2019/20 Marcel Brands

[Lanolin]

Not really. The two in front of him are in fantastic goalscoring form.

That doesn’t really address the point at hand though does it?

You can’t blame silva for not giving him enough minutes when he still isn’t getting any more minutes under ancelotti.

The logical thing to think is that he’s a raw 19 year old who’s got plenty of natural talent and potential but maybe isn’t quite as ready for PL football as we thought he was. For some reason though, we can’t accept that, and have to blame somebody else.

 

[Lanolin]

Because DCL and Richy are performing well, it’s a better dilemma for Ancelotti, Silva had no excuse not to play him when we were crying out for something different in the early part of the season

He looked woefully unsuited to the lone striker role though, so that’s not the case at all. The fact is, he’s a young lad who people massively overhyped. He can still be a great signing in the long run, but nothing I’ve seen of him suggests he’s been mismanaged at all. Three managers have all failed to put him in their first choice side, looking at it objectively the only conclusion to come to is that it’s because nobody thinks he’s ready to be. Suggesting that silva was just wrong but the others aren’t is just weird.

 

[BlueStevie35]

He looked woefully unsuited to the lone striker role though, so that’s not the case at all. The fact is, he’s a young lad who people massively overhyped. He can still be a great signing in the long run, but nothing I’ve seen of him suggests he’s been mismanaged at all. Three managers have all failed to put him in their first choice side, looking at it objectively the only conclusion to come to is that it’s because nobody thinks he’s ready to be. Suggesting that silva was just wrong but the others aren’t is just weird.

The team were struggling for goals early part of the season, he was and is a young talent with pace that could have offered something different and led to a change in tactics to suit, like Ferguson and Ancelotti have, yet Silva refused and only gave him 2 starts in his first 9 games, one of which was played out of position and got him hooked at half time.

The next 5 games after that he was given the sum total of 44 minutes, the bulk of which came in Silva’s last game, the mauling at Anfield, 2 of the 4 prior to that he was an unused sub, the other he was dropped entirely

As a starter under Silva he’s had 135 minutes game time and 103 as a sub, under Ancelotti and Ferguson combined he’s had 203 minutes as a starter and 180 minutes as a sub, playing a part in 11 of the last 14 games in all competitions

 

[Lanolin]

The team were struggling for goals early part of the season, he was and is a young talent with pace that could have offered something different and led to a change in tactics to suit, like Ferguson and Ancelotti have, yet Silva refused and only gave him 2 starts in his first 9 games, one of which was played out of position and got him hooked at half time.

The next 5 games after that he was given the sum total of 44 minutes, the bulk of which came in Silva’s last game, the mauling at Anfield, 2 of the 4 prior to that he was an unused sub, the other he was dropped entirely

As a starter under Silva he’s had 135 minutes game time and 103 as a sub, under Ancelotti and Ferguson combined he’s had 203 minutes as a starter and 180 minutes as a sub, playing a part in 11 of the last 14 games in all competitions

Lies, damned lies and statistics. You can just as easily flip it and say he played more minutes in the first 9 games under Silva than he has in the first 9 under Ancelotti, despite now having had time to settle, there being 2 places up for grabs etc. He's played a total of 8 minutes in the last 2 games. We chose to play Sigurdsson and Iwobi as wingers when everyone knows they're awful there rather than moving Richarlison wide and putting Kean in. We can all play this game of bending the narrative to suit our agenda.

There are only 2 things (from an external point of view) this season that could be classed as mismanagement of him in my opinion, and neither came under Silva. Firstly the double sub under Ferguson, then Ancelotti dropping him straight after he's finally had a good game and scored his first goal. His confidence would finally have been up, and we popped it like a balloon. But that's fine.

None of this is meant to have a go at Ancelotti, Ferguson, or Kean. It's the Brands thread, and he signed a player who I don't think was ready to contribute meaningfully to our season, and who I don't think suited the system we played at the time. Thankfully it isn't turning out as badly as it looked, because DCL has really come good and Kean can now be given time to find his feet and look to push on next season.

 

[MikeH72]

7th and 8th in his two seasons here, European qualification, moved a lot of players on and he picked up some gems that look now canny money makers, Gueye, Lookman, Vlasic and if DCL keeps improving could write of any losses he dropped clangers on and he made a few, depending on who you believe signed whom.....

Be interesting to compare the two holistically after two seasons.

