Blues Brothers Everton Podcast
Blues Brothers Everton Podcast
New Stadium, Grealish and more signing to come?
Following the first proper game at the Dicko, we talk about our experience on the ground, what worked and what Everton can do better. Also, Jack Grealish signs for Everton, and what else does David Moyes have up his transfer sleeve before the start of the season?
Welcome to the Blues Brothers Everton podcast. I have no idea what episode number it is. So normally I look on Spotify before I say that, but I didn't. So well you guys, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter, dear listener, which episode it is. What it matters is that Everton sang Jaggerish, something none of us thought was real. So everyone's here, ben, how you doing? How's DC?
Speaker 4:DC is good. It is cooler than it's been in the last couple of days, which has been nice, because it's like a bazillion degrees and 95 percent humidity, so it's like the entire city sort of turns into a sauna. Um yeah, and that's not a fun experience for anybody how's the weather in south wales andy?
Speaker 2:it's lovely, thank you. Yes, been uh 27 celsius and very hot and sunny today. So we've been out for a drive around the Gower Peninsula seeing some nice little towns and villages, and then finished off with an afternoon stroll along the seafront at the Mumbles.
Speaker 1:Lovely, very good, adam and Dad are here. They're in Mansfield, sunny, glorious Mansfield. How's everything there guys?
Speaker 5:Yeah, it's sunny, not Mansfield. How's everything there, guys? Yeah, it's sunny, not necessarily glorious, but yeah, obviously we're in our fourth, count them four heat waves of the summer. So it's been that sunny weather and hot weather that hits differently in Britain, and it does really just hit differently in Britain.
Speaker 1:Yes, because there's no idea. I had a good-natured argument with Sam, my partner, the other day about he was basically saying my words, not exactly hers, but the sentiment was why the hell do these British people complain about the heat all the time? So her punishment is to go and spend the summer in a country where there's no air conditioning, so she can learn what that's actually like.
Speaker 4:Not just no air conditioning, but where the buildings are specifically designed to trap heat. Yes, by design, designed to trap heat. That is the thing people forget. Not only do we not have air conditioning, it is a country where the building materials and function is to trap heat. That's what they're designed to do?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Pretty miserable. All right, so let's talk about Everton. So we're going to get to. We're recording this on Tuesday, the 12th, so we confirmed the Jaggeroo sign a couple of hours ago, which is awesome. We're going to get to that and we're going to talk transfers in general. First thing we're going to do we had the first final test event, first proper game. I guess maybe it wasn't that much of a proper game, but the first team were playing at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday. Dad went, I went, so the rest of you are welcome to point to me on this. But I'm going to start by asking Dad what was your experience, what are your thoughts, feelings, having been there for the first time?
Speaker 3:I thought it was absolutely fantastic. You know we've talked long and hard about missing Goodison, but you know, when we were outside and we were looking up, you know to the height of it and the size of it, I mean it totally dwarfed Goodison. And then when we got in and we saw our seats fantastic, and I'm sure everybody I mean we, we are on the halfway line, but I'm sure anybody, wherever they're sitting, will look, will have looked and thought this is fantastic. Where some teething problems, obviously catering particularly, but talking about the, the view and the stadium, absolutely fantastic yeah, very much my uh share that.
Speaker 1:It's interesting. We went away. You know, obviously everyone's got their bit and you know you're sort of working out the stuff around you, but we thought the bit we were in in the in the stand was like was having like really bad problems with, like you know, cues for people to get food and drinks and stuff, and then, having listened to a lot of people over the last few days, I think everywhere else was worse. So I think they've got. You know, I mean they'll figure it out, it's, it's. I give the club a ton of grace on this because the first time they've had a full house and they're doing a lot of stuff for the first time. So they'll figure it out time, so they'll figure it out. But definitely, like it was weird that you were like it took way longer to get served than it ever did at goodison, which is, I mean, just absolutely bad. But um, but they'll figure it out um, any of the stadium stuff.
Speaker 1:I know it's a bit weird because me and dad were there, you guys weren't. It's great. I mean they really did. You know, dad, mice serves huge credit. Fired who was there uh, I saw some people sorry, outside deserves huge credit. They really did. You know, dan mice deserves huge credit. Fired who was there uh, I saw some people saw it outside deserves huge credit. They really, in terms of the actual thing itself, I think they really, really, really nailed it.
Speaker 4:I think it's spectacular I was going to say we need to talk about the stones definitely I haven't decided whether to take credit for this.
Speaker 1:Let's, let's, uh, it is what we're gonna do. Uh, it's what we're gonna do. We'll tweet it. I don't know if it's funny if you say it. So, first of all, we got our dad a stone. And dad, I think it's fair to say you, you like your stone, right, you, you, we found it, it's great. Uh, uh, we got that for dad, so that'll be there forever and it's not sure.
Speaker 3:If you say thank you to all, you're a fantastic stone, I'm gonna get it. Um, I'm gonna get a photograph. Well, we did take a photograph. I'm gonna get a frame and stick it in the study in a position. So, thank you all.
Speaker 4:Excellent, thank you lovely first of all, you're you're welcome. Second of all, I'm not sure if Adam has shown you this, but I noticed that if you look at the photo taken of you where your foot is, there's another stone where it says from Goodison to Barmley Moor. Someone has spelt. Barmley Moor incorrectly, and you'd be so pissed, wouldn't you?
Speaker 1:Oh, let's go see our stones let's go watch it you know, when I sent this photo because we got, we dad and I got there early. We got there, what about just before two quarter to two, something like that, but it was earlier than that, wasn't it? Because it was about 1.30 so, and it wasn't too crazy the stones bit, got mad, like you couldn't, and a couple of mates I'll apologize publicly, I've apologized privately what asked me to take photos of theirs and I couldn't. We just couldn't find it because it it was like the, the way the cub did it. And again, look, I'm not going to be.
