Everton, Dyche must be mad to have taken them on.

[hackneyfox]

Everton ushered in 2023 with more flesh on the bones of their much-touted strategic review, which they boasted included a "120-point action plan for our footballing operations strategy".

In reality, the action plan involved pretty much the same points that resulted in the review being commissioned in the first place - namely sack a manager then draft in his replacement with little or no time to bring any new faces into an Everton team facing a relegation scrap.

The time can be changed from January 2022 to January 2023, the names can be juggled from Rafael Benitez to Frank Lampard to Sean Dyche, but the song remains the same as Everton lurch through more chaos and dysfunction into deep crisis.

And for all the 120 points contained in the action plan, which Everton chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale claimed would enhance the club's approach in all areas including recruitment, they were the only club in the Premier League unable to recruit a player in the January transfer window.

If there was an action plan, it does not appear to have included strengthening a squad not fit for purpose.

 

[hackneyfox]

Everton​

Briony Bragg, This Fan Girl

Rating: 0

What a catastrophic window. Sold Richarlison in the summer, no replacement. Sold Anthony Gordon, no replacement. It's not rocket science. If you're going to sell one of your first XI, they need to be replaced. Where was any evidence of a plan with weeks to prepare? What a shambles.

 

[LGFOX]

To be fair to Dyche it’s probably a win/win. Everton see him as someone they believe can keep them up but also someone who can operate at Championship level.
They’ve been a basket case for years. The players there now couldn’t care less if they go down. In fact I’d suggest quite a few would prefer it as they could then move on. If they survive it’ll be the same next year. So for players like Pickford why bother.
He might put a rocket up them in a sergeant major kind of way but most are prima donnas who I reckon won’t respond. I’d like Arsenal to take them apart on Saturday. We need them to go down.