Frank Lampard - he's not a waiter !

Frank Lampard feels James Tarkowski is a natural leader that will be a big player for Everton and says the club are working hard to bring in more signings.

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:Frank Lampard feels James Tarkowski is a natural leader that will be a big player for Everton and says the club are working hard to bring in more signings.

https://www.goodisonnews.com/2022/07/19/everton-boss-frank-lampard-not-anticipating-major-squad-changes-this-summer/

SEFTON wrote:

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:Frank Lampard feels James Tarkowski is a natural leader that will be a big player for Everton and says the club are working hard to bring in more signings.

https://www.goodisonnews.com/2022/07/19/everton-boss-frank-lampard-not-anticipating-major-squad-changes-this-summer/

Remember Farhad Moshiri's comments after he finally came out to say the club wasn't for sale then said'' Judge us at the end of the transfer window not before'' In his email message to members. while it was Delaying tactics written specially by are NOT Involved Chairmen, Billy Liar Kenshite.
the £60 million we all thought was part transfer kitty was in fact the balance to stop Everton getting into trouble with FFP .
we don't have a pot to piss in and we are not prepared for the coming season relegation looms as we go into a new season weaker than last season.

https://www.bt.com/sport/watch/video/clips/2022/september/between-the-lines-with-frank-lampard

Good watch this. Despite being initially quite sceptical, Lampard is growing on me.

So it's World Cup time and we are one point & one place above relagation.

If, and I truly do now think that it is now IF .. Frank is still the manager by the time we play our next game it is home to the bottom club Wolves on Boxing Day.

Only a win will keep him in his job with away to Manchester City to immediately follow on New Year's eve.

I've been behind Frank but this is not good enough... let's just take a minute to look at our spine players...

In Goal - we are supposed to have the England no1 in goal

Defence - last season our defence was terrible & injury prone to say the least... this season we have Tarky & Coady who honestly are terrific

Midfield - we have signed Gana & Onana who are / should both be quality..

Wingers - woeful... just woeful - we turned down near on 80M for Gordon & he's playing like he's worth 80p.. Wobes I love for his effort but is not the answer, Townsend will probably never play again for us, Gray looks confidence destroyed.. Mc Neil really is a joke of a player, Burnley fans were rightly pissing themselves when we signed him

Up front - DCL is made of paper, we knew that mid last season, we have signed Maupay who is no better than Rondon & lost Richie.... and let Simms go on loan who was on fire... and ignored Cannon who has been scoring freely for the stiffs, came on yesterday & looked very promising. Why, why, why have we bought in shit, and I do mean shit, like McNeil, Vinegre, Dele Ali and quite possible Garner when we could have bought in a proper striker to at least try and replace Richie somewhat

I'm not having all this FFP shit.. Ok it definitely hasn't helped, but there were lots of stopgap opportunities up front, on loan if necessary ... Brereton Diaz would have come for probably less wages than we are paying some of the mugs we shouldn't have bought... or should definitely have shipped out.

Frank is on his dogs-chance now ... in fact he may have had it already.


I wouldn't be surprised at all to hear he has left in the next 7 days or so.

I think he is a long way from getting the chop; we're hopefully done with the revolving door of managers thing. But we're clearly in trouble.

The recruitment has generally been good - Tarko and Coady of course; the central midfielders as well. But £20m on McNeil I just don't get. He's skilful, but 0 goals and 1 assist last season tells a story. We signed him ahead of Cornet who has 5 assists in 9 games for West Ham (all in Europe mind you, so the opposition might have been crap). And Maupay was never going to get 15+ goals a season. Like you say M4G, Diaz would have been worth a shot and would have cost less than McNeil and Maupay combined. Perhaps the thinking was that McNeil would supply the ammo for our forwards, but the stats show he doesn't do that. Money wasted.

I wonder how much we have left in the kitty having blown £34m on Maupay and McNeil?

Maupay and McNeil indicate exactly what’s wrong with the club. We seem incapable of signing anyone decent up front. Other teams pick up exciting young players, we buy rejects and mediocrities.

As for the midfield, it was awful yesterday. I’ll give Iwobi a free pass cos he works his bollocks off, has talent, and doesn’t take that talent for granted. But Gana has been a poor signing, despite looking great at first, and I can’t help thinking that when Coady talks about players not showing up enough in training or on the pitch, he’s thinking of Onana. The lad had loads going for him but he loves himself too much. He needs to get humble and realise he’s done fuck all so far.

