, no guile, no clue. No money, no plan, no chance.

Maupay – don't make me laugh – and bringing back Gana was a backward step.

Frank may not have been responsible for some of the moves but the strategies are non-existent as average teams just please themselves.

He will be sacked but, as most of us agree, who can they get to make a difference if the squad stays the same?

The problems at Everton run deeper than the manager, we all know that, but we need a manager with new ideas to give us any chance of staying up.

Lampard just can't see that it is the midfield that needs strengthening. Gueye needs a partner in there. We are crying out for the midfield to be strengthened.

It must be 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 v Southampton but, if Lampard is here, it won't be.

He must go tonight and the new appointment must be someone who picks a back 4 with 4 or 5 in midfield.

I too have been a Lampard supporter, latterly mainly because I thought we could not afford more disruption. But now I think that we cannot afford to keep him.

It was clear from Kevin Campbell, who was summarising, after 15 minutes, that Patterson was getting torn a new one, so why was the formation not changed then? (People who were actually there may want to confirm that view.)

Lampard is like a rabbit in the headlights.

We don't expect to beat high-flyers like Brighton. (Good look to them!)

Our strategic review is right on track.

And we've had some good times.

As I've stated elsewhere for some time now, we are a charity both on and off the pitch.

(Clueless from the top down. They are taking us for fools, folks!)

She has followed Everton, wears the shirts, likes to know the scores, even gets the piss taken out of her at school (in a light-hearted way by the boys, Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool etc, so no dramas).

But tonight I said, "Just take a vested interest in Everton for your own mental health, you pick whatever."

Her response: Hull City (where we are from; granddad's a season ticket holder).

Worse night ever, this! :D

The problem is we have more bad than good, with no signs of change.

Both sent out the likes of Simms and Warrington when we were desperate for another forward and a midfielder who can tackle.

But what irks me is Lampards complete inability to set the team up. He has got to realise that we need points, it's desperation time. Go with with defensive set ups, and with the odd hopeful breakaway goal.

He's desperate for us to play attacking football, through the lines... BUT we haven't got the players to do it!!!! And he hasn't got the coaching staff or experience to coach how to do it.

Just funding Kenwright's plaything so he can rub shoulders with the Premier League elite.

Not one player tonight showed any desire to even be on the pitch. They all had miserable faces from the second they hauled their lazy arses out of the dugout to Z-Cars.

Gueye, Davies & McNeil should have been gone at half time, the score flattered us even then.

I gave Lampard the benefit of the doubt after Bournemouth. Not now, the 4-5-1formation is a mug's game. No initiative, no tactical nous, no clue and no pride.

We'll be lucky to reach 30 points. Very upset, I'm off to finish my JD.

Kenwright, please go. Get the train back to London and don't come back.

Pele laid to rest. RIP King.

How many managers are told, "You can bring players in, but the deals have to be over 3/4 years"? What options have you got, and what players are available on instalments?average players.

Cornet went to West Ham for £17.5M, deal only agreed if they paid all the fee upfront. Whether he's good enough or not, Everton couldn't afford to buy him.

That's the way our Moshiri is working, after listening to Kenwright from day one, and it's an accumulation of wasteful spending, starting with Koeman.

Lampard has made mistakes but his hands are definitely tied. Can he go out and buy a Gakpo? No, he has to bring back Simms, that's the reality.

I think he has until the Southampton game. Win that and play well, he might get an extra few weeks stay of execution; lose and he has to go.

Sack him now if we can get Tuchel in. Don't be surprised if we see Bobby Brown Shoes back next week though. We are a total shambles...

Lampard is not a manager, most good players aren't… we have to sack him now to have any chance of survival.

He is pathetic, a totally incompetent manager.

The dubious section:

Onana
Garner
Vinagre

The complete waste of a shirt section:

Dele Alli
McNeil
Gana
Maupay

Success section:

Tarkowski
Coady

No club can handle that level of ineptness, on top of an already flakey squad, without dire consequences.

Rooney 11/8
Dyche 5/1
Moyes 6/1
Martinez 7/1
Bielsa 12/1

However, this is (literally) a results-driven business. Live or die by the numbers.

Hard to see him survive after this clusterfuck of a debacle.

Denise has the plan and Bill will oversee it.

Our recruitment both of managers and players has been appalling.

The Lampard era may be coming to an end, disappointed but it has been atrocious. I doubt much will change at Everton until there's a new owner and a new board. But it may be too late by then. When we've been relegated, and had to sell the better players. If we haven't gone into liquidation.

What a well-run club we are.

We are a pathetic team, and we, more than any other team in the Premier League, deserve relegation.

We have been part of the Premier League gravy train since we helped set it up 30-odd years ago. And yet clubs who were a million miles away from the Premier League millionaire's club, such as Brighton, Brentford, and (to a lesser extent) Bournemouth have totally surpassed Everton as a football club.

We are pathetic, a club with no identity, either on or off the pitch. A club of wannabes and chancers, building a massive stadium on the docks as if to proclaim ourselves important in a city where we are increasingly irrelevant.

A club that buys players without a plan, hires managers without a plan, hires board members, scouts and whomever else without any concept of a plan.

We will likely get relegated. and we absolutely deserve to.

Our wages are double what most lower-half teams pay

In 7 years, we have spent more than Brighton, Bournemouth, Brentford and a host of other clubs have spent combined.

We, in a City that is absolutely football mad, have managed to promote to the first team just 1 local young player in the last 10 years.

When we are relegated, the rest of the league will laugh and say 'deserve it'. and they'll be absolutely correct.

Sack them all, the absolute lot of them.

Moshiri, put the club up for sale immediately, hire someone to manage the club until a purchase is complete and just fuck right off.

Kenwright, no interviews, no statements, just fucking leave and fuck off.

Sell everyone, rebuild, rebuild with the Championship in mind. Get back to basics… because, as a Premier League club, we're done.

We might, just might stumble and finish 17th with someone like Dyche. But it'd only delay the inevitable.

Time to reset. Fuck off our history, it don't mean nothing. We're a shit club who don't win anything and don't do anything. sort that out before any more lofty ambitions.

1) Thelwell, Lampard, and whoever the manager is after Frank need to stop putting all the eggs in the basket of Calvert-Lewin: he isn't the Joel Embiid during the "Process" of Philadelphia 76ers & doesn't deserve to have an entire attack built around him.

Ancelotti was right to have him as a piece of the puzzles instead of the team's focal point of attack. Benitez lost his job partly due to trying to build the team around Calvert-Lewin, and Frank might follow suit due to that too.

2) Roberto De Zerbi got the entire Brighton team playing for each other: willing decoy runs one after another and unselfish plays creating tons of spaces. We were thoroughly out-coached and thus were shredded into pieces. A truly, well deserved win for Brighton.

3) Brighton didn't even need to dress World Cup winning midfield general Alexis Mac Allister for the game, for fuck's sake!

4) Did anyone tell Tom Davies that he isn't playing Rugby and can actually pass the ball forward and up the pitch?

5) In the NBA, General Managers (equivalent of Directors of Football) are empowered by the club owners to hire their preferred head coaches based on playing style, developmental needs, tactical savviness, man-management abilities and the club's long-term succession planning. Would the Board empower Kevin Thelwell to do so?

Marcel Brands was empowered to hire Marco Silva but not empowered to keep him (both are flying high again respectively at PSV & Fulham after having their professional reputations sabotaged by Kenwright & Moshiri).

6) Silver lining from the shambles: we need to study how well-run Brighton is. They happily sold Director of Football Dan Ashworth to Newcastle, and head coach Graham Potter to Chelsea: instead of missing a beat, they emerged in better shape with David Weir and Roberto De Zerbi.

Tony Bloom is one heck of an owner! (I haven't even started lavishing praises again on how they ripped Chelsea off on Cucurella for a profit of at least £35M!)

7) David Weir made such a smart decision to stay with Brighton as Technical Direcctor, instead of returning to Everton where he served with such distinctions.

Bloom runs Brighton like any saavy business owners in the world while Moshiri & Kenwright run Everton like 3rd generation spoiled brats. No brainer on whom one would choose to work for, isn't it?

It will be him. It's why we bought Onana. I'm convinced of it.

During break for World Cup I meant to post that I believed the three games after resuming would be crucial for Lampard's career at Everton.

The loss to Wolves was poor but I thought that wasn't a true reflection of the balance of play, so that wasn't a full strike against the manager, and the draw at City was decent enough.

So will this result be the last nail in the coffin? I didn't expect a guaranteed win against Brighton but, if the performance was as weak as some are making out, then it could be.

Calling for a mass clear-out is nonsense unless you are replacing them with better and the kids are unproven. We can't just throw the towel in on battling for our Premier League survival.

Do any of those improve us even short term?

I don't want to see Lampard go but I fear we have no choice. Over the years ,we have seen performance like this end a manager's time. As good as the man is, his tactics and decision-making will be the end of him.

From a perverse perspective, it wouldn't surprise me if the board did nothing.

Ultimately, he is responsible for overseeing the decline. He left Kenwright in place and failed to appoint any qualified professional football directors or executives.

No one with the requisite experience has been taking decisions for years. This is the result. Don't expect it to change under the current regime.

Should we have sacked Silva? Not just because he's doing okay at Fulham, but we didn't back him. All this crap about us spending, when in reality we were flogging the family silver (Stones, Lukaku, Richarlison) while buying to sell at a profit (Vlasic, Lookman).

The club has no identity, while the smug twat Kenwright sits up in bed with Jenny, with his awful smirk, talking about the good times while checking his balance on the NatWest App on his phone.

I pray for the day when he goes fully Rocky V and all his money is gone and he has to move to a terraced council house in Merseyside, next to a loud RS who plays You'll Never Walk Alone at full blast during the night. That's how much I detest that man!!!!

For me, Gana and Gray were the only ones with any kind of credit today. Gana was a one-man midfield show, as Lampard's fucked-up instructions had Iwobi and Davies flying forward, with neither doing much to get back and McNeil (who's like a poor man's Aidan McGeady) trotting round like a prince.

Gana gassed from running round everywhere trying to be everyone. For the “juries out” on Onana, we missed him massively tonight… we'd have still been beaten but it would not have been pants pulled down score. Full-backs isolates with wingers thinking they are only attackers, and a headless midfield 3 running randomly around in circles.

There's no shape, no passing (other than back and side)……and most criminally of all, no aggression or snide. Nothing.

I'm 46, and been going for 30 years. I've seen utter shite at Goodison Park over the years, but nothing that I can recall that was as bad as that.

Throwing Price into the Lion's Den at 4-0 down was the most shithouse decision I've ever witnessed. I don't just want Lampard out, I want him publically humiliated.

"We can't just throw the towel in on battling for our league survival."

Looks like the players already have.

He got a point with a back five at Mn City, then drops the best player from that game, a lad with pace. Brighton are quick and mobile and Tarkowski was like a statue all night. Iwobi is lost and Gueye was terrible again!

Calvert-Lewin is not the messiah... Surprise, surprise! Need a midfielder and a striker pronto or we are dead... Oh, and Dyche for me.

Honestly worried that they're not going to fire him. He's definitely not going to quit.

I'd like to see Lee Carsley part of any new management structure. Great reports from England U21s. We need his no-bullshit attitude.

We escaped relegation by the skin of our teeth, Pickford's heroics, the fans and Richarlison's goals kept us up.

But the board sell Richi, so can someone tell me who's to blame??

Not one player had even a semi-good game. Unbelievable how we can go from the performance vs City to this load of crap.

Where do we go from here? Some heads need to roll and at least 2 strikers signed asap. Moshiri has to deliver a "board" overhaul.

Survival should be our priority. If we survive this, we have to arrange protests against the so-called "Chairman" and that incompetent directors board... AFTER this season is concluded.

Everton manager Frank Lampard, speaking to Sky Sports: "Very disappointing. It was even in the first half I would say. General play it was pretty even, 3 goals in 6 minutes, defensive mistakes, finished the game.

"After that, the game becomes a bit in-between. At 4-0, the game is done. Those 6 minutes were completely pivotal with individual mistakes and collective defending issues."

How do you explain that?: "Individual mistakes and collective defending issues. It is what it is."

More from Lampard: "Possession-wise [the game was] even. They hit the post and scored from our mistake. We had a good chance with Alex I wanted more urgency. I didn't think there was much in it."

Were you angry at full-time? "We're all in it together. It is not a question of anger. We are disappointed. We want to win games."

Do you feel under pressure? "You have to get used to that position. You are not going to win every week. We have to get back to the work. It is as simple as that. I am a Premier League football manager. There is pressure in the job whenever you are."

On January signings: "We are trying to help the squad. We will look at that."

As for Relegation Roberto? A deluded fraudster who relegated a better team than us. The only upside to Martinez would be to witness how long his greatest ToffeeWeb disciple can remain positive towards him.

The club is in that bad of a state that finding someone to repair us is going to be very difficult. But not as difficult as the Evertonian I had to listen to on County Road telling me that Peter Johnson ripped Everton off and he couldn't understand the fans having a go at the board.

Bournemouth put seven past us in two games then, after a 6-week rest, we lost to the bottom club, Wolves, at home. We then go and play with 11 men behind the ball, and fight for our lives to gain a precious point at the Champions, and then the manager inexplicably changed his formation tonight when it was clear how we needed to play.

My own view is that Ancelotti got out because he knew the players were simply not good enough, even though he got a lot of victories by putting 11 men behind the ball. Carlo knew he couldn't do anything with this squad without a fortune to spend because, every time he tried to open our formation up, we got footballed to death by most of the lesser teams in the Premier League.

The club has now got 10 times more poison inside its doors than it's got positivity and it's clear that the fans are resigning themselves to something that was once unimaginable.

Nobody at Everton Football Club looks like they have got any natural pride, nobody looks like they have any understanding of what we once were, and nobody in that team had any fight in them whatsoever.

It's shameful, but they fought the other day using simple tactics they seemed to understand, which simply draws me back to my original conclusion about Frank Lampard.

May be he knows what's going on?

Calvert-Lewin is a shadow of the player he was in his Ancelotti heydays! Remember that leap, electric pace and ability to hold off defenders?!?!

Calvert-Lewin didn't win a header all night, ambled around the pitch and offered nothing (granted he was feeding off scraps). He's either done post injuries or his heart isn't in it as he looks woeful.

McNeil… christ. I've seen some crap in my time but he is up there. Offers absolutely nothing, and his set-piece delivery was non-existent.

Midfield, Davies should never be on the pitch and Iwobi is part of the problem and is back to his running around to try and look effective best. The amount of tackles he lost when he was the first player to the ball was a disgrace.

Iwobi needs dropping and then we may be able to play 2 strikers or someone off a centre-forward who may offer some threat.

Defensively I'd been happy this season but it imploded tonight spectacularly. I think we need to go back to a solid back 4 of Godfrey, Tarkowski, Coady, and Holgate (again like Ancelotti had us playing) to allow the midfield and wingers to push up the pitch.

In all honesty, I've been a fan of Lampard but he is out of his depth and there is no Plan B or variation in the way that we play. He's been schooled by nearly every manager in the Premier League now and needs to be gone. But god knows who we would get in now...

When Iwobi and Gordon have recently been considered our ‘best' then we can plainly see the writing on the wall. Recruitment has been consistently poor – from multiple managers, whilst under the oversight of Moshiri and Kenwright, Brands and now Thelwell.

Allardyce stated (when he took the job) that a manager is judged by his first signings – only to then buy Tosun and Walcott. Appalling players.

We have built upon that stage after stage. Players who have consistently been too weak to ensure any form of progress. Our squad is full of them – Davies is inadequate, Calvert-Lewin has had one small run of decency and otherwise failed miserably (he plays like he wants to leave, and is more concerned with fashion than our Blues).

Iwobi too often looks like he has never seen a football. Gordon has had a short run of decency but is generally poor. I could go on.

Our present manager is poor, tactically naive, ill-equipped and poorly chosen. We are close to collapse.

Further to all of this, we look at potential replacements and see Moyes and Martinez in the betting, both of whom are equally ill-equipped. Four, fragile, hated as they left (with very good reasons) – surely we could and should not consider replacement managers who proved themselves to be poor?

