You Need to Mean Them, Barry!

I remember Yakubu. One game against Fulham, I think it was, he had about ten touches and did nothing. Final whistle went, we won 3-0 and he had scored a hat-trick.

He didn't need multiple chances to score, one or two touches, ball in the corner of the net. Thats what we need.

You see lots of times that he doesn't anticipate, he doesn't get across the defender. He doesn't expect the mistake. And when the chances do present, he fluffs his lines more often than not. Like last night.

A commentator at Fulham said he had to improve technically after a ball to his feet ended up 10 yards away, out for a throw. It must be very hard for our better players playing alongside this. Disheartening really.

Beto is no better, should have moved on in the January window when there was interest, replaced by someone new. Of course you can't do business in January, except plenty of clubs, including Bournemouth, do.

Poor recruitment is at the heart of everything that holds Everton back. Until this is resolved, we are going nowhere... but our better players probably are, and who can blame them??

I've observed his face of late and I'm not inspired by his nonchalant expression, like he does not want to be there. His skills and ability would be lucky to survive in lower divisions.

A bigger concern for me, though, is: Who at Everton is buying these second-class players???

It will be a job offloading him and Beto. It won't be to anyone in the Premier League, that's for sure.

But he's not physically growing into the Premier League in any noticeable way.

I can't argue about that.

We need to sign the Bournemouth, Brentford and Brighton talent spotters in instead of whoever Everton use -- especially ones like Moyes's son, for fuck's sake!

You can't really teach that aggression or that boundless thankless running the likes of Bent, Radzinski, Andy Johnson used to do, I don't think Barry is that particular forward.

I know also he's no cold-blooded finisher like Yakubu, Lukaku, or Saha either.

He's somewhere for me in between a Mikael Madar and a Stuart Barlow type player, the casual rather laid-back nature of Madar and the erratic finishing and touch of Barlow.

I think a certain smoke was responsible for Mick Madar's laid-back nature.

I think Pickford should take a few snorts before every game — he's a bleedin' ranting loon once the game starts.

I would start with Keane upfront. He may not be a natural striker but he will use his body, and for a man who is not a striker, he knows where the goal is.

Hopefully you mean the opposition's goal.

He gets lost on many occasions in and around his own goal. Slow thinking and slow moving.

Pretty much summed up there in that comment and that's it really, it's just a few goals, it's a bit like Beto last season when Moyes took over, a purple patch which was a few good goals but we all knew going forward he's not the answer.

I'll give Barry credit here, scored a massive winner at Villa Park, an important equalizer against Leeds which was almost another home loss.

But going forward, no, I know we will need better next season.

This is a guy who seems to have spent more time working on his goal celebration than sticking the ball in the net. He's probably a decent talent but isn't good enough for where we aspire to be... and neither is Beto, for that matter.

We showed our intent by letting the transfer deadline slip when every single Evertonian knows what is required. The Deadline Day was 2 February --- Groundhog Day itself.

We have done okay this season to be top half on a net spend of £14M over 5 years but Barry and Beto are simply not good enough. What other Premier League team would have them? Surely our new revenue streams would mean we could fork out for a decent striker and a right-back?

I can't help feeling that we will look back in time as it being a mistake not to strengthen during the January transfer window when the Premier League was so wide open.

I was at the game so didn't see Barry with his head in his hands. I am actually amazed he managed to find his hands with his head.

My Son just sent me a list of some of our strikers over the last 15 years or so... apart from Lukaku, it would be libellous to call any of them a striker.

And how do you think Keane would go chasing Pickford's long hoofs and winning headers for nobody to run on to or pick up? Would he be used to standing in a penalty area bereft of any teammates?

I was trying to think of a successful, or even a semi-successful, striker since Lukaku and possibly one season of Calvert-Lewin under Ancelotti but he, Beto and Barry have one thing in common... yes, Everton.

Would we have been any better, or worse, with Simms, Dobbin or Cannon? Is it our players or our style of play without trying to absolve our current pair from missing what are fairly easy chances?

I seem to remember that across the park under the High Chief Travesty of Justice, Shankly himself, that players were tutored in one-on-one finishing which made me wonder if we even have any ex-forwards never mind strikers on our coaching staff.

The Premier League is ruthless with no time for sentiments and Moyes should be questioned about the regularity he plays a player in the "hope" he is going to perform in what he is payed extravagant fees for and that is to score goals.

