Allardyce blames wasteful finishing for Watford loss

The one good that came from this insipid performance is that it confirms your departure in May.

You are a stain on our history. Roll on May.

Truth be told, we have some good players but we are a very poor team.

Allardyce has to go... and now!

No doubt the remaining five away trips will produce a similar lack of ambition, which in essence means we have to take six or so points from the remaining five home fixtures, which includes the loveable neighbours and the all-conquering Manchester City – we might just manage to get the points needed, but it won't be good for the blood pressure nor will it be pretty to watch.

If we do escape the clutches of relegation, and it's really more the case of when we do, I can't stand the thought of Big Sam or similar being on the touchline next season; get it wrong again Mr Moshiri and we may as well suffix our name with Villa.

Yes, you are exactly right, Sam. So why did you play deep defensive tactics, which isolated your forwards (one shot on target) and allow Watford to play higher up the pitch, pressing our midfield players in their own half, resulting in loss of possession (Rooney) and the marking of Walcott out of the game? Your tactics allowed Everton's weak defence to be pressured into mistakes, which they are more than capable off.

The finishing wasn't wasteful, it was non-existent as a result of your tactics. Not for the first time.

Conclusion: Allardyce blaming the players again when it is his fault. To think he is getting £6 million a year to come out with this crap.

FAT SAM OUT!

From Kenwright and his board of tax-dodging mates to dismal Walter Smith, followed by Moyes with his "knife to a gunfight" attitude, then Martinez with his pipedreams of Barca on the Mersey, followed by those golfing Koeman brothers, and finally to snivelling self-serving Sam, with his entourage of pals along for the lucratively ride.

For the umpteenth time, I ask what in hell's name do they do at Finch Farm??? On all available evidence, it cannot have anything to do with modern-day football.

That massive total of 7 shots, 2 on target. And don’t you dare point out that 2 of those shots were in the final minute and one was a header from our keeper. Our Sam will inform you that your opinion is utter rubbish. This team has been player proper, quality football. Don’t dare say otherwise.

Why can't we ever play two men up front? We have wingers but most of the time our midfielders were losing the ball, resulting in very few chances for the lone striker, whoever he may be.

We really don't need to be such a boring, negative team. Sam should return to Dudley and help the local team, whoever they are. You are out of your depth in the Premier League and always have been. Go NOW!!!

Chances? What chances? What bloody game was Sam watching? We seem to find it as difficult to beat the bottom three as we do the top 6. Explain that one, Mr Manager.

After long and detailed analysis, it appears to me that, while other managers set their teams up to try and win matches, Allardyce sets his teams up to try and avoid losing them, thus inviting the opposition to pick us off at their leisure. We sit back and try to defend the status quo while other teams who know how we play gradually wear us down and, when we fall behind late in the game, our tank is empty and we have nothing left to give.

Allardyce is a disaster and should be got rid of as soon as possible. We have no future with him in charge.

What a fake this guy is.

Since Christmas time, he has quite simply failed dismally to do this task, chopping and changing the defensive quartet on a weekly basis, ensuring that any kind of potential stability will never be met anyway.

It is now 9 games without a clean sheet and just four in total since he took the job on in early winter, so much for securing the defence?

As an attacking team, he has made no impact whatsoever in his time here. Since Allardyce arrived, we have scored just FOUR away goals and have not scored in both halves of a football match home or away since a 3-1 win over Swansea in December.

I understand that the woes are not all his fault, of course they're not. But a manager is brought in to make a big enough impact that shows changes are visible to fans and the board, to impress with new ideas and put a case forward that he has what it takes to move the team forward.

But, so far, Allardyce has produced very little evidence he possesses the capabilities he can do that with Everton and therefore shouldn't expect to be kept on beyond May.

Anyway, it's over to Laurel and Hardy (Moshiri and Blue Bill) to get us out of another fine mess that THEY got us into.

Continually, Watford found open space wide in the last third and a better team would have punished us. When we went across half-way, we rarely managed to pass the ball to one of our own players. We were packing the midfield and ended up too close together, getting in each other's way. Niasse shouldn't have been wide, he should be in the box.

