Dyche: Everton’s inconsistency ‘drives me mad’

Management is about assessing your resources, devising a plan to get the best out of those resources, and providing the leadership and direction to implement that plan. The fact that he is “driven mad” means he has not communicated his plan effectively.

I once heard a very successful coach outline the management's post-match analysis: if a player gave away possession in a crucial area of the pitch, then the analysis focused on “what information did the management team did give the player to make the correct decision?” Dyche should be taking similar responsibility.

Some of the players weren't even playing for the club 2 years ago, so why should they have the recent past thrown at them?

What happened to "We win as a team, we lose as a 'team" – which includes everybody who takes part in a game, including the management team?

If we lose against Bournemouth, he has to go. You can't lose five home games on the trot with only one of them being a good team in Arsenal. The only worry around it is that a replacement should already be lined up and ready to go but we all know we're rudderless at the minute.

It's been nearly 12 months and you have to ask have we improved more than under Lampard? Yes, we create more chances but we lose more games. Taking away the xG, chances created and stats, briefly the main one is that we're still losing against the weakest teams in the league.

Fixtures are about to get a lot harder after this game.

We have to take it on the chin because there's nothing the club can do resultant of the Moshiri financial madness. The only hope is 3 teams over the season turn out worse than us.

Fans won't have it, of course, meaning Dyche is now a dead man walking unless he turns it around tout suite.

So arrogant he would ask the owner, whoever that may be, for a rise after getting beat by Bournemouth next week.

I don't like him; never have and never will.

While it's also been pointed out that the 52-year-old [Dyche] has lost more home games than Mike Walker.

A quick examination of their respective Goodison Park records in charge of Everton shows that Dyche has in fact bean(sic) beaten in twice as many matches there than Walker (eight to four) despite being in charge for fewer games (13 to 16).

Indeed, the much-maligned former Norwich City manager who guided the Blues through their first final day escape from relegation in 1994 and was sacked when his team was bottom of the table, actually finished his short spell in charge with more home wins (five) than defeats and a better record at Goodison than either Frank Lampard or Rafael Benitez as well.

Do you think if we had brought Emery in we would be better off? I think we would.

Knowing our luck. Kenwright would have brought Dick Emery in… now he would have been awful.

But who would come? Carsley maybe, but that might not be something he would want to take on, just yet. Baines and Coleman, perhaps.

What's certainly true is we're not going to be attractive to any experienced, ambitious manager such as the former Wolves boss or Potter.

Now where is my Dick Emery best of DVD? 🙄

We are in big trouble and will be in another relegation battle this season. Difficult to stay up with our current home record which I think is 7 defeats in the last 8 games.

Identify the failings and those responsible. Change. If it cannot be rectified by the player then a change of player is required.

Performing okay for one match in three is not acceptable as a player or a manager. I don't care if it drives him mad, I care that he is unable to fix it or identify the problem. If he cannot do it we need someone who can.

Sounds daft but the Manager seems to be saying he doesn't know what he can do about it but doesn't seem to want to give up without the compensation package, which begs the question of what good is he.

If we don't beat Bournemouth on Saturday, then the players will be responsible for another manager getting the heave. Dyche will have to go. We can blame the managers for lots of things but basic errors and incompetence are down to the players on the pitch.

That's because the bar has been set so low now by the fans.

Also why I can't get my head around this "the players can't play at a toxic Goodison".

Goodison hasn't been toxic once this season, it's been deathly quiet but toxic, no way.

If players can't get on the front foot at home to the likes of Luton, then they have got serious problems and so too in that Dyche because he's the one setting the side up.

I can't imagine Dyche still spending time to coach a player how to strike a ball cleanly. The one thing that Dyche needs to do is to get the players on the bench ready though. Ready to change if performance is not good enough, as Keane lost his place when not playing well.

Didn't want him. Don't want him. But we are stuck with him. C'est la vie.

The backroom staff who were often blamed for poor performances are gone too. We've tried every type of manager, they've all had brief success in the occasional match but, due to lack of quality in the dressing room, they all ended up resorting to uninspiring, unimaginative, safety-first football.

Inconsistent??? We are the most consistent and predictable team in football. Managers, coaches, DOFs, players and even boardroom staff have all come and gone, but we are still the fourth-worst team in the Premier League. Everyone's favourites to be in a relegation scrap and everyone's favourites to escape by the skin of our teeth.

We can all point to the one who has remained while everyone else has been sacked, allowed to leave, or ran screaming out of the door, but even he is now hanging on by his fingertips.

Are we cursed? Or are Bill Kenwright's fingertips the real reason we remain so remarkably consistent? Only one way to find out. He won't leave, so make him go. Then start again.

Once I'd escorted Kenwright to the exit door, I would come back for Dyche. For years, this football club has been relentless in its pursuit of the mediocre. The league's most unappealing team season after season. How dare he try to tell long-suffering Evertonians that our problem is "inconsistency".

