Everton need to utilise the bench better to avoid becoming too predictable

Barry has scored one or two decent goals but not enough.

That side of Everton's game has cost us dearly and nothing happened in the transfer window -- suggesting they don't have much cash to invest further at this moment... or the club and Moyes believe that Barry and Beto will come good together.

Ironic isn't it that Dominic Calvert-Lewin has found his touch again with a team near the bottom and even Chermiti notched a hat-trick yesterday, albeit in the lesser Scottish Premiership, but against the leaders Hearts.

Having said that, it is amazing how many players disappoint at Everton but leave to do better things elsewhere.

We just have to hope that supporting players like Ndiaye and Dewsbury-Hall continue to save or bacon more often.

Changing a winning team, by moving O'Brien back to fullback, and dropping Patterson who had done well. Röhl hasn't played since the Villa game, in what was his best performance, especially as he then played Gueye in two games in three days.

And why play Armstrong on the wing, when he's way more comfortable in midfield???

Who knows if some are carrying small injuries?
Are some players not showing form in training?
Have the backroom staff said, ease them back into the first team?
Do some players have off-field problems at home with partners.

Only the club know.

What could a manager as experienced as Moyes have possibly thought he could play out there? Us as mere fans could have told him that much, and the same applies to O'Brien playing right back... sorry, but it's so wrong.

His treatment of Röhl, Patterson and Alcaraz absolutely knocks me sick, disgraceful stuff... and I've been a big advocate of Moyes since he came back, but I really can't get my head around his team selections at times.

Gueye, fabulous servant but looks like a Mk II Cortina... same applies to Tarkowski, Mr "It's Never My Fault!" ... Yes, it fuckin' is, Jimbo -- you make mistakes every game

And it's time O'Brien and Branthwaite were given a go to develop... But it's not going to happen under Moyes, is it?

So, so frustrating.

Against Man Utd it would be great to see Röhl or Armstrong next to Garner, with Patterson back in at right-back.

But it wouldn't surprise me if he puts Branthwaite at right-back, he really doesn't seem to trust Patterson there, even after some decent performances.

"We surveyed 100 people about phrases they associate with David Moyes, let's see If 'Nuanced Approch' is up there - (failure klaxon) NO!
Proactive Substitutions - (failure klaxon) NO!
Unlucky, but here's what you could've won."

Host to 2nd contestant...

If 'Plays his Favourites' or 'Puts square pegs in round holes' is up there, you're through to the jackpot final.

Yaaay - we have a winner.

Dour Dave dithers again wouldn't have won many points because it was so obvious -- even if it was true.

His summary paragraph struck me as relevant to the debate over Moyes, who in 13 months has moved us from 17th to 8th in the table but yet would be gladly sacked by many here on ToffeeWeb:

Voters, shareholders and fans have never had less patience. That may in itself be a reaction to a rapidly changing world as new challenges demand new leaders. But it may also be that, in a social media age in which every gripe is highlighted and complaints swell, in which algorithms promote discontent and performative fury is good business, long-termism is impossible. Maybe we're all Marinakises now.

It makes me realise how lucky Moyes was to get nearly 12 years in his first go here under Kenwright. I just wonder who was the puppet out of the two of them?

There's another aspect to 'short-termism', which is the relative short shelf life of players and the success rate of players brought in.

Pick a team, any team, top, middle or bottom, look at the usual starting 11 now and compare to 4 seasons ago.

One manager's 'good' signing 4 years ago is probably the new guy's deadwood to move on (McNeil??)...

If a manager gets 4 years, any good players he inherited or kept are possible candidates for the deadwood stage out / Mr WUs pigs.

4 years is a long time in football, sometimes 4 days is... I can remember 4 days in 1971 that ruined us for a decade.

Money, luck and good judgement are the key -- easier said than done.

You watched them both up close... do you think Bill would ever have sacked Moyes?

Villa, Brentford, Arsenal, maybe Bournemouth... but the rest all demand better. The stress that it creates, and you can see it on social media, including these pages, is nuts.

But back to the demand, the realism or unrealism of that is the package is down to recruitment, players amd manager. Unless all are singing, you're going nowhere quick.

