ROUNDTABLE: A Christmas Wish for Everton

The last two months and the holiday fixture schedule have been marred by injuries and COVID positives for Everton as they struggle to replicate the early season form that saw them climb all the way up into the European qualification spots. Since then, a run of two wins in eleven league games has seen the Toffees hovering dangerously above the relegation zone with the injuries continuing to pile up and Rafa Benitez seemingly clueless as to what to do tactically to arrest the slide.

For this Yuletide, the Royal Blue Mersey crew were asked if they could have just one Christmas wish for the Blues, what would that be.

Pete -
My Christmas wish is for Farhad Moshiri to put £100 million behind the bar in the Gwladys Street. Worse money has been spent.
Failing that… my wish would be for Everton to put a football strategy in place and follow through with it. That means letting people do their jobs and being patient – even if that person is Rafa. We can’t keep chopping and changing the model, the manager/DoF and players every 18 months.

Pat -
My Christmas wish for Everton is to win the FA Cup! While our chances of Europe are more-or-less shot, our display against Chelsea has given me hope for a solid rest of the season. Keep playing the youngsters, Rafa!

Tom -
My Christmas wish is to see everyone associated with Everton pulling in the same direction, with a united fanbase fully behind them. Everything about the club recently has been muddled, which has translated into poor results on the pitch and further irritated the already fractious and divided supporters.
What style of football do they want to play? What’s their transfer policy? Who is making the key decisions? Better communication from the club’s hierarchy about these issues and a clear management structure would go some way to ensuring the mistakes of the past are not repeated, which will help regain the trust of the fans.
Rafa Benitez will never be loved by the supporters but he is much more likely to be accepted if it looks like both he and the club have a plan, and progress is being made towards it.

Ian -
My Christmas wish for Everton is simple and unoriginal: Better health. This team has been hampered by injuries all season long, and I’m tired of it! A fully healthy starting XI would be a dream to watch and would definitely help convince me of the team’s top-six potential.

Photo by Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images

Kevin -
My Christmas wish for Everton is for a joined-up transfer policy and a coherent approach to building a squad, something we haven’t seen much of in recent years. The directionless mess we’ve endured since Moshiri arrived, with various managers, a couple of directors of football, the chairman and the majority shareholder all independently signing players has brought us to the sorry state the club finds itself in now. With finances tight, I am hoping to see a clear out of many of the failed and overpaid signings made under previous regimes and for shrewd acquisitions such as Demarai Gray to be brought in during the transfer window.

Geno -
My Christmas wish for Everton would be a plan. This team is in a bit of shambles right now and the only way to start to dig out of that is with a plan, both on the pitch and in the transfer market. We don’t need to be fantastic right away, but let’s just see there is progress and that there is a clear and obvious end goal that everyone has bought into. Think that would be a pleasant and sufficient gift for most of us Everton fans this Christmas!

Trent -
My Everton Christmas wish consists of a healthy, full squad and a new player or two at the winter window. While Marcel Brands was historically stingy during that window, he is no longer there, and should our finances allow for it, the team could certainly use additional offensive assistance; a winger or productive offensive minded midfielder would be really useful for the Toffees as a late Christmas present, to be sure.

Geoff -
My Christmas wish for Everton is for some consistency in transfer planning. Trying to knit together a team from the past choices of 6 managers is a thankless task. Let Benitez properly select who he wants to buy and build a team ready for next season.

Brian F -
My wish for Everton is to win a trophy. Any trophy. As a fan who has yet to experience the euphoria of a cup win, I would cherish it. I also believe it would relieve a lot of the tension and anxiety in and around the club and allow for fans and ownership alike to be patient and allow a plan to be executed and seen though.
But mostly I just want a trophy.

Calvin -
My Christmas wish is for stability at Everton Football Club, at all levels, the Board, the team management, the playing squad and even the fanbase. We feel like too much of a club in transition over the last decade or so, with manager after manager coming through the doors, and no consistency in transfer strategy either which has resulted in a mismatched squad on bloated wages and a murky future in sight.
My personal feelings about Rafa Benitez aside, I just want to see a manager that is in full alignment with the transfers being brought in and the players being let go, and that the additions make sense with the gaffer’s playing style.

Chime in in the comments below with what your one Christmas wish for the Blues would be.

Here’s wishing all our faithful readers, listeners, followers, commenters and fellow Blues a very Merry Christmas and a happy and safe holidays!!