I just hope playing in a spectacular stadium on the river will alter the entire mindset of the club. Goodison will hold memories many of us will take to our graves but, by today's standards, it's a complete dump. It's only saving grace is its wonderful inhabitants.

I personally believe it comes down to two things: character and ability. There is enough ability in the squad to get Everton to around mid-table, then it's that other massive aspect, character, that needs to be worked on, imo.

I think the last few managers have questioned the players' character, but maybe it runs much further inside our deeply nepotistic fabric?

I can't comment on Saturday because I never went but I don't see nothing wrong with Dyche's words, and hope that the players respond accordingly. I genuinely think Yo-Yo Everton will win their next two fixtures; we will see…

How many managers (let alone available ones) could create a winning team with the current squad and general environment around Everton?

For me, Dyche bumbles along until the takeover is finalised, possibly January or maybe even until the end of the season.

The objective of this season as has been the same as last two seasons and that is to finish 17th. Finish above the three promoted teams and perhaps our visitors this weekend and its mission accomplished. We need to finish top or second in the mini league of our own.

What a squandered opportunity to build more confidence and momentum after the two encouraging wins.

Seven home defeats out of eight is unacceptable. The KITAP1 at home against Luton was poor managerial decision making. Playing our best midfielder out wide, putting out a team with no attacking width with Harrison and Danjuma on the bench, playing 39-year-old Young instead of the energetic and attack minded Patterson. All deeply conservative and negative decisions for a home game against Luton.

The hoof ball tactics for the last 30 minutes was ineffective and it's quite disconcerting that it seemed to have not been tactically thought out. Players were getting in each others way. It looked a disorganised mess that lowly Luton dealt with quite easily.

Yes, the players have to step up to the plate and be better, but so has the manager. The wins against Brentford and Villa are buying him time, but he needs a win on Saturday, a huge game for Everton and also Sean Dyche if he wants to keep fans onside.

In terms of changing the narrative, it's essential for players and the coaching staff to analyze their performance, identify areas for improvement, and work together to address any weaknesses. This could involve adjustments in training, tactical tweaks, or changes in personnel. Ultimately, it's a collaborative effort to find the right components and strategies that can help the team succeed.

Yes Sean, you cannot just blame the players.

"We did well in the first few games blah blah, he's on the grass, in transition blah blah."

Yeah, it's all down to the players being inconsistent. It's currently down to him to change that but guess what. They won't because he simply has no other way.

One-trick pony. Dyche out

His bollocks about the crowd being amazing is an attempt to get the fans on his side. On Saturday (I wasn't there) from most accounts and from what I could hear on my laptop, the crowd were fairly quiet. Indeed, the crowd are often quiet, waiting for a spark, a big tackle, a good pass, a shot.

He had an opportunity to send out a balaced, team, even an unchanged team with confidence to go out and destroy lowly Luton. Instead, he gave them too much respect and we rapidly lost momentum.

Never mind the nonesense that is xG. As for all of the "chances", most of them were half-chances. Their keeper was never troubled.

If we manage to lose to Bournemouth, he has to go.

He can't score the goals for the players. They are useless at converting chances. How come Fulham, Wolves and Luton only needed 1 or 2 chances to score?

How many more managers will this inconsistent squad sack. Definitely the next one I’ll bet.

Likewise with your sentiment, Jerome.

I think we have to be fair to him as well, though and accept that he cannot control what players do when they cross the white line and are in the thick of the action. If someone misses a decent chance to score (or multiples ones in lots of our recent games), there's not much he can do about it.

I can't imagine him saying to Gana or Onana for example that, if a chance comes to shoot in the next game, they should aim for Row Z rather than the goal.

Same if someone switches off at a free kick or corner to let the opposition in. This might be despite him drilling the players all week on how to defend these situations or focusing on shooting and converting chances in training.

I also think that the idea of Dyche being overly defensive in how the team play is not quite true. If you look at the shots we had at the weekend and the chances we created, this seems to suggest the opposite. As did the recent wins and indeed most of the other matches we have played well in and had lots of attempts on goal in this season.

IMO, our problem is something the manager has spoken about previously fairly often – being clinical with our chances. If we had only scored a quarter of the shots we had on goal at the weekend for example, we would have won handsomely.

I know he is the person who needs to resolve this but I am pretty sure that is being worked on at the training ground each day. The problem he has is when the players do not take what they do in training into a match and/or mess it up when a chance to score arrives.

I think it was Allardyce who spoke to the press during his time here about not telling the players to misplace passes when asked. We are still in the same siuation now basically and it really comes down to quality of player in the squad. Unfortunately, we have no money to do much about that right now.

The first 20 and possibly the last 10 minutes had shown that the team on the park was capable of creating reasonable chances.

Perhaps, Gueye was carrying an injury and it was an enforced change, but having two big lads up top facing two or even three big lads at the back didn't really work as well as what we'd seen in the first half.

The second-half was a completely different affair, as the changes made, played to Luton's strengths, and although there were a few chances created, namely those headed chances that fell to Beto, the feel of the game was totally different to what we'd witnessed in the first period.

