2020/21 Marcel Brands

[Bluestar]

This part I can't agree with.

The only natural right-back who the manager is willing to use has been in an injury-induced decline for years, and he doesn't always play when fit.

There's no natural cover at left-back that the manager is willing to use.

There's no natural cover at right-mid, despite it being well understood that the first-choice option was never going to be reliable.

There's no natural cover at centre-forward that the manager is willing to use, as evidenced by King remaining on the bench when Calvert-Lewin was injured.

The excuse is always that Brands's hands are tied because Walsh has saddled the club with expensive flops on prohibitive contracts, but we've recently been informed that the most expensive flop of all is to be offered a new contract at the end of the season.

It was a difficult job to walk into, and we don't know what sort of brief he's working towards, but I'm very surprised that anyone could look at the squad and believe that this is going well.

I think they hoped that the right back cover would be JJK and that he would step up. It hasn’t worked out though and Carlo seems more ruthless in moving players out who he wont use.

At left back I think they had hoped to convince Baines to give them another season. When he retired they were left scrambling for cover. Nkounkou looks like he could develop well, but Carlo doesn’t trust youngsters.

Right mid cover is Iwobi. He’s just not good enough.

CF cover should have been Moise Kean, but again the unwillingness to use youth meant that he forced a loan move. It happened late on, so no chance to replace.

All foreseeable issues, but when combined with all the other problems we had last summer, I think it came down to priorities. We simply could not afford to do everything. We brought in five players. I doubt the budget stretched to eight, particularly with Bolasie, Tosun, Walcott and Besic all still consuming salary.

 

[Carlito]

I think they hoped that the right back cover would be JJK and that he would step up. It hasn’t worked out though and Carlo seems more ruthless in moving players out who he wont use.

At left back I think they had hoped to convince Baines to give them another season. When he retired they were left scrambling for cover. Nkounkou looks like he could develop well, but Carlo doesn’t trust youngsters.

Right mid cover is Iwobi. He’s just not good enough.

CF cover should have been Moise Kean, but again the unwillingness to use youth meant that he forced a loan move. It happened late on, so no chance to replace.

All foreseeable issues, but when combined with all the other problems we had last summer, I think it came down to priorities. We simply could not afford to do everything. We brought in five players. I doubt the budget stretched to eight, particularly with Bolasie, Tosun, Walcott and Besic all still consuming salary.

It all smacks of a very piecemeal, 'see how things go' approach to me, but then that's been the case for as long as I've been following Everton.

I wouldn't mind, but it seems like the whole point of having a DoF is to bring continuity / long-term planning, so you'd think that the squad would have a more balanced look to it by now.

 

[Curtis]

I feel as a DOF one should fulfill the role of the Wolf from pulp fiction- serve as facilitator and rectify issues , a fixer to correct deficiencies in the squad and also be a meteorologist able to forecast potential weaknesses in the future. He failed in both those roles although Allan and Doucoure were solid additions it left us still grappling for supremacy in the midfield. Also if Godfrey wasn't so versatile we would of experienced a grim scenario as the young french dude wasnt deemed formidable enough. He should of been aware of coleman's erosion of form and planned contingencies. Not every decision is going to be impeccable but there's just an abundance of flawed choices that have become impossible to disregard. He's made some clever signings but the debacles outweigh the positives in my opinion.v

 

[Zatara]

This man needs to pluck the CM of his life this summer cause it'll change everything if we get the right one in.

In no particular order...2 of these:
Gravenberch
Camavinga
Kamara
Guimaraes
Bellingham
Kessie

Plus a Reece James clone for RB

Aarons
Emerson

 

[blue1948]

It all smacks of a very piecemeal, 'see how things go' approach to me, but then that's been the case for as long as I've been following Everton.

I wouldn't mind, but it seems like the whole point of having a DoF is to bring continuity / long-term planning, so you'd think that the squad would have a more balanced look to it by now.

How , just tell me how .Even the most blinkered know it is a matter of trying to get the dross out first and you have to agree he has done all he can from basically giving them away up to loans and the odd few sales .
Carlo has said the size of the squad he wants and they both know who he wants so what can Marcel do ? Other than have a word with Harry Potter .

 

[HumbleWedbetters]

Brands got us James for free, doucoure for £20m, Allan a bit more, our previous regime would have handed over at least double for those players.

 

[Toffe3m4n]

It all smacks of a very piecemeal, 'see how things go' approach to me, but then that's been the case for as long as I've been following Everton.

I wouldn't mind, but it seems like the whole point of having a DoF is to bring continuity / long-term planning, so you'd think that the squad would have a more balanced look to it by now.

Maybe that's what Ancelotti preferred? it's only his first full season here, it was essentially a free hit for him.

He'll have this current crop of players sussed now and will know what he wants.

 

[Saint Domingo]

How , just tell me how .Even the most blinkered know it is a matter of trying to get the dross out first and you have to agree he has done all he can from basically giving them away up to loans and the odd few sales .
Carlo has said the size of the squad he wants and they both know who he wants so what can Marcel do ? Other than have a word with Harry Potter .

To add to this Brands literally can’t sell some our players. If they’re sold below their book value then we crystallise the accounting loss which negatively affects our FFP position meaning less transfer funds available. The crude example being if Siggurdson was bought for 50 mill on a 5 year contract, after two years his book value is still 30 mill. We’d therefore have to attract a bid above this to turn any FFP profit. If we accepted a bid of 10 mill at this time, we’d have crystallised on the books a 20 million pound loss in FFP terms and that would mean less money can be spent over a three year period. This is why so many players are out on loan until the final year of their contracts because only then does their value dip below what someone might pay for them.

