The Official Everton FC thread

Yep - we never make it easy for ourselves. 

Good result overnight - but fudge me Villa really are a bag of balls at the moment. 

About fudgeing time.

Looks like Koeman is locked in now.  Wouldn't have been my first choice, but after reading a bit about him, I'm excited. 

Can understand your comments about the players being at fault.  Think Bobby lost the dressing room some time ago.  The difference in the way they played that last game of the season was amazing.  Good to see the youngsters get a run as well.

Koeman will do a very good job.

He'll need to bring in a few players and get rid of some dead wood though. Big job ahead but Everton still have the potential.

hibbo, ossy and pienaar gone.

www.evertonfc.com/news/2016/06/10/trio-included-on...

Not surprised about Hibbo & Pienaar.  Thought Ossie might still have something to offer.  Sad day when (very) long serving club members leave, hopefully at least is able to stick around in some capacity.

Yeah - thought Ossy was the one to remain. Still offered something in games. 

At least Darron Gibson's contract has been extended, eh? 

The medical staff will be pleased with that.

Everton sign Idrissa Gueye from Aston Villa. From the little I saw of Villa last season he didn't seem to be good, but then again neither did most of the team.

CONFIRMED: Everton sign Idrissa Gueye from @AVFCOfficial on a four-year deal. #WelcomeIdrissa pic.twitter.com/3EyaYGquIg

— Everton (@Everton) August 2, 2016

He's a DM and I suppose this might be a nod to the future with Gareth Barry in his mid-30's.  Apparently he had the second most tackles/interceptions in the league last year - probably not all that hard to do being on Villa.

Gibson, Besic, McCarthy. 

Aren't they all defensive minded?

Yeah it does seem a bit of a strange signing given what we currently have and needs elsewhere.  In saying that both Gibson and Besic have been injured a lot during their time at the club and it is looking like Big Ron likes to play with two DM's.

You're right, depth is always good.  I suppose I was hoping with our 'war chest' we'd have more luck in signing a play-making midfielder though, perhaps another striker as well.  Still time I guess.

And McCarthy is bound to be suspended after 20 minutes of opening day.

And on cue, Besic gets injured in the Rooney testimonial.

Yep, confirmed 6 months out.

Rumour going around is Everton might be getting Joe Hart. What a signing that would be for the Toffees.

Didn't see the game on the weekend - waiting for beIn connect to become available - but listened to the Toffee radio commentary.  It sounded that the new lad Gueye played really well and the keeper as well.  If we can sort a few more attacking options (and keep Lukaku) then who knows?   

Although he's prone to a few howlers, I think Hart would still be a good signing for us.  With a bit of luck we might get him on the cheap with Pep seemingly having no interest.

Or just watch it here:

http://www.fullmatchesandshows.com/2016/08/13/ever...

Joe Hart is signed until 2019 so doubt he'll be that cheap.

I thought Robles and Stekelenberg would have been enough for your mob?

Bolasie to Everton has been confirmed for 25 million pounds. Good transfer I reckon, great option to have on the bench. A bit overpriced, but then again so has every other transfer been this window.

Yeah the price seems crazy, but it is just the sign of the times I guess.  Nice write up in the Guardian about him.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/aug/15/yannick-bolasie-power-everton-crystal-palace

Hope he can bring a bit more flair to the team and deliver some of those killer passes/crosses we seemed to lack most of last year.   

Don't understand the Hart rumours when you have Stekelenburg and Robles. I'd keep that cash in my pocket... 

Starting in the 2012–13 season he's played sweet fudge all. 19 appearances in 2012–13 for Roma, 19 appearances in 2013–14 for Fulham, 1 appearance in 2014–15 for Monaco, 17 appearances for Southampton in 2015–16 (because of Forster's injury only, and he wasn't that good during his matches there). Surely Everton are looking for a starting keeper that has made more than an average of 14 appearances per season for the last 4 seasons. 

Robles has always had a career as a backup keeper. Last season he had a personal best record of 13 appearances in the league. Last time he did that was in 2011–12 for Rayo Vallecano, one of the sharktest La Liga clubs... oh, they're currently in Segunda Division. Apart from twice having 13 appearances he's had an average of 5.1 league appearances per season across 9 seasons—not good enough to be a starter.

Surely Everton want a keeper with actual experience on the field rather than experience warming the bench? And Joe Hart is one of the best 20 keepers in the world in my opinion, and best English keeper who will probably continue to get international caps, who has gotten a bit of stick for a recent "bad" season or two. He's still world class, only dropped because of Pep's need for keepers to not be standard old school keepers but sweeper keepers. He may not be good with his feet, but he's bloody good with his hand and that'll be all that matters for Everton.

http://www.90min.com/posts/3620467-everton-fan-zon...

Always liked the Toffees.

Neither is Hart, he is starting to appear like a Rob Green Ver 2....who was like a Calamity James Ver 2

I haven't watched many City games over the past season or so, but I always thought Hart was a very good keeper.  I know he's prone to the odd clanger here & there, but I rate him as a pure shot-stopper.  Think he'd be a step-up on Robles & Stekelenburg, although again I haven't seen Stekelenburg in action for Everton as yet. 

While it could be argued that we'd be better off spending the money elsewhere, true top class keepers don't come on the market too often.  Might be best to snap him up now if we get the chance.

Keeper playing time is a pretty unique beast, if you don't start, you don't get it, and you can't play any other role. When signing a keeper you're not going to take that into account unless the keeper has a full career of being a no.2. For example I'm sure a ton of clubs would take Ospina off Arsenal, he is very good, but he's only had a handful of caps in the last year. 

I think Stekelenburg is better than you give him credit for. A ton of Ajax caps, 54 caps for Holland, certainly not to be sniffed at. He's only been passed around the place the last couple of seasons after he signed for Fulham and they got relegated. I was surprised he even signed for Fulham when he did, he seemed better than that, must've been the draw of London. 

Thought Hart was great in that season Man C won the league with Aguero's goal, and did rate him as one of the best going around at that time, but since then, bit of a demise.

We know he's bad with his feet but now he appears to have this issue with weak hands which is very concerning. 

Robles definitely aint too bad either. 

When I look at Everton, I just think that sort of cash would be waaaay better spent in other areas of the pitch. 

Looks like the entire EPL agrees with us LG, rumours that he is going on loan to... wait for it... ... ... 

Torino.