Let's see what transpires on Saturday, and that's the issue, we're never really sure what side or what tactics the manager will employ, will he select a team that plays to our strengths or the strengths of the opponents.

Why do the players make basic errors like bad passing, inability to put away easy chances, missing tackles, failure to mark opposition etc? Is it because the players are not good enough? Do some players need help from psychoanalysts? Or is it down to the manager?

It's a combination of all 3, but it's the manager who has to address the first 2 reasons. His revelations clearly show he does not have the ability to do this, and to top it all, he is totally unaware that he is failing to correct these issues.

And in my opinion, he should be sacked now, and not wait for a negative result against Bournemouth. The club should be proactive, and not reactive.

Be careful though... we may be heading into Steve Bruce territory!

'Our deeply nepotistic fabric'

I think everyone knows by now that I am not a fan of the rest and recovery regime at Everton and the cosiness it has fostered. I think the extra midweek match exposed it.

After two results, there seems to be a pat on the back and a wee rest at Finch Farm. Maybe that is what Dyche is attacking, but he did make mistakes in that Luton game.

As for Dyche – if we do do lose who is going to make the decision to sack or keep right now? I see no way he's going just yet whatever the result and no potential replacement with their full sanity who would come here. So we're stuck with him – for better or worse – at least for a few more weeks as I see it.

It's a pivotal weekend this with the fixture run coming up to the New Year.

The hypocrisy of it all is that this guy preaches endlessly about mentality and positivity re-enforcing how good the players are, yet he continually harps on about how there has been a cloud over the club the last 2 years. A clear juxtaposition. Focus on the here and now, not the past.

In addition, he talks about freedom for the players then puts them in a straight jacket with his conservative tactics and harps on about it's a game of both boxes so what happens in between is almost irrelevant. That's why we went route one the other day, bypassing the irrelevant areas.

What is also annoying me which others have touched upon is his lack of accountability. I've noticed that Sean is beginning to 'change his story'.

In a respectful way, Dyche was always having a pop at the Lampard regime in terms of fitness, organisation and soft belly. He was justified but a little arrogant in how he would rectify these deficiencies.

Now Dyche seems to be a lot more empathetic with his predecessors after that disaster and almost puts everything on the club over the last 2 years, the culture and now the players. Almost a shift from 'I'll sort this mess out which I've inherited from these wallies' to a 'I've inherited a mess and it will take time to fix as others before me have likewise struggled.'

Another worrying aspect is his analysis of that game, like he's conning us by throwing it in with the Wolves and Fulham games where we played well. Or even more alarming is that he didn't realise the mistakes he made and how woeful that performance was.

Referring to chances created and the xG after being schooled by Luton is just embarrassing. If you don't recognise the failings, you can't rectify them.

Sean – do us all a favour and change the fucking story.

I agree and said something similar in a post the other day, the team created some very good chances in the 1st half and, when they got a goal back, there looked to be only one winner.

But, for some unexplainable reason, he did what he hasn't done since he arrived and that was make a tactical substitution at half time. The change didn't work, we created very little in the 2nd half and in the end resorted to route one for every attack.

Why he didn't let the team that was well on top after Luton's goals start the 2nd half was puzzling and, if I would have made the change to get Garner in the middle of the park, I would have probably brought Keane on for Young and gone to a back 3.

Looking at our defence/midfield when the opposition attacked, we looked a bit of a shambles. Each game there were goals scored when the scorer was un opposed.

I looked at one goal against Luton and there were 6 Everton men, in the box, marking no one. A man run in from the right and popped the ball in. Mykolenko was left behind and no-one else on the left to came out and meet him. Our full back was on the line and smacked it against the onrushing forward...goal. Unlucky? maybe, but he's a professional and should have the nous to tap it anywhere but straight out.

The Fulham game? We ought to have scored at least a couple from the number of chances we made in the first 20 minutes.

Their Goal? The midfield were bypassed by their attack on the right, the left back was nowhere to be seen, Tarkowski went over to challenge their forward with the ball, on our left wing. As did Keane! (why?) the ball was passed to one of their front men (unopposed). Patterson went over to the left side of the box, to challenge him (no other Blue anywhere near) and the forward passed it over to the left. His oppo was unmarked, with Garner desperately trying to catch him (no luck) and the forward had an open goal with Pickford trying to get back and cover the shot (failed).

So each game we had loads of chances; and a mixture hard luck, but others were a case of players trying to score on their own; rather making a move count and passing to a better placed comrade.

In my view, we are not going to be able to replace a manager

a) because we're right in the middle of a takeover and an enquiry and I can't see even our trainwreck of a club, taking such a financial and managerial gamble, when who knows what we could be facing, from relegation, to points dropped, or to a sanction on recruitment!

So, in my view, looking from the Upper Bullens, we have a disjointed squad, with a fair number of good experienced players, but not quite enough to make a good combination of players in a team. I'd go right through the squad, but I'll just go through a few, where I think we have weaknesses.