What about all those players he signed that haven’t been canny money makers? You know, the ones we can’t give away that cost us a fortune and have drained the club of millions in wages like Sigurdsson, Schneiderlin, Bolasie, Keane, Sandro and Tosun?

 

[TheSecondComing]

One good summer one poor one, shall we all be sensible and give him another to prove last summer was a blip?

 

[davek]

I suspect Kenny will be sold for FFP purposes. Being an academy player it will be pure profit. He’s not as good as the two right backs we have which is saying something as they’re both terrible. Would be a wise move to sell him. Sit back and let the architect make his moves.

He is way superior to both Coleman and Sidibe. Have you seen him play?

 

[Neiler]

I think that's a fairer approach to Brands than I'm willing to give, tbh.

I was sold a line that he was here to give us stability. Can anyone say he's handed us that? If anything it's been Moshiri's pursuit and capture of Ancelotti that steadied the ship. I see overall a man who's added to our woes with his wrong headed signing policy and inability to get enough deals done for players we dont want. He's destabilised us if anything.

The "year 3" thing being a 'tie breaker': I understand the idea, but I dont think it works as a concept now that Ancelotti is here. He wont be handing Brands 'types' and asking him to get them within his preferred method of sifting through Raiola and Co.s highly paid discards late in the transfer window. Ancelotti will be supplying Brands with specific names to get signed...and quick. Brands will be more an old fashioned secretary on transfers from now on IMO.

...which goes to the heart of it for me: the DoF position is a BS one we dont need. And Brands is proving it.

I can see some good and some bad mate, but i said from the outset its a three year job and by the end of it there should be regular European qualification. I can point out things that i think haven't been great in the meantime and analyse, but ultimately ill stick to the statement i made at the beginning of it. generally i think there is an impatience in football that is often depleting.

Which brings us on to stability, in my opinion the single biggest depleting aspect for Everton since we last qualified for Europe, its been a manure show, depleting and undermining of all our players and its been a nut house environment, leaving us with a squad lacking balance because its been build by about 10 men inclusive of administrators. I have sympathy for a lot of players as signings as i think its been a difficult environment to develop and be your best in. A class manger like Anchelotti will always get a purr out of a team and that is what we are seeing. If Ancelotti can continue the teams run of form he has huge collateral in any negotiations. He strikes me as a poker player and he will have a huge influence behind the scenes in power brokering.

Broadly as you say, if you were to evaluate it has the DOF model made a huge difference to Everton? No, not really at this point. Realistically we were far better at player trading and arguably recruitment in the decade before a DOF with limited funds, under Moyes and arguably Martinez. There is an argument there to say recruitment has gotten worse, both in and out since we have gone into the DOF model. So you could make a case that we have worse players, with less value relatively speaking in eras, with higher wage bill, making bigger losses and paying someone five million we never used to over see it all. Maybe it will all come off and ill stick to my three year concrete judgement, but never any harm to do a state of the union.

I find it very hard to have an open discussion on the issue as you feel people have very polarised entrenched opinions on Brands, without weighing both the good and bad we have seen.

 

[davek]

I can see some good and some bad mate, but i said from the outset its a three year job and by the end of it there should be regular European qualification. I can point out things that i think haven't been great in the meantime and analyse, but ultimately ill stick to the statement i made at the beginning of it. generally i think there is an impatience in football that is often depleting.

Which brings us on to stability, in my opinion the single biggest depleting aspect for Everton since we last qualified for Europe, its been a manure show, depleting and undermining of all our players and its been a nut house environment, leaving us with a squad lacking balance because its been build by about 10 men inclusive on administrators. I have sympathy for a lot of players and performances as i think its been a difficult environment to develop and be your best in. A class manger like Anchelotti will always get a purr out of a team and that is what we are seeing. If Ancelotti can continue the teams run of form he has huge collateral in any negotiations. He strikes me as a poker player and he will have a huge influence behind the scenes in power brokering.

Broadly as you say, if you were to evaluate it has the DOF model made a huge difference to Everton? No, not really at this point. Realistically we were far better at player trading and arguably recruitment in the decade before a DOF with limited funds, under Moyes and arguably Martinez. There is an argument there to say recruitment has gotten worse, both in and out since we have gone into the DOF model. So you could make a case that we have worse players, with less value relatively speaking in eras, with higher wage bill, making bigger losses and paying someone five million we never used to over see it all. Maybe it will all come off and ill stick to my three year concrete judgement, but never any harm to do a state of the union.