It is not only the supporters who get upset. How about the players working hard to support him? This was a terrible signing for a player who had not played in a league as demanding as the Premier League, and it should be questioned. You can not play in the Premier League if your standard is of a 3rd-tier player (no disrespect to 3rd-tier players).

Along with myself, I believe many supporters are pleasantly surprised at the position we are in, but imagine where we could be if we had a Number 9 who could do what he is paid to do.

And in the summer, go get some proven Number 9.

We got 10 disastrous years under Moshiri until he left. Don't bring us that shit back.

This squad is small but a better one than we've had for a long time.... Easy this footy manager game is!

The chance rebound off the keeper was bloody difficult to control and convert. The chance in the box was just good defending.

I thought he chased well, offloaded well, and won a lot of aerial challenges.

Unlike Mykelenko.

It's no use just hoping they'll come good. I fear it'll be costly if he doesn't...

I said way back, Barry and Beto are both extra tall and should be favoured by crosses into the box, something they rarely get. Built like they are, they are not going to be brilliant with the ball on the ground.

Let's face it, Calvert-Lewin couldn't score when he was here except when Ancelotti had crosses played into the box for him, something he is now getting at Leeds.

(In my opinion.)

No control, fails to keep possession, cannot hold up play and use the ball, heading bad... if he does manage contact, it inevitably goes to the opposition.

He's clumsy, a languid approach to the game. A lazy player -- makes a few runs when he can be bothered. One of the worst players I've ever seen, including Brett Angell!

This. Either you have it or you don't. There's no indication Barry does.

He is tall. But he has no pace, no foot quickness, no vertical jump. He doesn't appear a particularly good footballer with the ball at his feet.

No amount of "He's getting used to top-league English football." is going to change those athletic or football deficiencies.

I'd guess we're stuck with him at least through next season.

To be fair, he's not the first player to come to the Premier League and find it extremely difficult but he doesn't have one characteristic that stands out -- such as strength, holding up the ball, beating his man, taking his chances -- that makes you think he'll come good in the Premier League.

Some come in, like Jelavic did, and hit the ground running, everything they hit goes in clean as a whistle. Then they simply fall off a cliff... I've never to this day seen a dropoff quite like Nikica Jelavic.

With Barry, I do struggle to genuinely see one amazingly redeeming strength that tells me he will be anything other than what we are seeing now: a few goals here and there.... but overall, quality lacking.

He will end up a journeyman with more clubs than goals.

Hallelujah, Brother Dave. And not just talent mate. TFG and Saint Daniel the Absent have had two windows now to sort out the deep structural issues up front and at full-back and have failed to do so.

I felt empathy and sympathy when I first saw dejected Barry with his head in his hands with rain pouring down, not least because nobody on his left or right seemed to be offering him any sort of support. Teammates eh! Mutualities and reciprocities eh!

When, 5 minutes later, Barry still had his head in his hands, I began to feel a little different. Someone like our self-designated 'keyboard warrior', Sean Kearns would call him a snowflake and tell him to man up and grow some balls.

I just felt that he needed to stop erring on the side of self-indulgence and avoidance and put on a professional face (watch the game) -- not one that did become a tad pathetic.

Unlike Jelavic, Yakubu and Beto, he's on an upward trajectory in his career. You rarely improve a 28-year-old -- especially a Nigerian 28-year-old!!!

He shouldn't be our leading striker, that's the main issue, but he should be gaining experience, knowhow, and invaluable game time in what is still his first year in the hardest league in the world.

The two alternating incumbents do not in any way, shape or form cut the mustard in the Premier League. Both are facsimilies of each other, deceptively slow, awkward but not in a positive way, absolutely zero ball control, physically imposing but can't impose themselves, no ability to create chances themselves, very rarely in the right place at the right time but, when they are, my arse doesnt even leave the seat as the pair of them are consistently flagrant with relatively easy opportunities...

They're going to carry on costing more points than they gain for us. l can't bear seeing either of them in a blue shirt. l don't see a single redeeming feature that suggests we should persevere with either.

I work with fans of other clubs and they can't believe what we have up front. l'm ashamed to have given Lukaku stick for being a selfish fucker, he'd still put these two to shame.

With regards to Michael Keane playing as an auxiliary forward, I'm all for it with our present squad. He can head the ball, perfect target for crosses. He can shoot scoring goals.

With regards to the game, if Barry had scored his sitters, 3-0 up after 50+ minutes we all be having a different discussion.
Our strikers have let us down so far this season when we needed them the most. The games we missed gilt edge chances have cost us points.

