Monday 23 October 2017

Everton: So Far Away From Being The Almost Club



At the end of the 2013/14 season, then Everton manager Roberto Martinez guided the Toffees to fifth in the Premier League, their highest finish since 2005.



Since then it's been a slow fall from being the 'almost club' of England's top flight, the team that came close to breaking the lauded top four (a.k.a Champions League qualification places).

The Blues only stayed up the following season due to a resurgence of form, mainly down to then record signing Romelu Lukaku, that saw them beat Newcastle, Southampton, Burnley and Manchester United in a thrilling 3-0 win at Goodison Park.




Roberto Martinez was then sacked in May 2016 after a poor campaign that saw him pick up just one win in 10 matches in all competitions.




Ronald Koeman was then chosen to get Everton back in the quest for European Football, specifically the Champions League.

Despite finishing seventh, Europa League Football was secured via the play-offs and Koeman was set to have a summer of splashing the cash, thanks to British investor Farhad Moshiri buying a 49.9% stake in the club for £200 million.





Everton then went on to spend the most money you'd spent in one transfer window, spending £158.5 million on the following players:

- Michael Keane (£30 million)

- Jordan Pickford (£30 million)

- Wayne Rooney (£10 million)

- Sandro Ramirez (£5.5 million)

- Davy Klaassen (£24 million)

- Nikola Vlasic (£7 million)

- Henry Onyekuru (£7 million)

- Gylfi Sigurdsson (£45 million)

- Cuco Martina (Free)


They also notably sold Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United for £75 million plus add-ons.




By this notion, you'd have thought Koeman would have replaced his best player.

Yes, he'd signed Wayne Rooney in a great nostalgia moment for the club, as the boy had finally come home after years of winning trophies elsewhere, but Rooney hadn't played as a striker for a number of seasons at United so surely Koeman knew he had to get a striker that could easily play 90 minutes.

However, this didn't happen.




Forward fast to now and Everton are currently 18th in the Premier League, having played nine games of which they've win two, drew four and lost five.

They're also bottom of their Europa League group after playing three games, losing away to Atlanta, drawing at home to Apollo Limassol and losing to Lyon on Thursday.

On Monday, the day after losing to Arsenal 5-2 at Goodison Park, Everton then announced that they had sacked Koeman after 16 months in charge.





So, aside from not buying a striker, has lead to this awful form?

Firstly, Koeman doesn't start players with pace, such as Kevin Mirallas and Ademola Lookman. Instead, midfielders such as Sigurdsson and Tom Davies are expected to not only win the ball on the wing but run towards goal with the pace of a winger.

Secondly, Leighton Baines has slowed down significantly in the last two seasons and his replacement, Luke Garbutt, has been assigned to the reserves and not included in the first team.

Third and finally, Rooney has been a burden for the team.

Yes, it's nice to see Rooney back at Goodison, especially for myself having never seen him play in his two years before leaving for Old Trafford, but as mentioned above Rooney is a throwback that has unfortunately come back at a time when Everton needed someone coming into their prime, not a player who is coming to the end of his career.








For Everton, the priority is to steady the ship, whether that be Under-23s coach David Unsworth or another manager.

Fans can argue till the cows come home at how and why Koeman didn't buy a striker, weather he was held back by Director of Football Steve Walsh or the fact that they weren't in the Champions League, but the main focus should be getting the club has far away from the relegation zone as possible.
 




As the Koeman era ends, it's painfully obviously for the Everton faithful that they're nowhere near where they thought they'd be at this point of the season (knocking on the door of the top four).

With the right personnel up front and in the dugout, the season could be turned around, which it drastically needs, and Everton will start again.

That is if the current rut stops.







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Sunday 8 October 2017

UFC 216 Review



DISCLAIMER: This article is reviewing two of the main card fights ONLY.


UFC 216 is over and it was an interesting card.

From Fabricio Werdum vs Derrick Lewis being cancelled due to the latter not being able to move from his bed to Demetrious Johnson making history, and a new interim Lightweight champion being crowned in the main event, the first major event in Las Vegas since the shooting last Sunday was certainly a great night all around.