Speaker 1:You know, there's people working hard on this stuff and we all screw this stuff up, but they, you know they had. You had this like grid system where it was, like you know, 7b or whatever, and if you had like a stone that, for whatever reason, was like prominent, like it was one of the bigger ones or on the edge or something, it was fine. But the normal ones are about the size of, like you know, they're a bit bigger than the tiles you might have in your bathroom, right, they're not huge, and I reckon there must have been in each one of the grids they gave you, like you're in 7B. I reckon there were about three to four hundred of these things and, of course, and of course, everyone stood on them. So when you're looking, you're stood on eight of these things the eight other people are trying to find. So do the math right like it's, like it was impossible.
Speaker 1:I'll I'll put it on our socials, but the I have a video of it looking mad. Anyway, we found, we found, uh, we found ads. When you and I sent a photo, when I got that text, when you get a little preview of a WhatsApp thing I just saw a while later you'd said someone screwed the spelling up and I was like, oh my God, because, oh no, I've really fucked up here, like I've really fucked up. And then I looked and it was someone else's.
Speaker 1:So I was like was okay, um, let's talk about the other one all right because I'm gonna give the backstory here, because I feel a bit like petulant, but it is funny. Two about two years ago under I think it was like, but some time of sean dyche's reign, I think I could be wrong about that. Anyway, we lost 3-1 at home to fulham and it was one of the worst fucking games I have ever been to, and that that I've. We've all sat through a lot of shit ever since games. Anyway, we got back to the car and it was like a few days after we bought this thing for dad and there was quite a long window where you could buy these things, but they didn't all disappear. So I was like, oh, fuck these people, basically. So I bought a stone that said, save yourself turn around now.
Speaker 1:And I was thinking like there's no way they're going to install this outside the new stadium. So there's a bit on the ground that says save yourself, turn around now. Well, they have.
Speaker 1:So anyway, I'll put a photo out and I'll give the grid so people can see it, because we found it, so we know exactly where it is. It's actually quite easy to find because it's right on the by the river and if you want to go and see it, it's. I mean, I don't know if it's, I can't believe they put it out there.
Speaker 1:So like not that this is funny, but like a few years ago when they had the memorandum and someone sent in a photo of Anne Frank and they put it on the giant screen. You know, it's like these people are just not thinking so yeah, go see both our stones if you're ever near the stadium.
Speaker 4:My favourite bit about that, because it's all brilliant, the fact that you did it, the fact that they didn't notice, they installed it Wonderful. The thing I love most is that there are people above and below our stone who are actual people. That's their family. This is their thing, it's next to some absolute joker. Put in save your, turn around, save yourself, save yourself and turn around. Now it was absolutely incredible.
Speaker 1:It was. Yeah, I couldn't believe it. I know I was thinking about the guys who must have installed it.
Speaker 2:let's think about that well, they don't care, they've probably just gone. Well, it's my job to put the stones down. Exactly, putting the stones down that's it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like funny thing is because you know, gary neville, you watch the overlap, uh on youtube, which is very good, I like it a lot. And they bought for Jamie Carragher's birthday. They bought him a stone at Bramley Moor that said Jamie Carragher, forever a blue.
Speaker 1:And Everton like didn't put it in. They like emailed, like we're going to give you your money back. Like you can't, we're not putting that in. So there was someone looking somewhere. Anyway, yeah, stones are great, it's beautiful.
Speaker 1:It was like there was a lot about saturday. That was weird because of course, everyone, like the club again don't want to be critical, but the club should have like opened up the stones for people to go see them for a few days beforehand, rather than having be like everyone who's at the match, because it was a bit nuts, uh. But they're brilliant and and that whole, particularly that size of the ground is, I mean as, as Dad said, the scale of it is enormous. And the other thing I'll just say before we move on is the sound is really good inside, like it was a quiet atmosphere because it's friendly. So it was weird in a way because it was like this big occasion, but actually there wasn't really much of an atmosphere.
Speaker 1:We're, you know, about halfway up the stand, so we're quite far away from the pitch vertically, we could. So we're quite far away from the pitch vertically. We could clearly hear the players shouting at each other, but when people did sing, like the Roma fans were singing all the way through. The acoustics are incredible, so it sounds fantastic. When we have those moments where people really get going and where games matter, frankly, I think it's going to sound unbelievable. What about the structure?
Speaker 5:and stuff. Obviously a lot was made about the um.
Speaker 1:You know that the, the stands angle being um as as steep as legally uh possible yeah, it's very uh although definitely, I mean, look, it's definitely the case that, like, if you look at, you feel close to the pitch, right for sure, right like if the ultimate contrast is like the, you know, the obviously West Ham stadium. So you know, we're not. We're kind of about halfway up, so we're sort of towards the front of an upper tier, so we're not like super, super high. So we didn't have to do that walk all the way up. We have a bit of a walk just in the stairs to get to where we went to. So I don't know what that's like. I know a couple of friends of mine have been up there. Like it's a bit scary if you've got like, if you're not great with heights, you know, because it is steep, uh, but in terms of the kind of closeness and you look around the side, they really haven't got a lot of space between the pitch and the. You know where the, the advertising hoardings are, and then the fans are right there. So, uh, I think they've done a brilliant job of like I think everything about the building of it and the design of it I can't think of anything you would say doesn't work or isn't what you would want. The operations of it are like.
Speaker 1:You know, there was stuff like where they've got. You know, if you listen to like other people, this week there was some nutty stuff around. You know, dad and I were walking around and we realized when you around you know, dad and I were walking around and we realized when you, the north stand and actually the south stand as well has very few turnstile entrances. The east and west have them all the way up, as you might expect, and if you're in the north stand you go in in either the east or the west stand. So there's people who've got to like go in a turnstile, not in their stand, go up across and back down again to get to their seat. So there's like a bunch of that stuff where you assume they'll kind of figure that out and I know that was frustrating for a lot of folks. There were some parts I think we thought ours was busy. There were some people I think were a bit scared about how busy some of the concourses were and it's a slight problem that you can the bit where it actually you can't do this, but in most of the stadium you can walk around the whole thing. If you're on a level, you're on level two. You can walk around. You know three sides of it basically, but of course everyone wants to be in the south, stand for the view of the city, or they did on saturday. So I think that was kind of a problem, that basically everyone was kind of congreguent up there and I know a couple of people who had, you know, not sort of scary experience necessarily, but certainly if you were not great with big crowds it was not great. But I'm sure they'll figure all of that stuff out.
