a fair assessment which makes the lallana buy look mad. 25mil for option/rotation... we are not cheslea or city... and then lovern is the flop then? I think that'd be fair neough... LFC were mad on lallana and lovern is a flop... but balotelli is still prob bigger one. So.... can anyone admit their own sides failing here or can we just laugh at falcao, di maria, shaw, and of course lukaku
I think perosnally when you get to having a 20-25 man squad who are over 21... well you cannot keep ploughing in more. you have to move to the cheslea model of move them out and move more in. you can do that at cheslea due to loan system they have that gives players games and exposure. We on the other hand will take a bath on coates, ilori and alberto... we can move them out and put another kid in but it doesn't affect us really. we have to sell lucas or whoever to bring in another player.. not due to transfer fee but due to squad size and wages budget balancing. I feel we will move our model and buy players who are 25/26 but not older to be our first team improvements now... gerrard and jonhson gone requires it.
Why not? How much do you expect to pay for someone to compete with Sterling and Coutinho, given that these players are easily valued at double what Lallana cost?
It's too early to judge most of these players from all clubs tbh. If it's not a different league, it's a different system. Given that we bought Lovren as a 'leader' - he's a massive flop. But he still may work out for us....if he gives us what Skerts has given over the years, then in the long run, he'll prove to be decent value. IF. Ballo - I just don't get the buy. We obviously thought that we could turn him into a different player. I'd say it's a management flop more than a player flop. Lallana - £25 is to much but I think he'll work out OK and we saw some of that on Sunday. I know our views differ on him so we should pick this up again once he's had a good run in the team as he's very much been hindered by injury and the entire teams bad form early on. Can and Moreno are good. Markovic is a bit lightweight/average for the £20m we payed for him.
That was the problem really, Rodgers bought too many squad players. Your squad is better than last season, but your first XI is weaker. I think buying 2-3 worldies might have done more good than buying 6-7 meh players.
This is what I would like to see. However, players of 25/26 have reached a level of performance that will dictate that there will be a demand for them. That demand, drives up prices and salary and I don't think we can or want to compete.....free signings are different of course
Who said that? Lukaku has had a disappointing season after he was such a hit in the last one. But in fairness he's been playing in a side that looks a shadow of the one from last season all over the pitch and we've rarely played to his strengths. All that said his career stats at Everton are 31 goals in 69 appearances, and @ 21 he's not going to devalue in the current barmy market.
I don't think it was through lack of trying to sign top players - At the end of the day, London is a big pull but so are more established managers and year after year qualification for CL. We have a way to go yet before we can just point and say 'you're coming here'!
No, he's a decent signing imo. But you can't use your teams poor performance to justify his price without considering where we were before Christmas.....All of these players need to be judged at the end of the year at the earliest.
Am disappointed in Everton this season tbh. I honestly thought they would contest the top 4 spots now, after they did so well last year. I haven't really watched them all that much this season Tobes, what has gone wrong in your opinion?
I said before the season started I was apprehensive about the number of new players brought in. Although there are some examples of a radically altered side gelling quickly, they are the exception- usually it takes time. It took us until December for it to start to come together. If, like you say, it was a one-off to bring the squad up to a certain level then all well and good. Obviously we can't afford to have a slow start again next season, so if we can hang on to our best players and bring in a couple of quality ones in decisive areas then we should be able to maintain our current form, and then we'll see if we're making steady progress rather than one step forward, one back.
The more I've thought about it, the more I've come to the conclusion that last season's great football and record points tally, was a result of the perfect balance between the residual defensive pragmatism of the Moyes era, combined with the fast moving attacking play he'd developed before leaving and the Martinez possession based game that he brought to the table. Add into the mix a few quality additions, not least Lukaku, Barry and Deloufeu and we were in business. This season the failure started pre-season, which was badly prepared, too few games, largely poor opposition and we came into the season way undercooked. In addition, the fast paced attacking play had gone and we'd become a full blown tiki taka side, but without the intensity of pressing when not in possession - a dreadful combination. We were left defensively exposed as the opposition figured out what they need to do against us. Either press us high up the ptich and force us into a mistake in posession at the back, or sit deep and allow us to have the ball, as we've not looked capable of breaking sides down all season, as we've got no width this year. Martinez is as stubborn as they come and he's refused to dilute the 'style' in the chase for results - 6 league wins all season is the net return of that strategy - after we won 21 league games last season - a truly shocking decline. In short he's failed, and we're now starting to sweat on our PL position ffs. For me only a EL win should save his arse at this point, otherwise we should shake his hand in May.
i hope so too. if/when sterling finally lears to write his name all three of our front men will be on long contracts and then we will be getting ibe and hednerson tied up too so we will at least be in strong position so for me our start will relate to replacing gerrard and balotelli for me.
I think we're all hoping this. Hopefully next year, anyone that comes into the team can be eased in rather than thrown in. Origi, for example will take time to settle into the new league and new system......but buy 3 players and chuck them into the starting 11 (unless they're worldies of course) and we may struggle again.
I just hope that we get our business in early but I fear a long drawn out affair while Borini plays poker with his career!
that is a good point too. Origi hopefully will have a fit sturridge playing with the ability to come in and learn the club.
If we are out to replace gerrard i reckon it'll be a competitive market. I think others do have to go to get a striker in... so we will see on that. balotelli, borini and lambert could all go and one guy come in.
Off the top of my head Certain flops - Lovren Balotelli Falcao Mangela (If Lovren has to be on there then so must he FFS ) Shaw Arguable - Welbeck Di Maria Lallana Lukaku Cabella To be fair, they're the more obvious ones. I'm sure you could argue a lot more, such as players like Davies for Spurs. Some hefty price tags in there but most options id consider to be more "disappointments" than flops.
