Mina could be out until April

We need men that are on the pitch more often than not, sadly that's not and never will be Yerry Mina.

Still,if it means more game time for young Branthwaite,then am well chuffed.

Mina played 3 games in 10 days apparently but injured for us... that was enough for me if true.

Unfortunately it probably also means persistent game time for the other two weapons, Holgate and Keane, the disaster couple.

Can't really fathom why we never signed a central defender in January, did the people at our club really believe Mina would stay fit??

He's faking it. I read lots of highly knowledgeable posters who could see immediately and had no hesitation in repeating their claim that he was just crying off like a big soft Colombian tart. Even though the physio did seem to be taken in by it...

And now he's fooled the entire medical services department to give him 8 to 10 weeks skiving off in the treatment room at Finch Farm. What a shyster!

Bigger question is why did we sign Patterson given that while he might be one for the future he isn't one for now according to Rafa, Dunc or Lampard. If we had a ton of cash to blow then great buy one for the future but if you have a limited budget then utilize the money carefully on the priorities now.

Ohh… and pray that DCL, Richarlison, Gray and the rest of our forward line score enough goals to keep us out of trouble.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that for most of the window we didn't have a manager and the club was entirely focused on clearing up that chaos. And when Lampard came aboard he had literally one freaking day to bring in players, and pulled off a freaking miracle by getting us two quality midfielders we needed a hell of a lot more than a CB at that moment.

Does that help with the fathoming process?

Geez.

Good defender, but every time he comes back off injury, it's just a matter of time (and not much) before there's a stoppage in play and the camera finds him on the ground clutching a body part.

One year, after this one, left on his contract. We're not going to keep him, so hopefully his agent finds a club and he goes while we can get a small wedge for him. And if Holgate is the defending answer until 2025, someone's asking the wrong question.

But on Tuesday I saw a player looking like he was trying to say he wanted to stay on the pitch when it was obvious he needed to go off or wanted to go off.

His head had gone more than the body in my opinion.

If he's out for that long then he was hardly faking injury so he could bale on the rest of the team – his injury record is abysmal but clearly also genuine.

I agree, we can't build our defence around him – we need a young, strong fearsome guy around 6 feet - 3 inches, who will put the fear of god into opposition forwards.

Branthwaite??

I also agree with the podcast lads about young Nkounkou, he should still be with us and we need to see our new full-backs starting games too.

Everton have had their fair share of them in recent years and this season seems to be the worst.

Yes indeed we are in real trouble at the back now and unless Frank can really get the replacements motivated we will be even more vulnerable than we were.

There has to be a real Spring cleanout in the Summer (exuse the phrase) as too many players just don't play enough games. Some get hurt, are out for a while and then come back and get hurt again too quickly.

With Keane and Holgate being unreliable and prone to mistakes we may have to give Branthwaite a starting role.

What an awful season this has been an the worst may yet to come unless we get some good luck here and there.

He will be better suited to playing in Italy and at this stage it would suit all parties if he moved on.

We must be the best club in the League at signing injury prone players, the list is just endless.

Father time may have caught up with Coleman as regards him being a regular starter but when you consider how he came back from an horrific leg break it does make you wonder about some of our other injured stars!

Moyes used to take fitness record and character into account when signing players much more than we have been lately. We need to get back to that.

One problem we might have is that our policy in the last five years has been too pay players more than they're worth, so we may struggle to get a buyer as other clubs may not want to match his wages.

This fella Minus (my spelling) is the same, desperate to play for his country but not bothered about Everton as long as that pay cheque is sent each month, he was a waste of space for the half an hour was on the field the other night no loss when he went off, he won't be missed by me for one minute.

We need men at the minute who will roll their sleeves up and fight for the team not players who cry off at their leisure.

In order to turn the tide we need some leaders who will go out and turn things around. We need our senior pros to stand up be counted, unfortunately, from what I can see, apart from maybe one or two, I would not bring too many others to the Alamo!

How the squad has been assembled over the last few years has been a disgrace and hard to believe how it has been allowed to happen,some of the signings and the money paid for them are staggering and prove it nearly every time they play, or try to. It's hard to see the team and club we love n the position we are in.

