A soft goal knocks the stuffing out of spiritless Everton

Oumar Niasse got the starting nod again but proved to be useless in attack
WATFORD 1 - 0 EVERTON
Sam Allardyce names a relatively unchanged side for this evening's televised game at Watford.
Kenny and Williams are the only two changes in defence, with Coleman and Mangala injured. Rooney and Sigurdsson start with Niasse up front. Luke Garbutt joins Schneiderlin, Bolasie, Tosun, and Calvert-Lewin on the Everton bench. A certain Gerard Deulofeu starts for Watford, but no Tom Cleverley.
Leighton Baines and Ramiro Funes Mori are both back in training but may need Under-23 run-outs before they are ready for the Premier League.
Everton kicked off and the ball was zipped around in a lively manner. Prodl fouled Walcott, setting up a decent setpiece opportunity for Sigurdsson to the far post to Niasse but through his legs and out of play.
Rooney was robbed of the ball and Deuloleu galloped forward, winning a corner, that Deulofeu dummied but Ducoure skied onto the roof of the stand. Watford seemed to be grasping the initiative with a little more energy and desire than the visitors as a move between Davies, Kenny and Walcott broke down with a poor header from Gueye.
Davies did well to use his body and turn but then overplayed the second touch. ZBut his next intervention was far better, releasing Niasse down the left that created a chance and earned a corner, defended away.
Everton looked a lot better, passing the ball well, but Sigurdsson's shot lacked any power. Watford also were not afraid to press forward, Janmaat and Deulofeu connecting down their right side. Davies caught Holebas with his toe. More good work won another corner but it came to nought.
Walcott and Niasse got behind the Watford defence that reformed quickly, giving up another corner that almost fell to Rooney as the tempo of the game remained high... verging on exciting Premier League football! But the quality of the chances created was not up to that exalted standard.
Keane went in perhaps a little to strongly to win a loose ball. Rooney gave the ball away horribly to Deulofeu but gets back well to dispossess the former Everton player and make amends. Sigurdsson got forward and his cross was inviting but hit a Watford head as Everton looked to press the home side.
It was then Watford's turn to play some football, pressing Everton back, with Deulofeu always involved but consistently ineffective, but Capoue shooting high and wide. He created havoc, however, with a ball that Williams was lucky to control, Gueye eventually being penalized for a dangerous free-kick that Deuloefu lined up and fired into the wall.
Niasse was the next to roll around on the floor, the pace of the game pretty lively and evenly poised as half-time approached; however, things became scrappy with Watford winning a corner that Holebas sent in to Pickford's solid grasp.
Martina did well to stop Deulofeu but and the game was fairly open without creating significant goal threats. Pickford came out of his area smartly to control an awkward ball and delivered a great pass forward to pick out Niasse whose passing choice was awful and the scoreline remained goalless at half-time with honours relatively even.
Watford came forward from the restart, putting Everton under early pressure, with a decent corner put in by Deulofeu that Prodl headed well wide. Everton settled with some better possession and passing, but Davies again kicked the ball too far, although somehow winning a corner that went over everyone.
Everton finally structured an attack, with a looping cross for Keane to head wide with Davies running in.Capoue saw the first yellow card of the game after fouling Walcott. Sigurdsson tried to set up Niasse but he lost the track of the ball. Rooney swung in a tempting ball that the keeper gathered. At the other end, Rooney was carpet-bagged and Deeny with a header that Pickford had to save.
Finally, a double change for Watford, and Tosun on for Niasse — not a moment too soon. But it was Watford who threatened with a corner that went up the other end, Tosun getting involved, beating Deulofeu and pulling back a difficult mid-height ball straight at Sigurdsson. Que playacting from Deulofeu, who rolled back onto the pitch to stop the game before being substituted.
Things were pretty scrappy as the changes looked to settle, Rooney seeing a half chance on a bouncing ball, driven high and wide. At the other End, Everton had to defend but the quality of midfield football from both sides had deteriorated into a formless mess as the time ticked away, the lack of quality underlined by Geuye giving the ball away easily in his own half.
Allardyce readied Morgan Schneiderlin for the next substitution with Bolasie as Walcott had the opportunity to scamper forward but the double change was halted after a terrible passage of play, Pickford's horrible clearance going straight to Janmaat who messed up his delivery allowing Pickford to save.
But Everton gave the ball away in a deep area yet again, and this time paid the seemingly inevitable price. Okaka picked up possession and raced into the Everton box, cutting the ball smartly across to Deeney, who spins well and hammers the ball into the top right corner from 10 yards, leaving Pickford, and sadly Everton, no chance as they had never looked like coming even close to scoring.
Allardyce stunned, Schneiderlin was sat down again; Calvert-Lewin and Bolasie replaced Rooney and Sigurdsson as Everton now had to chase the game but the Blues looked less and less capable or interested in turning things around, into the last 5 minutes. Everton should have been attacking but it was all Watford and it was Okaka lashing a good shot at Pickford. It was all Watford and time of shooting practice as Everton had effectively given up in a shocking spell for Everton toward the end.
Holebas got down the byeline and Williams needed to block it out for a corner as Everton rocked under the pressure into 3 minutes of added time, with no sign of scoring an equalizer. But they won a late corner, and there was absolute havoc in the Watford area with Pickford heading it forward, Tosun and Bolasie going for the same clear chance right in front of Karnezis and cancelling each other out. Laughable if it wasn't so pathetic for a team of professional footballers.
The second-half display by Everton had been nothing short of awful after some false promises from the lively first half — just shocking, shocking football, littered with mistakes from a moribund Everton still on vacation in Dubai and showing game by game what an awful uninspiring manager Sam Allardyce is.
Scorer: Deeney (79')
Watford: Karnezis, Janmaat, Prodl, Mariappa, Holebas, Pereyra (56' Okaka), Doucoure, Capoue [Y:52'], Deulofeu (63' Carrillo), Deeney, Richarlison (56' Femenia).
Subs not Used: Gomes, Britos, Gray, Zeegelaar.
Everton: Pickford, Kenny, Keane, Williams, Martina, Davies, Gueye [Y:64'], Rooney (83' Bolasie), Walcott, Niasse (57' Tosun), Sigurdsson (83' Calvert-Lewin).
Subs not Used: Robles, Holgate, Garbutt, Schneiderlin.
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Attendance: 20,430
Reader Comments (216)
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2 Posted 24/02/2018 at 16:58:04
3 Posted 24/02/2018 at 16:59:26
4 Posted 24/02/2018 at 17:00:30
5 Posted 24/02/2018 at 17:03:07
6 Posted 24/02/2018 at 17:10:02
7 Posted 24/02/2018 at 17:13:06
8 Posted 24/02/2018 at 18:21:43
9 Posted 24/02/2018 at 18:27:52
10 Posted 24/02/2018 at 18:29:23
Watford would have known the team at 6 pm yesterday and we would have known theirs.
11 Posted 24/02/2018 at 18:36:30
Anyone who thinks there's a chance of a European slot on this display – dream on.
12 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:13:20
13 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:15:33
And Rooney hasn't the legs for midfield beyond 60 mins.
14 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:16:00
15 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:18:27
16 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:22:51
17 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:22:52
18 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:23:15
19 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:23:50
20 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:26:36
To be honest, I wasn't unhappy with the selection. Nor with him bringing on Cenk. But we were just woeful. Think it's fair that the players wear that.
When he was about to bring on Schneiderlin at 0-0 I was ready to throw the towel in for the season.
[BRZ]
22 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:28:31
And that in itself is an indicator of today's performance. It was either going to end goalless or, as happened, one goal was going to be enough.
Everton too easily surrendered promising situations with something that has been evident all season: a lack of sharpness. Too many players need that extra second or two, that extra yard or two, which you simply don't get at this level.
The result? Momentum is lost and the ball gets turned over.
And the truly awful away form continues...
24 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:32:07
25 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:33:42
“The type of football we've produced isn't rubbish, we've produced proper football in terms of what we've tried to achieve. “The past reputation is not the reality if you ask the players, so you look at the football we've played since I've been here.
Brilliant football, brilliant match. Dominant. Well done Sam, you're spot on.
26 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:33:55
27 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:34:21
Scheids - get out there and secure a point for us AWAY at WATFORD.
Oh shit! Scheids sit down. DCL get out there and get us a point away at Watford!
