RandoEFC

I know we can only speculate, but seriously how the fuck does that happen? They fired about 14 missiles? Even if they were all in the sky at once, the chances of one of them randomly meeting a plane in midair seem negligible, surely? And wouldn't the Iranian military give a "heads up" to any airports that are anywhere near the firing line that they should hang on a minute because there's going to be a bunch of missiles in the air? I'm about as far from an expert as you can be in this matter, but it seems to me to be really hard to explain this. Did an inexperienced Iranian soldier panic or just really fuck up and accidentally aim for and take out this plane? Answers on a postcard...

More speculation and reports now that the airline could have been shot down accidentally. The chances of an engine failure at the exact time missiles were being fired seemed suspect at best when it was first reported. I imagine we'll hear more about this.

Can't be bothered posting a link or quotes as I'm on lunch and at work, but I really liked Arteta's interview after the Leeds game. Basically said he could tell from the players' attitude post-United win that they'd be complacent in the first half against Leeds.

Lingard is already ready for the MLS.

A lot of fallout from Sunday's defeat it seems. Yesterday there were screenshots going round of Delph replying to multiple Everton fans on Instagram, insulting them and saying he never gives anything less than 100% on the pitch. First of all, I don't agree with dealing with the disappointment of a result like that by going on social media and sending messages to players but if the messages are genuine then it's extremely unprofessional from Delph to entertain replying to the fans because it just makes the whole thing into a bigger issue about whether the players have any respect for the support at all. I mean this is a guy we brought in with a reputation for being a great leader and a voice within the dressing room. All signings will get some time to bed in but all we've seen from Delph so far has been injury and mediocrity and twice swearing at his team-mates on the pitch. Not exactly a good foundation to be giving it back to fans who are upset with how the team are performing. Everton's tragic second half performance didn't go unnoticed by people outside the Everton bubble, but what hasn't been mentioned much outside of our fanbase was the fact that Djibril Sidibe was the only player (who ironically isn't even our's) who came over to the fans at the end. Holgate apparently turned and applauded from the sidelines, the rest of the spineless shithouses were straight down the tunnel. I get that we have had a lot of criticism about the atmosphere at Goodison over the past few years. People say that if the fans get behind the team then maybe our fortunes will improve. It's just first-rate lazy commentary from people who watch us play once every two months and have no idea of the wider context. Well I say it's time for the players and the club to get behind our fans. Everton fans have given everything to this club for the last 20 years and been paid back with nothing. The highlight of my Everton-supporting career is an FA Cup semi-final win on penalties against a weakened Man Utd side that were going for the "quadruple". Even as a part-time Cambridge United fan I've seen them win the FA Trophy and a play-off final. I can't imagine that apart from possibly Leeds, any other club in the country has been promised more and under-delivered more significantly for their fans over the last couple of decades than Everton. Is there really anything worse you can deliver to your 8,000 travelling fans in the space of 90 minutes than defeat against what was essentially the under 23 team of your most bitter rivals? Liverpool under 23s have been beaten by Everton under 23s this season (or maybe late last season, I forget), the point being that these youngsters that turned up for Liverpool have suffered defeat to Everton youth squads recently, yet managed to defeat the first team. It simply isn't acceptable and the fact that none of our senior players can come over to the fans and face what they've just inflicted against all of the Blues who have to go to work and school the next day getting pelters from their Red mates and colleagues simply isn't acceptable. We're talking a whole new level compared to just performing badly. It gets worse though, today I've read an article that really boiled my piss. Apparently before Ancelotti got back to the dressing room Ferguson had them in there reading the riot act for their second half performance for 25 minutes and "senior players" had the gall to stand up to him and claim they'd given 100% in the second half. If this is true it's further evidence that these players simply have no understanding what's required to achieve a modicum of success in top-level football. Honestly, if that's the attitude of some of our senior players, I'd bin them off immediately. They can train with the youth team from now on until they do one. Schneiderlin, Sigurdsson, Walcott, Coleman, Delph aren't going to be part of any Everton side that can be taken seriously in 3-5 years time (because that's the minimum amount of time that it'll take) and we're out of both competitions this season, I honestly don't see the point anymore in putting them out on the pitch. Usually this is a lazy, knee-jerk shout from angry fans "the kids can't do any worse than the senior squad" but in this case, for those positions, I think it's justified. It's never been more clear that the club's "gone rotten" than it is now. More recruitment isn't the answer anymore. This group of players needs absolutely gutting. We've got part of the way there by phasing out the likes of Ashley Williams, Kevin Mirallas, Yannick Bolasie, it looks like Cenk Tosun is about to follow, but I can't actually look at any of the senior players inherited by Silva and Brands, aside from Pickford and Michael Keane (as a squad player), that have any hope of being a part of what we want to achieve going forwards. Anyone in the backroom staff that has in any way enabled the development of this attitude within the squad need clearing out as well. Apparently Ancelotti and the staff that have come with him were absolutely shocked at the players daring to bite back against the criticism Ferguson dished out after the game, so hopefully they have learned enough about what they're working with to make the big decisions that the previous four managers have failed to make.

Just finished the latest season of The Crown. Solid offering, still didn't hit the heights of the first season for me but still 7 or 8/10 most episodes.

