Regression to the mean haunts Everton

For all Grealish's faults, he could take the ball, buy a foul, and run the clock down. It needs that level of professionalism, not panic or stupidity.

I've revised my opinion a bit on the Pickford corner, as all keepers are struggling on the flat delivery, and corner wrestling contest. Not saying he is perfect, but I was surprised how Donnaruma was done vs O'Brien. 6ft-7in Italian international.

He said it's not by accident, top teams score late goals on a regular basis. Lesser teams concede late goals, lack of concentration or they think they have already won the game or taken a point. It's a mind-set.

Having said that, Liverpool have conceded late goals this season, but they got one over on us at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Is it a concentration issue? Fitness? Arrogance, thinking we've got games wrapped up?

Part of it has to be the weakness of the overall squad, combined with the manager's poor decision-making when it comes to substitutions, I guess.

If we sold our back four in the summer, we'd get about £40M as a job lot. And that's cos Jake O'Brien is now worth £30M. And we were facing Doku and Haaland. So, you know, mistakes will be made.

It's gonna take a couple of years to bring the squad properly up to scratch.

Someone's getting a bargain buying Branthwaite for £10M.

Form an orderly queue!

When you look back over the years, at times you would believe there was a curse on the club.

For all his experience and despite being captain, I don't feel that Tarkowski leads on the pitch in terms of telling others to think, organise, waste time, manage the game etc. The Haaland goal was a perfect example.

The only one who seems to understand ball retention, slowing the game and the importance of retaining possession in key areas and at key times is Grealish.

But when you have players who aren't worth very much, the first thing to be sacrificed is an assumption the basics will be carried out.

I would get shut of three of the back four to be honest. Four at a push.

Come on, Davy, you can do it. You're the Moyesiah remember.

And here you are moaning about the manager after we were seconds away from beating the Champions elect.

Losing two nil leads in successive games, would have definitely contributed to his decision to seemingly start concentrating completely on defending, but I think you could already see that the club had taken it's toll on him by the time last season started. I forgot he got to 48 points without the points deduction.

Let's face it, the only really memorable thing about that season was the win against Liverpool, and yet some people are now saying that we are doing great, and have had a much better season this time around.

We have Keane, O'Brien, Beto, Garner -- all a magnitude better under Moyes. Excellent signings like Dewsbury-Hall, Grealish, and Röhl, and the prospect of adding two excellent fullbacks in the summer.

Even Barry is starting to slot.

Not in the points department, Kevin. He didn't beat City and they are not the Champions elect.

I think if you polled a thousand Evertonians and asked "Is it better now, or then?" none of them would say "It was better then".

"How much better?" -- That is the question, Kevin.

No question we've had a frustrating falling off, but our two best players have been out for most of the season.

I don't think anybody would have given this team much of a chance if we'd been told we'd have to have Tarkowsky and Keane as our centre-back pairing all season.

Could be in the running to drop below Leeds in two weeks time. Just to add some balance.

But I suppose, as we finished 13th last year and then had the 13th highest spend, a case could be made for it being acceptable. Just not by me.

But, but, he was so...

As we were in the running for the Champions League in April, it doesn't really much matter where we finish in Moyes's first season after taking over a relegation side.

It's clear that progress is being made, that's good enough for me at this stage in our development.

As we were in the running for the Champions League in April, it doesn't really much matter where we finish. "

I can't think of a suitable, polite, answer, Kevin.

As Howard Kendall said in 1985, "This didn't happen overnight, it took 4 years to build this". Or Alex Ferguson, who didn't win a carrot for 5 years.

So I'm not going to freak out with a disappointing May if the previous 8 months have been very encouraging. And when I say 'very encouraging', I'm referring to having the best away record in the Premier League for much of that time.

We've won away to half the current Top 6 this season. Is that 'memorable'?

Fulham, mate.

And Palace, come Sunday.

At best, we're 5th or 6th and probably lower now after our recent Moyesiac falling off to the end of the season.

From the moment he joined in January 2025 up until I believe the Brentford game, he had the best win away record in the Premier League. That's over like 16 months.

We've had to play with a low block the whole time, and no attacking full-backs. It's going to improve once we get the full-backs in. Moyes knows how to win at home, his whole career has been based on strong home form.

I really don't know why everyone is getting too excited with what the eventual Premier League position is. It could go up or down about 8 places, depending on our and other results. If we luckily finish 7th, it doesn't mean we're a much better side than if we unluckily finish 13th.

I look at things in the round: wwe look set to have a strong side next season. We're in a transitional phase, we need the squad to be improved incrementally, and I think that's what we'll get.

I think we would have won more home games if we had played with a bit more adventure in some games, but we are going over old ground, because that low block has worked away from home!

We are stronger than we have been for a long time and have posters on this site moaning that we now look like we will miss out on European football.

Pre-season, most of us would have said that mid-table security for a season was an improvement.

Over the summer, we will see more changes of personnel. Some will bemoan that we don't sign the likes of Lionel Messi. Get real. All we need to ensure is that each signing is better than the starting or cover player they are replacing.

The same level of incremental improvement will give us a realistic chance of a Top 8 campaign next year. I am not advocating support for mediocrity. I am advocating support for realistic targets that will see us back as contenders in 2 or 3 years time.

The following season, we were back in the Bottom 6. And then in his third season we finished 4th.

Progress isn't, as Kevin alludes, necessarily linear.

(The exact seasons and the positions in which Everton finished have been deliberately changed to protect the MOB!)

Mentalty issues? It can't be down to tiredness.

Firstly, we have made recognisable improvement from the last few seasons; we have a core group of players that are good enough to play in European competitions; and lastly, we are the nation's basket-case club no more.

Indoctrinated fans with the fear of relegation as opposed to the accepted stability.

He has made no progress on the points total of Dyche to date.

Given your opinion on the TW MOB, they could be on a par.

Take one for the gaffer!

Freidkin, be warned: if you're the latter, you will not get decades of ostensible "support".

Us lot, the fans upon which your fortune depends, have been punished enough by bogus owners, for decades, and you should have known that before you acquired us.

Make a statement this Summer, with signings and sales.