Leicester City vs Everton

I wonder if Brands will eye up a new striker in January? Not the easiest time to find a reliable goalscorer.

I believe 3 points against Leicester will be the only saving grace for Silvas fiasco of midweek.

I suspect the team you have quoted will be the starting 11; however, it would be extremely interesting to see Bernard playing in Sigurdsson's role with him dropping back to play alongside Gueye at the expense of Tom Davies.

I still can't believe Silvas thought process for the Southampton game after everything he previously said.

I think we'll lose this one two-nil.

Tough place to get a result. It'll be a close game, but Vardy will be too good for our defence...

It's high time we won back to back games in the league as that's the only way you can really build momentum and the only way they can repay us for Tuesday night is by winning. Yes, it's a difficult fixture but it falls into the “can win” bracket —especially if we are a serious club with serious ambitions.

Come on, Everton — get yourselves sorted and start producing something to make us sit up.

Bernard must be in the team and would be superb at No 10 but you can't drop Sigurdsson so Richarlison as the striker and Bernard on the flank.

Sam – I think we lack a "fox in the box" type player, someone to get on the end of flick-ons. I would love to see someone like Wissan Ben Yedder next summer at Everton.

The player we could/should have got was maybe Arnoutivic, I remember thinking I'd prefer him to Bolasie when we bought him; he'd be useful now but doubt we'd get him from West Ham and he's too old for the Brands model anyway.

The optimists will again claim it's 'early doors' and any criticism of the regime is premature. Okay, kid yourselves if you must!

Last summer I would have just thrown absolutely shit loads of money on Vardy and Arnautovic.

Now I'm not arsed about all these people that bleat on about resale values, I'm more interested in the value to this team right now and for me Vardy would have been absolutely perfect for us and the fans would have loved him here; we need a figure like that up front that is full of desire, passion and scores goals.

But that ship has sailed and we are tracking too many of these unknowns from weaker leagues abroad these days; very rarely have we poached a striker from overseas and have they been much good.

Except there may not be that manager out there. And even if there is will they want to come to a club known for turning against and sacking their manager after 2 months? And in the meantime what damage is being done to our players, squad, finances, stability, morale etc?

No manager is immune from criticism. But any new manager deserves some time to build a squad and system, and the backing of the fans while that happens. If we are in the relegation zone at Christmas then, by all means, let's talk about other options but till then let's try and back the man and get behind the team. Neither the optimists nor the pessimists know how things will turn out but if we can't be hopeful at the start then what's the point really?

With this match, I would like to see Richarlison running at Wes Morgan and Harry Maguire through the middle, Bernard left and Walcott right. Tosun and Lookman to come on if required.

You make a great point about creating space. For me, Tosun does not do enough of that as his off-the-ball movement is not great (plus he lacks pace).

Calvert-Lewin has this but I think Richarlison even more so. Meanwhile, Bernard is likely to draw defenders to him too - allowing runners from deep like Sigurdsson to benefit.

I really hope to see the trio of Bernie, Richie and Theo. If nothing else, they sound like a boy band.

But then what's the alternative?

Calvert-Lewin being anonymous... or Niasse?

It takes on a bit more importance because of the 2 weeks break. A win and we can look upwards and look to push on towards the top 6 with another win against Palace.

After the Carabao Cup disappointment, a loss will be met with derision from more than a few. I am still more than happy to give the regime plenty of time and retain confidence that things are moving in the right direction.

Jim, as for Tosun, Calvert-Lewin or Niasse, I would have the in that order, but Calvert-Lewin's physicality may make him more of a nuisance than Tosun.

Considering we are not in European competition / top four, Silva's first transfer window has improved the squad, moreso than the last two managers, so I am bemused that some are criticising the manager. As I said in my last post, Get Real!

The biggest problem is that Silva, like Allardyce before him, just doesn't get Everton.

I would love Mr Brands to go and break the bank for Lanzano. Just a special player that would turn us into a force again.

Hopefully Mina will be fit soon and bring some fight back to our back line.

