Harrison Armstrong's Preston Loan cut short by recall

Coz, you know the problem: He's not ready for the Premier League.

Is it possible he can go back to Preston this season when our depleted squad is strengthened?

The facts of our performance under his leadership, 59 points from 38 games and currently 8th in the table, suggests to me he knows exactly what he's doing.

So tell me where you think it's gone wrong exactly?

Armstrong is 18 years old and he is not a Wayne Rooney, not played all the games for Preston (he was subbed in the last game).

He will be an option, something we don't have at present, I just hope it doesn't signal, no new players coming in January.

I keep going on about squad rotation, something I do because August to May is a very long time. I wouldn't even be too critical if Armstrong never played that much because he's an 18-year-old kid performing very well in the Championship. But it's a very long season, especially for players so young, and the physical demands are incredible.

Moyes wouldn't tell the press what injuries Keane and Alcaraz had to keep them out of the squad for the Forest game, so maybe the injury to Alcaraz and the fact that Senegal have progressed to the next round of the Afcon made him recall Armstrong.

I could well expect, if we had a couple of injuries to midfield and Moyes hadn't recalled Armstrong, there would be plenty of posters on here giving him stick.

The infamous glass ceiling etc. Personally I think he has done reasonably well since he returned. But leopards never change their spots.

He will always be a safety-first manager. Before anyone leaps in to remind me of all the Top 10 finishes achieved under Moyes first time around. Not impressed.

We need numbers and signings are going to be very thin on the ground, so this is in itself, like a new signing!

Not sure what you expected, but I certainly didn't expect us to still be in the Premier League this time last year.

Worst case: Armstrong could easily play 200+ valuable minutes before going back to Preston.

Frank, Iraola, Glasner, Hurzeler, Silva, Howe, are all below us. So he must be doing something right,

Four games missed for anyone who gets to the final.

Therefore, expect Armstrong to enjoy good development time on the bench when he is recalled.

If we get any more injuries, then we will be promoting some of the Everton Ladies to the first team. Look where we are in the Premier League with the squad we have.

He is doing a fine job. Yes, he has not been perfect.... but he is doing a good job.

I don't think he is good enough yet. With no experience in the Premier League, he will be warming the bench.

'Guess the next man in' kept discussion lively but, as with all clubs favouring that short-termism, it hardly brought consistent success.

Personally, I've always found Davey reliable and consistent although, perhaps, a little predictable. Whatever the future holds, he has been outstanding in his second 'reign' so far and those demanding higher placing than the present 8th are just downright unrealistic.

Armstrong will be used on the bench in case of injuries. It's just the manager being overly cautious, and we would complain if we had no one if that happened.

When we get Dewsbury-Hall back, that is 5-6 available already...

I guess at the moment the fear is two additional injuries for central midfielders or not enough quality? Well, at least Armstrong knows the squad.

If it's lack of cover, I hope we get that one from Roma or someone else to play upfront, because that's more crucial than the middle of the park.

Any word on the extent of Ndiaye's injury, Michael?

And I do hope he goes back rather than getting half a season of 10-minute appearances off the bench with us. What a playoff run in the Championship would do for him!

Brian #8, yes and we still also have no information on the extent of Ndiaye's injury. Senegal has said nothing.

Derek #21, your last paragraph sums it up for me.

"Before anyone leaps in to remind me of all the Top 10 finishes achieved under Moyes first time around. Not impressed."

You were not impressed with the 4th, 5th, 6th and Magnificent 7th place finishes that got us into European competitions? Tough crowd!

As for Armstrong, well Moyes doesn't play youngsters so no point in bringing him back anyway.

January additions are a must.

Armstrong is 19 in just over a fortnight, we paid £40M for a 19-year-old last summer, he's no Wayne Rooney, hardly anyone was a Wayne Rooney in English football since the Second World War and not many before it.

We might only have him for a month, let's see how he is used, we had to use a £300k-a-week unfit player the other night because of the shortage in the squad that's how desperate we are.

He might not get used but the rest will benefit him in a very long season, as another poster pointed out earlier in the thread.

Does this mean Garner is off in January?

Meantime, I'd like to wish all blues a very happy new year.

Hope you're all singing "We shall not be moved" all the way to Wembley!

Everton finished the year on a good note and, despite the fact the games were against Burnley and Forest, they played some good stuff and kept clean sheets.

