Peter Reid: Everton need a 'depth of desire'

They are a disgrace to all who have warn the once proud shirt of Everton. It has never been so disheartening watching Everton in the 40 years I have supported them.

As he says – get that passion back, especially on the touchline, before Ronald Koeman stifles it in everyone.

I assume that's aimed at Moshiri, which I don't understand. There was money on offer for Giroud and serious money offered for Costa but neither saw Everton as a good prospect.

Agreed that there was no Plan B or C but Moshiri doesn't sit on the board, so how is he responsible?

I suspect (like any reputable business) there's been a lot of talk behind closed doors on the failings over the summer and it's clear that Koeman is not being held entirely responsible, hence he's been given time to address it.

Reid's right though; the team need to show some fight.

Do they get that from Ronald Koeman? No, they don't – and that is where the crux of our problems lies.

...and the plan was for Barkley to be gone, which would equal a net spend of about zero. There has essentially been very little serious money invested over and above that received from player sales.

Do you think Moshiri doesn't speak with the board, or have any influence? There are theoretical business rules and structures, then there is the reality of the power of a major shareholder.

Try building a house with too many bricklayers and no carpenters. This is what Koeman has done and it's beyond idiotic. Ried is right – the players are lacking fight and spirit and this is solely down to the manager. Koeman's moronic tactics and selections are draining everyone.

If We lose on Saturday, which I think is nailed-on, that must be it for Koeman. It's not looking good when you consider how long ago it was when we last won a game in the Premier League...

Perhaps it is time for Football to give the players a culture shock and make them earn their money and go back to results based bonuses instead of getting £millions whether they play or not.

For 𧴜k a week I'd put on a tracksuit, do a few minces up and down the touchline like a pissed up Nureyev, and then sit on the bench laughing and joking whilst the paying customers are being served up with shite.

None of us need educating in what is wrong with the club,lack of pace, lack of width, lack of a decent formation and lack of leaders on and off the field especially in the boardroom. The more people who say it the less anything seems to be getting done.

The shape and formation of the team on Sunday versus Brighton will tell what way this crisis is being addressed.

I have supported Everton for over fifty years, and have noticed that as players' salaries has increased, the commitment has decreased, now I don't think that is just coincidence.

We have had some poor managers over the years, but I can never remember feeling this low. While I appreciate there has been yet another International break, I am not even excited about the next match.

For that to happen, something is drastically wrong. I take on board what Peter Reid says, but it doesn't make me feel any better.

More in hope than anticipation, I reckon we shall get a win this weekend and almost certainly follow it with a Europa League victory. Time for the worm to turn, methinks.

Managers can fire teams up but once you cross the line isn't it down to your own professionalism and desire?

On another thread I've labelled senior players cowards for their no risk attitude with the ball. This creates tension in the crowd that gets to the younger players and new signings.

Everything is interlinked to attitude and desire, it may be over obvious but, instead of the manager being the full focus of dissatisfaction, things need to change with those wearing the blue shirts.

Not looking good for this weekend.

In the last 35 years we have only had 3 worse runs of not winning away from home, the last ending when Moyes took over. Now that was grit and determination. Peter Reid, the man who stuffed a sponge down his sock to stem the blood in a European Semi Final. Something about success being 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration – we just seem to lack the 90%.

Anyway, that's me Christmas present sorted.

Nearly all blues were saying in the summer the priority had to be a striker to replace ''as close as possible'' Lukaku. It was utter madness to fail in that respect . What did the board and manager expect?

Depth of desire is needed now more than ever, until the recruitment fiasco of the summer is rectified. Peter's right –scrapping and fighting for every blade of grass, every loose ball and get in the face of every opponent.

It's time to show resilience and steel. If the opportunity to kill the opponent off comes, cut his throat with glee.

Exactly what I've been posting for ages, the players have no confidence and are scared before they get on the pitch. It's the positions and system they are asked to play before they cross the white line that scares them.

They are physically or mentally unable to adapt to Koeman's methods. But you still have people coming on toffee web to blame the crowd for being too negative and claiming it's drifting down to the players.

