New thread for a new season.
Sean Dyche averaged about a half-point per game more than Lampard, although that's a low bar - Team Lampard (if you combined his Everton and Chelsea seasons, giving him his ppg average for the games he didn't manage) would have finished dead last in the league. I like Dyche a lot, more than I thought I would. I hope he sticks around.
Here's the squad. Departures instrikethrough, additions italicized. (L)=loan (inj)=currently out injured
Goalkeepers: Pickford,Begovic, Virginia, Lonergan
Pickford's on a new deal and says he wants to stay at Everton. He was very good last season. His reputation as a flake and wierdo is set and well deserved, but he has matured. Not thrilled with U21 graduate Joao Virginia as the #2 - he won't develop on the bench and his loans have been underwhelming.
Rumors for the rest of the window: a couple of Championship keepers floated as possible backups
Defenders: Coleman (inj), Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Keane, Godfrey, Holgate,Mina, Coady, Young, Mykolenko, Patterson, Nkonkou, Vinagre
Tark was the only outfield player in the league to play 90 x 38 last season. Excellent addition and he's the rock of the back four and the captain in Coleman's absence. Expect 6'4" youngster Jarrad Branthwaite to start alongside. He excelled at PSV Eindhoven last season, and has attracted interest from big clubs. He might help address the biggest problem with the defense - they're slooow up the gut. Conor Coady, now at Leicester, started alongside Tark under Lampard; Dyche preferred Keane. Both played passably well but both have the turning speed of an aircraft carrier and sides were able to just rip us apart with a simple ball over the top. The hugely gifted, lovable, but fragile Yerry Mina is gone. Holgate and Godfrey suck. Patterson was brought in to succeed Coleman at RB, but has had injuries himself and is raw. Myko is a good man-marker but has offered nothing going forward. I was not happy when they got 38 year old Ashley Young but he looks great, has plenty of attacking intent, can play both fullback positions, is a solid dude, and the Villa fans flooded the Everton boards to say that we'd love him and they never should have let him leave. James Garner, a midfielder by trade, was unexpectedly deployed at RB by the England U21 Euro squad, which won the tourney. He excelled there with some MOTM performances so it will be interesting to see if Dyche uses him there.
Young - Branthwaite - Tark - Garner is probably the best back four we have.
Rumors for the rest of the window: Holgate to Southampton; Maguire in from Utd. I'd like another CB.
Midfielders: Iwobi, Onana, Garner, Doucoure, Dele (inj), Gueye, Gomes, Gbamin,Davies, Townsend, Mills (L) Harrison (L)(inj)
Decent depth here. Harrison is a sound addition albeit likely out for a couple more weeks. Gueye is looking a little creaky over 90 minutes and offers zero in attack but can still break up attacks and hunt the ball at an elite level. Iwobi's end product is goofy but he makes things happen by just running at people. Onana is a star in the making. Forgotten man Dele got a lot of attention with his riveting interview about suffering abuse as a child and his struggles with addiction. He's recovering from injury, will likely not be match fit for some weeks, was truly dreadful on loan in Turkey, and we'd owe Spurs a lot of money if he played 10 more games for Everton, so I don't expect anything. Andros Townsend is likely to retire and Tom Davies has taken his skateboard to Sheffield.
Rumors: Onana to Utd but it's highly unlikely they'd sell. Gomes and Gbamin will likely be offloaded, they have no future at the club.
Forwards: Calvert-Lewin, Maupay, McNeil (inj), Gray, Danjuma (L), Chermiti, Cannon, Dobbin,Simms, Kean,
For the first time in a long time, DCL is pronounced fit. I am a complete fanboy so fingers crossed. Before his troubles last season he had a good health record. The side is just night-and-day better with him in it. Maupay just cannot fill in for him - it's unfair to him to expect him to be a target 9 - holdup man - the idea behind Maupay was that he could be a Richarlison - type pest, running at the goal to complement a classic hold-up player in DCL. But let's face it, he's been awful. He's something like 1-for-30 for shots in the box in his time with the club. I feel bad for him. Dwight McNeil had a breakout season under Dyche. Over the last quarter of the season his numbers, both actual and expected, put him among the league leaders. He scored and he created. Unfortunately he did his knee a bit in a friendly and will be out for a few weeks. Danjuma was all set to go to Everton last season but changed his mind at the last minute and of course famously sat on the bench at Spurs. To credit both him and the club he was refreshingly open about it, he said the club was a tire fire at the time and Lampard was obviously dead man walking, and the club kept its interest. Intriguing acquisition Youssef Chermiti is a 6'4" 19yo from Sporting - very raw, probably too raw to rely on right away which is why the rumors for Che Adams. Keep an eye on academy product Lewis Dobbin who tore it up in preseason and may have forced his way into the mix
Rumors: Gionto from Leeds. He badly wants the move and is trying to force his way out of town. He's submitted a written demand. I'm not sure if another wide-ish type player is what we need but I"m not going to complain about the club going after good attacking talent. Che Adams from Southampton. I'd be fine with this - he's not going to set the world on fire but he's a like-for-like replacement for DCL who can play with his back to goal. Some Italian club supposedly wants Maupay.
It doesn't sound like much and it's scandalous that they went into the first game without match-fit replacements for Dom but to be honest I like what they've done this window. It's been fiscally responsible and I'm good with all of the individual moves - whether there have been enough pieces added is debatable and there are still a few outgoings needed.
But I think that if DCL can stay healthy and/or they can get good forward play from elsewhere, this side will not go down and could challenge for top-half.
But the best part about this season is that I AM GOING TO THE NEXT HOME GAME.
Mrs O, Teen O and I fly Thursday to Manchester. Game on Saturday, Goodison tour on Sunday, knocking around Yorkshire and Scotland for another week.