Will someone also go and find Derek Mountfield and Pat van den Hawue to teach our squad how to fight – we have no snarl and fear.

Especially with his woeful penalty too.

Needs to stop trying to be too clever and stop the diving and holding body parts after he's won the free kick.

You've got the free kick, get up and get on with it.

I fear that due to his first 2 games, we are going to be expecting too much from the young lad, which isn't going to happen this season.

[Crosses fingers and prays that he is proven wrong here.]

Maddison who was linked with us has started the season really well, a shame we missed out on him. Leicester have lots of pace and movement up front which I think we will struggle to contain as our central defense and midfielders are too slow.

I'd love an away win, but Leicester are a good team and I don't think we will beat them. I'd take a draw along with a good performance.

Oh, hang on...

Personally, I'd like to see Bernard given a chance from the start on the wide left, with Richarilson as central attacker. Sooner or later, that will be our line up, so may as well make it sooner rather than later.

Lookman on the bench and to be given a chance also, should Walcott not perform or Bernard tire.

In 2017 we'd played Man City, Chelsea, Spurs and Man Utd. Arsenal were the 9th game, after which Koeman was sacked. This year we've only played Arsenal out of that list.

The optimist in me says that there are signs that we are a better team playing a better style of football. There are some definitely winnable matches at Goodison coming up: Palace, Cardiff, Newcastle. The pessimist in me sees a team who concede goals too easily and cannot score goals. The West Ham and Huddersfield home games looked winnable and we never turned up.

I still don't see the qualities in our manager that people were quoting over the summer: the tactical acumen, the ability to change a game, the meticulous preparation, the team selection based on form and not reputation. I desperately want Silva to succeed and get us enjoying the games again but it just seems another false dawn thus far. I hope I'm wrong. 3 points tomorrow would go some way to me believing again.

Richarlison will be able to nothing he is good at in a central position. He will be stationary instead of mobile. He'll get the ball back to goal instead of to feet and running. Also, he won't be used to the constant digs in his back from big Wes Morgan in aerial duels. Why reduce Richarlisons effectiveness? It's insane.

He plays up top anyway. Albeit slightly to the left. Look at his heat maps, he's never on the touch line and is often in the box. Tell me what you would hope to gain by him being central? He's far more of a goal threat where he plays normally. I'd go with Calvert-Lewin for the reasons stated above.

As for dropping Sigurdsson back, why? Leicester play 2 defensive midfielders. Why not get two attacking midfielders onto them, and have gueye stick to Maddison like glue? Sigurdsson and Bernard both track back and so this could be an option. If not Bernard then get Davies further up alongside Sigurdsson really pushing them back.

Stop their central trio and Leicester become a very beatable side. However, let Maddison get on the ball and he can cause problems with his clever passing and shooting.

Why can't you drop Sigurrdson Apart from one half against Fulham he's once again failed to find any consistency whosoever this season I'm sick of hearing the excuses wheeled out for this player. Oh played out wide. No good. Not getting used as a No 10 properly. No decent striker to read his game etc etc.

The truth is he's a very ordinary one-paced player who now and then pops up with a goal. Not good enough in my opinion, and here's one who'd bench him in favour of Bernard tomorrow. He won't though... and the little Brazillian will once again be the player who's benched.

I can't see nothing but a home win, if I'm honest.

I like Leicester, they have got a little garden outside the stadium, that pays it respects to people like Bernard, amongst others, and now you have mentioned him, I will hopefully go and pay my own respect tomorrow.

On the game, and also for the long-term, I just hope that Silva learns from the other night – and I'm not even talking about the starting eleven here; I'm thinking about his in-game management, which has left me a little bit concerned.

Anyway, I'm delighted to be back on the road tomorrow, with my biggest wish being that Silva's team make me want to start travelling regularly again.

Anything less than a win will not be acceptable either; and most likely the only chance of any points between now and the Xmas run-in.

I also saw him outjump the Southampton centre-back, like a No 9, and nod in from a cross, so it is not as if getting into positions like a centre-forward does is alien to him.