First of all, the Goalkeeper. Yes, he makes wonder saves, that people say have kept us in the game or in the premiership: maybe. Well, my view is that has contributed to us losing as many games, if not more, than he's saved for us. I think his major weakness is that he doesn't command the goal area, so our defence do what they can do to protect him, rather than concentrate their own jobs.

I can remember Big Nev, and before him, Westy, who both come out to get the ball from a cross or a pass. I don't think I can remember Pickford come out to catch the ball, more than a yard from his line. He also flaps at the ball. In fact, I thought that each of the three goalkeepers who we faced in the three games so far, would do for us. They come out, catch the ball or get a foul from the opposition.

For the postion we're in we need a good goalie, who's competent at all aspects of keeping, not a brilliant shot stopper. So I'd like to see him sold for a lot of money and bring in someone whos competent, not brilliant.

Patterson and Mykolenlo. Young players, get caught out but I can remember Seamus not being trusted as a full back, until Moyesie trusted him to take the number 2 shirt. They've brought Young in, to either replace or as back to Mykolenko. Both have weaknesses. Keane? Well! Has some strengths but more weaknesses.

For me, Doucouré, can score some cracking goals, but tends to lose the ball quite often putting us under pressure. He also tried to walk the ball in against Fulham when he had an unmarked team mate either side of him, 10 yards from an open goal.

Doucouré and Gana, in my view are both very slow in either getting back to help defence or going forward to support the attack and are a weakness together.

These to me are the major problems we have currently but also the chopping and changing that have affected the team for years, by injuries, sales and recruitment have not lead to us having a settled team.

I can rememeber Bill Shankly telling a reporter who asked him, What's the team today Bill? "Same as last season!" was the reply"

So? I think the question of bringing in another manager will have to wait until January, if at all.

We've got some decent additions to the 1st team squad now, mainly midfield/attacking players, which is what we need. They haven't had much time to gel in and I don't know if we can bring anyone in, in January, or if we'll have to sell, in January.

I think we'll have to just carry on with the same staff, players and management. Unless we sell Pickford to help us buy players we need and bring in a steady, competent goalkeeper in his place. We don't need a flawed genius, in my view.

Roll on Saturday!

Then they scored after their third attempt at the same move from three consecutive corners without any change in stance from the defence and Young failing very badly to kick the ball clear. Then Luton scored again from a set-piece with more diabolical defending from the defenders.

We then went pieces for the next few minutes before we started attacking again, getting a goal back and looking like we were back in the game and at half time I was confident we would win this game.

Then came the half time change which wasn't to my liking but changed the whole way the team was attacking, we just never looked like scoring or even creating chances, except for the one that should have definitely finished in the back of the net but went tamely over the bar, you all know the move!

The players started very well, lost the plot for a few minutes after those two cock ups then reclaimed the game only for the fuck up at half time with the wrong change,followed by two or three changes that changed nothing on the field.

So, Sean Dyche, sit the players down with yourself and coaches and have a good fuckin' chat about what happened. Can you all change the atmosphere among you and decide how you are going to try and sort it out?

A quick tip, Sean, don't take all them all for a meal to have the talk, we know what happened last time that happened. Mind you there doesn't seem to be any bleedin' fight in most of this squad!

I don't want to hear anything about 'xG' again.

Just win on Saturday, please.

Just put the ball in the bloody onion bag, that's the name of the game.

Under Walter Smith, first season, we couldn't score a goal for toffee (pardon the pun) for the first 6 months of that season, could we? As soon as he puts two strikers up there in Campbell and Jeffers, we can't stop the goals from flowing.

It may be a different era but the fact is we couldn't score goals that season either until the gaffer decided to start being far braver and bolder.

It's not rocket science for Dyche surely, he's been in the game for long enough.

Put at least one midfielder in that central area that can actually pass a football and create or score (Harrison) and McNeil and Danjuma out wide and start working in training with Dom and Beto partnering eachother.

We do not need Doucoure, Gana and Onana in home games against bloody Luton and Bournemouth, man!

Be brave or die by your own sword.

Beto looks too similar and Chermiti may be also and looks a couple of seasons away from Premier League standard.

Yes, they play a decent game now and then. But they've proved over and over again that they're mentally fragile. Tough task for any manager. Best of luck to him.

Sean Dyche, however, has been around the block years as a manager, wasn't he quoted at one stage as hot favourite for the job when Sam Allardyce got the gig?

I don't expect such naivety and carelessness.

Consistency in performance is the key in order to obtain better results, the rest of it, setting up the team, team selection and encouraging or inspiring the players to perform on the pitch and get results is down to the manager. End of story.

Failure to get points on the board puts more pressure on this fragile side, who now have to over-perform against the better sides to even achieve safety.

Add to this a cricket score defeat at the derby, we are looking like relegation certainties. Are there really 3 worse teams than us?

The managers, of varying styles and personalities, have not been bad managers in that they have performed reasonably well elsewhere, but at Everton, for some reason, nothing seems to work out. Same with the players, who are good when they arrive and then, for some reason, go backwards.

