Top 4 ?

[messymascot]

If James is ready after the international break and our injury situation doesn't get any worse the team we can field goalkeeper aside is reasonably strong

Virginia
Coleman/Holgate Keane/Mina Godfrey Digne
Davies Allan Gomes/Sigurdsson
James Calvert-Lewin Richarlison

If we go 5 at the back neither Gomes or Sigurdsson start. I would use Sigurdsson in the games where we should have more of the ball and use him more as a number 10 this gives us 4 attacking options so should help with breaking teams down Allan and Davies can do the leg work in midfield. In games where its going to be more of a battle use Gomes as he offers more defensively. This is where we miss Doucoure. Delph/Gbamin would have fitted this void better but unfortunately they are both also injured. Against the better teams 5 at back considered and that should give us a chance of achieving Top 4. It's now highly unlikely as I think our most likely finishing position is 7th but if Pickford gets back soon and Doucoure is available for the last 2 and we still have a chance I will not stop believing. A few weeks ago I thought we could finish anywhere from 2nd-10th I've now revised it to 4th-10th so I do adjust I just hope I don't need to lower expectations again.

 

[Drico]

Obviously weve won 50% of our games so far. So statistically we 'should' win 5 of 10.

You think we'll only win 4 out of 10.

Lets say we manage to win 6 out of 10. That puts us on 64pts.

Throw in 2 draws and were on 66pts which isnt far off 4th i imagine.

Fine margins.

Statistically, winning six matches instead of four out of a series of 10 is pretty significant - not fine. It's turning 20% of your matches into extra wins giving you 50% more wins in total (2 more added to your baseline 4). Possible? Yes. Likely? No.

Regardless, good luck to you guys. You're far more hopeful and less cynical than I am.

 

[Terrarian]

I'm overly whining today, I am just incredibly frustrated how this season has fizzled out from such a good position. All about this summer, has to be a big summer, we need to break our transfer record to attract a better player.

Bruno Fernandes cost £67m that's £22m more than Gylfi and look at what he has done for utd, at some point we have to start trying to convince someone of that calibre to come here if we genuinely want to reach the next level

 

[blue to the bone]

I'm overly whining today, I am just incredibly frustrated how this season has fizzled out from such a good position. All about this summer, has to be a big summer, we need to break our transfer record to attract a better player.

Bruno Fernandes cost £67m that's £22m more than Gylfi and look at what he has done for utd, at some point we have to start trying to convince someone of that calibre to come here if we genuinely want to reach the next level

You could also argue that Harry maguire cost 50 million more then Ben Godfrey.
Big money transfers are a gamble .

 

[Terrarian]

You could also argue that Harry maguire cost 50 million more then Ben Godfrey.
Big money transfers are a gamble .

Yeah, more my point is the calibre of player we need and what they cost. Gylfi gets a lot of grief for costing £45 but if we want to buy better players they're going to cost more money. Talking more of established players if you will.

 

[blue to the bone]

Yeah, more my point is the calibre of player we need and what they cost. Gylfi gets a lot of grief for costing £45 but if we want to buy better players they're going to cost more money. Talking more of established players if you will.

Leicester will more then likely get top 4 on buying players for not massive fees though.
For me that's the type of recruitment we need to do. We can't compete with the likes of city, Chelsea, United for the type of players they buy.

 

[Terrarian]

Leicester will more then likely get top 4 on buying players for not massive fees though.
For me that's the type of recruitment we need to do. We can't compete with the likes of city, Chelsea, United for the type of players they buy.

well yeah, smarter recruitment wouldn't go amiss like and a structured plan in place, just seems to be a mishmash at the moment.

I give kudos Leicester do decent business and don't sign as many flops as us, or it seems that way, i don't watch enough of them; I would have been all over Maddison when they bought him and tielmans but I don't really care about them, I want us to get it right and stop making a botch of everything.

 

[TheSecondComing]

I'm overly whining today, I am just incredibly frustrated how this season has fizzled out from such a good position. All about this summer, has to be a big summer, we need to break our transfer record to attract a better player.

