09 Aug 2015 18:40:12
For the last 2 seasons I have been accused of being negative and a doom monger when talking about our ageing squad and lack of goals and lack of tactical awareness from our manager. I will not reflect on the abuse I received but I will make the following statement again. Relegation is a real possibility for us. Our team lacks cohesion and does not resemble the same team that was looking close to challenging for Europe and silverware 3 seasons ago. If I name the following teams as being superior to us: Man City, Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs, Southampton, Stoke, West Ham and Swansea. I firmly believe all of these will finish above us. That's 10 teams. meaning our best poss finish is 11th. Add to this our poor hamstring injury list. Our lack of signings (so far) and our almost total reliance on Lukaku for goals and you have to question our ability to finish above some other teams. Our leaky defence seems to have returned and if we lose Stones have little cover should any injury happen (refer back to hamstring info above). I then see other teams like Newcastle, Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Villa possibly finishing above us. That puts us in the group with all the newly promoted teams and WBA. At this point teams tent to either gel or lose confidence and crumble. Having seen our performances for the majority of last season.I fear the latter will happen. I do not want abuse or negative comments. I am as Blue and Evertonian as anyone. This is genuine fear and I have had many arguments with one or two posters on here well before the majority of faans also turned against RM. Osman is still a must in this team because we have no other player capable of a creative pass on a regular basis. Oh how we need a young Osman. or Pienaar. Well guys my prediction depends on a few things, but I do fear we will be around the 5th from bottom position by Christmas.
{Ed025's Note - any abuse you recieved was not because of your predictions degsy, they we aimed at your smugness and i told you so attitude mate, usually aimed at swan
09 Aug 2015 19:15:34
I know some of it was Ed.but Swan was always aggressive in his posts to me and very dismissive and critical.so if my predictions proved right, I naturally reminded people. Remember I was predicting all this when everyone else thought RM was the best thing ever. I am expecting less criticism now.and I do hope I am wrong. a few weeks ago people were saying "get real" to me for saying relegation was a possibility. I really believe the likes of Stoke, West Ham and Newcastle have strengthened big time. And all the factors mentioned above are coming into play. We really need a new manager before it is too late. The rate of decline is staggering.
09 Aug 2015 19:51:09
Can you 2 not kiss and make up after all your both Evertonians come on guys.
09 Aug 2015 20:28:08
Hey, I have absolutely no problem on here with anyone. People seem to have a problem with me. I really have no angst with anyone. I would love to see Swan back on here. and quite a few of my posts were aimed at winding him up like I guess some of his were aimed at winding me up. And I have certainly never fallen out with any Ed. Yes we are all passionate supporters of our great club. That's when I do get wound up.my negative opinion of Martinez has always been there. I was amazed after his 1st season. I never thought he had it in him. Then the reality set in. My negative view on him makes me no less an Evertonian like some were saying.some suggested I support another team. So when things go as bad as I had though they were going to, I reminded them. I really hope I am wrong and we go on to have a good season. I just cannot see it. Not only have we stagnated. other teams have improved dramatically.the teams that have been challenging us in recent seasons. Swansea, Spurs, Southampton and West Ham immediately spring to mind. Crystal Palace and Stoke are probably stronger than us too now. We have no real creative midfielders now. Osman and Pienaar are both at best squad players now. They were both our best assist players in Moyes ' last seasons. Mirallas signing might just be a life saver. but in the same boat Stones leaving might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. There are so many what if's and it could easily go either way.but I predict a long and hard season.
{Ed025's Note - i have never fallen out with you degs, but i must admit that both you and swan have stepped beyond the line at times in banter with each other, but i put that down to enthusiasm and passion, and maybe even a touch of egotism..
