The NSNO Everton Forums

Jimmywhack wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 10:59 am I'm still certain we sign Harrison
That's depressing

I wonder if longstaff could be like a Gibson for us

It's hardly exciting reading this

I'm certain if we do we'll have some on here convincing us its a good/fine signing.

AjaxAndy wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 10:25 am We relied on Garner and Gana for pretty much half a season and finished something like 6th over that period, so why do you think that suddenly changes?

Longstaff and Gana is far from my ideal midfield, but it's better than Gana / Garner and that worked fine. It's not very exciting and it could be MUCH MUCH better, it's not a standard we should be happy with, but it's also not going to suddenly be so bad it gets us relegated when it's been fine for top half form over an extended period with Garner who is an inferior player as part of that two.

Also every God damn year it's 'such and such will be competitive' next season when talking about promoted teams who absolutely suck and get hardly any points. Leeds under Farke will go straight back down, he's already shown he can't keep a team up, twice, and it's so expected they'll be relegated they looked at sacking him after he achieved promotion.

The fact is, which for whatever reason you don't want to acknowledge, Gana and Garner was a top 6-8 form team after Moyes took over. So apart from a glaring lack of depth midfield isn't the car crash you want to make out. Adding in Longstaff and a loan would do for a year.

If we have £30m to spend on a CM as well as the same again for an RW obviously don't sign Longstaff.

Think both Leeds and sunderland have already showed they’re going to be a lot more competitive with the signings they’ve made.

We’re not going to finish top 8 with that midfield so it’s largely irrelevant what happened last season. The teams around us will all strengthen and we’ll be left behind if we decide Sean longstaff and a loan will do for what’s already a very poor midfield.

Who’s getting on the ball in that midfield? Who’s protecting the defence?

That midfield gets horrifically exposed over the course of a full season.

Both of our strikers (Should Barry actually be confirmed) rely a whole lot on somebody behind them who is capable of threading balls for them to run on to.
Garner has shown it once for Beto.

We absolutely need something more in the middle

superpull wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 11:36 am Both of our strikers (Should Barry actually be confirmed) rely a whole lot on somebody behind them who is capable of threading balls for them to run on to.
Garner has shown it once for Beto.

We absolutely need something more in the middle

100%

The best defence in the world will ship goals if teams are just allowed to run at them.

The only way we score goals is by supplying our strikers the type of balls in the type of areas that suit them.

Midfield is responsible for both of these. One injury to 36yr old Gana and we might have to play some really awful football just to survive.

We need someone in the middle who can control the game and someone in the middle who can create. This needs to be minimum one additional player.

TheRam wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 11:33 am Think both Leeds and sunderland have already showed they’re going to be a lot more competitive with the signings they’ve made.

We’re not going to finish top 8 with that midfield so it’s largely irrelevant what happened last season. The teams around us will all strengthen and we’ll be left behind if we decide Sean longstaff and a loan will do for what’s already a very poor midfield.

Who’s getting on the ball in that midfield? Who’s protecting the defence?

That midfield gets horrifically exposed over the course of a full season.

Ok well let's just leave the newly promoted teams because I'm 10000% sure both Leeds and Sunderland go down, I know plenty of Sunderland fans and none expect them to stay up so it's a bit baffling you think they're even worth discussing. However regardless I don't believe we'll be anywhere near the bottom 3 so it's a pointless argument anyway.

You do know Longstaff sits right? When Newcastle played a midfield 3 of Longstaff / Guimaraes / Joelinton who do you think was sitting protecting the back 4? He can sort of play box to box but it's not his game, he is your sit and use positional sense (of which he's got a lot of) to intercept passes and lay it off to someone better on the ball type of holding midfielder.

Are for who's getting on the ball in midfield, well who did last season under Moyes? Gana? Garner? Doucoure? None are good ball players which is why Alcaraz was an important signing as he does have the quality to thread passes in to dangerous areas. So you have Longstaff as the holding DM, Gana as the ball winner and then Alcaraz as the creator.

Is that a great midfield? God no, but it'd be functional and balanced enough to work for a season whilst we spent good money in the ST and RW positions. We've demonstrated already that just being functional actually leads to being well clear of danger under Moyes, so that plus so genuine attacking threat would only see us improve over last season not regress as you seem to think.

I think though it's important to address two things here:

1) I firmly believe RW is where we should spend big money after signing an ST, I believe it's where we can add the desperately needed pace that will benefit the team the most. If you believe actually CM is more important and spending a low amount on an RW is better than that's fine... I don't agree but it's all just opinions at the end of the day.

2) I don't WANT a midfield of Gana and Longstaff, any endorsement of the idea is purely because I believe it'd work enough to warrant spending less here (and then improving it in a years time) and more on a pacey RW. At no point should anyone feel I'm salivating at signing Longstaff, I have just seen enough of him to know he'd work alongside Gana and is a very reliable player.

AjaxAndy wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 12:20 pm Ok well let's just leave the newly promoted teams because I'm 10000% sure both Leeds and Sunderland go down, I know plenty of Sunderland fans and none expect them to stay up so it's a bit baffling you think they're even worth discussing. However regardless I don't believe we'll be anywhere near the bottom 3 so it's a pointless argument anyway.