Or Rooney, who is laughably inadequate.

These ‘targets' are straight from the Kenwright ‘good-Evertonian' book. We have brought back Gueye and he is absolutely dreadful (but ‘loves' the club??).

Alternatives such as Dyche may be a reasonable option – but he was close to relegating Burnley with a squad of his own choice. Our squad is awful.

I bloody hope someone can pull them together, restructure and ‘save' us.

I concur with many on here. Moshiri has provided sufficient cash (and must be mightily pissed-off) to ‘make a difference', but he clearly has poor judgement when it comes to football and putting together a team of individuals that can push our Blues forward.

To conclude:

Kenwright is poison and I'd welcome his immediate removal.
Lampard is not good enough and should be replaced with an organised and experienced manager.
Our squad is very poor. Mercenaries and non-footballers in the most part.
Relegation is realistic.
Survival and rebound in/from the lower leagues appears unlikely.

We must demand change. Now.

Desperate.

All of our central midfielders are headless chickens but they're all we've got. So let them be headless chickens and chase and harry out of possession. Completely bypass the midfield when we have the ball. Gueye, Onana and Doucoure don't want the ball anyway. Play direct to Calvert-Lewin with pace around him.

Fuck it. Full-blown white van man old school 4-4-2. I refuse to accept we don't have a forward with pace in our entire program. If that's really the case, go and buy someone with precisely that quality and sack the entire youth development team at the same time.

We might not have a Rooney in the ranks but have we at least got a Branch or Cadamarteri?

I don't see any other way we can scare any opposition in the Premier League. It's not going to be from playing through our full-backs and midfielders.

It's not going to be a case of finding a perfect player that fits some philosophy and gets this team playing good football. We're too far away from that.

Crisis mode. Might as well go down swinging.

I've watched us slide down the league playing some of the shittest football I have ever seen and I realize that my life is too short to either worry about the club or waste my time watching it.

As for Dyche, well he couldn't even get a job interview at Norwich. We've had one dinosaur with Sam, we don't need another.

The only change he had to make tonight was a forced one: Onana for Davies or Doucouré... or hey,have some bottle and give Price a start – he couldn't do any worse than the other two.

It would have created an atmosphere of anticipation… but "no bottle" Frank plays it safe with disastrous results.

St Albans v Hemel Hempstead. National League South. Five divisions lower. I saw players doing the basics, I saw passion, commitment, desire. I saw a pattern of play a manager looking to make positive in-game changes to win a game.

On the evidence of today, I couldn't tell you which one is a non-league side. What I will say is I'm veering a lot more towards lower leagues where you're actually seeing the game being played, the very basics being carried out, and more importantly it represents value for money.

Even from this position, it will be easier to stay in this league than it will be to battle our way back over the best part of a decade.

New manager, this week.

I don't want to feel this but I get the horrible feeling that the club is a soulless shell and the Board???? No vision, Strategy (no effin chance!) Drive? Leadership? There is absolutely nothing coming out of our Boardroom, except millions of £££s every year being paid to that bunch of waffling wasters!

Sir John Moores and all past Everton Greats will be weeping at what is happening to our club.

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum?

My effin arse!

He never takes any blame for his poor selections, tactics or subs. His ineptitude is staggering. Perhaps he is so thick that he can't see his errors.

A top-class player without a clue on how to combat different formations... we have to sack him because, if we don't, then we are saying this is our level. He will take us down, and with a whimper.

If we do replace Lampard, Thelwell needs to choose who he wants in just like Brighton, Wolves etc have continued their recruitment.

Short-term thinking has got us exactly where we are with this current squad.

I was thinking it's almost 4 January – 3 days in to the transfer window. Who have we signed? Have we a plan to sign anyone?

That would stink of a Kenwright appointment, I honestly do not know who we should appoint if they sack Frank or he resigns.

There must be some young progressive manager out there somewhere on the continent. One that can reset the playing staff if and when we go down.

I'm totally lost as an Evertonian at the minute.

I agree with just about every word there. I started composing a post but realized it would end up the size of a short novel.

All I can say with brevity is that the same old something in the fabric prevails. It is, as the word you used, a poison. Just about every aspect and element of which the club and team is comprised, both physically and psychologically is fucked, to put it bluntly. The very soul is gone.

Nothing seems to work, and then, everyone seems blind to (and scared of?) the obvious – as in, messing with the team following the City game as you said.

I'm really at a loss frankly. If there was such a thing as a viable and functional curse to be put on a football club, this is exactly how it would manifest.

It is going to take someone very capable and shrewd to sort out this whole shit show, top to bottom, if it's to happen; it runs deep.

Pressures to protect the investment in the new stadium will probably see Dyche in the dugout and Frankie, nice but dim, having a jolly back on Sky Sports.

Absolute disgrace.

I think that would be very interesting that, mate. Swap our team and manager with Brighton, and let's see how long they could maintain their standards before the malaise sets in.

£120k a week for Doucoure and Co, who the fuck sanctioned that? Who else was going to pay this level of wage for such bang-average players???

Starts and finishes with Moshiri, he has been a disaster.

Now turn on the organisation that has caused all this and oust them. But, I know 9,400 will turn up at Old Trafford on Friday night – and the cycle starts again.

I plead with you all to stop going, they will not leave unless we all stop going to games — for months!!!

It's a shame that it takes massive defeats for the crowd to turn, but turn it did.

We are a diverse club and don't like upsetting anybody so quite correctly even gentle swearing from the Street End is frowned on by the Toffee thought-police.

We promote the women's team because, although they play in a public park and the standard of football is sub-Liverpool County FA (much like the 1st team actually!), it fits the political agenda perfectly and is really great!

We have the brightest rainbow laces of any club and our pink away shirts make us look so welcoming to every never-before-heard-of minority, who might otherwise have taken up skipping or underwater flower-arranging.

So much so that we're now top of Sky's All Together Now League, if not the actual Premier League…

So, as long as we keep on doing the important stuff, like concentrating on how to include everybody, on how not to offend anybody, on how to kneel down like we mean it before kick-off, and generally just become as shit as possible, you can sleep easily knowing that we're one big culturally and socially diverse family who are doing the Right Thing. Yeah.

On a positive note, Southampton are also fucking shite, so we may have a chance of a) keeping the score below six or b) kicking the ball out of play less than them.

Anyway, it's off to the Theatre of Dreams on Friday with a song in our hearts (as long as it doesn't contain swear words or alcohol) and a not-too-macho skip in our step.

Frank needed a result tonight, but did not come up with the tactics to do so. He actually came up with other tactics that did not work, from what I gather.

Though I thought Frank would be better staying, he is not helping his situation with a performance like that.

I agree with Tony, Ancelotti saw the writing on the wall regarding the players and the squad's ability to prepare. All very depressing.

This is exactly the point. But they won't stop going and they will continue to feed the ineptitude and the ego of it all.

And the more they go, the longer it goes on until boom. It's all gone.

One or two weeks out of your life, 5 hours for fucks sake to stick it to Kenwright and the likes of Sharp and that tool on the radio. Right where it hurts. In their fucking pocket.

We looked so much more compact and organised against City with no wingers and with Godfrey's pace at the back. What does he do? Changes it!!!

He just looks tactically inept. He never ever makes a positive substitution and simply reacts when it is too late. Tonight was the worst bits of 0-3 against Wigan in the cup under Moyes, 2-3 against West Ham when we were 2 up with 10 mins to go under Martinez and 2-5 against Watford under Benitez last season.

We need to get someone like Dyche in to get us organised. Make us compact again. Make us boring and grind out some 0-0 and 1-0 games.

Similar actions toward "government" would mean these fake weaponized utility prices, inflation and growing "food security" issues, would all cease. But even that won't motivate people til they're broke on the streets; and even then...

Consider the love of the club and it's almost impossibly hard for people to contemplate.

Brighton have sold countless players over the last 2 seasons for big money and then replaced these players with new players with potential who end up being as good.

We were given a masterclass tonight and it could have been worse. Why drag a young striker back from a loan and then don't put him on immediately the 3rd goal goes in?. It doesn't make sense unless Frank didn't agree with that decision.

I like Frank and the backroom team he's brought in but we are in deep shit!

Or is he sorting out his redundancy terms?

Kenwright has to go, first and foremost, like yesterday, he has caused the decline of Everton over the last 28 years and always deflected the blame. He has done very well out of Everton, and still filching £2M/year as Chairman.

I have been on a couple of protests and the last 27 Years one in pouring rain outside Goodison. There were placards and banners advocating Kenwright's involvement which miraculously never appeared in Sky Sports Reporting of the day.

It was all directed towards Moshiri, yet he hasn't been there for 27 years, only one maggot has!

Agreed with all you said. A soulless place is Goodison Park now; and I think that Board are absolutely clueless about what to do to bring the soul back. We are in dire straits; and (supposedly) led by the greatest Blue in the world!

I wonder if he can get off his fat arse and get a manager who knows what he's doing in, before it's too late... if it isn't already!

It was the worse performance by any side I have seen for a long long time.

Just askin'.

The defence is a shambles; Patterson tries but is like a headless chicken; Coady and Tarkowski are living dinosaurs, the game has passed them by; and Mykenko is atrocious at everything.

The midfield has no legs or creativity, the only one with any credit today is Gueye who at least tried.

And Calvert-Lewin is a con-man – best player in the Premier League when he is not playing.

Any manager who keeps us up deserves a medal.

We could have Salah, Haaland and Kane on loan for the rest of the season and they'd be lucky to get 10 goals between them. Our midfield is atrocious and Brighton could have driven a bus through them tonight.

We create absolutely nothing. His buys – and I include Coady and Tarkowski in this – have been absolutely shocking. There's not a midfielder in our club that has got a creative nerve in the whole of their bodies, not one. Yes, we need a striker… but by god we need three – yes, three creative midfield players.

I've defended Lampard to the hilt. Sorry, not after tonight; he looks lost, and acts it. Be honest here – Brighton could have had 8 tonight and it certainly wouldn't have flattered them

Oh, and by the way... those clowns who are championing the likes of Moyes and Martinez need a memory refresh, because we've seen plenty of them type of performances from those two.

I don't know who is the answer but it's certainly not Lampard and I've been his biggest fan. I'm sorry but the fans won't save us this time because lightning doesn't strike twice and, judging by the crowds reaction tonight where I sit, most if not all have got an air of resignation.

It actually seems like it's our only hope, and makes me understand my subconscious that little bit more, and why I've been so angry lately.

The anger is definitely going to be replaced by apathy soon; I can't go on watching our club losing its heart and soul because of a selfish, poisonous bastard, his divide & conquer values, and his nepotism.

I've seen, as many have, many heavy defeats at Goodison over the years but the lack of care and bottle tonight was for me the worst in terms of the manner of the defeat. The list is considerable, as we all know, over decades of inconsistency.

Total shithouse players, aside a couple, but who don't have any collective ownership on the pitch, nor care. Amateur-level mistakes, aside from some early positive start,

Pickford tried, Tarkowski sighed, and the rest.

As clinical a defeat as there's been, it could have 7 or 8.

Well, come Friday, I'm praying for a miracle, but the double-edged sword of fate may deliver the next stage.

Everton, on and off the park, are well and truly in a rotten mess; the fears of the best stadium in the Championship are now getting to be a more genuine concern from all Evertonians.

As soon as the line-up was announced, for me, raised alarm. The same formation that done so well at City should have started, if possible. Yes, play the 5 at the backas a point would have been good in terms of due diligence for Brighton.

Everton have no punch up front and, as already seen this season, home advantage with this squad counts for little.

Brighton aren't mugs, and the only mugs were most of the Everton team tonight. Everton made Brighton look like Barcelona or Bayern in their best days. Too easy.

Deffo, the end of the Yellow Brick Road for many players and some of the board. There's a massive battle now to restore confidence in the players, but it will take some doing, and then to try and believe and win the next game.

But the challenge for this season is clear in terms of staying in the Premier League at all costs.

My glass half-full is tonight, in frankness, a small thimble. But 40 years on from the 1983 FA Cup Quater-final loss at Man Utd, I'm hopeful the surprise result of this round will happen, and Everton beat them.

Start Simms, Price, and Davies, if fit. Go for it, as this is big stakes for this transfer window and Everton doing any business.

Hopefully, whoever is in charge will play the same line-up as v City. I think Frank is now approaching a very fine line but for me his tactical subs and some selections have not helped. Don't invite trouble for trouble's sake in terms of picking teams to not loose games.

Then Everton held their own without fear; tonight, they lost their own players so naturally it was hard to fathom, aside from they don't really know how to play together at Goodison.

Strange days have found us, but hope eternal for a miracle this season.

Been years in the making. Disgraceful performance. Something has to change, players, coaching or both. That's as poor a team as there is in the Premier league.

The recruitment is partly what's killed him. Richarlison's goals needed replacing and McNeil £20M, Maupay £15M and Dele Alli was a really bad call. None of them are producing anything at all. The other part that has sealed Frank's fate is that he is tactically naive or even illiterate.

Playing Maupay until recently as a sole striker, just completely ridiculous, week after week with the same outcome. Then changing it tonight to bring McNeil back into the side, who has been contributing absolutely nothing to the team, not for lack of trying, he is just out of form or simply not a good enough player to be starting games.

The problems run far deeper but even so, Frank's position is untenable. His radio interview was almost delusional in that it assumes it's business as usual. He was a brilliant footballer and a really pleasant man who I was desperately hoping to succeed with us.

But there comes a time when all the evidence becomes overwhelming that he is way out of his depth as a Premier League manager. Surely Moshiri cannot let this continue, we are a rudderless ship heading for the rocks.

No wonder the players think they haven't done badly, or have I seen a different game? I have also seen quicker walking football than our team.

I'm hopeful there will be change before the transfer window closes but, if the same faces are still here, then maybe anyone who intends to sit in at the end with regards to the NSNOW protest should not attend the game until half-time.

Maybe it's a stupid suggestion but, if anyone thinks Everton are going to keep surviving with this absolutely pathetic board and our absent owner, they have got a hell of a lot more faith than me.

You seem to forget, he's been out since 6 August with a broken leg, made his comeback on New Year's Eve, and ran his bollocks off playing against the most lethal forward in the Premier League.

He was taken off towards the end with what was probably cramp and some expect him to play four days later. Get fucking real!

The 4-3-3 set-up hasn't yielded results this season so far because the players we have upfront don't suit it.

Unfortunately, I think it's only a matter of time before the next guy comes in. There are good coaches out there, but we will end up with another firefighter.

How on earth is the manager still there - get rid now whist we still have a few weeks of the window to sign some players, even on loan. Lampard, at this time, is no where near the level of a prem manager. Board are shite but they don’t set the team up.

Terrible decision to hire him in the first place.

Then come the afternoon, Big Ron's boys get a last-minute winner and knock us out of the FA Cup, when the competition still meant something. We were the better side that day and Alan Irvine gave Arthur Albiston a fucking roasting... much as I'd still like to do to Mike Newell for punching the ball instead of heading the fucking thing!!

There's a little bit of footage of the replay against Altrincham in 1975, and it sounded like there must have been some toffees inside Old Trafford that day.

Brighton demonstrated how similar clubs, considered smaller than ourselves, have been hard at it for the last 3 to 5 years building up their player strategies, the academy scouting in-take, and professional recruitment philosophy.

In comparison, we haven't got a fucking clue.

Tonight's performance by this Everton team, and that includes not just the players and the management team but also the board, was a total disgrace.

Tonight, we were met by an embarrassing performance from a pathetic assortment of players. They looked as if they really couldn't be bothered. Obviously the draw at City has gone to their heads, not their feet.

Much as I like Frank, his continual lack of tactical know-how, will be his downfall, and ours. I don't know where we go from here.

When we went 4-0 down, my son texted me, “Leave now. They are an embarrassment.” I replied, “They are my embarrassment.”

I don't think at this present time Everton FC deserve our undying support, but they know they will get it. And herein lies the problem.

After the calamitous 6-minute spell, the players just spewed it and sat on their stools. With no manager to throw the towel, they were allowed to play out the game with no game plan. Their opponents felt sorry for them and resisted the urge to use the knockout punches while we in the crowd watched our sad, sorry and bewildered players crawl to the finish line.