I'd add Leeds and Sunderland to that list, and Man City fans are not exactly unhappy.

Tedium doesn't have to be your medium.

He has actually done a decent job with the squad he has, taking us from 17th to the top half of the Premier League table. Yes, we all want to see exciting football, we just haven't got the players, so he makes the best of what we have.

I would judge next season when hopefully we bring in a couple of strikers and a right- and left-back. We could go all out attack and probably get beat 4- or 5-0.

We have improved from the last few seasons, not great to watch, but I believe that will come next season

Aznou for Mykolenko.... Dibling instead of McNeil. Patterson instead of O'Brien (at least it will give us an idea what a proper right back playing there for next season will look like).

The dreadful displays don't alter. The bench rarely utilised until it's way too late. All common features. We (you) can pontificate until the cows come home, The Man Aint For Changing!

He has bettered all of the recent hopeless incumbents going back numerous years. As awful as it is, Moyes with Everton equals safety. I hate it. But what is the answer? We have had little financial manoeuvrability for at least a few years.

Recruitment is dire and those involved have been woeful for decades, no matter who they have been. The new owners have yet to do anything inspirational. Kinnear is a male Barrett-Baxendale and his statement was not only asinine but fervoured the haunting days of the past three decades, to shut the fans up.

Moyes wont change. I don't think he could even if he wanted to. So we will just have to suffer and endure his abject ways until someone figures out how to unravel the Gordian Knot that has strangled this club from any Premier League success.

But that goes for everything in life now, in particular politics.
Some years ago, we would laugh and ridicule Italy, Greece etc for changing the government or their prime minister at the drop of the hat.

Now, the UK is the same, 6 prime ministers in 8 years, the USA voting in an idiot for the second time.

Football fans wanting managers sacked at the drop of a hat.
Every time I see managers or coaches being interviewed prior to a game with Everton or after the game, they say, Everton always give you a hard game, they have a very good manager, including Wayne Rooney, but many on here think differently.

The main critique is we don't play exciting football, but if you look at the teams who are 8th or below in the Premier League, most have a negative goal difference, and only the top sides have a plus goal difference.

Also, what is never talked about is the net spend of the Top 6 teams, surely that has the biggest impact on results and style of play. The top clubs take the best players from the rest.

No doubt Palace have scouted very well over the years, but they have lost their best players and, as Wimbledon found out when they were doing well at some point, however good your recruitment is, it won't last forever.

Money has always talked in football and always will. Some years back, the Premier League allowed nation states to own football clubs, a very bad thing in my opinion. So Man City came from nowhere to dominating the league inside 5 years.

The top clubs didn't want any other club doing the same, so PSR came in; never again will a nation-state owned club do what City did.

Bournemouth did, Brentford did, Spurs (who are shit) did and Newcastle did... in fact, most teams at the HDS have this season.

Instead of having a manager who worries about the opposition, why can't we get one that makes the opposition worry about us!

We are awful to watch, it's no fun going the game anymore, it's like a form of self-harm, a war of attrition.

Rooney said Moyes has improved Everton, I didn't read anything that suggested he called Moyes a good coach. Not disputing your statement, I just didn't read that.

In the last few games I've watched, I don't believe I have seen much of a real system in place. Maybe I haven't been watching closely enough and I'm best just listening to the words of the experts instead, even though my eyes tell me different sometimes.

I don't think John Moores and Harry Catterick were mates but they both understood football. I'm convinced Kenwright knew fuck all about the actual game, and Moyes has his obvious limitations.

It's an old adage: never employ your mates. It's very hard to sack your mates. I think they were like chalk and cheese but both phoney in their own ways so maybe they just tolerated each other.

I spent 5 minutes in a conservation with Kenwright -- that was more than enough for me. A lot of Everton fans say “Bill is one of us“; I've met hundreds of Everton fans over the years — never ever met one like Kenwright.

He was full of bullshit that day with me and many more times over the years with his views on Everton. A lot of his show business friends seemed to like him but an awful lot of show business luvvies love each in public but can't stand the sight of each other in private.

I can however see a system where we are continually outnumbered and overrun in midfield by the opposition. I've seen it on many occasions in home games this season.