Fortunately Brands knows this and has worked to get these players out on loan or sold where possible to allow us to stay just about on the right side of FFP. But it’s a lot easier isn’t it just to berate him on here for not selling players that no one wants to buy.

 

[degsy]

To add to this Brands literally can’t sell some our players. If they’re sold below their book value then we crystallise the accounting loss which negatively affects our FFP position meaning less transfer funds available. The crude example being if Siggurdson was bought for 50 mill on a 5 year contract, after two years his book value is still 30 mill. We’d therefore have to attract a bid above this to turn any FFP profit. If we accepted a bid of 10 mill at this time, we’d have crystallised on the books a 20 million pound loss in FFP terms and that would mean less money can be spent over a three year period. This is why so many players are out on loan until the final year of their contracts because only then does their value dip below what someone might pay for them.

Fortunately Brands knows this and has worked to get these players out on loan or sold where possible to allow us to stay just about on the right side of FFP. But it’s a lot easier isn’t it just to berate him on here for not selling players that no one wants to buy.

I might kick Brands for some things, but not being able to sell the unsellable shouldn't really be one of them.

 

[Toffeelover]

I might kick Brands for some things, but not being able to sell the unsellable shouldn't really be one of them.

Quite right, they can only be moved on if another club wants them and will pay the price. Add to that the player himself has to be willing to go.

 

[Lanolin]

To be fair he 'getting rid of the deadwood' argument is just a circular one. The criticism of him not getting rid of players tends - generally speaking - to be in response to people praising him for having got rid of the deadwood. People point out that actually, he hasn't, and somehow the argument gets turned round as if people are saying he should have. I don't blame him at all for not being able to sell some of our wasters, but I will take issue with people saying 'he's done an amazing job getting rid of all that deadwood' when most of them have just been loaned or their contracts have ended. That's not doing an amazing job. It's perfectly understandable, but it's not amazing.

 

[Simon Buttle]

To be fair he 'getting rid of the deadwood' argument is just a circular one. The criticism of him not getting rid of players tends - generally speaking - to be in response to people praising him for having got rid of the deadwood. People point out that actually, he hasn't, and somehow the argument gets turned round as if people are saying he should have. I don't blame him at all for not being able to sell some of our wasters, but I will take issue with people saying 'he's done an amazing job getting rid of all that deadwood' when most of them have just been loaned or their contracts have ended. That's not doing an amazing job. It's perfectly understandable, but it's not amazing.

Also he has added plenty of his own deadwood with the likes of Delph, Iwobi, and Bernard and the utter farce that has been the Moise Kean saga (before anyone starts with the nonsense, yes i know we will make some money back from him but ultimately he was bought to make a difference HERE, with us)

 

[brieverton]

I'm all for continuity, but it isn't everything. We have continuity of being largely mediocre.

I expect Brands will stay on, but his position should at least be subject to serious review in my opinion.

The window of transfer dealings in the summer before last was especially poor, and we are still feeling the effects.

Bernard, Gomes, Delph, Iwobi, Lossl, they are all very poor signings. Credit for Godfrey and at least we should get back what we paid for Kean.

Three years on and whilst there is stability and very gradual improvement, from a purely footballing point of view, we still look very bad on the eye.

We have a lot of "meh" players - invariably lacking pace, technical ability, goal-scoring. We still look terribly uncomfortable in possession.

I could see the rationale for Ancelotti bringing in trusted and experienced players last season and it has worked when they are fit - but we need to rely more on younger players with potential and ability in the Godfrey mould, particularly across midfield still.

We haven't seen much of that at all from Brands. He brought in Gretar Steinsson as head of European scouting and its hard to see in tangible terms what has been achieved there, apart from Nkounkou, who isn't ready.

 

[Bluestar]

It all smacks of a very piecemeal, 'see how things go' approach to me, but then that's been the case for as long as I've been following Everton.

I wouldn't mind, but it seems like the whole point of having a DoF is to bring continuity / long-term planning, so you'd think that the squad would have a more balanced look to it by now.

You would, but there are some very specific challenges.

I think you would ideally look to have a first team player plus understudy, then a promising U23 For the main positions.

The transfer ban has hampered part of that plan.

Secondly, the poor signings of the previous regime clogged the squad. The lack of transfer fee received and salary absorbed can’t be ignored. It’s the main reason the squad is thin and unbalanced.

Thirdly, the Moise Kean situation was facilitated by an agent we cant afford to upset.

Forthly, we have been unduly affected by injuries. Gbamin, Coleman, Gomes, Alla, Doucoure, James, Bolasie etc.

If in another universe, Walcott, Tosun, Niasse, or Bolasie had been any good, or Moise Kean stayed, or Iwobi stepped up, or Gbamin returned fit, the squad would have felt much more stacked and there would have been far more attacking options.

It feels to me that we have been firefighting. We have just not been able to get on the front foot. FFP has also been a limiting factor, but hopefully this summer is the turning point when several of the long term problems are gone and the headroom is there to plan.

 

[blue1948]

Also he has added plenty of his own deadwood with the likes of Delph, Iwobi, and Bernard and the utter farce that has been the Moise Kean saga (before anyone starts with the nonsense, yes i know we will make some money back from him but ultimately he was bought to make a difference HERE, with us)

My god with that argument we would have sacked Howard Kendall first season ,he bought 9 players if I remember correctly and they were generally very poor .
If you want everyone to do well that is more than any manager or DoF has ever done ,then you dismiss that we might make a profit on the ones who cannot settle ! You really want your cake and eat it .