Lampard should be fixing this. He should have that midfield bossing games.

Meanwhile, Patterson looks a real prospect but, naturally, has loads of mistakes in him cos he’s only about 10 years old.

I thought we’d kick on a wee bit this season, but we’ve bought badly and our coaching staff - including Lampard - have been a massive disappointment. We actually look worse than under Rafa, despite having a much better centra defence (the only area we seem to have bought well in).

Doomed unless we get very lucky or sign a couple of decent players in January. With DCL out, I’d be playing Cannon up front for sure - can’t be worse than Maupay. I’d also give Garner or Mills or both a chance. Lampard needs to show some balls or fuck off.

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:So it's World Cup time and we are one point & one place above relagation.

If, and I truly do now think that it is now IF .. Frank is still the manager by the time we play our next game it is home to the bottom club Wolves on Boxing Day.

Only a win will keep him in his job with away to Manchester City to immediately follow on New Year's eve.

I've been behind Frank but this is not good enough... let's just take a minute to look at our spine players...

In Goal - we are supposed to have the England no1 in goal

Defence - last season our defence was terrible & injury prone to say the least... this season we have Tarky & Coady who honestly are terrific

Midfield - we have signed Gana & Onana who are / should both be quality..

Wingers - woeful... just woeful - we turned down near on 80M for Gordon & he's playing like he's worth 80p.. Wobes I love for his effort but is not the answer, Townsend will probably never play again for us, Gray looks confidence destroyed.. Mc Neil really is a joke of a player, Burnley fans were rightly pissing themselves when we signed him

Up front - DCL is made of paper, we knew that mid last season, we have signed Maupay who is no better than Rondon & lost Richie.... and let Simms go on loan who was on fire... and ignored Cannon who has been scoring freely for the stiffs, came on yesterday & looked very promising. Why, why, why have we bought in shit, and I do mean shit, like McNeil, Vinegre, Dele Ali and quite possible Garner when we could have bought in a proper striker to at least try and replace Richie somewhat

I'm not having all this FFP shit.. Ok it definitely hasn't helped, but there were lots of stopgap opportunities up front, on loan if necessary ... Brereton Diaz would have come for probably less wages than we are paying some of the mugs we shouldn't have bought... or should definitely have shipped out.

Frank is on his dogs-chance now ... in fact he may have had it already.


I wouldn't be surprised at all to hear he has left in the next 7 days or so.

i'll be disappointed if he hasn't

For what it's worth, I don't want Lamps to be binned, not now and probably not at any point during the season. Not because I have any particular faith in his managerial ability, but because I am sick and tired of us sacking managers off and don't have any particular faith in the board to find a suitable long-term replacement.

Are we just going to be on this never-ending merry-go-round of looking for someone halfway through every season just to get that new manager bounce and keep us in the division by the skin of our teeth? Lampard makes plenty of mistakes, but I still think the situation we're in at the moment is more down to what he inherited than what he's done in the role himself.

We have fuck-all in attack. Our only PL-quality striker is broken and our wingers are, to put it charitably, underwhelming. With hindsight, our summer transfer dealings were more of a mixed bag than we thought at the time (and also could almost be recorded as "autumn transfer dealings" such was the lateness of some of that business, which also wouldn't have done Lampard any favours) but even if we'd have nailed every signing in the summer, it was going to take more than one window to sort things out anyway.

In recent weeks we've talked optimistically about Thelwell, and about having a DoF and a manager who appear to be on the same page for the first time in years, even if they don't get every signing right. I think it's reasonable to temper that optimism after three shite performances in a row, but not necessarily to abandon it. I don't know what funds are available but irrespective of that, I personally hope that the board holds its nerve and doesn't bin off yet another manager unless they've got a genuine long-term option lined up who they believe in. Enough of this "now what?" crap when a manager leaves.

If we can't bring in reinforcements in January then, short of a miracle turnaround, we're fucked. So that's where we (or more importantly, the board) have to decide whether Lampard is someone they believe in to bring us straight back up if we go down, or whether he was just the least worst option when Rafa went, just another stop-gap appointment. If they truly believe in Lampard then they shouldn't sack him even if we go down, IMO, because the mess we're in cannot all be laid at Lampard's door. And if nothing else, he already has previous for dragging us out of the shit when we all felt we were doomed.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - we're a mini-United. We've lived for the moment for the last 7 or 8 years with no obvious long-term plan in place, just like United. And United demonstrate better than anyone how spending money itself is no guarantee of progress (although we have also learned that the hard way in recent years, of course.) The likes of Brighton and Leicester show what a club can do with a proper plan. Looking abroad, clubs like Napoli and Atalanta show what can be done when you find the right manager and place your faith in him. I'm tired of all this short-termism, it gets us nowhere.