Kenwright was definitely not one of me. A complete phoney imo.
Met him a couple of times, slimy is a word that springs to mind.

We are probably content that we are not in a relegation battle like the last 5 years but me, I'm disappointed that we never seem to be able to step through the open door when the moment arrives that we can have today what most put off until tomorrow.

If we had solved the problem issues last summer or even in January, then we should have been challenging the Top 5 seriously..

The Manchester United game on Monday night is a huge game in my opinion. Our home form has been nothing short of dreadful and another failure to win, albeit against an in-form side, will sit very uncomfortably with those that have paid so much to change their matchday routine this season and put so much effort in to get there, mostly on cold dark winter nights.

We can't keep on expecting to win away games... and the following home game after United has "Everton slip up" written all over it in the shape of Burnley's visit.

Very slimy, very slimy indeed.

Some press, some hang back or even drop a little bit deeper, and then, hey presto, it sometimes looks like the players don't know if they are coming or going.

I just wish we could play like we did at Villa Park a lot more often, when we defended as a team, broke as a team, and it looked like everyone was enjoying what they were doing.

Reading Michael Ball's article, he also mentioned not playing square pegs in round holes, and says Garner can't possibly start at full-back for the simple reason he's earned the right to play in his best position, midfield.

Not sure if it was accurate. Perhaps the American cousins can find it.

# Team Annual wage bill

1 Manchester City £234M
2 Arsenal £185M
3 Liverpool £173M
4 Man Utd £162M
5 Chelsea £147M
6 Aston Villa £143M
7 Tottenham £136M
8 Newcastle Utd £116M
9 Nottingham Forest £88M
10 Fulham £76M
11 Crystal Palace £76M
12 Everton £75M
13 West Ham £74M
14 Wolves £69M
15 Brighton £68M
16 Sunderland £62M
17 Bournemouth £62M
18 Leeds £57M
19 Burnley £55M
20 Brentford £55M

Are we suddenly really contending for a European qualification spot or just taking our turn at the top of a group of mid-table teams (10 points separates us and Forest in 17th)?

To me, Moyes is doing a credible but relatively modest job. But if TFG really have ambitions for getting us in trophy-chasing shape as quickly as possible, they shouldn't be looking to give Moyes a longer term than he already has.

Moyes is not a good manager, as his awful record proves.

Anyway, we have to look to the future! Sean Dyche is now available, and like David Moyes, we can hire him a second time... then there's big Sam!

Yes, we can laugh and joke on here -- but what else can we do when we have a joke as a manager?!

I'm expecting a bottom-half finish looking at our remaining fixtures... hopefully not, but it's realistic.

I would take that from a new manager in his first season if it looked like we were a work in progress. But we don't currently look like that.

Lurching between good and bad results with no visible system in place, no full-backs or strikers worthy of the shirt, aging, slow centre-backs.

16 goals scored in 13 home games.

It's a big job. Keep Moyes if you are happy with similar for next season.

This constant narrative that Moyes took us to 8th from lowly 17th, while a factual statement, is an attempt to glorify the man and make it look like he's some kind of miracle worker.

It is an attempt to downplay the quality of our squad and negates the facts that he took over from a manager at a low ebb and predecessors who had to work within net deficits and in a tumultuous environment.

Let's see where we are at the end of the season, considering we still need 11 points just to equal one of our worst squads in decades.

This attempt to imply that we have the 17th best squad in the Premier League gets a bit exposed when the best player in that campaign, Dwight McNeil, is no longer good enough for our current squad.

Indeed, said player who currently can't make our bench was sought after by two teams currently still playing in Europe, one of whom just won a proper trophy -- something beyond Mr Moyes.

Bit strange that a squad who were good enough to school Man City in a cup final would have signed McNeil if the Mateta money hadn't fallen through -- seemingly the 17th best player at the alleged 17th best team.

As to squad quality, a few weeks ago, ESPN.com came out with their Premier League power rankings. They compiled the analytics and metrics to rate team quality. Everton came 16th. Ryan O'Hanlon wrote this:

"This one surprised me, more than any other entry on the list. Everton are in 10th! Jack Grealish! Three points back of fifth! Just beat Aston Villa! And yet these ratings have them close to equivalent to Wolves. Why is that? Their xG differential is only 16th-best and they're still playing pure, distilled David Moyes ball, without much pressing or controlled possession."