If we have just 1 player that can remedy that cause, we would all be looking forward European football (not to say it's beyond us at this point in time). We could be in a more comfortable position in the table regards to European qualifications.

Barry and Beto need to be relieved of their duties and have someone else have a go.

If you're missing sitters and we end up losing the game because of it, something has to change.

Thinking out loud.

Especially the ones from Messrs Jennings #9 and Abrahams Snr #10.

This is the finished article. He isn't going to "come good" --whatever that phrase means; you're either good or you're not.

He isn't going to wake up one morning and be a cross between Haaland and Thierry Henry.

More fool our recruitment team.

I seen him score... not prolifically obviously, this was again, as now, under a Moyesistic system... 3, 4, different types of goals. I was convinced he had it. Alas no.

One day, the ball broke free on the edge of the box, nobody within 10 yards. What did our lad do? Nothing, he waited, looking. He should've been on it like a Labrador on sausage dinner! Ball? Mine!

Barry though, he may make it... some time... in a different system.

He sat with his head in his hands, so he knows what went wrong, will he learn? Will he be given time to learn? And how much do you give him?

He needs to make the near post run more often.

We've now got to manage their departures as skilfully as possible by talking them up and limiting their playing time so they don't keep showing just how bad they are! We have to cut our losses, they are terrible footballers, completely unfit for purpose in the Premier League.

Mykolenko is equally as bad too, so whichever clown is working on contracts had better not extend his contract -- nor give Coleman another charity contract.

You mean like selling one to Juventus?

How precise can xG be? It might look at the pace on the ball, the angle it comes from and the height it arrives at but it surely can't take into account all (or any) of how quickly the ball is spinning and in what direction, the pace which the attacker is moving at their angle of approach (both of which will affect how balanced their reaction to meet the ball could be).

Then there is whether they are mid-stride or right or left foot down when they first see and react to the goalie's parry of the initial shot.

I reckon you should take that 0.72 with a massive pinch of salt.

Where will the three hard-boiled eggs go next?

I might have a flutter on Burnley once SP resigns or gets fired. Nearly all males in Burnley are bald. Fact.

Befuddlement, Patric? I haven't looked up the meaning yet but I'm certain I know what you mean though, mate. I smiled to myself when I read that we had every single player bar Grealish ready for selection because I had a feeling this wouldn't make a blind bit of difference to the manager.

He did habve a little moan and said the league could have pushed the fixture back 24 hours to give the players more time to recover from the previous weekend's game.

Actions speak a lot louder than words though, always have -- always will. (I do worry about the way humanity is currently going...) So who did David really expect to be kidding with what appeared to be a very plausible question?

Barry was poor, John, but there were times in the second half when we got the ball wide and he was the only Everton player running towards the Bournemouth box, often surrounded by five defenders, which doesn't really give him much of a chance, whatever run he decides to make.

Poppadoms for 9; nan bread for 6; meat dishes for 9; vegetables outlawed; 6 kingfishers, extra one for Woaney. No water.

Follow the trend.

She even likes to count them when we're in a pub.

Do you and the Mrs drink in the Dyche boozer?

Even if it won't currently feel like it is, it might actually be a blessing for Dyche because he resides in Nottingham so I'm sure he wouldn't want to be the manager who takes them down.

There could be a massive irony if Nuno keeps The Hammers up at the expense of Forest, although, if I was Nuno, I'd definitely be looking to beef up my security if this happens!

Dyche has earned more in compensation in 24 hours than those sniggering at him will earn in their entire lives.

Dyche will walze into another very well paid job no problem.

You only need to look at the examples of Franks and Potter to realise how difficult it is to nail down how good a manager is. Sometimes they do well whether by good judgement or lots of good luck they get a group of players that gell together and do very well.

Then they move and often flop, I think results are more to do with the players individual abilities, but its the manager that carries the can.

The three hard-boiled eggs, a caricature, three dickheads, curry lovers. Woaney loves a triple quarter-pounder. Dickead Dyche in his KES tracksuit with a bit of 5 inch dick on display like a ski-jumper and girl-creep voice, is a failing also-ran.

Remember the he kept us up brigade, when his three-month record from mid-December created the crisis in the first place.

The three hard-boiled eggs saved us from themselves.

Dyche has been sacked everywhere he goes.

Reading or Bolton beckons creepy gob but the two Phil Neal's/Taylor Stonsey and Woansey bullet heads will go wherever you drag them down through the leagues.