Blaming finishing is one thing but the main issue is the set-up of the team. If Allardyce didn't want to give anything away, it was obvious after a short time Rooney was having a poor game and width and pace was required. Place lower and faster crosses into the box, Niasse needs to be in the box to finish but is better as a sub. Our fastest player, Walcott hardly played wide or tried to beat anyone on the outside.

We have good players but the setup and game management is wrong. The goal was coming and big Sam couldn't see it, indeed when it came, he still didn't make the change until it was too late. I did think discipline would change but training or nothing else seems to have.

To blame the centre-half for nodding down a ball to a player he thought was in a better position sums Allardyce up. We created fuck all because you are clueless and lost the game because we created fuck all.

The midfield is the problem because we have no real playmaker there... well, we have one but he's put out on the wing. Rooney is getting a game in that position because there is nobody else. Unfortunately, Wayne is an handicap there, he's more dangerous to Everton than the opposition.

He should be kept upfront for the last 30 minutes of each game, he has scored ten goals mostly when he was playing upfront versus Stoke City, Man City, Newcastle Utd and Arsenal; four penalties including the rebound against West Ham Utd; I'm not sure what position he was playing in that game.

When Seamus comes back, I'd put Jonjoe Kenny in midfield for his energy and football ability plus the fact he has a football brain and he cares about this club – it is his club. A big risk to play him there but I'd take it, better than playing with what we have tried in the last few weeks which is proving to be futile.

I've got that knot back in my stomach watching and listening to the rubbish being turned out by this team and our chancer of a manager.

Everton will never become a first-rate club with a manager whose main talent is preventing relegation. We aren't and shouldn't be anywhere near the drop zone, but Sam seems to be doing his best to get us there. While it may be a bit of a horror show for us fans, it is where he has the most experience and is most comfortable.

Hell, if we finish mid-table, our distinguished hierarchy will probably heave a sigh of relief, and reward Allardyce with a multi-year contract for a job well done.

This season, that started with so much eager anticipation, has turned into a major clusterfuck. Everton is broken, and I don't think anyone currently involved with the club has the know-how to fix it.

The quality is closer to bottom four and shows the garbage the so-called Premier League is packed full of. From 6th down, there is not a quality side amongst them.

It's possible to build a team to become best of the rest for less than we pay our manager a year, the quality is that poor outside the top 5.

I really couldn't see how we were trying to break Watford down. We don't have a player who can go past a player with a piece of skill in every game; don't have a player who can spray a pass that we can rely on; don't have a player who can put crosses in the right areas; and still don't have a player who can free the striker and give him chances.

I just don't see what some of our fans do that we have some good players? Maybe that's harsh... the goalkeeper and a fullback who has been injured (Coleman) – I consider them good players. The rest, I rate from 'average', 'bang-average', 'not good enough for this Club'... and 'shite'.

The plan seems to be to accept and minimise the damage against big teams and hope to be less shit at home to statistically inferior opposition. So expect more of the same cautious negative tactics in the hope that we beat Swansea and Brighton and can enjoy a season of success.

Man City and Liverpool will destroy us if he elects to go with one up front; Rooney is not a midfield maestro, and wasteful finishing refers to one chance of note that I can recall from a centre-half. Who will be to blame when Liverpool twat us? Who will be identified as crap? Who will be blamed to protect Sam's credibility and brand?

Despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, I cannot simply accept Moshiri is as silly as he looks. I hope he is seething at what his choice of manager is producing and the money he is paying out. Moshiri must play nice with Allardyce and Lee until the season ends, then get rid: he can't sack them until then as it sends a bad message to other managers he will be approaching.

This season has been unrelentingly awful without reprieve. Next season, Liverpool are going to be very strong and there are many amongst us who recall with all too clear clarity the grotesque smugness and sickening gloating that is such a feature of their collective psyches. Of course the difference back then was we were a credible threat and capable of giving as good as we got.

Fast forward 12 months to Liverpool topping the league and us targeting one point from Watford again to be nearly there for 40 points or scrambling for the Best of the Rest status and enduring the next instalment of Allardyce's attempts to bring 1970s pub football into Europe.

I hope Moshiri has a plan and a clue.

That said, what sort of team are we. Too slow to counter, don't play good football, don't get crosses in, weak all over the pitch, and we lack character. We've spent £200m plus to achieve this and Allardyce is the latest idiot in charge.

