Blues Brothers Everton Podcast
Blues Brothers Everton Podcast
Deadline day aftermath.
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We talk through a transfer window that leaves Everton frighteningly light in key positions and argue about what that really means for the next five months. We weigh the fan backlash, the club’s messaging, and whether a squad this thin can still chase Europe if results stay strong.
Miserable Again, So Let’s Talk
SPEAKER_02Welcome to episode ninety-four of the Blues Brothers Everton podcast. You know, it's comforting to be back and miserable. We had a little period there where we were like not miserable and like putting on a like putting on a comfortable old coat. Here we are, and everything's shit again. Uh I'm Austin, good to be with you. Andy's here, Adam's here. Ben's gonna join us uh maybe in a bit. He's uh traveling around a bunch, so we're gonna we're gonna crack on and talk about uh the shit show that was Everton's transfer window. Uh Andy, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_03Hi Austin, I'm good, thank you. Yeah, quite tired after four long days at work, been up since 3:30 this morning, but uh I'm sure talking about uh Everton's travailes over the last week or two, and especially around transfers, will uh easily keep me awake.
SPEAKER_02What what's the you you you drive a you drive a HGV for a living, which is a proper job. What's the HGV equivalent of what Everton just did in the transfer window? Is it like turning up and actually you've got nothing in the truck, but you've got to put it like what's the like what's the like the the the like catastrophic like you really fucked it up, Rosed about it?
SPEAKER_03The the analogy I'd use, we were talking about um fucking up at work just before we started recording. There was a story once where uh a driver took the wrong trailer, drove it 150 yards to a supermarket, and instead of it being full of groceries for the supermarket, it was just full of empty cages and cardboard. Um and and another driver, a different driver, once went to the Tesco's in um Mansfield where I work, instead of the Tesco's in Mackelsfield.
SPEAKER_02Yes, uh, because he misread his paperwork, which is nowhere near each other. Uh didn't you reverse to a wall once?
SPEAKER_03That's got to be very first, yeah. The very first time I drove an articulated truck on my own after passing my test, I reversed it into a wall. Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's a good that's a pretty good one. But that's like reversing into a wall is like a one-off cock-up, right? Yeah, Everton, like it's like structural incompetence, which we'll get on to. Uh, but Adam's here. Adam, how are you doing? I'm good.
SPEAKER_00Um yeah, I'm all right, thank you. Yeah, look forward to uh laughing and laughing and being in misery about uh over the next hour or so.
Deadline Day Leaves Everton Short
SPEAKER_02So let's review. I mean, you all know what's happened here. We go into the season or at least until the first of January, with really one right back, one left back, some cover for those, one striker, tenuous maybe cover for those, and 18 players overall. We attempted to sell our brightest young prospect and only didn't because of the fan reaction to it. We then let our second striker Beto go without having a replacement in the bag, and said replacement, which was our second choice replacement, who was our second choice replacement, failed on us through some combination of him being a prick and uh Everton not treating him very well, in some depending on who you're sitting. So that's the situation. I think someone, maybe it was Adam, maybe you said this the other day. Everyone needs to pay attention to Moise's press conference tomorrow because it's gonna be an absolute world ease, I would imagine. Um but uh Adam, I'll start with you. Like let me ask you this, because we can all say, What do you think about the transfer window? and go, it's shit, right? Everyone knows that. What do you think the like implications are for Everton? Like, like right now, like beyond the sort of not that the feelings don't matter, the feelings matter, and I think everyone's feeling how we're feeling, and people are in, and there's some people who are like, Oh, get over it. That's cool. Like that I respect that too. But what what do you think the implications are for us as we look at the next sort of four or five months of football?
