Current squad

[Gilbert..]

To think beginning of last season we were all bigging up the defence, with the choice of Keane, Mina, the new signing in Godfrey, Holgate coming back from injury and tge the young Broard

Ive never bigged up this defence.
Ive never rated them.
Mina is possibly the best of them. When hes bloody fit.
Digne got away with his defensive weakness when he was playing well going in the other direction. But thats been a while now.
Godfrey and keane both get relegated from this league.
The defence has needed improving for a while. There isnt actualy a good "defender" among them

 

[Summer76]

Look at Liverpool, that squad would run through a brick wall for the club. It shows. Would our players?

Any player would run through a brick wall to be in a team with and pass to Salah.....Iwobi/Rondon/Davies not so much

 

[Tigger]

Personal favourite there was Delph the crocked tosser lol

 

[carolinablue232]

Richarlison too good for us but DCL only decent?

Richarlison is the better player. Though at the moment they’re both too good for us.

 

[carolinablue232]

Pickford: Top keeper, has to stay long term

Digne: Attacking left back, needs to adapt to Benitez' defensive tactics

Godfrey: Potential star, has to improve positioning with coaching, experience and a partner at the back.

Mina: One of the best centre backs in the league. We need to extend his contract

Doucoure: Machine

Allan: Wealth of experience who should be in the squad until hes 34

Gray/Richarlison/DCL: Excitement, mentality strong

Townsend: Experienced rotation option


Gordon/Onyango/etc: Lets see how they do


Its a solid base to build on but the key is getting contracts extended and building a new squad around our core players.

Though I disagree with some of this, in concept you’re right. There’s a foundation to build upon. Problem is we never do. Last time around when we had Rom, a firing Ross, Del, Stones, etc, it looked like the start of something. Then they were all gone in two years. Same will probably be the case with Rich, Dom, and even Gray if his form keeps up. We never build on what we have. Its simply rinse and repeat, never have any quality depth, and constantly run in place. I don’t have any faith things will actually change. At least not any time soon.

 

[GedMoore]

DCL and Rico

The rest can jog on

 

[Colonel Getafe]

Last time around when we had Rom, a firing Ross, Del, Stones, etc, it looked like the start of something. Then they were all gone in two years. Same will probably be the case with Rich, Dom, and even Gray if his form keeps up. We never build on what we have.

It's the reality of not being at the top of the food chain. Why would the likes of Lukaku and Stones stay when they could go and play for UCL clubs and win trophies elsewhere? Same with Richy and Dom. Once a top club with bigger wages and UCL football comes calling, they'll be off. The problem isn't losing players, the problem is we don't replace them with equally good players. Leicester lose Kante, Mahrez, Maguire etc and don't skip a beat with effective recruitment and money in the bank.

 

[carolinablue232]

DCL and Rico

The rest can jog on

Harsh on Gray, Mina, Digne, Pickford, and Townsend.

 

[Zatara]

Interesting views.

When you say digne has to adapt to the managers defensive tactics do you mean he just has to learn to defend?

And Godfrey. So basically he has to be a hell of a lot better with a player alongside him who will bail him out?

Mina one of the best in this league. Is that an Everton forum view?

Townsend right now isnt a rotation. He's been dragging the team along for the majority of this short season so far.

More interested in the defenders opinions though.
I'd happily get rid of them all.
None of them are good enough imo. Every single one of them make me nervous.

The 'style of play' under Benitez is different to anything Digne will have experienced before. Yes, he still makes runs forward but as @BlueToff has highlighted, the main focus of the full backs under Benitez is to sit back in position and stop crosses...all game. This is totally new for him and as an 'attacking full back' he hasnt played this way at Lille, PSG, Roma or Barca.

Godfrey doesnt need someone to 'bail him out'. In fact he's the one to play as the covering defender coming in behind his partner to mop up mistakes--as we saw for 60-70mins on saturday where he frequently rushed behind Keane. This is a new role for him and requires a strong leader alongside him to provide experience, he'll improve with gametime and learning the new role.