The new Fun Boy Three. 'It aint what you do etc. '

Nice lad. Get rid.

I am sure Alex Ferguson is delighted that he managed in a time were clubs gave managers the most important thing which is time, he went 6 years without winning a trophy.

Thats why I find it strange that Everton for the last 4/5 seasons have been a relegation threatened side, but we get a manager in who within weeks had got us away from the relegation zone, and with less than a dozen games left this season has got us to 8th, yet there are many on here calling for his head. Also add to that he has had to work with a recruitment team who seem to be clueless. I could understand the call for Moyes to be sacked if we were still 16th or 17th and no visible improvement.

Dyche would have kept them safe.

They deserve everything they get...and remember our points deduction was harsher than their's.

Imo we wont finish in the top half of the table.

At what finishing position would you consider the question would have to be asked on Moyes?

It will be interesting to see our defence next game.

In the short term, I've long advocated giving Ndiaye a go as a number 9. He is just about the fastest player we've got (maybe now second to George) and I think he is a more natural finisher than either Barry or Beto. The only problem with this idea is that Grealish is injured, Dibling appears to have totally lost the manager's confidence so we are thin out wide. Nice idea but maybe not practical.

I don't envy anyone playing as a striker in our team. We aren't dynamic, we lack pace and we don't have attacking full backs helping with crosses. I'm not sure even Thierry Henry would make much out of the regular hoofs upfield that form the main basis of our play. Even so, it is a sad reflection on our recruitment that the two big money signings of last summer have flopped so spectacularly. I'd still love to know if those two had Moyes' enthusiastic endorsement or were just presented to him as 'the future'.

He’s due some credit.

But, he is a dinosaur of a football manager.

Comments coming out from Forest players…

‘ He never explained tactics fully. Front players were isolated, wingers playing as second full backs. Training was running, then more running’.

Don’t feel too sorry for him, he’s not done too badly from limited capability.

Happened with Rooney. when BK tried to sell him to Chelsea, then got Newcastle to smoke out Man U. And we got a crap deal out of it. £10m up front, and a load of add ons based on their success - most of which actually got triggered. The only saving grace is the Man U fans are sick that their record goalscorer is a Scouser.

Even going back to Lineker - after that one season when he was top scorer (and we didn't win anything) - he never asked to go. But Carter accepted a bid from Barcelona that trebled the money we paid for him, and he was off. And we named a stand after Carter.

Older fans than me will say we did the same thing with Alan Ball...

Tony #36 - you reminded me of the funny story (which I had to Google to check the names). Partick Thistle had a strike called Colin McGlashan was knocked uncounscious during a game. After he came round, the trainer said to the manager "he doesn't know who he is". Quick as flash, John Lambie said "Tell him he's Pele, and get him back out there".

We've seen Gerrard, Lampard, Parker all manage to shit.

Baines couldn't take over a Premier League club just like that and we would expect any difference to what we have seen under Moyes, wouldn't all of a sudden have us playing like Barcelona

Right now if Moyes goes this summer there's only Iraola that I'd seriously get excited about from the Premier League.

The rest of the the available options don't excite me at all.

Who would be on the list?

Thomas Frank? Had critics most the season for being too cautious and not being able to handle the transition to a club with expectations, well it would be the same here at Everton at least fan pressure to produce as time is passing and patience now is wearing ever thinner.

Who else?

Nuno Espirito Santo? No not for me.

Glasner? No, done a decent job but he's thrown his toys out of the pram too much this season for me.

There aren't many standout candidates in this league

Don't forget Keith Andrews, l was laughed off this site at this suggestion recently, what he's done at Brentford so far is quite a feat...they certainly took us the cleaners (amongst others).

Agree 100%, we need a young bright manager.

Fabregas would be my choice.

I will ask you the same question you asked me, what position would we finish for you to consider sacking Moyes. My answer is I think we will make top 10, and for what he has done since he arrived he deserves at least another season. Only Arsenal won more away games, before last weeks fixtures if you added up all the points gained since Moyes returned we would be 6th. Lets not forget the team he inherited as well, and he also has to work with some of the players brought in by our recruitment team. I don't believe for 1 minute Moyes wanted Barry, Dibbling or Aznou, does anybody really believe these are Moyes type buys, just look at the players he has bought during his whole career. We paid £42m for Dibbling nearly half of our summer transfer budget, and he has hardly played. Now does anybody in their right mind believe any manager would spend half his budget on a player and not play him. Had Moyes bought the lad and not played him he would look a complete fool, now he may be many things but Moyes is a good judge of players. Yes people will mention Koldrup and Van der Meydre but even Ferguson bought some duds.

