FC Stade Nyonnais 1 - 2 Everton

I’ve got some foreign ESPN link.

The game is supposed to be available to Season Ticket holders, however, you can't sign in to the Everton site, so is this a scam to get us to pay for a £8.99 subscription fee to watch the game?

Honestly every time they're supposed to stream the games live, they tend to make a pig's ear of it.

https://youtu.be/IlC4qnHc9pA

You wag that was a computer-generated match that you linked us to, and we conceded a goal – much to the delight of an AI Jim Beglin!

https://jm.freestreams-live1.tv/canal-11-portugal/

Iwobi and McNeil the best so far.

Cannon had 2 good chances but missed them. Iwobi and McNeil were okay.

Typical Everton, every bloody season.

Amateurish.

Anyone having any luck?

lt's about his level, how did he become a professional player?

Unbelievable!

Iwobi looks the most likely.

What a waste of £15M.

These games should only reinforce the things the manager should know:

Godfrey is no good at full-back.
Maupay carries zero threat.
Iwobi is not a winger.
McNeil will probably be our most important player this year.

No, same as the last few seasons, I just get messed about. I'm a season ticket holder, they ask for my Email address, give them it, they say it's not valid, say this every year and it's the same Email address I've given them since I was a season ticket holder, ridiculous!

Glad they are winning and keeping a clean sheet.

I finally got through, watched the 2nd half of the game apart from the first goal. Nothing really to write about, although their goal was well taken,

A bit harsh blaming Keane for their goal, when in fact it was McKenzie Hunt who failed to control the ball for their striker to fire home.

Standouts: Iwobi, Mc Neill and Kouyate.

Solid performances from Virginia, Warrington and Doucoure.

Dodgy performances by Michael Keane (concentration again !!), Godfrey (looked well off the pace) and sadly Tom Cannon who seemed slow to react to the chances he was presented with.

Final shout out to the streaming service and website monitors. Get your act together please or, if you can't do better, ask Michael and Lyndon for some advice.

First friendly. Let's see how the next game pans out.

Meanwhile, when healthy we have more central midfielders than we'll know what do with: Gana, Garner, Doucoure, Onana, Gomes, Iwobi, and Dele if he's playing.

Anyone know the status of Dele and Calvert-Lewin recovering from injury? Dele's hip surgery recovery seems to have gotten lost in the much more important story about him the last couple of days.

Might sound like I'm being funny, but you do need to log in to your account first using your E-Mail and Password. I had no problems, and had a very good picture quality, although it was pretty obvious Darren Griffiths and Ian Snodin were doing commentary watching a telly in one of their houses.

By the way, did anyone try the "Test Clip"? If you could view this then you should have been able to access the game via Everton TV.

I usually don't have any trouble logging in to the Everton site but, today, I believed I had logged in, but when I wanted to access the live stream, it went bonkers.

The Echo has written that Everton apologised for the loss of service and will refund those who paid to get the game but were unable to due to the technical issues.

In fact the only problem I have is with this bloody website, because it's not half slow. Takes ages to access a thread, sometimes all I get is a blank screen, or half the thread / posts are missing before the page finally uploads fully.

Also takes ages to return to the home page. In fact it's taken me about 5 minutes just to type this post! Does anyone else have similar problems! I don't think it's my device because other websites I look at are pretty quick.

It's fine on my laptop though the phone is a nightmare.

I watched a training video in the Swiss camp today and I think it was Kouyate who was repeatedly smashing rocks past the keeper, looked a really sharp finisher.

He also showed blistering pace down the left touchline, leaving about three opponents in his jet stream, only to be finally up-ended after turning another one inside out.

I haven't seen any post-match interviews from Dyche yet, but I'm sure he will no doubt have said some good things about Kouyate. Only time will tell, I suppose, but he does look a promising prospect.

I only watched the highlights but I am increasingly worried about the long-term future of Ben Godfrey. I know it's just the first game of pre-season but I just do not see a footballer of any reasonable quality when I watch him.

Result of no consequence.

Just a game for fitness training and opportunities for some youngsters to show they have something to offer.

The only game to take seriously will be the Sporting Lisbon game.

Iwobi was good as were Tarkowski and Keane but they were against a really low opponent.

Godfrey must be sold, he never had the brain, and now the pace seems to have gone.

Kouyate was the best of the youngsters but he tries too hard, lots of cards will follow with that kind of playing.

I'm really out of words with Tom Cannon, two clear chances and no result. We must let him go.

New recruits are needed.

Although he did make a customary error, and had Billy Crellin to thank for keeping the game scoreless at the time!!

And a — wait for it… striker.

Who knew???

I've had the problem of being taken around in a circle and getting nowhere for years. Today, I had another go and, knock me down with a feather, got in right away.

It's the first time I've ever got in. I won't know if it's a one-off because I'm going to all the other practice games.

