At the start of the season, Everton FC's biggest assets were Stones, Barkley & Lukaku. Should we be concerned?I don't want to set alarm bells off, or be negative, but surely losing these 3 players is not what we expected, when Mr Moshiri took the wheel, and as much as we can look at the potential profits, it's not so simple to replace young quality.
Like Stones or not, Guardiola was willing to break the bank for him, and we inevitably replaced him with an ageing Ashley Williams, who many are still doubting.
Our football has changed from a possession style, to a long ball style, and as much as Gueye, Davies, and Schneiderlin have their attributes, they scored 4 goals between them last season.
Add that we also shipped out Gerard Deulofeu, and it becomes a subject for debate, doesn't it?
All around I hear fans brainwashed into thinking we are progressing, but let me point something out, that suggests we're not:
Everton had 2 bad seasons under Roberto Martinez, but prior to that, Everton were regularly finishing 5th, 6th, and 7th, and 8th was our worst finish since we finished 11th in the 2005-06 season.
If we actually compare Martinez and Koeman's first seasons in charge, Martinez actually fairs much better.
Martinez finished in 5th place
Martinez conceded 5 less goals
Koeman scored 1 more goal
Martinez finished 4 points higher with 65pts.
Koeman spent 3 times that of Martinez
Martinez reached an FA Cup 1/4 final
Martinez was 8 points closer to top 4 than Koeman
Yes, by the end of 3 years, we were tired of Martinez, but if we take Martinez completely out of the equation.......
Moyes finished 6th in his final season
Moyes also conceded 4 less goals than Koeman, and despite not having Lukaku, scored just 7 less.
Moyes scored 2 more points than Koeman.
Moyes was 6 points closer to top 4 than Koeman
I can go on, and talk about Moyes reaching top 4, Europa, Wembley final etc, but the point is that Everton's standard was not 11th place, and Everton were a team that were the 'best of the rest' for nigh on a decade.
I'm not seeking to discredit Koeman, but he's a very lucky boy, in that he has followed 2 very bad seasons, and his success has been measured against 11th, which is naive to say the least.
The style of football is long hopeful balls, with a defensive midfield, using very little width. Then there's the inability to play away from home, as good as our home form was.
Had his success been measured against 5th, or 6th, he may have been under pressure now, especially that our best assets have all headed towards the exit, which suggests that their wanting Champions league football, may just be a polite way of saying "we don't want to play for Koeman".
