Everton v Apollon Limassol: Europa League – live!

Hello. Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that questions that begin with the phrase “Is it just me...” are usually met with “No, it is not just you, most other people have noticed that”? You are not unique, you are not original, you are not the most insightful person walking the planet today. For example: was it just me or did anyone else notice that Everton’s transfer business got too much love in the summer? No, it wasn’t just me. That was a thing spotted by everyone who wasn’t a big, blond Dutchman who took a mean free-kick back in the day.
In all fairness it was quite the spending spree, the like of which had never been seen at Goodison Park before, and that level of expenditure made it inevitable there was talk of Everton busting into the top four this season. Early days, of course, but it isn’t quite working out as Ronald Koeman hoped - which isn’t to see that it was impossible to see this coming. All along, there was a sense of unease about what Everton were doing. They weren’t necessarily signing bad players, but were they signing the right ones? Spending big is all well and good, but you might not get where you want to go if a lot of the money goes on players from Burnley, Crystal Palace, Sunderland and Swansea, and Wayne Rooney.
Okay, maybe that’s an uncharitably snobbish take - but it didn’t necessarily feel like Everton were getting value for money. And all along, while they continued to sign players suited to the No10 role, it was strange that there wasn’t more of a focus on pace and width. The result, so far at least, is a very expensive one-paced team that’s struggling to move opponents around. They’ve been underwhelming at both ends in the league, losing badly to Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham, while the result that really left supporters asking serious questions about Koeman was the 3-0 defeat at Atalanta in their opening Europa League group match a fortnight ago.
Everton were utterly hopeless in Italy and with a double-header against Lyon to come, they desperately need to beat Apollon Limassol at Goodison Park tonight. The Cypriots aren’t to be taken lightly after drawing with Lyon last time out, but the good news is that Koeman’s men have been boosted by the Oumar Niasse show against Bournemouth last weekend. The bad news, however, is that Niasse is unavailable after being left out of Everton’s Europa League squad. Oh Ronald!
Kick-off: 8.05pm.

SOURCE : GUARDIAN SPORTS
posted by CAMPUS94