Also would any manager trying to impress his new owners do something that would call his judgement into question.

Again though it's the old doing it at a club where the demand is far greater isn't it?

No disrespect to Brentford meant but at Everton, completely different ballgame and higher expectancy

I posed that question earlier, it does seem he doesn't fancy any of the people we bought, except for KDH, so I see where you are coming from. On the other hand, I believe he said he had input and a veto on transfer incomings. So not sure what the reality is, but if you're right, one of either the recruitment head or the manager has to go, that is not a viable relationship.

Yeah noted! He may well turn out to be a one season wonder but its ironic that three managers who have been mentioned in despatches on this site as potentials ie Ariola, Andrews and Frank have all beaten us recently and the other not mentioned Glasner's Crystal Palace should have wrapped us up in a box with a ribbon around it before we snatched a victory.

What l like about Andrews is that he took over a potential shit storm and has handled it confidently he comes across positive, without arrogance and his team plays as good as brand of football as anyone in this league.

Moyes recently stated in interview: "I have full control, and final say, over who comes in and who leaves."

Do you think he was being untruthful?

'Final say' means we would not have paid £70M for Barry and Dibling if he didn't want them. His fans lose all credibility when they try to choose which players are his signings and which are not.

He's the luckiest manager in the league. I can't think of another manager who doesn't have players foisted on them.

His acolytes bang on about having the fifth-best away record in the Premier League... but they always forget to mention that there are only six teams with a worse home record. Most managers with a worse home record have paid for their failure with their jobs -- I can think of at least six just off the top.

He earns more than 90% of managers outside the European slots (4 times more than the Bournemouth manager). He gets the best and most passionate support when he is away from home and enjoys the finest stadium in the league when he isn't.

Poor old Davey... He doesnt have any KPI's. He treats European qualification as a remote possibility... or was it foolish ambition? He rakes in £5M a year without giving a single thought for the wonderful supporters of this club and all I ever hear is people bleating about how tough his job is.

This site is beginning to resemble a party political broadcast on behalf of those treacherous Tory's-in-red, whining fuckers who are running the country? -- "None of this is down to Daveee. Look at what he inherited!"

But John #77, I hope you're not too disappointed if it doesn't happen soon. Managers who move their club from 17th to 13th in a half-season, and then up to 8th in the next, are not often sacked.

If the upcoming tough schedule sends us skidding back down the table, that might open the question on Moyes, but otherwise I reckon the people who sign his checks are quite satisfied with him.

It would be a clear indication that Everton, as a club, are still buying into the "knife to a gunfight". "I'm just happy to get out of that stadium without a heavy defeat"..."8th is the new first"..."You have to know your place", mentality that Kenwright and Moyes encouraged Evertonians to swallow, is still present at the club.

I've been getting more and more bored with football in the Premier League for a long time now, so maybe I'm not the best person to listen to, but who seriously wants to continue going to Bramley-Moore Dock to watch the type of football that is currently on display?

A new beginning should always be about excitement and optimism, which leads me to believe that I must have been asleep for the last 30 years whenever I hear that famous word, stability.

Also, this constant droning and back and forth about the hand Moyes has in wheeling and dealing is a tad tedious. As you say, the fella himself has said that he has the last word.

Moyes, therefore, is responsible for Barry.

Getting back to the original title of this piece, Barry is quite frankly the worst striker I've seen at our club since I went to my first game in 1967, and by god I've witnessed some rubbish.

As someone earlier said, he's not going to wake up one morning and all of a sudden he's the new Thierry Henry; you're either a good player or you're not -- and he's not a good player.

I've heard people say "He'll come good, he's only a kid..." Absolute nonsense -- he's nearly 24! In football parlance, that's not young.

He's a Championship player at best, at worst League One, a dreadful player who's got absolutely no redeeming features. Oh and his body language absolutely stinks.

Well said. Barry still has time on his hands and I think we will give him another season.

That said, we need to get Barry in the gym in the summer, get Arnold to build a terminator and strengthen the lad up. Get him watching Clint getting "mean" and Popeye beating up Pluto (spinach anyone?)

Which is kind of a prerequisite really.

Dont we have a striker out on loan or even one from the Under-21s?

Put Barry and Beto in the Under-21s and play them in a 4-4-2, just maybe they might score a goal or two.