View: https://youtu.be/tKnG06-oYcg
NSNO
UTFT
Sean Dyche averaged about a half-point per game more than Lampard, although that's a low bar - Team Lampard (if you combined his Everton and Chelsea seasons, giving him his ppg average for the games he didn't manage) would have finished dead last in the league. I like Dyche a lot, more than I thought I would. I hope he sticks around.
Here's the squad. Departures in
Goalkeepers: Pickford,
Pickford's on a new deal and says he wants to stay at Everton. He was very good last season. His reputation as a flake and wierdo is set and well deserved, but he has matured. Not thrilled with U21 graduate Joao Virginia as the #2 - he won't develop on the bench and his loans have been underwhelming.
Rumors for the rest of the window: a couple of Championship keepers floated as possible backups
Defenders: Coleman (inj), Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Keane, Godfrey, Holgate,
Tark was the only outfield player in the league to play 90 x 38 last season. Excellent addition and he's the rock of the back four and the captain in Coleman's absence. Expect 6'4" youngster Jarrad Branthwaite to start alongside. He excelled at PSV Eindhoven last season, and has attracted interest from big clubs. He might help address the biggest problem with the defense - they're slooow up the gut. Conor Coady, now at Leicester, started alongside Tark under Lampard; Dyche preferred Keane. Both played passably well but both have the turning speed of an aircraft carrier and sides were able to just rip us apart with a simple ball over the top. The hugely gifted, lovable, but fragile Yerry Mina is gone. Holgate and Godfrey suck. Patterson was brought in to succeed Coleman at RB, but has had injuries himself and is raw. Myko is a good man-marker but has offered nothing going forward. I was not happy when they got 38 year old Ashley Young but he looks great, has plenty of attacking intent, can play both fullback positions, is a solid dude, and the Villa fans flooded the Everton boards to say that we'd love him and they never should have let him leave. James Garner, a midfielder by trade, was unexpectedly deployed at RB by the England U21 Euro squad, which won the tourney. He excelled there with some MOTM performances so it will be interesting to see if Dyche uses him there.
Young - Branthwaite - Tark - Garner is probably the best back four we have.
Rumors for the rest of the window: Holgate to Southampton; Maguire in from Utd. I'd like another CB.
Midfielders: Iwobi, Onana, Garner, Doucoure, Dele (inj), Gueye, Gomes, Gbamin,
Decent depth here. Harrison is a sound addition albeit likely out for a couple more weeks. Gueye is looking a little creaky over 90 minutes and offers zero in attack but can still break up attacks and hunt the ball at an elite level. Iwobi's end product is goofy but he makes things happen by just running at people. Onana is a star in the making. Forgotten man Dele got a lot of attention with his riveting interview about suffering abuse as a child and his struggles with addiction. He's recovering from injury, will likely not be match fit for some weeks, was truly dreadful on loan in Turkey, and we'd owe Spurs a lot of money if he played 10 more games for Everton, so I don't expect anything. Andros Townsend is likely to retire and Tom Davies has taken his skateboard to Sheffield.
Rumors: Onana to Utd but it's highly unlikely they'd sell. Gomes and Gbamin will likely be offloaded, they have no future at the club.
Forwards: Calvert-Lewin, Maupay, McNeil (inj), Gray, Danjuma (L), Chermiti, Cannon, Dobbin,
For the first time in a long time, DCL is pronounced fit. I am a complete fanboy so fingers crossed. Before his troubles last season he had a good health record. The side is just night-and-day better with him in it. Maupay just cannot fill in for him - it's unfair to him to expect him to be a target 9 - holdup man - the idea behind Maupay was that he could be a Richarlison - type pest, running at the goal to complement a classic hold-up player in DCL. But let's face it, he's been awful. He's something like 1-for-30 for shots in the box in his time with the club. I feel bad for him. Dwight McNeil had a breakout season under Dyche. Over the last quarter of the season his numbers, both actual and expected, put him among the league leaders. He scored and he created. Unfortunately he did his knee a bit in a friendly and will be out for a few weeks. Danjuma was all set to go to Everton last season but changed his mind at the last minute and of course famously sat on the bench at Spurs. To credit both him and the club he was refreshingly open about it, he said the club was a tire fire at the time and Lampard was obviously dead man walking, and the club kept its interest. Intriguing acquisition Youssef Chermiti is a 6'4" 19yo from Sporting - very raw, probably too raw to rely on right away which is why the rumors for Che Adams. Keep an eye on academy product Lewis Dobbin who tore it up in preseason and may have forced his way into the mix
Rumors: Gionto from Leeds. He badly wants the move and is trying to force his way out of town. He's submitted a written demand. I'm not sure if another wide-ish type player is what we need but I"m not going to complain about the club going after good attacking talent. Che Adams from Southampton. I'd be fine with this - he's not going to set the world on fire but he's a like-for-like replacement for DCL who can play with his back to goal. Some Italian club supposedly wants Maupay.
It doesn't sound like much and it's scandalous that they went into the first game without match-fit replacements for Dom but to be honest I like what they've done this window. It's been fiscally responsible and I'm good with all of the individual moves - whether there have been enough pieces added is debatable and there are still a few outgoings needed.
But I think that if DCL can stay healthy and/or they can get good forward play from elsewhere, this side will not go down and could challenge for top-half.
But the best part about this season is that I AM GOING TO THE NEXT HOME GAME.
Mrs O, Teen O and I fly Thursday to Manchester. Game on Saturday, Goodison tour on Sunday, knocking around Yorkshire and Scotland for another week.
View: https://youtu.be/tKnG06-oYcg
NSNO
UTFT
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