17 - Alex Iwobi - the pass before the assist

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:Fast becoming a fans favourite for his work ethic alone


"I feel like I'm part of the Evertonian family. I haven't got the scouse accent yet, which I'll never get. But yeah I feel like I'm one of them, one of Everton” - Alex Iwobi

Lazy fucker. If he wants a scouse accent he needs to work on it, rather than sitting around playing computer games all afternoon after training.

As with learning a language, he can at least start with a few simple words and phrases - scran, go'ed, soft lad, redandwhiteshite, "Frank had a cob on after the Villa game."

Does he even know who Cilla Black is? Has he never even heard "Treason"? This has left a question mark hanging over him in my book. Bad attitude.

Bullets that Everton dodged #13,674. How did this fella go from a virtual laughing stock to possibly my favourite player since Baines left? A great story, too cute for Hollywood etc etc. He's a very likeable bloke irrespective of his talent.

Also this is a lesson on coaching vs management, and how wealthy footballers are humans too, with a need to be loved and believed in. The waiter seemed to share with Koeman a tendency to write players off and tell them they were shite, rather than try to improve them and unearth their potential.

And, hands up, I thought Iwobi was shite and I was reasonably OK with the Rafa appointment at the time. Which is why I'm currently managing a materials database for a FTSE 250 company, rather than a professional football club. Although I'd have binned off Iwobi and signed Eze, so, swings and roundabouts.

Knight of Thorgothshire wrote:I don't you are along Rotts - loads of us, me include, had written off Iwobi. He wasn't good though, and there was really no real reason to believe that was going to change, but it has. It's really rather remarkable.

I was hesitant with the appointment with Rafa but after the first 4 games (3 wins and 1 draw I think) I was OK'ish with it and glad to be proven wrong. Unfortunately, I wasn't proven wrong for too long after that.

I think this is right, and thank you Thorg for making me feel better about my judgement. He was shite. Was there an Everton fan out there saying "give it 18 months and he'll come good"?

It's just a nice, and indeed remarkable, feel-good story.

As for Rafa, I just shudder when I think about him. I think I've flogged myself enough for that one. My back is raw, so i'll let it go now. Rafa made the Koeman and Allardyce eras seem palatable. In my lifetime only Mike Walker rivals him for "what the fuck?" vibes. It demonstrates two things - 1, how far we'd fallen at that time, that we (I) saw him of all people as our saviour, and 2, never to take seriously a single thing I ever say on this board. To paraphrase Socrates*, "all I know is I know nothing."

*the Greek philosopher, not the Brazilian footballer. It annoys me that I have to point this out every time I refer to Socrates (the Greek philosopher, not the Brazilian footballer.) And Aristotle was the better philosopher anyway. Why has no Brazilian footballer ever called himself Aristotle? And why is "philosopher" such a difficult word to type?

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:Alex Iwobi is expected to be out for around three weeks with the ankle ligament injury sustained against Manchester United on Friday.

The Everton midfielder was taken off on a stretcher early in the second half of the FA Cup tie at Old Trafford.

Scan results on Saturday confirmed a lateral ligament injury that will be managed conservatively by the Club’s medical team at Finch Farm.

https://www.evertonfc.com/news/3013350/iwobi-injury-update

That's some relief, sounds like a sprain then, rather than a rupture. I have to say I thought he'd be fucked for months given how much pain he appeared to be in.

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:Alex Iwobi is expected to be out for around three weeks with the ankle ligament injury sustained against Manchester United on Friday.

The Everton midfielder was taken off on a stretcher early in the second half of the FA Cup tie at Old Trafford.

Scan results on Saturday confirmed a lateral ligament injury that will be managed conservatively by the Club’s medical team at Finch Farm.

https://www.evertonfc.com/news/3013350/iwobi-injury-update

That's some relief, sounds like a sprain then, rather than a rupture. I have to say I thought he'd be fucked for months given how much pain he appeared to be in.

Also that would mean he only misses two games - both big games, admittedly - because the third week will be Cup 4th round weekend. So if all is well he'll be back for the Arsenal game in 4 weeks' time.

callmebubbles wrote:So are we going to block Doucoures transfer now? Otherwise its just Davies or McNeil who are both even shittier than the Duke?

Depends how desperate we are for the money I suppose.