Sidibé hoping to secure permanent move to Everton

At 㾸M, he represents decent value for a full-back who is fast and strong can pass it well and puts in good crosses. He has the second-most assists in the team despite only playing half the matches and not taking set-pieces.

Having said that, I think we need better. Defensively, he is just a real liability with his positioning. I also think Kenny will not prove good enough. Max Aarons anyone? There's a few decent full-backs out there and we need someone who can attack well and defend well; a young Seamus Coleman, if you will.

His crossing is good. Pace is decent. But he is overall poor.

Max Aarons and Kenny competing with each other.

Everton didn't break this 'news' – it was the player speaking to a French TV company.

Have a go at the club when they do wrong, by all means, but I wish people weren't so quick to jump all over the club regardless, it's petty and not very interesting.

For the derby Carlo may decide to play Holgate at right-back as he can defend.

Having gifted Chelsea 3 pts at the weekend lets hope they reciprocate in kind and we can buy Zouma in the summer.

It would be interesting to know what Carlo thinks of Jonjoe.

Hopefully Mr Brands and our scouting network have a few alternative options to give to Carlo if necessary.

I'll bet he's keen on a transfer to us – there's your first warning sign right there. Get Jonjoe Kenny back and look elsewhere.

For example Sunday he won 5 tackles, more than the entire midfield put together, and played the only penetrating pass all day to Walcott inside the full back. Can Coleman or Kenny do that? Nope.

His passing range is far superior to that of his direct competition, the pass to Calvert-Lewin in the league cup, the cross for Calvert-Lewin versus Burnley but to name a few.

Our midfielders are so poor that if the ball is not quick and decisive Sidibé will always get caught out. He is a direct vertical player, ball retention is not his game. I think he has the second most assists this season! Yet the criticism is waaaay over the top compared to players whose performances are genuinely troubling; Keane, Sigurdsson and Davies for example.

He's not a right-back, he's clearly a wing-back, who at every opportunity looks for a forward run or pass. Football has moved on to the point were a defensively-minded side is outdated. Everton under Ancelotti are not going to sit back. He is far more suited to Ancelotti's ways than Coleman, who has completely lost his ability to affect things in the final third, and Kenny, who is unproven.

I personally think we will sign him, and Ancelotti will sign players who can maximize his strengths.

He absolutely needs to be more aware but his overall package and output is much more than Kenny or Coleman. Both were getting killed defensively in the last 18 months but produced next to nothing going forward. So what's it to be?

Probably we sign someone completely different! 😭

Let's be realistic, he isn't very good and shouldn't be signed on a permanent basis.

However, if we go and spend £30m on some rising young superstar; and Sidibe is to be the 'experienced cover' then I think the answer's Yes: where else are we going to get a skillful, marauding wing-back, who has a World Cup winner's medal, in the prime of his career, for £12 million?!

It doesn't matter that he can be decent going forward – he is a poor defender and we can get better, so it has to be a “No”. There has to be better in the Championship... and Kenny has to be given a chance too.

We need to find a new right back, along with 6 or 7 other players. Good luck, Marcel.

I won't be moaning if we buy Sidibe for 㾸M. Offensively he's worth a lot more than that. His positional awareness is awful. I would be disappointed if we bought him and missed out if a better right-back came available somewhere.

Isn't the tall Belgium lad from PSG out of contract this summer?? Forgotten his name but we've been linked with him on numerous occasions.

Maybe. Thomas Meunier

I can only hope Carlo Ancelotti is on my wavelength...

For me, it's a no-brainer to get Kenny back as first-choice as he is already our player. One day, we may find that we need better but we should solve that problem if it comes up.

If we can solve the midfield catastrophe, we may also find that the defence problem goes away. So, if we can find first a couple of good midfield players and start to play a better game, we may see a lot of the problems disappear.

The worst thing we can do is try to solve problems 5 at a time; the way is one position at a time; a round peg in a round hole — and we have the professionalism at the club to do it now.

And, if Kenny wasn't already on our books, the amateur scouts (like me!) would be saying we should bring in that Kenny lad because the age profile and credentials are really good.