This is the second time I've felt like this about one of our defenders, in 2022, (Holgate, being the other player, for the way he started against Brighton) and it did look as though Mina, couldn't wait to get off the pitch the other night, injured or otherwise.

My son told me that in all his years watching Everton, that Newcastle's crowd on Monday, was as loud as anything he's ever heard, and I'd argue this was definitely helped, when they realized Everton, just never had enough players up for the fight.

Benitez was definitely right, when he talked about the lack of character inside our squad, imo, and this is something Lampard has to find a way to fix, rapidly.

Stats are okay for some things, but when you sign players for Everton football club, then the first thing that anyone should look at, is what type of character, the player possesses, and although it's easy with hindsight, some of us have never needed hindsight, to know this.

Coleman (shame but the lad is shot), Kenny, Mina, Holgate, Gomes, Davies, Delph, Sigurdsson, Gbamin, Iwobi, Tosun, Rondon… but no-one else would want them.

What a bloody mess.

Between us that's a pretty bad indictment of our current squad ,assembled by a combination of Walsh, Martinez, Koeman,Silva ,Brands,Allardyce, Moshiri, Kenwright,Ancellotti, ,Benitez,Lampard .

What a fucking shitshow of a mess.

Probably resulting in one unmentionable and inevitable scenario!

He can manage to play for Colombia three games on the bounce but turns up for us at Inbred FC, stinks the fucking place out for 30 minutes, passes the ball directly to the opposition for the sixth time in 30 minutes, then feigns an injury to make up for his dreadful performance.

Fuck off and stay fucked off. I never want to see this phoney in an Everton shirt again. A shithouse… full stop.

The injury record is unfortunate and he isn't mistake proof but I think he's proven that we tend to be better when he plays. I've seen nothing to suggest he's prepared to fake an injury so don't know why people are making that claim.

I guess something that could put a player off a whole-hearted effort would be knowing the bile and vitriol that spewed from some fans as soon as you disappointed them.

Anyone know the situation with Lewis Gibson? Is he back to fitness and is he still at Everton or is he on contract with Sheffield Wednesday until the end of the season? I read an Echo article dated December that he is making ‘really, really' good progress and should be back to full fitness by mid-January and the 2 clubs are in discussion about sending him back on loan.

I would suggest that he be given some games with the U23s and a few minutes in the FA Cup tie if he is back to full fitness. He might be a useful backup for the rest of the season.

The thing about Jarrad that people seemed to miss as he “gradually got into the game” was that he probably had a concussion after being punched in the head.

He's not the finished article, and centre-backs tend to peak later, but I see plenty of promise in him.

The stattos will tell you we defend better when he plays, but there is a clear difference between defending well and defending in numbers. This fella is far more comfortable with a bank of five in front of him, Carlo style, but he is exposed when the opposition don't play ball. He can't even defend long punts without becoming disorientated. A lighthouse without a light.

The injury seems to have masked the fact that he was having another complete Weston. His departure once again left several of his teammates to have to readjust everything they had prepared for.

On Branthwaite, please don't ruin the lad. He's 19 years old; very young for a footballer and especially for a centre-back. He won't be ready for consistency until his mid 20s and won't be at his best until he's around 28.

Many wrote off John Stones as being a fancy Dan. What I'd give for a centre-back not afraid to be comfortable on the ball and drive forward. He has subsequently won titles and trophies.

Be patient with Jarrad. He's not the quick fix but he can and should be part of the strategy and plan.

Sorry. I get passionate about this stuff. Especially as I'm in the centre-back trade union!!

So is time to sell him and target 2-3 new defenders in the summer (should we still in be the Premier League).

Branthwaite was shakey on Saturday, but I think he is worth persisting with. Most young players take a while to adapt. Gordon was being written off by quite a few on here after his first run of games.

Keane and Holgate is a disaster waiting to happen. Both are mentally weak and need a strong personality next to them. Together they are possibly the weakest and most easily bullied defensive partnership I can remember.

