Great Expectations 2021/22

Great Expectations 2021/22

Every year I get asked, ‘Where are Everton going to finish this season, then?’. Every year I say ‘The European places.’ Not because I’m excited about the coming season, but because we really ought to be aiming there. Otherwise, what’s the point?

This time last year, there was genuine optimism. We had a ‘world-class’ manager. We’d just bought James, Allan, Doucoure and some lad called Godfrey. We ended up 10th. We should have finished in the top six. I think we would have, if we’d had decent reinforcements on the bench. We under-achieved and were generally awful to watch. The ‘world-class’ manager looked at the end of his tether with the squad and lack of financial muscle.

Carlo got a better offer and went. James will probably follow him. Benitez has been installed as manager.

So why am I still optimistic, in a very qualified way?

First, let’s get the false gloom out of the way. A squad that finished 30 points ahead of relegation isn’t going to drop to the bottom three. It isn’t. As aimless as that squad often was last season, there was, and is, plenty to get mid-table with ease.

An under-achieving player has gone, two ‘solid’ players have come in. Nothing wrong with solid players. Our best teams have had plenty of them. In recent times, we have lacked players who will give you 7 or 8/10 performances consistently. Same with price tags. At worst, this summer we have bought two average players for £1.5m, instead of paying £25m a pop for them. That, for me, is progress. Unexciting, but progress nonetheless. And I’m predicting a bit of deadline day excitement, as all the clubs holding out for cheap sales/expensive buys from us find out who will blink first.

The big picture around Benitez’s appointment is Moshiri recognising that he can’t build a stadium and carry on with a manager per year shuffling the pack of previous managers’ disorganised purchases. Benitez is the unlovable, uninterested in getting love back, hard-nosed professional who will keep us ‘safe’ till we get to Bramley-Moore. If he’s doing well, he stays. If he isn’t, someone ‘better’ will be enticed by the stadium. That, I think, is the plan. Until the next one…

Will we be fun to watch? I’m not banking on it. Will we fly up the league? Not sure about that either.

Think back to Benitez’s days across the park, when he would often finish an indifferent season with a late rattle and the odd cup run? Mourinho always responded by saying, ‘Yes, he finished the season well, but I have to do well all season, or I’m sacked!’ I’m expecting a slow start, before we get some recognisable shape, a bit of confidence and better results. I’ll be curious to see which players start to down tools first and how he reacts – I don’t think he’ll be getting any better offers, which is one reason why Moshiri – a very reactive owner – went for him rather than the ‘up and coming’ non-British managers everybody seemed to want.

The only difference this year is that we’re not kidding ourselves about what we’re going to do. This might work for us, buying ‘dull’, ‘solid’ players that are actually interested in grafting and grinding out results. The kind of players more likely to give our better players space to shine, as long as we keep them! Much depends on what happens on deadline day, where I predict some interesting comings and goings.

If you gave me a tenner, I’d put it on us finishing 8th- 12th. Wouldn’t take much improvement to get us into Europe, The League isn’t as strong as some make out. Injuries aside, there’s a good team in that squad, waiting to be teased out.

highlandpaul