The man was MORE than happy with a point away at Watford. He was playing for it.
How in the world can you ever expect a team to be a top four side when it's lead by a human being who doesn't have aspiration?!
He needs to be sacked now. We are watching the demise of our Club and we are doing nothing about it.
28 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:36:25
Hands up!!!
You know who you are.
29 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:37:13
31 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:38:23
Sack Allardyce now!
32 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:38:30
33 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:38:30
We could have Pep Fonseca and Jose all in the dugout but until Bill and Co are gone, nothing... repeat nothing will ever change at Everton.
34 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:38:35
Not interested in cup competitions... won nothing, just kept teams up.
1 more home win and then just fuck off to wherever... then we'll no doubt see you again around somewhere November..repeat
35 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:38:47
We have been like this since Moyes left despite four new managers and a completely different playing staff. Therefore it seems something more fundamental wrong with our club, though I don't know what it is.
36 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:39:08
37 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:39:36
38 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:39:45
39 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:40:20
There lies the issue, the players believe they are playing well and are trying when it is patently obvious to the supporters that even on a good day they are way below the levels of many previous Everton sides. Somebody has to tell the players that they are not playing well and they are not trying hard enough.
If Moshiri knows anything at all about football, he has to act right now – otherwise, by the time we play the last of the top six, we could be in serious trouble.
40 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:41:31
Martina tried hard, but nowhere to be seen, on the left for the cross. It's time to play a left-back, give Garbutt a game now, and one up front is bullshit.
How Klaassen can't be given a chance also, because he couldn't have been worse than Rooney in midfield today.
We're still in a relegation battle, we're that bad, and Allardyce should be told, "You're the weakest link... piss off."
41 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:41:40
Fuckin spot bolloking on
42 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:43:01
What a horrible club we are now.
Nobody at the club has any hurt when we lose, nobody has any passion or feel for the club.
A week in the sun doing “warm-weather training “ was always going to be a joke and after the season we have had it was a slap in the face seeing them in Dubai off partying.
Everton are not a top-half team anymore, we are a poor poor poor team that looks as spineless and characterless as it's ever been in its whole history.
Moshiri faces a monumental summer to attract the trust and interest of the Everton fans because rapidly more and more are beginning to see through his “One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest†statements and he is becoming a standing joke, much like the joke in keeping Unsworth in charge over a month to simply splash out a lavish contract on a troubleshooter Allardyce, almost accepting as early as November that survival was the main aim with six months of the season left.
We are a standing joke and a disgrace to the loyal fans.
43 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:43:15
44 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:44:16
The people who run Everton have the manager they are worthy of. Unfortunately yet again we suffer.
45 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:44:42
46 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:45:22
Open your eyes, please, we are not good.
47 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:45:33
48 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:47:04
49 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:47:05
Once this is in place, I think we'll see 10 players out and 6 or 7 in.
Radical surgery of Board, coaching staff and players is the only option now.
50 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:47:50
We all know we are an embarrassing like of shit at the moment.
Go and write to the manager and board.
51 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:48:04
Rooneys passing was dreadful, Walcott's control was dreadful, Niasse had another of those days when the ball just bounces off him all the time, Gana was constantly overpowered and the whole performance was of a very poor standard.
No inspiration from the managerial team who didn't look that bothered either.
I feel sorry for the fans who went there.
[LAT]
52 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:48:22
53 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:51:47
I know it's hard to believe, but sadly true.
54 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:53:46
Maybe, just maybe, we've blown £300m on shite? Makes the most sense to me.
55 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:54:01
Saying that, there will be a short list and we can only hope the miracle happens. This season is now written off, one of the worst in our history as far as entertainment goes, truely abysmal.
57 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:55:02
58 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:55:03
I still think and have posted often saying it, that this is part of a plan to stay up until we invest big style as new ground opens. Until then, we suffer.
Hope I am right, if ya know what I mean. If wrong, I give up.
59 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:56:25
61 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:57:10
Please put me out of my misery. 40 years following my beloved club and this is undoubtedly the worst time in all my years following Everton.
The board of our club is relentless in embarrassing us fans and unless we show them we care and won't put up with this mess it will carry on.
The only way they will listen is not to go as money is all they care about. The more we keep on filling there pockets this will repeat itself year after year.
If we are honest this is just getting worse and worse, so in my opinion not to attend games until the board see we won't have this anymore is beneficial in the long term. Something has to happen or if not this year one year we will go down.
62 Posted 24/02/2018 at 19:58:09
63 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:02:02
It will take many years to turn this whole debacle around and it has to start at the top, Kenwright and his puppet, Fat Sam and his 12 puppets and hopefully this has already started.
I have had a season ticket since I was 18 (now 53) and, even though I served for 23 years in HM Forces, I kept my ST and brother used and there have been many occasions when I have said this is the last, but it is the closest it has ever been now.
Play shit and get a holiday in Dubai... the Red Shite are playing great and only got to go to fuckin Benidrom!!!!
The whole club stinks of putrid greed and don't-give-a-fuckness.
Niasse is not a starter so Fat Sam starts him. Martina is not a left-back so Fat Sam plays him left back. We are shite playing one up front so Fat Sam plays one up front. And to secure a draw against the mighty Watford Fat Sam attempts to bring on one of the shitest players ever to grace our shirt in Schneiderlin, only for Watford to spoil it by scoring.
There is a pattern here and nobody inside Everton seems to see it!!!
Fookin puzzling....
64 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:03:56
Moshiri comes across as a gormless looking fool but sooner or later he will have to realise that his investment is going down the shitter while that fat Svengali is near to him.
All the fat fuckers at the club need to go starting with Boys Pen Bill and ending with Fat Sam and Sammy fucking Lee.
65 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:04:59
66 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:06:31
67 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:06:42
I apologise for comments that might have caused offence.
It's been a long day and I know we all want the same thing.
Sorry.
68 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:06:50
69 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:08:18
We sold our two best players and spent ٣M on a little weak, young Spanish Under-23 striker.
We aren't doing a city or a Chelsea.
We get in trouble and buy a 㿅M non-international cf when a decent full-back is 50m.
Accept reality. You can't win a trophy "going about it the right way". Whatever that means. And even spurs had to rely on Kane coming through just to be nearly men.
A once in a forty year academy product. And we sell ours aged 18.
10 Derby wins and one lucky trophy is the best we will achieve in the next 30 years unless the policy changes.
Sell a 䀆M striker and buy a 㿲M one minimum.
Guardiola couldn't win an away game with this squad.
70 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:08:28
71 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:09:50
74 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:09:56
75 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:11:42
Maybe Rooney should be criticised as he was below par but he's a terrible central midfielder and there are no alternative midfielders.
76 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:14:06
I am an Everton fan.
77 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:14:22
78 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:15:28
79 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:15:48
80 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:16:58
Still a distance away from those six points, and I take no pleasure whatsoever in saying that there doesn't appear to be a leader anywhere in the club on or off the pitch. Unless Seamus is the answer – he at least has the endeavour and will to win that is lacking everywhere else around Goodison Park and Finch Farm.
81 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:17:02
82 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:17:45
83 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:18:47
But it was solely because Watford were not pressing and instead were giving us space to "pass and move" (I chocked a little typing that...)
Then it all went to hell in a handbasket as that dismal dreadful disgraceful diabolical disaster of a second half dragged on. Sorry but Allardyce has to go. I've seen enough. If a week's jollies in Dubai does this to the 'team', it really is time to rip up the playbook and start again.
84 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:21:34
Everton means nothing to him. His appointment was, perhaps, the most shameful day in our history. A second-rate coach for a club devoid of ambition.
87 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:25:09
When you make such an obvious and major mistake, surely you have to rectify it as soon as possible to ensure less damage is done.
This is dreadful stuff – the football, the manager's comments, the lack of comments from (so-called) management. I wouldn't let Elstone make my tea. We are a laughing stock and if any fool associated with this Club believes that a "top class" manager will come in the summer when all the damage is done, then they are more delirious than I thought.
Oh yes, someone will come, for the money only, and that will be only players we attract, those who are looking for a payoff. We need a completely new thinker as manager, someone brave and courageous who cares nothing for reputations and history. If this Club is to survive, we need to take action in the next 48 hours – sack Allardyce and his statistical phonies, get a football brain in, a football heart, a soul, a spirit... Make a statement about who we are and what we stand for because right now we are nothing, with no heart, no spirit, nopassion.