Speaker 1:But the actual architecture of it, I think, is just spectacular. I think people are going to go and go. It's like you have. Like the Emirates is a brilliant stadium. It has no atmosphere because it's Arsenal. Like the Spurs stadium is a brilliant stadium and it's bigger than ours and it's trying to be bigger than ours. I think ours is absolutely up there. If not, you know better. The other thing that's nuts is going from like the Goodison Park to this is like on Monday you discover fire, on Tuesday someone shows you a microwave. You know it's like the transition is like absolutely whiplashing. It's like unbelievably different the sort of level of facility. So you know, huge, huge credit to everyone who's been involved in that from, like you know, making it happen, designing it, building it. I think it's absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3:The one thing that did surprise me, though, was the fact that we had to climb stairs to one level, which was halfway up. Now, you know, I'm 78, and I was okay, but I do wonder whether, or not, you know, everybody will be okay with that particularly if you're at the back of the stand when you get into the ground.
Speaker 3:We were only halfway up, so it might be a bit of a climb. Well, it will be a bit of a climb, and you do wonder whether or not there's issues there. My sister betty, for instance, has got one or two health issues, so how will she find it now? There may well be a hidden um um escalator somewhere, or or a lift more likely. Yeah, not aware of, but one would hope that there would be, because I think any people who have mobility issues might have some difficulties. I think.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, you're totally right when our seats are. We were like bloody hell, this is a lot of stairs and then you're only halfway up. And it was interesting I was listening to a couple of folks the other day who were both in the south stand in different parts, and there was one guy who's in the middle, who's sort of in a look not lower down the stand, who actually has an escalator. Another guy who's in the southeast corner who's right at the top and doesn't have an escalator and has an absolute shitload of stairs to walk up. So some of that's a bit wacky, uh, and there's some parts that they're not going to be able to fix very easily, I guess, but there's a bunch that they can. So I'm sure through the season we'll see stuff change and, you know, get better and they'll improve how it operates and stuff. But overall it's very slick.
Speaker 1:You know the texting stuff all worked, as far as I could tell. It was very easy, kind of getting into the fan zone. You know that kind of plaza in front which was great. You know that was like bopping and lots of stuff happening there, lots of places to get food and stuff and you know that was very easy, good security. You know it was. You know overall, you know an eight out of 10, and the building itself is like unbelievable. I'm looking forward to you guys getting to go to it in the next few weeks. I think you're going to have a great time. How?
Speaker 4:I think you're going to have a great time. How was the transport situation? Because I know that was one of the biggest sort of concerns and I know you guys, I think, took the bus Like one of the biggest concerns was the transport situation. So curious how you sort of got the sense that was going yeah.
Speaker 1:I think I mean my sense, we yeah, we got the bus from from Lime Street, which was fine it it was exactly the same as Goodison, so you had to wait. There was a queue to get on the bus. It probably net would have been quicker to walk. We worked out. But maybe you want to do that, maybe you don't, but that was totally fine Right, getting the bus back was always, which we didn't do. We walked where Dad had parked I won't say where because I don't want to give it away, but you know about half an hour away. So that was totally fine, I think getting.
Speaker 1:The thing that was funny about Saturday was we had this Legends game, so the people leaving was sort of spread out. So I don't think it was a good test of that, because the buses are good as them. We're always great to get to the ground and a nightmare to get away from it, because everyone kicks out at the same time. I think they did look. If mercy rails objective was to like basically signals everyone that they shouldn't rely on them, then they did a very good job and I think a lot of people didn't. Um, so I think maybe it was like not as bad as people thought but you know the, the.
Speaker 1:If you're looking at, like, the choices you've got to, kind of, I think the buses are okay. If you're not in a rush to get home, that's cool. You can park roughly 25 to 30 minutes away to be outside the, you know the parking exclusion zone or you can pay like 25 quid for a parking space somewhere nearby. That's not you think in 2025, there should be a better answer than that. I think the city council has royally screwed up and the only thing they did a good job of was making clear to everyone that they'd really screwed up and they shouldn't try and use the trains. So I don't think people necessarily were relying on them the way you wish they would, because the stations are pretty close. If they sorted those out, if they had sorted those out, that would be the answer. But I think it's just going to be a bit of a pain in the arse and people are going to be doing the walk for half an hour or whatever most of the time.
Speaker 4:Okay, so let's talk transfers. As Austin said earlier, we are on. Okay, so let's talk transfers about Everton. As Austin said earlier, we are on the August 12th. So we are the day that we have signed Jack Grealish, which I think many of us wouldn't have necessarily expected at the start of the window. Maybe we would have done, I don't know. Well, let me just run through the signings, the incomings, that we've had so far this summer, and then we can sort of kick off with Grealish and go from there. So we have had Jack Grealish. Mark Travers, who is the backup goalkeeper that we signed for Bournemouth. Adam Aznou, who is a left-back, 19-year-old left-back, who we signed for Bayern Munich. Carlos Alcaraz, obviously, who was on loan last season We've made that deal permanent. Kieran Dewsbury-Hall, central midfielder from Chelsea, who until about three or four days ago I thought his name was Kieran Dewsbury-Hall.
Speaker 1:I thought it was Kieran until five seconds ago. It's.
Speaker 4:Kieran. Incredible, it's Kieran.
Speaker 4:Dewsbury-H Hall not Kieran Dewsbury Hall. So there we go. We've all learned something. And then Tiano Barry, who is the striker that we signed, rob Villareal. So that is the sum total of our transfer business so far. I think Moyes talked about when he was over on the US tour. Talked about having nine or ten players in, so we're currently at six if you include Alcaraz. So a couple more to go and I think there's still some areas that we would want to improve on. But let's start with the obvious. Let's start with Jack Grealish, who is Stein steel delivered holding up the shirt. All of that stuff I'm going to throw to Adam and Dad. First, tell me how stining Jack Grealish makes you feel.