So yeah, I think it is worth a try. He can't be a worse option than Tosun, Niasse or Calvert-Lewin, that's for sure.

As for losing his effectiveness down the left side, Bernard is not exactly a bad replacement. In fact, I wager Bernard will link up better with Digne than Richarlison would (perhaps our new Bainaar combo –— can we call them Dignard??)

Leicester away is a tough game. Let’s get behind the team and hope to come away with the 3 points. A draw wouldn’t be a bad result. To expect 3 points tomorrow, or to say that anything less is unacceptable, is just bonkers.

When did Everton fans get so fickle? Some people are already writing off our away results until the end of the year. Let’s get behind the team FFS, and see where it takes us.

For example, this week, Silva was told to give the impression that a strong team would be fielded in the League Cup. Whereas, the reality was that a weak team was put out as the Owners decreed that the League Cup was of no consequence.

In the short term, the club is doomed until Kenwright is gone for good.

The victories away from home came against:

Aston Villa
Palace
Huddersfield
Leicester
Newcastle
Stoke (twice)
Sunderland
West Brom

In six of those victories, Everton kept a clean sheet and a single goal was conceded in the other three.

At Goodison Park, Everton have achieved 28 home wins from 50 matches with 13 of the wins obtained with the Blues having kept a clean sheet and most of the rest having conceded just a single goal. Ten draws and twelve defeats were recorded in those last 50 home matches.

Away 18% win rate, 34% of obtaining a point and a loss rate 48%

At Goodison 56% win rate, 20% of obtaining a point and a loss rate of 24%

Overall this give Everton a 37% win rate, 27% chance of drawing and a loss rate of 36% overall.

Yes, Leicester are a good side... but we also have players to hurt them. I'm going for a 2-1 win for us.

There were some good early signs but the suspension of Richarlison, injuries to Seamus and the continued absence of the new boys Mena and Gomes have left us with sour tastes up to this point.

The midfield is the problem area with very little creativity or scoring support barring the brace from Sigurdsson last weekend. Gana and Davies work very hard but as a tightly knit unit they are sorely lacking in that area with the back line being continually exposed far too easily.

Certainly more signings are required especially support for Richarlison who is going to be kicked every week. The other strikers just don't cut it for me, even Walcott who doesn't get involved enough.

There are likely to be more disappointments to come until Silva can upgrade in January. I am sure he now realizes that the squad he has at the moment won't challenge the top six.

The guy has barely taken his coat off, FFS! Two of our new signings have yet to play and we were diabolical last season under Fat Sam. It has not been perfect but many supporters who had suffered under Fat Sam where willing to accept 8th to 10th place with maybe a run in the cup as long as some good football was being played. Anybody else was being, in my opinion, unrealistic.

So we are still on course for the above. Some of our new signings have looked really good and the team are making an effort — something lacking for most of last season,

I will wait until Xmas and see but we are on course to get 8th and we are playing a bit of football with some exciting players now in the squad (Digne, Bernard, Richarlison)

Sit our best player? "Reality check"? Because he shanked a pen? Yowza. No thanks.

Richarlison is our most dangerous goalscoring threat by far, he works relentlessly at both ends of the pitch, he's shown nothing but great attitude, and his linkup work with Digne has been stellar. Second name on the team sheet (after Pickford) every game for me.

As for how to shoehorn Bernard into the lineup, the answer for me is obvious, and it's not Richarlison at #9. Drop Sigurdsson back next to Gana. He does fine defensive work anyway – 8 blocked shots and 10 interceptions this season, more than Davies and Schneiderlin combined – and his passing is vastly superior to either of them. With Bernard ahead of Siggy we'd have some much better attacking options. And Bernard can get into the box and finish.

Calvert-Lewin is a handful, even if he lacks a goal-scorer's instinct, and him being on the pitch will create more for Walcott and Richarlison than Tosun will.