Such a shameful sight to see the night a team and their manager died without putting up a fight.

I don't know who will take over the manager's job but Frank can't carry on any longer – the club can't afford his inadequate way of managing the club and I think most fans have seen enough and realise it's time for him to receive his P45 and comics.

And even so, Lampard could've kept the same formation and drafted Holgate in to keep a successful formation for this game.

We need pace at the back and the current two are keeping us 20 yards back and defending on our heels.

Seriously, could another manager turn it around? Most don't want Sam, Sean, Roberto or David back, so leave it till the summer. Start a fresh!

Perhaps this was always going to end in relegation. Selling your best players and replacing with good Championship players leads to one outcome.

Tonight, Frank showed Brighton a lack of respect in our formation to the quality Brighton have. Sadly, tonight showed how far we have fallen and perhaps we need to hit rock bottom to start again.

Sadly Frank needs to go, playing two wingers and his formations have destroyed us tonight. We need some pragmatism, I can't see beyond Dyche and Ferguson as his assistant.

Farcical and pitiful tonight. I am not even angry. It was utterly pathetic.

You say he is back to full fitness, how do you know? If he was back to full fitness, I doubt very much he would have been taken off last Saturday.

I totally agree. That ranks as one of the most gutless and clueless home performances I've ever seen and I go back to the 1950s.

I can't recall us having a single shot on target in the second half; we just never looked like scoring. I reckon 1-4 flattered us. It could have been a lot worse.

Lampard's record is appalling and there aren't any signs he can turn it around. He has to go.

We knew there were problems going back 30 years or more but this seems to signify something else. The rot might have been confined to one or two areas before but it's gone right through the whole structure now.

It probably doesn't matter who the manager is. We are probably the next Sunderland and we're probably finished as a Premier League team. Wish I could find a single reason for optimism but I can't. Happy New Year.

If any manager had the same record as Frank, we would not even be talking about being sacked – he would have already been sacked.

It's about time people stopped making excuses for Frank; he is the one in control of team tactic's, training and recruitment – no-one else. We are going backwards, and to have him in charge of recruitment would be the final nail in our coffin.

Look at the players he has bought in: £80 million plus of garbage. We need to get in Christian Streich, he is the type of manager that could turn Everton around.

If I may offer just one positive comment: I'm a fan of young Isaac Price, having seen a lot of him in the U23s / U21s; I was annoyed at Frank bringing him on tonight when the game was not only gone but the performance was dire and the fans were "less than pleased".

That was potentially a career-damaging decision to bring him on in those circumstances… but, all credit to Isaac, as he did what he does for the U21s: receive, give and go; receive, give and go. As an example, that first-time cross from the right into the box.

Take a bow young man. Take a bow.

I'm not sure changing the manager will make much difference. Although I never wanted Frank, who can we now turn too?

Roberto Martinez? Probably the most insane but realistic target as he's out of a job. Do I want him? No!

I've always said Moyes is the default. If we can bring in someone better then great. Carlo arrived, did okay, then left and I blame him not a jot. I can't think of anyone else that would be less risky as we can't afford to buy anyone. Do I want Moyes? No, or at least I didn't.

I always wanted Mancini, still do, but the lure of retaining Italy's Euro crown in 18 months leaves me a foolish dreamer.

For now, I look at the positives. We created chances, had 10 shots and scored. Players provided evidence of how poor they are and the January transfer window is open.

Sell Gordon, bring in additional firepower and get moving the ball forwards quickly not playing backwards to the slow poor defenders.

Looking forward to being dumped out of another cup before the weekend.

Happy New Year all!

Unpopular opinion time... I think Lampard has the players giving effort. Forget the last 30 minutes when the stuffing was knocked out of all of us and the game was over. Before that, and City, and Wolves.

If it was as simple as 'the players aren't trying' or 'the manager doesn't know what to do' then I'd have some hope that we can stay up. Bring in a new manager and get the players to give it a run. Easy.

I don't think that's the issue. I see effort. I don't see any kind of quality. We've accepted players like Doucoure. We've accepted players like Mykolenko. These guys are so far off the standard, it's mind-boggling that they were ever defended as signings.

I honestly don't think we can judge Lampard fairly. He's coaching a Championship team in the Premier League and he's doing it with pretty much a goalkeeper, a hot-and-cold winger, and a pick-and-mix of shit footballers. Choose any two midfielders and they're all the same.

My big fear is that we change manager and we lose the effort too. At that point, we're well and truly down.

There are people out there who will take this job. They'll agree to not strengthening this month because it will get them into an impressively salaried job. Be very wary of these people.

Simms brought back from a loan only to be stuck on the bench until 82 minutes in.
Tom Cannon given 5 minutes of the Wolves game.
Isaac Price thrown on when we're being thrashed.

Very poor, Frank. Who the heck would want to sign for us?

Tonight was a night for Frank to grow a pair and make changes at half-time. The fans sensed the game was slipping away but, as usual, the changes were made when the game was out of reach.

I thought the fans showed great restraint considering the garbage tactical set-up and poor timing of substitutions.

Frank got away with murder as did many of the players. Not going to name-call but we have many overrated and overpaid players on our books.

Let's start giving the kids a chance. Other clubs do and appear to unearth the odd gem. We never play them to develop them, then eventually move them on cut price. Very sad and part of our disaster as a club. Don't even mention the shambles upstairs.

So, we have to change the coach and hope. Frank is not getting a tune out of these guys, it's plain to see. I like him, but he has to go.

Individually, I think Gana is finished. Calvert-Lewin is a complete waste of space and he doesn't put in a shift at all. Compare him to Mitrovic. I admit that the service is poor, but he is hiding and not attacking the ball. He cannot hold up the play to save his life, he is way too lightweight and ineffectual.

We don't have one player who can commit to go forward quickly with a pass. We play the safe, useless sideways or backwards pass 99% of the time. What a useless combination. We are scared to commit going forward but cannot defend either!

I want Pochettino. He plays a high pressing game and achieved a lot with mediocre players at Spurs. If not. a big Sam pragmatic approach would be second best.

Sorry, but he has got to go.

It ain't broken, don't fix it, accepting Ben, wasnt fit to play, but Holgate was?

Frank's call.

Play safe at home, and a x5 back line, as it worked v City, away, perhaps a testimony to this team, but not in terms of consistency and reliability.

Alas, now it's a stat.

Test of character and backing to the FA Cup 3rd Round.

I hope we do it.

"What's Our Name?"

UTFTs!

1) No shots on target
2) Calvert-Lewin way off it
3) Midfield poor: Davies best of a bad lot!

What was really worrying was three things clearly due to coaching:

a) Iwobi playing deep: useless
b) Lots of backward and sideways passes
c) No organised closing down

However crap the players are, a, b & c must be down to coaching surely?

I was a Lampard supporter but that display tonight gives me pause for thought…

These players lack fitness and organisation, can't defend, can't pass and can't shoot. Does anyone notice that the team stops running after 75 minutes?

McNeil, Gueye, Maupay brought in by Frank this season and all very useless. Bring in Bielsa or Andre Villas-Boas (both unemployed) or bring back Moyes or dare I'd say Benitez.

I honestly believe that we should have given Benitez more funds (more then £1.7 million) and time to refit this team. He is someone who has the experience to build a team. His 2 signings were Mykolenko and Patterson from the funds brought in for Digne.

This Everton team is simply poor. How can you not stop chasing players like Gueye did today and still get selected, week-in & week out?

Time is also up for Doucouré, Davies, Keane, Mina. Sadly we may lose Pickford, Gordon and maybe Onana at the end of the season.

Man Utd will dump us out of the FA Cup shortly and we will have nothing but a relegation fight to endure again. The board will waste the January transfer window and we may only get in a manager on the last day.

This board is also hopeless. How did Brighton get a manager quickly after Potter? Do we not have plans in place for succession?

1. Replace the existing manager and coaching staff.
2. Replace the Chairman and CEO

Replacing the manager is the immediate priority. I said prior to the City game – we need a radical change on the football pitch now. If we don't get it, our situation will become irreversible.

I suggested Ferguson but Don Alexander convinced me that that was the wrong move.

That being the case, I would approach Bielsa and his offsider. He would sort the men out from the boys and demand at least fitness and 100% effort. But would he come?

I imagine we will shortly have Point 121: Sack the manager.

Personally, I could add several more points to the 120…

Frank's record this season isn't bad… it's rank poor!!!

Worst performing team in terms of points?

Frank Lampard, was a great player, by miles better than Pep Guardiola, but great players in football very rarely make good managers.

"It was very disappointing, even in the first half, I would say. A mistake from us for their goal, but I think general play was pretty even, we had our chances. But then three goals in 6 minutes, defensive mistakes from us and that finishes the game.

"After that, the game becomes a bit in-between. We get our late goal, but at 4-0 the game's done. Those 6 minutes were completely pivotal to the game with individual mistakes and collective defending issues."

Fine talking about defensive mistakes. Has he totally forgotten that we have scored a paltry 14 goals so far this season, and the way we are playing, devoid of creativity, it looks very ominous that we will add to that tally at any pace.

He is living in a dream world.

But here are my two optimistic thoughts for the night. I said this on another thread, but I still think there's a good chance that Bournemouth, Forest and Southampton are more shit than we are and we stay up. It doesn't stop the rot, but it keeps us in the top flight.

And then my thoughts turn to if we get relegated, and I think our squad might be okay in the championship with Price, Mills, Warrington, Simms, Dobbin, Branthwaite, Godfrey Mykolenko, Patterson, Garner, Onana, and Gordon forming the core of young guys.

We would sell Pickford and probably Calvert-Lewin, maybe even Iwobi, hopefully McNeil and Maupay to bring in £75-100 million, let Davies and Doucoure and Coady and Mina walk. Maybe we even sell Tarkowski and Gordon if the price is right and keep Holgate to keep our centre-backs strong.

Gordon and Gray would hopefully look a lot better in the Championship, as would Onana and Patterson and Mykolenko. We know Garner would be strong if healthy. But more than anything, we'd have young and hungry guys eager to get us back up for the new stadium.

If this happens, we'd obviously have a new manager and would have to get that right. We'd hopefully have a miracle and be done with Kenwright. I'm not saying we need to go down to get things right – just saying that, if we do, the future isn't absolutely dire if we get everything right from there.

Having been a supporter only since 2016 and with Moshiri at the helm, I'm not super hopeful we can get it right if we stay up or go down, but I have to find hope somewhere.

We had a good first 5 minutes and then that was it. Patterson made a poor decision to try an interception for the first and who knows what Gana thought he was doing for the fourth but to then try and blame Pickford for it was unbelievable.

The defence was poor all night and there seemed to be one of the central defenders lagging behind the rest of the line most of the time.

Lampard now really has to admit that playing two wingers just doesn't work. Whenever they got forward in a position to put in a cross, they seemed to stop as there was only ever Calvert-Lewin in the box surrounded by defenders.

We really have to play two strikers or learn to get more players into the box when attacking. It could only have gotten worse if we had missed the penalty. It now looks only a matter of time before another manager is appointed as the blame has to stop somewhere.

I know you watch the U23s/U21s regularly so are more knowledgeable than most as to their progress and suitability for a first-team run out or even a lengthy cameo. Yet we keep hearing they don't want to start these players too young in case it has the opposite effect. That is what they are in the game for, surely – getting game time against decent opposition.

There was Brighton tonight who gave an 18-year-old centre stage to shine and boy, he did too. Where Frank, if your lucky, has our lads (full of expectation) on the bench but rarely or never used, while their senior counterparts (Davies and McNeil) are running (well ambling) around and clueless.

Sorry, mate he has to go in my opinion, and Kenwright too, but let's get someone who is going to improve us, not someone who is green in management and too soft to be a disciplinarian, that is assuming too there is anyone out there who would take the job for more than just the money. No more firemen, mercenaries, retirement pension seekers, stop-gaps or the like.

Does he even know we have only won 3 games out of 18!?

Get Allardyce in quickly as only he can save us now. But we need to act now to give him time before the transfer window is shut!

Since he came, our chances against opponents have become non-existent and he persists with this low and mid block system that good teams just play around.

Let's be honest ,we were lucky against City. In what other game can we remember dominating at “Fortress Goodison”?

The fans kept us up last season, not Franks tactics or the players ability, and whoever endorsed the decision to get Maupay, McNeil and Gana needs to go with the clear-out.

I honestly think we need a total clear-out at the club because something reeks.

When the attackers make runs, the defenders are playing the ball sideways or back. So when the defenders finally saw an opening and place the ball in the right area (Patterson), the attacker did not anticipate (Calvert-Lewin). Completely out-of-sync.

I don't know how long these players have been playing with each other, day-in & day-out, yet they look like complete strangers on the field.

Simms played a forward ball maybe aiming for Maupay but ended up going to Iwobi, this doesn't matter as long as the ball is being played early before the opposition defenders get back into position. And it ended up forcing their keeper to make a mistake.

Frank, admit your players aren't good enough to play possession. Focus on effective counter-attacks and set-pieces.

Pickford,
Godfrey, Coady, Tarkowski,
Coleman or Patterson, Mykolenko,
Onana, Gueye, Iwobi, Gordon or Gray or the New Winger,
Calvert-Lewin or Simms or The New Centre-Forward!!

This squad cannot cut it with 4-3-3.

Sell Mina, Keane, Davies, McNeil and Doucoure to raise the money for a decent couple of signings – WHO CAN SCORE GOALS. Remember them!!!

Are Brighton that good, or are we that bad?
Are Wolves that good, or are we that bad?
Are Bournemouth that good, or are we that bad?.

Lampard does not know how change formation, during 90+ minutes game. Same formation, when he arrived. Same formation now. Clueless. Like a bad tradesman, he blames his tools.

Who do we get to replace Lampard? You only have to look at the top half of the Premier League table. Besides Potter, who is struggling, not one other UK coach. UK coaches are only firefighters.

Fancy a trip to Spain, Moshiri?

Sacking will cost millions for Lampard and his entourage; backing him will cost millions as well, a new manager will need to buy... more millions.. with no guarantee of success.

Lampard did get it tactically wrong after they scored the first; teams are just hitting us on the break and killing us. We can't do it with the players we have, even Ancelotti reverted to a defensive set up because we were so bad.

Normally, when a team is playing as badly as we are, the manager is chopped, but there is nothing normal about this club. We have reached that point whereby it doesn't matter what the name on the manager's door is, the fans want this to end because, if he is sacked and the merry-go-round continues, we will be relegated.

Moshiri may well press the panic button and swap in a bid to protect his investment, but it's too late... the board have set in place the demise through its management of finance, recruitment of managers and players.

The culture of the club runs deep, root and branch; the only cure is removal of the board, not removal of the manager.

If we are to change manager, then we need someone who can come in and impose their personality, philosophy and playing style on the team. The two who come to mind (and not sure any manager would want to touch us at the moment) are Bielsa and Ange Postecoglou at Celtic.

Postecoglou in particular has a very good track record of turning teams around everywhere he has gone, implementing a high energy attractive style of football, and has made shrewd transfers.

He can take Edwards, Clement, Cole et al with him, they haven't been able to improve a single player in a year. Hopefully the break clause is not just for last close season and it won't cost a bomb.

Brent, as always, good context and thanks for pulling out a positive on a dreadful result and performance. I've liked what little I've seen of Price so far.

I agree with Christine. I can be quoted as being nervous about the appointment of Lampard, but it's either back him time or hit the Goodison managerial ejector-seat button, yet again. I know which seats I think the ejector button should be located and McNulty calls it out on national media.

I think he gets Southampton at home. The concern being, that – unless someone is already lined up – we have another manager coming in very late in the transfer window. Which may indicate the club's intent, or should I say 'lack of intent'?

Bring in the next sacrificial lamb to suffer the same fate as many before, and that of the supporters.

Sorry for the negativity. Old Trafford can lift the spirits. They can't get lower than this morning.

Brighton a 'small' club (haha!), recruits players for peanuts, well peanuts in modern terms. They've lost their manager, but carried on seamlessly. We've got overpriced, overpaid players, who have been strolling through games.