I don't know what the exact financial impact of relegation would be, but it clearly wouldn't be nice. Much would depend on getting us straight back up. So the question is, if not Lampard, who? Where is the guarantee that a replacement manager would get us straight back up, or would even keep us up this season? I personally think some kind of stability and continuity is more important than anything at the moment. So I'm prepared to take the risk and stick with Lampard. He has done what I thought was realistically our best hope back in August, which is to have kept us bobbing along without getting detached at the bottom. Now we need some signings, otherwise we're royally buggered whoever the manager is.

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:For what it's worth, I don't want Lamps to be binned, not now and probably not at any point during the season. Not because I have any particular faith in his managerial ability, but because I am sick and tired of us sacking managers off and don't have any particular faith in the board to find a suitable long-term replacement.

Are we just going to be on this never-ending merry-go-round of looking for someone halfway through every season just to get that new manager bounce and keep us in the division by the skin of our teeth? Lampard makes plenty of mistakes, but I still think the situation we're in at the moment is more down to what he inherited than what he's done in the role himself.

We have fuck-all in attack. Our only PL-quality striker is broken and our wingers are, to put it charitably, underwhelming. With hindsight, our summer transfer dealings were more of a mixed bag than we thought at the time (and also could almost be recorded as "autumn transfer dealings" such was the lateness of some of that business, which also wouldn't have done Lampard any favours) but even if we'd have nailed every signing in the summer, it was going to take more than one window to sort things out anyway.

In recent weeks we've talked optimistically about Thelwell, and about having a DoF and a manager who appear to be on the same page for the first time in years, even if they don't get every signing right. I think it's reasonable to temper that optimism after three shite performances in a row, but not necessarily to abandon it. I don't know what funds are available but irrespective of that, I personally hope that the board holds its nerve and doesn't bin off yet another manager unless they've got a genuine long-term option lined up who they believe in. Enough of this "now what?" crap when a manager leaves.

If we can't bring in reinforcements in January then, short of a miracle turnaround, we're fucked. So that's where we (or more importantly, the board) have to decide whether Lampard is someone they believe in to bring us straight back up if we go down, or whether he was just the least worst option when Rafa went, just another stop-gap appointment. If they truly believe in Lampard then they shouldn't sack him even if we go down, IMO, because the mess we're in cannot all be laid at Lampard's door. And if nothing else, he already has previous for dragging us out of the shit when we all felt we were doomed.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - we're a mini-United. We've lived for the moment for the last 7 or 8 years with no obvious long-term plan in place, just like United. And United demonstrate better than anyone how spending money itself is no guarantee of progress (although we have also learned that the hard way in recent years, of course.) The likes of Brighton and Leicester show what a club can do with a proper plan. Looking abroad, clubs like Napoli and Atalanta show what can be done when you find the right manager and place your faith in him. I'm tired of all this short-termism, it gets us nowhere.

I don't know what the exact financial impact of relegation would be, but it clearly wouldn't be nice. Much would depend on getting us straight back up. So the question is, if not Lampard, who? Where is the guarantee that a replacement manager would get us straight back up, or would even keep us up this season? I personally think some kind of stability and continuity is more important than anything at the moment. So I'm prepared to take the risk and stick with Lampard. He has done what I thought was realistically our best hope back in August, which is to have kept us bobbing along without getting detached at the bottom. Now we need some signings, otherwise we're royally buggered whoever the manager is.

I don't disagree with this, but we spent £35m on Maupay and McNeil. That's not just a sackable offence in itself, it's a hanging offence. Someone has to take responsibility for that. They could have given every season ticket holder 250 free fucking pies for that. To be honest, I'd rather watch Tom Cannon and Stanley Mills in action, and have a belly full of pies. No, I'd rather watch Tommy Cannon and Bobby fucking Ball than Maupay and McNeil.

Another 250 free pies each in exchange for Onana, who spends most of his time waving at the fans or writhing on the floor with his hand in the air. Play Tom Davies instead, and that's a total of 500 free pies per season ticket holder, and we'd probably be no worse off as a team.