Older recruits, like Sidibé and Delph (good value both) haven't really added a great deal and (with their injury problems on top) have a pretty limited shelf life too.

Terrible at defending, can't pick a pass, not great in the air, so we will probably buy him for 㾸 -15 Million and give him a 4-year contract.

Sunday's performance was case and point, but he wasn't alone in almost every position, I don't know whether we should buy him, or buy him and then sell him on for a profit, as he was much sought after fairly recently.

He is a below-average right-back – not a player if you seriously want to compete for a top-4 place.

Only for Coleman being injured, I'd have tried him in the middle of the park, because he's “fast and aggressive” and might just thrive in England, playing in this position, and it's not as if we are blessed in this position either, at the moment.

Yes, Thomas Meunier is the guy I was thinking of. If he's out of contract this summer. I'd be taking a look at him on a free transfer.

The question is will Ancellotti play anything close to a system that would help him, 3-43 or 3-5-2?

Imo, not a chance. He has very little history of playing that way. Personally I like him and the emphasis on his defending is a red herring because teams don't defend in the same way anymore. The bar might be low but he is deffo better than what we have.

Get rid with the rest of the deadwood and bring in players who want to play for the club, team and shirt – there's been millions wasted on the shower of expensive shite

A miss for me.

Please, bosses – get better than this!!!!

However, I'd disagree the full-back's role is is to defend first anymore, that's why he's ahead of Coleman and Kenny. That style of footy is dead. You need progressive players, I'd say if he could defend (which he can't as a full back) that would be a bonus.

As the purest example I can give he pinged a 50-yard diagonal to Calvert-Lewin against Wednesday in the cup. Sorry but Seamus nor Kenny wouldn't even try such a thing.

He may not be the answer but he's ahead of the others for me. Under Ancellotti we are not going to park the bus, won't happen. Several games he's played as a wing-back in possession and as a full-back without the ball, which as rightly pointed by many is well below par.

As for Sunday he was far from the worst performance; I'll reiterate 5 tackles won more than our entire midfield and our only penetrating pass inside the full-back for Walcott. The key reason for me he is caught out so often is the ball tempo is ponderous and slow from the middle, he gets screwed in transition.

If we have better recycling and a more direct play, he wouldn't get caught out anywhere near as often. Counter that with an aged Coleman who offers very little in the final third? What's his output this year?

In the list of players we will replace, right-back is way down the list so a player who knows the system and squad is a no brainer for me because he is better than what we've got.

People talk about him ball-watching and went hard at him against Arsenal, Man Utd and Chelsea. I could see some blame but the genesis of those goals were absolutely not his fault.

Arsenal; Baines didn't stop the cross, both Mina and Holgate nowhere near PE-A, their job.

Man Utd; Pickford's throw put three defenders under pressure we lost the ball.

Chelsea; Holgate got sucked up the pitch and Keane let his man run off him.

Everyone piled into this fella? He's on the scene in all three goals and if he'd somehow stopped any off them he'd still be within his rights to have a go at his teammates for their shoddy part in it all.

I think he's not getting the credit he deserves and an overly large slice of the blame.

I think that covers it. 😬😬😬

I agree with your observation. Sidibé looks more suited to a wing-back or midfield role than being a traditional full-back.

I still think Holgate will end up as defensive midfielder. With the current options we have, he'll keep his place... but, if we had another proper centre-back, it wouldn't surprise me to see him move into a midfield role.

I'm sure Carlo is forming his own view though – and I'm not going to second guess a guy with his CV.

When we sold him to Crystal Palace, McCarthy wanted to play, understandably, but he was our 6th choice in midfield at that time. Now he is a bit player at Crystal Palace, gets selected to start occasionally, picks up his yellow card and then gets substituted or else he sits on the bench.

For some reason, the Rings think we should sign him back. Did anyone watch him for Crystal Palace at Goodison recently? He was anonymous, picked up his obligatory card, and then got substituted. But, I'll say this for him: he does play for Ireland. But was he born there?

If this club spends 㾹 million, or whatever the going rate is, on this man to improve our position?

I'm done. We're being run by fucktards.