Then we come to the "Sack Lampard" brigade, which I fully understand, in fact for me this was Lampard's Martinez v West Ham moment when you realise he doesn't know what he's doing.

As everyone else has pointed out why change the formation that played really well vs City against a team that's been playing really well and are better than us in every department?

A worrying, depressing start to the year and, unless there's players coming through the door, and even that isn't looking good, put your money on us playing in the Championship next season.

Brighton played very well and we were poor. It's a setback, and I don't know where we go from here, but obviously something has to change to get consistency rather than Jekyll-and-Hyde football.

If the manager and his huge coaching staff can't see that, then it's Goodnight Vienna and welcome to the Championship.

What the fuck was that complete shambles? It has to be up there as one of the worst performances by Everton FC, right on the back of a spirited performance at City. Just what the fuck is going on?

Our players are spineless and useless (generally). Yes, we can sack Frank but we all know that the cycle will continue. We have to break the cycle and that means big changes in the club structure etc and it means replacing the board and hopefully new owners.

At the Arsenal game on 4 February I urge everyone who goes to join the NSNOW protest and stay behind after the game to show the club our feelings. Support the team for 90 minutes but then show our feelings to the board etc.

I don't buy into this whole "worst squad in years etc". The players are all average pros, just like that Brighton side. They (Brighton) don't have any superstars.

The problem last night, and against Bournemouth, is that Lampard doesn't understand how to set his team up. He is giving instructions to midfield to cover certain situations. The opposition only have to make slight adjustments during the game and we are opened-up at will.

The writing has been on the wall in several games and he and his sidekick have failed to either spot the danger and react with in-game changes. Every week, he makes like-for-like subs which fail to affect the proceedings.

It's so thick. "Durr... they scored a goal, errr... what shall I do, oh yea, change the winger".

Last night, Onana is banned so he brings in Davies to play with Gana and Iwobi.

We had reverted to a back four and benched the pacy Godfrey(our best player versus City). It was soon clear that the midfield couldn't cope with Brighton's movement. Gana looked leggy (he is a veteran) the City game knackered them.

Iwobi ran around half-tackling anyone but never winning the ball. He looked confused... I still can't fathom what they told him to do.

Davies was a powderpuff onlooker and the three of them failed in all aspects of midfield play, neither making a solid platform to attack, nor covering our painfully slow centre-backs.

Lampard made no changes at half-time. Why did he not go to a back five and instruct the wingbacks to push on?

Why did he nor remove Mc Neil? He could have put Simms or Maupay on straight away to give us a 5-3-2 or a 3-5-2 when it suited.

Not Frank, he kept it the same and I bet the Brighton lads looked at it and thought, "Christ, we know how to get past this set-up and they haven't changed it!"

Schoolboy level play and schoolboy level coaching.

Whatever the criticism of Kenwright and his puppets, the manager has failed dismally.

We are a Premier League club. Frank is allegedly learning his trade with us. Unfortunately after a year of pretty awful football and no signs of improvement, his apprenticeship should be terminated.

Let's have a manager who knows a few tactical set-ups, can read what is happening and can adjust accordingly.

A guy with experience who already knows his trade.

We have an a absent owner who doesn't seem to care anymore. A useless, clueless Chairman and his Little Miss Dynamite PA. A DoF who is following in the steps of Brands and Walsh, ie, dumb as a fucking rock.

Add to that a manager who is out of his depth. A nice guy (like Martinez and Silva) but who's constantly outmanoeuvred by more tactically savvy coaches. A squad of players who, in the main, are bang-average, weak and cowards.

Added all together, this is the perfect recipe for disaster and it's been long coming. It's not something that has crept up on us. It's been going on for several decades now.

The gradual decline and destruction of our once proud and great club. It's only been accelerated by the Kenwright - Moshiri regime. The damage done by years of ineptitude, incompetence and negligence has come back to bite us.

Can we survive? Not as long as the whole rotten structure remains intact. We could sack Lampard (and probably blow any transfer kitty we may have had) and get another temporary sticky plaster to stave off relegation for another season but nothing will ever change while these fools are in charge.

The players, staff all know they are on easy street at Goodison. There are no minimum standards, no ambition, no objectives bar survival, no hope if you ask me.

RIP Everton

The manager is useless.

You couldn't assemble a more bang-average bunch of overpaid cowards in your life, that are draining this club to extinction. I wouldn't keep one of them.

Each area of the club is failing. Sport science, recruitment, medical, youth — the lot.

We have racked up serious losses and FFP issues whilst still in the Premier League.

We are about to enter a huge global recession per the experts.

We've a huge £500M incomplete stadium down at Bramley-Moore Dock and I will be amazed if it gets finished or remains under Everton ownership.

This isn't a defeat. This is an entire club crumbling in front of our very eyes due to an absentee landlord letting the club be run by idiots. This is years in the making.

The question isn't: What league we will be in next season? The question is: Will the club still exist?

And if we're not seeing one today with 27 days of the transfer window left, then I suspect we won't see one full stop (even this lot would hopefully avoid changing manager with two hours of the transfer window left, after last year).

So if we had changed the system to make ourselves a more dangerous offensive side, it would be understandable. Whilst there was no change in that department, it definitely weakened us very badly as a defensive unit. (Absolutely Crazy!)

I agree that the game was mostly even during the first half but our complete lack of intensity was always only going to suit one team.

No aggression, we worked the switch out to Patterson to good effect once or twice but if it was a training session, you would have put the balls away and started running the players instead, because that complete lack of intensity is only going to be improved one way.

Apologies, but a lot of people keep quoting that. FFP is a UEFA regulation for teams involved in European competition.

We were in danger of falling foul of the Premier League's Profitability and Sustainability Rules.

They are probably similar things, but my OCD kicks in when I read 'FFP'.

Unfortunately, that type of performance usually leads to a manager getting the sack – and Lampard is ultimately accountable for the really poor performances over the last 10 games. He should have stuck to the same system we employed at City – ugly and effective. He will get until the Southampton game but I can't see a way back for him.

Assuming that we move to our seventh manager in six seasons (hello Sunderland, my old friend), then we should all remember that the incoming manager will have the same unbalanced squad of players at his disposal. He will have the same tactical challenges to face with team that collapses when it attempts to play open, progressive football, that lacks ability, professional pride and standards.

And he will still have the same board in place whose disastrous dysfunctional decisions and running of this club has got us to this place. The Chairman and CEO also have to go this month, or nothing will change.

I'm angry at the board. Angry at the bellend in the dugout and his bellend staff. Angry at the players… indeed, I am angry at everyone currently masquerading as being part of our fucking club.

I've had my young lad in tears at half-time against Palace last season, and now my 18-year-old girl (temporarily home from uni) crying her eyes out and begging to leave at 70 minutes last night. What the fuck have I done to my family, giving them this curse… or more like What the fuck has Kenwright et al done to them!?!?

The hope of the stadium is a gigantic millstone. The debt levels a threat that means relegation won't be a journey but potentially utter oblivion.

If it weren't for my kids I'd actually take oblivion now. Start again on a playing field if we need to… we did it once as St Domingo, and right now that feels like a lot more fun than watching us being destroyed from within. Having our souls stolen by a theatre man with a trainset and an absent accountant building a potential NFL franchise stadium on the docks.

I can't walk away. It's in my blood. I've already bought my tickets for next season, and as long as there is a team in blue called Everton, I'll be buying them every year.

But, I can boo. I can sit in. I can bring banners. I can post online. I can join the protests. Enough is fucking enough. New manager and new players this week is a must, but that alone shouldn't stop any of us… if we want this shit to end, we need to rise up and end it ourselves.

Who is he listening to? Doesn't anyone tell him the truth? He continues picking dreadful players. McNeil, Calvert-Lewin, Maupay, Gueye, Iwobi are (all for different reasons) finished but he continues to pick them.

Hard to have any sympathy for you, Frank, son. You had the opportunity with the 6-week break to think and change – no. Man, it's your job, your career, your pride – get a grip, make big decisions... Or just go.

As for The Charlatans supposedly running the Club, I wouldn't send any of them to the shop for a Mars Bar... beyond them.

We don't need Blues calling Blues “mugs” – me and my daughter and my grandson have season tiickets – we are not “mugs”, we are supporters.

Point your anger at those that have got us here, not our fans.

He was sacked with the club lying 12th having reached the semis of both club competitions. That was deemed not good enough for Everton and there were protests demanding his sacking. Not particularly nice for a decent human being like him.

How the bar has been lowered since.

Yes the players and ergo recruitment team are not good enough. But this manager is not getting the best out of them. The in-game management is poor and we nearly always seem to come back from half-time playing badly.

No-one wants to change managers constantly. But equally, sticking with the wrong manager could be disastrous. There are no signs of progress after a year. The only question is whether the board can afford to move on and obviously history suggests they can't be trusted to make the right decision as to the next person.

10 days till next Premier League game so now would be a good time to make the jump. But I suspect the board will dither and Frank will get a stay of execution. If we don't beat Southampton their hand will be forced but by then they will have missed a good window.

Next man in needs to have genuine tactical acumen and have proven to improved a team's fortunes over a two-season period at least (something Lampard had never really done).

And the even more difficult question: Why he did not change tactics when it did not appear to be working, resulting in the inevitable errors that Everton are prone to.

I agree, and you've touched on a huge bugbear of mine. This idea that you can get fit with intensive ball work. It is simply not true.

It was one of Roberto Martinez's misguided beliefs (alongside not practising set plays), this idea that, if you do all your fitness work with the ball, you will gain both the required fitness and improve your ball control.

You cannot, with a ball, replicate simple intensive sprint interval training in terms of its effect on lung capacity and aerobic fitness. This Everton team is as slow and unfit as the late-era Roberto Martinez side and it makes me wonder if Lampard has the same naïve attitude to fitness work.

And I realise that some keyboard warrior shouldn't be calling a professional manager 'naïve' but, in my defence, I was a self-employed personal trainer for over a decade, worked with many sports people to improve their sport-specific fitness, and studied it at degree level.

We are noticeably less fit, less sharp and less agile than nearly every opposing side and, as a fitness professional, I really want to understand why.

He has been there long enough and half the team he has brought in, he's in charge of tactics, training and, most of all, pumping these players up – he clearly is not doing it.

Not only were we given a footballing lesson, but we weren't even competitive and players still don't know what system they're playing. For Christ's sake, this can't continue.

Put on top of that a Rest and Recovery regime which, imo, is abused to get out of training, against Brighton's intensive High Performance regime, like all the other clubs in the Premier League.

Brighton subs were doing short sprints etc.

Everton subs were doing some strange shape movements in a circle.

I ain't no fitness coach but what Phil said above reminded me of what I thought was strange at the time.

The manager's job is to get the best out of the players. He isn't doing that. He's only ever done it sporadically, despite having brought several players to the club.

I think it's a mid-table squad. That's where it should be. I'd be surprised if he takes the team to Old Trafford.

Let's not forget, Roberto gave us the best season of football we have seen at this club in many, many years. Moyes gave us the only stability this club has seen in many years. Some have short and blinkered memories.

I feel so bitter and raw after last night, I wish I hadn't wasted my evening watching these bunch of schisters. This one, plain and simple was all on Frank.

I said before the game to my Everton chum David that it was madness to tinker unnecessarily with the team (Onana's exclusion aside) and more importantly, the formation. We simply have to play 5-3-2 or 4-5-1 for the rest of the season and try to nick some points.

I know Frank isn't to blame for this chaos but tactical ineptitude is needed like a hole in the head right now. Last night, it was fucking obvious to everyone that we had no width in midfield and Patterson was seriously isolated and targeted from the 8th minute onwards.

After the first goal I thought, they'll see it and change formation. Well, we all know how that turned out. We got rinsed on their left all night and a PE coach could have made that call.

Sorry, Frank, it's a thank you bye bye from me. We are cursed.

Why can't they string more than 1 decent performance together consistently? Why can we not find a manager who can inspire and terrify them into doing so?

I know Brighton are a good team currently but that was just shocking. It was Brighton. At home. To get beat like that is just unacceptable and deeply concerning.

If people aren't getting worried about our season now, they should be. Burying our heads in the sand and pinning our hopes on there being lots of games left or lots of points to pick up is no good.

Same as relying on games in hand last season was naive. We simply will not pick up many points how we're playing at the minute – you could have 100 games left and it wouldn't matter.

I was in two minds about sacking Lampard but, after this latest disappointment on top of the Wolves game, he has to go. More change is the last thing the club needs but he just doesn't look capable of turning it around anymore to me.

We need someone in who can work with the squad we have and grind out results with them. It will not be pretty or exciting but this group of players just cannot succeed with attacking, expansive, passing football like Man City play.

To survive, we have to go back to playing the percentages and being tough to beat. Two big men up top and get crosses in for them to attack. It's the only way at the moment and, if someone comes in with this style of play, we have to just suck it up for now.

If we do stick with Lampard, I don't get why he doesn't go back to our last decent performance against Palace and replicate how he set the team up then. In any business, if you are struggling then the best thing is to look back at when you weren't and copy what you were doing then. I know each game is different but that would at least be a good point to start from.

There seems little point in sacking him. No replacement will be good enough for the fans. There is no money to spend on reinforcing the squad. We are in a mess.

It was 5 League games into the season before Maupay arrived.

It's now 2 games into the January window and no sign of reinforcements.

That is 7 games / 21 points chucked away.

We've known for a while that Lampard is taking this squad down.

Before the World Cup, I said that the most important thing was to reinforce the forward line. We had 6 weeks to tie up a deal for one or two of the many players out there who could make a difference.

We haven't done it.

There is 11 days before the next Premier League game at home to Saints. If there's to be no incoming players imminently, then Lampard must go now.

The odds have it as Rooney (favourite), Dyche, Martinez, Bielsa and Postecoglu. Pochettino also getting a mention although I expect that's wishful thinking.

Dyche is the most logical apportionment. A 4-4-2 merchant who knows some of the players already and kept a much worse Burnley squad up year on year. He's also the most embarrassing climb-down of an appointment.

Martinez would be my second pick. Flawed though he is, he would at least improve our use of the ball in possession and is the last manager in our history to assemble good players on the cheap.

Rooney would be a huge risk – although he nearly pulled off the rescue of doomed Derby in his first stint as a manager, so is no mug. With an experienced coach, he might have a chance of keeping us up. However, for the sake of his own reputation, he might be better trying to be the man who gets us promoted if we go down.

Lampard is totally clueless, it was obvious from the start that Patterson was in trouble but Lampard did nothing to rectify the problem. The substitutions were predictable and did nothing to address the problem.

Iwobi was again very poor, McNeil was awful, midfield was non-existent, Calvert-Lewin looked as though he was playing not to get injured, and Patterson was left totally exposed. Not one player came out of that game in credit.

Lampard will take Everton down with a whimper, he should forget about being a coach, a manager, and enjoy his life in London.

No you are not mugs. You, your daughter and her lad represent the oxygen which has allowed this club to keep breathing.

My head is cabbaged today. I see so many things wrong at our club. I don't even know where to start. But for non-matchgoers to accuse matchgoers and urge them to stay away is something I have never heard in my life.

We have a gobshite board, really poor team management, and clueless players. Without the likes of you and yours, we would already be watching lower-league football.

You guys need to stay and defend the wall or we really are finished.

We all remember last season when we the supporters took centre stage and somehow dragged the team to Premier League safety. But now, less than 12 months on, we sadly have made no progress on the pitch and the manager and his team appear utterly clueless.

Quite what we do now, I have no idea, we have an owner who apparently wants to sell the club, a dysfunctional board and a manager who looks and sounds completely out of his depth.

There are clearly too many people at Everton stealing an all-too-generous living. Last night, I counted 11 'coaches' on the pitch during the warm-up and yet, when play started, any form of strategy or recognised plan quickly faded.

I am not sure that giving Frank and his team yet more money in the January window is the answer, as this simply papers over the all-too-obvious cracks. We maybe served best by cutting our losses, and accepting a period outside the Premier League where we can perhaps rid ourselves of the overpaid, under-performers and re-build the club from scratch.

Maybe this seems drastic but we have had too many attempts and spent too much money trying to achieve success with a long list of celebrity managers. I know it's all so depressing but sadly we have achieved nothing using our present business model – only ever-increasing debts.