Fat Sam can't be blamed for everything but he can be blamed for his own failings, including 1 shot in a run of 5 matches last season???? Shocking. The thought of him in the dugout this season would have been heartbreaking, so things have improved

We are trying to play some football under Silva as opposed to deliberately not playing football under Fat Sam. We are not going to win anything but at least we attempt to entertain. We are doing that or at least trying. Fat Sam is what he is (1 shot in 5 games and hey, we didn't lose! My job is done etc etc). It's not sport for me.

My wife's big bad and very athletic Doberman Pinscher worries the rabbits in the yard, but she never catches any.

Because of all this, we are constantly told to be patient as Silva hasn't got 'his own' side in place as yet. Wake me up at Xmas somebody. Or is that going to be too soon?

If he was playing centre-forward for us this season, he would have 10 already.

Rather Calvert-Lewin than Tepid Tosun.

Pickford
Kenny Keane Zouma Digne
Sigurdsson Gana Bernard
Walcott Richarlison Lookman

When Rom said he was '99% certain' he was going to stay at Everton, I was made up. On his day he is, for all his faults, a class finisher. But I think we all knew that his bloody father and the likes of Pogba would still be whispering in his ear (worked out well for Pogba, hasn't it?).

I do wonder if Rom now regrets the move. I hope he does - the grass is always greener and all that. But I for one would have him back if there was a chance.

Dave, yeah, it's not much of a choice, is it? But Cenk at least showed last season that he's capable of a brief purple patch. DCL's best has been light puce. Bit of mauve maybe.

Even then, but looking back, Rom's agent Raiola was talking to Man Utd's (continuing) incompetent Woodward.

Regarding Luka's future, the "99%" thing was aimed at Man Utd, not Everton.

It sits as it is now for Romelu. With Man Utd supporters he's Fellaini II. Just a player from a lower-level Club, Everton.

This against what we see with our eyes. The both were better players at Everton.

Time for others to stand up and be counted.

As for the match itself, it'll be a good test. The results haven't reflected it (yet), but there's been a marked improvement in our away performances this season.

Lukaku's career path is heading to a parallel with Fellaini's. His best years, including being loved by supporters mind, will wind up being at Everton, too.

Sigurdsson should drop back into Tom Davies's spot next to Gueye and Bernard should take the Number 10 spot.

In my opinion, Bernard is the midfield maestro that we have needed since Arteta left. He is a top, top footballer.

As an example of what I am talking about, have a look at the pass he made from midfield to Lookman on Tuesday night. The goalie saved Lookman's effort well but being able to see that pass and executing it was a sublime piece of skill.

As far as the striker spot is concerned, I am sticking with Tosun – he will come good, but if you only want to disrupt Morgan and Maguire – well, we have the best disrupter in the business.

Silva has now got footballers at his disposal. He said his preferred formation is 4-3-3. If so, this should be his starting line-up:

Pickford
Kenny, Kean, Zouma, Digne
Gueye, Bernard, Sigurdsson
Walcott, Tosun, Richarlison.

Others have argued it's simply not his (Siggi's) game (despite his defensive endeavour), that diagonal exchanges and channel-piercing balls are not his gig, and (the one I've heard the most) that he'd drift forward into his preferred area of the pitch. I for one don't doubt he'd have greater discipline to do a job deeper but don't think he'd excel or feel satiated.

Silva's first job was “damage limitation”; his next will be “get better”. It's easy to forget just how bad we were at [last] season's end.

Honestly, I can't see us getting anything out of this game. If Fulham where any good in front of goal last week they would have been out of sight by half-time.

We cannot keep playing half games, who was it who said... It's a game of two halves?

Leicester are a much better team than some give them credit for and will cause us untold problems on the break.

He was too quick for Tosun, but as much as I’ve criticised the Turk, for the other nights performance, I think this bit of play would have been too quick for most players in the whole of THE EPL?

I hope he plays Bernard, and the managers logic is not that he can’t move Sigurdson back because he scored two goals last week.

I thought Sigurdson was poor until he missed his penalty last week, and then with a point to prove, or with his head on the block, he really upped his game. Hopefully he learned something important, because he’s now calling for “greater intensity” off everyone, which is definitely what this modern game of football is all about now.

