It is now time to switch to a new Money AM football blog as the world cup is now over and we all look to the future.....World cup 2010 is over, Bravo Espana, and Forlan, once again and bring on the new season !.....I never expected the last thread to be such a success...thanks all.... so this new one might go on for years without the need to edit the title...we shall see...

The Clock is Ticking
DAVE WRAGGS 17/09/2017 1 COMMENT [Jump to last]
MORE RECENT ARTICLES

The Clock is Ticking
Trip to Atalanta
Woeful Blues make a mockery of top-six ambitions
From My Seat: Tottenham Hotspur (H)
Meek surrender to silky Spurs
Assessing the squad and our options
What does Walsh do?
The dust has yet to settle on one of the least representative scorelines I’ve seen in my 39 years of watching Everton. The 4-0 reverse away at Old Trafford was particularly harsh on the Blues, who showed much of the endeavour that was missing from the embarrassing defeat to Atalanta in the Europa League, but 12 goals conceded and none scored in the last four fixtures is a damning statistic and places a huge question mark over our summer spending spree.

Much of the criticism aimed at Ronald Koeman over the past few weeks has centred on his perceived negativity and intransigence in terms of sticking with the same slow possession-based football that fails to yield any real attacking threat and is a throwback to the Martinezesque style of a few seasons ago, but without the odd gung-ho attacking foray. Many fans have also questioned the team’s lack of identity, with no real system being evident in any of the games played by the Blues this season.

As positively as the Summer transfer window started, it’s end – and particularly the failure by the club to secure the services of a striker who can serve as the team’s attacking focal point – was hugely sobering and promises to derail what was hoped to be the real start of the Blues’ resurgence as a footballing force. In the eyes of many fans, this was simply ’the same old Everton’, hamstrung by their own off-the-field-failings.


As good a prospect as he may be, Dominic Calvert-Lewin is a long way from being the finished article and placing the burden of Everton’s attacking threat on his 20-year-old shoulders is both unfair and unrealistic. Evertonians the world over knew that the classless Lukaku wanted away in January, so the Board’s failure to secure the signature of something that resembled a replacement is bordering on corporate negligence. There were clearly transfer targets, so the Managerial staff can be cut some slack, but the ongoing failure of Koeman and his team to make the best of what they have, or even get close to working out their preferred starting eleven, is worrying and has left no shortage of fans calling for the Manager’s head.

The lack of pace that is so evident from the Manager’s preferred line-ups (we do have ‘some’ pace available – Kenny, Lookman, Lennon and Vlasic) suggests his preferred style is a keep-ball short passing game and one that he feels doesn’t force him into the market for pacey footballers – a pre-requisite for all but the most technically gifted Premier League players. A suggestion that is borne out by an insistence on shoehorning three or four Number 10s into his starting eleven.

Gana and Schneiderlin can seemingly do no wrong, the latter looking nothing like the player who did so well in the latter part of last season and the former, neat, tidy and hard-working. Together forming a central defensive midfield partnership that has got nowhere near achieving its aim of making the Blues more solid at the back – but each game they start together as the beating heart of the team.

Of the new players, Gylfi Sigurdsson has been ineffective, Davy Klaassen looks too slow and lightweight, Sandro Ramirez tries but has little chance in a system that doesn’t suit his game, and Michael Keane has been enveloped by the mediocrity he plays alongside. Wayne Rooney works hard but certainly isn’t the player he once was and that guaranteed start he gets may soon be a thing of the past as Koeman searches for his best eleven. That leaves Cuco Martina. He’s no Tony Thomas, but his biggest problem is that he’s not Seamus Coleman, so, in the eyes of some, he can’t win.

Four consecutive home games, against Sunderland, Bournemouth, Limassol and Burnley beckon and each of these is eminently winnable. Talk of ‘must wins’ after five Premier League games seems ridiculous, but that is quickly becoming the state of Everton’s season and a loss of more than one of those games would send the Twitterati into meltdown and brighten the spotlight that is shining ever brighter on our Manager.