Speaker 3:It makes me feel good I mean, there's no doubt about that, you know to think that when we go to our first league game, that Jack Grealish will be on that pitch, in that stadium. I think it's fantastic. Obviously, what we all do is try and pick a team. I'm glad I don't have to pick a team on the left now, because it's a bit of an issue, but maybe we would want to move away from the time when we can all pick the same first 11 and everybody else just is on the bench. Now we're in the position, particularly on the left, where that's not the situation, so that can only be a positive.
Speaker 3:As I was saying to Adam before, though, do you remember, not so long ago, when we ended up with three number 10s Gylfi Sigurdsson, wayne Rooney and David Classen? Now, hopefully, we haven't done the same again, but that's the only sort of thing in the back of my mind. Clearly, we need to look to the right side of the pitch, but, coming back to the prime question, what do I think of Grealish being sent? Absolutely fantastic as an indication of, you know, the ambition of the club. I think there's a statement there. Time will tell whether or not you know it's the beginning of an even bigger statement, but as a first statement of intent, fantastic.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I echo everything that Dad said. I think I certainly didn't expect us to be in for a player of Jack Grealish's calibre. Now, you know he might firstly have been waiting for you know a club that is in, you know that was in Europe. Maybe someone like you know who's slightly bigger stature than us, someone like you know Tottenham, stature than us, someone like you know Tottenham, for example, who have been known to be one of those sort of players and for whatever reason, they've not decided to.
Speaker 5:But the thing with Jack Grealish is he's going to be incredibly motivated because he's obviously had two years of disappointment, personal disappointment at City and he was. You know sources close to him, you know in the Athletic, were talking about how you know he was really really cut up about being left out of last summer's European Championship squad and how he was. You know that really really affected him and obviously he then had you know that really really affected him and obviously he then had, you know, this season, where he's only started seven Premier League games, wasn't in the Club World Cup squad and wasn't in the final squad of the season at Fulham. So he's going to be really motivated and hopefully someone like Moise is he will give him, he will unleash that maverick player that that you everyone saw at um, everyone saw at Aston Villa because, if you remember, for the it was the 20, I want to say the 2020 European Championships.
Speaker 5:That was his last game, that was his last um season at Villa and he was the player that England fans wanted on the team sheet or wanted to come on. I remember watching England game and the fans were chanting his name. He was like universally loved, universally appreciated, because he was an incredibly unique player where he could, you know, skip round players and in close proximity he won so many fouls. Sorry about that. Is Clementine not enjoying my review?
Speaker 1:Is she not a Jack Grealish fan? She has some thoughts. Those of you not watching on video which is nobody, because we don't put this on YouTube my four-month-old daughter, clementine, has joined us. Thank you to Ben for stepping in to host while I went and got her. Hello, and Adam's analysis of Jack Grealish caused I mean what we can say some upset. But don't look, honestly, I just don't think she knows anything about football. So carry on, adam, don't be disappointed.
Speaker 5:Yeah, so I'm incredibly excited about Jack Grealish because I firmly believe that we will see the Jack Grealish that we saw at Aston Villa. It's obviously going to take a few, probably a few months, to see that, because I think he's been coached in such a robotic way in the structure of Guardiola that that's going to take a while to come out of him. But, you know, in terms of like the rest of the squad, such a statement signing that is, to have such a fantastic player, albeit, you know, on loan, is fantastic, um, yeah, I think, um, and I'll come back, come back to me for the rest of the, uh, summer stuff all right and andy okay on green list.
Speaker 4:I'm going to ask you a specific sort of specific question how do you jumping off what? What dad said about picking the team, how do you think you get him and illiman and Jai into the same team? Because they are, I think, certainly looking at our attacking players, they are far and away our best two attacking options, but they do kind of play sort of the same position. So, andy, you're Everton manager. What's your tactical solution?
Speaker 2:Well, I think, if possible, you need to try and get both of them in the start at 11, which might sound a bit mad, but it'd certainly be exciting to watch.
Speaker 4:I don't think it's mad. I think that's like a bare minimum that absolutely will happen.
Speaker 5:It's how you do it, isn't it?
Speaker 2:how you do it, okay, well, grealish on the left and then having Dye sort of through the middle in like the number 10 role, do it, isn't it how you do, okay? Well, how you do it well, greelish on the left, and then having die sort of through through the middle in like the number number 10 role. I mean you can, I think you can, play there. That's the answer. That sort of leaps off the page, um, because they're both the second players, they both get you up the pitch. Greelish especially, you know, will, will make things happen, as as already alluded, in terms of beating players and winning fouls and all that. So, yeah, the answer to that question for me is you have Grealish on the left and N'Jar in a more central role.
Speaker 4:It's interesting.
Speaker 3:What about you? Brie Hall in that?
Speaker 4:situation. So I was just going to jump off this because I actually think, Because it's interesting, what about Dewsbury Hall in that situation? So I was just going to jump off this because I actually think this also plays into the fact that we don't currently have a right wbury Hall, garner and Garner as a midfield three. Then you have Grealish and N'Jai almost as two number tens and then a central striker up top and then you get your width from the fullbacks, because that solves two issues. It solves the issue that we don't have a right winger. You have McNeil can play out there, alcaraz can play out there, I'm sure N'Jai and Grealish could play out there, but it also it allows you to have um. It allows you to sort of solve that lack of a right winger issue and then also get N'Jai and Grealish in that, in the, say in the areas that you kind of want them to be in, rather than one being like out on the left and then one being slanted in the middle.
Speaker 4:So I wonder if, when we line up against leads now, whether greenlish will start. Moise is like moise can be a bit funny about new signings going straight into the team now because it's a signing from another premier league team, he might take a different view. But I wonder whether actually you, um, and we, you know we can get onto this. After we talked about other signings, I wonder whether actually he's looking at either that formation or we might have to play five at the back if we're not sure about Mikalenko, if Mikalenko's not going to be fit, so whether that plays into it as well. But yeah, that's what I would do. Austin, are you in a position where you can offer tactical analysis?