So yes, Moyes puts a totally dismal product on the field, but there's validity to the viewpoint that the club's results are significantly outperforming the actual talent on hand. Do you see pace in this squad? Skills? Shooting? I don't.

If this link works, you can find the article at: https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/47696282/premier-league-power-rankings-rating-all-20-teams-january-2026

If that link doesn't work, just search Premier League Power Rankings: Rating all 20 teams on performances, not results

Ian #43, in the words of Sgt Schultz, "I see nossing, nossssing!" in the US media regarding a new contract for Moyes, but I've seen several speculative comments regarding a big-buy summer window based on the apparent rise in our revenues.

My own opinion is that Friedkin's decision on Moyes will be based on the quality of our results, not the quality of our football. But as John #49 points out, those results could take a significant downturn given our upcoming fixtures. Davey's job security might look entirely different by the time the derby rolls around.

I am not so sure that they all go to games to see the Blues.

Or just season ticket holders giving their opinion?

Is there no figures you guys will not massage to make St David sound like he is doing an incredible job? He's not. The facts bear this out.

Moyes did not take us from 17th to 8th. He took us from 17th to 13th and much of that can be attributed to astonishing collapses in North London and Manchester.

Here's the bit you guys don't seem to want to take into consideration: in August, there was a complete reset. It's called a new season. All the teams who were over the hill and far away, suddenly found themselves back on level points with us again.

Many of them had had their best players ripped from their ranks. Moyes, on the other hand, enjoyed several massive advantages over many of the other managers. He did not have to find replacements for his best players. Nobody wrested any of our players from his grasp.

He was also given the freedom to decide who came and who went (his words, not mine). A luxury not afforded to any other manager... Oh, and on top of the £120M he was allowed to spend, he was allowed to bring in an international superstar on mega bucks.

Given the advantages he is enjoying over so many other managers in the Premier League and the fact that he earns more than ¾ of them, shouldnt he be accountable? Shouldn't he be delivering much more than he actually is?

Evertonians have had to learn to be patient... and they are. They will take slow steady improvement on the points front, but they will not accept that we always have to be the ugly fucken sister of English football.

Give Zombie football back to the Zombies. We don't want it!

In general, it's been really boring.

I'm not stupid; it sounds like, with all the data collected, Everton were right down on the list with regards pace, shooting, skill... but I personally don't think that the team are doing much better than they should be. I don't see that much difference between a lot of teams in this very condensed league.

In other news, Thierno Barry has been doing extra training on finishing at South Liverpool.

Not the best or most reasonable post I've ever read but, if I'm being honest, John, Davey's brand of football is definitely driving me away from wanting to go to the game.

At home:
Man Utd
Burnley
Chelsea
Liverpool
Sunderland

Away:
Newcastle
Arsenal
Man City
Brentford
West Ham
Tottenham

But some still gave an obstructed view...

And personally, I can recall one, maybe two posts here calling Moyes's work "incredible" but if you need the exaggeration to make your point, cool.

Now, speaking of 'inherent nonsense'... 'international superstar'? Who might that be? Surely not the guy with only 18 England starts, 3 in the last 2 years? The one with 4 international goals, including against the likes of Andorra and Iran? Whose World Cup chances were a longshot even before his injury?

Make no mistake, I'm a huge Grealish fan, but describing him as an international superstar is wildly over the top.

There are 4 metrics used here with the main one xG:

1) xG of non-penalties;
2) How much you allow teams to pass out of defence, ie how much you press;
3) How much you can pass outside the attacking third, ie how much you can beat a press;
4) Transfer market values.

However, your conclusion that we are outperforming our talent pool seems like your conclusion. I would draw from that we are outperforming our play from the talent we select and how we set up, which the title suggests.

Let me put it to you this way, Mike: I have been very complimentary about the job Moyes did when he first came in. How he was playing to players' strengths and how players were thriving from being let off the leash under Dyche.