SPEAKER_00I think that's a smart way of looking about it because we can all white clerical about the the transfer window and how it uh and how it went on the last day and how you know we've ended up with 18 uh senior players in the squad. I think we are uh we are Barry we are we are Tierno Barry lacking this lacking the confidence that we saw a lot in last uh last season, or him getting injured away from having some real problems because we literally only have him, and it's not a case, and and and then you're looking at you're then scrabbling around who can play up front. So that's that's like the main issue is that we only scored off the top of my head 43 goals last season, which is which was the fourth fewest in the um in the league. Um and the other three uh the the the the uh the top three fewest uh were uh all relegated. So we're combating that, and we've we've lost uh a key player in a Jai, and yet you can talk about this calendar year, he's been pretty shit, which is true, um, but he is capable of um you know scoring goals and and and um and um and assisting. I think the major issue for the next few months, and I thought Austin, you put this in the in the WhatsApp group, is that we're now going to be entering very strange territory because the world and his wife knows we've got money to spend and needs a striker in January, and strikers in January are like good good strikers in January are like rocking horse shit. You know, you can you can put Nikichi Yelovic and Papi Sise for Newcastle in that bracket. I can't think of any of the good strikers that joined and had an immediate impact. So you're already going to overpay by you know 20, 30, 40, even 50% market value, probably. So you're fighting that. Um, but we're also even if we get like an injury at right back or left back, you're really again, you're really struggling. And we talked about the balance of the team. Uh Maitland Niles is at least he's at least now a right back, but he gets injured. You've got roll there again, who is not a right back. Mikalenko gets injured. We don't have a left back. And I said this in our group, that's one of the most baffling things. And people talk about the Ballingen deal and uh, you know, and Jai underpaid, and I get and I and I I agree, I agree with both of those things, you know, like the the the processes have not been not been not been well thought through, but the lack of a left back, allowing Asnu to go on loan and then just seemingly nobody else coming in, um it's like that hasn't even it's it's like that for me is the most obvious example of the lack of uh thought process that's gone into the recruitment over the last few weeks. I think at the start of the window, and I said like I was gonna not concentrate on the window as a whole, and now I am, but the window as a whole can be judged obviously over the last like that that last day, and that's fair enough. But before that, it was pretty it was pretty good. We got Hackney in, we got Garner on a um on a new contract, which was massive. Um we um we obviously we were always gonna get Grealish. Um I'm trying to think off the top of my head like who else we've uh brought in. Norgard, you know, we we've we've we've replaced key players that we've lost, like Gay, but we've also strengthened with Hayden Hackney, and we've got some really good central midfielders. So we were thinking, like, you know, this we're all saying like, oh, this is gonna be a good window. And then the last, you know, then then Tuesday happened, and it's just put a huge uh dampener on things. So I think over the next five months, we're gonna need Moys to change the style in which we play, I think. Um, we're gonna need players like Grealish and um Johnson and George and Jewsbury Hall to take some of the uh the slack off of Barry. Because I think it's fair to say that with the amount of money we were gonna pay for Balligan, he was probably gonna be our first choice striker. So now you've not got him, you're now in a situation where you've got to play with a raw Barry who is yes made a good start, but we unfortunately we saw uh against Bournemouth that he's not you can't say he's reliable yet. And we need him, and we and need is the opposite, is the optimum word, because we need him to be reliable, and because if he's not, then there's an awful lot of pressure on the likes of Grealish and Johnson and other players around the area because then you're because then you've got to start changing looking at your style of play and how you can create attacks, and the evidence is that Moyes isn't necessarily the best at doing that. So as you said Austin, in our in our um, you know, in our group, I think Everton are um if if we win the next few games, it puts a dampener, it it it it a lot of this stuff will go away. But if we lose the next few games, there will be everything will be toxic, and if what more toxic than it is, and I'll just sort of end with this. You talk about Everton being like a social experiment. I think this is the latest example of it. You know, Everton are the banter club. We were league champions in 1915, um, league champions in 1939, and I'll give Ben credit for this one. We're the only club in the world to own more stadiums than uh than sent than cent uh centre forwards.
Injuries, Full-Back Gaps, January Panic
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Andy, thoughts, implications for us for the next few months.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean I I find it quite baffling that a club that expressed ambitions to break into the European players this season can find itself with a squad of 21 players, three of which are goalkeepers. Um that's the smallest squad in the Premier League now, and will be until January. The next um on the list are Leeds and Nottingham Forest. They both have got squads of 24, three of which are goalkeepers. So that means they've both got so it's not even close, is it? They have three more outfield players than we do.
SPEAKER_02Three more outfield players, and it's like they have 15% bigger squads than us, and they're the next smallest.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so it's it's it's it's rank incompetence, and it's it's almost a dereliction of duty. I mean, if that that there are if you if people did the equivalent of that incompetence in lots of other roles, they'd be shown the door. Um, it's it's as simple as that. I I I find it staggering that a club you know in the Premier League, the richest league in world football, yada yada yada, can end up in in such a situation, and we're now stuck with it until January. And I was looking at the fixtures just before we came, um, we came on to record. We've got 17 games, which we're now in the end of December at minimum, 16 in the league, and the League Cup game against Wolves. Obviously, hopefully, we win that and we'll get more in that competition. Now that's now is this squad of players good enough to get results in all those matches? Yes, it is, if they all stay fit, and that's a very big if. I I don't think they were. We're gonna get injuries, we're gonna get they don't, right?
