Our squad...

Well Bigi is a youngster but looked very promising last season. As a back up he's a very good option to have. As for how Evertonians rate them I'd say that's kind of besides the point. I mean you can't tell me Gibson, Naismith, Oviedo, Fellaini, Osman, Pienaar and Miralles is any better than our pool of midfielders??? Out of that list I'd take Miralles and Fellaini and that's about it. Also to have only seven midfielders (plus Barkley who is a good youngster) is hardly good strength in depth and their aim will be top 7 so why shouldn't ours be???

Squad for squad I actually think we are stronger on paper, again it will depend on how Pardew utilises the players at his disposal.

 

All I'm saying is that their crop of players got them to 7th. Ours didn't come close.

But I am leaning towards agreeing - I do think our squad is ok, and I still think our manager's the one with it all to prove. We'll wait and see, of course, but there's more or less only one reason for failure/success this season; Pardew. I HOPE he gets it right.

 

It's a huge season for Pardew, top 8 and above along with a good cup run and he entitles himself to another "bad" season although not one that nearly gets us relegated. However if we're 13th/14th come mid November I honeslty think he'll be out of job and he couldn't really have too many arguments.

 

Using Jonas in his correct position would be leaving him on the bench. He can't cross, has zero pace and rarely, if ever, beats his man. Apart from that he's great

 

Ji-Sung Park was pretty much the same at Man Utd but he still started all of the big European ties when they were facing superior opponents. Jonas should start against teams who will dominate the ball against us as his defensive work is invaluable.

He could/should also be used in the last 20 minutes of games as a sub to close a game out. He still has a role to play for me it's just that his role shouldn't be to play every minute of every game like he has done under Pardew's tenure so far.

 

To be fair I quite liked the look of Dong and he played well enough in the Bundesliga last season for Dortmund to show some minor interest. I think you may be underestimating him a little. I think Wickham is a quality young striker. Very raw but a far more useful that what we have in reserve (Shola).

As I say I think Norwich are short of options but then I'd be very surprised to see them in the top 10 unless they are really lucky with injuries.

Vellios and Gueye are no world beaters, but as 4th and 5th choice, I think you'd have to accept Everton have way more strength in depth than we do in attack. Pretty tight in midfield. I really really like the look of Barkley, I think he'll shine under Martinez and will be pushing for an England slot before the season is out. They are probably better in wide areas (attacking areas) with Osman, Barkley, Pienaar, Oviedo, Miralles, Naismith. Even Coleman can play there. I prefer our central lads though in terms of depth. Everton are a very settled, balanced, proven and consistent squad. I can't pretend we match up with them in depth.

As I say Swansea will buy another striker i would think. If not they may struggle if injuries come, particularly when you look at the Europa. I noticed Laudrup making it clear he is taking it with a pinch of salt. There was uproar last year when Pardew made murmurings of the same thing! They play 433 with Dyer, Routledge wide very well too so have more potential to mix it up. Remy of course improves that option for us too, but still, we're not really balanced for it because if Cisse was injured who do you put wide? Obertan? Poor. Sammy? No thanks. Jonas? I like but is a defensive option. Marveaux? never convinces wide, looks a number 10.

From what I can see we are shoestringing again rather than just biting the bullet, giving the manager some proper options and going for it. We're gambling again. 2 years ago it came off, last year it didn't. Unless Pardew has another manager of year season I can't see why we should be assured a top 10 finish let alone top 8. Managers always look better when you give them the options. Will top 10 keep Sissoko, Cabaye, HBA at the club? I don't know is the honest answer, I think they'd want more. However its no good wondering why they leave if you don't equip yourself properly to ensure it. I don't think we're a 16th squad. But I certainly don't think we're a top 8 squad either. We're not far away but the imbalances are mainly attacking areas. Goals win matches and points. Its why SAF was obsessed with having 5 striker options. Funnily enough, they are the ones which cost money. Maybe we just don't have the budget to work with to be top 8 and just have to accept it.

 

That is pretty much as I see it. I also am concerned about us losing one of our best players this week.

Our defence was probably the worst in the Premiership bar QPR, and we haven't added to it.
Our forward line might never see Remy, and what's left isn't being used properly - hoofball doesn't suit Cisse.
Our midfield is uncreative, especially up the left wing, though was improved after January.

On the positive side, all our young players are a year older and will maybe all raise their development this season, and our older guys the same, especially as world cup looms.

Managerwise, Pardew is a dead man walking and his replacement is hopelessly out of date - who should be in a 'relaxed view with swearing' nursing home.
Senior management - there really isn't any. Ashley has his retail empire to run, and a £100m business should not be run like this.

As Stan Collymore predicted, I feel we're 50/50 to avoid relegation. Very sadly and for the first time ever, I've got a £20 bet relegation comfort bet on at 9/1.

My hope is that Ashley sells. The football club I've known all my life under him looks grim presently.

 

Bang on the money

 

The thing is though, Park was far superior to Jonas imo. We need a proper winger - yeah you say Jonas gets back alot/defends but the last thing I remembering him doing was allowing Adam Johnson to score against us! That goal was all his fault. The Sunderland player is his man in that situation and he just lets him cut in on his favoured left foot and score!

