Ancelotti not ruling out incoming transfers

Dear Santa, turn around. We need a proven, confident goal-scorer and a solid centre-back.

Imagine my surprise.

Obviously any name would come as surprise if Carlo’s not bluffing.

Well, if the papers can talk utter shit, then why can't i? Well said Carlo, never believe a word these useless rags say.

I think he really wanted Ibrahamivic, he would have been great to bully some defenders and a focal point of attack for forward runners.

I'm expecting a striker in that mould and also a creative midfielder to run the show. Possibly on loan.

Where would we play him? Seems to me that we would have to adopt a 441 formation like so:

Pickford
Coleman Mina Holgate Digne
Bernard Davies Gomes Richarlison
Calvert-Lewin

Then just let James stroll wherever he wanted to trying to effect the game. Best forgetting about him defensively, he ever puts a shift in. And the sublime attacking skill evident 5 years ago seems to have diminished somewhat, making accommodating him less enticing to the clubs that have employed him.

I hope we swerve him.

Hopefully after Sunday’s crap and gutless display, any new signings - permanent or loans, will be planned and will be the right player(s), for the position(s).

In the past we buy players and often play them out of position.
Maybe a reason why so many of our players loose form, so often.

Tomorrow a new dawn, fresh hope, Carlos Way.

Buffon
Panucci-Baresi-Cannavaro-Maldini

Now that is how to be greedy... ;/)

Really???

No. Just no.

If there's a thousand-to-one chance (and I figure those are the odds), bring him in. That level of excitement would blow the lights off the Goodison rooftops.

I have not taken into account the merits of having him, other than Ancelotti has had him out on loan before, he is probably available on loan and that it would suit Brands policy of not panic buying in January.

Add too that Everton are at rock bottom in midfield and any change in pace and technical improvement, may improve things.

Rodriguez has been touted in the media, and Ancelotti has said media reports are wrong.

Link

In yesterday's presser, in talking about not being tied to one system but adapting to the players he has, Carlo specifically mentioned as an example that in DCL and Richarlison we have two good headers of the ball in attack.

As such, Carlo went on to say, a good tactic to employ would be to get more crosses into the box. Everton Santos delivers that.

Cebolinha is tricky, quick, unselfish, has an excellent delivery and can score goals himself. 15 goals from a wide player in a middling team is a decent return.

Bums would definitely not be stuck to seats if Everton pulls on a blue shirt for Everton.

Is pointless, no one would allow one of their best players to go, and those who do, you have to be very suspicious as to why are they offloading them.
We have to improve/coach what we have and let go the dross that cost us a fortune first.

We just let Tosun go and most here wanted him gone. The most likely kind of player we will we will get in January - someone not wanted for reasons.

Mitrovic is a good shout I agree, he’s better than the Championship, I’d also like to see a move made for Danny Ings, he’s a classic goal poachers but his movement is very intelligent also.

Not worth going out buying more “supposed to be’s“ from Europe but never make it.

We need a classy creative midfielder also.

Basically we need more goals full stop, if we are to ever challenge that top four then we have to ask ourselves if the players we have offer enough going forward?

I don’t think they do, maybe Ings won’t either but I do believe he’s a striker that could play higher up the league, he’s improved since his days across the park.

Bowen is a fair shout; he gets so many goals for a winger. Kalvin Phillips is very good buts there’s little to no chance that Leeds let him go in January. One player I’d be looking at is Ebe Eze at QPR; young, dynamic and statistically one of the best players in the league. I expect him to be in the PL next season one way or another.

And that magnitude of self-inflicted "new one" doesn't heal quick, not even in football. It needs plenty of time and absolutely no further rodgerings if there's to be even a faint hope of recovery, eventually.

So, together with ever-suffering Toffee fans, I just hope CA has the ambition to allow at least a year to pass before getting pissed off with sitting still, as Moshiri now has to unless he, at last (and financially CA is his "last") shows himself to be some sort of football/financial magician.

I wish,,,,,,,,,,,, given the crowd Moshiri employs around himself.

Keep the powder dry and leave the buying until the summer.

Ancelotti has said that he moulds his tactics to suit the players available, and I reckon that's what he intends to do until the summer. We look pretty safe now in terms of relegation, in fact I reckon Carlo should be able to get us 8th at least with the current squad, so no point in panic buys.