Speaker 1:as well. As the question you're really asking is can I change a nappy and off to tactical analysis at the same time? And the answer is I certainly can, and it doesn't affect the quality of my tactical analysis, which will remain rubbish. But the only thing I was going to say is, um, on saturday, one of the things about our seats and in general, about the stadium is you can see the formations now, so it's like watching playing fifa, basically, or watching football playing for the manager or something. And I'd say, ben, what you just described is exactly what he did on Saturday.
Speaker 1:The only maybe slight deviation was Dewsbury Hall was arguably playing slightly further forward than that pushing on. But you know, and Dian Alcaraz, who were on left and right wing I put that in air quotes respectively were very fluid and and the width was coming from the fullbacks and the fullbacks really pushed up. You know, we got possession from in our half or from a goal kick or something. You know, o'brien and michelenko were at the same level with Barry at the striker. They basically were. They were actually the two of the three furthest forward players, with Barry as the center forward and then behind. You know, ndai Alcaraz and Dewsbury Hall basically, were a three essentially behind him. The problem we had there was that you had Garner and Garner in a double pivot, you know in the sort of six role which operated very well. But when they got the ball particularly if they reclaimed the ball we had a transition. The gap between them and where, like Dewsbury Hall and Barry were and where Dianne Alcaraz were, was too big. So we struggled to like transition quickly and there were dozens I mean I might be exaggerating, there was certainly a dozen times, it was a lot where we got the ball. Someone turned normally Garner or Garner and was looking for a pass forward and couldn't find one because everyone was 20, 30 yards away from them.
Speaker 1:So they'll work that out, but I think he's going to do exactly what you say and one of two things will happen. Either the sort of the two will be it'll be exactly the same with those three or, arguably or we might find, you know, jules Brehul dropping, you know dropping, maybe further back, but he was definitely. I think what they were trying to do on Saturday was exactly what you're describing. We just didn't do it very well and I think, if you take it basically, you're going to take Alcaraz out of that and put Grealish in and then say to Grealish and I do what you want, because we read a lot of stuff in the last couple of days about him not being a Moyes-type signing, which is something that can only be written by people who don't know anything about David Moyes because he loves a Maverick, he loves a Manny Fernandez, yeah, he loves Gerard De La Feuille, tommy Graveson, you know, like no tactical discipline ever at all.
Speaker 1:So actually Moyes likes a player who is basically out there just to do what they want and make stuff happen. And then Grealish and N'Diaye as long as they can be disciplined enough in defence which I think they both can be, and N'Diaye we know can be I think that's great. So I don't think you're going to have so much of a sort of who's on the left, who's on the right. You're going to have two players who are moving and causing problems.
Speaker 5:I think that going to be really exciting to watch. Yeah, it's a good point, as some I've not really considered. I sort of have been always thought that we would go for it. We'll still go for a right winger. I didn't really consider the fact we would change the. Uh, we would change the system per se yeah, so so go ahead.
Speaker 4:I think we will still go for a right winger, because I think you want to have flexibility and options and currently that's what we're missing and that's maybe a good transition to talk about, like what, what we are should be looking for going forward. But my point, I guess, is that, like I don't think we actually have to sign a starting right winger for for the, the squad we've currently got to work, I think you need to sign a starting right back to our point is is, if your, if your system works on the basis that your full backs are the attacking outlets on the wings, then I think you are currently missing that, because jacob brown's a great football great player.
Speaker 4:I think he's going to be a world-class center back over the next couple of years and a great replacement for tarkovsky in the long term. I don't think he is what anyone would imagine to be as a sort of overlapping attacking right back. He will do a job in the same way that we saw, like joey and lescott do a job at left back under boys the first time around. But I think if that's that's how you're looking to play, you want someone more like a coleman baines kind of um situation going on just just before we move on to like what we need. Any of the other players that you know we want to want to talk about in terms of transfers, just to remind you, barry Dewsbury Hall, alcaraz, adam Asnew and Mark Travers are the other five. I will throw that openly. Does anyone want to say anything about any of them? And then we'll talk about what we might need to sign in future. Dewsbury Hall was great on.
Speaker 1:Saturday A really good, I think our best player he did a really good signing I.
Speaker 2:Ifbury Hall was great on Saturday.
Speaker 5:Really good. He's a really good signing. I'm really looking forward to seeing him play. Yeah, seeing what Chelsea fans have said, I think he was a victim of their troganet approach to signings over the past couple of summers because he's a really smart player, a nice and versatile as well. It's good to have some proper left back cover as well, and we'll be, you know, a young, young guy, but he looks more attacking than michelangelo, so it gives us a bit more, a bit of a different option there. It's good to pick for that. He has some good quality um uh backup as well, because in the event of him getting injured, I don't think Virginia or Begovic last season were necessarily going to be players that he could rely on long-term, and also it's good that he just has that a better player who is going to be keeping him on his toes in training as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the only thing is, of all those players that he's bought, there's only two now that you would say are definite starters Grealish and Dewsby Hall. The rest, you would say, are more squad players. So I think that's slightly disappointing. Maybe I'd like to see one more, at least one more that you would say is a shoo-in for the first team, first pick yeah, and I think that's a good.
Speaker 4:It's a good call that because I think we did lose a lot of depth, so they're just. I imagine that the party is like trying to backfill a lot of that, but I agree, I think there are certain positions um that that they want to get in. But you know, we can talk about like future signings. My only concern with with dewsbury hall before coming on this podcast was his disciplinary record, because I read somewhere that he got booked 17 times last year but I went and checked and actually 13 of those books were for weddings. So I think we're. I think we're okay sorry.
Speaker 4:I couldn't, I couldn't, I, that's fucking terrible, that's terrible hey, hey, adam laughed and dad laughed and andrew laughed. So I mean, and if clem could understand, she would have laughed as well. So, yeah, I'm not at the point yet where I have to watch my language in front of her.
Speaker 1:But the time will come, clem, don't swear. Obviously you're going to, it's totally fine. Um sorry, ben, carry on. Didn't want to just interrupt your flow of this comedic genius we're witnessing.
Speaker 4:Don't worry about it, tip your waiter, try the veal. Let's talk about what we're still missing. We talked about the right winger, my big one, actually big two. I think we still need a right back.