You do know Longstaff sits right? When Newcastle played a midfield 3 of Longstaff / Guimaraes / Joelinton who do you think was sitting protecting the back 4? He can sort of play box to box but it's not his game, he is your sit and use positional sense (of which he's got a lot of) to intercept passes and lay it off to someone better on the ball type of holding midfielder.

Are for who's getting on the ball in midfield, well who did last season under Moyes? Gana? Garner? Doucoure? None are good ball players which is why Alcaraz was an important signing as he does have the quality to thread passes in to dangerous areas. So you have Longstaff as the holding DM, Gana as the ball winner and then Alcaraz as the creator.

Is that a great midfield? God no, but it'd be functional and balanced enough to work for a season whilst we spent good money in the ST and RW positions. We've demonstrated already that just being functional actually leads to being well clear of danger under Moyes, so that plus so genuine attacking threat would only see us improve over last season not regress as you seem to think.

I think though it's important to address two things here:

1) I firmly believe RW is where we should spend big money after signing an ST, I believe it's where we can add the desperately needed pace that will benefit the team the most. If you believe actually CM is more important and spending a low amount on an RW is better than that's fine... I don't agree but it's all just opinions at the end of the day.

2) I don't WANT a midfield of Gana and Longstaff, any endorsement of the idea is purely because I believe it'd work enough to warrant spending less here (and then improving it in a years time) and more on a pacey RW. At no point should anyone feel I'm salivating at signing Longstaff, I have just seen enough of him to know he'd work alongside Gana and is a very reliable player.

Just think them and Leeds will be a lot more competitive than the teams last season.

Stop overriding every opinion about anything in the north east just because you live there ffs.

I’ve seen enough of longstaff to know if he’s coming in as a starting DM then we’re in trouble.

Should only come in as a Doucoure type player. Run around, be a nuisance and crash the box.

As it stands, we have one of the worst midfields in the league so it needs a lot of work doing to it.

Oh so all he needed alongside him was two of the best CMs in the league in guimaraes and Joelinton? Not bad that, who've we got on comparison?

TheRam wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 12:28 pm Just think them and Leeds will be a lot more competitive than the teams last season.

Stop overriding every opinion about anything in the north east just because you live there ffs.

I’ve seen enough of longstaff to know if he’s coming in as a starting DM then we’re in trouble.

Should only come in as a Doucoure type player. Run around, be a nuisance and crash the box.

As it stands, we have one of the worst midfields in the league so it needs a lot of work doing to it.

I literally was stood talking about Sunderland to a season ticket holder at my son's training for an hour, he knows his stuff... Some might argue he knows a lot more about Sunderland and their chances of being competitive then you, but ok whatever.

The fact you think Longstaff is a box crashing number 10 just kinda proves my point that you don't really know what you're talking about but again ok whatever.

It's almost like, I dunno, I speak to season ticket holders almost every week about shit like this because there's nothing else we have in common when watching our kids train, and I watch Newcastle games occasionally because my kid supports them. But yes, you know more...

For the record I'm not and have never claimed to be a font of knowledge for North East teams, I do speak to people regularly who are pretty knowledgeable and watch their teams regularly though, so I listen to what they say and take that information away with me. They know a lot, more than me, more than you, probably more than anyone on here when it comes to their teams.

Confident in my opinion that sunderland and Leeds will be a lot more competitive and signing sean longstaff as our only midfielder is a terrible idea.

Would probably swap our midfield for Sunderland’s at the moment tbh.

TheRam wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 12:47 pm Confident in my opinion that sunderland and Leeds will be a lot more competitive and signing sean longstaff as our only midfielder is a terrible idea.

Would probably swap our midfield for Sunderland’s at the moment tbh.

Sunderland and Burnley are going straight back in the bin.

Fear for Brentford this year.

AndSeel wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 12:51 pm Sunderland and Burnley are going straight back in the bin.

Fear for Brentford this year.

Think both sunderland and Leeds have already showed they’re giving it a proper go.

Would still predict them to go down but they’re not going to be finishing on 20 points like the teams in the last two seasons.

TheRam wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 12:53 pm Think both sunderland and Leeds have already showed they’re giving it a proper go.

Would still predict them to go down but they’re not going to be finishing on 20 points like the teams in the last two seasons.

Leeds i think will stick around.

I feel Burnley and SUnderland get around 30 points and sink.

We need reinforcements, i 100% agree. I have no fear of relegation this season. I have faith we will address our midfield issues.

Good job no one's advocating signing Longstaff as our only midfield reinforcement so at least that's one ticked off in the 'something we can all agree on' category.

Desperate for quality in the middle. Moyes definitely sees that, I think it'll be his number 1 priority after we've signed Barry (if that happens).

AndSeel wrote: ↑Thu Jul 03, 2025 12:55 pm Leeds i think will stick around.

I feel Burnley and SUnderland get around 30 points and sink.

We need reinforcements, i 100% agree. I have no fear of relegation this season. I have faith we will address our midfield issues.

Same.

I trust we’ll get in at least two midfielders. Has to be the biggest priority once we’ve sorted Barry.

2 midfielders
1 winger
1 right back
1 left back

At the very least
1 winger