Until we get a new board, hopefully a new broom with the new owners, and somehow get the club sorted out, I can't see any new managers or players succeeding.

Drop the useless Onana and keep Garner in midfield as he's the only one who can make things happen. He'd do a lot more than Onana.

The goalie Onana does more… and he's a goalie, for fuck's sake.

I keep saying it but, unless Dyche does something remarkable, the usual script will play out and he will go the same way as his predecessors. No idea what it is though.

Not making excuses for Dyche, his team set-up is questionable with Garner out wide to start with. However, truth is we had at least 4 clear-cut chances against Luton that we didn't take. We switched off for two-set pieces and got punished. Not sure that's the manager's fault – unless the zonal marking is the issue.

Not keeping a clean sheet is a worry but we're making chances, which is something. You have to believe one of these home games the players will finally take a few of them.

On the defence, that is something that's more worrying. We play many defensive players and yet cannot keep a clean sheet. One of Gueye, Onana or Doucoure needs to start on the bench to allow Garner to start in the centre.

We have the players for a 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 with Harrison, McNeil and Danjuma on the wings as wide forwards. Then Garner and two of Doucoure, Geuye or Onana in midfield. However, Dyche seems to have to try and start all three every match for some reason.

One full season in and I'm still not sure what Onana is supposed to be tbh. Maybe he plays under different instructions with Belgium. With us, he can tackle but that's about it. I really can't see what all the hype is about.

Attacking he doesn't offer much, you'd think he'd be a threat in the air but he isn't and he's not the best passer either. I'd expect more than someone who can just tackle for all the hype. £33M we paid.

Either way, re Dyche, let's wait until Bournemouth and see what happens. He's barely been with us half a season. I realise many didn't want him to begin with so imagine most of those calling for his head would have done so regardless. I've not been impressed but think it's too soon to pull the trigger. The players need to take some responsibility too. Especially the defence.

Still very early in the season so a win this weekend will change things markedly. Man Utd lost at home to Palace, Man City lost away to Wolves. Not just us losing matches that, on paper, we should not be losing. Tough times both on and off the pitch. We can only take things one game at a time.

If Dyche is ousted, I'm not even sure who'd be responsible for choosing a new manager. Certainly not the current owners and I'd imagine 777 and MSP would want a say. Which would potentially get messy and presumably put off a load of candidates.

Who would genuinely want the role with so many off-field issues to resolve? Certainly not a decent, experienced candidate. Even if we wanted to change we'd need to wait until the result of the independent commission is known, plus potential penalty. Then there's the sales process. Anyone coming in would want to ensure the new owners sign off so they're not sacked immediately after the sale.

Let's just hope we get the 3 points this Saturday. The rest of the club is in such a mess, it takes up too much grey matter thinking about it.

We ought to have won 3 out of the 4 games at home this season, but I don't think we've had a settled defence since Moyes was here. On top of that, we've got a mixed-up midfield and, for a major portion of the last three seasons, we haven't had a goalscorer.

At least we have some newer elements which might help us to score more goals but we're still suckers for letting goals in.

Thankfully, Bournemouth didn't manage to find the net in that crucial encounter last May, else we'd be trying to figure out how to escape the Championship. It's also a good job Dyche wasn't here for the Palace game as we went two down in that game but thankfully recovered to take the points. To be fair to Dyche, it was also a problem that the other former Everton managers faced in recent years.

There have been worse teams than this Everton side in the past but, no matter how bad they were, you always got the feeling that they would rescue a bad situation and take at least a point from a game in which they had trailed. It's not the failure to win these encounters with teams around us at Goodison, that's the major concern, it's the failure to even take a point from most of those recent encounters that keeps me awake at night.

I'm not saying go all out and attack, he'd never be that sort of manager anyway, but the plan of "Keep it tight and try to nick a goal" isn't working. He can only put the same team and formation out and get beat so many times, and he's probably already at the end of that period.

I think it will probably be the same line-up on Saturday and once again he's saying, over to you, you change the script. I don't have any great hopes that's going to happen…

This being the case, I find it hard to sympathise with his complaints that they are inconsistent. Presumably he sees what we see plus he gets reports from his coaches, sports scientists etc during the week, so he should know the relative strengths and weaknesses of his players so that he can iron out inconsistencies.

But it seems after one or two good results they are immediately followed by a series of poor results. This has happened not just under Dyche either. This in turn puts pressure on the next match as it becomes a must-win game. The pressure to defeat Bournemouth this weekend has almost reached the same level as the last game of last season.

Maybe Dyche should be looking at his own inconsistencies. We beat Villa so why did he change that side to bring back Gueye? We saw when he brought Gueye on against Villa we immediately started to drop back because he was brought on to protect a slim lead. So why would he be more attacking against Luton?

I think Dyche has to make a decision. I think he has to pick younger, more dynamic players like Garner, Patterson and Onana and stick with them. The likes of Young and Gueye are just subs. I think their days as starters are pretty much over.

