Everton FC - in a spot of bother?

Is it just me or are Everton the forgotten club of the Premiership? whilst Newcastle and West Ham are strengthening it's Everton who haven't really impressed and it's Everton who need to strengthen more than most, after all they'll be competing in 4 competitions next season.

Everton to me have never been spectacular, their away form isn't great, at home they play a very good defensive game and then manage to snatch a goal, however they often crumble against the big teams (bar last season where they did pretty well against Arsenal and Liverpool), are they a team who deserves a European place though? can you honestly see Everton in around 3 or 4 years time breaking into the top 4? I can't.

The reason is simple, although Everton have kept hold of key players such as Arteta and Cahill this summer, they haven't added any more key players to that, Lescott is a good player so perhaps he is key, then you're searching around for another one, Is Johnson key? I'm still unsure, he had a great start to the season and then had an injury and went downhill a bit.

The main problem Everton have is in attack IMO, they have a strong defence but attacking wise they are drastically short of options, if Johnson should get injured again then the options look a little bleak, particularly if a big Uefa cup game was coming up, Vaughan is young, he cant really be relied on yet, same with Anichebe, although he has impressed in his few games in a blue shirt thus far, and then of course they still have that waste of space James Beattie.

Now I can not understand why Beattie is still there, he simply can't do it in an Everton shirt, he was a good play for Southampton but he scored 1 goal this season...from the penalty spot, now that is just an awful awful record for a striker in a top 6 side, it really is, maybe the offers haven't come in but for me they need to take what they can get and flog him off because he isn't good enough.

I also think Everton could do with wingers, on the right side of midfield they struggled through parts of the season with Simon Davies, they sold him, then tried Arteta there who was a success because Arteta can play almost anywhere in the midfield and be a success, but on the left wing they don't really have anyone, Andy van Der Meyde hasn't really been a hit for them, there's been talks he's on his way out, they were interestd in Richardson, he is now going to Sunderland, so who is there for that left side of midfield? I don't think Jagielka can play left midfield can he? perhaps I'm wrong.

Overall though, I look at Everton and I can not see them being successful next season unless they really get in 3 or 4 players and some well known top players at that, with a supposed limited budget I can't see that happening.

Your thoughts?

We're a quarter of the way through a 2 month transfer window luis

Tweedle wrote:We're a quarter of the way through a 2 month transfer window luis

Can you honestly see Everton signing 3 or 4 top players though between now and when the wondow closes?

And in short they deserve their European place ,they got two young strikers in Vaughan and Anichbe(sp?) , Vaughan was touted as good as Rooney but is injury plagued.
Also they usually play with 1 striker upfront so perhaps dont need a striker.
Can they break into top4 , didnt they do that 2 yrs ago but cant see them doing it again.
They need signings definately because everyone else have strengthened (Pompey specially) , wasnt Moyes saying the other day about irresponsible spending somehting ? meaning he doesnt have too many funds.
Lets wait and see.

No I can't. But they don't neccessarily need that.

They've bought in Jagielka, a very useful squad player.

If they seal the deal for Manuel Fernandes then they have an incredibly solid midfield.

Howard is a very accomplished keeper and they have some useful defenders, although they coud do with either a centre back or left back.

McFadden is showing signs of developing well.

Beattie is set to leave but both Anichebe and Vaughan look decent stand ins.

Everton could do with a top class winger, and a centre back and I think they'll be set

Would a team like Bayern Munich really be scared of this though

........Arteta..........Fernandes...........Cahill.............Mcfadden

..............................Johnson..........Anichebe.......................

It's good but not really frightening

Fernandes is back at Benfica

Luis wrote:Would a team like Bayern Munich really be scared of this though

........Arteta..........Fernandes...........Cahill.............Mcfadden

..............................Johnson..........Anichebe.......................

It's good but not really frightening

Everton aren't Bayern Munich though luis.

Bayern are far and away favourites for the competition this year - to try and compare Everton with them is futile - on paper Liverpool would struggle to match up to Bayern's present attacking line

Ok well still Everton's front line just isn't that great, and MCfadden is average IMO, they'll struggle this year if they dont get in a top winger, and a top striker IMO, and I haven't seen them linked with too many players as of late

Samba de Baiano wrote:Fernandes is back at Benfica

I know - but Everton have an option on a £12m deal that they could take up - doubt they can afford him though.

