Seasons » 2015-16
Opinion & Articles
Contributions from our editorial team, featured columnists and readers.
Better off out of it
Lyndon Lloyd
28/06/2016While it would have been nice to see either or both of the Blues’ young Englishmen excel on the world stage, they were better off having played no part in Hodgson’s mess.
New Day Rising
Lyndon Lloyd
15/06/2016“Nothing will be the same” is the promise of Everton’s latest marketing slogan. By happy accident rather than clairvoyant design, it has turned out to be remarkably prescient as the promise of the Farhad Moshiri era begins to flower with the arrival of Ronald Koeman.
Now or never for Darron Gibson
Lyndon Lloyd
09/06/2016Now 28 but with just 38 league starts in four-and-a-half years, Darron Gibson's new two-year deal represents his last chance to make his name at Everton.
Koeman: Is the nomadic Dutchman ready to make his mark?
Lyndon Lloyd
04/06/2016Despite being tipped as a future Barcelona or Arsenal boss, Ronald Koeman has been described as one of the most underrated managers in Europe. As he stands on the brink of replacing Roberto Martinez at Everton, is he finally ready to fulfil that rich promise at the top level?
A Time for Patience
Lyndon Lloyd
28/05/2016There’s a fair bit of restlessness creeping into the collective Evertonian psyche as June approaches with no hint if a managerial appointment to replace Roberto Martinez but the magnitude and importance of the decision mean that the club is right to take their time.
De Boer: The Dutch master to lead Everton's renaissance?
Lyndon Lloyd
23/05/2016The departing Ajax boss is among the leading candidates to replace Martinez this summer. Four Dutch titles earned him a stellar reputation but has he sullied it over the past two years?
Lukaku's long goodbye lacks class
Lyndon Lloyd
23/05/2016The Belgian's publicly declaration that he has "made his decision" over his future reek of arrogance and are disrespectful to Everton and the fans.
The Crouching Wizard — Flavour of the month or genuine article?
Lyndon Lloyd
22/05/2016Unai Emery is the latest big name to be linked with the Everton job. He has a history of stabilising and improving struggling teams and has now won the Europa League three times in succession. Would he be a gamble or just the ticket to turn the Blues around?
Hope springs as Everton put miserable season behind them
Lyndon Lloyd
16/05/2016David Unsworth's team blended of youth and experience and exhibited welcome tempo and tenacity as they ended 2015-16 on a real high with a 3-0 win over Norwich.
The Sword of Damocles
Lyndon Lloyd
14/05/2016The chop when it finally came was painfully overdue but there can’t be an Evertonian left who didn’t feel that by the end, it was the only merciful thing to do to relieve Roberto Martinez of his managerial duties before the final home game with Norwich City.
Foxes' Ascendency in Stark Contrast to Everton's Collapse
Lyndon Lloyd
07/05/2016For the second away game in succession, Everton were shockingly inept, gutless and directionless. The Blues not only formed the guard of honour for the new Champions, they pretty much lay down and became the blue carpet over which Claudio Ranieri’s men trampled towards lifting the trophy.
The Vanity of Idealism
Lyndon Lloyd
05/05/2016Roberto Martinez's utopian vision is wholly at odds with Everton's dystopian present
Who could replace Roberto Martinez at Everton?
Lyndon Lloyd
25/04/2016With a second successive season of failure about to be consigned to the history books, Roberto Martinez’s future at Everton is squarely under the microscope. A look at some potential candidates whom the club could look at if he is dismissed in the coming weeks.
Wembley failure caps Martinez's 'defining week'
Lyndon Lloyd
23/04/2016By his own admission, football is a results-based business. The Catalan's horribilis sabbati should be his final curtain call.
Enough is Enough. Time to Go.
Lyndon Lloyd
21/04/2016Roberto Martinez promised to make Evertonians proud before the Merseyside derby. Instead, Blues fans were served up utter humilation in the worst arena possible, his Everton side disgraced at the home of rivals Liverpool.
Sleepwalking towards Wembley
Lyndon Lloyd
16/04/2016Everton’s aimless drift towards Roberto Martinez’s latest date with destiny continues after much of his second string served up 90 abject minutes of directionless football that was somehow enough to earn a point.