I would give Rooney the job tonight with his first job to tell Allardyce that he is shite and needs to get the fuck as far away from our Club and take his diagrams and pie charts with him.
I believe that it's got to be Rooney , or Silva, immediately – if we wait until summer, we are dead.
I have been ill for about a month; I missed The Palace game at home and had to miss several days at Yellow House. I felt a bit better this morning and afternoon.... not know. YOU MAKE ME CRY, EVERTON, YOU MAKE ME CRY, YOU CONMEN RUNNING THE CLUB. GET OUT – NOW.
88 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:26:19
This season must rank, as I've said many times, as the worst in the last 40 years considering the money spent but abject mediocrity in terms of care, heart and style.
There's not much to be said that all above have already written.
It's mind-numbing and there's only so much that the fans will put up with.
SOS needed very soon, as if we go down, forget the stadium dream and at this rate, if we stay up, I'm sure that they'll be some form of planning or regulation issue which will delay or make it unviable e due to high cost..
Hope and solace needed and not just in the pint glass but from EFC.
89 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:26:50
90 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:27:20
Then the same thing will keep happening until the end of April, by which time we will have 47 points and be safe. At this point, he will shit himself and think "How do I get away with this next season?"
91 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:29:28
The fire's gone out and he's going through the motions and his charges are a direct reflection over the white line.
92 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:29:51
Pickford
Coleman
Keane
Funes Mori
Baines / Garbutt
Walcott
Gueye
Davies
Bolasie
Tosun
Calvert-Lewin / Sigurdsson
93 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:30:08
94 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:30:09
Since then, we've had more downs than ups and I'd sack him today. Any manager worth his salt can get us the six points (minimum) needed for survival. Ffs, even Pardew could keep us up! Fat Sam and his gang out now.
95 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:30:28
96 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:30:39
I feel so miserable about the prospect of this man staying in charge for another game. No heart. No soul
97 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:32:16
How about Graham Potter for next season? Having said that, looking at our away performance, send for Harry Potter!
98 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:33:51
So many questions: Why is Sigurdsson wasted out wide? Why is Martina still in the team? Just where was Rooney playing today and why did we pay 㿊 million for a striker who the manager doesn't trust.
Please sack Allardyce as soon as possible. Don't then appoint, Pulis, Pardew or any other no ambition manager. I weep for our club, Kenwright and his henchmen have basically destroyed it.
99 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:37:25
I think you have the wrong Potter's as this guy is far more apt for Everton FC at this time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp94K2dd4ug
100 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:37:34
Tonight's match saw Watford keep the ball near one of our corner flags for the best part of two minutes after 90 was up, those of our players who could be arsed to make a token effort to regain the thing bouncing off them like children. Men vs Boys, again, was the message, but this time from Watford, and this after a week in the sun to improve conditioning and team spirit.
Yeah right.
Our second, second!, attempt on goal came from a header by our goalie in the very last seconds too!
Pathetic.
101 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:38:07
We have not kept a clean sheet since Boxing Day... Mr Master of Defence have we?
What a stupidly naive statement for a man of his age and experience to make.
At the other end of the pitch, it's now just two away goals since Newcastle on December 13th and a total of four (one the Rooney pen at Anfield) since Allardyce came here.
Disgraceful!
He goes out and makes the same mistake Koeman did last summer, big money on a player with no Premier League experience, when the team was crying out for a striker to hit the ground running, here we are wet nursing a 26-year-old Turkish international.
Why is Everton such a joke club these days???
102 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:43:24
It was telling in the first half when Watford were in our area. I counted 8 blue shirts. We got the ball out but not up the pitch. Then we gifted them the attack to nearly score and didn't learn and surprise surprise…
103 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:47:14
I'll keep saying.. anyone putting Sigurdsson on the left doesn't know what they're doing.
We need to employ a World Class manager in the early summer.
104 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:47:23
105 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:48:57
We do have some good players and an impressive group of young players. No organisation, no leadership, clear gaps and a transfer policy that did nothing substantial to rectify problems, allied to a dire manager. It was just terrible today.
106 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:49:04
107 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:51:00
All this bullshit about "Dubai has worked wonders for bonding" etc; yet they still looked they were playing with team-mates for the first time; with so many wayward passes, and gifting the hosts chances.
I despair, and can not see how they can keep Sam in charge till the end of the season; God knows where we will be in the table by then, if he is allowed to carry on wrecking our Club.
While I appreciate there was a mess before he started, he has done little to improve things, with probably the worst football we have seen in years.
108 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:51:02
110 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:56:44
When you play in your own half for most of the game, your back four has to be faultless. The back four played well but gave Deeney too much space and he finished very well.
I've seen plenty of worse Everton teams, but I swear I've never seen one so appalling at keeping the ball. His one strength is apparently organisation, but I'm struggling to see any.
I hope Moshiri has either already recruited or is doing a bit of due diligence. He was big enough to sack Koeman, now he has to be big enough to change again. It took Levy & Mansour time to get the right manager. We certainly haven't got the right one now.
111 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:57:15
112 Posted 24/02/2018 at 20:57:56
But, of course, he will make it and be able to add Everton to his already impressive list of clubs he has
saved by his unique tactic of throwing shit at relegation.
I see above that someone has news that Kenwright & Co will be offed in the summer. But what is there to cheer about there. They will just be allowed to take their fortunes into retirement whilst Ellis Short/ Randy Lerner's apprentice will be free to throw more coin at totally useless 'talent'.
113 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:00:17
When I think back, Mark Pembridge wasn't that bad after all.
114 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:06:52
On another day we may have been fortunate enough to have snatched victory for ourselves today, but it would have drawn the same reaction and criticism on these pages and elsewhere as the defeat has done.
Everton FC is not a club that should be travelling to away games hoping to gain a point, it is not a club where two shots on target is good enough to satisfy the fans. Unfortunately, this isn't a blip, it isn't a short-term issue that we can solve easily, it has become a way of life for the travelling Evertonian in the last few years.
From that perspective the club has become the same as so many other failed Premier League clubs, keep the fans relatively happy on home soil and don't worry too much about the away form.
It seems as if the club's hierarchy think that away wins or great performances on opposition soil doesn't sell season tickets the home form does, well I can't agree with that and neither should any self-respecting supporter.
, In fact, you could argue that the away form is more important because if you're watching on TV or on the internet, you are slightly removed from the passion and the lack of quality in the team sticks out like a sore thumb.
If you are unlucky enough to attend the away games in recent times your dissatisfaction is likely to grow and fester with each weak performance and that will slowly seep into the minds of the home fans as a growing number see that the team are not up for the fight or are not that bothered about providing entertainement for the supporters outside of the confines of Goodison Park.
Things won't improve away from home until somebody takes the bull by the horns and says that it is unacceptable, because it might be another twelve months before the fans celebrate a win on opposition soil if things continue as they are.
115 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:07:51
116 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:11:59
117 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:12:41
Please Everton stop this now you have embarrassed us on to many occasions, you are relentless in your pursuit of making us the laughing stock of the premier league. Enough is enough your killing our passion and as the pride went some time ago.
Just fuck right off. It's heartbreaking what you put us supporters through. Bot no matter what we post it's not going to stop I am sure Mr Kenwright and others have more hurt just around the corner.
118 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:13:48
I thought the usual suspects (Williams and Martina) were okay today but Walcott and Rooney were both really poor. I couldn't understand why Walcott was playing so deep and Davies so advanced. Whatever the tactics were they didn't work.
Can't think that we will attract any top manager now. Very depressing situation.
119 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:14:22
120 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:16:32
121 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:19:24
We got the team devoid of any attacking confidence. Our inability to retain the ball drains the sap out of the team. Working without the ball is often much harder. So when you finally get the ball you are fatigued and under extra pressure to produce in their third.
The manager's mindset and attitude are palpably transmitted to the team. His expectations are markedly out of kilter with the club, and therefore the fans have no connection.
What is there to be gained, what value is there in retaining a hired hand who is so far out of his depth?
I would proffer courage and vision are needed for the next appointment but I know too well the board are as ineffective as the team. The cycle will just begin again. I'm starting to find better things to do as a result. It's so hard to stay engaged. Pift!