Would be a great signing for someone like Newcastle

But what do you expect them to do Luis? Not every team can go out and sign as many players as they want with impunity. It probably wouldn't frighten Bayern Munich too much but how do you expect Everton to sign the players that would really frighten the top teams. The presence of rich owners have allowed some clubs to spend much more than normal, but it's not as if Everton can go out and sign four excellent players and spend £40m in a summer. They simply have to make do with what they've got, and at the moment that is less than the teams around them.

Sheffield gunner wrote:But what do you expect them to do Luis? Not every team can go out and sign as many players as they want with impunity. It probably wouldn't frighten Bayern Munich too much but how do you expect Everton to sign the players that would really frighten the top teams. The presence of rich owners have allowed some clubs to spend much more than normal, but it's not as if Everton can go out and sign four excellent players and spend £40m in a summer. They simply have to make do with what they've got, and at the moment that is less than the teams around them.

Well I guess they cant strengthen that much then, which is why I asked, or am asking do you think they'll struggle? I would say they will, and I mean really struggle if they do not get in a good striker and winger

I think they will be on the fringes of a European place. They have a solid team and are hard to beat, but I think they will struggle to keep pace with Spurs this season. On the other hand, one of their closest competitors Bolton look like they could struggle as well so that might remove one of their obstacles in reaching a European spot next season. It's difficult to say such a long time before the season starts, but I would expect Everton to be around 7-8th, it will be close between them and a number of teams around them.

When Liverpool won the CL they had Biscan , Troare ,Baros etc do you think that was frightening.

Dark Savante wrote:When Liverpool won the CL they had Biscan , Troare ,Baros etc do you think that was frightening.

It frightened me.

I meant that cup comptetions can go any way (not devaluing Liverpool win) like Greece winning Euro 2004 so you never know , I think they will get 6-10 in the league if Moyes doesnt have another 2nd season like he did before.

I actually think Everton have a pretty good squad. They're not going to achieve much, but they've cemented their place in the top half of the league.

Luis wrote:Would a team like Bayern Munich really be scared of this though

........Arteta..........Fernandes...........Cahill.............Mcfadden

..............................Johnson..........Anichebe.......................

It's good but not really frightening

A lot might say the same about Liverpool

All due respect Calidad, this is a bit better than the one I did for Everton:

........Gerrard......Mascherano.........Alonso............babel/Kewell

...........................Kuyt................Torres.................................

Arteta, Fernades are excellent players & Johnson and Cahill are taylor made for the Premiership.

It's not that bad.

Luis wrote:All due respect Calidad, this is a bit better than the one I did for Everton:

........Gerrard......Mascherano.........Alonso............babel/Kewell

...........................Kuyt................Torres.................................

to be honest it is a bit better but its not like leaps and bounds better. cahill,fernandes and arteta are fantastic midfielders so they cancel out gerrard, masch,alonso (for the sake of arguement im not sayingi they are better) babel is unproven and young, kewell is injured. torres is untested in the premiership and he is a bit inconsitent and kuyt works hard. Johnson is not exactly a frightening forward but he does score goals

This isn't about Liverpool FFS why do we always have to comapre Liverpool to everything

Luis wrote:This isn't about Liverpool FFS why do we always have to comapre Liverpool to everything

it is about how everton will fair next season as you think they dont have a strong team, trying to show that everton isnt that weak using a team you know lots about

To me it's weak in terms of competing on four fronts next season, they haven't got a good squad depths, a few injuries to key players would be chaotic for them

Luis wrote:To me it's weak in terms of competing on four fronts next season, they haven't got a good squad depths, a few injuries to key players would be chaotic for them

they have most of their starting line up solidified though, they have plenty of time to sign squad players. imo they took their first step into solidifying their place in the top half of the table by getting a great young keeper in howard and keeping cahill/arteta

They have time but lack of quality players left in the market and lack of funds

I heard that Manuel Fernandes is going back to Benfica.

No one cancel out Mascherano. Just having him there makes the Liverpool midfield one of the most solid in Europe. They could play a defense of 4 Titus Brambles, and a midfield of Mascherano + 3 Kieran Richardsons, and they'd still not concede many goals.


On topic - I think Everton will be fine. Like you pointed out Luis, they've kept their key players and so they only need a couple of reinforcements. But if they have an injury crisis, they're f@cked.

Luis wrote:This isn't about Liverpool FFS why do we always have to comapre Liverpool to everything

You posted your Liverpool team!! Thats comparing them you fucktard

kas wrote:No one cancel out Mascherano. Just having him there makes the Liverpool midfield one of the most solid in Europe. They could play a defense of 4 Titus Brambles, and a midfield of Mascherano + 3 Kieran Richardsons, and they'd still not concede many goals.

He ain't superman!