Blues extend winless run but eke out positives from 10-man stand
Lyndon Lloyd
14/04/2016A decent enough point in the context of Everton's poor run of form but the search for pre-Wembley momentum goes on.
Mid-table stalemate at Vicarage Road
Lyndon Lloyd
10/04/2016Hardly an inspiring warm-up for a possible reunion in the FA Cup Final. For long periods, it was an untidy and uninspiring tussle between two teams drifting in mid-table.
The False Parallels with 1984
Lyndon Lloyd
07/04/2016Why romantic comparisons between the present and Howard Kendall's transformative third full season in charge are misleading and an FA Cup triumph shouldn't buy Roberto Martinez more time unless it's accompanied by huge improvement over the last eight League games.
Sin Dirección. Sin ánimo.
Lyndon Lloyd
03/04/2016On the evidence of this third straight League defeat, Roberto Martinez's Everton are a shadow of the side that ended a 21-year winless run at Old Trafford in December 2013.
Bracing For the Inevitable?
Lyndon Lloyd
30/03/2016Another international break, another problematic media interview involving one of Everton’s Belgian contingent. Are the paving stones being laid for Romelu Lukaku's painful exit from Goodison Park or can the striker be persuaded to stay?
Abject Everton remain leagues behind Arsenal
Lyndon Lloyd
19/02/2016Everton hit a new low in a season littered with painful home defeats with a comprehensive 2-0 reverse at the hands of Arsenal.
Our Precious
Lyndon Lloyd
15/03/2016The covetous eyes of the biggest clubs from the Premier League and Europe will be on Romelu Lukaku this summer but if Everton have no imperative to sell, perhaps only the whims of the Belgian himself could see him leave Goodison Park.
Lukaku's class caps gritty Everton display and sends Chelsea packing
Lyndon Lloyd
12/03/2016The Belgian produced a moment of brilliance and followed it up with a second well-taken goal fire the Blues to a semi-final date at Wembley.
Everton being held back by Martinez's rigid ethos
Lyndon Lloyd
08/03/2016Discussing the post-mortem of sorts that has followed the 3-2 defeat to West Ham on Saturday.
An Unforgivable Collapse
Lyndon Lloyd
05/03/2016It was Groundhog Day at Goodison Park again as Everton threw away another two-goal advantage and lost 3-2 to West Ham.
Everton hammer another nail into Villa's coffin
Lyndon Lloyd
02/03/2016Everton never really got going but still beat the struggling Midlanders convincingly behind goals by Funes Mori, Lennon and Lukaku
Kenwright ushers in the winds of change
Lyndon Lloyd
28/02/2016As with any new chapter in the clubs history, Farhad Moshiri's investment in Everton is a step into the unknown that requires faith and patience but it could mark a turning point at the club in all the right ways.
Blue Diamond
Lyndon Lloyd
26/02/2016He's the homegrown talent who is shrugging off a disappointing second full season in the Premier League and emerging as a bona fide star in Everton's promising attacking team. Ross Barkley is the jewel in the Goodison crown.
Mission Accomplished at Dean Court
Lyndon Lloyd
20/02/2016Everton redeemed themselves to a large degree for November's capitulation on Bournemouth's turf in the Premier League with a 2-0 win and passage to the FA Cup Quarter Finals.
The Appeal to Coincidence
Lyndon Lloyd
18/02/2016Roberto Martinez has been relying increasingly on bad luck as the explanation for a season of stark under-achievement build but there is only so far that that crutch will take him as the inquests into his team's failings build.
Atonement and another step on the road to redemption
Lyndon Lloyd
07/02/2016Everton atoned for the two prior meetings with Stoke and took another step back towards the right area of the Premier League table.
I'm sorry, Roberto, but this team IS under-achieving... massively
Lyndon Lloyd
31/01/2016It's galling to hear Martinez flatly deny that Everton are under-achieving this season and to insist that it's impossible to expect them to achieve at all given how "new" the team is. Because, by almost all measurement, they are under-achieving and have been for the last 18 months.
The End of the Road, in More Ways than One
Lyndon Lloyd
28/01/2016Everton's hopes of ending a 21-year trophy drought were extinguished by Manchester City in controversial and yet predictable fashion at the Etihad Stadium leaving Roberto Martinez's hopes for redemption resting on the FA Cup.