It seems from this story that Gibson's loan to Sheffield Wednesday is still on through the end of the season:

Lewis Gibson shares five-word message ahead of Sheffield Wednesday's clash with Rotherham

He has apparently returned to The Owls after doing most of his recovery back with Everton, but he still appears to be some way off.

In any event, it would appear that he won't be available to play back-up or anything else for Everton and, with his 5-year contract set to expire in June, he may never do so anyway.

We always get him back and always within a game or two he's injured. He knows we are in trouble yet he would rather go and play for Colombia.

It's a hard one but, if we can get the same money we paid for him, I would take it. We need a big horrible centre-back who can organise and play 30 plus games a season.

The injuries to Mina are unfortunate and frustrating, but shit happens, that's life. Anyone who's criticising Mina for these injuries needs to grow up and get a grip. Do what you suggest Mina should do, and man-up! You're supposed to be adults.

Ridiculous criticisms by some Evertonians of Everton players have unfortunately been happening for donkey's years. I recall when I was 16, and the great Alan Ball getting criticised for his drop-off in form after his efforts in the heat and altitude of the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. I remember turning to my dad in the Paddock, saying to him what the hell are they doing, and his replying that football supporters can be very fickle and right narks. How right he was.

Get rid now while we can still get money for him

Pickford
Holgate Keane Branthwaite
Kenny Allan Donny Gordon
Richarlison Calvert-Lewin Dobbin

Kenny, Dobbin and Gordon would run themselves into the ground which is what we need against Leeds. Slow players will be caught in possession all game. They are without Bamford and Phillips so should be weaker.

Pickford needs a calm and authoritative game to give his defence some confidence.

When we were mauled 6-2 at Goodison against Spurs, Mina was laughing and joking at the end of the game with his Colombian compatriot Davington Sanchez.

That proves to me that he does not give a shit about Everton, just his big fat paycheck. He is taking us for mugs. Injuries???!!!!

I have always though he is lazy regarding training and rarely misses his international duties, often arriving back injured. Last time delaying his return to Finch Farm. Lampard got it wrong calling him a big playet, unless a transfer is in the offing.

I saw Godfrey v Brentford hobbling towards the ball after struggling to get up then struggle with every step off the field, a genuine injury suffered by a genuine player who wants to play for the club, that's the difference if the Colombian had been playing for his country everyone would have seen a different reaction.

We've had this type of injury issue many times with international players, for example MaCarthy before he left.

I think the problem with Everton is, although we've spent a lot on players, we have a tendency to sign some inconsistent ones, ones who's career is on a downward path, or injury-prone ones. Mina appears in the last category, something which was openly raised on ToffeeWeb when we signed him.

If we are to truly compete at the top (assuming we stay in the PL!), we surely need to sign players who are more robust, resilient and consistent in addition to their basic skills. But those players tend to go to the top clubs.

But there is some pretty bizarre stuff in this thread.

You cannot 'fake' the quad injury he picked up. The scans, the x-rays, whatever they use, would quickly expose if he was genuinely 'swinging the lead' as some believe.

The bleat about him being fit for Colombia and able to play 3 games in a week for them, but not for Everton, is also not true.

The last set of international games he played one of their two games because he was suspended for the second. The previous block of games he missed completely because...he was out injured and in rehab back at Everton.

Indeed, this season since August 2021 Mina has been in just FOUR of Colombia's ELEVEN match day squads.

Frank Lampard isn't rejoicing as some seem to be that he isn't available. In yesterday's presser he described Yerry as a big personality, an important player who will be a big miss.

With Newcastle on the attack, he could have hobbled along on his other leg until such time as the ball went out of play. Gone are the days when a referee has to stop play unless it's a head injury so I still don't know what he was playing at. I think this is one of the reasons there is little sympathy for Mina with most fans, including myself.

Mild to moderate quad strains take 1-3 weeks to recover from.

A severe strain 4-8 weeks. That Lampard said 8-10 weeks clearly places Mina's injury in the severe grade.

If anything, it was possibly negligent that Everton's match day medical staff allowed Yerry to hobble off unaided as he did, given the subsequent prognosis.