Have either got a job anywhere in football, never mind anyone being daft enough to give either a manager's job???

When we beat Aston Villa, he should have kept the same team for the next match, not revert back to his trusted favourites. What does that say to the players that came in and gave a really good performance?

You play really well, give a good account of yourself but it doesn't earn you a start next match? What sort of mentality does that breed into the players?

Relative to low expectations, Moyes probably is doing a good job, clear of relegation and aspiring to be best of the rest. But if we're to move forward next season, with (hopefully) new players, we need a new fresh outlook.

We've read this story before with Moyes, we know how it runs.

I'm not saying he's a crap manager but at some point we've got to break this cycle of mediocrity, mid-table contentment, and viewing a Top 10 finish as a good season.

Over to TFG.

I supported Unsworth while in charge because he had zero experience as a manager and he was thrown into the deep end. I was 100% behind him.

Ferguson was a different kettle of fish. I wanted him to be given the job. The club was on its arse. We'd gone through loads of outsiders who had all failed and he could set Goodison alight like nobody else. That counted for a lot.

He wouldn't have been the first Everton manager to get the crowd to do his job for him. Turns out that wouldn't have happened anyway: the stadiums were emptied by Covid.

But if we are trawling back (and you seem to want to), let's remember the job went to the most successful manager in the world. You and many others wildly celebrated our return to "glory"... Some hope.

He was a ridiculous appointment. Without the funds to bring in the world superstars he had been accustomed to, his failure (to anybody prepared to give it any thought) was inevitable. "A forgone conclusion".

I know you will throw up all the stats and you will point to the brief period when James had the sun on his back, just like you are doing now, but the zombie football Carlo's Everton served up at home once his superstars lost interest, exposed his inability to coach journeymen.

Even the ball boys were fucking off before the end from an empty Goodison. He left us with a team in free fall. One that that could barely muster a shot at home.

He ruined one of the best young centre-forwards in the country by isolating him and resorting to the big boot -- a tactic that still hasn't been ditched to this day By that time he had famously quit on the job -- "I'm not a magician" -- he still took another £6M from the club before sneaking in the night to go back to working with superstars. he took the piss big time and you have never stopped being grateful for it.

Instead of going on about managers who never were, why don't you concentrate on the similarities between Carlo's season and the one Davey Boy is having now. Ground out away victories rendered worthless by the cowardly anti-football both men have served up on home soil.

I can only assume you are a fan of zombie football because you haven't just been apologising for it -- you've been happy clapping it for years.

Another bright prospect we let go too soon through a lack of patience, yet we are happy to dish out the sentiment contracts yearly.

The Moyes Paradox: "Moyes's 'good'* points get you to where you are; Moyes's 'bad'* points hinder you from going much further."

* Opinions may vary (vehemently) as to which 'point' falls in to which category... therein lies the problem.

He won't change. His future lies in what TFG actually want -- and nobody this side of the Atlantic knows that.

Graham will look like a player who takes that chance and proves it — if he gets that chance.

Ancelotti finished 4th in the away table, but only had five teams below him in the home table. He only won six at home all season.

Striking similarities to what Moyes is doing today. Both men guilty of crimes against football while working for Everton.

The penny finally dropped for him when he got to Atalanta. He was nearly 25 years old. It had been more than 4 years since we gave up and loaned him out.

He finally became a star in Italy, and good for him, but do you seriously believe we should have kept him from 2018 through 2022 hoping he'd mature? That would have been borderline insanity, would it not?

Ever since the EPL was created, with Everton as a founding member but the only one ('95 aside) not to have regularly vied to win a trophy in way over 30 years of its existence, the club has been run into the ground in terms of acquiring trophy-winning signings fit for immediate action or development.

That's not the sole fault at all of the various hack managers Kenwright/Moshiri signed on the cheap since the past century, no, it's down to him and the legion of phony Everton-supporting piranhas he took on board and sucked up to in his quest to get £millions into his own bank account, and fuck the club and its fans.

In the world of football for decades Everton are now mere nobodies and it's going to take mega-bucks, AND know-how spending it, AND a dynamic young, successful manager who is bizarrely unaware of his own worth before it changes for the better.

That needs to change -- people need to stop making excuses and hold people at all levels of the club properly to account for their performances. I have been more critical of TFG than the manager, and more critical of the manager than the players. But at all levels, the circular excuse-making has to stop.

