21 Jan 2018 17:42:50
Change of direction here.
People often say on these forums about the Everton Style and the Everton way. Maybe that's our problem and we need to move ahead with the times.
Could someone explain in simple words what that actually means.
21 Jan 2018 18:07:38
Interesting mate, when you have been supporting the Club for as long as us it has worked in the past mate, good post.
21 Jan 2018 18:14:50
Were not playing in any particularway, with any consistent method, with any plan or structure, with any balance or any identity. Not SA bashing but it doesn't seem like he knows what's best. This is not the everton way. The everton way includes cohesiveness, a warriors fight and a renowned and intimidating atmosphere at home. Its about being proud of the team, the players and the staff. Its about being able to look at the blue skys through the storm with hope. Its about that feeling that none of us can quite explain. That has gone at the moment.
21 Jan 2018 18:16:41
You know Grumpy. You have watched everton more than most of us.
Big strong no 9 (ferguson, lukaku, sharp not lineker)
Fast, skilful or no nonsense players (kanchelsis, sheedy, arteta, gravesen)
Heart of a lion (cahill, ferguson, ebrell)
Solid performers (Neville, osman, Barry, jagielka)
That is evertons heritage.
21 Jan 2018 18:24:30
and Peter Reid mate but so many ahh.
21 Jan 2018 18:24:51
Two good posts BT and smit.
21 Jan 2018 18:45:28
As a club it's morals, class and respect. That respect is to whoever we play or whoever we do business with. The morals and class is simply exampled in EITC.
If you're talking playing style then it's always evolved. In every successful team though it's been usually tough to beat but with the ball on the deck and using width.
A centre forward who can hold the ball and bring in others and wide men that can cross dribble and score.
We haven't really had the width since the 90s with the Kancelskus and Limpars. PienAar never scored and it was Baines the supplier of the cross and the other wide men have never been out and out wingers. Moyes changed us to this more defensive set up by using wingbacks and wanted players not with flair but grit to help cover them. It worked against poor teams but when you needed tricky intelligent risk takers to unlock the good teams he didn't have any and why we NEVER beat any of them.
Martinez tried to draw us back to a more attack minded team but forgot that if you concede goals then you don't win games. It was no surprise he and Koeman had more success against the good teams than Moyes ever did due to the more expansive football.
This is a brief overview of what I see and you could go deeper into it but the last time I saw an Everton team that I recognise was 96. Last season under Koeman though was brilliant up until May. We looked like we'd score 5 every game. Everything from 96 to then was pretty much forgettable with the exception of a few brief flurries.
21 Jan 2018 19:28:30
It is difficult to define an Everton style. I suppose that we are all influenced by the first side we saw and fell in love with. For me that means Alex Young. The antithesis of Ferguson, Royle and although I am a little too young to have seen him, Dave Hickson. For me that kind of player brings out the worst in the rest of the team. It encourages "hitting the big man" as a sibstitute for guile and skill. I like wingers who can go past their man. I like the ball on the floor, passing and movement. The kind of football that gave rise to the School of Science when the influx of Scots arrived in the 19th century with their interpassing style replacing the kick and rush, dribbling and hacking style that was its precursor.
21 Jan 2018 19:35:41
None of you are wrong yet no one hit the nail on the head.
We the fans are the Everton way.
We support our team through thick and thin, through the good and the bad, that is the Everton way.
We support our team regardless of where we sit in the league, and we sing as loud as though we were league champions, that is the Everton Way.
We always give players and managers a chance, often 3 or 4 that is the Everton way.
We have/ had a fan base that is envied by many teams here in the UK and in Europe, that is the Everton way.
We set standards not aim to meet them that is the Everton way.
If we are playing bad we sing louder, that is the Everton way.
The point I am making is that it is us the fans who are the Everton way not the players who are here for a few years, not our playing style, not our manager, not our owners.
Calling for managers to be sacked or players to be dropped, or silent at home games that is not the Everton way.
The club has not been great for many a year now for some reason over the last 3 or 4 seasons it is us the fans who have changed.
WE are no longer the Everton way.
21 Jan 2018 19:41:57
One thing we have always had from the 80s is the grit, determination and doggedness if not the class.
21 Jan 2018 19:50:05
Very Very good post those were the days, no patience nowadays eh mate,
21 Jan 2018 20:03:08
No you're totally wrong Grumpy and are looking through drunken glasses.
This now is as it always is.
Riots, protests, even vandalism against our own ground since we've been a club.
Going to a half filled ground until we were almost relegated is the norm for any club.
I remember the abuse Kendall got before turning it around in the 80s. It wasn't much different but the violence at that time was.
So no, we aren't Everton. But we are drawn to something that is better than us or the illusion of it and I'll always support the club because of it. If we are Everton then we've always been a bunch of arse holes!
21 Jan 2018 20:05:18
Playing for the badge. Hard work and determination and fearing nobody.
21 Jan 2018 20:15:12
With both of you there Smit and GB good days.
21 Jan 2018 20:56:33
lets go back eh mate the 60 s onwards oh.
21 Jan 2018 20:58:56
Blue John WTF?
21 Jan 2018 22:02:54
BJU Not that it has anything to do with you I am actually tea-total. When someone has to resort to personal insults then for me the debate is over.
I have more dignity than to reply with insults so let's just go our separate ways.
21 Jan 2018 22:59:15
Hardly an insult Grumpy. Had worse in a school play ground. How about rose tinted glasses then!?
To be fair you've insulted every Everton fan under the age of 30 by saying they aren't Everton. I'd come down off your lofty position and apologise.
I'm saying Everton fans have never been different whether young or old. They have all loved the club the same as you and me including 10 and 14 year old who sing at every game till their lung give out. And they've never questioned the old muckers Evertonian qualities like you and me.
However, the big difference? Places like this and social media. That's the difference. If it was around in the 70s and 80s we'd all be on here still moaning at every point.
21 Jan 2018 23:23:21
BJU absolute belter of analysis, although I was a child in the 80s so did not get the glory, my days began with the early 90s and that was misery, we had grit and determination, we had fight, we had identity.
We were the dogs of war, the peoples club, what are we today? The club who uses Jim White and talksport to address the fans.
The Everton of days gone by is no more and the soul was sold to the devil when are Knight in Russian armour rode in, we now have to deal with no passion, no identity and no spirit! We have wingers, we have a target man yet we don't utilise these because arrogance got in the way when a manager was needed!
Have we ever had a Director of Football before? No we haven't and this is part of the problem, a manager is judged by results, but if he doesn't buy the players how can he be responsible? Moshiri may be the majority shareholder but is it really him who owns them other than by name?
Our identity has gone on and off the pitch, changes need to be made on both fronts.