With apologies to John McFarlane Snr for the profanity, but this feeble brain can't think of any other apt descriptors, this guy is just shit!

TY. I feel better now.

Nice man Sidibe. Clapped the supporters after we lost to the rs U18s. Problem is, Sidibe is U18 level.

Cut the cord.

You just cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. At least Kenny has the prospect of improving, this guy does not. He would be somebody on my clear-out list.

We signed him before the accounts were published, but somebody must have had a handle on the broad picture.
Maybe that all that was out there for the money we had.

Sidibé came in, put 'some' effort in – new player bounce, saw not much was required and eased up to the bare minimum... bad habits are hard to break once established. The socks thing, ffs.

I remember Baines saying how the incoming Lennon (who had his own demons to contend with) was showing people up with his attitude.

The weekend performance might suggest the lacksidasical attiude is still rife.

Christy - green it up all you want. 'Tis the season.

Seamus is a god. Best right-back I've seen. McCarthy was the closest thing to hockey I've seen a man get while kicking a ball. They rock. Make no apologies, they're ballers, men, and Irish.

Sidibé has to earn a transfer and the jury is out for me – we have a ready-made replacement in Kenny. The only plus point from the Chelsea debacle is that certain players must surely have marked their card with Carlo now – Keane, Sigurdsson, Schneiderlin. Walcott and, maybe, Pickford are simply not good enough. We can't keep playing with only half a team not being fit for purpose.

Kenny is a much better prospect from both a playing and a business perspective.

Personally, I think Coleman is better in every aspect of the game. In fact, I think Sidibé is one of the worst full-backs that Everton have ever had. Please do not even consider signing him at any price.

Sadly, his brain just isn't switched on to defend naturally and we can ill-afford two full-backs either side (Digne opposite) that just aren't great defenders.

The first thing I said when I saw the team Sunday was Chelsea's attack would be fancying it against our defence, and it shouldn't be like that the money we have spent.

Sidibé is caught out too often and we've already got too many in defence that prefer to have the ball at their feet rather than just defend down and dirty,

When are we going to stop wasting money on players other clubs don't want? We should be looking at other teams best players not their fringe ones they're looking to move on to comply with FFP whilst we will probably at some point fall foul of it because of these poor signings.

He got rid of this shit playing tippy tapped out of defence which caused us so much heartache, and is still doing so under the new regime. He wanted the ball played up to the forwards either quicker or route one, sometimes missing out the midfield completely, and looking at the dross we have there was a great idea. This suited Calvert-Lewin and Richie better. He wanted forwards to attack and score goals and defenders to defend.

If we keep Sidibe we get nothing. The guy is no defender in any way shape or form. The odd good cross when attacking but is that worth 㾸 million?

Defensively he is terrible. I would like us to go and buy Adam Smith from Bournemouth, a little old at almost 29, but combative, quick with good positional sense and a good crosser of the ball.

Coleman is finished at this level, Keane and Mina give me kittens and if Digne hadn't had such a good first season, we would all want him gone. I would get rid of all except Holgate. I can't think of a top-half team with a worse line-up.

It could be that Carlo is wanting to play 3 at the back next year with Gabriel (the Brazilian from Lille we've been heavily linked with), Mina and Holgate and if that is the case then I think Sidibe would be a very decent wing-back for 㾸M. Digne too may be better suited at the wing-back rather than full-back role.

Pickford
Holgate Mina Gabriel
Sidibé Gbamin Digne
Gomes Iwobi
Calvert-Lewin Richarlison

Such a formation could quite suit our current playing staff. I like the look of that side, presuming that Gbamin comes back and is as good as he was for Mainz when we bought him.

I agree!

I'm sick of talking about our defensive frailties and our lack of leadership qualities and the lack of clean sheets in general.

We should be talking about defence considering the millions squandered on it, goalkeeper, central defenders and full-backs yet still none of them can bark orders or do the basics of close men down or get their head in the way of crosses.

I hope Everton play Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin as wide players on Monday night, with Kean up front, as suggested by another fan on ToffeeWeb last week.

This would help to stop Liverpool's full-backs attacking as much and have Kean use his speed on breakaways. I don't think there is anything wrong with your formation, just some of the players you are suggesting.