So, that's my solution. Stop buying such fucking shit players, and give us all some pies.

hairy cataract wrote:
I don't disagree with this, but we spent £35m on Maupay and McNeil.   That's not just a sackable offence in itself, it's a hanging offence.  Someone has to take responsibility for that.  They could have given every season ticket holder 250 free fucking pies for that.  To be honest, I'd rather watch Tom Cannon and Stanley Mills in action, and have a belly full of pies.  No, I'd rather watch Tommy Cannon and Bobby fucking Ball than Maupay and McNeil.

Another 250 free pies each in exchange for Onana, who spends most of his time waving at the fans or writhing on the floor with his hand in the air.  Play Tom Davies instead, and that's a total of 500 free pies per season ticket holder, and we'd probably be no worse off as a team.

So, that's my solution.  Stop buying such fucking shit players, and give us all some pies.  

Sounds like you do disagree!  I like pies though, and would be all in favour of pies being used as a general unit of compensation in all walks of life.

I certainly agree about Mills and Cannon. If the grand total of 11 goals in 15 games isn't enough to give our better young attacking players a proper go, what would be enough? This is part of my point though - I have no particular faith in Lampard. Neither do I think he's total shite. I still don't know - he's been here less than a year and has been firefighting for much of that time.

I'm not that interested in defending Lampard, even while I'm pointing out some mitigating factors to be considered. My point is, fucking managers off every 12 months and pulling another name out of the hat isn't really getting us anywhere. All struggling clubs are taking a risk either way whether they stick or twist. We may as well take the risk of sticking with someone for a while. Unless they have something lined up like when Southampton outrageously sacked the manager who got them promoted, only to replace him with Pocchettino. I'm not sure we've got the wherewithal to pull off a similar stunt.

Richarlison back on loan in January, anyone?

Tonteau wrote:Richarlison back on loan in January, anyone?

I can't really see that happening though, can you? He could either stay at Spurs, compete in the knockout stages of the Champions League, fight for a top four position, maybe reach a domestic cup final, and hang out with the other 60,000 Brazilians who live in London, or come back to Everton, take part in a stressful and miserable relegation battle, get knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round to Marine, and hang out with Tom Davies in Bootle.

I really don't think there are enough pies in the world to tempt Richie back here after he gets his World Cup winners medal in Qatar.

I also like pies... so does Rondon.

I've read all the drivel & Frank is still on his last chance as far as I'm concerned.

plus I have a stash of pies in the freezer

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:I also like pies... so does Rondon.

I've read all the drivel & Frank is still on his last chance as far as I'm concerned.

plus I have a stash of pies in the freezer

Can I just mention that I'm the only person in my family who likes pies? Where did I go wrong? I mean, what sort of a person doesn't like a savoury pastry product? The only time I have a pie for dinner is when both daughters and the missus are out. Then it's pie, chips and peas in front of the telly in my trackie.

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:I also like pies... so does Rondon.

I've read all the drivel & Frank is still on his last chance as far as I'm concerned.

plus I have a stash of pies in the freezer

You're right. We need Sean Dyche. The thinking man's Allardyce.

After that, in six-monthly installments, we can try a mad German, a former Everton player who "gets the club", a soft-spoken, cerebral Dutchman who wears sensible sweaters, a lower-league wannabe in his early 30's who got lucky in one season with Port Vale and who benefitted from being profiled on Radio 5 as a new breed of manager with revolutionary ideas, Seamus as player-manager, a passionate Italian with an impenetrable accent we can all mock, and Sven Goran Eriksson.

Six months should be long enough, I'd have thought, for one of them to lead us to the promised land of perpetual mid-table in the PL. It's like gambling, innit? Keep on punting and eventually we'll win big, without any risk of ruin along the way. After all, even if for some weird reason that long-term plan of perpetual short-termist decision-making doesn't work out, as long as they somehow keep us in the Greatest League in the World (TM) then everything is fine.

I think I'm back to where I was in March - we all fear the embarrassment of relegation but don't fully-appreciate the indignity of merely aspiring to PL mediocrity, which is all we can realistically aim for. So fuck it, bring it on, it'll be something different. I'd rather Lampard takes us down though, just so that I can get an answer to the question of whether actually sticking with a manager for longer than 10 minutes might actually work.

hairy cataract wrote:

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:I also like pies... so does Rondon.