Demetrious Johnson defeats Ray Borg via fifth-round armbar (3:15) to retain the Flyweight Champion

Demetrious Johnson (now 27-2-1 MMA, 15-1-1 UFC) defeated Ray Borg (now 11-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) with a spectacular armbar to break Anderson Silva's record and become the man with the most UFC title defences in history (11).


With this submission, many have changed their opinion on 'Mighty Mouse' from fighting nobodies to controlling every fight he's in.








Ray Borg deserves for lasting so long with Johnson but it was ultimately too much for Borg as his post fight tweet shows.


Whether Johnson will move up or defend his title again is up to the man himself but whatever he decides, he deserves to be in the conversation of the greatest MMA fighter of all time.



Tony Ferguson defeats Kevin Lee via third-round triangle choke (4:02) to become the new Interim Lightweight Champion

 Tony Ferguson (now 23-3 MMA, 13-1 UFC) defeated Kevin Lee (now 16-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) with a wicked triangle choke to become the new, and first-ever interim Lightweight champion.

 Like with Ray Borg, it seemed that Lee wasn't on the level on his opponent and whilst he did hold his own for a while, Ferguson was too sharp for Lee, who did a brutal weight cut from 174 pounds to 154.5 in just over 22 hours.

After the fight, Ferguson called out Lightweight champion Conor McGregor and repeated a statement he has stuck to since the Irishman won the belt last November at UFC 205: defend or vacate.

No doubt McGregor will be looking at a unification bout with Ferguson for his next fight, especially as he still has the Diaz trilogy fight in his back pocket.








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UFC 216 Preview



DISCLAIMER: This article is covering three fights from the main card ONLY.

(C) indicates current champion.


UFC 216 is coming from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on the 7th of October and is set to be a night of explosive action.

Not only will Demetrious Johnson have the chance to make history and break the record for UFC title defenses, currently tied with Anderson Silva on 10, but the card also features a battle between two of the lightweight's hardest hitters, Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee, for the chance to become the interim lightweight champion and a potential fight with lightweight champion Conor McGregor in the future.
Demetrious Johnson (C) vs Roy Borg (For the Flyweight Championship)

Demetrious Johnson (26-2-1 MMA, 14-1-1 UFC) is on the verge of history.

The flyweight champion will be looking to be beat Anderson Silva's 10 title defences (Middleweight) when he meets Ray Borg (11-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) in the co-main event of UFC 216.

Originally booked for UFC 215, and cancelled after Borg missed weight, these two finally square in a fight that will define both men's careers.

Borg seems to be the underdog going into the contest, due to the quality of opponents he's faced and the fact he's not got a finish since February 2015, but he'll give Johnson a tough fight, especially on the ground, but I'm confident that Johnson will win and go on to have the most title defences in UFC history.
PREDICTION: Johnson wins via third round knockout.











Tony Ferguson vs Kevin Lee (For the Interim Lightweight Championship)

In the main event of UFC 216, top Lightweights Tony Ferguson ( MMA, UFC) and Kevin Lee ( MMA, UFC) will fight for the interim Lightweight title.

This fight has come around as the UFC Lightweight champion, Conor McGregor. took time off to prepare for his first professional Boxing match against Floyd Mayweather Jr and thus Dana and co needed to book an interim title fight.

One was booked at UFC 209 between Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov but was cancelled when Khabib was rushed to hospital in the morning of the weigh-in.

Khabib wasn't ready to come back so the UFC booked up-and-coming Kevin Lee to face Ferguson.

Lee has had problems leading up to this fight, with controversy surrounding his rear-naked choke win over Michael Chiesa, but also with his weigh cut in which he attempted to cut 19 pounds in just 21 hours.
He then weighed in an hour later weighing 154.5 pounds.


Whether Lee deserves to be in the interim title fight is up for discussion but for me this is Ferguson's time to win the title his current nine fight win streak seems to demand and potentially put himself in contention to face Conor McGregor.


PREDICTION: Ferguson wins via second-round submission.






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