Who would you say was a better 'stopper' than Mina? There are some really good covering defenders like Fofana and Varane but who out there is really a better stopper, Maguire?! Hes up there with the best in the league imo.

If we are going to be listing down players 1-11 in terms of 'quality and potential' then Townsend isnt at the top of the list. Hes someone I thought was a good player on a free though would be a good rotation option once we bring in a new right winger.

I can think of many words I'd used to describe Pickford but I'm not sure 'top keeper' would be on the list. Top keepers save you 10-12 points a season, Pickford always looks like he's got a mistake in him and has made too many errors to count. Capable of making superb saves for sure, but then, how many Prem goalkeepers aren't?! And as for his "distribution": Allison has distribution, Ederson pings 70-yard assists every few weeks, meanwhile England's No1 is guaranteed to hit some old woman in Row F multiple times a game when he inevitably over hits a pass to whoever is wide on the halfway line because he's pumped up like Joe Hart. Can definitely think of a number of goalkeepers I'd rather see between the sticks than him.

He's an experienced England international who has been very good since seeing the psychologist. Allison is in world class form and Ederson is also similar quality but how good would Pickford look playing for a top 4 side? He's got to release the ball quicker and more accurately than recently for us to be effective on the counter.

Though I disagree with some of this, in concept you’re right. There’s a foundation to build upon. Problem is we never do. Last time around when we had Rom, a firing Ross, Del, Stones, etc, it looked like the start of something. Then they were all gone in two years. Same will probably be the case with Rich, Dom, and even Gray if his form keeps up. We never build on what we have. Its simply rinse and repeat, never have any quality depth, and constantly run in place. I don’t have any faith things will actually change. At least not any time soon.

I think we should look at this like Man City did. They had a 1st stage rebuild which took them 2-3 seasons where they went out and bought in 'names' and other competitors players in bulk. Some worked and the ones that didnt, they sold.

We have spent 6 summers to match fheir 2-3 years of progress. Weve used far less money comparatively and not seen anything like the same progress on the pitch.

At 'stage 2' we now need to sell those players who arent good enough and add quality and depth to the core.

It's the reality of not being at the top of the food chain. Why would the likes of Lukaku and Stones stay when they could go and play for UCL clubs and win trophies elsewhere? Same with Richy and Dom. Once a top club with bigger wages and UCL football comes calling, they'll be off. The problem isn't losing players, the problem is we don't replace them with equally good players. Leicester lose Kante, Mahrez, Maguire etc and don't skip a beat with effective recruitment and money in the bank.

Theres a lot of players out of contract next summer...really top players. If we were to strengthen with 3 of those and sell some of our existing squad players them we should move up a level over the season.

We need to make sure key current players contracts are extended and then in 2 summers time make another push with £200mil to strengthen the squad again to consistently push into the top 6 places.

If we can do that and then be more sniper rather than shotgun in our signings then we shouldnt be far off.

 

[bullybeef]

The OP @Big Sams Undies has pretty much summed em up.

Our squad is appalling bar a few.
The board need sacking.

 

[CairnsToffee]

The OP @Big Sams Undies has pretty much summed em up.

Our squad is appalling bar a few.
The board need sacking.

I agree, the most horrible squad in years, my opinion below:-

Pickford - I don't believe we can attract better than the England number 1
Digne - has been hopeless mid season last season and has gone steadily backwards
Keane - think he has 'pictures' of our managers, he isn't going anywhere even though the likes of Shane Duffy are better defenders than him, can pick a pass though that's a plus
Mina - Most consistent defender and we need to extend the contract, we have a woeful backroom team so the injuries will continue, will play 25 - 30 games a season
Coleman - great servant, time has come and gone
Allan - If we can stop him going missing for periods of the game, he would be invaluable
Doucoure - The engine room going forward, first touch isn't great hopefully still has three to four years at this level
Grey - Good player when we were looking at him before he went to Leicester for 12m, what we have been looking for a few years
Townsend - Attitude is fantastic, should get a good couple of years, squad player eventually
DCL/Richie - the two jewels in the bag of thorns, Richie I fear will be gone in the summer, Dom the following summer makes no sense for him to move now