Speaker 4:Austin and I went and watched us play Bournemouth and I think the idea that Nathan Patterson is a Premier League footballer is sadly and I say that as someone who really wanted him to succeed, because I think there's a lot of talent there but he's defending his defensive capability and his awareness is just not there and I just don't think he's long for Everton Football Club. I could see him dropping down to the championship and being a perfectly serviceable right back down there. And then other options are O'Brien, again centre-back, playing out of position, or Coleman, who is, you know, I think, 37 years old now, might even be 38, so not a long-term solution. So I think, right back to big one. I do also think we still need another central midfielder and I don't know what precisely role that they would play.
Speaker 4:Maybe it is, as Austin said earlier, that sort of more of an eight in the traditional parlance to link the play a little bit more. But I think, if you look at, we've got Dewsbury Hall G play a little bit more. But I think if you look at, we've got jewsbury hall, garner, garner. After that you're into timmy rabunim, who is like fine, but not someone I'd want to be relying on a regular basis, and paris armstrong, who I suspect they want to get out on loan to get some more minutes. So I would. I would feel much more comfortable if we signed another sort of starting level central midfielder, but I don't have any idea about who that would be. I'll throw it to Adam first. Talk to us about potential signings and positions you might want to target.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I think the right side of the pitch is definitely where we need to be looking at first team players. Obviously it's system dependent. So I think, if you're right, if we're going to play that, that system with the wing backs, then absolutely we need someone. You know who is the quality of um. You know someone like mikhailenko who is, you know, defensively, um, defensively sound, because unfortunately paterson just isn't um, but also but also as a threat going forward. You know Mikalenko is certainly better defensively than going forward, but he does. You know he is good enough going forward to provide that and we saw that in the first couple of games.
Speaker 5:When you know, when Moyes, when Moyes took over, I think one, one aspect of it and which is why Grealish has come in and it's been really important is because of the three main of the three, you know, first team players, sort of squad players who left in the summer Young, decore and Cavaluin. They have 1001 premier league games between them, which is an awful lot. You know. Actually, young constitutes about 490 of those um, so but the players that we brought in um before jack greelish only had about 110. So the players that we've signed, so you, you've got one tenth of premier league experience that you're signing, which is why you know, jack relish has 190 premier league games um under his belt, um, so that's why that's another aspect of something I think we need to consider. Obviously, you might look to the continent uh on the constant for, you know, for for financial reasons or things like that, but I think that is an aspect of we've lost an awful lot of premier league experience with the corey calvert-lewin and ashley young um leaving um. So, um, that'll be something to uh that I'm sure our scouting department, and moise especially, are considering as well. Um, yeah, but the the right side, definitely.
Speaker 5:I think I agree with dad. I think we've moise talked a few weeks ago, you know, as needed many 10 players. Now. I think that was a bit, I think he was saying that through a bit of frustration post-match a disappointing pre-season game, um, but you know, and I think I think he then he then said between six and ten players now we've got, we've brought in a few since then, but he certainly wants some. And I think he then said between six and ten players. Now we've brought in a few since then, but he certainly wants some more and I think we'll probably be looking at more squad players, I think we'll have a really exciting deadline day. I think Everton will be one of the best teams to watch for that. I think I think there'll be a big signing between now and the transfer window and hopefully on the right-hand side, plus some squad players to give us a bit more depth. Uh, in central.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I agree yeah, because if you're looking at, you know the the chat is that we're now not pursuing dibbling tyler dibbling from southampton, as much because of southampton's price. But if you look at the money being talked about there, it's clear we still have money available to to spend. We're not sort of cash strapped in that sense. And the other thing is, obviously we've now got greenish in, we still have three loan spots which, um which we can fill us all. So there's plenty of plenty of flexibility. Andy what? What's your view on?
Speaker 2:on signings, positions, etc uh, we clearly tried to sign a right back because the club thought they got kenny Tete from Fulham and then he decided to stay at Fulham at the last moment. Um, and I also think we'll go back for Tyler Dibling, because Southampton's valuation and the clauses they're trying to attach to that deal are clearly nonsense. You can have a high fee, a sell-on clause and some add-ons. You can't have like all three of those at their maximum level. So, and they've all, and the way Southampton the black, pulled him out of contract. Um, contact training last week indicates they're getting ready to sell him. They're they're happy for him to go. So I personally think between now and when the transfer window closes which doesn't close until the 1st of September, of course so there's still the best part of three weeks left before it shuts there's plenty of time for Everton and Southampton to resurrect that deal and come to an agreement. So I wouldn't be at all surprised if we end up signing Dibbling for that right-sided midfield role.
Speaker 3:Just going to parrot what everybody else is saying, both on this podcast and elsewhere in the Everton world. We need a right-back and we do need a wide right-winger with pace. Are they there? Does this guy have 50 million, which is ridiculous. So I think, just watch this pace and see. But they're the two players that, even if, looking from a squad perspective, we do need.
Speaker 1:Look, I think I would say the right back is a higher priority than the right winger, I think I think that's really important the way Moyes wants to play. We talked about it on this pod and previously. I think it makes such a big difference. So I would want us to do that. I'm glad if you never tell. There's always games being played in the media and whenever there's a transfer story in the media, it's been put there by somebody who has a point of view.
Speaker 1:But if Everton have actually walked away from dibbling that 50 million plus a giant sell on, I think that's good, because you do the maths on a 50 million pound transfer and then a 25% sell on clause. Like Everton bear all the risk and Southampton get well paid now and well paid later. Now Southampton can value their players however they want. That's up to them. I fully respect that. But you know you'd be absolutely mad. You'd be lead United circa 2003 to do that kind of deal. So I think that's good. I really would like us to sign a right back that can attack and I think if we do that, I'm not too worried about anything else, because we don't have European football. We're not going to play a ton of games. Like you know, I think everything else I feel pretty good about that. Right back is a real problem.
Speaker 5:Do you know what an aspect of that is really. You know strong something that we absolutely don't need, which is central defence. I think we genuinely have one of the best central defender partnerships in the league and, just statistically, I've sort of pre-empted this. I should have done this the other way around. Do you know who has statistically been one of the best centre-halves in Europe over the past? Who?
