Are you/were you not frustrated that Tomasson went fairly strong and played the likes of Hyam, Brereton, Dack and in particular a player you mentioned in Pickering when you were adamant that they needed a total rest? And why would you specifically want those 2 at home?!

The lack of camera angle was poor so they had to stick to the linesman's decision. Therefore without VAR, the goal would still have been disallowed.

I think there is probably a middle ground between Wharton being seemingly quite a bit away from the team at the moment to the point where he often misses out on matchday squads and him playing every week. He did also have very good games v Birmingham, Boro and Hull. I also find the idea that he is not training properly or questions about his attitude to be very presumptuous.

How can he look better than he actually is? Walton has been gone for ages and Kaminski has been superb this season.

It wasn't competitive, they could have had 8 or 9. Is any team with Hirst and Mola in it competitive?

Well played Tomasson, lots on here showed total disregard to the cup and seemingly would prefer us out, suggesting totally changed sides, the correct approach was a bit of rotation amongst a strong side and that got us the win. The 2 stand outs were Hyam and Phillips who were both excellent in defence, the full backs were very steady and Pears was surprisingly reliable. When we concede we often become ragged but we certainly look very well drilled much of the time. Dack again was our best attacking player and not only does he have the ability but he seems to be right up to full fitness, great energy levels. Definitely need an improvement in midfield, Garrett and Travis work hard but again we struggle to keep the ball as neither are good technically. We do need one or two in attack too and we need more of a plan, Markanday flitted in and out but definitely has something about him, great dribbling ability and put in a shift. Vale needs a loan spell, not ready yet for a promotion challenge but as good today as he ever has been, got on the score sheet and a few nice touches although in the second half in particular he couldn't hold it up. Brereton needs a goal and should have had one at the end of the first half. Rubbish reward mind with the boring draw but hopefully we can get through to the 5th round.

Disjointed game but I just hope we don't come to rue that Brereton miss. Great bit of composure by Dack for the goal to set up a tap in for Vale rather than shoot as many would have done.

Agreed.

Those signings he had to make do with included 2 England international central defenders, a midfielder that cost over £20m, another midfielder on huge wages and then a striker for a sizeable fee from Brighton. I may be wrong but maybe Onana aside, the likes of Tarkowski, McNeil, Coady, Gueye and Maupay all seem like Lampard chosen/recommended signings, domestic based/with domestic history and taking very little imagination. There is no doubt that there are far bigger issues at Everton but that doesn't excuse Lampard. His managerial record so far has not shown suggestions that he is a good manager or that Everton should continue with him.

His cup record was shocking but his teams were not always that weak eg in both cups last year.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/everton-frank-lampard-replacement-manager-28898945 Would be a good move by Everton.

Apparently it waa Nunes that was offside when the ball came back, not Toti.

Apparently no 3pm Saturday home game until Feb 18th, spanning back to November. Mainly down to TV and an absolute piss take.

Looks like (I think) our Blackpool game will be rearranged as they are 2 up v Forest and our game v them is on FA Cup 4th round day.

Real cutting edge journalism to say that we are scouting an unnamed player.

Putting his impending ban to one side. He is undoubtedly a good player but he really a top 4 striker and would you say that if he wasnt an England player? Haaland, Kane, Jesus etc being the benchmark, and for the crazy fee he would cost especially as an Englishman, you could probably get someone a level up if you looked hard enough.

Im not saying that Everton dont have other problems but they have a manager who if anything has overseen a slight decline in results and league position having been in charge for a decent period of time. Nothing about his managerial career says good manager.

I never said it was. Nor have I said anything other than I was glad that he is now gone and outlined the many things he did wrong.

Mowbray said specifically that the strikers he turned down were kids on loan from the Premier League. He also was denied his wish to sell Rothwell and spend some money. I have never, ever doubted that he misused Giles or underused Hedges. Or that he in general was central to our collapse. Even in March you were his biggest fan. Is 8th mid table?

He wont be much use if he gets a long suspension as expected for betting irregularities. Even without them, Toney is a good Premier League striker but not one for a team with the aspirations of competing at the top. They have Nkunku coming but not until next season which is a bit odd. I am of the opinion that managers and players deserve more time only if they have shown enough to warrant that in the first place. Why does Lampard deserve more time? He has been there for a while and they have got worse, not better, currently in the bottom 3 despite bringing in players that he wanted.

What has Lampard ever done as a manager to make anyone think that simply more time will lead to any success? (Watch them win tonight!)

I have never suggested that the poor usage of those signings was anything other than Mowbray's fault. I also think that he should have signed a loanee striker rather than the alternative of no other striker but I don't think we should have only been able to sign a kid on loan in that position. My point is that the bigger problem came from the owners unwillingness either to have a serious push for promotion or even to allow the manager the freedom to sell a player who then went for free in favour of getting a couple of players in, benefitting us in the short and long term.

Such an embodiment of a backwards club that we dont sell an asset (even if it was allowed by the owners) whose contract will otherwise run out because for some reason they wouldnt allow reinvestment. It is literally the opposite of well run clubs like Brentford and Brighton.

My point is that the only strikers available in budget were kids on loan from the Premier League. I have said that he should have still taken one. Whilst Venkys didnt directly not sign a striker on loan as Mowbray should. They neither provided enough funds for such a great position nor did they allow the manager to trade a soon to be out of contract player to raise funds that way. Loans of the likes of Connolly and Forss who were linked by the LT are not going to make a major difference whereas even reinvesting 4m would have done.

The strikers he turned down where kid loanees Should he have signed one? Probably yes. Was Giles misused and Hedges underused? Yes. And could Mowbray have done better having done so well to get us to 2nd? Yes. Are we all glad hes gone? Yes. But the overiding issue wasnt him, it is and always will be Venkys.