Garner has been terrific lately after looking ordinary early on and with a lot of input from the ''benchwarmers'' to be pleased about, the return of Armstrong will serve as a big bonus.

Let's hope they start the year with a good performance against Brentford.

We are desperately short on numbers, at least for a few weeks. We need some cover. He's match fit. Makes sense.

I don't know whether it's an option for him to return to Preston at the end of January when we hopefully have a few back. That would make sense for all too.

If he doesn't get a decent run, then it's just an arse-covering exercise.

He's doing well on a regular basis in a decent league - it's like a new signing and could be our only one.

Over to you, Moyes.

He's only just been recalled and Moyes is already getting grief about not playing him.

If, for example, Garner had got booked or injured, we're screwed. No wonder Armstrong was recalled. My point being that the decision wasn't so simple.

Glass ceilings? I was talking about Moyes's footballing judgement, not sure what point you're making.

It's hard to believe they have got six players out of their squad at the Afcon.

What's wrong with this "crack" recruitment team?

I didn't realise that his job performance was based so much on playing teenagers.

He'll fall victim to Moyes and his Premier League experience hang up, so is unlikely to ever feature.

I thought Jake O'Brien was immense at centre-back last time out.

Moyes's KPIs set by the owners may not be affected by his putting teenagers on the bench, but his TW KPIs are!

At least he scored some points on that account in the last game.

I've said this since before the season started. As soon as he's fit, he's sold. I doubt we'll see Branthwaite in an Everton shirt again.

I doubt he'll be bought in a hurry. I want him to stay but he'll have to prove his fitness to everyone before the cheque books come out.

I honestly get the feeling that there's quite a few on here who would have Dyche back in a heartbeat.

It's absolutely laughable that we are 4 points off a Champions League spot, when we were a point off the bottom 3 this time last year.

Then again, maybe some of our fan base might prefer to be in a relegation battle... sorry, but that's not for me.

Mark my word, it won't be long before Forest fans are calling for the Messiah to go.

If he gets back to full fitness, then I hope we can keep him, we should be keeping and building round our best players. Not selling. These days, much depends on the player, even when they are under contract.

The addition of a long-overdue right-back would bring competition for the centre-back berths, with the longer-term future looking like O'Brien and Branthwaite maybe….

If a club offered £50M+, I would sell him. It's a shame but it looks a very risky gamble to refuse a good offer now.

The club will know a lot more than we do, though; they will have had all sorts of tests on him.

Just need some patience.

Let's see if the owners have the ambition. Signs so far suggest they don't.

Raymond, £50M for Branthwaite! That's about £25M below the starting point for bids.

“Sum up the season so far: A challenging move to the new stadium navigated impressively, buoyed by an overall sense of upward trajectory under David Moyes and the club's new football structure. Parts of their summer recruitment plan have worked out well, others less so.

Biggest surprise: The flourishing of James Garner: from a tidy midfielder who struggled to impact games into an essential cog capable of making his mark in a number of positions.

Biggest disappointment: The overly rotated team that resulted in September's Carabao Cup third-round exit. Difficult to understand the logic behind so many changes at a club desperate for silverware, with a largely uncongested fixture schedule.

Hope for the rest of 2025-26: Atone for the above with a memorable FA Cup run. Meanwhile, find a way to get more goals in the team; whether through the January window or expediting Thierno Barry's development.“

The other way finishing in the Top 7 and playing in that plastic Euro thing of a competition would have us playing too many games and weakening our Premier League prospects because of our still very limited squad in numbers and quality.

We will see... the market will decide.

Admitedly it's the chicken and the egg senario, if we could go out and buy a load of top players, great. But we can't.

Again, I have hastily posted and can now spot spelling mistakes.

But he meant for the club to buy Neto!

The best thing for his development is to go back to Preston at the end of January. I know Preston and Derby supporters think he's too good for the Championship.

However, I won't be having a bet on Moyes starting him in any Premier League games this season.

How the hell did you ever find that out?

One of the contributors really doesn't like him and alluded to comments made by Garner after the Anfield derby.

Apparently, he said he couldn't get into the game for the first 30 minutes because he was so overwhelmed by hearing "YNWA" at kick-off.

Is that right??

If we need to generate transfer fees, then we should look no further than McNeil, Patterson and Beto.

Getting rid of McNeil and Beto with better replacements would be a good window. Brother 'Everton till I die' Carey tells me that he agrees.