122 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:20:29
Theo did have two players on him a lot and there were a lot of little fouls and shirt pulls on him. I agree he wasn't at best but if the ref had punished the persistent fouls, he might have got more room to attack the right. Their full-back also seemed fast so he wasn't always able to benefit from his pace.
123 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:22:09
Looking back, both Martinez's and Koeman's names should have been read out at the start of each game too as it seems Kenwright and Moshiri have no idea about the fanbase's feelings.
FFS, it was news to Allardyce that Schneiderlin was shit — it was obvious to us for months!
124 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:22:43
But did anyone see Allardyce's interview before the match, the first thing he said was that he had a better away record than the last manager. As if that's something to brag about, he got that in before anyone asked him about it.
What a prince among men.
125 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:23:37
Have a go at home, don't even bother against the better clubs, play for a draw away to the rest.
It's the sort of plan that leaves us with more than 40 points at the end of the season and will see us not really get sucked too close to the trouble.
It's not even worth talking about individual matches. Burnley will be the same approach. Then after the Brighton game he'll give us some Trump-style self praise and people will talk about whether he's finally changing his approach.
The decision to appoint him is where the frustration should be vented. It's a symptom of a complete lack of any plan for where this club is heading. The only reason you appoint Allardyce is to avoid relegation at all costs. That's as good as it gets.
Allardyce isn't going to learn anything. He's not going to change. We just have to hope that Moshiri is capable enough to learn and change.
126 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:29:24
127 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:32:12
God help us when we next play Man City and Liverpool in the oncoming weeks, and Burnley and Stoke will be fancying their chances...
The current squad don't know the meaning of passion and don't deserve the enduring patience of the EFC supporters. The SOS is needed but who will come to EFC, riddled with dead wood and now rightly known more for its charitable work than a bastion of British football.
Sick to the teeth and not much left to say.
128 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:38:34
129 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:39:34
Let's stick together ToffeeWebbers
It's almost over, honestly.
Paulo Fonseca? Marco Silva?
Anyone? Anyone?
Bueller?
130 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:41:17
Sadly, even dull defensive setups are only worthwhile tolerating if they work. This rubbish isn't even touching the top of that very low bar. We lack urgency. We can't get Walcott into the game enough and, despite improvement, Sigurdsson remains a huge disappointment though it's obvious that he will only ever play to his reputation if he gets to sit in the hole behind the forward(s). Wayne did okay for a while. Good in fact. But he's struggling to get the defensive side of midfield right. His mistakes are costly and he's out of the game longer than we can afford.
But there's so much wrong it's impossible to see beyond survival and literally rip it all up and start again. We've lost five years of development thanks to Martinez and Koeman and the worst managed transfer policy in a lifetime. Allardyce isn't great I know and hard to take but he has to handle a terribly poor squad. His new additions are limited and we didn't do enough in January. Walsh is awful.
Survive and start again, it's all that we have left.
131 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:42:18
132 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:44:38
Sixty years an Evertonian and this imposter's side is truly the worst I have ever watched. Just fuck off, Allardyce. Take your gold chains, identity bracelet and the clubs' money (none of which you have earned) and go. You should be embarrassed and ashamed – but you won't be. Horrible, horrible chav.
133 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:52:25
Very sad that we cannot even muster an away point in two successive seasons at Watford, Southampton or Bournemouth, these are teams Everton used to brush aside frequently.
134 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:53:01
You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
[BRZ]
136 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:56:29
2) Sam Allardyce will not be sacked before the end of this season.
3) The club does not need a 'known, world-class' manager. It needs the correct manager that matches the (alleged) ambition of Moshiri and the correct manager for the current situation (and by that I mean summer incomings and outgoings in preparation for next season under his charge). Who that manager is, I have no idea. But, like Spurs 3-4 years ago, we need our 'Pochettino' to spark this club back to life and inspire the fans again.
4) Say what you like about David Moyes, but since he left, year on year, the spirit and close-knitness of the squad has worsened. We need a return to that and it should be a central plank of our future recruitment, as well as informing who we should let go.
5) Moshiri needs to show authority and take clear charge of the club's governance, adding a corporate professionalism still sadly lacking. Continuing to place his faith in Kenwright and Elstone is not the way to go.
Unless and until 3), 4) and 5) are addressed, continue to expect more of the same.
137 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:57:18
Admitting he was putting Schneiderlin on to play for a 0-0 at Watford, should be an on-the-spot sackable offence. No debate, no trial, just fuck off!
138 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:57:35
Do you mean Ferris Bueller?
The last I heard, he was having a Day Off. :-)
139 Posted 24/02/2018 at 21:58:52
140 Posted 24/02/2018 at 22:04:23
141 Posted 24/02/2018 at 22:11:34
The Watford manager sussed out the weaknesses of Allardyce's tactics, by sending on an extra striker in the second half, while Everton were struggling with Niasse upfront. Although a decent striker, he could not get past any of the defenders marking him until another lone striker replaced him, who even did worse.
If Everton are going to carry on playing lone strikers, they are going nowhere fast. Maybe, the Championship?
Dyche, the Burnley manager, knows Everton are toothless tigers so reckons it will be another easy 3 points. Yet, this team is Burnley, which cost little to assemble.
142 Posted 24/02/2018 at 22:13:16
What the fucking hell??? Can anyone manage a gang of total wankers that have the audacity to wear the Blue Shirt? Three managers virtually have had these so-called players and not one of them can get a tune.
Just as well there are far worse teams than us below us. The season can't end fast enough.
My missus has just said you shouted "Fuck Off" like I sometimes do at the telly unconsciously. Says it all really when there is fuck-all else to say.
143 Posted 24/02/2018 at 22:17:38
Our link-up play was non-existent. God knows what they worked on in Dubai.
Most other teams in the Premier League can raise their games and at least look like they want to score goals; us, on the other hand, only seem to have one gear – it's embarrassing.
I wanted Sam due to the shit Koeman had left us in... though, as soon as we are safe, it should be tatty-bye and appoint another manager. Moshiri can't keep throwing money on a fire for below-average players. Even Swansea play more attractive footy than us.
144 Posted 24/02/2018 at 22:21:05
It also means the opposition are able to play higher up the pitch and have more players available to tackle Everton players in deep positions. Rooney is a soft target with the speed of a carthorse, easily dispossessed. Walcott looks as if he had two markers.
Our weak backline is fully exposed and under pressure to make mistakes, which they never fail to do.
[I have now copied the above so as I can paste it after the next match. All opposition teams have permanent slides off it to show players before they play Everton to save time. ]
I can't wait to hear what our manager is going to blame this time: "The temperatures in Dubai are a lot higher than they would be in England normally at this time of year. " Very little proper training done in Dubai.
Watford where better than Everton, because they defeated well (due to Allardyce's Tactics), played higher up the pitch and compressed play (due to Allardyce's tactics) and nicked a goal of a pressurised defence (due to Allardyce's tactics). In other words, Watford were better at implementing Allardyce-style tactics than Everton were.
A manager who can't properly implement his tactics, and who is beaten by a side that used similar tactics, should not be Everton manager for one minute longer. Unsworth is a hundred times better than Allardyce.
145 Posted 24/02/2018 at 22:21:55
Our ire needs to be directed higher than him.
146 Posted 24/02/2018 at 22:28:57
Time for a change. NOW!!!
147 Posted 24/02/2018 at 22:36:42
I hate Allardyce, but can someone show me where he takes credit for the West Ham game?
148 Posted 24/02/2018 at 22:36:47
149 Posted 24/02/2018 at 22:46:07
It's not the booze talking btw.
Hic. ))
150 Posted 24/02/2018 at 22:47:02
We cost more than Bayern Munich so I think it's clear that we've witnessed the biggest fraud or gross negligence ever witnessed in modern football. Hundreds of millions spent and this squad is worth peanuts with unsaleable players on ridiculous salaries; our players are liabilities, not assets.
151 Posted 24/02/2018 at 22:53:34
Spot on. 10:45pm just got home, why did I bother!
Got an email this week for season ticket next season.
Please go, Sam. If Allardyce is still there, forget it.
We will stay up, but after 54 years, man and boy, forget it!!!
Why should I spend/waste my pension on negative/frightened footballers who are being stifled by the negative tactics of a manager who cannot mould the talent we have available?