SPEAKER_02I mean, that's the it's like you can you you can argue the toss about guess whether a particular player gets an injury, but do you get through half a season with no injuries? No, you don't, right? You don't, and but and and it's that br it was so brittle now, uh, that it's like that's the lack of that's just having the numbers is like the basic sort of problem.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Yeah, that that's the Andrew, Andrew's absolutely spot spot on with the it's the lack of numbers that's the real the real problem because NGI was always going to leave. Like I don't think any any of it of Tony was gonna say re with com any confidence that he was going to to stay. You know, we brought in we've brought in George and we've got uh you know we've brought in Grealish as well. So we're we're we're net up in terms of um we're net up in terms of the last six months with Grealish being injured in terms of the players that are available in that in that position. But it's when those players it's when those players get injured, and I said about the fullback, that's the real that's the real issue, is we are going to get some injuries and um it's going to be an awful lot of pressure on those players because the players we we've got a good score, we've got a good like first we've got a good first eleven, and then you look like the players that can come in that won't start, you know, you're looking at like a central midfield of like Norgard and Ghana probably are your like base mid central midfielders, and then you've got Hayden Hackney and um uh Harrison Armstrong that can come in, you know, that's really they're really good options to have, but the issue is is that Barry gets injured and you're fucked. Mikalenko gets injured, you're fucked. Um you um and um that's where having 18 senior players is just completely completely unacceptable. Um because obviously we lost we we we we lost four players on deadline day and brought in and brought in two and um one of whom was someone we were always going to get in Jack Grealish.
Ben Joins, Pushes Back On Meltdown
SPEAKER_02So Ben's joined us now. Hi Ben, good to see you. Uh Ben, I don't want to put we're talking about the thing you might imagine we're talking about. Uh you put context closer. What could you what could you possibly be talking about? What's happened in the last couple of days that could be what what could we possibly be talking about? That could be a point of discussion. I don't want to put words in your mouth, but when we we've obviously we've been texting about this a bunch. You had maybe a slightly I don't know, I don't want to put words in your mouth. Give us your view on where we're at and a little bit how people are feeling.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and and like I want to sort of start by saying like I don't hugely disagree with with what we've discussed over text and what I assume has been the content so far. Like I'm not, I'm not definitely not here to like defend the board or say it was like it was, you know, it was anything other than a bad window. I just feel sort of that the reaction to it has been extreme considering that what actually the big thing is is that we missed out on Balogun, which wasn't actually hugely to do with us. The execution was obviously poor from a strategic point of view. The I don't have as much as of an issue with the Hulk. I know everybody goes, like, why did we leave it so late? Why did we leave it so late? Transfers get done late, like a lot of stuff gets done late. Enzo Fernandez went to Man City super late. You know, it is just the nature of the window creates a pressure where teams don't feel like they want to sell often until the last minute. There are exceptions to that, but the exceptions are normally for a reason. If you look at the deals we did and were able to do early, it was Hayden Hackney, who Middlesbrough were always going to sell, so it's in their interest to do that early so they can spend, but they know they're gonna seven. Christian Norgard, who is so far away from like being a part of Arsenal's like matchday squad day to day, that they can let him go, and it doesn't really cost them anything from a uh a struct uh a squad point of view, and then the Brendan Johnson Dwight McNeil was two players who were just like were kind of again deemed very surplus to requirements, but beyond that, it's there's almost there's very little incentive for teams to sell their players they their top players or players they want to keep early in the early in the season, or early in the window, sorry. And the other thing I would say, and again, not defending the board, but um Adam just brought up the the 18 players, and like you look at the picture of our squad and it looks bad, and it is bad. I don't think it's as bad as it looks on paper, and I let me just explain why, and I'm I'm doing this in real time. I checked this yesterday, so but I'm hoping that I I I'm doing this correctly. Have a guess how many outfield players we used as a team last season. Bear in mind that the figure that like the 18, we've got 18 senior outfield players is the thing that's been thrown around. How many did we did we use last season, do you think?
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna take a wild leap and say in proof price, it's right, fashion it's lower than 18. I'm gonna say 17. I'm gonna say 15.
