Season › 2023-24 › News McNeil injury a concern as new season approaches Lyndon Lloyd 31/07/2023 30comments | Jump to last Everton are continuing to assess the condition of Dwight McNeil who was forced off the pitch during Saturday's friendly at Stoke because of injury. He was withdrawn in visible pain during the Toffees' 1-0 win and went straight to the changing room for treatment. The winger is said to be undergoing further treatment at Finch Farm after the club's medical staff deemed that the knock he sustained to his knee at the Bet365 Stadium was more serious than just bruising. McNeil, arguably Everton's best outfield player over the second half of last season, is doubtful for the upcoming curtain-raiser against Sporting at Goodison Park this weekend and is a selection concern for the Premier League home opener against Fulham on 12th August. Article continues below video content The 22-year-old is expected to be a linchpin in Sean Dyche's attack this season which will be his second with the club since arriving from Burnley in a £20m deal a year ago. Source: The Bobble Reader Comments (30) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer () Jack Convery 1 Posted 31/07/2023 at 17:19:40 As we say Normal for Everton. Joe McMahon 2 Posted 31/07/2023 at 17:25:12 Why continusly is it our better players that always get injured. Any Wiccans amongst us? We need some help! Pat Kelly 3 Posted 31/07/2023 at 17:26:10 And so it begins. DCL, Coleman still weeks off fitness. Godfrey, Mykelenko still out ? The threadbare squad will tell as the season gets underway. We need more bodies. Preferably warm ones. Dale Self 4 Posted 31/07/2023 at 17:30:47 Probably some osteopaths Joe Sean Roe 5 Posted 31/07/2023 at 17:44:06 Hopefully it won't be too bad, he will be a key player for us this season in my opinion. Mick O'Malley 6 Posted 31/07/2023 at 17:52:33 Ffs, our leading scorer last season, let’s hope it’s just a knock and he’s in the team for Fulham game Steve Hartwell 7 Posted 31/07/2023 at 18:02:08 Oh FFS. I can't believe our luck here. By far the most in form player crocked in a dismal fore season friendly Ben King 8 Posted 31/07/2023 at 18:11:34 Our squad is so weak that ANY injury to the first XI is catastrophic:DCL: no other strikersIwobi: no other creativityTarks: no other proper centre backsPickford: the untried VirginiaMcNeill: see this threadDoucs: no other goal scoring midfieldersOur squad size in terms of quality is shite!!! Colin Glassar 9 Posted 31/07/2023 at 18:16:44 Ben, Iwobi and creativity is a bit of a stretch. Even an oxymoron Dale Self 10 Posted 31/07/2023 at 18:18:27 Not true. Our squad is definitely on par with Palace and some others who have not strengthened this window. McNeil may only be out long enough to give Danjuma more touches. Take it easy, Danjuma has some moves. Denis Richardson 11 Posted 31/07/2023 at 18:20:36 We’ll that’s a bit disappointing….of all the playersFingers crossed it’s not too bad. 12 days to KO but must be a doubt to start if he can’t train properly for a week or so.Fingers crossed…. Bill Watson 12 Posted 31/07/2023 at 18:23:26 McNeil certainly took a bad knock and needed lengthy treatment.We were right in the corner by the players' tunnel and by the time he reached there he wasn't limping. Hopefully it's not as bad as it, at first, looked. Ben King 13 Posted 31/07/2023 at 18:25:14 Colin #9,Are you able to share who has the most assists for Everton last season or the season before if it's not Iwobi?I get that he's not everyone's cup of tea and was too expensive at £30M but he's still our most creative force. Charles Brewer 14 Posted 31/07/2023 at 18:59:47 Presumably the usual Everton physio/training team will be at work: sledge hammer to the knees, half an hour on the rack to sort out anyone whose back isn't injured, and an hour kicking concrete-filled footballs followed by another hour jumping off a 10-metre diving board onto the car park. Andy Crooks 15 Posted 31/07/2023 at 19:45:43 Great stuff, Charles!!! Brent Stephens 16 Posted 31/07/2023 at 19:54:46 Charles "Presumably the usual Everton physio/training team will be at work: sledge hammer to the knees".Presumably applying a bit of non-Newtonian physics - that force to the knees will get the lad flowing like a shaken bottle of tomato sauce. Gary Brown 17 Posted 31/07/2023 at 20:19:49 If Dyche sticks to 433 we’ve seen over the summer; we have capable backups on the left in Danjuma, Gray