2020/21 Marcel Brands

[Jadubsee]

Huge failure on his part if we fail to bring in a striker today. How can a Premier League team be expected to achieve anything with just one out-and-out senior striker in the entire squad?

 

[Nymzee]

I think we just told him he could go for free.

I haven't seen any fee mentioned anywhere and I highly doubt that if we got one off of a team in the Danish league that it would be worth publishing. Any money we got for him will have been tiny.

A fee is a fee. I didn't proclaim he got sold for mega bucks.

 

[TheSecondComing]

Huge failure on his part if we fail to bring in a striker today. How can a Premier League team be expected to achieve anything with just one out-and-out senior striker in the entire squad?

Not like we’ve got loads of wide players who score goals either

 

[Lanolin]

I don’t disagree, but last season the priority was midfield, Gana and Lookman were leaving so we had to get cover so in came Gbamin Gomes Delph Iwobi and Kean. Centreback we tried but missed out on, and then Branthwaite arrived in January as a 4th CB.

The priority this summer was again the midfield, everyone was unanimous in that Gbamin Gomes and Delph were crocked or just back from injury and the rest were complete rubbish and Schneiderlin had left. So the budget went on Allan Doucoure James. Holgate’s injury probably pushed us into getting Godfrey and Nkonkou was cover for Baines going that we had to sort out.

Then the priority became ‘we have to get a right back’. Now after loaning, Kean, Simms, Walcott, the priority has become sorting upfront.

The problem is that if you look in almost any position in the team apart from centreback now there’s still major work to be done. There’s not enough money to address all of it in one window. Maybe Brands and Ancelotti thought Iwobi/Bernard would step up and we’d be playing Richarlison down the middle far more with Tosun as third choice and we could use the money on one of the players we bought. Who knows.

Its just easy in hindsight to blast Brands for what he missed but in the summer everyone was crying out for midfielders.

That's part of the job though isn't it. He has a budget, and he has to use that budget to buy the players we need. If, for example, you have £50m and need two midfielders and a striker then you buy 2 midfielders and a striker who cost £50m or less. If you choose to spend the £50m on just two midfielders and screw the striker then that's fine, but you have to accept that you're going to be judged on how that works out. Despite the way some people talk about it, we're really not in anything like a unique position in having some players we don't really want and not having an unlimited amount of money to bring in new signings. It happens to everyone, you just have to find a way to make it work.

 

[Saint Domingo]

Right back
Right wing.
Back up forward.

None addressed in twelve months

Im not arguing what any of that. All I’m saying is that when Brands picked up the squad in 17/18 we had Pickford (who most people now deem not good enough) Coleman (ditto) Gueye and maybe Walcott as players that any Everton fan might have deemed worthy of keeping. Even then only Gueye and Pickford were saleable.

Brands effectively had to replace every other player. We had very little working capital left as Koeman had saddled us with FFP issues, and barely any of the squad had any value for an interested buyer whatsoever.

So Brands effectively had to revolutionise the squad although his hands were tied at every single turn as fans didn’t really want Gueye our only ‘best player’ sold .

I’m not saying that the criticism of him isn’t true but in my opinion at least i think there’s some context. Most people expected it to be a long and painful rebuild from the pit of 17/18

 

[Saint Domingo]

That's part of the job though isn't it. He has a budget, and he has to use that budget to buy the players we need. If, for example, you have £50m and need two midfielders and a striker then you buy 2 midfielders and a striker who cost £50m or less. If you choose to spend the £50m on just two midfielders and screw the striker then that's fine, but you have to accept that you're going to be judged on how that works out. Despite the way some people talk about it, we're really not in anything like a unique position in having some players we don't really want and not having an unlimited amount of money to bring in new signings. It happens to everyone, you just have to find a way to make it work.

Yeah I get this and maybe that’s what Brands and Carlo have done. Perhaps it was a case of we’ll take the midfielders we want this window, hope Richy DCL James see us through, then address other areas next season. Perhaps that’s why Carlo has been plying down expectations all season. Who knows? Not me for sure. I just think it’s easy to draw up a list of positions not addressed in the squad. I’m sure Brands doesn’t sit there thinking what a great squad we have with no gaps whatsoever but he might have to live with the criticism of the choices he does make.

 

[LouReedwalkonthewildside]

I think we just told him he could go for free.