And here was me thinking I'd find this thread full of people trying to point-score against Donald Trump . I'm not very knowledgeable about the Middle East so I've been reading and listening up on this today before passing comment. It sounds like none of us should be upset about this bloke being removed. It also seems highly likely that the timing of this compared to the election in the US isn't a coincidence. The same could easily be said about Bin Laden and Obama. It's cynical but it's also how politics works and how people work. You just have to hope things don't get too explosive. It sounds like Iran will retaliate by proxy rather than 'taking on' the US which would clearly be suicidal. My major hope apart from that is that our country thinks better of it and stays out of it. Dominic Raab has already called for de-escalation on all sides and I also think Boris Johnson is a bit more keen to distance himself from Trump given how little joint fanfare there was when he came over for the G7/NATO(?) summit just before the election.

@LFCMadLad how long have you had TikTok mate?

Not bad at all. Need to figure out if it's more or less than a year since I suggested Calvert-Lewin could get an England call up at some point in his career and nearly everyone on here called it laughable.

Is Barkley floggable or on too long a contract?

He looks good back in the Arsenal gear which is very upsetting. This whole appointment is upsetting as I want him to be a good manager but also want Arsenal to stay shit.

Has anyone heard from or checked on @SirBalon since the election?

Seeing Zlatan in an Everton shirt would be hilarious. I have spent the last few years flip flopping between hating his personality and finding it quite funny. Always good to have a player who gives it large and winds up opposition fans a bit.

What.

Trying to distance myself from it all but stuff like that just makes you sick. Also on @The Artful Dodger's point about Scotland taking the government to court. The courts showed before the election that they were one of the only powers in the world who could hold a government that really wanted to push the boundaries in check. The Tories had in their manifesto that they wanted rid of that situation as well.

I don't think we're in a position to be splashing that much cash. I know FFP works over a three year period but not much more than that. This summer we had to be careful with our net spend as we were close to getting risky with FFP. This is why the net spend in the summer was only around £30m. We balanced the books by selling Gueye, Lookman, Vlasic and a few other small fries. However, Silva's compensation package won't help either. I don't know how FFP is affected if Usmanov did indeed heavily invest in the club as well. Maybe if he does invest, that would allow us to splash some cash. However I maintain that we don't need to yet. This squad is good enough and expensive enough to be competing on the fringes of the top six and that needs to happen before we start spending more on new players.

We have quality in most positions. Our issue is a lack of pace throughout the side, though it doesn't help when our actually fast midfielders Gbamin and Gomes are out on long term injuries. We definitely need to get a centre back with some pace but when they're having a decent day, Keane/Mina/Holgate are all good enough to keep most teams at bay. Going forward, Richarlison is becoming a talisman, Calvert-Lewin is still developing, we know Kean has the talent, again it's just a matter of consistency there. Digne, Iwobi and Sigurdsson had some of the best creative stats in the league last season, confidence and consistency their issues this season. What's Pickford's biggest issue? Consistency. Lots of quality, you just need the right manager to get a tune out of this team. Silva always seemed to be within touching distance of doing so without actually achieving it. We might need a fast centre back, a right back and a proven goalscorer but otherwise in most positions there aren't many clubs outside the top six and Leicester with better players than us. An overhaul isn't needed at all.

Could go either way this, but the bottom line is, is Ancelotti is available, nobody in their right mind is going "hmm maybe, but I dunno, I'm just really feeling this whole David Moyes thing, for me it's an opportunity we just can't miss" are they?

Yeah but there are still different factions in the Labour party trying to make out different things. The Corbyn apologists say it was all Brexit and/or the media smear campaign. The centrists say it was all Corbyn and Momentum.

I don't think we're in a position to splash millions and millions due to FFP. We need to get more out of the talent we've already invested in above all else. More likely he'll be tempted by a very healthy wage.

The infighting from Labour and their followers is really weird after this result. People seem to want to put it down to one issue. Not surprising I guess because you always want to think everything was fine if it wasn't just for that one little thing. You can say that Corbyn was the biggest problem without ignoring the Brexit issues. You can say that the biased media was an issue for Labour without "blaming the defeat on the media". You can say that Brexit was a reason that people abandoned Labour without it meaning you're ignoring the Corbyn issue. The Corbyn leadership and Brexit stance issues heavily overlap. The middling stance on Brexit was an example of what people see as his lack of leadership even if you might argue his hands were ties. These things aren't as simple as "it was this thing". Not when you lose that many seats.

Cant get my head around how its Ancelotti coming to Everton and Arteta to Arsenal. Both clubs would surely be better served with the other? I know it's crazy for an Everton fan not to be buzzing over Ancelotti considering the absolute mediocrity that's infested the club for half a decade but I really do have mixed feelings about this.

I don't have anything profound or insightful to offer there. More just parroting the thoughts of what that leg of the Labour Party that want to have a complete departure from the Corbyn/McDonnell/Momentum movement. I haven't really decided where I stand on that yet, but I can see the argument of picking voters up in the centre first, and moving 'leftwards' from there. It's what the Tories have done over the past decade after all, with a bit of help from Farage. I don't think a Remainer is the worst idea in the world. If and when Brexit goes tits up for the Tories over the next few years it could be of benefit to have someone on the other side who stands for the opposite of the thing that is making peoples' lives more difficult.

I already don't like Thornberry.