His job description is a winger. He fails on every level offensively, yeah he might offer some defensive cover but does that warrant us keeping him?

 

The squad isn't as weak as some make out but I do admit we need a few more through the door. The squad as it stands without youth players is:

GK
Krul
Elliott*

RB
Debuchy
Raylor(Long Term Injury)

LB
Santon
Haidara

CB
Coloccini
Saylor
MYM
Willo*

CM
Anita
Tiote
Sissoko
Cabaye
Gosling*

RW
HBA
Obertan*

LW
Marveux
Gouffran
Jonas

CF
Cisse
Shola
Remy (loan)

* denote players who should be replaced.

I think you need a squad of 2 players for every position to be competitive and from what i can see (not including Raylors injury) we need to replace 4 players if we play 4-3-2-1 or 4-2-3-1. But injuries permitting we should be easily pushing the top half.

If we were to go 4-4-2 (god-forbid) the only people who need replacing are Gosling and Obertan, and another striker in for cover. But for me this formation is dead now-a-days with most teams fielding 3 in the midfield and therefore can be to easily over-ran in the centre of the park.

For me I think all we really need is a RB to cover while Raylor is out, 1/2 CM to replace Gosling and a winger to replace Obertan. After that I would be expecting a big push for top 7 but ATM top half is easily attainable and anything less should be viewed as faliure. Anyone contemplating relegation is daft as a brush (Pinning my flag to the mast and will have to eat some very humble pie if I am infact wrong)

 

I don't think its a weak squad but it is unbalanced. An injury to either Remy (as we have at the minute) or Cisse, or god forbid both, and we're back to either Shola starting or him being the bench option when the mnager turns round to change the game. That is going to handicap all the other good things you have. Again in wide areas we lack quality which directly impacts on your attacking strength and ability to change games. I can't see many goals in our squad and I can't see bundles of creative options. If you can't score you are putting a lot of pressure on your defence.

 

Just hope we've got some last minute signings lined up so that we can seal the deals without anybody trying to outbid us and bumping the prices up.

 

I still can't work out why exactly Pardew changed the style of football last season, despite starting with pretty much the same squad and then adding technical players in January.

In ready for another depressing season :-(

 

Agree we can't keep Shola as an option, personally I'd keep Campbell and use him as third choice striker coming in for 20 mins at the end of games an playing cups, would be good experience for the lad

 

Campbell should definitely be ahead of Shola. I just think we need 4 options as a minimum. I accept we're not Man U and we cann't have a stellar four like Rooney, RVP, Welbeck, Hernandez and then a couple of youngsters like Bebe and Henriquez. I do think we need 3 senior strikers though and then Campbell. Just for injuries etc.

 

But who's going to come in? I mean we are literally back to square one. I don't buy this "Joe's off to the Int'l fixtures to run the rule over players" - we're possibly the most thorough club when it comes to scouting. We're not Liverpool.....

Who've we been linked with in the past? It's got to be a target man is the only thing I can think of. I mentioned Lukaku (an optimistic shout to say the least) but if Suarez gets his wish, or Arsenal do sign someone of Higuain's standing, is Giroud not available? I keep harking back to the fact that Pardew said the big three moves are hindering our own. Ince to Tottenham to be part of the reinvestment on Bale could be a factor, Suarez to Arsenal I have mentioned already, with implications on Ince again, or Rooney to Chelsea which impacts Lukaku or maybe Ba, possibly even Cabaye. That said, if you listen to the respective clubs, none of these moves are going to happen! The most realistic then becomes Giroud when Arsenal finally get that marquee signing.

 

Giroud will be going nowhere. He had a very underrated season and Wenger speaks of him in glowing terms. 1 in 3 in the league and 17 in 47 overall is not a bad first year in England, settling at a new club. **** knows who it will be to be honest. There isn't that many good strikers knocking about. Just the out of favour old guys like the two at Juve which we wouldn't be keen on, Gomis whose agent wants a kings ransom and is angling for Marseille. Difficult really. I'd love to see Ince and Rhodes rock up but it win't going to happen is it? Have to be some unknown basically. Come on Carr bail us out.

 

I know, more wishful thinking. He is a very good player, massively underrated in the air, something we lack. He's not the poacher that Arsenal perhaps needed, hence why I just think he'd flourish elsewhere. But, yes, unlikely to move already.

Isn't Rhodes a bit too 'Cisse'? We're bound to have a plan b in the target man area, but like you say, who is there? We had a plan b in the mobile striker department when we didn't get PEA (erm, what did we do with that spare £15m, by the way?!) in Remy. I think Ince remains plan a for the winger we're after, with probably Sinclair as plan b there. So it's Ince plus one....

 

Rhodes is very rounded as a striker. He's clever. He can drop deep, play on the last man, play alone and or play number 10 to partner from what I've seen. I think he is very underrated. Obviously the killer is he costs a bomb and hasn't even been tested at PL level. Never going to happen. I honestly think we need a bail out from Carr on the striker front. Ince or Sinclair would be cracking but again, I have my doubts due to wages and bigger clubs being interested.

Troy Deeney is sparking plenty of interest. i haven't a clue if he is any good.