SPEAKER_00I'll say like yeah, I'll say like 16.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So so the answer is 21, but that includes where I thought this was gonna go. No, no, no, no. Let me let me let me fit let me clarify. The answer was 21, but included in that 21 is Seamus Coleman, who started one game, um, Nathan Patterson, who started three games, and it includes Tyreek George and Jack Grealish, who were essentially one player because we didn't have George for the first half of the season, we didn't have Grealish for the second half of the season. So my point is like, is it ideal that we have 18 players? No. Does it mean that we are not going to be able to roll out a team on a on a weekly basis? Also, no, because we just didn't, like, we didn't use a big a lot of players last season. And that's not to say that like that's how you want to have the squad, and that's not to say like, oh, it's okay that we have 18 players. I I just really don't think it's like this, you know, brain melting failure and this collective meltdown that the fan base is having is necessarily in line with what has kind of transpired. Like I from a business perspective, the execution was really bad, and from the where we've ended up, especially in the striker position, is obviously very bad. Because on the fullback thing, like I really do think like we have plenty of right back cover, right? Maitland Miles is your starter, and then you've got plenty of players who can cover at right back, and then Maitland Miles is also your cover at left back. The left back thing is actually more concerning to me than the right back thing, but like I just I think we'll be fine.
SPEAKER_02I I just think we'll be fine. Like Ben's uh Ben's email address is Ben. Okay, let me ask you this. Sorry, go ahead, Adam. Go ahead, Adam.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, uh to sort of contextualize what we were sort of saying before you joined, because I think you've um my my point around the 18 players was it's more the fact that we are just short in key positions, and I understand what you're saying about the fullbacks. I agree. Like Garner can play right back, you don't want him to. Um Roll can play right back, you don't want him to. Maitland Niles can play left back, you don't want him to. You should have two players for every position in the Premier League. Like Nottingham Forest have a uh Nottingham Forest have um at left back, they have uh Nico Williams, who's their starter, and then they just have a German guy called Luca Nets, who's a good quality Bundesliga left back, signed for about three million. Leeds bought a Frenchman called Bardbird for about three million quid. Like these players are available, and that's my that's my main issue. Like we were saying before you you joined, was it's not so much the fact that it's you only have 18 players, and that looks bad on paper, uh, because we've we're really strong in a lot of key positions in this, like particularly centre of midfield, it's the fact that those striker fullbacks are short, and you don't really want to be pulling starter players in other positions to cover that, because then you change. The way in which you play and that has wider ramifications.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, I and I like to be clear, don't disagree with that in the slightest. It is by far, it is far and away from an ideal situation. I guess I I'm just maybe more maybe I'm just more weathered to Everton fucking this type of thing. I agree. I agree with you.
SPEAKER_00The fan reaction has been like I think Evertonians and my email address is acraither gmail.com. Um really is his email address.
SPEAKER_02I I jokingly that wasn't even the start of Ben's real email address earlier on. And that's on him. So whatever he says now, go go for it, people.
SPEAKER_00Everton certain parts of our fan base love a moan. And we are we absolutely love, and some of them us love getting on the bandwagon, and we whip each other up into a frenzy of emotion and annoyance and hatred. And that's what's gone on a lot a little bit, I think, with the reaction. Like, and the flag thing, for example, that makes no sense just to give you it, just in case anyone's not aware of that. The 1878 group have said that in response to the in their opinion, like the board's uh dereliction of duty around the transfer window, they're not going to produce the flags that you often see on the Southstand at the games. Um for the considerable, but so which I just don't think is very helpful. And people like, and now the media are saying, like, you know, you've got people in the Guardian Football Weekly saying we've had a terrible window. I don't think we've had a terrible, we haven't had a terrible window. You can't you, I don't really don't think you can say it's been terrible. The last day was terrible, the last day was really bad. But to say we've got a terrible window when we brought in some really good quality players, Jack Grealish, Christian Norgaard, and um Hayden Hackney, you can't say that's a terrible window. And I think that the fans' reaction has created this media reaction that we now have this terrible window, which fuels the fans now because that can solidifies their opinion.
SPEAKER_01I mean as the flag thing as well is especially especially annoying because they don't do that if we sign Balogun. And like you can you can read all the breakdowns of what went wrong and where where it fell apart and whose fault that is and whatever, but like they are that is literally a decision based on him deciding at midnight that he didn't want to sign for us, and you can attribute blame to like was it the medical team, was it this, was it that? But like I just think like having your reaction be driven by one decision that one person made at midnight that impacted your transfer window, is just a banana's way to react. Like, I just don't, I just don't see how that to Adam's point, I just don't see that how that A helps, and I just don't see how it's rational. Like they do a great job with the flags, and I'm like, I it always looks amazing, but I'm like, Well, so if we'd sign Balogun, you'd still do the flags? Like, what what's the logic of that?
