I noticed quite recently he mention about us being busier or some turd. I heard there was some digs thrown too earlier in the window. Hopefully his heads gone.
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CRIMHEAD
Player Valuation: £40m
Absolutely. He didn't move to sit on the bench. He's also a lot better than DCL.
Who?
Well he said they didn’t need signings so lol
I read an article at the end of last season though he said they need to splash the cash or along those lines, he's a walking contradiction who probably sniffs his own chair when he gets up.
The burden will fall on Moise Kean to sharpen what has been, for rather too long, a blunt Everton attack and there is now responsibility on Yerry Mina to stay fit and provide leadership at centre half.
André Gomes has to step up, Jean-Philippe Gbamin and Alex Iwobi must make an impact, Richarlison needs more consistency and Lucas Digne to maintain the standards set last season.
Yet arguably the spotlight shines brightest on the manager, Marco Silva.
As Everton prepare to begin their season away to Crystal Palace tomorrow, where the welcome will be frostier than normal given their forlorn pursuit of Wilfried Zaha this week, the challenge of upsetting the natural order and breaking into the Premier League’s top six resumes.
This will be the fourth season in which Silva has been in English football, starting with his arrival at Hull City in January 2017, and two and a half years on a definitive opinion on the Portuguese manager is still to be formed.
A strong finish to last season when he motivated a team with nothing to play for — an aggressive approach in and out of possession was evident — was an impressive response to the dismal stretch between December and the end of February, which brought only four Premier League wins. Two of those were against relegated Huddersfield Town and Cardiff City.
Silva coached like the manager of Everton should and how they ended is the template for how they must now begin: the man in the dugout showing his skills, with an uncluttered calendar offering time on the training pitch to smooth down the rough edges in his blueprint and bed in new faces.
Between now and the December 4 visit to Anfield for the fixture which sparked their mid-term collapse last season, Everton have 14 league games in which they will face only three of the teams who finished above them in eighth last season — Wolverhampton Wanderers, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur.
There is a real chance to muster momentum. So much depends on Silva.
At his press conference this morning, Silva referred to the mess spawned by the flawed thinking of his predecessors, Ronald Koeman and Sam Allardyce, and the errors of the former director of football, Steve Walsh, when summarising the summer as “18 players have left, we signed seven and, if you look at the money coming in and the money out, we spent £28 million”.
Everton’s strategy had been to try to balance the books after the expensive splurges of 2017 and 2018, but it is difficult to get a true sense of whether that overview has remained intact by accident or design. Probably a mix of both.
The owner Farhad Moshiri’s ambition is such that Everton were willing to spend £60 million on Zaha (£25 million more than they paid for Arsenal’s Iwobi) but balked at Palace’s £80-100 million price tag for a winger who will turn 27 in November and who scored ten goals in his most productive season.
Richarlison, centre, is one of a number of attacking options available to Silva but he is short on centre halvesSHAUN BOTTERILL/GETTY IMAGES
They would have signed Kurt Zouma permanently had Chelsea offered any encouragement after the success of the defender’s loan spell. He would have cost a minimum of £40 million.
Under different circumstances — the search for a winger and a centre back continued after £50 million had been laid down for Kean and Gbamin — Everton’s net spend may not have been trumpeted quite so loudly. Where the £36.7 million failed bid for Watford’s Abdoulaye Doucouré fits in with everything . . . answers on a postcard, please.
There remains a lopsided look to Everton’s squad with offensive players outweighing those of a defensive mindset (midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin will not be allowed to leave as a consequence), and the failure to bring in another centre half left Silva acknowledging it is “not the best scenario for me as a coach”.
To be fair to Silva, he did not proceed to rant about this and will know his discomfort is more palatable than the club panicking and lavishing millions for Manchester United’s Marcos Rojo, a player they did not really want.
Silva is ensconced at Everton because the spend, spend, spend mentality which preceded him did not work out and management cannot be solely about dumping the old and ushering in the new every 12 months.
It is about overseeing the development of players, too, and there is no member of Everton’s squad who cannot improve; whether that is contributing more assists and goals or to the overall team structure to ensure this is a team that is uncomfortable, unnerving to play against.
“You have to manage the situation in the best way,” Silva said of having just Michael Keane, Mina and Mason Holgate as his centre-back options.
“We have never had doubts about Yerry Mina [signed from Barcelona for £27 million last summer but who started only ten league games]. When he was fit he was fantastic, he is adapted now and in better shape.
“It is a fantastic chance for him to show the quality that he has. If you ask me whether I would like more competition then yes, but I am here to manage the players I have.”