So that settles it – we'll get beat 4-1 then. Koeman sacked Monday.

I don't buy that. Barkley could've (and can still) stayed at any time. His head has been turned and he wants to play for Tottenham.

I'm not saying that the Lukaku cash wasn't included in the budget – of course it was – but having a net spend of zero isn't disastrous if the £100 million (Lukaku + the fringe player losses) is spent to reshape the side correctly.

Fact is the money was spent poorly on the same type of player and Koeman is still here. That says to me that the fault is not entirely with him.

And as regards Moshiri talking to the board; one would like to think he agreed on the strategy, but that lays with the board to execute it, not the primary shareholder. They failed miserably.

A few weeks ago, I attended a 30th anniversary celebration of the last time we were Champions. What struck me in listening to the contributions of the players was the difference between those who are engaged by the club as lounge hosts and such like who were very politically correct and those who told it as they saw it.

Prominent in the latter group were Peter Reid, of course, Kevin Ratcliffe and Neville Southall and these three in particular spoke with sense and passion. I know some Evertonians dislike Ratcliffe for being too critical but I think as our most successful Captain he has actually earned the right to be critical; he is a winner and does not want to settle for anything less.

I keep on saying this; the problems at the club stem from a culture of complacency. There are people earning a lot of money out of Everton who basically have no interest in demanding nothing but the best – staying near the top of the middle of the Premier League will do them just fine.

Clubs like Ajax, Bayern, Barcelona have a policy of continuity that sees former players taking charge of the direction and maintaining the standards of the club. Is it not time to bring in the likes of the three mentioned above plus the likes of Derek Mountfield and Leon Osman to run the club and get rid of some very lazy and devious impostors?

Only exception being Tom Davies – at least he looks like he would be a scrapper, we need scrappers now and he has a bit of devil in him.

I was in The Post Office, a pub in town, talking with Sharpe and Snodin along with Pat van den Hauwe. The first two were just giving the party line, which I wouldn't have. It never got nasty but I lost interest in them and had a good chat to Pat, mostly about characters we both knew in town.

I had to tell Sharpie and Snods that, considering the three of them played in the same team, Pat looked 10 years younger than them. Shut them up for a bit.

I know those of us who witnessed those glorious years are biased but what would we give to have a few of those characters in the team now?

Today's lot are overpaid pampered losers and cannot hold a candle to Reidy and Co.

I think there are a number of issues at the club; I don't want to question every single thing but all is not right'; you have to think – just like Reidy says – it's from the top. Moshiri ill-advised perhaps.

The players themselves need to man up and the manager needs to pick a team, formation and tactics and stick with it

That appears to be the core of the problem, so he could have focused on that. Once that's sorted, the players rolling their sleeves up is far more effective.

Peter Reid is right: if you don't believe me, go look at Wimbledon crazy gang, Vinnie Jones etc...

The Everton squad is 'soft' and, until that changes, we are in a relegation fight this season.

'The School Of Science' that was once Everton Football Club, has been turned into a sick joke and is now becoming a laughing stock as we now stumble from game to game without little hope of producing anything worthwhile in the way of a successful result.

As I now personally enter my 80th year, 75 of which I have lived breathed and supported my beloved Blues, even today, three thousand plus miles from Goodison, like many, if not most, of the present day loyal Blue fans must wonder if the halcyon days of cups,titles,class and respect will ever again restore the hallmark of our now tarnished motto: Nil Satis Nisi Optimum.

It has been a constant smoke and mirrors operation. I feel really sorry for Moshiri. He was sold the dream and is now living the nightmare.

The model of Director of Football and Manager rarely works well but put Bill in the equation and it's a recipe for disaster.

Until we get a chairman with ambition and determination – which is what I thought Moshiri was – we will be stuck in this Kenwright timewarp of mediocrity.

Our football now is too slow. More energy in a ping pong game. They need ECT to stimulate them in to action; clearly they are not getting it from their coaches.

But when it comes to commenting on anything dealing with the Evertonian spirit, I can't find anyone else still breathing I'd find more purely truthful!