I can guarantee we did slightly better during those months as we pressed more and had greater intensity. Do you think Grealish, George, Dewsbury-Hall, Dibling, Röhl, Armstrong, Aznou, and Barry have made that squad weaker, as Harrison and Doucoure must have been grossly undervalued?

Do you think Manchester United would have been as high in the first 3 metrics as Ferguson the season before as opposed to Moyes with virtually the same squad?

The reason Moyes's teams don't create a lot and strikers don't score is not down to quality.

Do we have pace in the squad? The manager didn't want pace in his squad. If that's what he wanted, he wouldn't have signed Röhl, Dewsbury-Hall, Grealish and Dibling. He could play with a pacey back four of Patterson, Branthwaite, O'Brien and Aznou if that was his want.

You suggest we don't have players who can shoot, yet arguably our best one doesn't make the bench while Alcaraz is permanently there. What does that tell you?

In terms of skill, I think it's very high... yet we don't see it under this manager. Garner, Ndiaye, Grealish, Dewsbury-Hall, George, Armstrong and Dibling are all skillful footballers. Aznou also looked promising in that regard.

You could give Moyes £500M this summer and we would definitely improve our results but I would happily wager that, whatever results they would be, would still be better than performances using these metrics, regardless of how brilliantly you used that money.

I think we've already played Man City away and we still have to play them at home, it might make a bit of a difference.

I can remember writing (gist)... yeah, but when was the last time you came out of the ground thinking "Well, we certainly got our money's worth today"?

Back then, unlike now(?), Moyes was there until he or Kenwright decided he wasn't and it was going to take a special set of circumstances to turf one or either out...

Cue SAF-esque asteroid to rid us of the Dinosaur -- so it can happen.

Moyes's 'good' points get us to where we are.
Moyes's 'bad' points prevent us from going much further.

I said 'Moyes will be Moyes' in January 2025 and he is.

TFG are the known unknown in this. Nobody knows what their plan is, so we can't say if it's working or not.

I doubt they are starry-eyed White Knights who dream the Ted Lasso - Wrexham dream.

If their plan is to get the BMD cash cow up and running for a sell on in 3 or 4 years, Mr Dependable Moyes is your man.

As always with our Regents Road Ramblers (nee, The County Road Casuals...), more questions than answers.

Moyes is here until he ain't and nobody will be coming out after the game saying "We certainly got our money's worth today!"

It makes me happier that you are now accepting that we did not leap from 17th to 8th... that you accept the re-set (new season). The circumstances which brought about our climb to the dizzy heights of 8th -- at least they are real facts as opposed to the "simple" fact you spoke about in post 51.

When the World's richest club are prepared to break the Premier League all-time record for your signature (£100M) and you go on to win numerous domestic trophies, a Champions League and a Club World Cup winners medal, I think that puts you in the running to be an international superstar.

When every young fan in the world knows who you are and you have become one of the most instantly recognisable faces in football, that simply confirms it.

You may think that is inherent nonsense but, having seen some of the stuff you have put up here about Beto and Barry, I think I can live that.

John doesn't really like Moyes either but he'd like him to get a contract just to wind up those who don't like Moyes (“bigots”)?

Then he questions some who go the game (and I assume don't like Moyes) as to if they really support Everton? But he'd rather continue with a manager that he himself isn't sure of just to stick it to them?

Doesn't make sense to me, mate.

More like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

I said 'Moyes will be Moyes' in January 2025 and he is.

He is what he is but TFG knowing that brought him back?

So, if you 'go to games to see the Blues' you will not be one of 'the bigots on this forum'. That's how Mr Williams's erm 'logic' appears to run with his despicable 'bigot' label.

He does want Moyes to go but wants him to sign a new contract 'just to stick one up the bigots on this forum'!!!!!!! He puts our club's fortunes lower than upsetting people who, with good reason for the most part, are not able to get behind Moyes. Foolish. Silly. Bizarre.

Is Williams a masochist? Does he self-harm? Is he that tiny minded?

But I roughly agree with the ESPN rankings and I do believe that, to word it precisely, we are getting better results than our talent and performance quality might have been expected to produce.

Yes, I believe Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall -- as well as the emergence of O'Brien -- have made the club stronger than it was when Moyes took over. George, Dibling, Röhl, Armstrong, Aznou, and Barry are all potentially excellent additions capable of improving our attacking pace and skills but none has yet proven it.