152 Posted 24/02/2018 at 22:57:33
153 Posted 24/02/2018 at 23:05:26
154 Posted 24/02/2018 at 23:06:59
Hats off to our travelling supporters, each and everyone of you deserves a medal, and probably some therapy.
155 Posted 24/02/2018 at 23:15:36
To top it all we had to witness that gutless, cowardly spectacle. The second the ball hit the net, we left. A 1-goal game if ever there was one.
Calvert-Lewin should've been on at half-time. Rooney should've been off with Sigurdsson moved inside. Poor game management.
Get us safe then walk the plank. It really is tough to justify and tougher to endure.
156 Posted 24/02/2018 at 23:27:38
“He's guaranteed to keep us upâ€, they said. “He'll whip our squad into shapeâ€, they told me.
I wonder where those people are now? We won a few games when he arrived but no-one knows whether we would have won those games under Unsworth (under whom we battered West Ham) or even Koeman. In my opinion, we always had more than enough to stay up, regardless of who was in charge.
I always said Allardyce was a shit, panic appointment. A boring, uninspiring manager with questionable morality. Someone whom I never, ever wanted to be associated with our club.
Well, now we're seeing the fruits of his labour. We are really every bit as bad and unbalanced as we were under Koeman and now not even attempting to actually play football.
It is with no joy that I say... I told you so.
157 Posted 24/02/2018 at 23:30:27
158 Posted 24/02/2018 at 23:32:33
Jay Griffiths, (#155) – really, really sorry you've had that day. They don't half make it hard to keep turning up. We need radical change. It almost doesn't matter which ones we get rid of...
159 Posted 24/02/2018 at 23:42:11
160 Posted 24/02/2018 at 23:43:24
161 Posted 24/02/2018 at 23:52:06
James Hopper – a lot of us felt negative about Allardyce and it felt like we'd really sold out to be like a Palace or a Sunderland. But there were some who perhaps have been ground down by our lack of ambition for decades and might have not scrutinised his career as closely as they should, who thought it would be a good thing.
It's ironic given Moyes got destroyed on here so many times...
162 Posted 24/02/2018 at 23:54:17
It's Brighton, Newcastle and the Saints at home that are key to our survival though.
163 Posted 24/02/2018 at 23:59:08
Wayne Rooney 'furious as he's hit with ٣m tax bill after investing in film finance scheme'
164 Posted 24/02/2018 at 23:59:54
165 Posted 24/02/2018 at 00:04:34
166 Posted 25/02/2018 at 00:06:28
I agree that bringing in a washed up not good enough for Man U reject was a silly decision – it might have been the cherry on top of the cake – if only we'd remembered to buy a cake. I'm sure his salary was/is a factor in squad dis-harmony, how could it not be when many of our players are more interested in pounds rather than goals or points?
Having said all of that, Rooney at Goodison has probably been our most consistent attacking player and I shudder to think where we'd be without his goals this season.
That fact alone should see many heads roll at Goodison but that won't happen – what a club eh, Bill?
167 Posted 25/02/2018 at 00:44:53
They understand their loyalty, knowing they will fill the stadium hoping this will be the day, and know we will buy everything Everton because we are proud to be Evertonians.
So the only way to make the money crunchers stop and think and the players to stand up give a shit about the shirt is to no turn up on match day. It would kill every Evertonian inside but probably the only way because surely this can't continue.
I have supported Everton for 50 years now and I can't remember a more inept spineless team with a manager who trains his team by a computer program.
168 Posted 25/02/2018 at 00:57:23
I'm shocked to see that Allardyce is saying missed chances cost us. Excuse me, Sam, but maybe that should be singular, as in missed chance. Keane should have done a lot better with the free header he had. The only really decent chance we had. The chance that fell to Rooney on the edge of the area, was difficult to try and keep down, never mind on target.
Other than those two chances, I can't remember any others? Was the one at the end a missed chance, I don't know purely because there were people stood right in front of me.
I couldn't understand why Allardyce went like for like with the first substitution? As much as we were probably there for the taking in Watford 's eyes, for me, they were also there for the taking and, while it was still 0-0, we could have gone two up front and put their defence under some sort of pressure. Overall, another disappointing away day.
Anyway, roll on next Saturday and Burnley, and more importantly, roll on the end of the season when hopefully Moshiri sees sense and fucks Allardyce off, as I really can't stand any more of him being in charge of our club.
169 Posted 25/02/2018 at 00:58:53
170 Posted 25/02/2018 at 01:08:41
He shall try and fleece us for all he can get while all the time he blames someone else. It is always someone else's fault. It is never him with wrong tactics, selections, substitutions etc.
For God's sake, hurry up and go! As I say, only 10 games to go!
171 Posted 25/02/2018 at 01:10:31
172 Posted 25/02/2018 at 01:17:04
173 Posted 25/02/2018 at 01:58:25
174 Posted 25/02/2018 at 02:52:27
Spare a thought for the defenders when incompetent midfielders play like that. He and Davies were kept on at the expense of Sigurdsson and Rooney. Those two had poor games but they can at least pass a ball forward – unlike Gueye and Davies. By that move, Sam decided we would hoof it from the back even more than before.
Maybe we would have been worse had we not had a break in Dubai, who knows. All I ask is a bit of joined-up football going forward but Sam prefers the long ball from the full-back. Kick and chase. Always has.
Other clubs choose young men with modern tactical awareness as their managers. We choose a guy from a bygone age who brings with him a guy from an even earlier bygone age. Hope they both go real soon, and we get a young manager. I was hoping Koeman was that man, but maybe he wasn't. In any case, panic set in.
But, let's all give a chance to our next manager and let him grow into the job instead of constantly criticising every selection and substitution he makes. I think we stand no chance of getting quality football here if we chop and change managers every half-year.
175 Posted 25/02/2018 at 02:55:14
Honestly, three different managers and pretty much the same tripe served up.
I never wanted Ronald but thought he proved to successfully rebuild teams at Southampton and could understand the safe appointment. I was willing to give grumpy Ronald a little more time but I wasn't sorry to see him go.
Unsworth did improve things slightly. Dropped Williams and Schneiderlins and then brought them back in, which was a big mistake. Gave a few young players a chance who didn't let him down but ultimately couldn't improve play or results. I would have given him a few more games but it wasn't to be.
I didn't want Sam. Nothing has changed my mind. The only question: Is it better he goes now or in 3 months?
176 Posted 25/02/2018 at 03:07:30
177 Posted 25/02/2018 at 03:14:43
He can't do it by himself though. He's looking for one-twos and runners but we're too static and reactive. We don't play football – we simply kick footballs.
I do blame the manager but senior players need to take action on the pitch. Shout at Jonjoe and Cuco to move; Walcott needs to find space; Niasse to stop closing down when no-one else is. It's a team tactic when to press or not and we have too many who can't or won't.
We need to play 5-4-1 every away game. Stay compact, mark players and track runners. Then use space and pace (now we have some) to counter. Just not enough brains or belief from players, managers, fans. My seat stays empty awaiting the new season.
178 Posted 25/02/2018 at 04:13:39
179 Posted 25/02/2018 at 04:48:17
180 Posted 25/02/2018 at 04:49:19
So the managers can't be the problem – it has to be the owner's problem and the ethos they have created at the club.
181 Posted 25/02/2018 at 07:07:26
I feel your pain. I've done it myself enough times down the years, but with costs of eating and fuel, going to away games has never been so expensive... and watching Everton has never been so utterly soul-destroying.
Hang in there, fella. The trophies may not be on the horizon, but after suffering the zombie football served up by the last two managers, I have to believe the joy will return to following this club around the country... You'll have to wait until the Night King has gone, though.
I hope all those who were calling for more time for this fucking philistine will read your post and give it some serious thought.
182 Posted 25/02/2018 at 07:21:26
I think someone said something similar earlier in the thread but it bears repeating: Any Evertonian backing this charlatan should really have their heads examined.
Playing for a draw against Watford... How fucking small time we've become, how very Sam Allardyce.
Oh wait, and he's pleased with the performance. Probably thinks we were unlucky. I'm going to go throw up now.
183 Posted 25/02/2018 at 08:02:57
As long as we continue to play 2 defensive midfielders (or 3 sometimes), we will never score a goal. Plus the defence is a joke, and the midfield, and the forwards. We are screwed without a complete overhaul.
