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Hunt For The Top Four

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B

Boston Blue Sox

Player Valuation: £50k
Hi, all. An annoying yank toffee, here. I'm relatively new to following football and I'm even newer to supporting Everton. I don't have the bruises you all do; I haven't lived the anguish, I haven't experienced the heartache, and I haven't spent decades desperate to see this club win a trophy once more. In light of that, I certainly understand why you would be skeptical of anything I suggest on this forum (I sure as hell would be skeptical of any of your takes about the World Series). But I also think that new blood can be good. A new perspective can be good. Fandom that's not weighed down by the failures of the past can be good.

So with that said, let me ask you all one question: can Everton really not finish in the top four this year?

I started following Everton last season. Baseball was over and COVID had delayed the start of the NBA. I despise American football and I had enough English friends that I already had a working knowledge of the Premier League so I figured I'd finally dive in. Desperate for a team, I latched on to Everton for two reasons:

(1) They weren't the RS. As a Red Sox fan disgusted by John Henry's ownership after the team traded its best player in generations for money, I wanted no part of the RS. Knowing that Everton was their chief rival was enough for me to be interested.

And...

(2) Everton looked damn good to me. This club was/is filled with exciting young players. The club was/is managed by one of the respected football minds in the world. The club was/is earning impressive results (if not mixed in with frustration). It looked like a fun club, a promising club, and I wanted in.

Well, it's a year later and the club still looks promising and fun to me. And now I look at the table and I can't help but think: why not us?

Yes, the Watford match was [Poor language removed] brutal. But as far as I can see, the fourth spot is wide open. United is a mess and they're about to undergo a managerial change. Spurs have a negative goal differential. Leicester, Arsenal, and Wolves look formidable but flawed. Brentford is due to fade. We've already beaten Brighton, and we could've beaten the Hammers with a full squad.

I'm sure I'm a little on the naive side of the river, but I also see no reason to give up on a top four spot at this point. In fact, with United reeling and Newcastle still a couple of years away from being able to flex the financial muscles, this might be the best chance we have to slip into the Champions. And then once we're there and we get a slice of that TV money, who knows how long we can stick around?

I'm sure this team is flawed in ways that I, as a football novice, still can't see quite clearly. But I can see the table pretty [Poor language removed] clearly, and it tells me that we've got a chance.

Tell me I'm wrong.

Up the [Poor language removed] Toffees.
 
Boston Blue Sox said:
Hi, all. An annoying yank toffee, here. I'm relatively new to following football and I'm even newer to supporting Everton. I don't have the bruises you all do; I haven't lived the anguish, I haven't experienced the heartache, and I haven't spent decades desperate to see this club win a trophy once more. In light of that, I certainly understand why you would be skeptical of anything I suggest on this forum (I sure as hell would be skeptical of any of your takes about the World Series). But I also think that new blood can be good. A new perspective can be good. Fandom that's not weighed down by the failures of the past can be good.

So with that said, let me ask you all one question: can Everton really not finish in the top four this year?

I started following Everton last season. Baseball was over and COVID had delayed the start of the NBA. I despise American football and I had enough English friends that I already had a working knowledge of the Premier League so I figured I'd finally dive in. Desperate for a team, I latched on to Everton for two reasons:

(1) They weren't the RS. As a Red Sox fan disgusted by John Henry's ownership after the team traded its best player in generations for money, I wanted no part of the RS. Knowing that Everton was their chief rival was enough for me to be interested.

And...

(2) Everton looked damn good to me. This club was/is filled with exciting young players. The club was/is managed by one of the respected football minds in the world. The club was/is earning impressive results (if not mixed in with frustration). It looked like a fun club, a promising club, and I wanted in.

Well, it's a year later and the club still looks promising and fun to me. And now I look at the table and I can't help but think: why not us?

Yes, the Watford match was [Poor language removed] brutal. But as far as I can see, the fourth spot is wide open. United is a mess and they're about to undergo a managerial change. Spurs have a negative goal differential. Leicester, Arsenal, and Wolves look formidable but flawed. Brentford is due to fade. We've already beaten Brighton, and we could've beaten the Hammers with a full squad.

I'm sure I'm a little on the naive side of the river, but I also see no reason to give up on a top four spot at this point. In fact, with United reeling and Newcastle still a couple of years away from being able to flex the financial muscles, this might be the best chance we have to slip into the Champions. And then once we're there and we get a slice of that TV money, who knows how long we can stick around?

