Disco Stu

That pitch looks as bad as ours.

https://netcomsports.com/news/3-everton-vs-southampton/ Working for now.

https://footybite.to/Everton-VS-Southampton/6158

Really disappointed to see Elyounoussi back in the team. I thought we looked much more fluid in attack without him. He lacks pace and vision for this level. I hoped Orsic would spell the end of starts for him.

Lacking the pace that made us so dangerous on Wednesday.

Well that's not very sporting. Hopefully it has inverse consequences for Everton and riles our players up into a great performance.

Straight red for Felix in the Fulham vs Chelsea game. £11m 6 month loan and he's going to miss the next 3 games 😂 Fulham look a proper team. Real hard working side and will fancy themselves against 10 men now. They were already the better side I think.

Good response to be fair.

Let's hope so.

Missed the Alcaraz announcement before kick-off. Thought he would be part of the "one or two" more. Still, not sure one more signing will be enough. We require both a striker and a defensive midfielder as we shouldn't be counting on Lavia playing every remaining game. I'd prefer a new goalkeeper and an improvement on Larios at full-back cover (especially if Tino is still out long-term) but unlikely I know.

That was actually a good half of football.

JWP appears to be playing a more advanced role.

The whole team seems to dread playing at home. They believe they're going to lose before they even walk out.

I should hope so!

When? Even against Lincoln we had to switch to a back 4. I can see the logic against City but not in any of our other games after the world cup.

He's playing three central midfielders and 2 strikers so our width must be coming from Walker-Peters and Djenepo as wing backs. I'm surmising that we're playing a three centre back system today yeah.

Nathan Jones programme notes The number seems to have gone down

I hate this formation to be honest. I know it's logical against a strong opponent like City but I think this would have been the shape regardless of our opposition. League 1 Lincoln at home is a case in point.

😂

A big problem is we only know what's going on from tidbits on twitter. They need to communicate with their fanbase. When the fans are left in the dark, it's hard to get them behind the project.

So the reverse Ward-Prowse?

I would be surprised if we sold KWP then if Livramento is also unavailable long-term.

Might be needing Livramento back pretty soon then.

I'm talking about attaining our transfer targets. I'm not advocating for a club like us to spend £35m+ on individual players but spending well doesn't have to equate to spending less. You identify players that have underwhelmed after high transfer fees but I could also point you towards players like Maddison (£22m), Bowen (£18.5m), Benrahma (£20m), Fofana (£35m sold for £80m), Guimaraes (£40m) and Jimenez (£33m) as fees above £15m that have been good investments. Likewise I could point you to countless cheap buys that end up being dead wood taking up wages and squad places. It's about good scouting and then picking up those players when we find them before our rivals do. As you say, January is a tricky window to buy players. We have no leverage in negotiations. Bottom of the league, everybody knows we're desperate and nobody is going to sell a good player at market value. If we've identified these players as the ones we want, we'll have to negotiate on the selling clubs terms. The Primera Division and Ligue 1 are not of the same level as the Premier League but that's why their asking price is not even higher. Moffi is linked with Everton and West Ham. Alcaraz is linked with Wolves. We need to be capable of competing with our direct rivals in the transfer market. If our scouting is good and we believe they are genuinely capable of performing at Premier League level, they'll be worth their asking price to someone in this league. Presumably, if we found alternatives equally as capable for half the price, we wouldn't still be "pursuing" these two. I might add, I'm personally unsure Alcaraz is the right player for our circumstances but supposedly the club have identified him as someone that improves our team. I suggest that if we believe they'll improve our first 11, they are worth the outlay. According to Croation reporter Ižak Ante Sučić, Zagreb wanted €7m plus addons for Orsic. They got exactly what they wanted from us. Selling clubs sell on their terms this window. It's very difficult to identify players good enough for our level. When you find one, they won't always come cheap. Often they don't. It's slim pickings at the best of times and that's just amplified this time of year.

Alcaraz (Release clause €25m) Moffi (Asking price £25m) If these are the players we want, we better pull our finger out.