SPEAKER_02Let me push back on you a little bit, and and I say this I fundamentally uh hear what you guys are saying and agree with a lot of it, but I don't think anything happens in a vacuum, and I think saying, I think, or or but believing that this is down to
Fans, Flags, And The Straw That Broke
SPEAKER_02that one thing. Now, I think as a point of fact, I think you're correct. If we sign Balogun, I think people are like, uh, okay, mayor, whatever. But there's a straw that broke the camel's back here for two reasons. One, the CEO two weeks ago went on a big media round where his main message was, we were super disappointed, the owners were super disappointed not to get into Europe. That's the aim. We're ambitious, don't think we're not ambitious, and and basically, you know, kind of shit on Moyes during those interviews in a pretty big way, which is fine. He's entitled, he's entitled to do that. But then you've got to, you've you, you, you, you, you know, you're all fur coat and no knickers if you don't follow through on it. And then there was serious consideration given to selling our brightest young player for a fee that is probably actually fine. And I I put this on X, but no one reads my posts on X, but so I'll I'll repeat it here. But like there's no conspiracy there. Everton have a pound value for every player in the squad. If an offer comes in significantly above that pound value, by default they say yes to it. 40 million pounds for Armstrong will be above whatever number they have. They said yes to it, they then change their mind, which is good and they're entitled to do. But to to have those two things, and then this, that's why you're getting the reaction. Yeah. Now, and I don't look, and the 1878 are they're volunteers, they're entitled to do or not do whatever they want. It's not for us to say. I think it is the level of uh negativity, I think it is over the top for the reasons you guys have talked about. We've got a good squad, but it is it is completely inconsistent for the CEO to say we were disappointed, we felt we should have got into Europe last year, basically accuse the manager of bottling it, which essentially is what he did, and then end up with this transfer strategy. That you I can't reconcile those two things in my mind. It's because you you're either in maintenance mode, which is what deadline day says, which is we're gonna try and we're gonna take this risk because we're not gonna buy an extra player just in case. We're gonna do it at the minimum level of investment we think we can get away with, or you're trying to get in the top seven. Yeah, but both are not true, and I don't know which one it is, because I don't know which is the deliberate thing and which is the screw up, but it's one of it's one of them.
SPEAKER_01The other thing I would say, and sorry, I'm cut I've come in late, so I have I've tried getting all of my thoughts like uh one going.
SPEAKER_02People listen to you for your thoughts, Ben, so go for it.
Why Everton’s Comms Made It Worse
SPEAKER_01No, that's they uh they certainly shouldn't. But from from a as many people know, I'm a comms professional. So looking at the other part of this, I think how we handle the comms of this was fucking awful. And there's not this isn't to say like better comms make this less of an issue, but I think doing the whole media tour is like a really big risk to take if you're not totally confident that you can back it up.
SPEAKER_02He was categorical, we will sign a right back.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, tell me we didn't like it. But this is my other point, this is my other point, which we're gonna come on to. So it's a huge risk to do it. And the fact that they because all of these people, all these people report to him, right? All the transfer people, all the communications people, everybody. So that he's setting the strategy. So if you're saying I want to go out and do a big fucking media tour about how we're ambitious and we're dis we're disappointed we didn't get Europe, blah blah blah, whilst also knowing what's going on on the transfer side, that shows, like from an executive point of view, a lack of coordinated thinking about what you're saying and then what you're able to deliver. And then the second thing, and this is a purely a cons point, on deadline day, we had Jack Grealish in AZ New Maitland Niles at Finch Farm all fucking day. So why why did it take until 10:50 or 10:30 um to announce Jack Grealish with a fucking social media post about donuts with the day that we're having? Like he should have been right, Jack. You've done your medical, hold this shirt, sign this contract, bang, here's a picture on on X. Like, let's get it out there right now because people want to know what the fuck's going on. And then Maitland Niles, we signed apparently signed at 10 to 11 and didn't confirm until like two hours later. Like, just from a communication point of view, sometimes I think football clubs are so like caught up in how do we do this in a cool, interesting, fun, social way. Because your transfer day, your transfer deadline day from a communications point of view is entirely fan-based. That that is the audience for your because you know everybody's following it, you know everybody's talking about it, you know everybody's like engaged, and like where are people, who's where, oh, is this going on with the medical, is that going on with the medical. I am baffled that we leave things that were obviously wrapped up earlier in the day to be announced like at 11 o'clock at night or 10 to 11, or like when you could have set up a scenario from a communications point of view where by the time the Balogun thing has happened, you've already got the Grealish stuff out there, and like people have been able to feel like we've got Grealish in before NGI's been announced, like that people feel more like positive from it.
SPEAKER_02Right, you could just have a example of the Jack Grealish stuff that reacts like loads and loads of stuff, and just you just balance it out differently. But it was a vacuum, we just said nothing. Yeah, is that relate?
