26-27 Expectations

[Fynci]

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[Granite]

It’s the season ticket holders I feel sorry for.

My mate is paying £860 this season, up from £580 at Goodson.

Fast forward a couple of years and it’s gonna be a grand.

The club need to be careful here because if they don’t give the fans hope, they’ll simply stop going.

Maybe another relegation battle will rally the fans, cos fuck me, there’s a stench of apathy around the place I’ve not felt in years.

[Cereal Killer]

A valiant battle to edge out Hull, Coventry and Ipswich for 17th place

[MayorFarnham]

On the low side of what we can expect. Although, I can't see how anyone who takes notice of the way PL football has gone in the last 25 years or taken any notice how feeble the running of Everton has been for the last 40 can have any real expectations anyway.

[StirlingBlue]

Now that it looks like Johnston and Norgaard are signing I'd go for mid table rather than avoiding relegation - having a competent right back and a player able to sit in DM makes a big difference

[AjaxAndy]

Guardian has us down as a predicted 10th place finish, albeit average reader vote not their own opinion.

Match of the day magazine have us down as predicted 8th.

I think a lot depends on which right back we sign / if we sign one.

I think it's hard to argue that potentially we're stronger than last year even without Grealish, but only if we sign Munoz or similar quality.

Johnson brings much needed pace, Branthwaite might be back properly (let's hope this is the case), and the likes of Rohl, Dibling, George and Barry all look like they'll contribute far more this season.

Really for me everything depends on the right back situation, get that right and I see no reason we can't be challenging for Europe again, but this time with a bit more validity behind that position compared to last year.

There's also the fact we go in to this season more acquainted with the Hilly Dick and this should hopefully transfer in to better home performances.

Got to be honest and say I'm quietly optimistic (but it all rest on who and if we sign at RB).

[Kerryblueboy]

We are a week away from the season opener and still dealing in what ifs what if a decent right back comes in what if Jared stays fit what if he doesn’t it’s really disgraceful that we are this close and still not anywhere near where we should be are we going to start the season with Jake at rb again having had all summer to get it sorted hard to be optimistic with the unbalanced squad we have

[Free Agent]

At the end of July, I said middle of the mid.
I think we’re still mid, just towards the upper end of mid perhaps.

[NickNack]

Agreed on the RB issue, not sure there’s much the club can do about Branthwaite other than manage his recovery properly. If there isn’t a RB in before the first game I’d prefer Rohl there to JOB.

If there isn’t a RB signed before the end of the transfer window the whole recruitment team need booting out of the club, from Kinnear down

[Risky]

I'm feeling better than I did a couple of weeks ago, but still not really confident of any real excitement or feeling of progression.

It's an obvious point, but I think a lot will depend on whether the league stays really close like it did last year or whether we end up with a more spaced out table by January sort of time. If it's like last season then it will give us a chance of a top half finish, but if the kind of top 9-10 establish themselves and pull away this season then I don't think we'll be a part of that.

Definitely looking forward to the Palace match more than I was though. Not watched a minute of pre-season but sounds like it's mostly been positive and getting better as we've gone and suddenly looks like a winnable opening day.

[Gary1878]

My expectations are for an improvement, but I am unsure as to the magnitude of it at this stage.

Pre-season has been positive, with good performances individually and collectively.

Based on what I have seen so far and our squad (without a RB), my expectations are 10th with a half decent cup run somewhere.

If we sign a good RB like Munoz, keep key players injury free (Branthwaite, Illi, Garner) and the younger players push on (Barry, Dibling), then I expect us to push for Europe again and finish in the top half.

[Bluebridge]

7th.
I always used to expect that position, best of the rest, but believe it will be the case this season with the B teams all playing in Europe, who I think will struggle, add to that all the managerial changes too.
If we can secure a decent right back and a striker then I think we could even try for top 6.

[Bluedylan1]

Definitely think we can aim for a Top 10 finish. If it's anything like last season, it could be very tight again between 6th and 13th.

Also, I think it's going to be quite a fun season from a playing style perspective and from a development perspective. I think that's important. It shouldn't be all about results. Hopefully Evertonians can enjoy watching the team play and seeing a positive direction of travel.

The midfield is packed with ball players, so I don't think we have any other option than to play with the football this season. The only yard dogs left around the first team are Mykolenko, and to a lesser extent, Beto, Tarks and Keane. At times, we might lack a bit of physicality in the middle (although Norgaard and Garner should help with that), but I think we're going to see lots of nice combinations and attractive football.

I think there's a group of younger players who are all primed for a possible breakout season. Odds are they won't all do it obviously, but out of the group of George, Barry, Dibling, Hackney, Armstrong, Rohl if you can get a couple of them really having standout seasons and others kicking on a bit, you could have quite an attractive, more expensive squad by the end of the season.

Pressure also on the manager to give them a better platform than he did last season at times. Signs in pre-season have been positive, with Barry clearly well ahead of Beto now, the use of Rohl ahead of JOB at right back, and using Dibling and George a lot on the flanks.

He doesn't have many comfort blanket players left he can use.

[TheRam]

Norgaard will be the comfort blanket.

I’d say we need to get used to a three of norgaard, garner KDH with Hackney and Armstrong seeing their game time reduced as the season goes on.

Johnson will take a lot of Diblings minutes as well.

I want to be on board with the idea that we have a lot of exciting youngsters and it’s going to be enjoyable to watch them next season, but I don’t see why Moyes would change all of a sudden.

[sam of the south]

Norgaard will be the comfort blanket.

I’d say we need to get used to a three of norgaard, garner KDH with Hackney and Armstrong seeing their game time reduced as the season goes on.

Johnson will take a lot of Diblings minutes as well.

I want to be on board with the idea that we have a lot of exciting youngsters and it’s going to be enjoyable to watch them next season, but I don’t see why Moyes would change all of a sudden.

Yeah, and I also don’t think he’ll give us the dream of JOB and Branthwaite too often, even when they’re both fit.

And of course Mykolenko will probably only be out the team if injured or suspended.