He wouldn't play attractive football but we don't have the players anyway. Let's be tough to beat, let's nick games 1-0 anything. I can't do another season like last. I really can't…

Would he even get into Brighton or Brentford's team? In fact, who would from our current squad? Pickford, would. That's probably it.

As I've said before, even the poor teams in the 90s had the likes of Hutchison, Speed, Ferguson etc. This team is a bunch of players who love the idea of being Premier League footballers with all the trappings but without any of the qualities that a player for our once-great club should possess: Commitment, Effort, Passion, Skill, Ability.

What other club would offer Iwobi and Gordon £100k-a-week contracts? I'd be selling them to the first decent offer we could get.

The only good signing in recent years was Richarlison. The only good times we have had was a few months under Ancelotti with Rodriguez pulling the strings.

There's been some bad times supporting this club but this is the nadir.

Despite having an awful board, we need to deal with the short term now and appoint an experienced manager (not Dyche, Moyes etc who are all losers) who will keep us in the top flight. Relegation would be a total disaster.

I can't believe the Everton I watched as a boy in the early '60s has ended up like this.

So, the morning after the night before… and I am feeling battered but pragmatic this morning. I woke up contemplating: Which of our current outfield players has ever performed at another club anywhere, or would be guaranteed a start at any of the current Premier League sides?

The answer is none – nil, zero, zilch.

Most of the comments I have read after last night have been debating who might be the man to turn this around. I believe there is no-one. We simply do not have the playing quality to keep us in the Premier League and are not able to remediate that due to financial constraints.

We are going down. That's it.

It's not the end of the world and, if it is the catalyst for major change, then maybe it's a good thing. Get the club sold (I don't give a rat's arse how much money Moshiri might lose – he's never going to be using a food bank), let new owners get the stadium finished, start enjoying football again if we can win a few games in the Championship, and begin the rebuilding process.

Forget the obsession with silverware, 27 Years et al. We are not a top team anymore – although we will always be a 'big' club.

It will be painful but the game can be enjoyed outside the Premier League until we get back. Just ask the millions of fans of the 70-odd clubs in the EFL who turn out every week.

I'm sure we all remember the night the entire team completely folded at Sunderland.

[Too angry for comment.]

At the moment, if we appoint a competent manager, there is every chance we will stay up. Over the next 20 games, I am sure we have enough to stay ahead of Forest, Southampton and Bournemouth.

Put Moyes or even Dyche in there and let him weave his magic in the transfer window; by season's end, we will still be in the top league. Job done!

Gary @376. I feel the pain. I too woke up very early this morning with the dogs and suddenly recollected the result, checked to see if was real and then reality set in.

Mark; 12th isn't good enough. Sorry and no offence meant. That shouldn't be our benchmark. That's why we are where we are.

Eddie. Good analytical assessment.

Tony. We've been talking for the past few seasons about the gaps. Isolated strikers and the team not playing as a unit. We often look like an opposition's joy to play against. Not necessarily the standard of player (but we need better ones), but the organisation and tactics.

Phil, I'm not as qualified as you on fitness, but I was an instructor in the Army for a period and coached football. I agree with a lot of what you say. Fitness is about different things. Pace, agility, endurance, stamina, mental determination. There are probably other areas you could mention.

The thing with pace is that you can't turn a slow player into a sprinter. What you can do is make them fit and teach them about anticipation and reading the game. My favourite fitness sessions for football were a bleep test to gauge the levels of individuals. And then pyramids on the running track; recovery and go again type of training.

Back to one of Tony's points. Fitness, tactics and organisation; when it comes down to it, play with intensity, desire and commitment. Otherwise, ability means nothing. But you need fitness and hard work to do that and one
unleash the ability.

George. Have a good glass of the best Vino you can find and let's get positive for Friday.

Stoke City changing room window moment. 9,400 Everton supporters will be there. You had best show up, Everton!

However, that cannot explain last night's performance. I didn't watch the game but listened to it live on BBC. From what I gather, we played a high press and got picked off on the break.

That comes down to tactics. Maybe the players aren't good enough to play that system. But again, that comes down to the system that is chosen to play.

Then there is the curious case of Simms. Good enough to be recalled on loan but only gets a derisory few minutes when the game is lost. Why not play him from the start? If an 18-year-old can lead the opposition lines, why not start him here?

There are no easy answers in football, but the choices made have an impact one way or the other on the football pitch. The buck then stops with management.

Let's just grind out some wins and get up the table. Don't give up!

They took the division by storm and they took tens of thousands of fans to all the strange outposts of that division. My Manc mates absolutely loved it.

They came back up revitalised, chastened and ready to go. Well likewise we will be taking thousands and thousands with us, wherever, but I fear we are destined to be in the wilderness for many a year. Cheers, Bill.

Not Rooney, and not Ferguson whose main qualification is that he hugged a ball boy that one time.

Moyes has been sacked five times since he left here. He's outstayed his welcome at West Ham Utd and will be unemployed soon. Please don't talk about him coming back here.

He did an excellent job when he was here but his ship has sailed.

Hoping not to sound too negative but we are in serious trouble. After 65 years of it, I'm not sure that I've seen a worse Everton performance.

Yes, a brilliant revival with young players like Hill, Coppell, the Greenhoff brothers, Stuart Pearson etc…. But then they went and sacked Tommy Docherty for a minor misdemeanour and the club went back into the wilderness for several years. If we got relegated (under this board) I doubt we would get back up so quickly.

As for managers, get lost with all your Dyche, Moyes, Martinez bullshit. If we are to go down start thinking about the future with young managers who are the future and not the failed past, eg, Rooney, Kompany, Cooper etc….

If the City and Brighton results were reversed, how long would this thread be?

Kenwright, Baxendale, Sharp and all the other diabolical sycophants that have led us here; out now! And every single one of you that is feeding from the trough of Everton but dare not speak up, shame on you. Shame on you.

Only the great Everton fans can rid the club of this cancerous regime. Let's get them out and rebuild something we can all be proud of.

After all, what else has she got left? Her dignity dissolved, her hope all gone. Great Memories, maybe but that's all they are now… memories.

Billy was there looking like some mafia Don with his shades on. All that was missing was a huge Cuban cigar in his gob.

The man is shameless so I'm not surprised if he did an early runner.

He's got them playing decent football and looks likely to bring them straight back up to the Premier League. He obviously has longstanding connections to the North West too.

But given he's going to probably take Burnley back to the top flight, I doubt he would leave for Everton right now.

I would suspect he is waiting for the City job. Maybe the Belgium national one? But doing a good job right now and the Burnley fans I know and speak to feel relieved to have had the shackles of Dyche removed and are enjoying watching their team. Easy to say when you're winning I suppose, whatever level you're at.

One last big decision needs to be made, and that is the identity of the next manager. If Bill (and I think it will be Bill) gets that right, we avoid the drop the sale goes through and on we go. That is why I think it is such a high-risk strategy to be demanding removal of the board – where the hell are they going to go when nobody will buy the club because of this threat?

The press will be dying to focus on Everton's plight to our disadvantage, let's not give them the oxygen. Let the club appoint a manager and keep calm.

Paul # 387 – “Why can we not find a manager who can inspire and terrify them into doing so?” . That is the second reason why I want him. They don't need a friend – they need a leader.

But throw in the defeat at home to Wolves, and the two debacles at Bournemouth pre-World Cup, and it's hard to be anything other than depressed, angry, and worried.

Lampard is a lovely lad, but he appears to be tactically clueless. If you were to ask who was most likely to keep their club up, Moyes at West Ham or Lampard at Everton, who would say the latter?

Strange times: a beautiful new stadium rising alongside the Mersey, but the club is an absolute shambles.

The transition under Vincent Kompany has been incredible, the football being played is like nothing I've seen at Turf Moor before. He ain't leaving Burnley this season, though, and possibly may stay next season. When he leaves, it will be for a bigger fish than Everton.

Yes, Dyche kept them in the Premier League for a few seasons but the football was the worst I've seen, and I'm 53.

He got the tactics for the Wolves game broadly correct, we dominated possession and had 12 shots on target only to screw it up due to naivety in injury time. The tactical set-up and defensive formation for Man City was perfect.

Having endured rewatching the extended highlights of the Brighton game again, what I saw was lack of intensity, midfielders not tracking runners and terrible defending by every member of the back four.

Guaranteed to divide the fan base from day one and doomed to failure.

Moyes relegated with Sunderland and has turned West Ham Utd into relegation candidates.

Martinez relegated with Wigan. Failed with Belgium's ‘Golden Generation', had us heading in the wrong direction.

Dyche relegated with Burnley. His prehistoric football makes Big Sam's look like samba style in comparison.

I'm all for constructive speculation regarding our next manager but please show some imagination when doing so. These three relics are not the answer.

Does Moshiri care? I don't think so!
Does Kenwright care? I don't think so, but he pretends too!
Does Lampard care? Yes, but all the time Moshiri and Kenwright are at the helm ‘nothing but the best' will happen.

Whether Lampard stays or goes, we are in for a bleak remainder of the season. Will we stay up? I don't know.
What a statement and prediction, when we are not even half-way through the season.

I wonder how Kenwright sleeps at night?

They like to play from the back, the difference to us is that they are confident in what they are doing and do it at pace, very often from their goalkeeper rolling it a couple of yards to his defender on the 6-yard box within 3 or 4 passes they were inside our box.

Then, when you factor in that in the last 12 months or so they have sold Ben White to Arsenal for £50M, Dan Burns to Newcastle for £15M, Cucurella to Chelsea for £65M Bissouma to Spurs for £29M and Maupay to Everton for £11M.

Normally, selling a lot of your top players would have a negative impact on the team, but because they have a squad that is well-scouted and well managed it had little effect.

Then, a few months back, they lost their manager to Chelsea, now that would normally have a dramatic effect on the team. But prior to letting Potter go to Chelsea they had already identified their next manager, somebody I had never heard of: Roberto De Zerbi.

He was the manager of Shaktar Donetsk who were top of the league but, when the war started, football stopped in Ukraine. He had also managed Sassulo in Serie A to 8th in the league prior to taking over at Shaktar.

But Brighton said that he played bright attacking football and would be the ideal man to take over from Potter, and the change so far has been seamless.

I would suggest that their scouting system must be second to none and their coaching is right up there to keep producing unknown players who cost buttons but then turn them into top players that attract the attention of top clubs is a real art.

I think in Caciedo, who for me was outstanding last night, and Mac Allister, a World Cup winner, they are still producing players who will command massive fees, if and when they are sold. You leave other teams who have spent 20 times what you have spent way behind.

They have only improved Mykolenko and have proven to be on a par with Benitez. They are not getting the best from any other player on the park.

The naive winger formations, the lame excuses afterwards, the poor in-game subs. Coady and Tarkowski passing to each other aimlessly whilst getting beat in every single game.

Frank and his team haven't learnt anything in his 12 months. If anything, we have gotten worse whilst spending money on very average players.

Just signing Maupay is a sacking offence. McNeil looks lost. Gana looks frustrated, Onana hasn't got a clue where he is playing. No goal threat. No quality.

A summer and World Cup to bring in reinforcements and the best he can do is bring back Simms who is unproven at this level.

Brighton didn't get out of 2nd gear. We were wide open from the first til last minute. At no point did he try and change things.

Throwing Price on was putting 2 fingers up to the board whilst seeing if the lad could sink or swim.

Bringing Simms back is another bad sign that we haven't got money so let's recall him. Credit to him, he did set up the assist for the penalty.

We have Kean and Alli out on loan but lack goalscorers! I am not saying they are the answer but both would improve on a half-fit Calvert-Lewin and the woeful Maupay.

If we go down, we will stay down. The Championship is no place for the lilly-livered squad that we have.

Dyche in, with Ferguson as his Number 2 for me.

There are eight clubs in the relegation dogfight and we are one of them. We have a moment in time chance of getting out of trouble if Mr Moshiri is proactive.

1) Get an experienced manager in who can organise, is tactically aware, and can manage a football game.

2) Let the new manager get two or three first-team players in.

3) Act now, every extra day will help the new manager.

It still may not work, but Mr Moshiri cannot sit on his hands and do nothing whilst we have the worst form of those eight teams and are in dysfunctional, disorganised free-fall.

The problem is the way that the Football League would impose their Profit and Sustainability Rules, which Everton would be in breach off.

Ref Derby Coounty, Everton are already in breach of the Premier League Profit and Sustainability Rules, but appear to have been given a bye by the Premier League because of Covid considerations, which has been queried by two other clubs, one being Burnley who were regulated.

Also, Kevin Maguire has recently queried this and so will many more after this result.

The other unknown problem is where does Moshiri stand in relation to sanctions?

Note, as Danny says, the Uefa Profit and Sustainability Rules are only for clubs involved in European Competition, and could explain the apathy to Ancelotti's objective of European competition.

As for your earlier question regarding extended stadium capacity, my understanding is that new safe terrace standing was being looked at as a possible way of doing this.

Steve @421,

There is a lot of truth in your post.

Good to see you back, mate, but what a shambles we are in, and as you quite rightly point out, none of us, the fans, can be held to account.

I go quite regularly, as you know, and at the Wolves game I said to the guy next to me when thousands were singing and cheering the team on, "These don't deserve such brilliant support."

I suppose all our immediate thoughts, are we going to sack yet another in a long line of managers (?) although Frank is clearly out of his depth. Being almost a legend as a player doesn't translate to being a good manager, or very rarely indeed.

But, as many have said and I reiterate, the problems stem from the ineffective set-up in the boardroom, and sacking the manager unless he is a miracle worker will just paper over another crack, and the whole thing will be in danger of repeating a few months down the line.

Gross incompetency when you weigh up the profligation of a small fortune on over-priced and ill-suited players on lengthy contracts, plus the compensations for ill-appointed managers, all exemplify my point.

We as fans have had no say whatsoever in these issues yet we are the ones who suffer most. It all has to change and quickly, that is, if it isn't too late to do so now!

I agree with every point but unfortunately that sounds like too much hard work for our board who to me seem like they mentally checked out years ago.

Knowing these clowns, they'll give him Southampton (Friday is a write-off already); after we get beat, they'll dither another week to finally sack him, leaving us so far further in the abyss no manager could fix it.

The board just haven't learnt a thing from last years scare, it's an absolute disgrace.

No doubt Frank will get the sack today. No doubt Moshiri thinks his board are doing fine. No doubt the board think they are doing fine.

Next, it's all round to Bill's for a 3-week selection process, leaving the new man with 35 minutes to get some players in before the transfer window closes. But we'll be fine.

Actually, I've thought for some time that gravity is pulling us inexorably down and that it doesn't matter who the manager is. The rot is too deep. So, what happens happens. It's what WE, the fans, do that counts.

'For change to happen in any community, the initiative must come from the individual' (Dalai Lama).

So, I'm joining NSNOW, will join the sit-in, I'll start tweeting, emailing and even letter-writing, so these bastards ruining our club know we're watching every move.

It's our club, not theirs. They need to have that shoved in their faces at every possible moment. Don't give them a moment's rest.

You didn't just say he wasn't good enough, you said a lot more and you are still factually wrong.

Davies would get nowhere near any of the great, good, or even half-decent Everton sides, but he is good enough for this one.

Don't take my word for it. Just look at the records. He's played in nearly 150 Premier League games. He wasn't just picked by one manager who saw him as a favorite. He was picked by every one of them. Koeman, Allardyce, Unsworth, Silva, Ancelotti, Ferguson, Benitez and Lampard – count them.

It seems the more you are proven wrong, the greater your determination to say "I told you so".

Last night, I saw our team shredded.

I saw Brighton players go past our full-backs with the greatest of ease.

I saw our ageing tackling machine lying flat on his back after giving up yet another goal.

I saw our centre-forward looking like he was auditioning for the role of Ben Gunn.

I saw our youngsters being humiliated because our experienced players were shite.

I saw our manager standing with his arms folded with a gormless look on his face as his "plan" fell apart again.

I saw our much-vaunted centre-back pairing getting absolutely brutalised by a teenager, conceding their seventh goal to south coast clubs in a couple of weeks.