I can't speculate on Moyes at Manchester United. All I care about that club is that they lose, preferably in the most embarrassing ways possible.

Liam #65, for the moment, I believe you are absolutely right. In the long-term any owner wants to see fervent support at home but, just 13 months in, I believe, as you do, that it's not yet a priority for TFG. I'm patient enough to wait and see.

Darren #68, I believe it's been a fair 2-3 years since "every young fan in the world" knew who Jack was, even if "instantly recognisable" facial recognition automatically conferred superstardom (which it doesn't).

If his national manager has barely named him for 2 years and he's considered an outsider for the World Cup -- as he was before the injury -- he is not a superstar. I believe he came to us hoping to get back "in the running".

Opta Power Rankings

We have a few more points than our atrocious style of play is worth and how bad Moyes makes some of our players seem as a result.

Moyes isn't going anywhere soon because of it.

Jack Grealish, according to "AI", is indeed a superstar.

I seem to recall you triumphantly declaring Carlo had signed an "international superstar" when James Rodriguez turned up here at a similar stage of his career. Just because they are past their best doesn't mean they are no longer Superstars -- although half the kids in Liverpool wouldn't have been able to pick James Rodriguez out in a police line up.

Let's just suppose you are right and Jack Grealish is not a superstar. Can you explain why Davey Moyes agreed to pay him superstar wages? I mean, we could have attracted some serious, serious, talent for that £300k a week.

Your defence is unravelling, my stat-loving friend. That's what happens when you move your own goal posts.

If the locals couldn't pick him out, it was probably down to Covid or ignorance. At his peak, he was a world class talent, that Jack never was.

One is an international star, one is a Premier League star. There is a difference and you don't need stats for that, the eyes will do.

I also read that we are paying city £225k a week, with no transfer fee to amortise. Not cheap, but when we are amortising around £190k a week plus wages for Dibling, it tells you the ballpark equivalent players on the pitch at £40M transfer fees will cost at least £250k a week in commitments -- and hoping they don't walk on a free at the end.

Everton should be around about 16th playing the standard of football they are currently playing.... That probably sums up why I find it very hard going to our new world class stadium, which is probably only about 3 miles from my house.

Tony, so correct. Passing completion. Tackles. Nearly scored. Should have scored. Possession. LOL Barry on headers. LOL Gana on pass completion. Erm Gana's tackles this season...

Saint Gaynes the Silent, someone who has spent the last few years on Gana's tackle stats? What's your opinion for this season, Mike?

Like Mike, you have a tendency to chase yourself up your own arse in your desperate attempts to defend your idol.

Have a read of what you just wrote.

For £20M, I certainly think Jack Grealish is worth signing. I personally think we have looked far less a team without him and I think the atmosphere has suffered also.

He gets people standing when he receives the ball. We miss him.

I think they sit down a lot as well when he loses it.

Most would agree with that without getting upset over it.

He may occasionally pass to spaces that Mykolenko or Barry should be getting to... but he usually does find a blue shirt.

Unless you mean loses his head, as in the Wolves game?

Oh, I agree. What I see is him giving 3 or 4 supporting players the chance to arrive at the edge of, or in, the box.

And yes you are defending your idol again. Thats all you ever do. Thats why you seem to misunderstand virtually every point you argue against.

Let me try one last time to explain the point; Your opinion of Jack Grealish's standing in the game doesnt matter. Neither does mine for that matter. The fact is. Your hero is responsible for him coming here on "Superstar" wages.

He has chosen and been allowed to spend all that money on one player. He could have attracted a top class right back. A top class winger and a top class marksman with the 300k a week he is spending on Grealish.

I like JG a lot, but you and Mike G can wriggle and squirm aaaalllll ya want. He remains a luxury very few managers in world football will be afforded

I pray for the same thing for Everton, and wonder if we will be so lucky in the future.

It made me smile when Man City were bought by the Arabs, and they finally got the chance to get back at their neighbours, who were now effectively funding Manchester City every time they filled up at the petrol station.

And you're right: making a fairly obvious point about Grealish being less of an international star than James is hardly anything to get angry about.