I've read all the drivel & Frank is still on his last chance as far as I'm concerned.

plus I have a stash of pies in the freezer

Can I just mention that I'm the only person in my family who likes pies?  Where did I go wrong?  I mean, what sort of a person doesn't like a savoury pastry product? The only time I have a pie for dinner is when both daughters and the missus are out.  Then it's pie, chips and peas in front of the telly in my trackie.  

Although I love my pies, I prefer steak and kidney puddings. I remember once bringing home a Fray Bentos steak and kidney pud from a solo shopping trip and my missus basically hyperventilated when she saw it, and then sat me down for the sort of "good chat" that would usually be reserved for if she got home from work early to find me parading around in her bra and knickers.

"So, I've seen where you grew up and I've heard your language when Everton are playing, but were you actually going to get round to telling me that you're this working-class? Don't ever tell my mum that you actually eat these."

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:

hairy cataract wrote:

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:I also like pies... so does Rondon.

I've read all the drivel & Frank is still on his last chance as far as I'm concerned.

plus I have a stash of pies in the freezer

Can I just mention that I'm the only person in my family who likes pies?  Where did I go wrong?  I mean, what sort of a person doesn't like a savoury pastry product? The only time I have a pie for dinner is when both daughters and the missus are out.  Then it's pie, chips and peas in front of the telly in my trackie.  

Although I love my pies, I prefer steak and kidney puddings. I remember once bringing home a Fray Bentos steak and kidney pud from a solo shopping trip and my missus basically hyperventilated when she saw it, and then sat me down for the sort of "good chat" that would usually be reserved for if she got home from work early to find me parading around in her bra and knickers.

"So, I've seen where you grew up and I've heard your language when Everton are playing, but were you actually going to get round to telling me that you're this working-class? Don't ever tell my mum that you actually eat these."

I've probably had more conversations about pies in the last 3 years than any other subject. In fact I pretty much had to end a friendship with someone because they refused to concede that a pie must be fully encrusted in pastry, i.e. 1. it must have a lid, and 2. it can't just be filling shoved in a ramekin with a lid.

Goodison_Gringo wrote:

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:

hairy cataract wrote:

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:I also like pies... so does Rondon.

I've read all the drivel & Frank is still on his last chance as far as I'm concerned.

plus I have a stash of pies in the freezer

Can I just mention that I'm the only person in my family who likes pies?  Where did I go wrong?  I mean, what sort of a person doesn't like a savoury pastry product? The only time I have a pie for dinner is when both daughters and the missus are out.  Then it's pie, chips and peas in front of the telly in my trackie.  

Although I love my pies, I prefer steak and kidney puddings. I remember once bringing home a Fray Bentos steak and kidney pud from a solo shopping trip and my missus basically hyperventilated when she saw it, and then sat me down for the sort of "good chat" that would usually be reserved for if she got home from work early to find me parading around in her bra and knickers.

"So, I've seen where you grew up and I've heard your language when Everton are playing, but were you actually going to get round to telling me that you're this working-class? Don't ever tell my mum that you actually eat these."

I've probably had more conversations about pies in the last 3 years than any other subject. In fact I pretty much had to end a friendship with someone because they refused to concede that a pie must be fully encrusted in pastry, i.e. 1. it must have a lid, and 2. it can't just be filling shoved in a ramekin with a lid.

Agreed, but for me it also has to be shortcrust pastry, not puff pastry.

And Rotts - your wife is right, steak and kidney pudding really is awfully working class.

hairy cataract wrote:

Goodison_Gringo wrote:

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:

hairy cataract wrote:

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:I also like pies... so does Rondon.

I've read all the drivel & Frank is still on his last chance as far as I'm concerned.

plus I have a stash of pies in the freezer

Can I just mention that I'm the only person in my family who likes pies?  Where did I go wrong?  I mean, what sort of a person doesn't like a savoury pastry product? The only time I have a pie for dinner is when both daughters and the missus are out.  Then it's pie, chips and peas in front of the telly in my trackie.  

Although I love my pies, I prefer steak and kidney puddings. I remember once bringing home a Fray Bentos steak and kidney pud from a solo shopping trip and my missus basically hyperventilated when she saw it, and then sat me down for the sort of "good chat" that would usually be reserved for if she got home from work early to find me parading around in her bra and knickers.

"So, I've seen where you grew up and I've heard your language when Everton are playing, but were you actually going to get round to telling me that you're this working-class? Don't ever tell my mum that you actually eat these."