and Dobbin. Might make the club think twice about cashing in Gray tho, still feel he can contribute one more year. If we go more defensive 451 we could put Young in front of Myko (assuming he still exists). So prophets of doom are being a little OTT here. We are very thin up top and right wing. We lack quality backups in CB. These still main areas to recruit. Danny O’Neill 18 Posted 31/07/2023 at 20:29:36 Not that complicated Charles, more probably like Army doctors. Apply tubigrip and take strong painkillers, no matter what the problem. And stop malingering!!On a serious note, I hope it's not too serious as it first looked. He became one of our standout players in the second half of the season once he settled, gives us an attacking threat and can deliver if we get forwards for him to supply to. Mike Price 19 Posted 31/07/2023 at 22:13:27 Ben… assists are based on statistics which can be very misleading. They can be interpreted in lots of ways, Iwobi booting the ball forward down the right wing and then Coleman scoring from a miracle cross/shot… is that really an assist?Personally, I think Iwobi is symptomatic of everything that is wrong with this current Everton and I would love to see the back of him. Ray Smith 20 Posted 31/07/2023 at 00:07:02 I understand that most of the teams outside the Top 6 are waiting for the Sky money, which is due to be paid today, 1 August?So although the window has been open for some time, no monies were going to be exchanged before today. Hopefully, if that is the case, we can start using what little money we have to get things moving.No stars as such, but decent professional players who can hold their own in the Premier League. Jerome Shields 21 Posted 01/08/2023 at 07:55:11 Not good news. But a plus may be that it will scupper the Gray transfer. Quite frankly, the latter is just cashing in on value. Martin Farrington 22 Posted 01/08/2023 at 08:26:39 Everton take "no pain, no gain" to a limit beyond stratospheric, Charles @14. 🤣😂 Mark Andersson 23 Posted 01/08/2023 at 16:04:40 Look at the positive, McNiel was considered shite by most fans until Dyche came in. Tom whipping boy Davis has jumped ship so a new whipping boy is needed for the know-it-all football experts to find.On another positive, Billy Liar is still with us, so more ammunition for the negative Nancys...Other than that, I will still tune in every day to TW and the YouTube experts on Toffee TV for amusement.On a serious note, I feel we are in another relegation battle... Mike Hayes 24 Posted 01/08/2023 at 22:38:12 I think Kenwright had the most assists in the last 7 years —£750M worth of Moshiri's money!! 🤷🤡🤡 Denis Richardson 25 Posted 04/08/2023 at 14:06:21 Do we know what the extent of the injury is yet? Happened almost a week ago so would have thought we'd know by know. Eddie Dunn 26 Posted 04/08/2023 at 14:17:09 The information coming out of the black hole that is EFC leaves us in the dark, as usual. How can we, as fans, invest so much of our time, money and emotion into things that remain totally abstract? John Raftery 27 Posted 04/08/2023 at 16:19:51 No news often means bad news when it concerns injuries. Doubtless Sean Dyche will reveal more pre- or post-match tomorrow. Tony Everan 28 Posted 04/08/2023 at 16:34:07 It’s concerning considering we didn’t score many last season and Dwight was our leading scorer. Pray to the footballing Gods it’s not something that keeps him out for too long. Probably having more scans to determine exactly what it is and the best solution.We could well start our new season and the first four games up to the international break with a completely new forward line of Danjuma, Chermiti and Dobbin. Denis Richardson 29 Posted 05/08/2023 at 12:10:51 Interesting - the usual sites updating on player injuries has McNeil as 'currently being assessed' but with 100% chance of being fit by 12 Aug. Well heres hoping.Myko and DCL are the same status but each only 50/50 of being ready by the 12th.I think we can safely assume DCL will not be in the starting line up against Fulham, possibly on the bench but would not be surprised if he wasn't in the squad at all - I'd probably prefer that. No point risking it. Paul Birmingham 30 Posted 06/08/2023 at 00:35:18 Game changer, and for me, Dwight is Everton's best option for creating good chances for himself and the rest of the squad.I'm praying he starts v Fulham.UTFTs! 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