I saw them repeatedly invite more pressure.

I saw a die-hard fan of over 50 years in tears because she couldn't believe it had come to this.

Sorry but people trying to score points because they spotted Davies wasn't Pirlo a few years back won't help me unsee what I saw last night. Our problems go way beyond him. He is a symptom of them – not the cause.

When Tom Davies stops getting selected, we can then tell ourselves we are heading in the right direction... improving. But we`re nowhere near that at the moment. If Frank gets sacked. I guarantee you the next fella will call on him too.

That's where we are at.

Every day that Frank Lampard remains as manager is another day wasted. He has not improved us one bit in a year – if anything, he's actually taken us backwards from Benitez – and who'd have thought that was possible? He lacks the tactical acumen to manage a game and he seems befuddled and bemused on the sidelines.

I really wanted him to work as he's a likeable fella but he isn't getting the best out of the admittedly limited squad we've got. Someone like Dyche would squeeze a bit more out of them and might just get us the 20 to 25 points we need.

I must admit that Moyes didn't even cross my mind as hiring him would be mental.

Imagination is definitely the right word to use. if we are proposing to hire NINTH permanent manager in NINE years, then we'd better get serious about credible and attainable managers who will improve the club?

Because I cannot see any sustainable change happening without an overhaul of the board – a strategic review that concluded with no changes at that level was self-evidently bullshit.

Also, when is Moshiri going to communicate with the fans? Say something!!

City are better than us so we cut our cloth accordingly. Brighton are better than us so we change formation because we are at home?

The club needs a pragmatic approach to each game because we are going nowhere with the idea that somehow we are a great team with a wonderful history. Currently, we are shite, well out of form, despite starting the season with some good performances.

Sack Lampard? Keep Lampard? I couldn't care less really. How about keeping the rest of the coaching team and giving the manager's job to Paul Clement if we are too hard up to pay them all off?

Bit of a scattergun comment all this, but just to add, how many times do we see a team in a similar state to us currently and suggest that "a spell in the Championship would do them good?" Anyone buy that? I reckon we'd be in massive danger of doing a Sunderland.

Sacked by Derby, Swansea, and Bruges – and they're the ones who come to mind quickly.

Really, Simon?

As for us, I can't help wondering whether Moshiri is just leaving the running of EFC in the incapable hands of Kenwright and his oppo, Barrett-Baxendale. Possibly with no funds to think of sacking Frank, or to bring in new recruits on the playing staff.

He may well have told them to just get on with it, while he looks to fund the stadium and (hopefully) negotiates a takeover, or at the very least, partners.

I hope I'm wrong but I can't see Lampard doing anything other than what he's done all season, and that is lose the majority of games that he's in charge of.

Brighton looked excellent last night, they had more defenders against our attackers and more attackers against our defenders. In other words, they looked to have more players on the pitch than us!

Maybe the Board can't take the decisions re changing the manager, as probably Moshiri doesn't trust Kenwright with any further funds. But if this Board have the power to recruit or sack, then I'd say our only hope of avoiding relegation is to change the manager and do it now. Every day we wait is time lost and nearer to relegation.

We avoided relegation last season because of the power of the supporters. I think this season, a dangerous feeling of "We've had it!" is doing the rounds amongst us.

I agree re Davies: limited as he is, he was the least worst last night.

I would not allow these fools to make a scapegoat out of Frank Lampard; they should be held responsible. We have suffered a managed decline over the past 35 years, but particularly in the Kenwright years.

The board should be investigated for dereliction of duty. Where is the accountability at corporate level? The face on Miss Piggy in the directors' box last night summed it up for me; she looked shocked and clueless.

National newspapers should really start to call out the Board and not concentrate solely on the manager, as they have done in the past, to highlight their dreadful track record.

Imagine having four players on the pitch that can score a goal.

Lampard isn't responsible for a lot of things at this club, but a large portion of the playing staff are ''his'' players. The training is down to him and ''his'' staff, as are the tactics.

He should've gone during the World Cup break in my opinion, results are not going to improve with him in charge, no matter who else is to blame.

To be honest, I'm in the fast reducing "Back Lampard" camp, on the basis of the alternative being another emergency appointment who inherits a squad of players, two-thirds of which he wouldn't have bought. It did cross my mind to write "Ashley Cole" but I don't know if he has all the correct qualifications.

But now you mention it, Clement doesn't have the proven track-record required for having a turn on playing with the Everton trainset. No, what we require now is another washed-up international manager.

I cannot understand how full-time employed football people cannot be bothered to get off their arse to look beyond the usual suspects for transfers, most of whom totally underwhelm.

Yes Brighton do very well because they actively look at other leagues. We just look at some failed Premier League player and say, "He'll do – we've heard of him!"

I live in Brighton and have many Brighton fans as friends... when we bought Maupay, they were all very grateful to Everton, saying "Thank God he's gone!"

Why do scouts/ and coaches not do their homework by logging in to fan websites – they will get more of an idea of a player than looking at some highlights package.

I knew about all their new players months or even years ago, so why didn't Everton keep their ears to the ground and try and highjack some deals?

If Lampard goes, let's hope Moshiri doesn't choose another past-it, failed, but very expensive manager. He needs a young enthusiastic manager with good ideas, I couldn't care less if I've never heard of him. The issue is: Can he inspire the players and make a name for himself?

In 50 years of watching Everton, last night was the most spineless performance I have ever witnessed. I've seen bad games. I've seen us well beaten. But last night was abysmal beyond anything that I've witnessed before. No fight, no passion, no ideas.

You don't have to be Einstein to know that insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.

Passing the ball around at the back until we lost it cost us the first goal and created nothing after the first 10 minutes. But in the 2nd half we kept on doing it despite conceding 3 hapless goals.

Change was needed at half-time. The disbelief when the same 11 stepped out of the tunnel was palpable. When the 2nd goal was gifted, the manager stood there and did nothing. By the time we were 4 goals down, he seemed shell-shocked.

I have been a supporter of Frank Lampard as I believed he has the experience and prestige to be successful. I was wrong. That he is still in a job this morning amazes me.

We have to do this properly. A new manager needs to be in place to use the transfer window to bring in some sticking plasters. Because that is all he can do. Major surgery will have to wait.

The whole football world knows we need a striker or two.
But what we need more is players moving, running and chasing like their lives depended on it. For that reason, I'd advocate a Sean Dyche type manager.

Better observers than me will know who is and who is not available. But what has to be done, has to be done now. Not next week or next month.

He's not the problem.

He's absolutely a problem....

We need to step away from the 'big club' bullshit, accept where we are, bring in Dyche. Play some horrible, shithouse football for six months.

We've 22 games left, so we're not dead.

But we'll absolutely be relegated under Lampard. Out of his depth.

The longer the silence, the more the inertia runs through the club.

I am now retiring to my bunker until all talk of Moyes, Martinez, Ferguson and Rooney is over.

The choices seem to be:

Anti-football which I refuse to watch just as I did when Sam came in.

Inexperienced, learn on the job, which we already have.

A proven failed manager that likes to talk but doesn't believe in defending or fitness.

A fighter that is tactically one-dimensional.

All risky, all short-term, all very costly and all wrong for Everton.

No doubt we re-repeat over the coming few seasons the same mistakes because the board are clueless. We need to identify what we want and need and get the best coach to fit Everton. Changing from long ball, possession, low block, counter-attack in a confused half-arsed attempt doesn't help the players.

Also the Director of football role, it still isn't working or showing any signs off improvements. Is it time to ditch?

I haven't the foggiest how this is going to end up regarding the manager. Stick or twist? Either way, we are in trouble imo as this club appears to breed complacency within its walls.

When was the last time we improved a player? We very rarely make a profit on our recruits (Richarlison being the exception).

Players who did well at other clubs tend to become shite or worse at Everton. The club has become rotten to the core so players coming in must think this is easy money. Why bother?

You weren't the contributor that disagreed with me. You normally talk a lot of sense and I like reading your contributions but I don't agree with you on this one, I'm afraid.

I stand by my comments. If Tom Davies is the answer in midfield, then that is symptomatic of how far we have fallen. I wanted him to succeed like the rest of us but we are too sentimental as a club.

What does Davies contribute? Goals? Assists? He runs about a lot but is that good enough for us? We're not an under-10s team trying our best.

I admit, he isn't the main problem but he sums up our decline. Smashing bloke off the pitch. I like him but he isn't good enough.

Similarly with Iwobi. His performances improved significantly at the start of this season and the end of last but from a very low base (possibly the worst player pound-for-pound we'd ever had at one point). We reward him with a reputed £100k-a-week contract?

Same with Gordon: a player who believes his own hype before he's actually achieved anything.

Remember when we were laughing because Benitez was after Longstaff and instead we got Onana and Gueye? What a dream midfield that was going to be.

Onana doesn't look anything like a £30m footballer to me. Gueye breaks up play and intercepts but he isn't good with the ball. Onana made a promising start and might be better in a good team but then he looks like a journeyman player: gives it the nearest man, passes sideways and backwards, goes missing. He didn't look good in a Belgium shirt from what I saw, either.

How many players do we sign that look good signings on paper and make promising starts but then get found out? Doucoure is an example. Schneiderlin. Gomes. Moise Kean, Delph, Besic, Townsend, Walcott, Tosun etc. etc. The only good signings off the top of my head in recent times have been Lukaku, Barry, McCarthy, Richarlison, Pickford.

Life as an Evertonian has become an endless cycle of disappointment. Sign some players over summer or get a new manager. This creates a buzz. We get swept up that we're gonna beat Liverpool or win a trophy with words like "We've signed leaders" like with Coady and Tarkowski but was the same when we got Keane and Pickford.

Make a promising start. Lose 2 or 3 consecutive games. Wheels come off. Away form is dreadful. Manager is unable to adapt. Need reinforcements in January. Might get in someone on the last day. Relegation fears. Calls to sack the manager. Usually have enough to put a run together. Repeat.

A well-run club progressing and improving over years, but living within their means. Good scouting system. Proactive and imaginative in who they appoint as manager.

Leadership from the top doing their homework and having a plan. My son's friend comes from Brighton. On the backs of their arse in 1997. One game and a result away from dropping out of the 4th tier and the Football League. Only stayed up on goals scored.

Lost their stadium. Shared with Gillingham and then played on an open-air athletics stadium until 2011.

Tom Davies attracts criticism for poor performances as will any player. Conversely, he and they will get praise for good performances. I've done both with him and other players.

Tom is not the problem. If anything, in the bigger scheme of things, I've only gone over the top on one player in wishing he wouldn't play for Everton again and that was Fabian Delph. Call me out if otherwise.

Even he had me eating a dose of humble pie with those several performances at the end of last season. Despite my documented criticism, I've even given Michael Keane praise where due.

The squad is a result of the neglect of this club. I think we're all still nursing Everton hangovers. Yet again.

I'm not betting on Friday. I know I shouldn't bet on football and just got lucky with the City result.

Nobody wants to see it, I suggest most would hold their nose and accept it if the end justified the means.

There isn't one part of the club that offers any hope for the future because there isn't one part of the club this regime has mismanaged.

Dan Purdy, largely responsible for our piss poor scouting was unbelievably rehired, Unsworth ran the Academy teams for years, passing on his wonderful advice. He's passing that on to his Oldham team now in the National League where he has won 2 of 15 matches.

Mediocrity runs through this club from the Academy upwards, but no-one is removed. I guess it's difficult to sack someone when you are more incompetent than they are.

Brighton and Brentford can find, train and promote Premier League standard players with a fraction of our resources; they clearly have a strategy, a clear blueprint to improve, and I'll bet there are similar teams on the way.

You say the squad is a result of neglect from the club. Moshiri has hardly been scrooge, we have spent around half a billion or so I believe on players since he came in.

It's just my opinion but Frank and Thelwell are just the latest in a long line of managers and DoFs to recruit extremely poorly.
That of course is assuming that the manager and DOF are the ones identifying and hiring the playing staff.

Despite spending hundreds of millions. I don't think we have had a midfield player capable of taking us to where we want to be. We always seem to sign the new Zidane, or the Brazilian Peter Reid, but they have all been players no competitive club wanted.

I feel and share your anguish concerning the club, our demise and false dawns.

Paul T

Agreed. A decision has to be made. We may not not know where we are going, but it would be nice to know who`s taking us there!

Moshiri is stuck between a rock and a hard place. As I said before, sacking Lampard and his backroom staff will cost millions, which Moshiri won't want to spend. However keeping him in place without improvement could cost many more millions through relegation or loss of sale or investment.

If I was Moshiri, I would be candid with Frank and tell him it's in everyone's interest if he succeeds but, on current performance, he would normally be replaced. Gives Frank an "option" to resign... or bring in a hard-nosed experienced manager to "work with him" (actually the one calling the shots) to get it over the line till the end of the season.

Saves money, saves face, gets the job done... it would be too easy a solution – this is Everton after all.

It goes back way further than Moshiri, yet he seems the convenient scapegoat. He was merely a gullible benefactor who has been manipulated, like many fans who still defend Kenwright.

The man is poison, purporting to be an Evertonian, The People's Club. If he genuinely wanted success at Everton, he would have stood down ages ago. That is why the Sheikhs who eventually went to Man City moved on – because that greedy bastard insisted on him remaining as Chairman, which any sensible take-over would not be a party to – except the mug he got in Moshiri.

The criticism of him is his leadership. He gave the keys to his kingdom and his cheque book to the wrong people, who made wrong appointments and blew his millions.

And, yes, I know he got involved in some of those decisions.

I grew up in a hierarchal environment. I understand Leadership, Management and Empowerment. Step in when you need to.

His first act should have been to put his own people, the right people, in place and empower them to act on his behalf. But his people who share his plan and strategy.

Not a bunch of clingers-on who were punch drunk having won the lottery.

Apologies for my ramblings again, this is probably going to take until Friday to get over.

He doesn't care if it's in the Championship, playing in Kirkby, with his darling David, or Roberto, in charge.

Cue a little fantasy that involves me moving to support Newcastle...

Me (looking sheepish, talking to Sky Sports News): "I saw my first game at Goodison in 1966 and this club will always be special to me but basically at this point in my career, I have to think of my mental health."

Sky Sports: "What do you think you can add to the Newcastle support?"

Me: "My strengths are swearing, shaking my head, looking narked, booing and shouting 'For fuck's sake, get that useless twat off!!'."

Sky Sports: "Is it true they've offered you fish and chips with curry sauce and 8 pints of Guinness a week?"

Me: (getting into Delta Taxi) "Sorry I've got to go, Cheers!"

I'm sure you realised that my tongue was very firmly in my cheek when I pondered the chances of a 60k stadium capacity.

Here's to a cup run!

We all agree the board is shite, but the players have a coach who is going to relegate us!!

I've given TW a bit of a miss over recent months because Everton has been affecting my mental health. I become so argumentative at home whenever we lose but it's like a drug. I keep saying "I'm finished" but I'm kicking every ball, every week.

My now 12-year-old gets teased because of being an Evertonian and I tell him how good we used to be but his interest is waning. Where we live, it's unusual because they're all glory-hunters and I think "What have I done?" He's seen one win on TV against Liverpool in his lifetime (in a COVID-empty stadium at Anfield).

I don't get to the games these days as I live and work in the midlands. I live and breathe this club though, like most of us. There are bigger Evertonians than me who travel the length and breadth of the country and my hat goes off to every one of 'em. I love this club, though, and I will do if they end up in the bottom tier of English football.

I know you weren't Ancelotti's biggest fan but where do we go from here? More pragmatism and get in someone like Dyche or give Big Dunc a go?

The first few months under Carlo felt like we were onto something. Ferguson's first caretaker stint was thrilling but I'm not sure Big Dunc could sustain it over a season. Similarly with Martinez's first season.

What worries me is we lurch from one philosophy to another. Martinez to Koeman. Big Sam to Silva etc. We need some identity and some stability or we'll become the next Watford.

My brother said to me after the Wolves defeat, "I don't know what we represent anymore. We used to have centre-forward, wingers, attacking full-backs, ball-playing midfielders who could win the ball. Now we're nothing. Neither effective nor good to watch. No goal threat. No creativity. No dogs-of-war spirit. Nothing."