One thing is certain: this is Koeman’s team and he’ll live or die by results. I’m with those that are happy to give him more time to correct the mess we’re in. By most measures, we’re arguably a worse team than the one that finished last season, but there are at least 140 million reasons why we shouldn’t be. The Manager is now almost halfway through a three-year contract and that three-year plan is as big a work in progress as it’s ever been. Over to you, Ronald.

The clock is ticking.


Reader Comments (1)
Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer


James Stewart
1 Posted 17/09/2017 at 22:08:50 The fact that many are trying desperately to grasp at positives from a 4 nil defeat just shows how low we have sunk. The clock has ticked, fallen over and smashed into a thousand tiny pieces as far as I am concerned.
Koeman has turned us into a laughing stock. We are decrepit at the back and pedestrian in attack, not to mention without leftback cover or a left winger full stop. I care very little whether it's Koeman, Walsh, Moshiri, Kenwright or the tea lady in charge of recruitment, bottom line is they fucked up big time.

The apathy around many blues makes me physically sick. Sure we may pick up some wins in the next few games but so what. Are we really paying Koeman 6m p/year to beat the likes of Sunderland? Koeman was brought in to get us top 4 and he has failed miserably. We are further away than under Martinez despite spending heavily which is something I never thought I would say.

Enough is enough. Give Unsworth til Christmas and lets get some pride back at the club.

Don't hold back James. Say it as it is

Good to here your still with us CC, things can only get better.

Pic. below made me smile.

England manager sacked http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41326806

Very messy. Should have a woman in my opinion for de ladies as a manager. Must be someone now whose palyed and capable.

What did he do at Bristol , shag one of them ?

Ok just read up on it and I think he shagged the whole team.

Nice one Mark :-)

Dil as Bristol is near Wales I have to enquire.. were there animals of the "woollen" variety involved in the allegations at all?

Not sure Stan but those carrot crunchers make the Welsh look normal :-)

3rd placed Cardiff on 20 points verses 1st placed Leeds on 20 points this Tuesday evening.

Tickets £5 !!!! if bought by a season ticket holder who can buy up to 4 each.

Leeds have sold around 3,000 tickets for a long Tuesday night trek to S Wales and Cardiff have currently sold just over 20,000 but home fans can also pay on the day.

That's why i for one would welcome Leeds back in the PL - they're the sort of club we need

and not just to remember 1970

Dirty Weeds back in the PreMadona.. now there's a thought.

Leeds have been my favourite English team since 1970 Joe. I started liking them before they beat Man U on the FA Cup semi final. Our school class then seemed to split 50/50 between Leeds and Chelsea for the final.

To this day most of those old school mates still support either Leeds or Chelsea.

Hope Leeds get a right stuffing tonight.

Dil, Now that's a school that should be put into "special measures". 🤣

Lol , it was a lovely school Stan and still is. Barry Island Primary Scool. Smallest in Barry but we had the best rugby and football team in my last year there and I've still got the medals to prove it.


Ticket sales are on course to give us our biggest home crowd since we played Everon in the 5th round of the FA Cup in 1977 (35k) and our biggest league crowd since our top of the table clash in the old 3rd Division with Hereford in 1976 (36k).

I was at both those games. Lost to Everton 2-1 but beat Hereford 2-0.

30k + very impressive, have a good one.

We won :-)

Thank you for wearing them out last week Stan , we were awesome tonight.

As Warnock said after 15 points after 5 games , if we are still there or thereabouts at end of October then we'll be in with a shout.

Next up Derby at home Saturday and they are on a roll.

Bigger attendance than the night we got promoted in 2013 but think it may have been less than we got on 1 or 2 occasions in premier league.

Don't care , we won :-)

Don't mench.. anytime -):

You certainly are steaming at the mo.

Its official, statistically speaking Burnley FC has the best Premier League defence. http://www.itsroundanditswhite.co.uk/2017/09/27/statistically-speaking-burnley-best-premier-league-defence-sean-dyche/