In the formation above, I see Iwobi as more of a 10 whilst Gomes plays more box to box; Iwobi has hardly played in that position for us (where he plays regularly to good effect for Nigeria) but in the 2 games he started there he did pretty well.

We spent 㿈m on Iwobi. He's only 23. We've got to give him a chance to get a regular run in a position and system that suits him before we write him off. I hope if this season peters out as it threatens to that Carlo will give more time to him and Kean who I see having more impact for us next season.

Players such as Gomes or Sigurdsson don't necessarily have the legs to play as one of two in the middle as well, and Iwobi might be better suited there rather than out wide, so all round this might suit best, whilst allowing us to keep two up front which has worked pretty well so far.

And I agree with you on Sidibé. He's our best ball-winner by far and usually a fine passer (notwithstanding his Chelsea disaster), and to me, his talent is worth more than 㾸M.

Whichever of our Directors of Football signed all the dross we have on board, we will win nothing at all whilst they are here.

I personally much prefer 4-3-3 as it allows much more flexibility than a 4-4-2, I think Dyche plays this system at Burnley but they don't hold a high defensive line and they get the ball into the box high and early to allow his 2 big forwards to attack it.

But with the lack of real quality in this squad inmost cases we replace one very mediocre player with another, so, with this squad, I think formations is the least of Ancelotti's worries.

There is some evidence that teams have targeted him: Chelsea, and Liverpool, certainly. Maybe others, but I can't recall. I suspect they may do so again.

It seems churlish to single out one player in an imbalanced and flawed squad, especially when he has a demonstrable pedigree in his career, that he has shown only fleetingly with Everton.

He is a wing-back I think, and probably a good one in a good team, with good, mobile central defenders behind him, and strong pacy central midfielders able to cover across for him. We have neither, so his defensive weaknesses are emphasised. It is noticeable that after the Arsenal game, that Mina was also dropped, and has not yet returned as first choice.

You could say similar about Digne, who has only ever looked at his best with Bernard in front of him. Shoehorning Sigurdsson In means we get the worst of both worlds.

The best teams have full-backs who effectively can drive their teams. They tend to have strong pacy midfields who can both cover for them and press. They have strong central defenders, and you'd have to say that Man City's injuries and poor recruitment there has given a bit of a free pass to our friends across the park.

I would like to see Sidibé in a better balanced and set up team with some better players. Maybe a short term fix is is 3 central defenders with Holgate on the right, and 3 central midfielders, though who those should be I'm unsure. Gomes plus 2. Maybe Delph, who is left-footed and can play left-back? Who knows?

But Brands and Ancelotti have a mans job to do in sorting out this squad for next season. But it may just include Sidibé.

However, I think part of our problem is that Ancelotti is running his rule over the squad and it won't be till the summer business that we see who he wants to keep. The options are limited at present, hence Sigurdsson keeping his place, hence Keane coming back in and Sidibé himself having more games.
The injuries and poor quality signings are taking their toll, and the unbalanced selections and disjointed performances reflect this.

We will have to be patient and hope that with players fit, a few new signings and a few out the door, that we will begin the new season with a more mobile midfield and at least one new centre-back. Apart from the Chelsea no-show, we were 3rd for points gathered since Christmas.

Now it is imperative that we get at least a point with our neighbours. I suggest a close study of Watford's performance against them. I hope a centre-back gets injured tonight and they have to play Lovren against us.

If he continues to play like he has for 90% of the time, then we accept that last weekend was the sort of aberration that a player has every now and then. The problem with defenders and goalkeepers is that their bad days inevitably lead to goals conceded.

If he finishes the season making similar errors, then we save 㾸m and pack him off. Players can't be judged on one, albeit awful, performance anymore than a player who scores one winner is not suddenly Lionel Messi.

I would prefer a right back in the mold of Kyle Walker. Tough as they come, fiercely competitive. Jonjoe Kenny fits the bill for the job more than Sidibé. There will be other better candidates too.

I want us to be a bit more focused on the players we sign. Specialist players who are world class, or potentially so, in their natural position. Not players who are jack of all trades and master of none.