Only IwobI put in a shift first half. Tarkowski was blowing chunks after 5 minutes and one time I genuinely thought he was going to throw up. Warrington is the new Tom Davies, Godfrey was very poor and seemed to not know what his position was. Tarkowski kept having to go wide left and cover for a missing left-back.

McNeil was unlucky not to score after a great dribble but disappeared.

Doucouré touched the ball twice when he came on second half. The younger players that were in the squad were all way below what we need to survive this season, none of them looked good or ready enough to step up.

I know it's only a friendly but I see nothing here to make me believe we are okay. And by the way, nine first-teamers played in that game. No Calvert-Lewin, why?

Anyone who sees good in that squad needs to go to Specsavers.

Also no projections yet on Coleman, Mykolenko, Holgate or Gbamin.

I'm not sure that Dom is officially listed as injured.

I prefer to give the players, especially the younger ones, a little more time to show what they can do. But, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, of course.

I was disappointed in Cannon's performance.

Seems Pickford and Onana are being pushed in the shop window.

Yes, Dyche does prefer the old guard, and it worked with Joey Barton, but that was in the Championship, and we cannot keep signing players over 30, nevermind 35.

Please no one say "well Peter Reid, Paul Power etc worked out"; that was 40 years ago.

A few observations.

On the training footage, Idrissa giving Iwobi a run for his money on the bleep test. Who says age is an issue? If you look after yourself, you can keep going. He sets an example.

No sponsor on the shirt. Are we changing again? Am I overthinking?

McNeil has a gifted left foot and is a tricky player. He is no Sheedy or Tricky Trev, but I am encouraged as to how he will develop. Still young and full of potential.

Cannon has raw potential, but not as ready as some desire. Give him time. Alongside Warrington and Mills, introduce them to the squad gradually and manage them. Don't throw them into the fire of high expectations.

That Kouyate goal was a great strike as was the Swiss team's reply. Great set-up from Iwobi.

Maupay looked lively. Yes, Maupay.

We still look a bit goal shy, but it's a preseason workout, so I won't read too much into it.

We looked so much better with Mina in the team at the end of last season. Not just because of his defending but his calmness on the ball and ability to find a forward pass, often through the press. We don't have anyone else who can do that, or even close to it (except Branthwaite possibly).

It still pains me that we spent around £25M on Godfrey when we could have got Saliba or Gabriel; or maybe Botman, Guehi, Fofana, Tapsoba etc. So many good young centre-backs around and sadly we signed one who just struggles to position himself well and is not great in the air.

Branthwaite has been given extra time off as has James Garner, following England's Under-21 Euro success. We won't see either until next week at the earliest.

Calvert-Lewin is no longer in Germany, he has been in Switzerland with the squad. He is not yet deemed fit enough to get involved in any contact. But has joined in some of the fitness work being done.

Might (big might) be involved in the games next week, fingers crossed, because boy we need him badly this season. We are by far a better side when he is in for sure.

If this enables us to bring in our main attacking target(s) then it probably makes some sense.

When I've seen Kouyate in the U21s and U18s, he's always looked a threat – although I think Okoronkwo has more to his game. Kouyate only got 2 goals in 32 U21 appearances last season though and at 19 he really needs to kick on.

Otherwise it might be a similar story to Manpala, Sambou and the lad who went to Kilmarnock(?) never to be seen again.

Maybe there is a Rumour Mill amongst Everton Staff. But he is younger than Ashley Young and will be available to play more than Mina.

Fits in with Everton's threadbare policy. This transfer window has the feel of a side that has been relegated.

The Godfrey left-back experiment needs to stop. He's just not got the skills to play in that position, and I think it's stunting his impact at centre-back. If he's not good enough at centre-back, move him on whilst we can still get a good fee.

Cannon is still raw. It's looking like another season in the Championship is best all round. I had hoped he'd be our 3rd-choice striker, but after yesterday, I don't think so – admittedly just one game.

Virginia as back-up is properly concerning. If you thought Olsen, Robles etc were shakey, I think you're going to age about 10 years if he plays competitive footy.

Same on Warrington. Some promise, but again, he's nowhere near good enough yet.

The rest. Looked like the first pre-season game. Final ball and crosses were poor. Up front was wasteful, and you can see the usual striker deficiency that has haunted the Blues for years. Maupay is a waste of time against limited opposition.

Goals turn games. It's that simple, and we have none. That needs to be on the front door of Finch Farm will a clock counting down to deadline day.

Kouyate has some fine dribbling and pace, scoring a real good finish. One to see in the coming games if there are any positives

Stop-gap is just that and most, if not all, over 32-years-old players will need replacing sooner rather than later and we are not likely to be in a better financial position any time soon.

Some take a lot from pre-season training and then say they don't think pre-season matches show anything although the number of players used in this game gives the impression that it is only to give an indication of fitness levels.

