Everton Banter Archive August 28 2014

28 Aug 2014 19:28:13
I wasn't happy about taking Eto, but now we have him we should get behind him. We need a couple more, I'd take Ben Arfa and Richards as good squad players. Both have something to prove and need the opportunity.

Jeez how many wide players do we need? Ben Arfa scores one decent goal a season and has part of a game where he plays well once a season, just ask Newckie fans.

28 Aug 2014 18:35:06
Aston villa to finish bottom with lowest ever points total, watch this space

I'm not convinced about west ham this year, think they will drop too

{Ed025's Note - lets hope so..

28 Aug 2014 23:34:51
I'd be quite happy if Villa drop down to the championship. Playing them at Goodison, over the last 15 years, has got to be the most depressing fixture ever

28 Aug 2014 11:38:28
Now we have Eto'o (a great signing if he can stay fit) do we not need to sure up the defence if we hope to fight on 4 fronts this seaason, domestic and european. I see ex rubbish Arbeloa is wanting out of madrid and would be fairly cheap or even out of favor Toby Alderweirld who we tried to sign a few seasons ago, what do you think ed?

{Ed025's Note - two average players for me rsj, but i agree that another defender would not go amiss mate..

28 Aug 2014 18:33:29
Arbeloa is woeful, how he ever played for madrid or spain is beyond me

{Ed025's Note - are there any players you do like swan?..

28 Aug 2014 18:42:01
Alderwerield is decent, i'm not miserable, I just dislike the majority of players our fans want us to sign

{Ed025's Note - i really wanted us to sign cleverley swan...just so i could read your response mate.. :)

Just two suggestions as they're both versatile as can play full back and CB, who can you see as a realistic defensive target ed?

{Ed025's Note - i cant really think of one that might be available rsj..

Toby would be the one for me can play cb and rb and still young would be a good signing I think

28 Aug 2014 16:59:54
Does anyone think that Lukaku could drop into Barkley's position behind the striker for the Chelsea game?

In my opinion, it could be a good tactical decision. Lukaku is at his best when he runs at the defense. due to his immense power, dribbling ability and speed. He'd be able to match Nemanja Matic's strength, who I think could really bully the likes of Naismith/Mirralas/McGeady out of the game. With Lukaku playing as CAM, we could put Naismith, Mirralas or even Eto'o up front to use their pace and movement to pull the centre backs out of position.

What are you're opinions? Good idea or not?

Ideally the number 10 role shop be a good passer, agile and technically gifted, I'd say there his weakest attributes specially that first touch at times

Eto . pace? Haha am just jesting :)

29 Aug 2014 01:03:12
My team for chelsea. Howard, coleman, stones, distan, baines, besic, mccarthy, barry, mirallas, lukaku, pienaar. I'd play all 3 centre mids deep lying, but allow one of the three to venture forwards when in attack. Although costa is out, chelsea are still a formidable team and we are going to be on the back foot for a lot of the game. Counter attacking them with pace on the wings is going to be vital, as is lukaku's role up top to not only gather the ball and play others in, but act as the first line of defense stopping chelsea being able to play the ball out from the back. I'm hoping for a 1-0 victory with mirallas our goalscorer. As good as naismith has been this and last season, I think he could be wasted playing this game as he could struggle to make an impact as he has the last few games, where as the player brought in for him will not only provide extra cover infront of our defense, but could help going forwards. Besic to man mark fibreglass, barry to spray the ball between the wings as baines and coleman get forward and keep the chelsea wingers worried about defending rather than attacking. Drogba is likely to play so distan is the obvious choice to mark him leaving stones to sweep up and carry the ball out from our defense. That leaves oscar who I think would be a fairly simple job for our own superman jimmy mac to mark. Barry similarly to stones would be the over player sweeping, gathering up the loose ball and getting us on the attack.

Great post Craig. I'd accept that formation and prediction. Spot on, but with Eto'o coming off the bench second half and scoring the winner.

Id keep it as we are. Naismith is on form, so why drop him. If things aren't going right i'd put Lukaku on the right and bring Eto'o on through the middle

Pienaar is out of the Chelski game, I think the team that started against Arsenal with either McAidey or Osman replacing Pienaar, Gibson to come on to the bench for 1 of them and Eto on to the bench for Astu as he can't play against his parent side. Would be very surprised if where to be anything different.