I think the entire team would look better with Gueye in it. Defence, midfield and consequently the attack. Even Sigurdsson!

That is really my point. Sidibe is a proven good player, as is Digne. You wouldn't know it by their displays this season. Both of them are maybe what a good Everton team needs. Full-backs these days are critical to a teams success, which is why Ancelotti will likely want them both, but with better players around them. I'm pretty sure Ancelotti knows full well who and what he wants by now.

We basically have the same flaws and imbalances we had before this season started, aggravated by injuries, and FFP constraints.

I was really trying to make the counterpoint to ‘He's shite, get rid' tendency, and an argument against a rush to judgement.

I agree about our performances, and they were better than the results against Arsenal and Man Utd. Chelsea, however, was different, and that won't be good enough for the derby.

Agree about Van Dijk, the goalkeeper is already missing. Maybe Terence Trent-Darby could be missing too, then they'd have to pick their kids.

Oh, hang on!

That's what we need in a defender, it's nice to see players use the ball but, over the last six years, we've had a few too many of them and not enough dogs.

The Moyes team finished 4th in 2005 because it had players like Hibbert, Weir, Stubbs, Yobo, Carsley in defensive areas, not many would mess with that lot.

In fairness, as Chris has pointed out, until we see him with a steady guy in front of him, it is hard to judge him. Walcott and Bernard don't fill anyone's heart with defensive confidence.

I notice from Sidibe's record that he scored one or two at Lille and Monaco, and he scored in a friendly for France against England. How we have missed Coleman's goals from right-back!

It would be absolutely typical Everton to sign him up on a long term deal following his horror show against Chelsea last week. No, no, no, no and again no. Please look elsewhere Mr Brands, this guy is dead wood.

Hi Jim [86], I replied to a post from Dick Fearon on another thread, where he more or less called Tony Hibbert and Leon Osman among others, as parasites hinting [in my opinion] that they didn't earn their pay or deserve their place in the team. I know that football changes over time and new methods are introduced but, for me, the basics remain, defenders defend and attackers attack. If I had a player of the calibre of Pat Nevin, there's only one penalty area I would want to see him in.

Sidibe has not played well in 90% of the games that I have personally watched, and I have watched every game. He may have been adequate in about 20% of the games. As an Evertonian, I expect more than "adaquate".

Sidibé is much better as a wing-back but, if we're not going to play 3-5-2, then other options need looking at.

This is one position that needs serious upgrading over the summer.

When those players are too quick (Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City), he cannot recover, and because our central defenders and midfield players are too slow to cover him on his side of the pitch, his poor positional sense usually results in us conceding.

Not sure if any of you watched Leipzig against Spurs last night. They had three central defenders who were physically strong, very quick, had great ball control, and covered for each other brilliantly.

The centre-half was a beast. Their full-backs pushed up like wing-backs and they played generally 3-5-2. But the whole team were quick, defence, midfield and attackers. How come Leipzig find these type of players and systems but we can't?

I was emphasizing that we shouldn't break up the front two, but his point was 4-4-2 was antiquated, I felt the lack of effort and style of play made it harder. If you don't play quick direct ball to those lads up front it's much much harder. Mix in the lethargy they showed Sunday, 4-4-2 looks well beyond this current crop.

But, with our personnel, 3-5-2 seems a good fit. Gomes needs protection, as does Mina; that system helps. Sidibé & Digne make much better wing backs, and it keeps the dynamic duo intact up front.

It's worth a look for sure. But, whichever way we go, signing Sidibé or not Coleman is yesterday's man. I expect to see him leave in the summer.

He is often isolated with his midfielder doing nothing to help him and neither Mina or Keane are mobile enough to cover. We have no holding midfielder to fill his space when he bombs forward.

Tell me who can cross a ball better in the team? Digne maybe, who else even bothers to try and cross the ball? Bernard works the ball in, Sigurdsson is a hologram. Walcott kicks the ball like a toddler, Coleman gets one cross right in a blue moon. He is an axis of where we create our chances that's the modern full-back.

I think this thread is less about him and more about what a full-back is and does. All the best full-backs in the world (bar some weird outliers) are attacking players – not defensive players at all.