His home is a large detached house, does he want a larger house? Or move to another area? Or is he off to another club?

Good point. Mina also played 13 games last season and saved Everton from relegation. Evans didn't save Leicester.

Ferguson's benefit game was one, my great grandson aged about 8 at the time asked me to leave the game because he thought it was crap, he wasn't far wrong, I told him to wait until Rooney came on, we did and Wayne livened Everton's attack up, we still got beat. Richard Gough stunk in his Goodison debut in a preseason game but was the star man for the rest of the season.

The real proof is how the team performs when the season starts.

Whether a young player we sell, an older player coming to the end or losing a talented, but frustratingly not-available-enough 28-year-old centre-back.

Last time I looked, we had an average squad age of just over 25.

Like most clubs, a mix of young promise, established players and wise heads.

I can only go off the footage, but there seemed to be a lot of emphasis on fitness and conditioning.

However, we won, we got precious few wins last season. So winning will breed confidence.

Nothing like going into the start of the season with loads of defeats, even if it's just friendlies.

Let's start the bar higher this season

He was absolutely awful the season before last and, despite the rehabilitation in Lille, I can't bear the thought of seeing him play again for us.

I know football is about opinions, but perhaps Gomes's performances where the game passed him by, or he was dispossessed, or the silly fouls committed largely on account of his crab-like speed, have all been forgotten by Colin (#92) and others.

I wish him well but I never want to see him in an Everton shirt again.

I know many on here (mystifingly to me!) don't rate him but, if we sell him, I wonder who will be taking on the creative burden?

Players cannot be judged after this – players are trying to get fit again and young lads are perhaps too eager to make an impact.

We won, we scored twice and no injuries reported. Next please!

The issue with Alex is his contract runs out in 11 months. He is supposed to have said he wants to play Champions League football. If he doesn't sign a new contract ,he needs to be sold this window so that we can get someone in who can match or better his goals and assists. Same goes for Gray, it's Thelwell's job to keep the plates spinning and this is the best way.

Of course the players may think differently and decide to ride it out to get a free move on a bigger wage in a year. Their priorities will be what's best for them first and Everton second.

It must also be mystifying to you that there doesn't seem to be any club rushing to sign him. Hopefully that is in the pipeline.

I get the frustration with both of those players and have had it myself.

But.

Most of our midfielders have struggled in struggling teams at a mismanaged club throughout their time with us.

I don't think Gomes ever really got over that nasty injury. Physically and mentally. A shame, as he looked good when he first came on the scene. I thought he looked controlling at one of the Anfield derbies. I think it was the unfortunate Pickford one.

If this was the 80s, that vindictive and deliberate tackle by Son would not have gone unpunished by supporters or players. A Brian Marwood moment. Shithouse. Fuck the crocodile tears. He meant to harm the player out of frustration. I can't even put that down to a 50-50. He chased after him.

In terms of time and pace, when I watch, players in the Premier League arguably get more time on the ball than perhaps they would in the Championship or lower leagues.

Aside from when we play the likes of the Red Duracell Bunnies, whose battery was running low last season and City when they decide to press, a lot teams we go defensive and allow possession.

The problem is having options in front and runners to aim for. That has been one of the problems in my opinion. Without that, to retain possession, a player will instinctively turn sideways or backwards.

Keep the ball. Or punt it forward to the other team. That sounds very Graham Taylor.

As much as we need the midfield to be more creative, they need something to aim for.

James Garner will be next in line.

The trouble is I suspect that unlike many of our fans the manager realizes how important he is which is why he’s been offered a large new contract.

But he’s not signed it yet. Maybe because he doesn’t fancy another relegation battle for fans who don’t appreciate him.

If he doesn’t sign then we’ll have to accept one of those offers. And I think we’ll miss him, even if you won’t. Though if we get £15m for him and buy someone like Alex Scott I’ll be content. The other issue may be that few other clubs will be willing to match the large wages we pay, though I like him a lot I don’t think he’s necessarily a £100k p/w player.

I was very persistent and eventually it succumbed to me at half time.

Dave you were spot on about Michael Keane's lack of concentration. He allowed one of their players to run past him and but for Virginia coming out and just about blocking the shot it would have been a goal.

That has been MK's problem for years and if we persist in playing him next season don't expect the goals against column to be good.

Also Godfrey looks a shadow of the player that first came to us. It seems injuries, Covid and a lack of confidence have all atken their toll.

Very impressed with Kouyate though. He seems like a young Demarai Gray.

He scored one goal for us in his initial loan season then none for the next three seasons. His lack of pace led to numerous free kicks on the edge of the box and not being able to get his passes away.