And it so much looks like our current players have forgotten that we don't EVER give up! If lambs to the slaughter, we try to bite that axe! And the other 10 head-butt the kidneys!

In a manager's contract, the minimum demand is Champions League, yes Champions League. Now we chose a manager with no proven track record (no, he wasn't 'successful' at Southampton). And now Moshiri is dumbing down expectations.

If we lose to Brighton, I'm gonna... well... you know… that's it for me. I have other hobbies… erm, well... I walk the dog... erm… I watch Rugby...

Okay, so I might hang around for the next game but after Lyon the curtain will fall on my disastrous affair with this club…

Okay, so I might watch the Arsenal game….but that's it Moshiri…

Okay, if we get a great striker maybe just maybe…..

Reid and Unsworth? Howe and Unsworth? Me and Steve Ferns? Glassar with a ton load of cash and a spending spree?

On a footballing side he recognises what to me has been a glaring problem since deadline day in that we bought four number tens. If you play Rooney in the hole you've wasted 㿷M on three players you don't need, and to be honest, if we take Rooney's wage to productivity-ratio: value into consideration we are haemorrhaging money. What an unbelievable waste of resources. It smacks of an experienced con artist recklessly spending money he has bullied out of a first time owner.

This team does indeed need to get back to basics. We need to accept that Klaassen, Rooney and Sandro do not get into this side. They do not offer anything out-wide and we already have a Number 10 and it is Sigurdsson who cost 㿙M and must be given time to justify his price-tag. Incidentally, Tom Davies's best position is probably, you've guest it, Number 10 as is Ross Barkley's.

We need to build a team. Coleman and Bolasie will with a bit of luck be massive for us when they come back and I think it is imperative we do all we can to convince Ross to stay. Sacking the well-travelled Dutchman is a good start:

Pickford, Coleman, Keane, New centre-back, Baines, Schneiderlin, Davis, Sigurdsson, Bolasie, Barkley, New Striker.

Calvert-Lewin is nowhere near ready to carry the striking burden of a team with Premier League ambitions, never mind Europe! That is the team we should be aiming to have by the new year.

In the meantime, due to the farce that was the transfer window and the aforementioned players still out for another 10 weeks I only see it continuing the way it is. First step. Peter Reid!!!

You could either believe that, or you could believe that he wants away from Koeman's management and the pitiful direction of the team. All down to personal choice based on what's been said and seen. I take the latter view.

There is more than one thing at play here, I believe. Koeman and whoever else is responsible for transfers have brought in too many of the wrong players. Koeman is also a dour, pig-headed manager that can't inspire players but can upset them.

Nothing "Wrong" with a net spend if that's part of the business plan, and the plan for the club. A net spend, however, will not project and establish a team into the top four with the league as it is now. So far, no TV money has been spent on the team, nor any of a reputed 𧴜m budget, nor any other extra money from whatever source.

If it turns out that anyone has not carried out Moshiri's "Strategy", then maybe we'll see corrective action.

More chance of you and Steve getting the job than Emre.

That's not racist, it's just slightly amusing... I said 'slightly.'

Today's modern footballers are a bunch of selfie-mad, social media obsessed softies. They wouldn't know balls, or leadership, if it hit them in the face. I love the game but hate (most of) the players.

I wish we had real men like Reid, Lockhead, Jack Charlton, Norman Hunter etc playing the game again and not overpaid ponces like Pogba.

I like Bielsa but if he has no English, as I've heard, then it would be problematic.

He's right, of course, we do lack fight but we are a divided club as I've written before. Kenwright's mob versus the rest. I feel sorry for the new guys who have walked into this mess.

Sigurdsson must be thinking f n hell, I thought Swansea were in a mess til I came here. Until Kenwright goes there will be no peace at Everton FC and as a consequence the team / fans will suffer.

Not buying a Centre Forward was in my opinion a dereliction of duty by Walsh and the board. I reckon Koeman knew it was coming and pissed off to play golf, so he had a good alibi. Walsh and Kenwright are responsible – no-one else. Koeman looks like an artist who's been asked to paint St Peters but hasn't been supplied with a brush. Plenty of great paint though.

