03 Nov 2017 11:47:42
I know it doesn't feel like it at the moment, but we are a good manager, a striker, and a returning right-back away from being a very good team. Pickford just needs to learn not to parry shots back into the danger area and he's a solid, commanding shot-stopper with great distribution. Coleman is back in a few weeks.
Keane isn't a world beater but he's a decent premier league defender with potential to improve. Holgate is young and needs experience but is versatile and has quality. Jags and Williams are ageing of course but have shown in their careers that they have quality. More than most positions, centre-backs will be affected by low confidence and that will lead to mistakes. That doesn't mean they've become terrible players.
Baines still has a lot to offer but, like everyone else, his confidence is shot. Gana is a top defensive midfielder and Schneiderlin proved at other clubs he is class. Davies is also low on confidence but is potentially world-class once it returns. Klaassen captained a team who were runners-up in the Europa League and played fantastic football - don't tell me he's not physical enough for the prem when David Silva and Coutinho are. Siggy is an intelligent playmaker, works hard and is one of the best dead-ball specialists around - look at his performances for his country even this season. Vlasic looks a real talent, as does Lookman if he can improve his decision-making. Rooney still has quality and heart - he's just got to be used properly. Sandro is a skillful, tenacious footballer who has showed he can score good goals against top clubs. I haven't mentioned Besic, Kev, Ross, Bolasie, DCL or Beni, all of whom have a lot to offer.
We have a strong youth squad to come through, including three players with bags of potential gaining experience on loan - one of whom scored a hat-trick this week. It's dark times, the squad is a bit unbalanced and everyone's confidence is completely shot, but that can be fixed by the right manager who knows how to use these players tactically and build their confidence. It's also going to need fans to be more supportive - of course it's hard to do that when things are so bad on the pitch but it's part of the solution for us to cheer the team on rather than get on their backs, which makes matters far worse.
It doesn't matter how talented you are, what you earn or even how honoured you feel to wear the shirt - the game is half psychological and that is mostly about confidence. We can help build that or we can damage it further. The panic and knee-jerk reactions are understandable but they won't help. Our job is simple: support the team through thick and thin. We are Everton.
03 Nov 2017 12:28:52
Great positive and inspirational post coyb. Any chance you can pop over to Finch Farm and tell the players the same thing? That's what they need right now, to be loved and bigged up and told how good they actually are. Let's put the european disaster behind us, wipe out mouths and move on. Get behind the lads on Sunday and play Watford off the park.
03 Nov 2017 12:48:58
Feel a lot more positive after reading that coyb, youve nailed it there. All need to be in full voice sunday let's make the old lady rock to the foundations . coyb.
03 Nov 2017 13:15:56
I love your positivity coyb, let's hope on Sunday it all comes together and get three points. Unfortunately what you say about some of the players is not true. Rooney, Williams, Jags and Baines have lost pace and it shows against some of the younger faster opponents. Schneiderlin has been terrible and is not helping our defense at all. The fact that our defense is letting in two goals at least in games says it all. Until we solve our defensive problems you can forget about the rest of the team. Even if we get a proven striker in during the January window he is not going to turn this team into a winning combination. Look at the records, how many teams who let in two goals per games win anything? I know Coleman returning will help but the problem has been down the middle, Williams and Jags need be used as substitutes or play when someone is injured and not as starters so a first class center-back to play with Keane would be a top priority for me in January and a left-back to compete with Baines is also needed. Add a top quality striker and we may have a chance.
03 Nov 2017 14:54:17
Fantastic post coyb. I can't argue with any of it.
03 Nov 2017 15:07:41
It is a good positive post coyb but unfortunately in the real world are confidence is shot and most of the squad just aren’t good enough. We’ve far too many similar players and are unbalanced throughout. There is no quick fix and if we concede first on Sunday (or any game) we will probably be beaten again, easily.
03 Nov 2017 17:53:59
I wouldn't normally advocate such a thing, always preferred to sort my own problems out in life. But this smacks of a Hoddle/ Allardyce scenario I. E: 'Sports Psychologist'.
03 Nov 2017 18:32:50
I appreciate your realism, Mike and Joe. Of course these players have been playing poorly and a couple have lost pace as they've aged. That happens to almost every footballer, but it can be offset by the added experience they have. That doesn't seem to be happening at the moment but they are all capable of much better than we've seen lately. We can deduce that because this isn't just the ageing players don't badly; it's everyone. Even players that have proven their quality over several seasons or those who have shown huge promise: they all suddenly seem poor. There is an important difference between playing badly, even for a period of many weeks and being a bad player; there is a difference between being short on confidence and not being good enough. I agree with you that ideally we want defensive reinforcements and obviously striker, and will desperately need them by next season as these guys age further. But I would argue our squad are still good players who have been poorly managed: in many cases played out of position or brought in and out of the team, some are just adapting to the league with an awful initial fixture list. It's been a few factors and they've suffered confusion and a debilitating loss of confidence as a result. I'm not saying it's all rosy - of course not. And I'm not saying the players are not also responsible - they do need to step up and at least get the basics right in terms of positioning. I just think we're not as bad as it feels right now and we will turn this round. As supporters, we need to remain psychologically positive just as the players need to.
03 Nov 2017 19:12:51
The problem coyb is that we just have too many older and slower players. Non of the players we brought in apart from Vlasic is fast. We are just unbalanced and slower than most of the other teams in the premiership. We definitely need a new manager who can get the best out of what we have but unfortunately Koeman and maybe Walsh have left us in a very difficult and precarious situation with the summer recruitment. I have said before that we will not be relegated, we have too much talent for that but we need to recruit the players I mentioned above to give us a chance to improve.
03 Nov 2017 21:36:52
That's a good post. I for one have been guilty of suicidal pessimism recently but your post is a reminder that there is some good in the club at the moment.
Problem is we need the right manager to put that on the pitch. Plus the removal of whatever virus seems to be damaging the team from within.