Speaker 4:could it be I've got no idea, adam, I've got no idea. You tell us.
Speaker 5:It's James Tarkovsky who actually.
Speaker 1:This is Adam. You should try comedy. It would be very, it would be very funny to watch you go on stage and go to get to the other side and someone goes what? And you go. Oh yeah, sorry, I was talking about the chicken.
Speaker 5:You should do that. Thanks, yeah, because Bramfway obviously signed a new contract. That was huge. But Tarkovsky is, yeah, I think the season before last as well. You know he basically season before last as well, you know he basically never gets injured as well. So that's something that's been, you know it's fantastic to have, is like a really solid central defensive partnership and obviously with the new, with this new system, maybe we might end up playing a back three as well, and obviously you've got O'Brien who can just slot in nicely there too.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean I think he will end up actually playing a back three against Leeds because, because of the injury situation, if Mikhailenko is not fit, I think he will. I think the natural option is to go okay, I don't have a left back, I don't really have a right back. So, okay, I don't have a left back, I don't really have a right back, but I'd have three really good central defenders, so I'll play them and then play McNeil and James Garner as the wingbacks, which, interestingly, is how we lined up. It wasn't the same personnel, but that's how we lined up against Bournemouth in the preseason friendly that Austin and I went to, and actually the system itself worked pretty good.
Speaker 1:We were good. We just got knackered when Bournemouth replaced their entire team and we couldn't basically uh, but you know, I agree, ben, it was actually. It was wasn't.
Speaker 4:What's not a terrible idea at all speaking of Leeds United, I just want to um move on to one thing, which is um, can we all sort of send our thoughts and prayers to Dominic Calvert-Lewin who, having turned down a Newcastle 150 grand at Newcastle United last season and then refused to sign a contract with Everton, has now sacked his agent and is now in apparently negotiation with three clubs, one of which is Leeds United. And I, like I, have nothing personal against Dominic Calvert-Lewin, but if you want to walk away from Everton Football Club because you think you're better than Everton Football Club and then you might end up at Leeds United, then I think he will really have to question some of the life decisions that have led him to that point. But that was my Dominic Calvert-Lewin tangent, and with that I need to go, so I'm going to hand the hosting race back to Austin for the rest of the podcast.
Speaker 1:Great. Thank you, Ben. Enjoy whatever you're doing next. I mean, that does segue nicely into our regularly scheduled let's Laugh at Newcastle United section. Because you know, obviously we just love to laugh at Newcastle United and they've had a horrendous transfer window. No one wants to go there. They don't appear to have any kind of footballing department. Isaac is obviously going to leave and join Liverpool, partly funded by Newcastle's owners who have paid Liverpool 50 million for Darwin Nunes to enable this.
Speaker 1:So that alone would drive me absolutely mad. But like I mean, if you were Newcastle I'm stealing from Barry Glendening on Football Weekly here, completely, so I acknowledge that. But you know the PIF, the Saudis own Newcastle. They own the club I can't remember which club it is, but the club that have bought Nunes and also they bankrolled the Club World Cup, from which chelsea got 100 million. So it's a. They're doing everything. They're doing a great job supporting everyone except newcastle. Basically, um, yeah, so the and you know they play about like chelsea, the psr rules and there's some complaints there. But like part of the reason ch and Liverpool have such high turnovers is because your owners keep giving them money. So it is funny and the inevitability of Dominic Calvert-Lewin signing for Newcastle is, and it's actually at this point, embarrassing for both of them. You know, because you know Calvert-Lewin. Obviously I don't know where the hell he thought he was going, but you know, being Newcastle's second choice or third choice striker is not, I mean, I imagine what he had in mind.
Speaker 5:Yeah, the Athletic did a fantastic article on this and Barragona and Elling obviously made some really great points on Newcastle. But if you look at it, like historically over the past, the past few years, um you know the four uh saudi pf, uh pif funded um clubs um they've um given chelsea hundreds of millions of pounds. They've bought um kula barley, um mendy they. This summer they've bought uh xiao felix um and obviously now they've just bought, you know, darwin newhouse from liverpool and there's other examples of that um they are.
Speaker 5:The thought the from people talking who know a lot more about, know a hell of a lot about this, is that they're saying that the public investment fund see Newcastle as basically a, a, a, a really small pawn in this whole process of diversifying their economy through their sport food, through um sporting, um sporting achievement, sporting funding and they're actually putting more money to grow the pro Saudi pro league and that they're seeing that as the priority.
Speaker 5:And it's just hilarious that you know a few years ago, when you know Newcastle fans like celebrating the fact that they're another. They were the richest club in the world on paper. Also the richest club in the world on paper. They can't spend any of. They can't spend any of it because of the, the rules that are rightly in place to stop that sort of thing happening again, like it did with City, and you know that they are now. They've lost out on, I think, six I did a count the other day six players have gone to other Premier League clubs that Newcastle wanted. It's just glorious. I'm here all day for it with bells on.
Speaker 1:Andy, Dad, do you want to say anything you mean about Newcastle? It's glorious. I'm here all day for it with bells on.
Speaker 3:Andy, dad, do you want to say anything you mean about Newcastle? Well, I want to echo what Austin says, and him even. They did expect you know richest club in the world, and it is great the fact that they're not able to spend the money that obviously they can afford, but the rules are stopping them doing it. Just the one on Calvert-Lewin. I don't know what's in his head either. It would be riveting to see where he ends up. It's an incredible situation there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it really is. I mean, yeah, he's clearly been extremely badly advised, um, which is demonstrated by the fact he's sacked his agents and, yeah, wherever he ends up, it's gonna be less than had he stayed with us. It's, it's, yeah, it's as simple as that. Um and another club as well that I'd just like to briefly mention about um, their transfer business and what they might do next season is manchester united, because they've sold some players, so he bought some players, but there's a heck of a lot of players that are on massive wages that they clearly don't want and I don't know how quite how they're making, uh, the finances work in terms of adhering to psr rules because, yeah, their turnover is big, but, again, they're spending huge transfer fees on players and I'm fascinated to see how how that works. And, of course, it's also dead funny that they announced there's plans for that 100,000-seater stadium without actually bothering to tell the people who own the land they plan to build it on, who've now decided it's worth far more.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I mean. Jim Radcliffe, business genius, announces, as you say, andy announces that he wants to build a stadium on what is a disused rail yard. Essentially, I mean, it's owned by a freight company but they don't really use it on a disused rail yard. And, lo and behold, the value of that disused rail yard goes up. After you say you want to build a stadium on it and you announce you put your plans out with all the photos of what it's going to look like, the people who own that disused rail yard say know what this might be worth? More than we thought it's like it's I cannot.