It's not that easy it's a lifetime addiction that you can't escape, it's with you 24/7 and that's the way I like it. Koeman's just passing through... like the rest of them.

Ask Bryan Marwood of Sheffield Wednesday, who suffered fearsome retribution at the hands or rather the lower limbs of Reidy after he crocked Adrian Heath. Available on YouTube. Those were the days!

I will have the maximum bet I can afford on us to beat Brighton. I think it is money for old rope. We have better players, fate suggests it. I rarely back us; never back against us, but, by fuck, I took a loss last week. I want it back.

Koeman was as much at fault as Walsh and Kewright. Sigurdsson was his No 1 choice and Klaassen. Reid might be selling his book, which I'm looking forward to reading, but he's 100% correct, a striker to replace Lukaku, should have been his top priority – not 㿙m on a No 10.

What would we give for two wide players like Sheedy and Steven!

I decided to give Moshiri until the end of this window to show his metal. It is all bollocks and Moshiri is the new Philip Green. Kenwright has presided over transfer fiasco after transfer fiasco – nothing has changed.

Koeman has been fed a load of bollocks like the rest of us. Kenwright out. Everton fans are a load of wankers for putting up with it the kopiites would have run him out of town years ago. We were fucking massive when I was a kid; now we're fuck-all – run by a Tranmere-level chairman.

Every reasonable man and his even more cultured dog knew that Monsieur Giroud would only come to Everton if we would offer a fee so vast that they could not refuse. After that they would have forced him to leave for us. But when you haggle you get beaten.

I can't believe that now there's talk about Bas Dost, he was the best option we had in the window. Now it's a different story, Sporting will never release him in January except for some really silly money (㿨-70m.)

Hell, half of us ( me included) knew that he was an option and I think 㿔m would have been enough considering they got him for 㾸m. Clearly at the time he was not suited to our collection of small, slow, I-only-play #10 kind of players.

I think somebody in our board (Bill?) still thought he still is a world class striker. Well, a big mistake. Even if he was, we still would have needed the target man.

Incidentally, has anyone got a clue what wages Sigurdsson or Rooney are on?

Pickford
Kenny, Keane, Jagielka, Baines
Gueye, Davies
Sigurdsson
Lookman, Calvert-Lewin, Vlasic
Subs to include; Rooney, Sandro, Niasse, Mirallas, Schneiderlin

IMO this team would beat Brighton and Leicester and at least run Arsenal and Lyon close. Unfortunately, I don't think he will... so expect to see a back 3 against Brighton again which I think will see us lose. However, if that results in a change, then so be it.

Seeing Ronald in a recent Echo picture, standing alongside his big shiny Mercedes, adjusting his tie, wearing a grey suit and greenish beige matching set of belt and velcro-patch strap (casual?) shoes just about sums it up for me. If he can't see what is in the mirror in front of him in a morning, what the fuck can he see wrong on a green pitch at 3:00 pm?

Bring back Bobby Brown shoes, I say... !!!

Rooney I think is on £140k per week, and Sigurdsson on £120k.

The guy had a ٣m release clause having scored a shed full of goals in La Liga for Malaga.

So he is no good because he only cost ٣m as opposed to he was good because he scored 14 goals in 30 games last season.

Pity we have such a lousy right back. You know the one recovering from a double break in his leg. Must be lousy because he only cost 㿨k.

Facts adjusted to meet agenda.

Even Rooney, who we know has some fire in his belly has been strangely subdued. I would have expected things to be different given that they have Big Dunc. backing up Koeman.

If the malaise continues at Brighton then I see the changes being made. Koeman isn't worried as he will get a good pay-off if he is relieved of his job – as most managers with big contracts do when they fail early.

Dave (#23): agreed, I'd rather listen to Neville Southall, Kevin Ratcliffe, Peter Reid and Pat van den Hauwe all day. Unfortunately honesty is not valued in the corridors of power at Goodison, which is why some former players toe the party line when they see Derek Mountfield becoming "uninvited" when he risks telling home truths.

