Install the app
How to install the app on iOS

Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.

Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.

 

2020/21 Marcel Brands

Status
Not open for further replies.
Saint Domingo said:
Im not saying you are doing this, but there are numerous other posters who can rationalise away every success of Brands and then not accept any mitigation for his failures.

So Richalrison Allan James are all managerial signings, but Iwobi Delph and Bernard are definitely his.

Walsh/Martinez gets credit for DCL and Holgate but Brands first of all gets none for giving them the room in the squad to develop, but gets blame for not buying players in their positions who would actually have stopped their progress.

He got lucky with Godfrey, but people don’t accept he was unlucky that Gbamin and Gomes both got career altering injuries at the same time.

We expected unknown players, and when they arrive in Branthwaite and Nkonkou they’re not the right type of unknown (e.g a South American superstar that all the top clubs missed out on but we pick up for buttons despite international rules making that almost impossible)


He’s done some good things, and he’s made some mistakes. The overall trend in my view has been a positive one with better players now joining the club than the ones who leave which wasn’t always true in the period between Moyes leaving and Brands joining. Compared to 17/18 our best players are better, our manager is better, squad value is better. We are in a better position overall whether Allardyce’s odd 8th place finish obscures that or not.
Click to expand...
Im not his biggest fan, or of the whole DoF lark.
I was more getting the timeline on Godfrey right in my head...if I have it right, it was a reactive not a proactive signing...and up to now he got lucky on it.
Branthwaite not pulling up trees at Bburn.
Ancelotti doesn't seem to trust Nkounkou
Iwobi - I wouldnt pay him in washers
Delph, gives sick notes a bad name
Gbamin - bought him when he wasnt fully fit, If he ever was! aided and abetted by Silva playing him when fully fit and ruining him.
Bernard - a line from Vincent...
But I could have told you, Vincent
This (premier league) world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you...but at £80,000 a week each him and delph can do one
 
Last edited:
Carlito said:
He was talking about Keane.

I think it would have been better to use Lookman and Vlasic than to bring in these two, even just from a financial standpoint.

Bernard has barely featured in the last 18 months, and Delph and Kean have barely kicked a ball for us since joining.

That's without addressing the complete lack of cover (or even a reliable starter at right-back or right-wing) in key positions, or the fact that Gomes and Iwobi are constantly getting dropped / ragged off the pitch. Oh, and now King is here; another who doesn't get a sniff.

I don't think Id be calling for Brands to be sacked if his contract had more time to run, but I think it'd be a mistake to retain him.
Click to expand...

Bernard has played for us. Not well but he has played for us. Kean is on loan. Delph is injured. I’m talking about the likes of Browning, Garbutt, Robinson, Pennington, Galloway, Baningime, Tarashaj, Sandro. All taking a wage but literally offering nothing to the squad. The squad has been pared back which is good. It’s only really Besic who is now on the books at Finch Farm but is not part of the first team squad picture.
 
We bought Godfrey when we had a squad full of CBs but didn’t buy a RB or CM we were crying out for.
It seems we are still lacking in some positions, Brands needs to pull his finger out and support Carlo on the first team squad.
 
Saint Domingo said:
Bernard has played for us. Not well but he has played for us. Kean is on loan. Delph is injured. I’m talking about the likes of Browning, Garbutt, Robinson, Pennington, Galloway, Baningime, Tarashaj, Sandro. All taking a wage but literally offering nothing to the squad. The squad has been pared back which is good. It’s only really Besic who is now on the books at Finch Farm but is not part of the first team squad picture.
Click to expand...
Sandro was a disaster, but the rest are just youth players who, Garbutt aside, won't have been earning any more than the current crop that never play.

You obviously see some sort of grand plan taking shape under Brands, so I hope it'll soon become evident to me if he does end up staying.
 
Saint Domingo said:
Bernard has played for us. Not well but he has played for us. Kean is on loan. Delph is injured. I’m talking about the likes of Browning, Garbutt, Robinson, Pennington, Galloway, Baningime, Tarashaj, Sandro. All taking a wage but literally offering nothing to the squad. The squad has been pared back which is good. It’s only really Besic who is now on the books at Finch Farm but is not part of the first team squad picture.
Click to expand...
Most of those are just kids who've been replaced by other kids though. I'm not knocking Brands, but just making stuff up to support him doesn't really do anyone any favours.
 

Bluestar said:
That’s fine, but he also wasn’t a Brands signing. Inside intel on that.

The fact he hasn’t found a club as a free agent suggests it was an impossible job to sell him. I think some of the others are in that category as well. You might as well blame Ancelotti for not winning the CL this year as well. Impossible things are well... impossible.