The nerve! Trying to communicate to the fanbase understanding their anxiety over an unexpectedly bad result. The nerve. Is Matt Gaetz an Everton fan? Just checking.

Our issue has been a lack of quality in finishing, caused in the early season by our inept board. If we had signed a good striker in July – like a functional team – we would have got points in the early games. The Fulham result was a joke (imagine the fuss if Liverpool had had the goal disallowed that we did btw).

The lack of goalscoring has cost us defensively, as we throw too many players forward looking for a goal.

I don't blame Dyche. His job is to set us to create more than the teams we are playing and concede less. That is happening more often than not. What we have needed is more luck and better finishers. This is a very different situation to the dross of Lampard and Rafa.

McNeil isn't firing on all cylinders yet so maybe Danjuma on the left and Harrison on the right would stand a better chance of getting behind and getting those dangerous crosses in that we need more of.

Watching our midfielders, I think that Garner could be more effective as the advanced No 10 type midfielder. He shows intelligence when he gets the ball 30 yards out centrally, there is creativity in his game along with the ability to win balls back in advanced midfield areas.

It would mean dropping Doucouré for home games when we need to break down teams, but use him in other games, particularly away, when we are counter-attacking.

The midfield would be Onana and Gana with more defensive duties and Garner given a free rein to create in front of them.

Whatever happens, Dyche has to rethink his midfield game plan for these type of matches, starting against Bournemouth.

One Evertonian asked what was Mykolenko doing letting the player behind him make a run and score. One easy answer: our players are marking space and not players.

The zonal marking did not work a couple of seasons back, and is a big failure again, it is costing us goals from set pieces. Tarkowski and Branthwaite, Calvert-Lewin, Beto and Onana should not be getting beaten on aerial battles, defending set-pieces, but we are.

Ditch the zonal marking and let players defend. Teams work out where we are with zonal marking and put the ball into space between players. Go back to defending, and defending against players, not spaces.

Talking about consistency though, it’s great to see our neighbours haven’t changed, with Klopp now saying the game should be replayed.

Good luck with that one but surely it would be a much better call to simply get rid of possibly the most inconsistent thing in football, besides Everton

There was no complaints when we beat Brentford and Villa, Dyche was in charge then.

This has been going on for long before Dyche became manager, we play well against the better teams in the Prem. and then cant beat the bottom teams at home.

It seems that they don't like playing home games and choke when they are expected to win.

I wasn't suprised when we lost to Luton, it fitted our MO, the Bournemouth game is another that we usually lose.

We did not have a good enough striker for the start of the season so I cant blame Dyche for those results.

We have created chances in games we have lost but have not finished them.

Then there are the two Luton goals where the defenders were day dreaming, who do you blame for that.

The manager usually has to 'carry the can' but he's not the one who cant score or cant defend.

"Quick question to anyone that thinks he should be sacked following home defeat to Bournemouth: How many managers (let alone available ones) could create a winning team with the current squad and general environment around Everton?"

The Villa fans said the same thing when Gerrard was the manager, the Burnley fans said the same thing when Dyche was manager, the Newcastle fans the same. Villa are in Europe, Burnley walked the Championship, Newcastle in the Champions League.

Same teams, different manager, different attitude, different beliefs. We have some good players here but a very soft attitude to what is expected at Everton, built up over the years by one man: Bill Kenwright.

Who would have that? Diego Simeone, he would kick some fucking arses at this club, get rid of Kenwright and Moshiri, and give him the challenge. If bloody Howe can do it, then Simeone can too.

And by the way, where's the money coming from? We can't afford to sack him never mind bring in someone like Simeone.

We simply have to find a way to win at home...FAST.

Responsibility is collective. It can not just be the Manager's fault or just the players. However, the Manager selects the team and the set up and tactics. He should be getting the best out of every player. I despair when someone is played out of position. I suspect that there is 100% agreement that Garner should not be forced out wide. That Onana is more effective alongside Garner. That Young is not the answer in either full back position. That Gana needs a rest. We are all armchair managers but so many of us see the same issues. Are we all wrong? The buck has to stop with Dyche. We can all accept being beaten by a better side but when we are consistently underperforming against average/poor sides then there is something very wrong that the Manager has to take responsibility for. He is not.

As for offering the job to Simeone... ffs!

Emery did a good job with a seriously underperforming Villa side with heavy investment in players under Gerrard in Diego Carlos, Coutinho, Dendoncker and Koumara. But it's the heavy investment, not Emery that is making the difference. They've got a really good squad. They have invested even more heavily this summer with Champions League quality in the form Tielemans, Diaby, Torres, Lenglet and Zaniolo. Jury is out on whether Emery can really do something with a very good squad - and it wouldn't surprise me if he cannot.

Howe did a good job with a Newcastle side also suddenly able to invest heavily in players like Guimaraes, Trippier, Botman, Isak - and before that steal Wood from Burnley for a ridiculous £30m simply to weaken a relegation rival. We couldn't even afford to sign Coady for £4.5m this summer.