Steve (#32): I take it you don't rate Leon Osman then? Let me give you my reasons why I think he would be a good choice to serve the club in some form of administrative role;

He is articulate. He has opinions that he is prepared to discuss and defend. He is intelligent.

He is resilient; it took him a very long time to make it at Everton but he went out on loan spells and never gave up the desire and hope to play for his own club.

He knows how much Everton means to its supporters and understands how to respect their loyalty. As Chief Steward at Everton, I witnessed several occasions when the player the lounge guests had voted as Man of the Match simply (in some cases) could not be bothered to visit the lounges post-match to say a few words of thanks and sign lots of autographs. The go-to man was always Osman who was always ready to go along in the other guy's place, apologise that the official Man of the Match had had to go urgently, and then give people freely of his time.

So yes, I could see Leon Osman developing into just the kind of person who could be involved in running the club. He has the character.

Moshiri was brought in for his business acumen and contacts but I would guess that he is advised on all things football by the greatest ever Evertonian The same man who as Chairman has presided over a pretty miserable time for our great club and has masterminded its demise. Well done, Bill.

"He has the character"

That is exactly what we need heaps of.

“For me, I'm just glad the boss gave me the opportunity and believed in me to leave me out there [for the whole match]. It's a responsibility when I play. This is my passion. I will run to the end for this manager and these players.”

Vintage Cahill.

Tim Cahill's two goals against Syria

Tru Blue in many ways our Tim.

Al-Soma plays his club football in Saudi Arabia and has began the season in his usual blistering form with a goal-to-game ratio. In total, he's scored 111 goals in 109 games for Al Ahli, earning the nickname "Colonel" to most and "The Arabian Zlatan" to his biggest admirers for his flamboyant style of play.

He is deadly from set pieces, strong in the air, quick with with his feet, clinical in front of goal and lethal at striking from distance making him one of the most complete centre-forwards in the Middle East.

Here he is in action: Link

Gis a job, Steve.

Couldn't care less if it was complete gibberish, or in this case if he's advertising his book, he gave me times I can only dream about now.

But to his point, are Everton too nice? To be fair Koeman has said that since he started. But Koeman means aggression in pressing and intent, not Reidy's version of it. The pressing vanished after game 2,18 months ago.

The team as is oft repeated, is a reflection of the manager's image. And Everton are that, but I must state Koeman the manager, not the player.

Passive, mechanical and expressionless. Perhaps if that desire was to come from the man himself rather than just expecting it from the players we might be in a different situation?

As such the team that everyone ‘thinks' is not playing for the manager are actually, in fact, his mirror image.

Looks like a man resigned to his fate. He knows he's lost the players, you can see it in his wallet.

You are right, mate, a team does or should reflect on its manager. That is why under Moyes we were a dull, boring, negative, cowardly football team. Like Moyes, the team then had no killer instinct or desire to take on the so-called bigger sides. We were trapped in our managers persona.

Fast-forward to present day – we are going through a similar story to the Moyes era with Koeman. Ronald has all the worst traits of Deadly Davey but with Dutch arrogance rather than Scottish Grimness.

Like the Moyes era became to much to bare for fans , Ronald Koeman is treading the same path. Once far enough down that path, there is no turning back. Koeman is already finished at Everton – it's just the fact that the bosses here don't see it...

Let's see how Moshiri and Bungalow Bill feel once we lose at Brighton then Lyon on Thursday. Surely then the axe will fall??

The way we are playing, we should get Katie Price as manager. She did a good job in the charity game. And if we are looking at the team reflecting the manager....

I think, in all truth, that Kenwright played little part in the appointments of either Koeman or Walsh. Didn't he say at the time that he needed some convincing of the structure Moshiri wanted to establish 'but had come to accept it as the way forward?'

I'm sure that, like so many on here, he would be much more comfortable with the likes of Unsey, Fergie or Joe Royle in charge and would walk all the way to Scotland to get Moyes back at the helm!

With an organised team and that passion we should be beating Brighton. Make no mistake Brighton will be up for the fight and are confident at home. Koeman has to get the lads fired up and 100% ready.