I'm sure this team is flawed in ways that I, as a football novice, still can't see quite clearly. But I can see the table pretty [Poor language removed] clearly, and it tells me that we've got a chance.

Tell me I'm wrong.

Up the [Poor language removed] Toffees.
Click to expand...

I love your optimistic enthusiasm as one with 52 years of bruises!

Basically, the problem for many years has been a lack of passion and fight in lots of pampered, grossly overpaid individuals.

Very few exceptions in the past 26 years, with probably Pickford, Coleman, Gray, Townsend, Mina, DCL and Richy the ones that at least show desire to win and some sort of anger when things go wrong - and yes all of them can make mistakes, but they seem to care.

Saturday was the worst collapse since losing to the RS 0-5 in Nov 82 - a match that unfortunately I travelled overnight from and back to Ireland to witness.

As for top four, no I'm afraid that will be Chelsea, City, RS and a.n. other, but I can't see EFC simply because of the paper thin squad.

Hopefully RB steadies the ship this week before Wolves away next Monday.

With a lot of luck we might get top 8.
 
If we look at the table in reverse there is a possibility. :D

When DCL is going to be out for another month, Doucoure maybe two, we'll already be out of contention by the time they return. If we didn't have these injuries then there was an outside chance due to utd having a melt down. Now that outside chance is a one in a million shot as the next time we step out on to the pitch without aforementioned players the rest will turn into the cowards from previous years.
 

The binman chronicles said:
If we look at the table in reverse there is a possibility. :D

When DCL is going to be out for another month, Doucoure maybe two, we'll already be out of contention by the time they return. If we didn't have these injuries then there was an outside chance due to utd having a melt down. Now that outside chance is a one in a million shot as the next time we step out on to the pitch without aforementioned players the rest will turn into the cowards from previous years.
Click to expand...
Agree with this although being optimistic with DCL, they saying after Xmas, some rumours saying March
 

Boston Blue Sox said:
Hi, all. An annoying yank toffee, here. I'm relatively new to following football and I'm even newer to supporting Everton. I don't have the bruises you all do; I haven't lived the anguish, I haven't experienced the heartache, and I haven't spent decades desperate to see this club win a trophy once more. In light of that, I certainly understand why you would be skeptical of anything I suggest on this forum (I sure as hell would be skeptical of any of your takes about the World Series). But I also think that new blood can be good. A new perspective can be good. Fandom that's not weighed down by the failures of the past can be good.

So with that said, let me ask you all one question: can Everton really not finish in the top four this year?

I started following Everton last season. Baseball was over and COVID had delayed the start of the NBA. I despise American football and I had enough English friends that I already had a working knowledge of the Premier League so I figured I'd finally dive in. Desperate for a team, I latched on to Everton for two reasons:

(1) They weren't the RS. As a Red Sox fan disgusted by John Henry's ownership after the team traded its best player in generations for money, I wanted no part of the RS. Knowing that Everton was their chief rival was enough for me to be interested.

And...

(2) Everton looked damn good to me. This club was/is filled with exciting young players. The club was/is managed by one of the respected football minds in the world. The club was/is earning impressive results (if not mixed in with frustration). It looked like a fun club, a promising club, and I wanted in.

Well, it's a year later and the club still looks promising and fun to me. And now I look at the table and I can't help but think: why not us?

Yes, the Watford match was [Poor language removed] brutal. But as far as I can see, the fourth spot is wide open. United is a mess and they're about to undergo a managerial change. Spurs have a negative goal differential. Leicester, Arsenal, and Wolves look formidable but flawed. Brentford is due to fade. We've already beaten Brighton, and we could've beaten the Hammers with a full squad.

I'm sure I'm a little on the naive side of the river, but I also see no reason to give up on a top four spot at this point. In fact, with United reeling and Newcastle still a couple of years away from being able to flex the financial muscles, this might be the best chance we have to slip into the Champions. And then once we're there and we get a slice of that TV money, who knows how long we can stick around?

I'm sure this team is flawed in ways that I, as a football novice, still can't see quite clearly. But I can see the table pretty [Poor language removed] clearly, and it tells me that we've got a chance.

Tell me I'm wrong.

Up the [Poor language removed] Toffees.
Click to expand...
OK I'll bite, you're wrong.
 
If our band of brave lionhearts get even a whiff of performance pressure being placed on them, they will likely crumble beneath it. I suspect 12th to 8th is where they will be comfortable and prepared to strive toward...and I think they might achieve the former. Asking them to have ambitions of top 4 is asking for trouble, perhaps even a flirt with relegation.


NSNO
 

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