09 Aug 2015 21:12:28
Funnily enough Degsy, I actually agree with your assessment/predictions here. Palace look much better than us, the issue we have in terms of wide players imo is we have one fast/tricky player in Mirallas and the other flank is usually occupied by a Central Midfielder being pushed out wide like Barkley or Cleverley. They are not fast enough, that is not the issue, pace is not the issue, what Pienaar had little pace but could do something be it a pass from the inside or fancy flick that opens the back line up. Osman offers that to a lesser degree but still more so than Ross or the other fella. I think we will look better with 2 natural wide men when Doofy Loofy is back. Will it improve us a lot? No, I still think we will finish above Newcastle but not West Ham, Palace or Stoke. I am still hopeful for these 3 new signings but one of them has to be before the Southampton game otherwise I cannot see the crowd being lifted at all. We need to play 2 up front, Kone changed the game yesterday, now I'm not saying that makes him good, far from it but it allows Lukaku more space as there is one less Defender to occupy. It improves both of them considerably. I also think Barry or McCarthy needs to be dropped, we cannot have 4 Central Midfielders playing. It makes the shape of the team really odd and there is no Attacking options. I agree with Martinez that we need a Centre Back, Striker and number 10. My worry is after Kone's good cameo that he may decide we don't need another Striker. Big Mistake.
{Ed025's Note - good and fair assessment there swan..
09 Aug 2015 22:48:46
Degs, I think the problem a few people had with you on here was that you only made 4 posts, which went like this:
1.Osman is God (to be fair, I'm not quite sure what it is about Osman, we do look a better team with him in it, maybe it's just his sly little touches, interplay and intelligence that nobody else in the team offers, but still no need to make out like he's Messi lad)
2.Random Predictions (I'd say you're correct about 50% of the time,not a bad hit rate to be fair)
3.Not enough goals in the squad (incorrect at the time you said it, as we were in 5th and scoring goals from all over the park. However since then, the goals from Barkley dried up, and Baines/Coleman have been marked more tightly so have been unable to create/score as many)
4. Smug 'I told you so, I was given loads of stick when I predicted ages ago, I am nostradamus' posts (These were the most irritating posts as you can imagine, no one wants an 'I told you so'.
The most annoying part was that you often repeated these posts a few times a week saying the same things, so maybe you just need to tone it down a bit mate, as over the last season us blues have been moody enough, so it's no wonder a few people bit when you said 'I told you so'.
That being said, I agree with quite a few of the things you have said on here, and I appreciate your passion mate. Everton fans are the best in the world.
On a side note, welcome back Swan
09 Aug 2015 23:10:22
Great to he you back mate. I agree with w you say and would add that the problems are even deeper. We need a good creative midfielder. Gibson is good but always injured. already mentioned Osman and Pienaar. We are so light in this dept. and if Stones goes.we are light central defence and we are light left back now with Baines and Garbutt being out. It is criminal that RM has not signed 3 players already in these positions.and Howard obviously needs replacing too. maybe Joel should have had more chances for sure. Maybe it's the board? Who really knows? It's just not right that a great club with our support should be in this situation. I agree Kone looked brilliant yesterday. Great lay off and great finish. Barry is just past it. So slow. And like you say, his formation is so predictable. You can hear the groans when the teamsheet is read out. Oh well.lets hope we are all wrong and it will all turn out ok.
09 Aug 2015 23:52:21
Welcome back swan. What about the ratings for yesterday? In fact sod it they all got 4. Anyways your right when it comes to the flanks there was a fella sat not far from me who always tbonks he knows best no matter what the score and how we are doung that was calling for Galloway to be taken off because in his opinion he was out of his depth! Now the way I seen it was, you play cleverly wide left who is naturally a central player he is going to drift inside which then leaves Galloway isolated. There lies the problem with playing a cm wide left! This is were it all comes back to the manager he picks the team and formation and after 10 minutes I could see this was our weakness but he couldn't?? As the saying goes 'horses for courses' His team selections and formations make me think this fella has no backbone and won't drop under performers I.e Barry amd just selects based on name alone. Martinez either grow a set or flump off!