If we get to the home game a week on Sunday in the same turgid malaise as before the break, the atmosphere will be toxic. Sanchez will probably have a field day against Williams and Giroud will rub salt into Koeman's wounds. It could be the point of no return.

I may be starting to sound insane, but I am still willing him to turn it around and get stuck in to the job.

Ronald should realise he's got one of the very best jobs in football. He should embrace it with his heart and soul before it is too late. If he stays passionless and passive, the opportunity will pass him by. Glorious days in his future will evaporate.

Either that, or Lukaku had carried this side much more than we ever thought.

Whatever the cause, we have to change the current approach, because this isn't going to all of a sudden click into place. Poor defence, muddled midfield and no striker isn't going to get us out of this shitstorm.

As it is, where we go from here is any ones guess, cant say I'm hopeful.

While I'm talking about wages, players these days are also paid scandalously high amounts for the shite most of them produce.

I'll try to keep you updated.

We are making Man City look pretty pedestrian. The respective difference between these and each team's first squad is quite contrasting. The Man City teams seem a galaxy apart whereas our U23s look like they could give the first squad a game.

Koeman shows no sign of passion for Everton and likewise seems to have little in the way of personal motivation, his job safe no matter what, in his mind, and therefore he will continue to pick 'his' team and have them play his way until the relegation issue becomes a reality.

With a passionless manager at the helm, how can we expect the players to go out there and play with passion? Every time I see a Koeman team start a game now, I see a set of individuals who appear to lack motivation, confidence and yes, that word, passion.

Koeman's brand of man-management stinks, hence the Barkley fiasco and the long protracted humiliation of Oumar Niasse. He is mechanical and methodical and devoid of the spark that a man with a true winning personality is able to communicate, and pass on to those who work under his management. His managerial style is outdated and outmoded and he lacks the ability to make the changes we need to turn our season round.

I know I'm harping on about it, but this has been symptomatic of nearly all Koeman's previous managerial appointments. Some say that the past doesn't matter, but I strongly believe it does. It matters in so much as Koeman appears to have learned nothing from the jobs where he was sacked or, as they politely put it, relieved of his role,) Valence, Benfica, AZ Alkmar etc). If he had learned from those sackings then it wouldn't matter as he could truthfully say he'd learned from the errors he made in his early career.

Instead, he is doing the self-same things in terms of his relationships with the players, playing style and refusal to make changes when his tactics clearly aren't working. That, to me, simply betrays his innate arrogance and failure to accept that he may not always be right.

We can do nothing to change his mind on team affairs and the only way Moshiri, Kenwright et al will catch on is if attendances fall away, as poor results continue.

The fact that Sky have failed to take up their option to screen the Brighton game tomorrow, instead deciding to show a bloody Championship game instead, shows how unattractive we are in terms of a TV Viewing Audience and will have a negative financial impact on our revenue. Perhaps a few more financial hits like this will make them see just how far down Koeman is dragging us.

Something needs to happen soon. Koeman has to go. We are doomed if he stays.

Do you reckon the lad at the top of the column might have ever thought to himself.

"This manager shows no passion. I don't like this manager, so I am not trying today"

Whether that works, we have to find out now – not when Chelsea have dumped us out the League Cup and we've suffered another derby humiliation against them World beaters, albeit twice a season. Please please, Moshiri, listen and man-up and think of my kids... lol!

By repeatedly dropping Davies, repeatedly ignoring Kenny, using tactics which confine Baines to barracks and ostracising Barkley, this man has chosen to go with the expensive foreign flops he has signed. If he doesn't care enough, why should they?

Win or lose, it's pay-day for all of them.

We have England's all-time record goalscorer and a young lad who just scored the winner in a U20 World Cup Final. Plus a truck-load of goalscoring midfielders.

He just lines up excuses and fires them out. The whole of last season, he told us we weren't good enough, that Barkely wasn't good enough, that we should be delighted with 7th place.

Well, Ronald, Martinez got us 5th place in his first season, a deep run in Europe the second season, and the FA Cup Semi-final in his last. And he was, by no-means, a genius.

Stop making excuses and go, Ronald. Those of us that love the club want progress.