SPEAKER_03Is that related to a point we made earlier, but I made earlier about it just another illustration of the the ranking competence that's permeated the last few days of our transfer window. Now, whether that's just ranking competence because people are inexperienced or they don't know what they're doing, they're out of their debt, I don't know. But that's Ben's absolutely right, and that's that's a good point because that's that's the sort of side of things I hadn't considered. Um but just to um address something that we spoke about a few minutes ago regarding the size of the squad. One other aspect of that is because you can make five subs now um in obviously each game, so many games are decided on teams changing um their half their outfield team in the second half. I was at the Sunderland game at the Hill Dickinson last season when they made three or four subs, changed the game. You know, the players who came on, I think was it Isidore came on and scored two goals, changed the game. Now, with an outfield squad of 18 players, we're not in a position to do that. Our first 11 picks itself, our bench is going to be the same players every week, assuming everybody stays fit. Um so and Moyes historically doesn't like um he didn't really utilize the squad fully last season. And he's so it's he's it's that's another aspect. You know, we've got 17 games between at least 17 games between now and December, where we're just not gonna have the options, enough options on the bench to change things, you know.
SPEAKER_02The opposition because well it's self-fulfilling, because because the because the injuries then you get injuries because these people are playing more minutes. Exactly.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. You know, there's gonna be games where the opposition change things to you know try and win the game, and we're not gonna be in a position to to do much or anything about it.
SPEAKER_00I think we can I think I think we can. I think it's like yeah, I would I would disagree with what you said, like uh our first 11 picks itself. I don't think it does really. I think because you've got set you've got central midfield there. I've made this point earlier. You you can I would I wouldn't be I wouldn't have any confidence in picking like which which two of um Norgard, Garner, um Hackney and Armstrong he's gonna pick uh week after week. I think with a good run of if they're both on formal winning games, obviously you would, but they're all good quality players and they can all reasonably they can all merit a start. I think out wide as well, you've now got Grealish and George competing for the same position, and now you've got Johnson and uh Dibbling competing for the same position. So I think you do have we do have options there. I think where you're right, Andrew, is like it's the it's the the striker, obviously, like it all comes down to like we've got we've got all this pressure on one young lad who was just starting to show what he could do, but needs protecting and needs the pressure taken off him.
SPEAKER_02And I I fear for him on all kinds of levels because it it it's look if we lose games and he doesn't score, the anger will be at the board. But it's also gonna be shitty for him if he's having a tough time and he can't, he cannot be rotated out for a game for a half like what there's no scenario I can think of. Like if he gets injured, fine, you play someone else there. But are you gonna take him off with half an hour to go and put Tyreek George up front? You're just not gonna do it, are you? Like so that that's just I can't the thing that's like astonishing to me is that part of it.
SPEAKER_01But I do I do agree, I do agree with Adam that like and this is Andrew kind of my and I'm disappointed that I missed an Andy rant at the beginning of this.
SPEAKER_02That is the greatest, the greatest loss about turning 1550 means like we do publish these on the internet, so you can listen to it.
SPEAKER_01I know I'm gonna listen to it. I'm really excited to hear the Andy rant, but Andy, with the with all the respect in the world, this is kind of my point that people are going, well, we can't make changes. It's like, well, we have a squad of 18 players, you field 11, and then do we have enough players to have subs like on the bench, and again, if everybody's fitting, that is the caveat. On the bench every week is going to be some combination of Hackney, Armstrong, George, uh, Dibling, Alcaraz, Brennan Johnson. Like the idea that we just can't make changes is just not true. So I think if we're going to have a discussion about the situation that we're in and the problems of it, we should have it on the basis of like actually like the reality. And the reality is, and the reality is we are perfectly capable if everybody's if everybody's like fit and not suspended. We we are perfectly capable of having a squad where you can make changes. Now, you can then the you have less depth if there are injuries and if there are suspensions and if if those things happen, and that's the problem. But like the idea that you set you're saying like, oh, we now can't make changes, we don't have the depth, is just it's just I mean it's just numerically not true. It's just where the goals are coming from.
SPEAKER_02Sorry, Andy, I will I'll be able to do that.
SPEAKER_01I will give you a right to Ben. Totally agree on the striker, totally agree on the left back, but I think we should I think we should keep it in with the bounds of reality about what changes we can make.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean, look, I I I admire your optimism around these things. I just don't I just do not think you can go through nearly half a Premier League season with only having 80 and 18 outfield players. You are yes, you from a from a numerical standpoint, yes, you are correct. You know, you start with 11 players, 10 of which are outfield players, you've got you know six more outfield players on the on the bench. So from a just a numbers point, yes, you can swap players in and out, but it's what positions do they play? You know, we you know, fullbacks that we've got one fullback uh on each side and one forward. I I I just I I disagree. I I I'm just less optimistic. I don't see how you can go go through the next four months 17 games with only having the uh such a small squad. I I just I just do not see how how how that is is um is is is feasible.
