Talking Points

I am working on a site which takes Everton through the years from the first FA Youth Cup competition back in 1952-53. I am still adding details including match reports, teamsheets etc.

The main site is https://evertonfayouthcuphistory.webador.co....
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I remember as a kid running onto the pitch after Everton had clinched the title against West Brom. What a feeling! It was a dream. I couldn’t believe it. My feet were standing on the turf of Goodison Park. For those few moments under the brigh...
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I thought I’d done with this after last year's lockdown marathon, a 9-month therapy session basically. This will be my last go, I promise.

The new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock changes a lot of things, resets a lot of dynamics, gives hope, rest...
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A wonderful post from Dave Abrahams on the FA Cup Quarterfinal game thread, along with the news of the sad death of Frank Worthington, has got me thinking about coaching.

Dave reminisced about street football and used a phrase that I had never ...
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Definition: “great energy, strength, concentration, vehemence, etc., as of activity, thought, or feeling”

It's a term that we hear more and more of each season. All managers now are praising or complaining about “intensity”. Why is it s...
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There is a lot of goodwill towards Carlo Ancelloti from Evertonians and beyond. His record is superb, his demeanour impeccable, and his standing in the game beyond reproach. It has been argued on this site that he has taken over esablished teams, fin...
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How high in the league will Everton finish? We are unlikely to finish in the top three but finishing in the top six is within our means. Set out below are the remaining fixtures for the teams currently in positions four to ten.

So although ...
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This is a follow up to a previous Talking Point: “How good are we really?”

I often read that Everton are progressing this season. I am not convinced that we are actually progressing b...
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“The table never lies” – so goes the old expression and, generally, I don’t believe that it does. Over a whole season, the "luck”, poor refereeing decisions, and injuries tend to even out. Except that this season, I’m not totally convince...
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“The King then demanded to open the gate that the righteous nation, said he, which keepeth the truth, may enter in”
(The Pilgrim's Progress – John Bunyan)

In the classic novel The Pilgrim's Progress by John Buny...
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Championship player at best, can’t pass, can’t tackle, gives the ball away too much, not big enough, too slow etc. Tom Davies has had a lot of criticism levelled at him in the last few years. Could he now be the missing piece we have been searchi...
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Even renowned world-class football managers can sometimes get it wrong. That's how I felt after watching the dismal Everton performance against 'one win in 11 games' Newcastle Utd.

The players were rightly condemned, but I felt the manager's f...
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I suppose I should make it clear that, in these tough times, football is not that important, but... the games go on and someone thinks it is.

So, how important is it? To me, very. Which brings me to our team and their performance yesterday. The...
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Firstly let me establish my good fortune of having witnessed two great successful Everton teams full of leaders: Labone, Ball, Harvey & Kendall; then Reid, Gray, Southall & Ratcliffe.

All of the above hated losing, I mean these guys took it pe...
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Let's forget Carlo Ancelotti, the latest fall guy being blamed for the failings of the club, and instead let's focus on two others: David Unsworth and Marcel Brands.

David Unsworth took over the Under-23s in June 2014. Six years on, we haven'...
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I was interested in the appearance record for this late great goalkeeper and recall seeing him in his final days at Wolves. My father took me to Wolves to see my first ever game, and I’m pretty sure that it was a reserve team, Central League game a...
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After last night’s round of games, we sit 6th with two games in hand over Man Utd and Leicester City and a game in hand over Man City and Liverpool. Is having two games in hand a good thing or would we have been better off with the points?

I w...
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I have just read that Marcel Brands is suggesting that the club should start recruiting more ex-players into coaching positions. Various names have been mentioned including Neville Southall, Paul Gasgoine, Phil Jagielka and others.

Not long ag...
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It's a grey Sunday morning here in New Brighton... there is a magpie on the roof opposite, just sitting and looking out towards The City and The River, all grey, no lights but a pale blue on the side of one of the larger building near the waterfront...
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I enjoy and admire the articles posted by Paul "the Esk"... but I find them a bit scary; we rely on Mr Moshiri and he needs Champions League football. Can Carlo deliver it? Perhaps, with a huge amount of luck. Luck beyond anything we have ever ha...
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