I can't even name a defensively brilliant full-back playing in Europe

Sidibé is at his peak and, on his showings this season, it isn't much to write home about. Start acting like a ruthless club and not a bloody charity or we will never move forward.

Can you name a defensive full-back that we should buy?

Who plays that way? The best two teams in the land play with full-backs who are defensively suspect but they are rarely tested. That's what we need to aspire to.

The only other one that springs to mind is Arias at Atletico but I doubt whether we could attract him and he is untried in the Premier League.

BTW, I don't see Steve Ferns posting much theses days. I hope he is okay.

Great post. They are not allowed to tackle to a degree anyway. Slightest touch is a foul nowadays. Allied to the diving, it means the demise of the tough-tackling full-backs.

The full-back's job in the modern game is to jockey – not dive in. The top coaches look for what they can do going forward as a priority.

Like most of the players, Sidibé has been a victim of Ancelotti's really poor tactics. Whenever we play a team more mobile, Carlo seems to adopt this catch-em-between-two-stools formation that gives the players far too much to do.

I defy anybody to come on here and give a plausible explanation for the tactics used at Man City, Anfield, or Chelsea. They were an embarrassment. In all three games, we managed to do the impossible and isolate 7/8 players at the same time. We are just not a cohesive unit.

If you don't have good enough players, you don't try going toe to toe with superior opposition. You make yourself compact. Hard to beat. He doesn't know how to do this with players not already conditioned to do so... and he won't learn now.

Mark my words, there will be more days like Sunday. Sidibé will only be one of the scapegoats as people look to blame everything on players whilst overlooking the tactics which got us humiliated on Sunday.

Our boy Carlo is used to painting with the finest oils; now he has got to work with Dulux and he is struggling big time.

It's all very well managing top-class players who automatically do the right thing. Managing players who came out of the second drawer down is a whole new ball game.

Those dreaming of signing world-class players are in for a major disappointment. The big names aren't coming. Carlo needs to learn a whole new trade. Until he does, players like Sidibé will spend many a Saturday afternoon caught between two stools

It's default nailed on that Everton, mentally implode in most big games over the last 20 odd seasons, bar a couple of games a season.

Decent players don't become bad over night, but the shape and game management and communication is lacking in most games.

You see the mess before it happens. Our players don't scan the pitch, don't look to take ownership and responsibility.

Next Monday night, I hope will see more effort, and then to try and etch a win and salvage some pride from this season.

Sidibé, isn't the worst player to have played for Everton, by far, but more than most, he's exposed by playing in a team that basically has no cohesion and scrapes results by moments of inspiration this season by our forwards.

The goals return ratio from our midfield and defence the last few seasons on average, isn't good enough..

FFP, could be key to future recruitment, but enticing proven players, will be tough.

If we got Koulibahy, and Allan, this summer, plus a right-back, and another centre-back, I'd be happy, but wishful thinking.

Carlo will know this is his toughest task ever to date in his career.

Struggling big time?

The only game I would say really was a disgrace was the FA cup one, there is no way that should have happened. But Man City? Away? It's in no way a given.

Chelsea the performance was woeful. But a disgrace? Are we now binning any manager for one thrashing? He has done so far what any manager should have been expected to do. Whilst that sounds easy we haven't seen Bobby, Koeman, Silva or Fat Sam do it consistently.

This season is effectively over. Get as high up as possible and get a few new players in. Carlo doesn't need to be going away and getting results against Man City. He needs to be getting points off Bournemouth, Norwich, Aston Villa, Burnley.

Two truest under-par performances, a couple of so-so ones but a general improvement with the same tools as his predecessor. It's a monkey on the shoulder this record away to top 6 but, in the context of a team trying to become competitive at the top end of the table, it's not the be-all.

He is used to finer players, no doubt, but hopefully he will get some to complement the few decent ones we have to be able to employ the kind of tactics he wants.

Just interested, as you are currently not impressed with his work, who should we have got that conceivably would have come?

I think he'd be okay if he had better quality midfielders to link up with and to come across to cover when he goes forward, and protect him when we defend.