I think we all agree that recruitment has to improve from where we’ve been. A huge amount of investment has been wasted and the squad is paper thin as a result.

Brands has made some good buys and some turkeys. I suspect that whether a player is an Ancelotti or a Brands signing, it is easier to attract better players when Ancelotti is the manager.
Click to expand...
Brands couldn't sell soup to starving navvies.
 
Lanolin said:
Most of those are just kids who've been replaced by other kids though. I'm not knocking Brands, but just making stuff up to support him doesn't really do anyone any favours.
Click to expand...

It’s not making stuff up. Look at the squad size in 17/18, look at the squad size now. Not only is it smaller but the group Carlo has to work with is far more manageable than the one Koeman had where he had players not even involved just training individually. Also most of them weren’t kids, they were early 20s but seemed like kids because they were rubbish and never playing. They’d all been given senior debuts under Martinez or in Koeman’s first season (maybe except for Robinson)
 
Carlito said:
Sandro was a disaster, but the rest are just youth players who, Garbutt aside, won't have been earning any more than the current crop that never play.

You obviously see some sort of grand plan taking shape under Brands, so I hope it'll soon become evident to me if he does end up staying.
Click to expand...

It’s not a grand plan to cut the squad of players who aren’t contributing. Those players weren’t even kids, they just weren’t very good. That’s not even including some players who did play in 17/18 that clearly weren’t good enough like Martina Niasse Klaasen etc. or weren’t used like Vlasic Lookman

There’s still areas of the squad to improve of course but out of the players Carlo has at Finch Farm at the moment who are fit, there’s only Besic who money is being ‘wasted’ on. All of the rest are being used even if some aren’t good enough.

I’m not saying it’s a grand plan, it’s basic squad housekeeping but no one was doing it before Brands came. We are now getting closer to having 2 players for each position. There are problem areas like RB, and some are blatantly not good enough, but we don’t have a scenario anymore like we did under Martinez and Koeman where we had multiple number 10s, 4 or 5 left backs, so many left wingers.

It feels like we’ve finally cut the squad down to something Carlo can work with now where players are feeling involved, there’s no one mooing round finch farm, and we have assets in the squad to trade for future purchases. That is a far better place than having a ginormous squad of absolute rubbish.
 

Saint Domingo said:
It’s not making stuff up. Look at the squad size in 17/18, look at the squad size now. Not only is it smaller but the group Carlo has to work with is far more manageable than the one Koeman had where he had players not even involved just training individually. Also most of them weren’t kids, they were early 20s but seemed like kids because they were rubbish and never playing. They’d all been given senior debuts under Martinez or in Koeman’s first season (maybe except for Robinson)
Click to expand...
But we've still got players like that now, that's the point. Gibson, Ouzonidis, Broadhead, Bowler etc are all early 20s. In 17/18 season the likes of Baningime and Robinson were 18 or 19. They weren't clogging up the squad any more than the lads that age are now. Again, i'm not saying it to suggest Brands is rubbish or whatever but it's just a non-point. Yes the likes of Pennington and Garbutt were a waste of wages, but the others aren't really any different to what we have now and what every club has. We've possibly become a little better at not holding on to players, but its possible thats just a cyclical thing and the most recent crop simply wasn't as good as the one before it and so got culled sooner.
 
Saint Domingo said:
It’s not a grand plan to cut the squad of players who aren’t contributing. Those players weren’t even kids, they just weren’t very good. That’s not even including some players who did play in 17/18 that clearly weren’t good enough like Martina Niasse Klaasen etc. or weren’t used like Vlasic Lookman

There’s still areas of the squad to improve of course but out of the players Carlo has at Finch Farm at the moment who are fit, there’s only Besic who money is being ‘wasted’ on. All of the rest are being used even if some aren’t good enough.

I’m not saying it’s a grand plan, it’s basic squad housekeeping but no one was doing it before Brands came. We are now getting closer to having 2 players for each position. There are problem areas like RB, and some are blatantly not good enough, but we don’t have a scenario anymore like we did under Martinez and Koeman where we had multiple number 10s, 4 or 5 left backs, so many left wingers.

It feels like we’ve finally cut the squad down to something Carlo can work with now where players are feeling involved, there’s no one mooing round finch farm, and we have assets in the squad to trade for future purchases. That is a far better place than having a ginormous squad of absolute rubbish.
Click to expand...

All credit to Brands for achieving that.
 

Status
Not open for further replies.

Welcome

Join Grand Old Team to get involved in the Everton discussion. Signing up is quick, easy, and completely free.

Register
Back
Top