In truth, neither Howe nor Emery are brilliant managers and both will probably be sacked before too long. But Howe is certainly making the most of his opportunity, so fair play.

I think you come at this from the perspective that "we are Everton" and therefore things should be better than this. Of course they should - but don't be fooled into thinking there's a rosier future under a "decent manager".

Ultimately we had a weaker squad last season that the three clubs that went down. I reckon we've probably got about the 15th best squad in the division now - about the same as Bournemouth but certainly no better. Nottingham Forest, for example, definitely have a better squad than us now.

Absolutely we deserve better than this but it's not Dyche's doing. Put Howe or Emery in charge and we might get a little bounce but there are plenty of lauded managers out there who will take us down. Things really could be much worse than they are now, sadly.

Remove Pope, Botman, Trippier, Guimaraes, Tonali, Gordon, Isak, Barnes and Livramento from that Newcastle side and it would be interesting to see how Howe would be faring.

Similarly, it'd be interesting to see how Dyche would be doing if given less than half that, say, Tierney, Ward-Prowse and Maddison. I think he'd be doing well.

But I'm not sure what that's got to do with Dyche being at Everton. Those other clubs have vastly bigger resources than us and are realistically looking to win trophies and have Champions League adventures because of their huge spending.

Even at Seville, Emery (a good but not top-drawer manager) did well because he was fed excellent players by a player development culture and a very highly regarded Director of Football. Again, hugely different to where we are.

However, a few years ago, when Villa were in financial difficulty like us, with a dysfunctional squad to manage, Dyche is exactly the sort of manager they might turn to, to help stay afloat. They turned to Steve Bruce, for fuck's sake!

If Dyche had those 3 players, they'd probably be on the bench – at least behind Ashley Young in the pecking order.

It was me who said we can't keep blaming the players. Not just because most of the players we were blaming 2/3 years ago are no longer here, but also for the very reason you highlight.

I agree that we have bought from "a department store which specialises in low level mediocrity".

Blaming the players for poor performances is a bit like buying the cheapest crapiest camera in the hock shop, then complaining about the quality of picture it takes.

The lows haven't been as low as Lampard's reign… yet!

We don't look totally lost, rudderless or bereft of discipline, like under Lampard.
I honestly believe giving him the time to just tweak the things he's put in place will see us easily clear of relegation this season.

I may be wrong, we may lose to Bournemouth.

Two silly set-piece goals conceded against Luton. We should be consolidatiing a respectable mid-table position right now instead of staring into the abyss once more.

It seems pretty obvious that we play best when up against teams who try and play, thereby giving us a chance to feed off scraps. If teams sit back, we are stuffed... not enough creativity to get through teams that are well set up defensively.

The biggest thrill we are going to get out of this season is watching the dicks across the park make yet another fool of themselves... thoroughly entertaining stuff... I mean old klippity Kvnt is now calling for a replay :) absolutely first class stuff.

Sheffield Utd seem very likely. Even we managed to make them look very poor. But of course we looked poor ourselves.

Luton beat us at home. With us at full strength.

Lowly Bournemouth have had very tough home fixtures so far.

Burnley were good enough to at least beat Luton.

I'd love to share your confidence in this team but I just can't see where the turnaround in form could come from. And I'm not convinced that any of our rivals are doing worse than us.

We've lost our first 4 home games of the season from decent fixtures – things couldn't be worse.

We will get a signal of what, if anything, he has up his sleeve when we play Bournemouth. Based on current form, he can't expect the same team or formation to get a result, so he has to try something different and he really needs to be more positive to try and get the crowd onside.

If he goes down playing the same way, then that tells me he doesn't have a Plan B.

If he hasn't worked out his best XI and formation from the squad yet, he shouldn't be a manager.

He's a fan of VAR er, but on the business side, but as a fan, he's not.

The man is full of bullshit.

Why weren't we prepared at set pieces, both in attack and defence?

Why were we so cripplingly unorganised in the second half?

Awful.

His comments make things worse.

Is it conclusive at this stage that our manager has failed the above test? I think he deserves more time to turn things around.

Firing and hiring random managers is not the answer. Hiring the right person is.

Why not go for the likes of Marcelino or even Potter, to name a few!?
Both are free agents and no compensation involved.

However, the defensive tactics, the poor marking, the zonal nonsense should be explained. Today's presser was full of worthless questions and Sean rolled out his managerspeak: "Details... noise... work... fans. Fans... for some time here... xGs... story... performance" etc, etc.

I suppose they are all a bit dull. Remember Koeman: "But okay", "It's football".
And Martinez: "moment", "Phenomenal". They all do my head in.

Yes, garner and Branthwaite have only recently established themselves in the first team but the rest Dyche inherited. A side that's battled relegation regularly.

Some people need perspective!!! We know results are not good right now, but I believe that the team Dyche put out should've beaten Luton. The tactics were capable of beating Luton. The 11 men were good enough to beat Luton.