Two steps forward, three steps back
Lyndon Lloyd
25/01/2016Everton have slipped into reverse under Roberto Martinez who must surely be on borrowed time where it comes to convincing the fanbase that he is capable of evolving away from the approach that scuttled Wigan.
Fury, injustice and deja-vu as another win goes begging
Lyndon Lloyd
16/01/2016Everton came within seconds of a season-igniting victory at Stamford Bridge but were denied by horrendous officiating that will ensure that what was already an extraordinary game of football will live long in the memory.
The times they are a-changing
Lyndon Lloyd
15/01/2016In conversation with Dr Everton's better half, Elizabeth France, about Bill Kenwright, his legacy and the future of the club.
Impregnable Everton earn morale victory at City
Lyndon Lloyd
14/01/2016A result that will probably prove more useful in terms of psychology for the second leg of the Capital One Cup than Everton's derailed charge for the top four but a hugely creditable draw nonetheless.
Everton rise to the occasion under Goodison's lights
Lyndon Lloyd
06/01/2016Thanks to an impressive performance that blended patience, tenacity, skill, organisation and a heavy dose of character the Blues will take a slender but precious lead to the Etihad in three weeks' time.
Martinez still seeking the right balance after lively Spurs draw
Lyndon Lloyd
02/01/2016Everton stopped the rot after successive home defeats to Leicester and Stoke but they still couldn't hold onto a winning position.
Hughes punishes Martinez's naïvety as Stoke win wild Goodison contest
Lyndon Lloyd
28/12/2015The manager's suspect game-management and the continuing softness of his back line contributed to another three points being swept away in a torrent of goals.
Cleverley late show staves off another draw
Lyndon Lloyd
28/12/2015If the Bournemouth draw bore the hallmarks of the kind of result that Martinez might have referred back to at the end of the season as a psychological blow from which his players never recovered, the manner in which his charges won this game will hopefully feel like redemption and a new lease on life in terms of morale.
Lukaku scores again but Leicester's double-act comes out on top
Lyndon Lloyd
19/12/2015It was billed as a battle between two of the Premier Leagues most dangerous attacking partnerships but the Jamie Vardy-Riyah Mahrez double-act came out on top, as did Leicester who deepened the demoralisation in the blue half of Merseyside by plundering all three points.
The Supplier
Lyndon Lloyd
16/12/2015His name in Catalan translates to "God made him" and you'd be hard-pressed to find an Evertonian who disagrees. Gerard Deulofeu is creating magic this season in his adopted home and is transforming Everton's prospects.
Everton's search for the winning formula goes on
Lyndon Lloyd
13/12/2015The Blues' window of opportunity in an unpredictable Premier League season narrowed further with two more points frittered away from a winning position.
Everton find no substitute for Lady Luck
Lyndon Lloyd
08/12/2015Sixth place and a berth just two points behind the top five beckoned if the Blues could fashion a win. Instead, frowned upon by Lady Luck up front, they found themselves forced to chase a game again after falling behind.
Martinez's alchemy produces another golden display
Lyndon Lloyd
22/11/2015The Goodison faithful were left toasting another sumptuous exhibition of attacking football and three important points to kick off what the manager has identified as a dozen crucial games in Everton's season.
Everton settle for a point at Upton Park
Lyndon Lloyd
07/11/2015The Blues struggled to find at extra gear to lift themselves above West Ham once the Hammers had lost their chief inspiration in Dimitri Payet,
Kone bags a treble as Everton's attack catches fire
Lyndon Lloyd
01/11/2015Orchestrated magnificently in midfield by Gareth Barry on any other day he would have been a shoo-in for player of the match aided by the greater license to get afforded to McCarthy and then executed by a forward line of Deulofeu, Kone and Lukaku that was simply irresistable at times, it was an attacking exhibition to savour.
Blues progress by the skin of their teeth
Lyndon Lloyd
28/10/2015As with any cup game, the important thing is to get through, sometimes by whatever means are necessary. On this occasion, that meant relying on a goalkeeper seizing his chance to shine and finding enough impetus from the substitutes to find a route back into the match.