That includes us as supporters, as it has been excuse after excuse this week following the Brentford defeat:

The new signings are no good -- blame the recruitment team, not Moyes.
The home form is no good -- blame the players, not Moyes.
The away form is good -- praise Moyes, not the players.
We didn't invest in the squad in January -- blame the market, not TFG.

We have squandered opportunity after opportunity to solidify a Top 6 position, and the home defeats to Spurs, Newcastle, Brentford and Bournemouth were a joke, as were the draws with Leeds, Wolves and West Ham. 18 points wasted right there.

So I don't regard 8th place as good; everyone at the club has to do a lot better and we as supporters need to see things as they really are. Let's start holding people accountable for their performances rather than making excuses for our pet favourites.

It's like we have all been indoctrinated that shite is alright.

Excellent post. I know as Evertonians we love our football history, but for me it's very much about the here and now -- what happens in the next match.

The dumbing down drives me to utter distraction. It really should be all about our much-maligned -- and now simply ignored -- motto.

I'll stop before I repost the brilliant words fo Sr John Moores for the umpteenth time!!!

Jim Ratcliffe is one of the aforementioned nasty bits of work. I am pleased that the United players are up in arms about his comments.

Andrew, as I was saying, so that they can keep their visits to 'the Island' from being disclosed. Not really working out though.

Unfortunately

Go all out to try and get Troy Parrott in and as a second striker go for Liam Delap on a season long loan option to buy.

Forget all the mardarsing whinging he turned us down, he isn’t doing much at Chelsea, trust me he is a better option than Barry or Beto.

If we are looking to build for next season in mind, get O,Brien and Branthwaite as the centre half pairing, use the rest of the season to give Patterson more regular game time on the right and have some balls to sub Mykolenko and give Aznu15 minutes here and there.

Have the balls to drop Guaye now and again or a rest, and give Rohl a chance to add some energy in midfield, alongside Harrison Armstrong and Garner.

Too many players who are coming towards the end of their contracts and possibly career are getting picked, while other longer term players are having to play out of position or benched.

Maybe Patterson and Aznu are not the answer, but without trying we will never know, at least if we have a look with the season already over, at least then going into the summer we know for sure we have to sort the left and right back position out, or just maybe the answer is right in front of us bench warming every week.

Now should be the time where we seriously look at our squad and use it, no more playing players out of position, if we have a right back use it, likewise at left back.

The last player I will hit on is Dibbling, comes in for a game and then dropped, the lads confidence is rock bottom, frightened to death of losing the ball knowing he will come in for a bollocking and dropped, we have not seen the best of Dibbling but any manager worth his weight in gold would be putting their arm around Dibbling, telling him to go out there and believe in themselves.

Barry got loads of starts and was poor for a lot of the games but has got more confidence with starting regular, McNeil stank the place out for Months but still got picked, Dibbling and Patterson need the same chance and the more games they play, the more confident they will get.

Use the remainder of the season to try a plan b, play players in their natural positions.

I agree with most of it but I doubt half of your suggestions will happen, sadly.

Despite the set back on Tuesday we are “still” within touching distance of Europe and I think Moyes is making that his aim. I’m not convinced myself that we’ll be ready for that next season but I think Moyes will see it as a job well done and expect reward from TFG if it happens.

Personally I haven’t given up on either Myko or Patterson and I’m getting annoyed that the latter isn’t being given a fair crack. Whilst I see Branthwaite and O’Neill as our CB pairing next season I honestly can’t see Moyes dropping the captain and quite understand that. It’s a BIG decision to drop your skipper.

Aznou is one for the future and should be loaned out if he’s not going to play.

But I would dilute Gueyes appearances now and yes, I think Dibling needs some confidence building minutes.

Play George up top - I’ve had it with Barry and Beto, with Ndiaye left and Dibling right.

Rohl KDH Garner behind them but I also want to see more of Alcaraz

I’m looking forward to seeing these youngsters playing regularly next season - just not sure Moyes is the right tactician to use them to their potential. I hope we’re brave!

And yes to Delap (was he the guy that signed his name on the Everton wall in a bar near Goodison?) but I’m not sure on Parrot.

His presence alone would surely be a boost.

Barry looks up to Lukaku. Why not digest hours of watching his game and goals when not training or playing?

Or the great strikers past and present?

France have had some brilliant strikers.

Football is a short career. The learning never stops.

Barry should be putting in everything to learning and getting better.

Everything about his game is off, obviously apart from the occasional goal.

At 24, he should be upping his levels and he certainly needs to fill out.

I could be wrong and he is learning.