Err no they couldnt.

They went in for targets and got told no.

It is why we ended up Dibling, Grealish, Barry, and no right back. These signings were way down the list of who they wanted. And no I don't need to fucking list them.

Top class wingers, strikers and right backs didnt want to know. Hell even the shit ones like Tete told us 'no'.

I thought the self proclaimed student of football would have worked that out.

I like JG a lot, but you and Mike G can wriggle and squirm aaaalllll ya want. He remains a luxury very few managers in world football will be afforded

None us think that these players are worth £200-500k a week, but the market does.

There are around 25 players in the Premier League that are paid £225k a week plus, and that's growing by the season. So you either sit in the corner like a miserable twat, or you pay the dough.

Frankly the £225k was a better choice than watching Dwight Mcneil play another season despite the declining JG. Was he the perfect signing, no, and I said as much. But he was the best option on a limited table.

As I articulated in the original point, the cost & cashflow to the club for Grealish, was acceptable & why it got approved. It remains a fair deal for all parties.

Now that might burn your brain that they paid £225k for a faded 30 year old, but the club were happy with the financial outlay of high wages/no transfer fee for a superior player, than paying low wages/high transfer fee for a player with less delivery certainty, when cost & cash were a limiting factor last summer.

It might sit uncomfortably that JG is paid £225k a week, James was paid £200k a week, or some of the squad are £100k plus. But that's the market whether the fans like it or not. And whether the players perform or don't, you're still contracted to pay it.

I am willing to read some convoluted descriptions, so have a go at it.

I forgot about those five assists and two goals( what about those two brilliant efforts) from 22 bleedin’ games, you like him fair enough, I want a lot more than that for the wages he is being paid.

By the way that doesn’t stop me respecting you and your posts, I know you are a genuine Blue St. Helens Nosed Evertonian !

I got a shock the other day however when I realised I’ve now lived in Horsham longer than I lived in St Helens (25 years versus 24)

Still can’t shake t’bluddy accent though tha knows?

On Grealish, IF George gets to be as good as I think he will be, based on the glimpses I’ve seen, then he may save us on Jacks wages.

However, I still would like to see Jack here for another season personally. He’s class.

There really are no lengths to which you wont go to exonerate your idol of any sort of criticsm. Such touching devotion.

You claim that Moyes only signed Dibling and Barry because nobody else would come...You apologise for Moyes spending 90m of the clubs precious transfer fund on Dibling and Barry (wages and fee) because NOBODY else would come ?

And we couldnt have found a premier league standard right back, winger and striker for the money we spent on Alcaraz, Grealish, Barry, Dibling etc ?

You are aware that besides the few players you read about in the tabloids who turned down our paltry offers. There are hundreds of other better players around the world who would jump at the chance to come play for us.

You demonstrate you err knowledge by telling us that you either "sit in the corner like a miserable twat, or pay the dough"... But you offer no explanation as to why your boy Davey is managing to do both

Not for the first time. I find myself wondering if you representing the prosecution or the defence ? Because you are making Moyes sound like some gormless fucker who couldnt get his half in a brothel while standing at the front door with a bag of sand sticking out of his top pocket.

Got a list for us, Darren?

He has chosen and been allowed to spend all that money on one player. He could have attracted a top-class right-back, a top-class winger, and a top-class marksman with the £300k a week he is spending on Grealish.

Just replied on the transfer position the club is, and the cost of players in fees & wages in our first summer of stabilisation post Moshiri.

You were the one that put up he could have bought and funded 3 top-class players for Grealish...

There are hundreds of other better players around the world who would jump at the chance to come play for us.

Do tell of the players you put up last summer, and using your budget of £225k per week all in. That's £11.7M total, or £4M each including wages.

Good luck.

I was going to say "most" posters on here know that you could save yourself many hours of frantic searching for meaningless stats, if you simply posted "It's never Davey Moyes's fault" But then I imagine they all do. You sound like a 10cc record from 1975, mate

If Moyes wasn't so gormless, he could have offered three players (right back, winger and striker) around £100k a week for a season. They'd be queuing around the block. All for the price of One Jack Grealish.

It's no good offering only messing wages after you have blown the budget. Then whining that nobody would come.