We used to be disappointed that we couldn't regularly beat the so-called 'Big 6'. Now, we regularly get humiliated by the likes of Bournemouth, Watford, Palace, Brighton.

God knows where we go next.

I know you only listened on the radio, mate, but it's both reckless and almost impossible to try and play a high pressing game with a back four that sits so deep, mate.

The school PE teacher was a good shout before and takes me back to my own rugby-playing school-team football manager who always used to tell us that, when we get the ball, spread out, but when the opposition get the ball, push up, and push in, to close the space and give them less room to play in.

Maybe we should just go and appoint someone who appreciates simplicity?

Yes, Kenwright is a problem but he doesn't impose shite tactics most games.

Does he give Lampard the dreaded vote of confidence or does his silence mean he is actively seeking a new manager, and will wait till Lampard's replacement is agreed before saying anything.

To think next season we say farewell to GoodisonPark, how sad if that farewell is in the Championship. It just wouldn't seem right after 69 years of continual top-flight football.

I was only thinking how lucky I have been, I am 74 and have been going to Goodison for 67 of those years. I have seen us win leagues and cups and a European trophy, whereas many like my sons and grandson have witnessed none of this.

I have seen all the great players from Bobby Collins onwards, and now I watch my sons and grandsons having to put up with watching mediocrity every week. And such has been the dearth of really top-class players for such a long time, then people like Duncan Ferguson (Joe Royle rightly said he was a legend before he was a player) and Tim Cahill have been seen by those 40 or under as special players.

I hope for their sake that we do avoid the drop and, in the not-too-distant future, they have players who are top class that win leagues and cups. These younger fans are truly magnificent as they proved last season as their unbelievable support kept this club in the Premier League with the help of Richarlison and Pickford.

These supporters deserve so much more than they are getting and you can't keep asking them to keep up that support they produced last season without giving them belief that things will get better.

Over to you, Farhad, at least tell them your thoughts, as at the moment, your silence is not an option.

Do we actually have the money to do this? I'm not sure that we have. But if we did, would that impact on the amount of money, if there is any at the moment, to spend on new players in this transfer window and the summer one?

While I believe Frank may turn out to be a good manager somewhere, he's currently wrong place, wrong time.

I see only two hopes:

One – Frank and his entourage walk away, letting someone else have a go. For me, that would be Wayne Rooney who did a great job in keeping Derby's season alive for so long last season.

Two – Frank stays and he plays two up front and goes direct. But I don't think he'll do that.

Regards Moshiri selling Everton, who is going to pay a lot of money for a club that is in great danger of dropping out of the Premier League?

Wish I could be more positive about things. All I can say is: Put your seatbelts on, a bumpy ride ahead.

I would give Dyche a go – he will be relatively cheap and he's out of work. He will get us out of the Championship because that's inevitable.

About 4pm isn't it? Like to make them suffer.

Our hope at the moment is there maybe 3 teams that are worse than us, but even that's stretching it. If we don't get players that can get us some precious goals, there's a very good chance we will go down.

Lampard is our latest manager to be lumbered by a squad of players that are not good enough. The major blame lies with the individuals who have been responsible for the purchase of the players over recent years, whoever they might be?

I don't think Frank really deserves to be sacked but we need a firefighter type of manager to give us our best chance of staying up.

I don't care how we do it but, with this new stadium half-built, to go down now would be a setback of epic proportions.

I'm interested to know who your midfield would have been last night if Gueye wasn't in it? Davies, Iwobi and Doucoure?

I'm not sure that combo would have had Brighton on the back foot...

Roberto Martinez: 1.56
Ronald Koeman: 1.48
Sam Allardyce: 1.42
Marco Silva: 1.38
Carlo Ancelotti: 1.6
Rafa Benitez: 1.14
Frank Lampard: 1.07

With the exception of Carlo, the trend has got worse with each manager that matches our decline.

The one thing they have in common is working for a club where the manager's job appears to be impossible.
Maybe our board should ask what Everton would do.

Bill: "Kin 'ell, Denise, they were pissed off last night. Not sure what I can do, Frank's a nice man and clearly with all his good times is a winner on the pitch and therefore off it."

Denise: "Our Strategic Review said the DoOF must make decisions on the manager, and it is the best Strategic Review we've had. Even Carrol the cleaner and Dorris the tour speaker said so!"

Bill: "Yeah, but this is bad, they want the good times back that we had under Davey! He might be free soon, and there's always Bobby. Both of these are clear winnnnners yano!"

Denise: "Speak to Thelwell and ask him to be the bad guy, then you can get what you want and not take the flak."

Bill: "I already did, said he's got a poker night with Frank and Ash planned for Valentines and I can frig off if I think I want him to sack his mate."

Denise: "Have you spoken to Mr Moshiri?"

Bill: "Well, I've told him that we should stick with Frank but hire Bobby or Davie but Kev has other ideas so I dunno what to do."

Denise: "What did he say?"

Bill: "He said 'For fuck's sake, Bill, you said the graffiti was a sign from above and this would be the last one with a payoff. Leave me the hell alone whilst I try to sell this shit show using the stadium!'"

Denise: "So what should we do?"

Bill: "I haven't a clue. We can't do another Strategic Review. Have you got the number of the Echo guy and can you pick some obscure young french striker or winger to leak a story about. £25M-£40M on the release clause ideally."

And that, ladies and gents, is why it is 3 games past the World Cup, 8 points dropped out of 9, and why it is still going to be like this for the next 2-3 weeks.

Everyone has pinned their hopes on him coming back but he's never been the answer, apart from half a season when James, Digne and Sigurdsson put them on a plate for him; he, to me, has always been a weak link. He didn't get out of first gear yesterday.

We play a system which doesn't suit any of the players we have. A midfield which is uncomfortable on the ball and cannot control the tempo of any game, therefore usually go missing. No sign of a number 10 or creativity in the whole squad.

Doucoure is one of the worst midfielders I've ever seen. We have 2 wingers who can only cut back or cut inside every time, leaving an isolated striker whoever we play.

We desperately need players. Maupay and McNeil were nothing more than squad fillers as the squad is that threadbare from trying to get rid of deadwood.

5 at the back is the answer from now on as centre-back position is easily our strongest; otherwise, we need 3 players desperately to change the dynamic of this side: a number 10, a striker and another winger this window.

I'd be tempted to play Price, Mills and Cannon more but it's massively unfair to them to throw them into this, but we know what we are getting from this group.

The Yanks, don’t understand the concept of relegation, but Everton, the club they are allegedly trying to buy, are definitely in a relegation fight, whilst the broker is apparently telling them, that they will never get a better chance to own a massive sleeping giant of the English game.

These things take time, I’m hearing, but with things the way they currently stand, one thing Everton haven’t got much of, is time.

But the thought of seeing Everton win a few games and feeling happy again is very attractive. But then as they say, "It's the hope that kills".

When you say “put in place his own people”, I don't believe Moshiri had any people who were football people to actually put in place.

I don't think anyone, sort of, came with him when he left Arsenal other than having the ear of Usamov, now history. Hence his misguided decision, convinced by the snake-oil salesman himself, to entrust his kingdom and chequebook (to use your words) to Boys Pen Bill.

In your environment, you will have been surrounded by a wealth of personnel from said environment from whom you could recruit, promote or whatever and put in place based on their strengths and weaknesses demonstrated daily,

Whilst I concur with your broad argument, to use the Army is not really a relevant analogy in my opinion.

I am resigned to going down this season and at least that means I won't be shocked when it happens or I will be euphoric if we manage to cling on again.

Under whose stewardship either of those scenarios happens, I have not a scooby but it will be the players and the players alone who will decide our fate.

No one with half a brain would buy this club.

Apologies, mate - you were on point last night.

495 Chris..rightly or wrongly I would always play 442. Whoever plays there needs to stay behind the ball and be athletic and put a tackle in. People can take the piss if they want but I would try Holgate as CDM. He couldnt do any worse.

There comes a point in time when the life support needs to be turned off as it's kept going for selfish reasons rather than for the greater good.

In it's present guise our club is dead, it offers nothing, no hope, no succour & no light at the end of the tunnel.

It needs to be reborn. New leadership from the top down. Yes, there's a place & a need for dreams but that must be balanced with sensible business decisions made by sensible people.

Kenwright, Moshiri & Baxendale do you, for a second, realise what you've done?

Today after watching my precious Everton since 1976/77 I'm very sad and in a dark place.

It's sad times if that's the case; re sell before we can buy. Clubs will know then that they only need to wait and whatever prices we were hoping to get, will go down as the month advances.

Anyway, well done Alan Stubbs for saying what he believes in.

As for the BK out, do you really think that will make a difference? Do you think we'd start climbing the table because someone's not watching from the exec seats?

A classic case of narrative overuling facts. People see him as a leader and maybe he is off the field but on the field he's not proving much use other than the ocassional decent long ball.

Tarkowski and Godfrey would make a better pair.

Did think it was out of place in the posts that surrounded your question, but decided to give it the of the doubt in the interests of sanity.I remember you had something to do with History and in doing research in Virginia came across the 1812 War and the Civil War.There is always hope.

When he signed I bet he wasn't thinking I am going to play in a back 4 for Everton and hardly play those cross field passes. Why did Lampard sign him if he wasn't going to play in a back 5, another baffling tactical decision by the manager.

We have a lot more issues at the club than Coady. Let's face it he is a contender for our next skipper if he hangs around next year.

Ian pointed out that we need speed at centre back. We need speed all over the pitch.

Lampard needs to go. The players don't have a clue what he wants from them.

I don't think he has a clue of what he wants from them! Every time the camera homed in on him last night he just looked at the players, stone faced and showing no emotion. He looked lost for words, and probably lost for inspiration.

I agree with you about Coady, and also Tarky, they get little support off the midfield and are mostly left to try and repel boarders as the last resort.

Tony

Well said! This horrible man is killing our club and all for his own aggrandisement We've got great supporters, Great History and a Board that's selling both literally, down the river.

Gray had just been signed and inspirational midfielder Peter Reid started to be played on a regular basis.

Help for Lampard with the signing of a character forward and influential centre midfielder, together with the implementation of the 442 system is exactly what we need now.

I doubt if Lampard would go along with it but can you phone Moshiri this afternoon please?!

That puts excessive pressure on the midfield. But our midfield can't win enough balls, or retain possession for long enough; or they're just bypassed.

Either way, the pressure then brought to bear on the defence is out of all proportion - and the odds are then that eventually they'll make a slip and be punished for it (witness Patterson last night trying to make up for McNeil's lack of cover); that's if a midfield error hasn't directly led to a goal - witness Gana last night!).

Not a great defence but the problem is in front of that.

His pace requires us to defend deep. His long balls may look good on the highlights reel when on the money but they are often telegraphed and result in loss of possession. And his leadership has made little impact clearly. He has been a big part of a defense that is giving up more chances than any other in the league and i'm afraid a result like last night has been coming for a while.

I don't believe he should be in our starting XI let alone our skipper, however great a character he is off the field. Perhaps if we were playing a back 5 it might be different but even then I think his qualities are somewhat overrated.

Now who in their right mind would allow frank to go into the transfer market again as his judgement of players is seriously floored.

He's flogging a dead horse with this lot, if we are to survive this season we need some new players from somewhere and a very thick skinned manager who plays more route one football. Its pretty obvious our players aren't good enough for all this play from the back football.

However, various people are suggesting faults with various players, please let me be brutally honest and assess our players.

Pickford: excellent shot-stopper, decision making iffy and on corners and set-pieces, he's as "flappy" and anxious as Howard was.

Patterson: energetic and committed, but like Liverpool's right back, his defensive radar doesn't work and he lacks Alexander-Arnold's passing ability.

Mykolenko: I'm sympathetic about his situation as a Ukranian, but as a Premiership defender he doesn't cut the mustard. It's no conincidence that DCL was at his best when Digne and Coleman could fly down the wing and sling in the crosses.

Mina, Tarkowski, Keane and Coady: as someone said above, they're dinosaur defenders, they'd be great against Hickson, Royle, Latchford Gray and Ferguson, but Young and Vernon, Sharp, Lineker, Cottee and Rooney through pace and skill would destroy them.

Godfrey: great athlete, he may yet develop into an excellent defender, but not there yet.

Holgate: excellent with the ball at his feet, but doesn't realise that his main job is to watch and mark the opposition attackers.

Gueye: at his best, six or seven years ago, he was a good interceptor and breaker up of the play. Even then he could only pass five yards and usually it was a square pass. Now he's lost the ability to break play up.

Doucoure: whole hearted and athletic, but he traps a ball further than most players can kick it.

Onana: younger and stronger version of Doucoure, poorer version of Fellaini, his athleticism can't make up for his lack of nous.

Iwobi: great trier who never gives up, but hasn't the ability to make a telling pass and is a poor finisher.

Davies: lost all confidence and has become a liability when he has the ball.

McNeill: does the odd good thing, but is totally anonymous in most games.

Gray: has scored one or two spectacular goals, but in most games he runs into blind alleys and rarely looks up to use the ball.

Maupay: a neat footballer and in a team that plays intricate quick passes and advances together, may be useful, at Everton he has disappeared when he gets on the pitch.

Calvert-Lewin: injuries have rendered him useless, he needs a service from wingers/full backs if he is to start to look like the player who got into the England team.

Gordon: he thinks he's the English Mbappe, he's quickish, but he believes he's a top six player, he isn't and is at times a totally headless chicken.

Lampard has to make this lot work together, he has to motivate them and he has to work out the best tactical formations for them. So far he's got nowhere, but I'm doubtful if there's anyone else out there (Ancelotti, a really stellar manager didn't make that much difference) who would make a difference.

I'm in despair and I don't even see a short-term fix.

I'm not surprised at the calls for Frank to go, but same old cycle will happen again. New man comes in, fights the fire, signs a few of "his" players to get out of a hole, because of the situation he can't look long term, chaos ensues, we hammer the shite that's come in, it all goes pear-shaped - repeat - repeat - repeat

There is no tactical nous on the sidelines. The setup from the start was all wrong. The substitutes too late. No change in system when it was clearly not working (same as Leicester at GP).

The players, namely McNeil, Doucoure, Mykolenko, Davies and DCL appear to not care and are going through the motions. McNeil hung Patterson out to dry, and the hole back line were out of shape, being pulled every direction.

Our players pass and stand still. They continually pass backwards because no other passes are an option. That’s if the pass actually makes the intended target.

There is -
no movement
no intelligence
still no real leadership
No guile
No speed

The only time Brighton looked threatened was when Gray ran at their full back, WITH PACE!
We have got to be the slowest PL team and have been for years.

The PL is changing. Speed is essential. It’s now a standard. We are slow. Extremely slow.
Passing accurately and with speed is now also a standard. Our passing is so poor, it’s criminal.

At GP I got the feeling the fans are finally exhausted. It feels like we’ve had enough and who could blame us? We single-handedly dragged these fuckers through last season and this is the thanks we get.

Relegation may be a disaster. It will definitely be heartbreaking. It may also be the antibiotic needed for a fresh start…

No bringing of the ball forwards by the defense to pull the opposition forward line close allowing space for our midfield.

Standing still and passing the ball back and forth at the back allows the opposition to get their shape correct and wait for us to do something.

On Talksport last night one of the 'experts' said Lampard want to play this attacking style of football but it doesn't work with the players he has. I have seen no evidence of 'attacking football' in an Everton game unless it's being done by the opposition.

I don't have any FIFA coaching badges but the fix doesn't seem too hard to me. Make space, play the ball forwards.

What did you think about my thoughts on anyone not being able to see through Bill Kenwright, Paul? Do I sound like a spiteful and vindictive idiot, or am I just deluded?

1) Strategic improvement of the club – Medium / Longer term
- Complete overhaul needed
- When and how this will happen? I can only see this when new owners come in. Not happening this season.

2) Staying in the Premier League – Immediate / Urgent priority
– this depends on who manages us, what new players come in and if the manager can get a tune out of the players we have and buy

The case against Frank
- Tactically inept – both starting formation (majority of the time) and inability to implement in-game interventions that turn it around for us
- Poor purchases on his watch – Maupay, McNeill, arguably more
- Limited ability to get a tune out of the squad that is sustained
- Has got a terrible record – if continued, we will be relegated!!