184 Posted 25/02/2018 at 08:12:00
But anyway, the quicker this season is written off the better. We're just pointless at the moment. Then we can get rid of this bloke and hopefully look forward to a new season.
185 Posted 25/02/2018 at 08:28:44
The mind boggles, it really does. Whatever these folks are smoking, I really want some. Especially after yesterday's latest horrorshow.
186 Posted 25/02/2018 at 08:54:43
Yesterday at the game, I felt vindicated when a seemingly small trait caught my eye. We were in Row EE, which surprisingly is down at the front at Watford. The players came over to the corner flag to do a final couple of shuttle runs before going into the dressing room.
My eldest son opined that almost all the players held their heads down and performed a hand clap towards us as they came toward us. I replied that I'd noticed and I saw that Davies and Kenny did look at us. Rooney too, he stated.
Now there's two themes there. Firstly, three Everton-supporting scousers will look us in the eye before hostilities begin. Secondly, we have a frightened, "beaten before we kick off" rabble behind the three mentioned. I see so little movement, showing or rotating to offer for the ball when we're in possession. Some are deliberately locking themselves and some are terrified of being mugged they won't check their shoulders to turn out or see another option. The safe pass then ensues. This makes our deep players look poor when in possession. In reality, their options are one player and that option is pressed immediately.
Looking at the minutiae may seem pedantic but it does bear relation to our performances. We're frightened. A trembling, nervous, quivering mess. The manager then refusing to take responsibility and unloading on to the players will increase the fear. He should accepted a huge portion of responsibility for this if only to relieve the players of this obvious burden.
Winter Olympics today. No Sky Sports News. Seeing that grinning, Teutonic cock every five minutes offset by our blockheaded bullshitter would compound the suffering.
187 Posted 25/02/2018 at 09:10:49
Those who were shrieking “We're all doomed†would probably have accepted this earlier. So Allardyce is well on track to achieve his target of survival.
The board must be aware that not all Evertonians are cock-a-hoop with how the season has progressed and may not be relishing the prospect of Sam Allardyce being given millions to build a squad to play to his vision and ethos: watching ignorance in action.
However, any manager being approached would look at how previous managers have been treated and this could be an influential component. Fuck me, Koeman just had to go but he would probably argue that he identified his targets and was let down by other departments: the magical director of football perhaps?
I have absolutely no faith in Koeman but feel even Joey Essex would have considered buying replacements and cover. Incidentally, I would be looking to sign whoever is responsible for Southampton's recruitment as they have unearthed more quality than Walsh.The fact is, we are stuck with Allardyce and Lee until the end of the season, come what may.
I hope this is an excruciating experience for Moshiri who is paying this chancer huge money to preside over dire soul-destroying football: I hope his rictus smile hides a hateful contempt. I hope it burns and hardens him into thinking never again.
He has probably never witnessed this kind of incompetence and acceptance of mediocrity before. Say what you like but Arsenal are an ultra-professional outfit compared to us. Some posters clamour for sackings and clear-outs but this is not reality, it's a natural angry reaction to severe and prolonged provocation.
Some will dismiss me as naive, a romantic who doesn't have a clue... but I would have stuck with Unsworth and I was gutted when we went running to Allardyce to protect us from the big boys.
There is no way a top manager will be attracted to us and it would mean paying huge money for a big name; Ancelotti or Conte will only visit as opponents. Our recent history suggests the board will keep on making poor decisions.
I hope in Moshiri he is determined and ruthless: I just can't imagine a billionaire being a fucking idiot, but hey this is Everton, Moshiri may spend all his time catching with Towie and Exon the Beach.
I see posts suggesting not turning up to games but don't think this will help. I would think that making our feelings clear to the board in no uncertain terms is a better approach – to single out Allardyce and Sammy fuckin Lee, and not the team.
188 Posted 25/02/2018 at 09:28:29
189 Posted 25/02/2018 at 09:50:21
Time for new treatment involving radical surgery to cue the problem, cutting out all the deadwood. It is incumbent on every supporter to vigorously communicate that point to the owner or I fear further Dr Kenwright and Nurse Elstone homemade remedies.
190 Posted 25/02/2018 at 10:39:54
If you are looking for salvation in the form of Farhad Moshiri, then you must be mad. Moshiri Is the cause of this mess. Not only is our 49.9% stake shareholder clueless about football – he is a buffoon of Boris Johnson proportions.
How on Earth this Iranian Norman Wisdom became so wealthy through business is one of life's great mysteries. Some of the shit Moshiri comes out with is an embarrassment to us all. Hollywood managers and our own Fab 4 are absolute corker quotes.
Bill Kenwright found his perfect match when the football gods sent him Farhad Moshiri. A wealthy man who knows fuck-all about football and who would let Bill maintain control of the football club. Another goofball to send in front of the cameras and talk shit for fun.
Elstone was once Bills stooge but now Moshiri, who packs a bigger punch, is performing the job perfectly. It was Moshiri who brought that shithouse Koeman here without any checks in to Ronald's terrible track record. Kenwright sat back and allowed Koeman to dismantle the club from top to bottom.
None of us can blame Allardyce for taking the job he was offered here. We all know Sam's limitations yet, despite a huge outcry from the fans, Allardyce was given the job. I think too many of you aim the venom in the wrong places. For me, responsibility begins and ends at the top. Moshiri is the top, isn't he??
Judge for yourselves the credibility of the Moshiri/ Kenwright era by the pathetic nonsense that is becoming the new stadium debacle. If this charade doesn't open up your eyes them I'm afraid you all deserve what's coming your way.
Wake and smell the bullshit. No use blaming Allardyce for this shit show as we were fucked when he arrived here... Niasse, Tosun, Williams, Schniederlin – this season's whipping boys – are all blameless when it comes to the club's demise, yet they are now ridiculed human punchbags.
Evertonians are now that messed-up in the head that they boo their own players at Goodison Park but talk about Bramley-Moore Dock stadium as if the job is finished when it is still a million light-years away.
I just don't get it. How can you be so far off target when you take aim with your anger... Do Moshiri and Kenwright need targets on their backs or what??
191 Posted 25/02/2018 at 11:24:53
Moshiri's job is very simple... ensure your bosses are happy after every game we play... or suffer the consequences.
I still think we have a top striker in Tosun, but he will only thrive with good support and another striker up with him.
192 Posted 25/02/2018 at 11:26:30
As some contributions have mentioned I am normally positive about Everton - -"posso" waves all the way normally - - and also I have been ill for about a month now even missing The Palace game due to illness.
My illness was total exhaustion due to my work with Yellow House and part of my illness - - and I am not joking - - has been Everton - - my work is exhaustive and tiring and total but going to watch Everton has been my "relief strategy" for years.
My joy on matchdays and my "posso" TW musings are based on "going" to the game - - meeting my Everton friends and family - - laughing, joining, arguing, debating, agreeing and disagreements, planning away matches and looking forward to games - - sometimes I take my mouthorgan to The Dark House (TDH) - - sometimes my ukelele - - poetry books, a little yellow singing bird that I put water in and blow - - I have gone in my Everton Dressing gown for a joke - - a few weeks ago I took my dressing gown and slippers and gave it to part of TDH gang who I joke about collecting their glasses while they sit and relax - - over years I have taken people from all over Europe and America and China to TDH and converted them to Evetonians - - I will joke with some who miss a game because they were playing golf and call them middle class tossers - - call the gang in the back room The Gin and Tonics - - and they in turn laugh at my going to Vienna to see The Opera - - to Milan La Scala for ballet - - to Padua for Giotto -- this is being an Evertonian - - the joy of going to the match - - after the game we, have for nearly 40 years, and still do an Everton quiz - - I love it all - - we are full of memories - - we have attended each other's weddings, christenings and sadly funerals - - we are linked together by Brith Death and Marriage - - We Are Evertonians - - do you fools at the top realise this - - I doubt it - - but you Will Not beat us - - We Are Here to Stay - - You Are Not.