SPEAKER_02I just uh depends what you mean by feasible, right? Because literally we will fulfill the fixtures, right? We will do it.
SPEAKER_03But well we well we we yeah we will, but look, look, teams have at Newcastle last I think was it Newcastle or Tottenham last last season, had up to 11 or 12 first team squad players out injured at any point. It might be Tottenham. Now, if that happens to us, after teams in the Academy, the Academy players, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02No, what I was gonna say because I uh I agree with you. What I was gonna say is that it's like it depends what your ambition is, it's why that comes back to that thing, right? Because we might we'll get through it, we might do okay. It's my last question to you guys before we we move on to talk about the Magnetic game for a few minutes.
Is Europe Still Realistic?
SPEAKER_02Is the squad we have for half of a season and on the assumption all we do in January is add a striker at an inflated fee, which is what we will have to do anywhere near sufficient to qualify for Europe this year. That's that's my question to you guys.
SPEAKER_03I I don't think so, no, and that that's I'll just say this one last thing. That's and I think that's the most disappointing well, probably the most disappointing thing to um have come out in the couple of days after the window, is that before the season, we were probably hoping you could maybe maybe crack the top 10, possibly get into a conference league spot um or a Europa League spot. But that ambition now is being curtailed, in my opinion, being curtailed back because I don't see how this squad, even if we do add to it um in January, is good enough to get into um the top half of the league.
SPEAKER_02All right, let's uh let's let's take quick opinions on this, then we'll talk about Man United. Ben, is this squad of 18 outfield players good enough to get into Europe in principle?
SPEAKER_01Yes. The squad is good enough to get into Europe, and I know that because the squad last year was going to get into Europe until we fell off at the end. Like and the squad did fall off at the end. Yes, no, but we're gonna have to.
SPEAKER_02It's like saying we we would have won the league if we'd have won every game.
SPEAKER_01Well, it's not really like I think that's uh an extreme example of what I was saying. My my point is that until we have a historically provocative. Until we had a historically bad run at the end of the season, we were destined to get into Europe, again to my point earlier, using essentially the same number of players that we have available now. Now, you have to then get lucky with injuries and suspensions, which is where the problem comes. But like if you're telling me that this squad of 18 players remains broadly fit and broadly like uh available over the course of the first half of the season, absolutely it's good enough quality-wise to to be competing in for European football.
SPEAKER_02Because implied my question is a sort of assumption that you're gonna get an average level of injuries, and I think if I'm if I'm being fair to what you're saying, what you're saying is these players are good enough to form a team capable of finishing in the top seven or eight in the Premier League. And I agree with that. I think the the push on is but given the average level of injuries you get in the Premier League and loss of form and all of those non-ideal things, do you think that'll actually happen?
SPEAKER_01Do I think that come the end of the season we'll be competing for the we'll be look like let's let's put it this way it we're having this conversation in March. Do I think we're having a serious conversation about us potentially having a route into Europe? Yes, I do.
SPEAKER_00Great, Adam. Uh I would say that if we added Balligan and had a better route back than Maitland Miles, I still don't think we would qualify for Europe uh this season. I think we're capable of doing so with the current squad, absolutely, but that's looking at like the best case scenario, in my opinion. I think we're I think last season showed us probably the reality of where we're at um as a s as a squad. Um so definitely capable of it. I don't think we will. Um I think we'll be, you know, uh I think we'll do well to break the top ten this season, to be honest.
SPEAKER_02All right, well, I guess tune back in in March to find out whether Ben's a genius or is fucking nuts. Uh we could it could go, it could honestly go, honestly go either way. All right, we're gonna
Man United Preview And Predictions
SPEAKER_02go. I think he's fucking nuts. Uh so we're gonna uh we're gonna uh we're gonna talk about uh the Man United game for five minutes. We've got playing on Sunday, we're recording this on Thursday. Uh so in a couple of days, you know, a lot of pressure on this one. Ben, I'll start with you. What do you think about this game? Man United have been a bit weird this so far this season. Uh, and uh, you know, we've got all what we've got going on that we've spent the last whatever long talking about. So give us your thoughts on this game and then your prediction.