The case for Frank
- He’s a decent fella
- He was a top-class midfielder
- He gets us

It’s obvious we need to get shut of Frank. And do it fast so the new Manager can make use of the Jan window. I worry that the Board will sit on their hands when it's obvious action is needed now. (He should have went before the World Cup after having more than his share at the last chance saloon already).

Have the Board got a ready-made list of successors? Unlikely.

But they can find a manager to keep us up. And then the cycle will repeat until 1) happens.

Completely delusional comment on Porky Pig and a broad reflection of how the fanbase thinks - it’s got fuck all to do with climbing the table it’s about the future of EFC. We’re getting relegated end of story.

Tony - tell us more about what your mate said. Anything and everything on Kenwright is gold. I think he also banned Big Nev. Reidy maybe once? Need these ex-pro’s as part of a PR campaign against The Dictator so suggest The Esk gets on to them (Twitter).

They will take to the broom and sweep out the old, bringing in their own people.

We've seen that across the park. Yes, they want success on the football pitch, because that brings success in where it matters to their investment.

But American owners tend to be more prudent. I know I risk getting shouted at, but look at how they've been managed, both from buying and selling players and investing in the stadium over the years.

Meanwhile we stood still with failed projects.

Some may not like it as it may change the culture. But then a lot of us are of the opinion that the culture and mentality of the club needs to change.

- repeated hire and fire of managers

- first XI deteriorating in quality year on year

- crippling finances

- a disengaged owner who clearly wants to sell

It all points to relegation. Lampard is not a great manager but he'd be doing fine somewhere like Palace (just like Silva is doing well at Fulham).

We, however, are a toxic football club rescued last season by the fans, luck, Richarlison and Pickford.

Unless we have new players of quality before the Saints game then the club has accepted relegation already.

We may get a stay of execution through Dyche or who knows even Rooney. However, the cycle just repeats. New ownership is a risk but also vital. We cannot now continue under Moshiri.

This season we are playing Lampards team. The majority of the players are recruited under him, so they must be his responsibility. And the team is the most incoherent team I have ever seen. (And I have seen the danish national team in the mid 70).

One third of ToffeeWebbers blame it on the defence, one third on midfield and one third on the attack (only common denominator is that all blame Kenwright). You can not put the blame on one specific part of the team. It is the incoherence. Wanting to play a pressing game and yet defending deep because of slow defenders. Wanting to play out from the back when none of your back 6 wants the ball.

I have seen Maupay in Brighton and he did OK. McNeil in Burnley and he was good for them. They don’t suddenly become useless, but the useless incoherent team makes them look very poor.

The lack of a coherent and meaningful game plan is down to one man. The manager. We all have opinions on individual players like Davies, DCL, Onana, Coady, Iwobi (I have strong opinions here) and Mykolenko. But the responsibility for what happens on the pitch is the managers. So Lampard needs to go now.

Which type to bring in? Newcastle brought in Eddie Howe (and spent some money last season). This season both Wolves and Villa have brought in a big international name. Interesting to see if it will work out for them.

Could we attract that type and level of manager ie Pocchetino or maybe Tuchel (he is probably out of range) and could they save this group of players from relegation.

Or is the solution to bring in a big Sam solution just for the rest of the season. Someone who just makes us survive even if it means ten man behind the ball and football from the 70’s.

I have no clue about our financial situation, but I am quite sure that the one thing we can not afford is to keep Lampard.

He seems to be doing really well. I wouldn't want Everton to ruin him.

The next Gaffer needs to be ruthless,pro-active & has bags of experience,gives young players a chance and can sort out what's going wrong with the players general fitness too.

We are indeed back in a very dark place,with a looming Cup tie verses manure live across the nation on Friday night.

Ridiculous as it sounds, I still think (hope) there are worse teams that will drop before us, but only just. We need to start scoring goals otherwise it will be the Championship for us next season.

How many other people are stopped from seeing Everton by Kenwright?

Andy, in the three years Martinez was in charge, we finished 5th, 11th and 11th. Also, as Ian says, got to 2 semi finals. Nowhere near relegation though.

Frank may be nice but it looks like he has lost the dressing room. If he is going to go it has to be now and not just at the end of the window. I have no idea who to get. Any decent manager or player would surely give this shambles of a club a swerve. But then again, we are so poor that even relegation would not be that much of s black mark on the 'CV

I certainly don't want Rooney (pisshead and womaniser) Martinez (serial loser) nor Moyes (knives to a gunfight) nor big Dunc (Kenwright acolyte).

I doubt we could entice Tuchel and do not rate Pochettino as highly as some.

Dyche? did anybody enjoy Burnley's alehouse football?

The guy at Celtic seems to be gaining a good reputation and Bielsa would certainly bring some out of their slumber. Vincent Kompany is doing well but relatively unproven and may not want the job.

Joe Royle might make a good general manager supervising Lampard?

However I believe we need some professional help in profiling the right manager and don't think Kelwell is the man to do it.

Also, his attributes are more weighted to the attack than defence and that’s what the club needs most. We need to learn how to attack again! We’ve forgotten how to do it.

Problem with Bob is that there were thousands of fans , me included , who were glad to see the back of him and that mind numbing half way line possession football.

But in the situation we’re I now 11th and putting up with that football seems like the promised land.

You are not alone in the fact that Everton affects your mental health. Read the comments on here. We're all fucken bananas mate.

I used to think I knew the way forward, but now I know I don't. Too much is broken. Too much is swept under the carpet, Too many people on lucrative contracts which will be settled with or without success

The new wave of sack-the-board out is about 10 -15 years too late for me. The damage is done. Waiting until we are staring down the barrel before overloading ToffeeWeb is too little and far too late. Where were these people when Kenwright was actually committing the crimes ???

By chanting sack the board, people are actually asking the board to sack themselves. Think thats going to happen ???.

Sharpie is irrelevant. Kenwright has sunk his feet into cement and DBB has been leaving since Gladys was planning her midnight train to Georgia.

I don't buy any of this stuff about strategic plans in the boardroom. A lot of that stuff is written by people who clearly don't know what the fuck they are talking about - Respectful nod to those who do.

We are not talking about supermarkets. we are talking about football clubs. The most decorated club in world football is a complete basket case. Their rivals over Camp Nou are no better

Clubs in this country (The Shite, Man united, Arsenal) built Dynasties and global recognition on great team management. Forest have won more European trophies than most countries. We didnt even hear about their boardrooms.

City and Chelsea are/were run by people so rich, they can treat multi million pound fuck ups as no more than a minor set-back - Throw enough dosh at it and you will get it right.

I don't know Craig. I am hearing from people I trust, that there is a very strong interest From the USA. I'm also hearing they are stalling and will run a mile if we go down.

I don't know what to believe, I just hope that somewhere out there, is a guy or a group who can inspire our club to the heights I grew up believing we belong at.

If you think about it, although he had us mid table two seasons, one of those we were competing in Europe and the other we got to two semis (robbed by a refereeing howler which turned the game against City and a mistake from Jags when we were the only team going to win it).

At that time the average Europa League team lost nine points in the league and they were teams like Spurs, Arsenal and Liverpool who had deeper squad strength. Look how poorly we performed in the league under Koeman when similar conditions existed.

You make a great point that Roberto would be exactly what is needed as goals win games and we would play on the front foot.

I would imagine his contacts would be important and could see him trying to get De Ketelare on a loan to buy, maybe Batshuyi on loan and a bid for Thorgan Hazard. He would definitely know what was required unlike the previous few incumbent.

Those arguing he ruined Belgium despite getting them to the semi's and being beaten by the champions in what was essentially the final in all but name are out of their minds. The bookies had them sixth in the betting pre World Cup. He had them number one for years in the rankings. Let's see how the next guy does there.

Those calling him a failure need to give their heads a wobble. Most successful manager in Swansea, Wigans and Belgiums history and fifth in ours according to the stats. The same posters who are lamenting Roberto's relegation were the same ones vehemently against the appointment of Howe on the same basis. Keeping clubs like Wigan and Bournemouth up season after season is some feat in itself. Let alone they were relegated as they won the fucking FA Cup, the second greatest achievement in Premier League history. Some failure that.

So where is the major problem, I along with others have my own opinion but my own agreements are with D.O'niell. on leadership.

My own experiences have been in the mining industries were during start up in new mines there have been numerous changes to improve production from lower management to the top. But 90% of the problems are lower down.

Replacing an Owner is difficult and in the case of Everton it will have to be new owners in a buyout of stocks.
This does not excuse poor leadership from the present owner, if he recognizes that the problem is not his fault and fails to have the problem solved and replace the person or persons causing it from the board down to the Director of football and to the manager, he is a fault and the problem will never be solved.

F.Moshiri is the problem, a good owner of a company regardless of what kind of company he owns, if he allows the company to fail through problems caused by employees, regardless of their stature in the company, he is the one at fault and should not rely on the financial aid he provides to cover his faults.

John Stones, who was playing right back, was suddenly stopped being afforded any protection, and City, constantly started getting in down our right hand side.

It was a disgraceful decision by Martin Atkinson, to allow City’s second goal to stand, but I left the Etihad stadium, thinking Martinez’ stupid substitution, and a team with not enough heart, guts or savvy, cost Everton a great chance of getting to Wembley, that night.

If so there may well be breaking news around 10pm tonight.

The quality of the Belgian squad has been excellent by their standards. However, over recent years it has certainly been no better than England, France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Brazil and Argentina - possibly the Netherlands, Croatia and even Italy and Serbia at times. Belgium have done okay in this company.

Indeed the Belgium side that lost to Morocco in the World Cup was only marginally better on paper. Aguerd, Hakimi, Mazraoui, Amrabat, Ziyech and En-Nesyri were all arguably better than their Belgian counterparts. It was hardly a giant killing - especially given Morocco's other performances.

Personally I think he'd be an okay appointment now. By the end of his first spell he seemed to have completely lost his nerve and could no longer organise the side. Most fans at that stage would have agreed it was time to go.

Might he have turned it round with a Moshiri funded transfer window? He couldn't have done much worse than what did happen. In fairness to him his only bum deal was Niasse (anyone else who was crap was cheap).

I think he'd give the squad lift, take the pressure off and try to get them playing a bit of football. Maybe even give Mills a go to inject some enthusiasm.

I suspect he'd want some support in the transfer market as a condition of coming though. Which sadly might rule him out.

Alcaraz also won an FA Cup and was runner up in Copa America. Show respect.

The danger is he wins, gets another 3 weeks, loses all 3, and new man can’t bring in a single player of own. It’s too big a risk, get rid of him now.

They were crap at extremely low cost.

Alcaraz was free and McGeady cost about £1.75m.

Tarashaj, Besic and others were similarly speculative signings, to shore up a paper thin squad when we had no money.

Niasse was the only one he wasted actual money on.

You could argue Kone too but that was only because he got injured immediately upon joining.

McNeil Vs McGeady = splitting hairs.

Coady (particularly) and Tarkowski (slippy) the most internally over rated players we’ve had in years. Slow, not dominant in the air, and taking the whole team 15-20 yards back from where they should be.

Everton want to bring Tottenham Hotspur academy chief Chris Perkins back to the club to be the new Head of Emerging Talent, 18 months after he left.

Perkins joined Spurs in the summer of 2021 after being Everton Academy's Head of Recruitment.

Source - Football Insider 247

1. Playing one up front with no service even when losing.
2. Telling wingers not to cross but to cut inside
3. Pick the same DM every game that doesn't protect the Defence
4. Picks 2 slow Central Defenders
5. Has the Defence sitting too deep

Two proper Evertonians, loved by all.

It is a free hit.

I wouldn't hold on to our confused Cockney any longer just because of a Cup game.

Of course our Chairman hope for a minor miracle, a scrappy win, a morale upturn to build on, which would save the club money in the short term -which, of course, is all they ever think about.

KENWRIGHT OUT!

I am sure in the coming days there will be more and more speculation about a possible new manager. I think when there is this much turmoil around a club, it doesn't benefit anybody and you can only see the turmoil growing if we lose on Friday which given current form looks inevitable. This coming window is Moshiri's last throw of the dice, does he allow Frank to spend or does he give a new manager time to asses and spend before the window closes, but the clock is ticking. Also some important games tonight which the results may see us slide into the bottom 3.

Whoever is the next manager has my sympathy, the only pleasure he will have is banking his cheque every week before he hits the revolving door.

Absentee landlord with a squad devoid of talent. Best players sold, with crap brought in. Only difference is we have one of the top 20 wage bills in world football and spewed up £0.7billion in transfer fees.

I then looked at Lampards record, below benitez and Smith, and just above HK3 and Mike Walker.

Wow.

But have you ever been away somewhere to a function, perhaps a wedding, a member of the family has behaved in an unfortunate, inappropriate manner, and the following day everybody is trying to avoid mentioning it?

In other news, as things stand we're second from bottom.

Brings a tear to my eye.

No one seems to question Bill being a blue but he was once a rs fan. It’s physically, mentally and spiritually impossible for a legitimate football to bounce between the two clubs and his actions prove once a red always a red. His plan has been decades in the making. I expect he will pick up an award or the iron cross at Anfield once he’s put us out of business

I don't recall Ancelotti ever being second and if he was then I certainly didn't advocate his sacking at that time. His last 6 months deserved the sack.

Who I want is irrelevant. It's the best that we can get that is available and willing to come that is important.

It's important that the club stand firm and don't get bullied by idiotic fans as they did with the Lampard over Perieira protests instigated by morons on twitter spaces led by that anonymous brummie bobble.

Things are rather close to how the movie would go though.

Sams “Last 6 months deserved the sack” he joined Everton 30 Nov and was sacked 16 May which is less than six months in role.

There has to be a reason Moshiri hasn't told Kenwright to fuck off, can anyone enlighten me?
Over these last six seasons 500 million spent and look at us, we are a fucking shambles, we paid 20 million for McNeil, like what the fuck ?
Who wants to come to us, we are toxic from top to bottom.

Also, he brings in young players like McNeil and Onana to the team so we have a squad with pretty good young players that something can improve on.

What I think that goes wrong is Frank is trying too hard to play better football. It takes the whole team working in sync and hard to win the ball in opposition half. But we cannot turn it into goal when we did win the ball. But when the press fail, we're so open at the back and usually being scored in those situation.

Overall, I think Frank and DOF did make some progress by making us harder to beat. I just wish he learns quickly and have more than one game plan when things not working. Chop and change is not the answer.

Might need to change my expectations, though not my aspirations.

There's a big difference between judging performances when we've built decent sides over a period of time... compared to a squad built by a series of sacked managers and related roles at the club.

I don't defend the results under Lampard, but I don't place even the majority of the fault with him, nor think another coach will get more out of this side.

Sell and sign. That's the biggest thing we can do right now.

Everyone on here can see you were talking about Carlo Ancelotti. The give away is that you actually name him.

Dont be drawn by the usual Kinsella attempt to misrepresent you by talking about Big Sam.

Still. At least we know Wiki is alive and kicking

Now I get some on here didn't like or appreciate Ancelotti, make of that what you want, but there is no doubt he got what we did have into an almost decent side.

Frankly you cannot begin to compare the two. Realistically we never had the quality to play man city type football, but we were a team managed well, but not individually good enough to do what was needed.
Fast forward a couple of years and it's like watching a Sunday league side playing za Premier side, they are fitter, faster, tactically aware and individually better.
It's Ancelottis actical nouse we are missing and several players understanding of what they need to be doing as well. All in all we are in the same place we were 2 years ago without the better players we sold and a niave manager. The combination will take us down unless we can improv.e

No wonder there is finally water pouring in through the roof. We can't even buy a decent set of buckets, tarpaulin or an umbrella. Still the caretaker is happy reflecting on those good times !!!

Your shout, like Christine Foster's, is one of the most sensible ideas posted.

'Joe Royle might make a good general manager supervising Lampard?' — If only Lampard could be persuaded.

I am positive that a 4-4-2 with an interchangeable 4-5-1 system would ensure safety and get the best out of the players.

Albeit we still need to sign a hard-working forward and playmaker for midfield.