Play with intensity and get your reward please Everton!

Ps I read last night that the greatest of ToffeeWeb legends George McKane, has got to miss a few games because of an illness, and I just want to say that I hope you are gonna be okay George mate, and Everton can give you a little boost today.

I have enjoyed watching our away games this season much more than last term, but the performances need to be turned into points.

Tony#86, have a good trip today.

The shambles of last year can not be changed overnight. The low point of watching us at home against West Brom was the lowest point of watching football in my life.

We are only 7 games into a new season and have added two Brazilian internationals (One of which - Bernard - I believe will be one of the premier leagues best ever purchases), two France internationals, a Portuguese international and Colombia's best player at the most recent world cup.

We are in a period where some patience is required. Whilst for me the result against Huddersfield was unacceptable as they are the worst premier league side I have witnessed, the others I can just about cope with.

We desperately need to get behind the team and realise that we will not suddenly turn into a top 4 side overnight. We are however heading in the right direction.

If we had suffered these same results in 12 months time then I would agree wholeheartedly that it is unacceptable etc...But we are 7 matches into his tenure. The 8th we finished last year was for me a false position really as we were a much worse footballing team that the finishing position suggests.

Of course I would love us to win every game and suddenly turn into world beaters but that's unrealistic. What I do expect is now we are moving on, we compete against the sky darlings and gain some momentum and points from these fixtures. Oh to stick a couple of defeats down the throats of these darlings would be amazing. Things are changing at Goodison. Not as quick as we all would like but they are changing, we need to change with it and cheer our team with everything we have got and banish this insane constant negativity.

I predict a 3-1 victory for the blues today and a Bernard brace.

It’s obviously better playing in it than watching in it, but I hope the sun comes shining through for Michael Keane today, because if he comes through this test, (vardy’s pace & running in behind) then this could be the key for an Everton victory?

At least everyone is well rested for the slog to 40pts!

Have a great day and a cosmic wave to our mate George.

Up the Blues!

Pickford
Kenny Keane Zouma Digne
Gueye Davies
Walcott Sigurdsson Richarlison
Tosun

Stekelenburg, Holgate, Baines, Schneiderlin, Bernard, Lookman, Calvert-Lewin

Bernard & Lookman on with enough time to make an impact. Probably Schneiderlin on for Davies too.

Lookman 🔄 Walcott
Bernard 🔄 Tosun
Schneiderlin 🔄 Davies

Richarlison to move up top for the last 30 odd minutes.

Why? His strength lies in his power and his ability to come from out to in using both feet.

All he would do playing centre forward is run from in to out, vacating the space and leaving us with nothing up front.

We are playing against to physical yet cumbersome centre halves they love a battle. They both hate pace, Walcott is the guy they won’t handle. Will Silva play him there? No chance.

I think as we are set up to be better away than at home it’s worth taking a chance on Bernard at 10 and Sigurdsson with Gana, Lookman wide right, Tosun benched.

Pickford, Kenny, Keane, Zouma, Digne

Gana, Sigurdsson

Lookman, Bernard, Richarlison

Walcott

I’ll be stunned if we win.

I do however deplore the ''I'll be stunned if we win'' comment ! Come on get behind them !

My heads saying we are up against it today, we are clear second favs and a draw would be a good performance in my eyes.

The evidence points to a defeat, 6/7 wins on the road in the best part of 2 and bit seasons someone said.

Leicester a very decent side. Their midfield should destroy ours if Silva picks his previous league line up.

The midfield needs reimagining the current combinations are not even midtable strength. He needs to be radical because you cannot live on the counter attack forever.

Kenny. Zouma. Keane. Digne

Gana

Bernard. Gilfi

Walcott. Tosun. Richarlson

I like that team too, If Tosun or Calvert-Lewin are not coming up to the mark we should consider something different.

With that team there’s is pace and creativity all over the place. It may get out-battled but with a resolute defence could still score more than the opposition.