You have your first choice midfield resuming training last week and this. Sure, neither can return to action this month, even next month is unrealistic for Gomes. If you wait until the end of the window though, things will become clearer with both. Can they both make a full recovery? Surely our Quacks will be able to give a definitive opinion by then.

So if the Quacktor tells you Gbamin is back early March, Gomes early April and both will be good as new, would you then blow a substantial amount on a new central midfielder, the department where we have the biggest issues?

Imagine, we can sign a superstar, a Kante type player, for £50m. Now this is a deal that would be staggered over 5 years, £10m a season, so we can get around FFP by only spending £10m this window, but it then effects subsequent windows. So would you splash the cash?

I think this is the problem we have. We have already done exactly this on the likes of Sigurdsson and Schneiderlin. We are still paying instalments on their respective deals and this takes a chunk out of our transfer budget for each subsequent window.

We also need a central defender. There's no getting away from that. They're all fit. The only hope is Lewis Gibson, but he's yet to sign a contract, and needs to get fit enough for long enough to impress Ancelotti and get himself closer to the team to reassure himself that he has a long term future at Everton.

So would you spend now or keep your powder dry, and where would you spend it?

A fully fit Gbamin might need 10-12 games to even get up to premier league levels of sharpness and fitness. That’s why I find the Nzonzi alternative attractive. He’s quality and can do a job in the short term until we can properly assess Gomes and Gbamin.

Steve, is Nzonzi good enough? I've not seen him since he left Stoke, and to be honest, I never actually though much of him at Stoke and was surprised he got such good reviews for Seville. When I watched him for them I must have caught some bad games, because again I still didn't think much of him, and I hear he's been a disappointment in Turkey. Have you seen enough of him to be confident in him?

Vecino I have seen many times, but he's never really stood out. Decent player in a decent team, don't get me wrong, but he's never been a standout player. I suppose we just need exactly that, someone just to get the job done.

Given our lack of money i'd have a crack at Salisu (fast, young, strong CB with a £12m release clause) and Sangare ( strong, young all round midfielder who can tackle, pass and dribble well). Both are cheap and could help our first team tomorrow whilst having potential to improve alot over the next few years.

You could probably get the pair for less than £30m and immediately add more athleticism and solidity to our spine.

Gbamin and Sangare would go on to be a very strong double pivot i think and Salisu would make a good partner for either Mina or Holgate.

From the brief highlights of Ligue 1 I have seen, Toulouse are conceding too many goals, and if they can stop this, then they will have a fighting chance of staying up. They are on a run of 10 consecutive defeats, and even Brest put 5 past them on Saturday, so the winter break did them no good. A big part of that is the defensive midfielder, which is your man Ibrahim Sangare.

Sangare is #17: Toulouse Brest highlights

On 3 he is trying to help out a centre-back when there is no need, and the goal scorer gets space in the box where Sangare should be covering. It's #10 who scores for Brest. Watch Sangare, he should be in the space where the shot comes from.

4 is a screamer, no doubt about it. Not saying he could have stopped it, but he goes to help out his centre-backs who are having a nightmare (again), if he held his own position then he'd have been in the space where the goalscorer scored from, so he is not getting that shot off.

5. This is his bad pass that leads them to score.

There is no guarantees over the returning fitness of Gbamin nor Gomes. The nature of their injuries will really effect their play. Gomes is a very big lad and turning on that ankle will inhibit him in some way.
From what I’ve read the thigh injury was extremely serious and that’s your engine room (power), for a midfielder it’s gonna take some time to get back to playing freely.

Our current midfield is fatigued, even at their best not good enough and limits our style of play.

At best we need a continuity player to help transfer the ball and move it on quickly to the players who do have a creative spark, Bernard and the full backs. Iwobi too once he is fit.

Arguably if we stay as we are a narrow diamond suits what we have left.
Schniederlin(b), Bernard(l), Sigurdsson(r), Iwobi(t)

The flatter four is less effective and can make it harder for the full-backs to be the outlet. I think that putting those players in those positions get the best from their skills. Of course Delph(l) and Davies(t) are interchangeable.

But even as I type I re-read and think my god our midfield is a big black hole!