We need a complete clear-out in the summer so don't be expecting anything for years again. Did we even have a plan last summer???

We're only about a dozen players, a manager, a few coaches, a director of football and assorted other managerial charlatans away from an improvement to outright mediocrity.

It's a sad day when you remember the days of dour, defensive Davey through a misty, nostalgic haze.

Well done, Moshiri and Kenwright, for giving this bent bung-taker of a knobhead the reigns to this once-great club. An absolute shambles of a club now run by dickheads from top to bottom.

If anyone is ever feeling down, just watch Everton in a game of football. It's worth it for the comedy value. Nil satis, my arse.

From a fan's perspective, I hated watching every minute, every poor pass, no attacking threat, no forward movement, no drive, no passion. I would be happier knowing that at least we went to the mighty Watford for the win but we went with 11 sitting behind the ball and hoped for a lucky break.

It's not good enough and Sam should shoulder the responsibility. He is embarrassing himself with his deflection onto the players.

Moshiri needs to take action and make sure the new manager has a good pre-season with the players.

This season we are looking at over 60.

At least under Martinez there was a bit of entertainment value going forward and we at least “had a go” against the bigger teams.

These days we treat trips to Watford, West Brom and Brighton like we are visiting the Nou Camp or Bernabeu.

Robles (Gotta play some games)
Kenny Keane Funes Mori Baines
Coleman (Captain) Davies Baningime Garbutt
Walcott Tosun

Pick holes with that team Blues... can't be any worse than at present and I'm not getting paid £6 mill a year!

I was talking to a Watford fan and he couldn't believe that a club like Everton had come to Vicarage Road to seek a goalless draw. He was totally shocked. Such is the decline of the club.

The club will not go forward under this tenure. Absolutely no chance. This man is just picking fixtures to total up on points to safety. That's what he does. Limited ambition other than amassing enough points to be safe. Happy to lose certain games.

We will get to safety in some form or other; then, from the bottom up, there needs to a drastic reform of the operating structure. Besides the removal of Allardyce, there is no point in a Director of Football in Walsh. Despite Bill's love of the club, he should finish. He doesn't look well either.

Bring in a new Chief Operating Officer to totally oversee the finances of the club, handing down playing and recruitment responsibilities to a new manager. Dispense with the layers of assistants. They are not needed.

Co-opt the U23s manager into the first team set-up to ensure the two squads are linked. Any reserve team should be there for the benefit of the first team. That's basic football philosophy.

The new stadium is a completely separate matter and best handled by Moshiri. That's his new baby but keep him away from the playing side. He's a businessman – not a football man.

This radical change has been coming for a while now but now is the right time. The credibility of the club has never been lower.

I have watched the Club since 1958 and I have never ever seen any previous bunch of players with such a lack of everything that is required to make up a half decent football team.

Somehow or other we have the knack of acquiring players with a good reputation and reduce them to inept and absolute garbage. This must be the coaching and the tactics used by the so-called management.

Even the teams who narrowly escaped relegation put a decent effort and commitment into the game. If this lot worked in industry, they would be prosecuted for accepting money under false pretences.

I am in total and utter despair

Sums it up. No Plan B or response, just dire football & no intent to win unless we get lucky. Then literally make something up about imaginary chances. A bit like the "proper" football we've been served up since his arrival.

How anyone ever expected anything different when we appointed Allardyce is beyond me. He's made a career out of it so I for one didn't expect anything else; hence my dismay since day one.

March sorts things out. Burnley (A), Brighton (H), Stoke (A). He'll throw the away games and target Brighton. 37 points will be enough so he can be cut loose with his pay cheque.

Please.

Hughes sacked at Stoke; Pulis and Bruce now in the Championship; and Pardew rooted firmly to the bottom of the Premier League; Hodgson stuttering along together with Moyes, two steps forward then two steps back. Their time has been and gone. All of them.

Allardyce also proving that his time is also over in that kind of role. They've all made a fantastic living out of the game without achieving any tangible success. Clubs like Everton – or not like Everton even – should now look forward. The game has moved on and these guys are now history.