I find it very hard to have an open discussion on the issue as you feel people have very polarised entrenched opinions on Brands, without weighing both the good and bad we have seen.

I completely agree with your last two paragraphs. The recruitment (and waste) of the last 4 years under this DoF system has been horrendous. Obvioulsy we have to factor into it the Koeman period where he over rode Walsh on many players, but the old manager dominated era generally served us well. And, yes, the cult of Brands will not easily be overcome, as too many people are unwilling to recognise they may have been wrong about him and swayed by the PR of the man.

On stability: I dont think we'll see Brands leaving, it would be an admission of another massive failure and send out the wrong message - but with Ancelotti here we stand a good chance of stability DESPITE Brands formal role at the club. He'll simply be bypassed, as he was by the owner on managerial hiring and firing.

No wonder the club are orchestrating face saving puff pieces for him.

 

[Saint Domingo]

He is way superior to both Coleman and Sidibe. Have you seen him play?

Yes. He struggled massively with us at the start of 17/18 to the point when Coleman returned people were calling Coleman an absolute class above. This is Coleman who struggles to pass or cross a ball. Unless Kenny has found a yard of pace in the bundesligue (which I’ll admit I’ve not watched him in that often) then he won’t be able to take us where we want to go. He’s technically neat, tries hard and is positionally pretty good, but if he’s in a foot race with the best wingers or forwards in the prem he’s not good enough.

 

[Toffeelover]

I completely agree with your last two paragraphs. The recruitment (and waste) of the last 4 years under this DoF system has been horrendous. Obvioulsy we have to factor into it the Koeman period where he over rode Walsh on many players, but the old manager dominated era generally served us well. And, yes, the cult of Brands will not easily be overcome, as too many people are unwilling to recognise they may have been wrong about him and swayed by the PR of the man.

On stability: I dont think we'll see Brands leaving, it would be an admission of another massive failure and send out the wrong message - but with Ancelotti here we stand a good chance of stability DESPITE Brands formal role at the club. He'll simply be bypassed, as he was by the owner on managerial hiring and firing.

No wonder the club are orchestrating face saving puff pieces for him.

Well Dave like it or not times have changed, BFS and RM signed up some trash as well.

 

[BlueStevie35]

He looked woefully unsuited to the lone striker role though, so that’s not the case at all. The fact is, he’s a young lad who people massively overhyped. He can still be a great signing in the long run, but nothing I’ve seen of him suggests he’s been mismanaged at all. Three managers have all failed to put him in their first choice side, looking at it objectively the only conclusion to come to is that it’s because nobody thinks he’s ready to be. Suggesting that silva was just wrong but the others aren’t is just weird.

The team were struggling for goals early part of the season, he was and is a young talent with pace that could have offered something different and led to a change in tactics to suit, like Ferguson and Ancelotti have, yet Silva refused and only gave him 2 starts in his first 9 games, one of which was played out of position and got him hooked at half time.

The next 5 games after that he was given the sum total of 44 minutes, the bulk of which came in Silva’s last game, the mauling at Anfield, 2 of the 4 prior to that he was an unused sub, the other he was dropped entirely

As a starter under Silva he’s had 135 minutes game time and 103 as a sub, under Ancelotti and Ferguson combined he’s had 203 minutes as a starter and 180 minutes as a sub

He is way superior to both Coleman and Sidibe. Have you seen him play?

Have you?

 

[Nymzee]

Have you?

All you need to watch from Kenny was him getting absolutely done for this goal:

 

[davek]

The team were struggling for goals early part of the season, he was and is a young talent with pace that could have offered something different and led to a change in tactics to suit, like Ferguson and Ancelotti have, yet Silva refused and only gave him 2 starts in his first 9 games, one of which was played out of position and got him hooked at half time.

The next 5 games after that he was given the sum total of 44 minutes, the bulk of which came in Silva’s last game, the mauling at Anfield, 2 of the 4 prior to that he was an unused sub, the other he was dropped entirely

As a starter under Silva he’s had 135 minutes game time and 103 as a sub, under Ancelotti and Ferguson combined he’s had 203 minutes as a starter and 180 minutes as a sub


Have you?

Yes, more than you have.

 

[davek]

All you need to watch from Kenny was him getting absolutely done for this goal:

Because that is an entirley representative moment in his time at Schalke...who want to retain him.

FFS.