However, the saying that is constant in TDH is "great day but the football get's in the way and ruins it". Over the past 25+ years I can only recall maybe 10 - 15 possibly 20 great games - - how sad is that - - so the point is that -- yes I have - - like many on here renewed my Season Ticket - as I said I love going to the game - - I am not a supporter of Kenwright, Moshiri, Allardyce - - I am an Evertonian - -
an Evertonian who has the opportunity to recall working with a young man of 14 who when I asked him what his future plans were told me - - with a lovely smile and a beautiful glint in his eye - - "I am going to play for and Captain Everton - - well said Young Rooney.
I will not allow Allardyce or even Moshiri to ruin my days, to break my friendships, to destroy my loves - - they are not big enough to do those things - - they are mere passers by - - but the football that is being served up is woeful, passionless and worse soulless and lifeless - - sadly recently Everton have added to my feeling ill - - but I am on the mend and will be back for the Brighton game - - of course - - the only positive I can find in this is that surely there is someone at The Club with some power who is aware of how we the fans feel and is doing something to at least attempt to restore some pride, some heart, some love and affection, some beauty into our lives via Our Everton and that surely we cannot make the same mistakes again.
Hopefully a Spring Clean is on the way leading to a Summer Breeze that will clear all cobwebs away and give us all a fresh clean start in August.
from Emily Dickinson:A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period –
When March is scarcely here
A Color stands abroad
On Solitary Fields
That Science cannot overtake
But Human Nature feels.
The line in Bold is aimed at Allardyce and all his pseudo scientific crap.
from T.S Elliot:“For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning."
And Francis Bacon - - "For better it is to make a beginning of that which may lead to something, than to engage in a perpetual struggle and pursuit in courses which have no exit."
Leave Our Club soon Allardyce and take your pick pocket gang with you - - and wake up Moshiri or forever be remembered as the man that promised much and achieved nothing - - and go now Bill with your tears and memories before you too will be scorned and ridiculed - - and go quickly Ecleston who for me is ever recalled by his quote "I don't really like football" - - yes we can all see that for sure. Go Away All Of You.
They can all go - - but me and my friends and family and Evertonians and you gang - - we are The Immortals not them.
We will share sunshine and rainbows;
Sometimes, the rain and the snow;
We'll stand together through it,
While the cold winds blow
A bit of W.B Yeats for Allardyce and Co:
O HEART, be at peace, because
Nor knave nor dolt can break
What's not for their applause.
God Bless Evertonians - - One And All - - I am getting better and like Mc Murphy when he pretends to be affected by the electronic treatment - - "They uh, was givin' me ten thousand watts a day, you know, and I'm hot to trot. The next woman who takes me out is gonna light up like a pinball machine, and pay off in silver dollars".
Your friend - -George
193 Posted 25/02/2018 at 11:29:40
Anyone who thinks we were never flirting with relegation, and still thinks that, is a hopeless optimist. The standard of the Premier League teams below the top 6 this season is much of muchness – the third relegation place may well go to a team with over 40 points this time around as everyone takes points off each other.
The one thing Sam is right about in my opinion is that we should be trying for a point away and three points at home right now, which would be a great return with our shit playing and shit coaching. Nearly did that at Watford, did it last time at home to Palace.
I'm going to one more game this season, but I doff my hat to everyone who is going to every game – this is dire tripe from a club at a very low ebb. Forget bemoaning the dreadful quality of our football, this season is a write-off, the only thing that matters is points.
On paper we have some decent players but, on grass, they're utter fucking garbage.
194 Posted 25/02/2018 at 12:06:13
"Leave Our Club soon, Allardyce, and take your pickpocket gang with you...".
Couldn't have said better (or even as well).
195 Posted 25/02/2018 at 12:45:54
George McKane, get well soon mate. A change is coming. A positive change.
You can have it all if you like.
And you can pay for it the rest of your life.
Onward Evertonians.
196 Posted 25/02/2018 at 13:02:05
I see no system in our matches. Not yet and not before. Our game looks like random. That for he is in charge. Hope the season is over soon and Big Sam will be sacked. And Walsh too.
So a new staff should make some useful signings and sell players like Tosun, Keane, Williams, and Klaassen.
197 Posted 25/02/2018 at 13:14:29
We are a dreadful team, and no manager can save us. I will repeat what I've said before, Everton Football Club need a rocket up their collective arses, and that rocket is relegation.
198 Posted 25/02/2018 at 13:27:20
Brian [#33] 'The Turkish Bernie Wright' seems a little unkind; thing is, I can't make my mind up, whether it's unkind to Cenk or unkind to Bernie!
199 Posted 25/02/2018 at 13:39:29
I've given Allardyce time. The 'organisation' has resulted in a leaky defence, no discernable pattern of play and dreadful football. Players wasted out of position. A very fixed mindset of coming top of the bottom four.
He'll get no more time from me.
200 Posted 25/02/2018 at 13:42:08
Always try to play football, always encourage individuals to express themselves... always insist on 100% effort from all the staff. Above all, everyone should be proud to represent or support Everton.
As things stand at the moment I am struggling to accept the way Allardyce seems to see things. He says Everton are not boring. I agree because I was certainly not bored watching us against Watford bored? No ashamed? Yes.
201 Posted 25/02/2018 at 14:05:40
Will we make it safe, who knows? I really hope we do. But one thing is for sure: we need every fraud out of the club this summer, board and all.
202 Posted 25/02/2018 at 14:26:50
In 50 years as a supporter, I have never seen a time when we had so many players who are just deadwood. Amazingly they are recognized as such even before they play and one begins to wonder if there is some sinister reason for their purchase!
So many are calling for yet another change of manager at a time when I wouldn't trust 'them in change' to change a nappy. Although, they'd still be dealing with the same substance.
203 Posted 25/02/2018 at 14:32:20
I was disgusting we delayed his Chinese swansong. I never liked him.
204 Posted 25/02/2018 at 14:37:02
Are you implying that the hierarchy is split then? If so, it's little wonder the club is imploding all around us.
Cautionary tale: Bill has form when it comes to others playing with his trainset – he regains control of it by any means possible.
I don't know which is the scariest scenario:
(1) Bill finding somebody else to remove Moshiri and therefore the dream move to Bramley-Moore Dock will become another failed enterprise; or
(2) Moshiri, who doesn't seem to know enough about the game, removing Bill and company and recruiting people who are unsuitable to run the club.
Either way, it looks like we fans are on a loser.
[BRZ]
205 Posted 25/02/2018 at 14:39:16
"Anyone who thinks we were never flirting with relegation, and still thinks that, is a hopeless optimist."
After the brief turns of Koeman and Unsworth this season – as poor as the results were – we were not in the relegation zone after 14 games with 24 games to play.
I said it at the time and I'll repeat it again now: it was a panicked short-sighted decision by the board, 5 weeks after dismissing Koeman, to appoint Sam Allardyce to ensure Premier League survival.
This is not the view of a 'hopeless optimist', but of someone who doesn't view Everton's results in isolation.
You yourself Michael add: "The standard of the Premier League teams below the top 6 this season is much of muchness – the third relegation place may well go to a team with over 40 points this time around as everyone takes points off each other."
Focus on your last clause. Take a look at ALL the teams' fixtures – from Burnley in 7th place to West Brom in 20th – and take note just how many of ALL clubs' remaining matches are against clubs within that group.
It logically follows, not all clubs can gain 3 or even 1 point per match in their remaining 10 games. Furthermore, no fewer than 5 clubs are averaging less than a point a game over the season, compared to Everton's (still pitiful) 1.21 points per game. Another 3 are just marginally better than 1 point per game.
On those numbers alone, it would take a dramatic upturn in fortunes by ALL those 8 clubs (which, given the fixtures, is not mathematically possible) and for Everton to fail to take another point from the 30 available until the end of the season for the club to be in any real danger of relegation. Everton are undoubtedly poor this season, but not THAT poor.
Rather than a team surviving with 40 points as you claim, it is more likely a team will survive with 35-37 points.
The club, the board, the management team and the players, all justifiably get heaps for dumbing down expectations. Fans who continue to fret about relegation this season, rather than look up and believe a Europa League place is not yet beyond us, are equally guilty of being extreme pessimist, to use a polar opposite of your own labelling.
We are 3 points off 7th place which could be enough for a Europa League place next season... and yet you and others continue to claim (with a 7-point advantage and 8 clubs between us) we could still be relegated.
Scorn those who confidently state the 'R'-word ain't gonna happen all you like, Michael.