If you can catch him on camera saying or doing something he shouldn't, he may well take the blame then. Most probably he will say something along the lines of "It looks like me but it is not me – the cameras obviously weren't working properly and the people behind them must be at fault". What a fraud!

Kenwright & Moshiri – whatever you're on must be numbing you to our pain. You and the rest of the board are a disgrace for overseeing such a wretched season – I use the term overseeing loosely. It appears to me no-one is actually in overall charge as parts of the club appear to be working in a reality of their own.

Oh to be a club owned by the fans who actually care. I would not trust any of you to sit the right way on a toilet.

A truly pissed-off Blue.

He picked a team to defend, not attack against a struggling side. Why is Williams, who was 3 yards away from Deeney when he scored, still picked ahead of Holgate?

Rooney hasn't the legs for midfield, gives the ball away time after time, it's not working. He should be given 60 mins up front beside a target man, his only position, and not allowed past the halfway line. One man up top doesn't work.

Why isn't Klaassen given game time with the U23s, I'd prefer him or Baningime on the bench, ahead of Schneiderlin. Sam is too negative, and won't change from his bottom-of-the-table ways that he's used to.

We mostly crowded them out on every attack but this was not a defensive drill in training. This is a match where we have to commit to attacking for a group of travelling fans who have spent a lot of money coming down from the North West and written off their entire day and night to stand in the freezing cold.

Fire him now. Experiment for the remainder of the season. With our attacking players in the squad, if we go and attack, we will win more than we lose in the run in and not meekly surrender so many winnable points like this clown is doing.

You have no shame. You are a vile man who has landed a job that was way too big for you. From what I hear and read, it is down to your mate Walsh, another waste of time and money badgering Moshiri until he caved in.

I can't wait until the day comes when you get fucked right off but I fear, knowing our board and the history of incompetence of the highest level, you and your kind will be here next season.

When our owner spouted that utter shite in his interview when we first hired this useless piece of work, trust me I want to use other expletives to describe this man masquerading as a football manager. What was it he said, he has been following Sam all his career and how he had managed some great footballers, also what an amazing job he had done at Bolton some 20 or so years ago blah, blah, blah.

I hope I'm wrong but, if our owner comes out with such shite, it's not just having this vile man as manager, it is also having a complete novice of running a football club in charge of hiring and firing we need to worry about.

I don't believe he is Kenwright's puppet – otherwise Martinez would still be here or dour Davey would be back. So, unless he learns very fast, this will carry on. It's so depressing at the thought of it all for me, I just don't see an end it and I lost hope some time ago.

I love Everton Football Club so much, it hurts having to bear witness to this shambles. My love for the club, like for so many of us, will never die... in fact, it always grows. As for these people responsible for what has become of our club, I have nothing but contempt.

Can you all please just fuck off and let us fans enjoy our Everton once more.

Brighton; Mature English manager, universally admired, doing pretty well.

Did we interview either of them? Not so far as I know. Instead, we got the old, boring, cliche-ridden, crisis-cruncher, Sam.

Our last managers have been recruited from Palace, Soton, Wigan and Preston and the result has been one final and no trophies in 15 years.

So I don't want Hughton, Howe, Silva, Fonseca or anyone else. Hire a winner.

I want Roberto Clone.

We're not going anywhere in the foreseeable future until the stadium deal is done and we start raking in more money with a higher profile that the new stadium will give us. Any ascendency won't happen at Goodison.

While that's going on, I want an attack-minded young(ish) coach. I want to be entertained and look forward to watching us, not dreading the obligation of doing so.

I don't care if we drop 15 points a season blowing leads. Attack with abandon and play some stuff that's worthy of watching. Cue the pundits saying, "If only they could sort out the other side of the game and their defending, they'd be a contender for a top-four finish."

Fine. I don't care. Better to analyze that than have to sit on the weekend watching Sam stick bamboo shoots underneath my fingernails – which is basically what happens every weekend presently.

Since the results have stuttered, the tone of his utterances to the media has changed. It is increasingly about him. It is more about self-promotion, or should that be, self-preservation?

Like Martinez before him, he talks about events in an imagined parallel universe, an interpretation of the game, events, tactics, that simply did not happen.