The loss of Zouma and Idrissa Gueye to Paris Saint-Germain strips Everton of arguably their two most influential performers in the second half of 2018-19, although Silva said he thought, overall, the squad was “deeper than last season”.
The transformation in Everton’s squad is far from complete but it is in a better place. Now Silva must coax and nurture and guide them into a better position. Top six is the target.
Pretty fair article that tbh. I think 6th is a huge stretch this year though and will take not just a lot of good performances, but also a lot of luck.
I think Joyce is a bit over critical if Silva though at times. This ain't an easy job.
lol lol lol
TheBigIguana
Player Valuation: £100m
Different thread as this is veering off topic.
Zaha and Doucoure are absolutely finished products but the question then becomes is their level right now enough to get us where we want. Zaha is tough to say because Palace play such a ridiculous system. With Doucoure I'd say no. So for me we've almost dodged a bullet with both. Maybe we get them and push toward top 4 this season. But if we don't we've made short term moves for no reason. I prefer we play the long game. We will know when we are a player or two away from a top 4 push and this summer I don't think was that.
I'd have liked to keep Gueye but again the short term vs long term thing is important there. DCL should get more time just as Kean should be given time. I'm not saying renew Dom's contract or anything but he's got time left on the deal so give him this season and if he doesn't progress think about it then. I just see us as a couple years away so the best thing is to build the system, develop the players and purchase with a vision for what we want the team to be in the future as much as today.
Come on now we both now zaha and doucoure like or not both stroll into our starting 11 as it stands. That means guaranteed improvement in my book. I think those two players and a quality CB on top of keeping gana would have lead to us challenging.
What are we hoping happens with lewin ? His feet might aswell be sand wedges. Yes good work rate I get that, bare minimum. Kean exactly that's my point he does need time but DCL is the alternative so unfortunately it can't be too long for us to wait. Long and short term for gana wouldn't have mattered as he was a cheap investment but the best in his position.
TheBigIguana
Player Valuation: £100m
I'm not disputing that. I'm just not sure at their ages and current abilities they are what we need. I'd rather sign someone who is 22 and half the player Doucoure is but have him grow to a better player over two or three seasons because short of doing that I don't think we can sign many players who will automatically push us to the place City, Spurs and the RS are at. Honestly over the last two windows the only player we've signed who would get straight into those teams is Digne. Guys like Richarlison, Kean, Mina and possibly Iwobi could still make it with improvement over the next two years. I think those types of signings are the ones we need.
DCL is simple for me: he gets the starts the next few weeks until Kean is ready. If he shows something (I'm not saying I expect him to) he stays in. If not Kean starts and hopefully does the business. In that case Dom takes what minutes he has and tries to show he can score goals. If he doesn't we look to sell either next summer or not long after that. I don't really have much faith left in DCL to become the player we need but I think it's to early to give up.
We've done that though with Gbamin. You are missing my point completely. I get the whole potential pitch. My point is like every other window have we signed enough proven quality and have kept enough proven quality to push on and challenge. Not win the league again my point got lost. We haven't challenged in any shape or form for quite some time now across the board. My question remains have we done all we can to change and challenge again ?
Why would it be so simple and casual the DCL should start? When did he last hit the barn door with a shot ? We need kean as soon as to be as productive as possible for the seasons sake.
TheBigIguana
Player Valuation: £100m
I don't think there's anything we could have done this window to challenge the RS or City. Spurs are probably out of reach too and Arsenal might be if they can defend at all.
I'm assuming Kean isn't going to be fit to start after 0 preseason minutes and two training sessions with our squad. So that leaves Tosun and DCL to start up top this week. I'm taking Dom.
We could of seriously challenged United, chelsea and arsenal with the correct window in the league that was realistic it's not now, opportunity missed again.
Kean has stated he's fit and ready so at least the bench that's minimum.
ForeverBlue92
Player Valuation: £80m
Is it true our net spend is only £28 million this window? If so good news considering we'll likely get another £10-13 million for Onkeykuru and hopefully one or both of Bolasie/Tosun gets sold.
Should be no excuses for us not to go out in January and bring in 2-3 including a CB regardless of Brands moaning about not doing business in the winter market.
Would feel more secure if he brought us in a free agent CB on a 6-12 month deal just for cover.
Should be no excuses for us not to go out in January and bring in 2-3 including a CB regardless of Brands moaning about not doing business in the winter market.
Would feel more secure if he brought us in a free agent CB on a 6-12 month deal just for cover.
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