Arsenal exploit Everton's biggest weakness
Lyndon Lloyd
24/10/2015A result that carried a depressing air of inevitability about it as Everton were punished for slack defending, indecisive goalkeeping and a continuing inability to put together two halves of decent football in the same game.
Goodison's Greatest Gaffer
Lyndon Lloyd
23/10/2015He may have left us but the legacy of Howard Kendall's transcendent and unmatched achievements at Everton Football Club as a player and manager will forever endure.
United expose gulf in quality and resources
Lyndon Lloyd
17/10/2015Evertonian eyes will naturally focus on what this result means in terms of a reality check on the Blues' resurgence but the level of performance put in by Louis Van Gaal's men went a long way to influencing Everton's own dismal showing.
Miral-less: A Missing Piece in Everton's Resurgence
Lyndon Lloyd
17/10/2015Kevin Mirallas's best year at Everton thus far coincided with Martinez's first season. 2015-16 is already bearing similarities but to date the Belgian has played a mere bit-part. Can he re-find his form?
Everton share the spoils but rue the chance to put the Reds to the sword
Lyndon Lloyd
04/10/2015Another derby, another draw; honours even and bragging rights postponed for another day.
Lukaku Delivers as Everton Complete Thrilling Comeback
Lyndon Lloyd
28/09/2015Everton complete a memorable recovery at The Hawthorns, fighting back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 and move up to fifth in the table after seven games.
Barkley Sparkles But Lukaku's Killer Instinct Deserts Him
Lyndon Lloyd
20/09/2015An almost perfect away performance by the Blues was let down by Romelu Lukaku's lack of conviction in front of goal
Mourinho Punished at the School of Science
Lyndon Lloyd
12/09/2015Steven Naismith's hat-trick capped an excellent home performance against the reigning Premier League Champions
Coming Up Short
Lyndon Lloyd
06/09/2015Everton's summer transfer window promised much but even though the club spent over £18m, in the absence of either Roberto Martinez's much-vaunted "No.10" or a marquee creative signing to transform attacking midfield it doesn't feel as though the squad has enough to support a top-four challenge.
Fortune and Frustration in Equal Measure
Lyndon Lloyd
30/08/2015With a bit more adventure, more cohesion in the final third and that elusive play-maker already embedded in the side, Everton might be sitting in a more favourable position heading into the first international break of the 2015-16 season.
Martinez Acts Decisively to Turn the Tables on Barnsley
Lyndon Lloyd
27/08/2015Decisive half-time changes eventually turned this Capital One Cup second round tie in Everton's favour as Gerard Deulofeu and Ross Barkley provided the catalyst.
Everton Lack Extra Dimension Against Pellegrini's Machine
Lyndon Lloyd
24/08/2015City were superior but also fortunate and the margins on the day in front of of the respective goals were slim. Sometimes fortune favours the brave but Martinez played it frustratingly safe.
Everton Out-Gun Shellshocked Saints
Lyndon Lloyd
15/08/2015What a difference a week makes. Few Evertonians would have expected what unfolded on the south coast today but the travelling Blues were treated to an excellent display a handsome 3-0 win over highly-fancied Southampton.
Familiarity Breeding Discontent at Goodison
Lyndon Lloyd
08/08/2015One game doesn't make a season but this one certainly perpetuated a trend firmly established last season, one which clearly illustrated the priorities for the summer. Fail to find those missing pieces and, on the evidence of today, you feel that Everton are doomed to another season of mediocrity.
Faith, Hope and Disparity
Lyndon Lloyd
06/08/2015Previewing Everton's 2015-16 Premier League campaign, one that promises to be a challenging but defining one for Roberto Martinez on whom the jury remains out after two contrasting seasons.
Everton Must Stand Firm Over Precious Stones
Lyndon Lloyd
17/07/2015Chelsea have played their first card in what will probably a summer-long game over John Stones but if Everton harbour any ambitions of challenging for the top four again, then the club simply has to hold onto him unless Roman Abramovich offers silly money.
Fan Articles and Talking Points posts are authored by outside contributors. Their views may not represent those of the site owners and their publication does not constitute an endorsement of the views held therein.
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