With Martinez, that was driven by his innate positivity. With Allardyce, it is increasingly sounding like a man who is only too well aware he is under close scrutiny and with each underwhelming results and performance, he is edging ever closer to the exit, and so 'inflates' his contribution to the club since he arrived.

I fully expect him to make it to the end of the season. But Moshiri must surely be looking very, very closely at the viability of continuing with Sam Allardyce for another 12 months.

Our chance was Kings Dock and we know what happened there. Even if (that's 'if') this new stadium happens, it's going to be years too late. The Kenwright years have bled us dry. I now know how Man City fans ended up feeling about Peter Swales, and like Kenwright, their demise was all under him.

He is a fraud and has been all his career. His appointment says more about the malaise at our club than a thousand negative comments.

Out with Kenwright etc and try to tempt Monchi and Emre or David Dein and Wenger to bring about a blue revolution.

As it is we're paying hundreds of thousands a week for some players to stay at home watching the telly and for others to move round the pitch looking like they are auditioning for parts in the Walking Dead. The mere sight of Schneiderlin warming up was enough to encourage Watford to move forward and gratefully collect the 3 points on offer.

All the money has now gone and we have a 'manager' who sees the size of a signing on fee as enough to warrant a place in the team. All we can hope for now is a new man who can get the crap off the payroll asap and use our promising youngsters to best effect. Kenny, Holgate, Davies, Calvert-Lewin et al are having the link up/passing game they were used to in the U23s deliberately coached out of them in favour of Allardyce 'hoof and hope'. At least Lookman has escaped, but will we see him come back?

Watford would have crapped themselves facing his pace and willingness to (God forbid) actually take a shot on goal. A return to their natural game will produce an improvement and hopefully, we can dodge relegation next season. The steady decline and similarities to Villa, Leeds and Forest are frightening to contemplate.

And if you see Moshiri as the saviour of our club, you are deluded. He, much more than Kenwright, is the cause of the rot!

How he's gotten away with it for 20 years amazes me every time I drive past the Echo Arena. Anyone want to buy the old Runcorn Bridge?

He gets away with it because to some deluded idiots he'll always be Billy the Blue that saved us from the clutches of that nasty man, Peter Johnson.

In reality, the time Kenwright has been here, we have done zero to the stadium, whilst many other clubs have moved, built stands – some have actually built stands, knocked them down and moved stadium in that same timescale Bill Kenwright has been here.

We have never won a trophy (just one measly Final) in the Kenwright era.

Never reached the group stages of the Champions League.

Never won at Anfield in the Bill Kenwright era.

What a list to be truly proud of eh?

The club that successfully stands still and then takes steps only backwards.

Everton missed out on Mansour's riches – Kenwright

The rest, you don't want to know.

His choice of Moyes had much to do with it, of course, and there were many on here singing the showman's praises after the first Martinez season!

Of course, since he cashed in his chips to Moshiri, it's all gone 'tits up' and it will now take more than that final sale of shares to halt the slide into the abyss into which our so-called benefactor has taken us!

So what incentive is there for him to build a team? If he keeps it tight and nicks one in two more games, we should be safe so there is no way he will set us up to attack away from home.

He will not trust the youngsters because he won't be around to benefit from their development. He just needs to avoid the drop and he will then be around to “rescue” another team that is in trouble next season. The players will know this and are unlikely to play their hearts out for him when he blames them for everything that goes wrong.

I don't subscribe to the clamour for a high-profile foreign coach – they are as likely as Klaassen and Ramirez to struggle in their first season. We need a hungry young manager who knows the Premier League and one who can manage without the disaster called Walsh hanging over him.

We need to base the squad/ team around youth. The young lads are pretty much the only ones to show desire, heart and fight and the absence of any of that yesterday was the most worrying and disgraceful aspect for me.

Who to replace Sam? I would look very closely at Arteta to see if he is ready, supported by his big mate and avid Evertonian Tim Cahill. Some fresh young ideas, young manager working with young players – shades of 1983-84 with Howard Kendall. It might not work but better than a foreigner who will buy mediocre foreign players who won't adapt.

Maybe it's because they built a successful dynasty at Arsenal and, if that's old hat, give me some anytime in preference to what we've been doing for the past 20 years.