I've probably had more conversations about pies in the last 3 years than any other subject. In fact I pretty much had to end a friendship with someone because they refused to concede that a pie must be fully encrusted in pastry, i.e. 1. it must have a lid, and 2. it can't just be filling shoved in a ramekin with a lid.

Agreed, but for me it also has to be shortcrust pastry, not puff pastry.

And Rotts - your wife is right, steak and kidney pudding really is awfully working class.

Just evidence that I'm still in touch with my roots, Muswell Hill boy (or whichever part of wank gentrified London it is that you vote Tory in these days.)

I'm from Kirkby. Remember that your Bunnymen mate dedicated most of a chapter in his book to his recurring nightmares about bumping into Kirkby skins in the 70s. Although I left Kirkby when I was four, I obviously still retain a certain level of Kirkby roughness. I'm not saying I'm hard but I bite pit bulls, me.

So, I've resolved to attend a Bunnymen gig ASAP and threaten to kick Will's head in backstage. Just for old times' sake. I might twat Mac as well given that he's a Kopite.

Incidentally, to further underscore my working class scumbag credentials, I have been known to eat a steak and kidney pud with a tin of Heinz macaroni cheese with a large dollop of West Indian hot pepper sauce, as a grown adult. At midnight, after a proper sesh, but I've still done it. And it was lovely. I'm never revealing that to my wife. In fairness I have refined myself a bit - I no longer eat hamburgers or meatballs out of tins, for instance.

I bet you don't even eat Scouse anymore, do you?

BTW I agree with Gringo about pretend pies that only have a pastry lid. Not acceptable, that.

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:

hairy cataract wrote:

Goodison_Gringo wrote:

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:

hairy cataract wrote:

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:I also like pies... so does Rondon.

I've read all the drivel & Frank is still on his last chance as far as I'm concerned.

plus I have a stash of pies in the freezer

Can I just mention that I'm the only person in my family who likes pies?  Where did I go wrong?  I mean, what sort of a person doesn't like a savoury pastry product? The only time I have a pie for dinner is when both daughters and the missus are out.  Then it's pie, chips and peas in front of the telly in my trackie.  

Although I love my pies, I prefer steak and kidney puddings. I remember once bringing home a Fray Bentos steak and kidney pud from a solo shopping trip and my missus basically hyperventilated when she saw it, and then sat me down for the sort of "good chat" that would usually be reserved for if she got home from work early to find me parading around in her bra and knickers.

"So, I've seen where you grew up and I've heard your language when Everton are playing, but were you actually going to get round to telling me that you're this working-class? Don't ever tell my mum that you actually eat these."

I've probably had more conversations about pies in the last 3 years than any other subject. In fact I pretty much had to end a friendship with someone because they refused to concede that a pie must be fully encrusted in pastry, i.e. 1. it must have a lid, and 2. it can't just be filling shoved in a ramekin with a lid.

Agreed, but for me it also has to be shortcrust pastry, not puff pastry.

And Rotts - your wife is right, steak and kidney pudding really is awfully working class.

Just evidence that I'm still in touch with my roots, Muswell Hill boy (or whichever part of wank gentrified London it is that you vote Tory in these days.)

I'm from Kirkby. Remember that your Bunnymen mate dedicated most of a chapter in his book to his recurring nightmares about bumping into Kirkby skins in the 70s. Although I left Kirkby when I was four, I obviously still retain a certain level of Kirkby roughness. I'm not saying I'm hard but I bite pit bulls, me.

So, I've resolved to attend a Bunnymen gig ASAP and threaten to kick Will's head in backstage. Just for old times' sake. I might twat Mac as well given that he's a Kopite.

Incidentally, to further underscore my working class scumbag credentials, I have been known to eat a steak and kidney pud with a tin of Heinz macaroni cheese with a large dollop of West Indian hot pepper sauce, as a grown adult. At midnight, after a proper sesh, but I've still done it. And it was lovely. I'm never revealing that to my wife. In fairness I have refined myself a bit - I no longer eat hamburgers or meatballs out of tins, for instance.

I bet you don't even eat Scouse anymore, do you?

BTW I agree with Gringo about pretend pies that only have a pastry lid. Not acceptable, that.

Apparently Sean Dyche likes pies.. Putin is the pudding type.

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:

hairy cataract wrote:

Goodison_Gringo wrote:

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:

hairy cataract wrote:

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:I also like pies... so does Rondon.