Speaker 1:It is. I mean, clearly they're idiots. I mean absolute idiots, like no, like farhad mashiri, who not someone known for running a football club well right Was, like you know, had that all boxed off before they announced anything with Bramley Moore. You know it was all done and it's like it's absolutely. I love it. It's so funny. But they're now in a situation where they value the land at 40 million and the people who own it value it at 400 million. So you know, know they've got.
Speaker 5:They've just got to find another 350 million quid for their stadium I think yeah, united, united's another one to really watch out for, because they talk about their attack. You know, they've obviously brought in three really good attacking players, but one of the because they and they struggled to create chances last season. But one of the fundamentals of um that I think, I think what we'll see reunited is that unless they strengthen their midfield, they're really good because teams will just sit deep against them because they've got a really slow defense as well. They've got a slow midfield and they've got a slow defense and teams will um sit back and hit them on the counter. Um, it doesn't take a genius to work out that. Once you, if you, if you can absorb that attack and then you can bypass.
Speaker 5:You know what is it quite? What is slow central midfield? Uh, because, especially with the way that they're going to operate as well, bruno fernandez is almost certainly going to be operating a lot deeper than what he was. Then you've got a player who is attacking. Output is absolutely phenomenal and there are a few players better that have done that since he's joined United but he doesn't move, he's not going to be making tackles, covering ground. You're going to need someone who is going to do going to do that because kobe, kobe meno and manuel agate. I'm not gonna do that.
Speaker 5:Um. So it's gonna be fascinating and that's putting it nicely to see what united are going to be like this season because, like the, there seems to be almost this aura in the press that this is going to be the magic, that, like this is the season it's finally going to click. And you know, ruben Amorim is like right, he did well at putting, he did well at sporting, okay, but United are an absolute basket case and have been since. You know Sir Alex left, you know, so there's absolutely no guarantees that just because you're bringing three very good attacking players, it's going to magically sort itself out.
Speaker 4:I'm going to throw it out there now.
Speaker 2:I think they'll finish 13th, 14th, 15th in the league again next season. I just do not see where the necessary improvement is coming from. I mean, if your goalkeepers are Narnia, one of your centre-halves is Ugarte, and then you've got Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes in midfield, you know three-quarters of the Spaniard. If that's three-quarters of the Spaniard team, you're not finishing anywhere near the top half.
Speaker 1:The Everton legends who played on Saturday. You know James McFadden, gareth Barry, who God love him. He's enjoyed life since he retired. Let me tell you that much. They give that team a game. I mean, I totally agree. I don't know about both of you.
Speaker 1:There's a narrative in the media. The media work on narratives and they have not moved on from a time when man United were one of the teams at the top. They just haven't realized yet. I say the same thing about Liverpool. Until then, you look stupid because they were the best team last year, but I forget the number. But obviously the number of points Liverpool won the league on last year was like historically, an average was low for a Premier League title win, as a lot of other teams were bad. Liverpool were good, but man United are nowhere near.
Speaker 1:And you're right. You look at it. It's like logic, like they're going to score more goals. Okay, great, yes, they will score more goals, but they're going to concede a shed load of goals. I mean, man United's first game is against Arsenal and I think that is going to be a very hellish moment because I can see Arsenal really taking them to pieces, because Arsenal are good. I don't think man United are very good and they are. Artest is a tactical manager, a tactical institute manager. I mean that final preseason game we played in Atlanta against them. We know like we're Particularly at that point where we didn't really have the players that we're going to have hopefully. We know we're not very good and that was a pretty even game and everyone was fawning over man United because they weren't a complete shower of shit. But you know, I think it's going to be a very, very bad season for them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and their first. I can't remember the exact details, but I'm pretty sure they've got a very difficult start to the season as well. They're playing a lot of the teams who finished near the top of the Premier League last season. So, again, if they don't get off to a good start, the pressure that was on Amarim last season is going to be even greater. Yeah, very interesting to see what happens.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it will be.
Speaker 1:Anything else for anything else no.
Speaker 5:No, I anticipate a good start to the season. I think we'll do well at Leeds. I think we'll win.
Speaker 1:Sounds like your first mistake. Alright, let's round off. We're probably not going to do another pod. Leeds I think we'll win. Sounds like your first mistake. All right, let's round off. We're probably not going to do another pod. I mean ironically saying that we haven't done one for two months, but we're probably not going to do another pod before next Monday, so we'll do Leeds predictions. Adam, you think we're going to win? What's your score? Prediction?
Speaker 5:Yeah, I think we'll turn up. I think Leeds they've got a lot of new players back in the Premier League. Obviously it's away at Ellen Road incredible atmosphere there. But I think we'll win 2-1.
Speaker 1:Alright, Dad.
Speaker 3:I'm going to go for draw 1-0.
Speaker 1:Interesting Andy.
Speaker 2:I think we'll win 2-1 as well, because, yeah, it's going to potentially be a good game under the lights. Leeds are going to be well up for it, crowd's going to be well up for it. But, yeah, I think we'll edge it 2-1.
Speaker 1:All right, I think we'll win as well, but I think we'll win 1-1. Now the dog's barking, it's all kicking off. All right, we're going to wrap it up there. Good to see you all. Thank you for listening. Follow us on Spotify wherever you get your podcasts, apple Podcasts, all those places we're there. Send this episode or another episode to a Blue Supporting Mate and we'll see you down at Bramley Moor soon. Cheers, stay well, you.