I stayed away from everything to do with Everton this weekend, and then I just started reading Kevin's link. Never thought I'd be bored of football, and especially my team, but it's lifeless, it's soulless, and it just doesn't represent the club I love at the moment, which is a major concern in itself.

The only tonic is watching Man City, because they have been in a much darker place than we are, even during my adult life, so the secret is always to believe, which is very difficult when you read what our chairman said in the opening paragraphs to that link.

A trophy asset? A fucking trophy asset? I know it's all contradiction, but thank fuck some Evertonian has done alright out of a trophy asset.

Allardyce was happy at 0-0 and was just about to bring Schneiderlin on when they scored. A criminal lack of ambition against a very poor Watford side. Apart from the first few minutes we failed to put them under any sustained pressure, and, for much of the game, their goalkeeper was virtually unemployed.

Much of this is down to the way Allardyce sets the side up but the team is packed with experienced international players who have now failed to perform for three managers.

The club needs a radical clear out, in the summer, starting with the guy who signed much of the dross we currently see lumbering around the pitch.

Finally, I need to have a long, hard, look at myself. I drove over from France to watch the rubbish served up, yesterday. Total knob!

More likely, Sam and his crew will 'get the tintack' come May and Walsh will be out with them. Then Moyes will walk out on the Hammers and return here as 'the man to turn it round'. But he won't!

Kevin, it's easy to give some credit to Kenwright when you are only comparing him to the likes of the Venkys and the mobs that took over Pompey and Coventry!

If true, then I'd say it's pretty clear that our issues (or some of them) are in chance creation rather than conversion. It's also pretty clear that those saying we are playing poor football are not talking ‘rubbish'.

That would be from the Echo. At least they’re not giving him a pass.

“Everton have had the fewest shots of any side in the Premier League during Allardyce’s time in charge, while also creating the fewest chances from open play. The Toffees have actually faced the second most shots during that time - all damning statistics.”

Phil Walling's point about selecting the right manager is right on the money. That's the decision every owner has to get right.

The thing to remember is that it took Man City, Liverpool and Spurs a few goes to get it right and that Chelsea change manager every season. And that Leeds went bust because they bet the house on a 'bright young manager' that couldn't cut it.

We're all upset because this regime has done something the last one wouldn't do. This regime has tried, it has picked a manager, given him money and it's gone wrong. Like many on here, it panicked and went for the saviour we didn't need. It will try again, like Man City, Spurs and Liverpool until we get the right one.

So don't give me this apocalyptic nonsense of going to an abyss, don't give me this sentimental nonsense of 'let's get a Blue in' (Arteta & Cahill? – give me strength!). Let's dust down our disappointment at not being the first new money club to pick the right manager first time and go with the ride.

When you actually try and succeed, you sometimes fail. I'd rather do this than plough the safe, stale 'security' of Moyes's latter years.

Moshiri deserves plenty of flak for this season. The big issue is whether he learns from the last season's mistakes.

Having been a supporter for over 50 years, I cannot believe that we have fallen so far from grace. A point against a very poor Watford team would have been hard to take but a loss is just too much for most of us take.

What makes the team even more galling for me is the fact that a lot of them earn more in a week than a lot of the supporters bring home in a year! No heart, no passion and no skill.

Other than Walcott and Pickford, the rest of the signings, in reality, have not been good enough and are really a waste of money. Given how poor these signings have been, it probably would have been better to try all of the youngsters that won the U23 Premier League 2 under Unsworth. They couldn't have done any worse and we must not forget that the great Man Utd team of to 90s that Ferguson put together was based on a team of youngsters that gelled together.

Maybe I am dreaming but yesterday's display leaves no other option because I have never seen such a poor Everton team in my lifetime and I lived through the Walker era.

I didn't say appoint Arteta but to look closely to see if he is ready. He has been learning from Pep and seems a very bright young man to me. Often it is the first couple of jobs which will see success for a manager. After that their careers tend to stagnate or slide, perhaps because the hunger and drive have been eroded by either success or a fat wallet.

The main concern for me since Roberto's first season has been the disappearance of fight and effort, pride of playing for the club and I don't see a foreign guy who knows little about us instilling that into the squad.