28 Aug 2014 11:35:59
Has Ever Banega moved anywhere yet? Could be one of the deadline day Bobby specials. IMWT

Gone to join Gerry D at Sevilla unfortunately!just the type of creative player we need, but IMWT!

28 Aug 2014 14:32:02
Ah gutted. Cheers though mate.

28 Aug 2014 11:25:18
3 players who I'd love to see arrive at Everton on Deadline day or before then:

Cerci (£15m) - Explosive left winger who's miles better than Pienaar and will get goals!

Welbeck (Loan)- We are favourites to sign him, Could do a good job for us as we need squad depth for Europe.

Richards (Loan)- We need cover at RB & CB and he can do both! Could be the next Gareth Barry type signing.

If those three signed we would have a brilliant squad for 14/15 season!

So who would you drop from the registered 25-man squads (Premier League and Europa League) to accommodate these incoming players? By my reckoning, we already have 24 players that would have to be registered in order to be eligible to play AND any player under 21 who hasn't been with us for at least two years (e.g. Lukaku, Stones, Stanek, Galloway) would have to included in the Europa League squad in order to be eligible to play. Then there's the question of homegrown players: at least 8 in the PL squad; at least 4 club-trained players in the EL squad (we have Hibbert, Osman, Duffy and McAleny) PLUS at least 4 association-trained players in the EL squad (we have Baines, Jagielka, McCarthy, Barry and Gibson). We can't have more than 17 non-homegrown players in either squad. Lukaku and Stanek would be non-homegrown players - Stones and Galloway would be association-trained. Other under-21 players, like Barkley, Garbutt, Browning, etc., would be eligible to play PL and EL matches without being in the registered 25-man squads. By the way, two of the EL squad must be keepers - for us that's surely Howard and Robles.
It's all very complicated and makes any the squad selections quite challenging for RM.
Go on - have a go at listing the PL squad and the EL squad you'd like to see - but remember the rules ;-)

{Ed001's Note - Lukaku should count as home grown as he was at Chelsea (even though he never played for them and was out on loan) for 2 years before the age of 21. Unless they have altered the rules regarding that.}

Ed001: I stand corrected about Lukaku being classed as an 'association-trained' homegrown player, as he has spent 3 seasons (albeit partly on loan and with different clubs) in England while under 21 :-)

28 Aug 2014 15:58:18
Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Crystal Palace have a squad of 31 last year?

28 Aug 2014 18:37:47
SWLP: you're mistaken :-)
Premier League clubs can only register 25 players aged over 21 to be eligible to play. The club can make changes during the transfer window, but have to stay within the 25 limit as any incomings & outgoings are made. So, a team might use 31 players during the season, but that'll reflect changes during the transfer window. At no time would the squad actually exceed 25. They can also use as many players aged under 21 as they like.

28 Aug 2014 06:14:10
Any news on Henan Edd?

{Ed025's Note - no rich still in abeyance mate..

28 Aug 2014 00:54:16
Any news on a goalkeeper, that could be our achilles heel should Howard lose form or picks up an injury, could do a lot worse than petre chech on a free.

28 Aug 2014 04:28:49
Yes i'm sure cech would happily reject first team champions league football with huge wages at monaco, real madrid, juventus or athletico madrid to play second choice at everton, this is one of those `in no way, shape or form do we have any chance of signing him� type of scenarios

Petr Cech is wanted by a host of clubs, he's far to good to be playing second fiddle

Alex McCarthy (Reading) QPR have reportedly offered 2m for him. We can afford that can't we Ed?

{Ed025's Note - sure we can davey, thats if bobby wants him of course..

27 Aug 2014 23:14:49
When etoo was asked about his number he said it was a choice out of 5 and 22. Wierd one because pienaar is 22. It could just be a typo by the echo or pienaar could be leaving

28 Aug 2014 04:23:39
Hopefully the latter

He didn't have the choice, he was just stating that 22 was his future wife's birthday. There was no suggestions of that number being available to him.

He said felt like 5 or 22 because its his future wife bday and said maybe next year