I've read all the drivel & Frank is still on his last chance as far as I'm concerned.

plus I have a stash of pies in the freezer

Can I just mention that I'm the only person in my family who likes pies?  Where did I go wrong?  I mean, what sort of a person doesn't like a savoury pastry product? The only time I have a pie for dinner is when both daughters and the missus are out.  Then it's pie, chips and peas in front of the telly in my trackie.  

Although I love my pies, I prefer steak and kidney puddings. I remember once bringing home a Fray Bentos steak and kidney pud from a solo shopping trip and my missus basically hyperventilated when she saw it, and then sat me down for the sort of "good chat" that would usually be reserved for if she got home from work early to find me parading around in her bra and knickers.

"So, I've seen where you grew up and I've heard your language when Everton are playing, but were you actually going to get round to telling me that you're this working-class? Don't ever tell my mum that you actually eat these."

I've probably had more conversations about pies in the last 3 years than any other subject. In fact I pretty much had to end a friendship with someone because they refused to concede that a pie must be fully encrusted in pastry, i.e. 1. it must have a lid, and 2. it can't just be filling shoved in a ramekin with a lid.

Agreed, but for me it also has to be shortcrust pastry, not puff pastry.

And Rotts - your wife is right, steak and kidney pudding really is awfully working class.

Just evidence that I'm still in touch with my roots, Muswell Hill boy (or whichever part of wank gentrified London it is that you vote Tory in these days.)

I'm from Kirkby. Remember that your Bunnymen mate dedicated most of a chapter in his book to his recurring nightmares about bumping into Kirkby skins in the 70s. Although I left Kirkby when I was four, I obviously still retain a certain level of Kirkby roughness. I'm not saying I'm hard but I bite pit bulls, me.

So, I've resolved to attend a Bunnymen gig ASAP and threaten to kick Will's head in backstage. Just for old times' sake. I might twat Mac as well given that he's a Kopite.

Incidentally, to further underscore my working class scumbag credentials, I have been known to eat a steak and kidney pud with a tin of Heinz macaroni cheese with a large dollop of West Indian hot pepper sauce, as a grown adult. At midnight, after a proper sesh, but I've still done it. And it was lovely. I'm never revealing that to my wife. In fairness I have refined myself a bit - I no longer eat hamburgers or meatballs out of tins, for instance.

I bet you don't even eat Scouse anymore, do you?

BTW I agree with Gringo about pretend pies that only have a pastry lid. Not acceptable, that.

Oi! I think you’ll find that Hornsey and Wood Green is one of the safest Labour seats in the country! Cheeky cunt. And I had Scouse last time I was in Liverpool but it was totally fake, more like a fucking beef stew.

I went to Kirkby once, it was full of ruffians. Will was right .

hairy cataract wrote:

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:

hairy cataract wrote:

Goodison_Gringo wrote:

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:

hairy cataract wrote:

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:I also like pies... so does Rondon.

I've read all the drivel & Frank is still on his last chance as far as I'm concerned.

plus I have a stash of pies in the freezer

Can I just mention that I'm the only person in my family who likes pies?  Where did I go wrong?  I mean, what sort of a person doesn't like a savoury pastry product? The only time I have a pie for dinner is when both daughters and the missus are out.  Then it's pie, chips and peas in front of the telly in my trackie.  

Although I love my pies, I prefer steak and kidney puddings. I remember once bringing home a Fray Bentos steak and kidney pud from a solo shopping trip and my missus basically hyperventilated when she saw it, and then sat me down for the sort of "good chat" that would usually be reserved for if she got home from work early to find me parading around in her bra and knickers.

"So, I've seen where you grew up and I've heard your language when Everton are playing, but were you actually going to get round to telling me that you're this working-class? Don't ever tell my mum that you actually eat these."

I've probably had more conversations about pies in the last 3 years than any other subject. In fact I pretty much had to end a friendship with someone because they refused to concede that a pie must be fully encrusted in pastry, i.e. 1. it must have a lid, and 2. it can't just be filling shoved in a ramekin with a lid.

Agreed, but for me it also has to be shortcrust pastry, not puff pastry.

And Rotts - your wife is right, steak and kidney pudding really is awfully working class.

Just evidence that I'm still in touch with my roots, Muswell Hill boy (or whichever part of wank gentrified London it is that you vote Tory in these days.)