I haven't seen any fee mentioned anywhere and I highly doubt that if we got one off of a team in the Danish league that it would be worth publishing. Any money we got for him will have been tiny.

Haven't seen any fee mentioned myself. Read that he was supposedly offered the choice to go now or wait till the Summer and he decided to leave now because of the Euro's coming up. Sounds like we were offering to terminate his contract.

 

[BlueStevie35]

8 hours left, tick tock

 

[Nymzee]

8 hours left, tick tock

Please stop - it's boring.

 

[toffeeblue9]

Huge failure on his part if we fail to bring in a striker today. How can a Premier League team be expected to achieve anything with just one out-and-out senior striker in the entire squad?

I'm going to go out on a limb here and just say that he isn't stupid. If nobody comes in, it'll most likely be because we have money issues for the first time in a good while.

 

[catcherintherye]

Yeah I get this and maybe that’s what Brands and Carlo have done. Perhaps it was a case of we’ll take the midfielders we want this window, hope Richy DCL James see us through, then address other areas next season. Perhaps that’s why Carlo has been plying down expectations all season. Who knows? Not me for sure. I just think it’s easy to draw up a list of positions not addressed in the squad. I’m sure Brands doesn’t sit there thinking what a great squad we have with no gaps whatsoever but he might have to live with the criticism of the choices he does make.

The list of positions never ends either. There is always one more position that needs filling, whether we are 18th or 5-8th in the league. Thats not a dig at people either, it's because we all want to get better all of the time.

Right back- Mason Holgate currently has the shirt. He's done well in that position. He has for the time being at least, resolved that issue
Right Wing- Iwobi is beginning to show some form there.
Back up Forward- This is the biggest risk for me. We have essentially let 3 lads go on loan. 2 of the 3 it is a short term hit for a long term potential gain if they can kick on. It's a risk though. However, the manager may have stated he has happy with Gylfi as a 3rd back up option.

I'll be honest, if nobody comes in though, something feels very off about this window. With Brands contract coming up, it smells a bit like an owner who wants a new DOF and ultimately doesn't want anymore money going via Brands. I am not going to make a big moral judgement on that, other than to say it would seem quite an odd decision to come to in terms of timing.

 

[LocalNative]

Huge failure on his part if we fail to bring in a striker today. How can a Premier League team be expected to achieve anything with just one out-and-out senior striker in the entire squad?

Tbh mate I was annoyed but at the same time, who could we bring in? Very little clubs have been able to do any business, it's difficult given COVID restrictions and finances at the moment. West Ham sold their only CF and haven't been able to replace him which tells a story in itself. The RS are stuck with bringing in a mediocre Championship CB - the market just isn't there.

 

[davek]

Pickford - crap
Klaasen - crap
Ramirez- crap
keane - good
Vlasic - crap
Martina - crap
Bolasie - crap
Gueye - good
Schneiderlin - crap
Lookman - crap
Williams - crap
Stekelenburg - crap
Calvert lewin - good
Sigurdsson - crap
Onyekuru - crap
Tosun - crap
Walcott - crap
Rooney - crap

That's a shocking list, especially when you factor in the cost. The fact that most are gone tells you all you need to know.

In bold: Koemageddon signings.

 

[welshtoffee]

Tbh mate I was annoyed but at the same time, who could we bring in? Very little clubs have been able to do any business, it's difficult given COVID restrictions and finances at the moment. West Ham sold their only CF and haven't been able to replace him which tells a story in itself. The RS are stuck with bringing in a mediocre Championship CB - the market just isn't there.

Dont talk utter sense its not allowed on here

 

[LocalNative]

Pickford - crap
Klaasen - crap
Ramirez- crap
keane - good
Vlasic - crap
Martina - crap
Bolasie - crap
Gueye - good
Schneiderlin - crap
Lookman - crap
Williams - crap
Stekelenburg - crap
Markelo - crap
Gibson - don't know yet
Mathis - crap
Bowler - crap
Adeniran - crap
Calvert lewin - good
Sigurdsson - crap
Onyekuru - crap
Tosun - crap
Walcott - crap
Rooney - crap

That's a shocking list, especially when you factor in the cost. The fact that most are gone tells you all you need to know.

Jesus wept. That's about £250m worth of utter turd aside from Keane, DCL and Gueye.