Full of shit, as usual.

We paid no transfer fee for Grealish.

For someone who gets a perverse kick out of jumping down people's throats for no good reason on here, it's weird that you don't like being tasked with backing up your big talk, isn't it?

We get 3 top players for the £300k wages of grealish, apart from grealish came on no transfer fee and these 3 magical players are coming on frees or magical beans.

You destroyed yourself.

Why do you constantly get yourself into arguments you clearly don't understand ? I guess that's where blind sycophancy takes you

Free's and magic beans ????

Oh well

Your words -- not mine...

Give yourself the night to sleep on them and get back to me when you understand them.

Have a good sleep 😊

Knowing him as we all do, is anyone at all surprised?

The 10cc record was obviously 'Life Is a Minestrone'. Don't be naughty Don you rascal, they never sang a song called 'Strawman Bullets'.

Another fact. 10cc were the first band I ever saw live at The Empire. Please don't tell anyone.

Dave, if you think my heart remains in St Helens, you’ve never been to St Helens…

I feel sad admitting it but I hate going back there these days and seeing what it’s become.

Come on Mark mate FFS - 'national guard, the national guard' - it's fecking horrible, not least to me in the years of Aladdin and Diamond Dogs.

Riubber Bullets is the most played song on the jukebox in The Royal Dyche.

FACT.

I went to St Helens a couple of years ago but it was closed!

Yes, Dave, St Helens shut down when they built Beth Ave!

Mind, my youngest lives in Kensington now - not the London one, the one near Littlewoods Pools mausoleum. That's not exactly salubrious around there, is it?

I thought he lived in William Henry Street -- has he moved?

Kensington used to be a nice comfortable place to live in when it was in England, not too good now!

He loves Liverpool and is settling there for life. He's even bought a couple of retro Everton tops -- even though he was never into football -- and wants me to take him to a game.

What you don't seem to understand is that this isn't a positive of how well he's outperformed -- it's more an indictment of how he sets up. Don't forget the author isn't an Evertonian and the fact he was surprised tells you he has put in his logarithms across the board so won't understand the nuances of an Everton team.

For example, we play with 3 centre-backs and a defensive full-back as well as 2 defensive midfielders. What then are the chances of us playing through a press with that make up?

Because he has chosen our 2 slowest centre-backs for nearly all the games, we therefore always want to defend deep; thereby, how do you expect us to press in the final third with our attackers as we don't compress the play?

Normally it's Barry alone who is tasked with pressing.

Finally, in terms of xG differential, we normally set up to contain, meaning our opponents get chances but we are happy as long as we don't concede. It's not until our opponents score first that we take the game to them.

You say this is down to quality of squad but I give you Bournemouth away which was my favourite performance this season:

We were forced into playing O'Brien and Tarkowski at the back; Garner at right-back; Iroegbunam -- who had never played as a 6 without one of our defensive midfielders; Dewsbury-Hall -- who was playing as an 8, rare from him without a natural defensive midfielder behind; Alcaraz as a natural forward-thinking 10 -- once again a rarity.

Our xG differential was 0.78 which was excellent for an away game, meaning we played with balance, limiting them to only a half chance while always dangerous ourselves with an xG of 1.35.

The defence didn't have to play deep and our midfield was fluid where I thought Tim and Kiernan had their best games. Second half was like a basketball game at times.

In this game, we had an excellent away xG differential and I have no doubts it would have been one of our highest for both pressing and beating a press. This despite using our third and fourth choices in a few of those positions. Our weaker members (according to Moyes) would have scored very highly in the metrics outlined here.

As for Dibling being potential, I doubt anyone would call him that had he signed for Bournemouth. Indeed, they would probably be saying now they've done it again or how did our crack recruitment team not see what's under their eyes when he paid x for so-and-so???

Dibling almost certainly would be doing much better if he had gone to Bournemouth:

Tight little ground, small pitch, a manager who would handle him better and not hang him out to dry in public (while in the same outpouring saying that low confidence was one of his issues), more confidence in him, and more game time.

At Southampton, he looks like the same dud he did under Juric who, like Moyes, was rigid about defensive responsibility.

Under Martin, he looked like a world beater.