For me, the best way forward is to find the bright young manager who will drive us forward using the sheer force of his own ambition and IF we can find one who knows and feels for the club then even better. If however Arteta is not or never will be ready then find one who is.

Oh, and I wouldn't be throwing shedloads of money at the next guy – Spurs have managed to build a great squad without spending a fortune and after pretty much wasting £80m from the Bale money. We need careful thought to plan our next team not more of the spending for the sake of it that we have seen which has given us a large squad most of whom don't seem to care about the guys posting above who travelled from France or the 400-mile round trip from Merseyside. Build around the youngsters but give them good, physically robust pros around them.

Sentimental claptrap? It may well be, Paul, but it sounds a lot better to me than some foreign guy who knows nothing about the club or the Premier League. We'll see in a few months time!

Big Sam was probably delighted with this defensive "master class" for 75 minutes and then they scored and there was no Plan B.

It was clear to me that following the first half we should stop conceding territory and stretch them further up the pitch if we wanted to get a goal and stop them having the ball in our half all the time. His substitutions were embarrassingly desperate to attempt to make up for the failure of Plan A. Unsurprisingly Watford just played keep ball and dug in for 3 minutes on their left wing in our half.

I didn't want him in charge, my opinion hasn't changed. He's done little to improve our lot. Please Everton, fire him.

The restructuring in the football club must begin regardless, I'm close to writing off next season already.

Maybe we should be thinking more like the European clubs and get new coaches in every two or three years with fresh ideas. After all, we all get stale and the players seem to have short attention spans these days.

Longevity is no longer a sure sign of ambition but more often a sign of fear, in case things might get worse with change. Most players may well sign four-year deals, but few of them see them out.

And Dave Williams, if you want a young manager with ambition, look no further than Eddie Howe. He has actually managed in this league. His team plays with plenty of spirit, punches above it's weight and generally plays on the front foot. Surely a better punt than Arteta.

Plus he used to play with Jagielka, Baines, Coleman and Walcott.

It would be left field... but I can actually see Kenwright shaking hands with Mikel whilst tearful at a news conference...

I'm all for a bright young manager taking us forward by his sheer will and drive. I couldn't give a Donald whether he's a Blue or not. To me, it's more important that he's competent, he can communicate his ideas, and is desperate to be successful. With a couple of additions, such a manager could do something with this squad. I agree there's no need to throw more big money around.

Look at the managers in the positions we aspire to. Little or no Premier League experience, foreign managers with no sentimental ties to their clubs. They're just bloody good. That's what we need and what matters most.

We will see in the summer and I predict a foreign coach that will have us hoping!

Fuck me. Legends night on a permanent loop here we come again. What's wrong with you all?

Unsworth is unproven and needs to go out and prove himself to be ready (despite winning half the Premier League games he's managed and the U23s league with a fraction of Man City's resources).

Arteta is unproven, never managed but would be considered?

Seems a strange ‘grass is greener' contradiction to me.

Let's face it, if assistants working under good managers were actually cut out for roles, Brian Kidd, Mike Phelan and Paul Clements would be world beaters as managers.

The second poll was the poll of shame, when I think it was 50/50 when desperation had set in.

The third and final poll needs wheeling out, I think it would be 99% in favour of removing him now or very soon.

It's delusional to suppose that folk like Unsworth, Arteta and the rest have, on the back of having never come close to actually winning anything with us, some uniquely special insight that would serve to outweigh the real, proven, hard-nosed sort of manager who's got a track record of winning trophies, the type of manager we and every other club who aspire to qualifying for the Champions League need.

I mean, there's no club in the current top five who've had a manager or staff "from within" for many years, but what's evidence got to do with it, according to some of our dreamers?

Unsworth – “never come close to actually winning anything with us.”

I don't even know why I'm disappointed at the way we play. It was all I expected when he was named as Manager, as did most of you, I know. So let's be positive that the more negative we set up and play, the closer it takes us to SSD – Sack Sam Day.

THE key appointment needed for Everton FC at this time, with the money pouring into the club from the mega-TV deals and the ambitions of Moshiri (if sincere) is the right manager.

Who that is, I have absolutely no idea, because – as with player purchases – you have no guarantees, none at all, how it will pan out, as our recent appointments have shown.