But have a word with yourself if, based on all available evidence, you continue to insist we remain in danger of relegation. Or better still, back your claims with hard cash and profit from your gloom: you can get as much as 80/1 at the bookies on Everton being relegated.
Disclaimer: If the 'management' and malaise that has soured this season continues into next, then all bets could be off on whether Everton could be relegated in 2018-19.
206 Posted 25/02/2018 at 14:49:24
The moment he kissed that badge at Goodison he should have received a life ban and here he is dishing the ball out to the opposition more than his teammates while being our biggest earner. This club is well and truly up shit creek right now.
207 Posted 25/02/2018 at 15:18:56
Before the Rooney brigade starting throwing stats my way, it will not change my view that he pissed all over us and only came once he knew Jose had realised his legs had gone. If he really loved our club, he would've come back 3 years or so ago. If you really believe he chose to come before he was pushed, then each to their own I suppose.
He might be in some people's eyes better than what we have as that's not very hard, is it, but that doesn't make him good enough – especially at 𧵎 grand a week.
208 Posted 25/02/2018 at 15:22:08
Cowardly football from a shithouse manager; for the first time in my life, I hate watching Everton and his anti-football. Moyes was bad enough but at least he was effective, and we didn't have a pot to piss in.
Just get him and that smirking no-mark Walsh as far away from my club as possible.
209 Posted 25/02/2018 at 15:41:45
It seems a commonplace that normal working fans lament the disgusting influence of the filthy lucre and how it has changed the game: we look on at these pampered privileged millionaires and feel appalled when they appear not to give a fuck after consistently shit performances.I think it would be a nice gesture for Allardyce and the players to reimburse those travelling fans by way of an apology.
In the real world, people devote hard earned money supporting the team they love and have their weekends ruined with monotonous regularity. So, rather than trying to deflect blame and sell the positives of another Sam Allardyce production, do something decent. Don't insult the intelligence and loyalty of fans with more drivel – give them their money back.
I expect the clamour to rid us of Allardyce and Lee to reach fever pitch in the next few home games so it may just take the pressure off.
210 Posted 25/02/2018 at 17:00:42
I'm glad you're so optimistic, but I think we're currently playing the worst football in the division. I'll be happy to get through this season still in the Premier League and go from there.
211 Posted 25/02/2018 at 17:35:02
Worst case scenario is we lose to every road game, every game at home to teams above us, and then win 2 out of 3 against:
Brighton, Southhampton, Newcastle at home
We're not going down.
212 Posted 25/02/2018 at 17:58:45
A win (I'm sure Allardyce will be heavily targeting the home game v Brighton) should be enough to give us the breathing space to limp clear of the drop, provided we can gather two or three points from the final six games.
Can I see us failing to win one of the next four games? Definitely – we are awful. Will we be relegated? Probably not. But until we manage another win then we are still flirting with disaster.
213 Posted 25/02/2018 at 18:10:28
214 Posted 25/02/2018 at 18:18:08
There is no belief or life in the squad, and the manager and coaches don't give the impression that they can inspire the players to improve, especially with Allardyce blaming the players after every defeat.
215 Posted 25/02/2018 at 18:50:54
First off, 43% of games this year have had the same result as they did last season. Things change – but not that much.
Everton's first 12 games this season saw us drop 13 points compared to the same fixtures last season (we are not talking the first 13 games of last season, we are talking equivalent fixtures). The last 16 games have seen us GAIN (yes you read that right, gain) 3 more points than we did in those fixtures last seaon. Could it have been a lot more – too right.
So can we go flat for the rest of the season and match last season? – 17 points from 10 games? Probably not... but the rubbish we have played in the last 16 games has got us more points than the rubbish we played last season – or maybe the teams last season were better than they are this season. In which case, they have become more worse (don't you love the English!) than we have.
So how about the rest? Let's add the points from their 10 fixtures to play to where they are now.
West Brom. 15 points. They are 3 points worse than last season over the last 20 fixtures. So 35 max?
Southampton. 5 points. Over the last 12 games they are 5 points worse than last season - and now a whopping 14 for the season. Max 35 or even less?
Newcastle (the Hull of last year – Hull best side relegated, Toon, best side promoted). 4 points. With these 10 games to go, Hull would have had 30 points - which is one more than Newcastle. Max 35 or even less?
These are my current predictions for the drop. But who else?
Stoke – 11 points and they have dropped 7 so far this season – and all in the last 7 games. On the slide? Is 37 points more than they will get?
Swansea - 14 points and they are spot on their points from last season. So will they still finish with 41 points?
West Ham - 8 points and they have dropped 7 so far this season. And that was all in the first 10 games so maybe cannot expect them to drop below 38 points (although they have dropped 5 in the last 6 games)
And as for the other promoted sides
Huddersfield (the Sunderland of last season – lowest relegated, lowest promoted) finally coming good. 6 points – but an improvement of 2 points in the last 7 games. Maybe around 40 points.
Brighton (the Boro of last season) finally coming good. 5 points – but an improvement of 2 points in the last 8 games. Maybe around 40 points.
So 33 could be enough, but 36 will probably be the most points of the team 18th could hope for.
As for us – why do we keep passing to the other team?
216 Posted 25/02/2018 at 18:54:42
Not sure who they think they are kidding.
217 Posted 25/02/2018 at 19:06:03
218 Posted 25/02/2018 at 22:10:33
That was probably the worst sentence I've ever written – ask Lyndon he's seen a ton of them.
But...
Vegas agrees with me. The odds of us going down are infinitesimal.
Then again, Leicester won the league, we beat the Russians in 1980 in hockey, etc etc. Anything can happen.
[BRZ]
219 Posted 25/02/2018 at 22:50:10
Flip the coin. If we win our next two games, we can possibly go above Leicester and Burnley into 7th place. The conditional guessing game cuts both ways, fellahs.
Throwing in another conditional, if you and others want to soften the blow of looming relegation you are predicting, you should be queuing up to pile on some hard earned at the 80/1 odds I flagged up of Everton being relegated this season.
220 Posted 26/02/2018 at 05:09:38
I am sure most Evertonians just wish he would say nothing before, in-between or after games. He is a total joke, unfortunately, a really bad one.I think he is bringing incredible harm to our team. We are still too close to a relegation spot to ever be able to relax and enjoy a game.
221 Posted 26/02/2018 at 09:19:52
As George Bernard Shaw said: Life has away of slipping through your fingers, but, if you stick to your soul, it will stick to you.
Get well George, and back on your feet, then prepare all us who wait for your post, with a good one for the Brighton game, onwards and hopefully upwards George. Good health and very best wishes, George.
222 Posted 26/02/2018 at 10:25:23
I wanted Allardyce because I thought a) we were facing relegation and he would sort that problem out and b) he might actually put some fight into this team and get us playing decent football.
I thought (a) it would be well sorted out by now – not yet it's not.
And (b) – this lot couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag so nothing's changed there.
So wrong on both counts.
Fire away.
Get well soon, George.
223 Posted 26/02/2018 at 12:03:04
I feel we will be going to West Ham needing a draw to stay up. I hope I am utterly and completely wrong about this and will be left looking like a complete idiot, at least I will be a very happy idiot.
224 Posted 26/02/2018 at 18:53:54
225 Posted 26/02/2018 at 19:29:14
I guess that explains why you won't be settled until we are mathematically safe.
Just been on oddschecker to see what odds we were to stay up. Only one bookie bothering (365) and they are going 1/750.
Not sure why I told you that, I guess having witnessed it once, you won't relax until we are over the line.
Fearing the worst does not make anyone look an idiot, especially those who know what the worst feels like.
226 Posted 26/02/2018 at 19:38:57
227 Posted 27/02/2018 at 16:05:27
I honestly get heartened by posts like yours along with Jay Wood and Jamie Crowley but, as I've said before I then see the team try to perform and all my fears return.
It's not so much I remember the 1951 experience. I was a young boy of ten then and didn't really understand the horror of relegation: now, it fills me with absolute dread.
I know there are much more important things in life than football, but the thought of Everton going down is not worth thinking about for me.
I will be more than happy to be known as "The happy idiot" in a few weeks, might even change my ToffeeWeb handle to that.
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1 Posted 24/02/2018 at 16:51:15
Hopefully Tosun will get on at some time but let's get the game won first.
Good luck to all the squad for today. COYB