I'm from Kirkby. Remember that your Bunnymen mate dedicated most of a chapter in his book to his recurring nightmares about bumping into Kirkby skins in the 70s. Although I left Kirkby when I was four, I obviously still retain a certain level of Kirkby roughness. I'm not saying I'm hard but I bite pit bulls, me.

So, I've resolved to attend a Bunnymen gig ASAP and threaten to kick Will's head in backstage. Just for old times' sake. I might twat Mac as well given that he's a Kopite.

Incidentally, to further underscore my working class scumbag credentials, I have been known to eat a steak and kidney pud with a tin of Heinz macaroni cheese with a large dollop of West Indian hot pepper sauce, as a grown adult. At midnight, after a proper sesh, but I've still done it. And it was lovely. I'm never revealing that to my wife. In fairness I have refined myself a bit - I no longer eat hamburgers or meatballs out of tins, for instance.

I bet you don't even eat Scouse anymore, do you?

BTW I agree with Gringo about pretend pies that only have a pastry lid. Not acceptable, that.

Oi! I think you’ll find that Hornsey and Wood Green is one of the safest Labour seats in the country! Cheeky cunt. And I had Scouse last time I was in Liverpool but it was totally fake, more like a fucking beef stew.

I went to Kirkby once, it was full of ruffians. Will was right .

Sacrilege I know, but I have never been a fan of Scouse. Too much veg in it for my liking.

I'm not quite sure what happened after the 3-0 win against Palace.
It has happened a few times before under numerous gaffers.
Something happens to both players and fans, like there is an instant lack of belief. It happens quickly and normally hard core players faulter.
What happens to the team when as a group, they show so little drive and technique? After the initial enthusiasm of say Onana, did they all suddenly realize that we're not that good after all.
Gordon has the inevitable second season syndrome, but the rest? Gana making fundamental errors which we're all too quick to ignore. Across the board there's constant errors that result in goals. Whoever is in the holding spot ay any one time, cannot lose the ball. Yet it happens.
What happens on the training field.
Has FL lost them already?

Yankthattoffee wrote:I'm not quite sure what happened after the 3-0 win against Palace.
It has happened a few times before under numerous gaffers.
Something happens to both players and fans, like there is an instant lack of belief. It happens quickly and normally hard core players faulter.
What happens to the team when as a group, they show so little drive and technique? After the initial enthusiasm of say Onana, did they all suddenly realize that we're not that good after all.
Gordon has the inevitable second season syndrome, but the rest? Gana making fundamental errors which we're all too quick to ignore. Across the board there's constant errors that result in goals. Whoever is in the holding spot ay any one time, cannot lose the ball. Yet it happens.
What happens on the training field.
Has FL lost them already?

I do wonder how much of this is down to coaching. We'll never know, as we're not at Finch Farm daily.

Sometimes my thoughts are along "lipstick on a pig" lines. I've coached kids at football and everyone has their own talent ceiling.

But I also think back to Swansea under Martinez, knocking the ball around for 30 or 40 passes at a time. Swansea!

As Gary Player famously said, "the more I practice, the luckier I get." Ronaldo is demonstrating once again what a cock he is right now, but at the same time he is legendary for the amount of work he puts in on the training field, in the gym etc. One of the best to ever play the game, constantly striving to improve. Beckham was the same.

This is, perhaps, my biggest concern about Lampard as a coach. It should be possible to take any group of highly-paid PL footballers and get them working space to be able to keep possession a lot easier than we seem to find it. Even if the end product is absent (as it so frequently was, funnily enough, when Bobby was our manager) this should really be a given, that a PL team should be able to retain possession reasonably comfortably.

Is it because he is so fixated on keeping it tight at the back, so obsessed with structure, that certain players don't feel able to move forward into a position to help us keep the ball? We do seem to run out of options very quickly when in possession (those going to watch the games at GP would have a better feel for this than those of us watching on telly.) Similar to when Southgate appeared to order his full backs to not cross the halfway line in the Euros game against Scotland so that he could 0-0 his way into the next round. The result was the same, we could barely keep hold of the ball for more than 4 or 5 passes and made the Jocks look like Holland 1974.

Of course, Gueye passing it directly to the oppo 15 times a game doesn't help. He is the fella who is supposed to be knitting it all together in that position he occupies.

I would suggest we go 4-4-2, be a bit more direct, and try to retain possession in the opposition third, rather than our third. Play the percentages a bit more, while we're in trouble. Then I remembered that we don't have two strikers worthy of the name. Tant pis.