He was better last season and has been struggling as any young player would in a pretty terrible Toulouse team.

I also think he has been asked to play further up the pitch alot of the time. A few weeks ago he apparently had made the most passes into the final third of any player in the league; which is not bad in such a poor team.

He's certainly not the finished article (no surprise at 22) and could use some better coaching in a better team but I think he has some of the raw attributes we need. if looking for a cheap, athletic, rounded midfielder who can cover ground, make tackles and move the ball forwards then I reckon he's one of the best options around.

I have huge admiration for the research and knowledge the likes of Sam Hoare puts into compiling his lists of players he would like the club to target. He must be a keen student of multiple leagues to identify some of the players he does.

On a general note, midfield is clearly the priority area for me that needs reinforcing. We can 'make do' in defence and attack, but in midfield although we seemingly have the numbers, we most certainly do not have the quality required of a modern day midfielder for the year 2020 and beyond.

Even the numbers are depleted with long-term injuries and players being asked to being with knocks, which in turn risks adding them to the long-term injured list.

The qualities we should be looking for is more bite, energy and speed of passing and thought. Two a penny, aren't they? Above all they must be right narks, real winners, because that is what this squad most lacks.

I can understand the opinions being offered about FFP, and January being a sellers' rather than a buyers' market, but if the 'ideal' player does become available that fits the profile Carlo and Marcel are looking for, then we must go for them.

Why? Because in the same way the timing of both Marco Silva's and Carlo Ancelotti's sacking coincided, giving us the opportunity to get the classy Italian, that may have not been possible if we, for example, had given the reins to Duncan Ferguson for another 6 months until the end of the season before going back in for Ancelotti. In that scenario, we would have faced a lot more competition for him and probably have missed out on him.

I implicitly trust both men to identify the type of player(s) we most need and, if possible, to get value for money in landing them

As evidenced on TW, there are plenty who don't share my trust in CA and MB!

We are a society obsessed with age but some of us, like a good wine, get better with age😉

Someone like Doucore depends in part on his tremendous engine and athleticism around the park. Depending on how well he looks after himself that will begin to diminish at some point in his early 30's (Ronaldo is something of a freak in this regard).

I would have happily bought Doucore two or three years ago or even last summer. But as time goes by such signing look less attractive to a club with limited means. Bringing in older players on big wages is partly what has got us into this mess with the likes of Mirallas, Bolasie, Schneiderlin, Sigurdsson etc all proving very hard to shift.

27 is not that old and he still has some good years ahead of him but Brands should be able to identify the 'next' Doucore and bring someone in who is in their mid/early 20's who will be on lower wages and have more re-sale value.

160 league appearances, now in his fifth season, and still only 20.

Example: Who would you rather have had at age 18, Ravel Morrison or John Lundstram? A million times Morrison. Sir Alex himself considered him a generational talent. Yet now, ironically, he's sitting in the stands at Sheffield (can't even make the gameday squad) watching Lundstram play his position. Ya just never know.

I think ideally you are going for players who have already played over 50 or so games at high level so the Morrison vs Lundstram at 18 question is perhaps less relevant.

I imagine going more for 21-24 year olds who have had the chance to show what they can do and how consistent they can be over 30 game season.

Everyone gets it wrong sometimes and it's not necessarily safer going for talents already established in the same league as we saw with Williams, Bolasie, Schneiderlin, Keane etc. I'm a big fan of statistical analysis (i know many aren't) and alot of the best buying teams are using such approaches with increasing success.

January, 2020
DATE MATCH TIME COMPETITION TV
Thu, Jan 16
Iceland
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Canada
2:00 AM International Friendly
Mon, Jan 20
Iceland

v

El Salvador
2:00 AM International Friendly

I'd sooner send Jack to Market. At least we'd have a beanstalk to show for our dosh

Who is available
Who does the manager want
Who is willing to sign for us

And of course the price, talk of the likes of Grealish is pie in the sky. He will end up at either City, Liverpool or one of the big euro giants.
He will go for massive money and a massive wage.

(Just being provocative for fun now after my Stones comment!)

He’s certainly not beyond criticism but I’d say the majority of our best players are his players. He’s done better than Walsh, though that’s a very low bar admittedly!