Kenwright's model of retaining the likes of David Moyes for 11 years just to tread water, at best, won't cut it any more.

Moshiri appears to be following a more ruthless 'big time' model in that, in the first 18 months of his tenure, he had a turnover of 4 different managers, with a 5th likely to be added in the summer.

As Paul points out, Man City with their new-found wealth went through Sven Goran Eriksson, Mark Hughes, Roberto Mancini, Manuel Pelligrini until final landing their prime target, Pep Guardiola.

Spurs have seen Martin Jol, that Ramos fellah, Harry Redknapp, Andre Villas-Boas, Tim Sherwood and now Pochettinio. Both examples are a mix of try, fail, refresh, upgrade.

Moshiri is, as Paul points out, less forgiving of his managers than was the case on Kenwright's watch. That it hasn't worked out yet is not for the want of trying.

Undoubtedly, Moshiri has been very naive in some aspects since he joined Everton. Given his corporate accountancy and business background, I am sure he will act to protect his investment.

This season has long gone from Everton. It's a write-off. The next few months will inform us how serious Moshiri is about Everton or not.

Because as well as landing our own 'Pochettinio' to inspire the players and the fans, we need a root and branch pruning of pretty much every aspect of the 'behind the scene' operations at the club.

The game demonstrated Rooney is not quick enough or fit enough to play in central midfield, Sigurdsson is a one-paced passenger for the majority of the time, Niasse lacks the quality to be a first choice striker and Davies is currently lost in the midfield mediocrity which surrounds him.

The manager can ring the changes next week but will be criticised for doing so if, as seems likely, we maintain our appalling away form of the past 17 months and fail to win. Apart from Seamus, who will be straight back in as soon as he is fit, there is nobody in the squad who has made a compelling case for inclusion in the team.

Attaching all the blame to the manager is the easy option. He is far from blameless for some of the performances we have seen since Christmas but our problems are longer term and more deep-rooted than many seem prepared to acknowledge. We have a very poor squad. Managers are not magicians and even Pep Guardiola would fail to deliver with this group of players. As for clearing them out in the summer, I say good luck with that one.

Not to decry the achievement but even at the time it was very much a one-off on any bookie's account against a team bereft through injury of Cantona, Kanchelskis and Andy Cole, the erstwhile direct opponents of Unsy in our defence, who the previous season had done the double and who had also won a major trophy for the previous six seasons, unlike us, ever. That's why I now have zero faith as potential managers in untried ex-players who "Get us".

Just my opinion though.

Genuinely, all the best.

True, It's been evident in many games this season. Rooney is not a midfielder. He, as you say, is not fit enough or quick enough.

He was in his prime 7-10 years ago in a different position.And should be used from the bench, in attack. It is sad and embarrassing to see him struggle in midfield and I don't think the situation will improve as he ages.

The only English manager I like is Dyche. As for those overseas, I don't know enough to have a view, but Silva and Fonseca look obvious candidates.

Let's stop this fairy story of a manager joining and staying for years. There is little longevity in management these days. Moyes was here three years too long, you could lengthen that for Wenger. Like most players, managers want success and when they get a sniff, they'll move elsewhere for more of it. Mercenaries? More like normal these days.

When we get a manager that entertains us and wins things, we won't be asking if he gets the club. We'll be getting him.

Revie was reported as saying, 'if the other team don't score we can't lose'. Other teams adopted that style and crowd numbers plummeted with boring nil-nil draws becoming the norm.

During that period, I won the jackpot on Littlewoods pools but there were so many draws the pay out was £5/13s/-.

Trying to reverse that trend, the FA made a win worth 3 points. Previously it was worth 2 points. Where Revie differed from Sam was the Don had two first-class strikers and used them both.

Firstly, just about every player in the squad lacks confidence, and secondly, the balance in the type of players that we have in the squad is wrong.

There has been a definite lack of pace for sure. Even though many of the players in the squad may be good technically, we lack that dynamism and creativity that wins games.

We need to ship a few of the "duplicates" out and bring in something different, with the qualities that we presently lack.

Now, he is blaming the players for not executing the game plan. He has a point, but the squad still needs to find confidence from somewhere or someone. Step up, Sam!