Let him find who he can rely on, who's not pulling their weight, who is a good trainer but poor in matches, who handles the pressure, who turns up when they feel like, who runs themselves into the ground for the shirt.

That only comes with time. Any manager will tell you they need time. But it's a results game and he has to find these things out while picking up results otherwise the inevitable will come and he'll go.

But give the guy a fair shot to build something or who will come after? Knowing you get no time, no money, no players, no chance???

Can he turn it around on Saturday. Heart says " I hope so." My head says " he'll fluff his lines again." I truly hope he can nail on a win. I don't want to see another failed manager at Everton

You should realize that having a disk-shaped beard and having managed freaking Burnley, doesn't make you qualified to manage a huge club like Everton.

At least under Lardass man, as you call him, we finished 8th, for fuck's sake!

I will give acknowledgment of yours and others consistency; You all got it wrong then and are sticking to the same faith in chaos principle now.

Not that I am a Fat Sam fan but, he was my choice over fucking Dyche, when we sacked Lampard. Only to save us from the drop. Nothing more.

Everton have been horrible to watch bar a handful of Ancellotti’s games, since Silva began to turn it around towards the end of his first season, and they were mostly horrible to watch, after Martinez’s initial season, which is now over nine years ago.

A club that could be great, has been totally mismanaged and virtually destroyed over many soulless years, by a man who should have never got near our club, considering he was absolutely skint, at a time when football in this country, was moving into a new age of wealth, with some rich owners taking over clubs with a plan to succeed.

Kenwright’s plan to succeed was to divide and conquer, whilst getting his friends in the media to help him change the narrative, to make it seem like he was doing a great job. He has definitely done a great job for himself - hence his admission of the good times.

We played a defensive selection in a game where we were going to have a lot of the ball.

Basically, we turned the game into a low quality game... and that's a game Luton are equipped for.

A bolder plan would be to play Onana and Garner in midfield - they're more effective on the ball than Gueye. Play Patterson - he crosses the halfway line. Don't play Mykolenko - he's purely a defensive option. Play Danjuma instead of Doucoure - we needed a creator, not a chaser/counter attacker. Play a right winger - stretch the game.

This isn't hindsight. I said it during the week of the game.

I can't understand how Dyche wouldn't see that. Plan A - defend and hope - isn't the right option at home to lesser lights. It's exactly what they want us to do.

Like a breath of fresh air that post.

We are affected by LFC no matter how irksome some find that admission and Moshiri DID make a monstrous mistake by caving before vociferous knee-jerkers over Martinez.

By not bankrolling him to see what would happen with real money the path to oblivion was assured and the fans have never learned, they're at it again with Dyche.

I said in a recent piece he is now a dead man walking needing a miracle to survive. It's the same film with a different protagonist and eventually it will send us down.

I think Thelwell’s achievements in the transfer window give Dyche some room. If we survive and can sell and reload next two windows that will be seen as progress in the offices. How we get there may be distasteful for some but that is the bar imo.

But carry on, blame the fans for not wanting to see crap football, blame the fans for ringing alarm bells when things are going wrong, blame the fans for every manager since Moyes failing to get a tune out of the players, blame the fans for the players being unable to perform for more than a couple of games on the trot.

If in doubt blame the fans if we go bust, blame the fans for relegation if we survive the financial perils, blame the fans when the new stadium is half-full, because many of the fans have grown sick and tired of taking the blame for things way beyond their control. Kenwright acolytes sicken me to the core.

I never said we should bring Allardyce with 4 games to go. Now you're being silly, dude.

And to those who think its the fans fault we are were we are; I don't think you really believe in that! Come on.

You just struck out.

His first season took every player he'd inherited into another world where, with five games to go at the season's end, qualification for CL/Europa football was real for the next season.

We took one point from those last five games and failed to qualify for Europe.

The previous season, with all but those very same players, we achieved the lusty heights of eleventh, but took a mere nine points from our last eleven games to ensure another non-Europe finish.

I realise this is all too many years ago for some of us (and, by Christ, what wouldn't we give for suchlike league positions this season?) but I made the point on here at the time and ever since that the entire culture of the club under Kenwright's tenure had always years beforehand been to spend the least and avoid stepping into the world of Europe qualification where mega-spending is de rigueur.

He didn't want the increased level of accountability that serious qualification for Europe would bring, never mind the extra level of spending he couldn't extract from the various mega-spongers he'd attached OUR club to, his very own eulogised "Mozart Of Money" Philip Shithouse Green being to the fore (amid admittedly stiff competition in fairness).

The players, and their agents, recognised that it was VERY much in their own interests to keep on milking the Everton cash-cow that was theirs courtesy of their VERY acceptable Kenwright-agreed salaries for no success rather than run the risk of being hived off to lesser salaries should European football enable OUR club to at last afford better players.

But hey, let's put ALL the blame on Dyche eh? Another "professional" guaranteed a fortune whatever happens to OUR club.

Dyche's a mere branch - Kenwright's the root from which everything has and will develop.