Bruno Fernandes cost £67m that's £22m more than Gylfi and look at what he has done for utd, at some point we have to start trying to convince someone of that calibre to come here if we genuinely want to reach the next level

Unfortunately won’t be happening we will have to buy in the gamble market again this summer.

Unless we sell Richarlison, Kean or both

 

[TheSecondComing]

well yeah, smarter recruitment wouldn't go amiss like and a structured plan in place, just seems to be a mishmash at the moment.

I give kudos Leicester do decent business and don't sign as many flops as us, or it seems that way, i don't watch enough of them; I would have been all over Maddison when they bought him and tielmans but I don't really care about them, I want us to get it right and stop making a botch of everything.

Excellent coaching as well, they’re coached to play with the ball

 

[Terrarian]

Unfortunately won’t be happening we will have to buy in the gamble market again this summer.

Unless we sell Richarlison, Kean or both

It will tell us a lot about our finances this summer, i reckon.

 

[TheSecondComing]

It will tell us a lot about our finances this summer, i reckon.

We’ve brought in a class manager if given top level resources and thought nah we won’t actually give him what he needs we will let him make do.

Surely would have been better bringing in a top level coach who would have coached these into actually playing football?

Then again by all accounts silva was an excellent coach but didn’t have the personality for a job as big this.

I don’t know anymore but something doesn’t feel right about it all

 

[ForeverEverton]

5 points off 4th, 5 points off 10th.

I think 4th is probably a bridge too far, I don`t think you can be as woeful at home as we have been and still think you can qualify for the CL with 6 home games of the 10 still to play. This is Everton and it shouldn`t be like that, but it is what it is.....

In short we are just as likely to qualify for Europe than not qualify at all. Right now it is in the balance, probably wouldn`t have been had we got 3 points against Burnley (Or any other Relegation threatened clubs at home) but it does make the next 2 games must win with the games coming up against teams all looking to get above us.....

 

[Terrarian]

We’ve brought in a class manager if given top level resources and thought nah we won’t actually give him what he needs we will let him make do.

Surely would have been better bringing in a top level coach who would have coached these into actually playing football?

Then again by all accounts silva was an excellent coach but didn’t have the personality for a job as big this.

I don’t know anymore but something doesn’t feel right about it all

I just don't think Carlo trusts these players to play any other way, it's poor really. Highly paid top flight players and they're levels below their peers technically it seems.

 

[messymascot]

5 points off 4th, 5 points off 10th.

I think 4th is probably a bridge too far, I don`t think you can be as woeful at home as we have been and still think you can qualify for the CL with 6 home games of the 10 still to play. This is Everton and it shouldn`t be like that, but it is what it is.....

In short we are just as likely to qualify for Europe than not qualify at all. Right now it is in the balance, probably wouldn`t have been had we got 3 points against Burnley (Or any other Relegation threatened clubs at home) but it does make the next 2 games must win with the games coming up against teams all looking to get above us.....

It's a 5 5 split
Home: Palace, Spurs, Villa, Sheffield United, Wolves.
Away: Brighton, Villa, Arsenal, West Ham, Man City

I'm hoping with James back it will give us a cutting edge at home to the poorer teams.

 

[ForeverEverton]

It's a 5 5 split
Home: Palace, Spurs, Villa, Sheffield United, Wolves.
Away: Brighton, Villa, Arsenal, West Ham, Man City

I'm hoping with James back it will give us a cutting edge at home to the poorer teams.

Apologies you are right, to get top 4 we need to over take Chelsea (51 points) and Leicester (56 points).

Which means we have to win 6 more points than Chelsea and 10 more points than Leicester in 10 games. Can anyone see that? Surely the most optimistic cant see that.

We should change the name of this thread to Top 7? Failure to not get European football would be hugely disappointing and in my view a failure by the manager/players/club!

We should have strengthened in January when it was still on, we didn`t and we could pay the price for that. Even paying a few million over the odds for a player would be worth it wouldn`t it?

We will have to see what happens regarding recruitment in the summer but I cant see big names coming in, more likely to get a few Ben Godfrey type signings. The trouble is as we improve other teams are aswell, we need to improve at a greater rate to get above them.