Maybe it was adrenaline that helped him do this stretch, because he then bent down twice, to do a completely different quad stretch, which had me thinking “there is no way I could do that, if my quad had gone”

My own view is I will be surprised if Mina, is out for 8 weeks, but sometimes things that look little innocuous injuries can end up being the worst.

Maybe Lampard's short, sharp training has caught up with a couple already, but I'm just glad we have been overloaded with central defenders, although I can't wait to see the back of most of them, if I'm being honest.

Frank Lampard said he is a big personality, an important player who will be a big miss. Well, that's Frank's opinion and he is entitled to it. I imagine there is a few million Conservative voters who have the same opinion of Dickhead.

Mina will not be missed by me and quite a lot of Everton fans and of course there will be just as many or more who will be sorry he is out of the team, that will always be the case. I've seen him have good games and seen him have plenty of bad ones put the two together and I know he is inconsistent and can't be relied on but that might be enough for some fans.

I think we've got a few of those players... I'd add Mina to that list.

'[Mina] played three consecutive games in three days earlier this season for Colombia.'

Ehrm. No he didn't Dave. NOBODY does.

Time for far more important matters.

The game.

Seems like a very old-fashioned view to me. I'd have thought everyone would have long ago clicked that most players are capable of living in the moment and simply won't continue to fume about the performance or result once the final whistle goes. They will, of course, be expected to get ‘serious' about it when next in for training and whenever they take to the pitch competitively.

Some players hate to lose (at anything) but you most probably can't judge a player's overall attitude because he's pally with a compatriot.

What about the sports where you leather each other all game, gleefully inflicting pain and injury (within the ‘expected' limits) and then all shake hands and applaud each other off the pitch? Are people crying ‘hypocrisy' about that?

But as you say much more important matters. The Game and what a game it turned out to be. Best wishes Jay.

But sell as fast as any interesse with a decent bud comes.
I mean, he plays more seldom than James. Cant afford, should sell and invest in a more reliable player. Or play Branthwaite, if hes good enough.

Now Mina Just makes the defense ustabil.

But if he really just cries for nothing, stays away for time get well for Colombia, if that is the case, I hope for him to go. And slip in the mud on the way.

That game was in 2018 and Mina didn't play.

And as to the shameful implication that he's faking his injuries... pure crapola.

£80M man

Such players are attracted to our cretinous Kenwright for some reason, on mega-bucks for less than fuck all, just like him.

I wonder why?

NOT!

Mate, you know I love you but don't get into a pissing match with Mike Gaynes as he's another poster whose opinion I respect. Don't put me in a tough spot, mate. Mike's an astute ToffeeWeber; even if you don't agree, he usually had legitimate points

This morning's tenuous link concerns the possibility of Mina moving to Fiamengo, driven by an agent (natch).

The offer would be a loan with an option to buy, but "the Toffees would still keep 50% of a future sale".

The Brazilian transfer window closes 12 April. The loan apparently would cost €2M.

So let's see if this Samsung M12 whatever it is, is trying to annoy me or is bang on the money.

Since we got him very shortly after for circa £25m means he's not really been a good signing, or at least not a good value signing. Pet abuser Zouma and Keane formed our best partnership in recent years.

If he is our best CB (which he probably is) then it just shows how far we've fallen since the likes of Jagielka, Lescott and Distin. Stones too. I know you really like him Mike G but he's nothing more than the best of a bad bunch.

Whether it is to Flamengo or elsewhere he's going soon because he's only got a year left on his contract.

Branthwaite needs a good run of games to settle in - just like Gordon - and I think we'll see the emergence of a tremendous player if we give him that.

As Danny says, we do need another CB anyway - an organiser and leader as Tony @30 says.

Godfrey is not that player, and also needs a leader and organiser (and a better header of the ball) to play alongside while he matures.

I disagree with Frank @36 that we should avoid South and Central Americans, though. The Brazilian Bremer at Torino would be ideal. What we should really avoid is very expensive average players from the Premier League.

Unfortunately he is too injury-prone to build a defence around and that's still a fair chunk of his playing time in internationals but his absence from internationals is pretty similar to his club record.