StirlingBlue wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2026 8:07 am
If money truly is as tight as the journalists/ITKs are saying then I really don’t understand signing Hackney and George ahead of a right back.
Neither are making the on a weekly basis and were crying out for a RB
It might be a case of we can buy Norton-Cuffy but we see him as maybe a level below what we actually need. He's probably not that in demand either so we know we can wait a while and he'll still most likely be available.
What we actually want is say for example Doue or Spence, and if we sell either Garner or Ndaiye we can potentially move on one of these who we actually see as game changers.
So sometimes it's a case of being patient so you give yourself the best possible chance of signing the right player over just who is available and you can afford earlier in the window.
We all desperately want an RB, but also I'd rather we sign a really good one. It'd be poor business to buy a Myko level ability player and then suddenly be cash rich a few weeks later and realise you could have got Doue instead.
Bluedylan1 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2026 10:07 am
Listen I hear it. I absolutely acknowledge that our points tally exceeded our performances for long parts of the season. I think we all discussed that on here plenty of times, as the season was going on. And Moyes got certain things terribly wrong (finish to the season, integration of young players).
I also think there was mitigation. We had to try and integrate 8 new players from the summer. We had a lot of players that went out of the door. That squad churn was very difficult and could've been incredibly destabilising. If we had someone like Potter as manager in those circumstances, I could genuinely see us in a relegation battle.
We also had the ground move to navigate. That clearly impacted some of the home performances (as well as Moyes' tactics at home being too conservative).
We also had a period for 6 weeks or so during Afcon where we barely had a team that we could field. We were without Ndiaye and Gana for ages, and in the same period KDH was out for ages. All hugely important players. We then lost Grealish for the rest of the season, our only genuinely top quality footballer. Obviously Branthwaite, our best defender by some distance, wasn't available all season.
All pretty big things which really hurt us.
Just to reiterate, Moyes got some things disastrously wrong. He doesn't get a pass for those things at all. If we'd fired him, I don't think it would've been a crazy decision at all. But I think it's fair to also acknowledge it was actually a very challenging season to manage for lots of the reasons listed.
You should have your own column.
Your posts are always extremely well thought out, balanced and structured and I always enjoy reading them.
It got away with an awful lot last season and having those two as your centre halves impacts how you build up and how you can push up the pitch.
We don’t have a single defender we can count upon to perform next season.
I agreed that a Keane / Tarkowski partnership is horrendous and not who I want to see lining up again next season but the facts are there until proven otherwise - we don’t have the worst defence in the league outside of the promoted teams.
NickNack wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2026 12:14 pm
I agreed that a Keane / Tarkowski partnership is horrendous and not who I want to see lining up again next season but the facts are there until proven otherwise - we don’t have the worst defence in the league outside of the promoted teams.
As a collection of players it’s the worst in the league outside the promoted teams imo
Juanito wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2026 1:43 pm
The combination of Keane and Tarks is going to be more depressing in 2026/27 and you just know Moyes will go with it if and when Branthwaite is out.
Looking forward to Tarks dropping back on to Pickford's feet whilst Keane simultaneously is being drawn way out in to midfield because that's what they do.
I think there has to remain a reasonable allowance for the lack of investment in the squad in recent seasons. It's been a proper chasm for a while now, and this doesn't even take into account Spurs' and the rest already wild spending this window. Everton have been bringing a knife or maybe more like a dull spoon to a gunfight for years.
I would hope since we have had to be on a financial fasting process for many seasons we do get to enjoy more flexibility now and more leeway to invest in the gaps in the squad. That is my only disconnect really with the way the club is talking about it's constraints.
The way the top clubs are spending 100 mil + though at a time though feels like the level needed for competitive finances have taken another leap to being out of reach again though as it's hard to see a revenue path for us that would allow that kind of spending.
I get that money's possibly really tight, but that does not excuse the glaring hole on the right side of our back four. QPR have just bagged former Brighton full back Tariq Lamptey on a free. Whilst he's not elite level and is coming of the back of a pretty severe injury, he is a right full back with Premier League experience and was available on a free. If we can't even compete with Championship sides for this sort of player, then things really are bad.
Even on a short term contract whilst he proves that he's over his injury, I'm sure he'd have jumped at the chance to play in the PL again and plays in the position that we are absolutely desperate to fill.
on a weekly basis and were crying out for a RB