We won't know the answer to that question until the next season has ended, but, if you can find one of those three worse teams, could you please go on their sites and constantly post your negative thoughts about that club, because, I fail to see what you achieve with your posts, you're not alone, there are a little group of posters who seem to enjoy 'mocking' the club, the players, the manager, the board, the owner and sometimes even the supporters too.

Maybe the Talksport guy who was chastised by Jason Cundy was right, Evertonians would be happier had we been relegated as we might have been looking forward to winning games more regularly, rather than knowing we will likely lose more than we win in the top flight.

I even saw one so-called Evertonian on another site, who professed how happy he would be to see Everton be liquidated. It's something I just can't understand at all. If you don't like the club, why not go away and find something else to occupy your time?

Yes, I think Iwobi's wages are the big issue, they could stop him from moving this season. He can't lose, he either gets his move and big wages or he hangs on and becomes a free agent and that's whether he's liked by Everton fans or not.

We all have our opinions I much preferred Aaron Lennon who wasn't particularly liked by a large portion of Everton fans, one man's meat is another man's poison.

As things stand, we appear to have a very weak squad for this season's start and have a number of players who we really need to move on. It looks like it will be all very last-minute in the transfer market and we will need some inspired signings to plug the gaps in the squad.

However, just who leads the transfer negotiations in our current situation, I have no idea. If it's you-know-who, then that's the answer to your question.

Sell Iwobi as he has no place in this Everton squad with those numbers!

If only it was possible to do the same with some of the negative posters on here.

Hallelujah, brothers! Negative posts are as welcome as positive ones. But the daily (hourly!) repetition of negative posts on exactly the same point, and across various threads, regardless of the original topic for the thread - why?

Seriously, just why?

Wigan and Stoke (Bolton is a night game) and Porto.

Before we know it, Fulham at home.

Players need our support whether they are playing well or not. The Dele interview only shows that we never know what might be happening in a player's life that might be affecting their game.

Get behind the team!!!

I can't stand the twitter threads “x player keep or sell discuss”, so toxic.

No, that's just your opinion, which you are of course entitled to. However, the table doesn't lie over a full season, so we were not one of the three worst teams. Because, if we were, we would have gone down, simples.

Using your reasoning, do you think Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd were the best teams in the league also over the last few seasons? I think there are Man City fans & most fans of other clubs who would disagree with you.

Watching the match in the 'stadium' yesterday it was plain for all to see we are severely lacking in centre-midfield, in particular someone who can put his foot on the ball and find spaces. We don't have that in Garner, Onana or Gana.

I do agree that he had a bad season under Lampard but it's simply not his game to go chasing and harrying and this is how Lampard deployed him.

A fit and refreshed Gomes wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Perhaps not 'like a new signing' but I wouldn't dismiss him out of hand either.

Doucoure I think gets the nod to partner him as he offers goals and aggression. Then it's Onana, Gana, Iwobi fighting it out for the remaining spot.

For me, that's not bad. You contrast that to left-back, right-winger and striker, and we've nothing much.

Losing on a free is not ideal, but also, we are still in a battle for survival.

He is one of the few first team players we have who we can be confident will perform for us this season, and if we lost him for a nominal fee and don't replace, we lose our most creative player and relegation is more likely without him than with him.

Gomes can be pressurised too easily yielding possession and is often giving away possession by late tackles resulting in frees in dangerous situations.

Obviously Iwobi will be offered a new contract as we try to protect our asset & attempt to keep an important first teamer.

The fear is him letting his contact run down and we lose him for nothing when we’re already cash strapped.

The possible reason Iowbi hasn't signed a contract is the Club is holding out in the hope that someone will offer money for him. That is normally the reason a contract is not signed during the Summer by a player at Everton.

I have realised that the Onana in reports is a goalkeeper from Cameroon, not our Onana. There appears to be no interest in him at the moment.

Back on topic: Well done, lads, winning this knock about game. Hoping now to see some real progress in the remaining (slightly more challenging) pre-season fixtures culminating with a polished win against Sporting.

I live in hope more than expectation, I am sad to say!

Regarding Gomes, I always thought he played well in a three-man midfield, especially with a defensive midfielder beside him.

I was wondering would any of you know of a reasonably priced B&B (under £100), fairly central? Thanks.

Try Booking.com.

I often have to stop overnight for home games.

I could stay with family, but like to stay close to Lime Street for the first train.

The Adelphi is usually cheap. It's a bit like walking into the 1920s, but if you just want to get your head down for a few hours, it's fine.

After looking around, I think I'll stay somewhere like the Adephi. Thanks again, here's hoping for a good season. 🙏

Kenwright involved in transfers. We won't bring anyone other than a free until deadline day, again!!!!

Kenwright just go, your interference just compounds our current situation, which you put us in.

Need I say any more, he's an ogre that we can't shake off!!!

His press is not exactly enthralling, if, he's turning us down for a second time?

Not worth the risk IMO.