Godfrey - looked great last season, looks League one this season, hopefully improves again
Gordon - lightweight and fades after 70 minutes, needs to be on the Unsworth diet for a couple of months to beef him up
Holgate - thinks he is class, is more championship, move on
Delph - Horrible dispense with ASAP
He whom cannot be named - gone, end of season
Gomes - too slow, never recovered from injury, who will buy with wages over 100k per week
G'Bamin - If he is not getting played now and we have no squad we need to move on
Tom Davies - Squad player
Iwobi - will be here next year, too much of a loss if we move him on now, very poor signing
Rondon - thought he was unfit realized he was just gash!
Kenny - League one or Scottish prem
Cenk - Deal in place apparently back to Besiktas in January, loan to end of contract
Two other goalies - Meh!

Thats what we are left with for over 600 million spent

Upstairs, Barrett Baxendale - no idea what she does, but get an email each month from her.....that I don't read anyway
Brands - on the board, takes September to end of June off by the looks of things - looks like one of the worst appointments ever...barring Koeman
Mosh - Spent a fortune, has Jimmy White as a mate, thought Cenk Tosun was a great player, no idea!

Think we will finish 12th - 14th, unless we can reinforce in January with a RB, CB,CM and CF (yeah good luck with that, will end up with Longstaff for 1 million, and a polish under 23 goalie)

 

[messymascot]

This my take on the squad

Potentially World Class
Richarlison

Very good have occasional dips of form
Pickford, Allan, Calvert-Lewin, Digne, Mina, Doucoure

Very good younger player good squad options
Gray, Godfrey

Decent squad player but shouldn't be a regular
Townsend, Coleman

Young players not quite ready
Gordon, Branthwaite

Injury prone
Delph, Gbamin

Players to fill the squad
Holgate, Keane, Begovic, Davies, Gomes

Not near good enough
Kenny, Iwobi, Tosun, Lonergan, Rondon

Lots of categories but only 1 and 6 in the top categories say it all. There should be 11 in them 2 caregories added together and at least 6 in the next 2 where we only have 4. Injury prone players however good they are or might be are a negative on the squad as we need players who are able to play on a regular basis.

 

[toffee-L]

We have a disgustingly average squad with very few players who anyone would give a damn about losing.

We need to manufacture some wiggle room in the market asap to freshen our squad up in January because with our injury curse seemingly targeting only our good players (and Delph of course) we may be heading for a spell of some very rough results.

We need a root and branch overhaul of how we recruit players, starting off by carting Marcel Brands to the pony league we picked him up from.

 

[BrendanGOT]

We have a disgustingly average squad with very few players who anyone would give a damn about losing.

We need to manufacture some wiggle room in the market asap to freshen our squad up in January because with our injury curse seemingly targeting only our good players (and Delph of course) we may be heading for a spell of some very rough results.

We need a root and branch overhaul of how we recruit players, starting off by carting Marcel Brands to the pony league we picked him up from.

Allan, Gray, Godfrey, Townsend, Calvert Lewin, Richarlison, Gordon, Doucoure and Mina are the only ones I'd be sad about losing right now. We need a lot of ins and outs based on that.

 

[cjuk87]

Any player would run through a brick wall to be in a team with and pass to Salah.....Iwobi/Rondon/Davies not so much

The point being, that team have a mentality from top to bottom of wanting to win. Does our board? Do our players? Do our fans?

I wrote elsewhere, I'm in the Park End and it's rapidly gone downhill. Fans used to argue with the away fans all game, chant and make noise. Now, there's literally no difference if we're 2-1 up or 5-2 down. I witnessed people just sat having a chat and laughing all game. It's a day out.

Comparing with Liverpool, their players know they have to win or they're having the finger pointed and other players won't accept it. We have a squad where half of them have this mentality (look at Richy as soon as he came on. Eager and determined) and half the team who, win, lose or draw. Simply don't care.

It's going to take time to rid the deadwood and the players who simply don't care. Instead, we'll sack the manager down the road and the same players will play under yet another manager.

Regardless of tactics etc (and he did get them wrong!) those players need the fans to come down hard on them.