SPEAKER_01So I think a lot of it's a lot of it will actually weirdly depend on what the vibe is in the stadium and how the crowd because we've played like we've had a really good start to the season. Like put aside the off-field stuff, right? We've had like we beat Palace convincingly on the opening day, we got a good result at Bournemouth where we fought back, we you know hammered Preston, it's only Preston, Barry's got a hat trick. Like, if you it sounds bizarre thing to say, if you ignore the off-field stuff, you would say we've had a really good start to the season, and that doesn't change just because we've had like the off-field stuff, right? The team that we're gonna put out on Sunday is will be high enough quality for us to um for us to win that game. And Man United have been no great shakes. I think we'll win, I think we'll win 2-1. And I think that to your point, as we've discussed on the group, I think a lot of this anger starts to go goes away if you win football games.
SPEAKER_02And I think if you win matches, the tie the pies taste good. That's how it works.
SPEAKER_01And and this and this team, as discussed, this team is good enough to beat Man United on Sunday when they're when we know we we have the right players available.
SPEAKER_02But hot takes all over the place in Ben today. Love it. Uh Andy, thoughts on Man United? United prediction.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, despite my neg negativity around um the squad and everything, I have got confidence that we can get a result on Sunday because Manchester United are they're not they're still playing on the fact the Manchester United name of 20 years ago when they used to win loads of stuff. They haven't been that team for a good few years now, and defensively you can certainly get at them. Bruno Fernandez digs them out of a hole on a weekly basis. If you can keep him quiet, then you go a long way towards um nullifying the threat they've got. Um and I I think that we can get a result. I would like to think we can get a victory, but I'm gonna be slightly less optimistic than Ben. I'm gonna go for a one-all draw.
SPEAKER_00I agree. I think we're gonna agree with Ben. I think we're going to um I think we'll beat United. I think uh you know they were terrible against Hull. Uh they should have been uh like at least two or three down against Ipswich if they had better finishing. Uh and then um, you know, Bruno Fernandez uh bails them out week after week. Um so yeah, I'm quite optimistic. Um I think I think as well, another aspect of it as well is you can see the the fans are gonna be quite against the board because of the the transfer window, but I think they're also going to then go, right, we're really gonna get behind these. And also United at home, uh United at home is always a big fixture for us, anyway. Um, so I think we're gonna be yeah, I think we're gonna win uh 2-0.
SPEAKER_02Fascinating. Everything the tide has turned, everyone's optimistic, like it. Uh I think we're gonna lose. I think we're gonna lose primarily because Moyes tends to shit the bed against big teams. And I don't think he gets it right very often. And I think we'll lose 2-0. Uh, but I hope I'm wrong. I am two for two in the season so far. So uh let's see if I can that run continues. Hopefully not. Uh anything else we want to talk about before we wrap this up and let everyone get back to being uh miserable Everettonians in their normal lives?
Mike Dean Rant And Final Hopes
SPEAKER_00Yeah, quick one on quick one on Mike Dean, uh, who I don't know if you saw like what he came out and said, how he plays these little games with himself.
SPEAKER_02Mike Dean Baconka.
SPEAKER_01I mean, as the resident referee on the podcast, nothing makes me more fucking angry than Mike Dean charging around making a mockery of what is meant to be a serious professional job. Like by going, we sometimes played for those of you who aren't aware, he went on a podcast and basically said, Oh, I sometimes used to play a game where I saw how long I could go before blowing the whistle. And I'm like, Great, that thanks, Mike. So just what not applying the laws because you you wanted to see how long you could get away with it, you giant belly.
SPEAKER_00Or stay stand in the center circle and each record was 15 minutes. It's like, well, Mike, you're clearly in the wrong position dozens of times.
SPEAKER_02I know we'd all rather he tried to set a record for how long he stayed at home, which I guess he now is. He's the David Brent of the refereeing world. We you can see when he was when he was refereeing, he was a complete prick. And it's just been confirmed. Uh Andy, you want to say something?
SPEAKER_03Uh yes, I would just like to say that I sincerely hope that um Ben is correct in his optimism about how the season will pan out. And I sincerely hope that I'm completely wrong in my um pessimism.
SPEAKER_01It's an interesting place for me to be, because as you know, I'm normally the pessimist. I know, I know. I'm normally the one who's like, so I'm I'm as I'm as uncomfortable with this as you all are.
SPEAKER_03Do do we do we need to do we need to check if the like sort of magnetic pole has flipped from north to south or something? Has like something really weird happened.
SPEAKER_00There is L there is El Nino going on at the minute, so it could be that.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah, maybe it's that, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um all right, great. That was a good one. Uh thanks for listening. Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts. Send an episode to an Everton supporting mate. Uh, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, all helps spread the word. Uh come on, you blues for Sunday, uh, and we'll see you on the other side. Thanks for listening.