As for James McCarthy, my view is that we sold him without having a better defensive midfielder in the squad. He's now getting back to his old form and the Palace fans had him MotM last week in their forum.

We have Schneiderlein & a struggling Tom Davies, who I hope can get back to the form he showed 2 seasons ago.

Happy St Patrick's Day to all. (Any chance we could buy John Egan? 🤣🤣)

If we want a right-back that gives the ball away and can't defend, let's just play Cuco Martina.

I'm not sure that Sidibe would be a good buy or not but maybe it's not a positive buy at this stage; we have so much dead wood now and we mustn't add to it but promote U23 players and let them sink or swim as Chelsea have been forced to do with great success. Will our fans give them leeway to settle in and give them a chance?

I would agree with your general premise, but think more like 3 players. A centre-back, a dominant central mid and a right sided player.

A striker would be nice but given the players we have are not likely to move on they will be enough.

But it's central midfield that really needs the boost, and that's assuming we get Gbambin back and properly functioning

That may be true for sure. I guess that my point is we mustn't panic into buying 4 or 5 bad buys, as we always do, but one at a time into the key positions and see how it affects the team. I just looked at what the exceptional Bruno Fernandes has done for Man Utd, injecting power into their midfield.

That's the signing I would point too as well. Never a given, but one player has made the world of difference for them

I look at Coutinho and Hazard and others and they are just terrible value. If a club are willing to part with a player for reasonable money, then you have to ask why they're willing to sell? So buying the right players now will be ultra-difficult and there will be massive competition. Who would buy Sigurdsson and Schneiderlin when their limitations are clear for every club to see and they all know that we're desperate to sell?

Brands is going to have to earn his money in finding a Fernandes and I despair a little concerning not only availability but our ability to attract. Isn't it ironic that for years we struggle to attract the money that would give us a chance of success – just at a time when money can't buy you success on its own.

We need a new quality right-back along with all new midfield and quality striker to go with Richarlison. The Everton Board need to find 𧷤M in summer as they won't recoup anything on the shite we have to offload!!!!

If that was the case, Henry would have been a snail after all those constant pay rises he had in his prime!

He has everything we have been missing in that role for donkeys years and it's the main factor we are hamstrung as a team. A good buy for them, Mr Brands, take note.

You want to sign Sidibé, who has really suffered since Carlo came to the club, as he favours a system which exposes his weaknesses?

It's everybody else who is responsible for Djibril's mistakes and he would be much better with better players? I should argue but against Arsenal, Jay Woods spent 2 days trying with a poster, I didn't bother as I knew Sidibe would continue to highlight it better than anyone and will keep doing so. Soon the penny will drop.

You imply we are scapegoating the player but unfortunately it's the oppositions managers who are singling him out and it's clear he's their number one target.

You highlight that modern defenders can't defend but how many are culpable game after game. The difference between other forward-thinking defenders is that they can do the basics, are competent and have awareness even if it's not their strength a la the neighbours full-backs.

Apparently Carlo wants him attacking as he's not a park the bus coach like Hodgson, despite the fact that against Roy's Palace we were camped in our half and played on the counter for most of the match as we do against most opponents but apparently you are watching a modern dynamic Everton, really?

I don't think anyone is suggesting Seamus is as potent going forward and that is why someone like Aarons would be a better option financed in part by Jonjoes sale and Coleman for firefighting duties when required like the Zaha job. Aarons is a marauding modern full-back but is a lot more streetwise than Djibril.

If you are on the site, would you go on Monday, Steve?

In terms of Premier league value for money I understand that £12M is very reasonable.

Putting money to one side. I don't see Sid as an improvement over Coleman. If Coleman is going or has had it I can understand bringing Sid in.

Compared to Coleman he's better at crossing (but still avg, way behind Kenny) worse at defending (the benchmark for a defender, similar to Kenny) and his general passing and decision making is on par (but behind Kenny).

He's younger but in the main an average attacking full back. Sadly Kenny lacks pace, energy and the attacking mentality because he's a better defender.

For me it's thanks, but no thanks, we need better. But the style of play Carlo wants is probably the biggest factor in deciding who to keep.