He has got legs that Deontay Wilder would be proud of.

Train those legs for more power, Barry 🦵

It’s time this striker grave yard stops being a thing.

The lone striker obsession doesn’t help either. Barry isn’t Bent or Johnson. It’s so 2004

'any manager worth his weight in gold would be putting their arm around Dibbling, telling him to go out there and believe in themselves'.

What does dead hard Moyes do? He gives him a public dressing down. Great stuff Moyes.

Francisco Conceicao and Johan Bakayoko were Everton's top right-wing targets, before they signed for Juventus and RB Leipzig respectively.

The Blues then turned to Tyler Dibling, who they chose to pursue over Leicester City’s Abdul Fatawu, Lille’s Matias Fernandez-Pardo, and three players who would sign for Nottingham Forest, Omari Hutchinson, Dilane Bakwa and James McAtee.

𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞: Paddy Boyland, The Athletic

From what I have seen of Hutchinson I would have taken him ahead of Dibling and thought so at the time. McAtee is not the right fit is he and he has struggled? But I'm not giving up on Dibling, like some.

Ian #145, agree, especially with KDH farther back -- it seems to me to me his natural slot, despite all his good work in attack. Don't rule out Iroegbunam in that DM picture, however. He's got pace and skills to burn if he ever gets his head around proper positioning.

Murph #143, who's this O'Neill? Haven't heard about him. Why do you think he will beat out O'Brien? 😉

Nice to see someone reads my posts.

Is “beat out” a euphemism tho?

All them common irish names sound the same to us Royalty.

No offence to Danny but I’d rather see him in the back four than Dwight!

After watching Wuthering Heights maybe Mark got distracted with Ryan O,Neil in the movie love story :-)

I’ll just check on Saints first….

Oh!

Morning mate!

If people can't post or respond to different views and opinions without resorting to sarcasm, ridicule or trolling they shouldn't post at all.

We're not all experts, writers or match goers but we shouldn't be harassed, trolled or ridiculed simply for putting forward what we thought was a good point, intelligent or not.

I thought TW had an entrance exam!

You needed to show depth of expertise, writing ability, proof of number of games attended and skills in putting another poster in their place and, of course, a birth certificate showing you were born 20 yards from Scottie Road or the like.

There may be many more of us contributing (or, even supporting the club - shock!) if this is a new, tougher editorial approach.

Perhaps there should be a breakaway site for those that meet all the criteria in para 2.

Could call it Premier-TW. Sure they wrecked our league system with that arrogant approach a few years ago.

In the here and now, Isaac Heath, our player on loan at Accrington Stanley, would most definitely do a better guaranteed job for Everton than Tyler Dibling simply because he wants to play and prove that he can be a footballer.

He is doing it in a rough, tough league while Dibling is making his mind up to have a fuckin' go.

I was more excited with his signing than Grealish. He has loads of ability and looked good in a very poor Saints team.

Maybe, if we hadn't signed Grealish, he would have got more game time but, as it stands, he is looking like an expensive mistake. The lad just doesn't look interested and not in the Cole Palmer way. He really looks like he doesn't want to be here.

Moyes has mentioned he is showing signs of aggression in training. Is it anger he needs or just a desire to play?

George looks like he wants to impact games of football; if that doesn't spur Dibling on, he could be on the way back to Saints on loan next season.

Mark 162, Totally agree.

Sadly in the modern impatient game, it is a question of waiting for encouraging development and increased confidence and not writing players off if no hat-tricks or a bucketful of assists in half a season.

Hope it works out.

But Grealish plays on the left and holds up play whereas Dibling plays on the right and was supposedly (?) bought for his pace.

Apples and oranges, surely?

That is exactly why those posts were deleted. It's just such fucking boring and repetitive shite... but will there be a reset? Leopards? Moyes? You know it ain't happening...

I shouldn't post this really as it will just trigger the usual suspects into more inane ranting, but I believe what you have said reflects the views of most readers on here and I wanted you at least to know I've seen it... and I approve this message!

If sarcasm ain't allowed I'm finished... but I'll go quietly.

The bile on this site from fellow fans is just another level entirely.

I must've missed the import of that sarcasm jibe in Mark's post.

I must confess I'm prone to it myself -- interesting how it gets people's backs up though. But hopefully a dollop of healthy sarcasm won't be enough to trigger the censor algorithm on here, so please keep posting.

In fact, please post more. But is this 'bile' of which you speak?

Durrr!!

🤪