We have been graced with:
DJ Cambell.
Akinbiyi.
Which have been very disappointing signings.

I believe Beckford will be a success and put to rest our poor purchases of a natural goalscorer.

Maynard did not want to be with us so I don't give him a second thought.

He has my support through thick and thin and Loads of Goals !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

COME ON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Having seen a couple of Everton games last season I reckon Beckford has improved both his attitude and all-round work-rate under Moyes' stewardship. That said, I for one don't want to see him chasing down too many lost causes, because that means he won't be in the box to finish off the chances that may arise from them. When he's back and fit, I believe (hope) that that'll be Nugent's job and I think they could be a very exciting pairing at this level. Everyone agrees that Beckford can't play up front on his lonesome, so for now Vassell will have to fulfil the Nugent role.

£4 million's a lot of money, so it's not too unreasonable that people should have Great Beckspectations. Let's just hope that his goals will make him Our Mutual Friend and that we won't end up remembering him for A Tale of Two Sitters.

I just hope that the season can get started now that the transfer window has closed! Bring on Barnsley on Saturday!

I'm sure Beckford will be an excellent signing. He has a good eye for goal, and with the 'good' players already around him, I can see him doing well

UTF

Can I just remind everyone that he actually cost £2.5 million not 4

Dung
you knoe my views on this people to a long time to get what Hpward did for the team and although not good enough now still would like him to stay.
Nugent got the treatment written off by some of our fans until he scored.

But expectatin is not just defined by cash spend look at poor old Waggy some of his problem was he had to do it for real . As a £2m player not just a loan player relaxed and scoring freely.

I am incoraged Sven still says his one of us (what ever his motives are) and maybe his under 21 goals will help him and not just increase his sell on value.

IMO we are still two strikers light maybe a couple on loan players on the way

Sorry fr the spelling its jet lag or i should not let my camel type this!!!

Nev

Dungeon - none of those expectations from me.

Beckford likes to play on the last man. He's a goalscorer who will miss 4 in 7 chances, but he'll have anticipated the 7 chances and been in the right place.

From what I've seen of Everton, he can't play as a line striker as he doesn't hold the ball up and wins no headers against the back four when the ball us hit up to him. We have Nugent for that!

Give him service and he'll be great for us. Expect him to create his own chances and we're in trouble.

And what's the one thing we've struggled at this year?.... creating chances!

I'm sure it will be fine!

* lone striker!!!

Id hope we can say good bye to the days of having a striker who tracks back and puts in the effort where other lack. The early days of Matty Fryatt harrowing the full back in the corner and winning a corner where he doesnt deserve it "Well done Matty! Good effort.....however I think you might have a bit more influence on the game stood somewhere between the posts and wait for the ball to come to you......oh thats right, the ball aint coming there and that why your chasing.."

People talk about strikers goal/chances ratio. Successful teams are ones that look at improving the chances aspect rather than soley the goal aspect. Id hope Sven has done this when going on his summer shopping spree (and I believe he has).

From what Ive heard, Beckford is a clinical finisher with power and pace, who can on the odd occasion pick the ball up and do something special with it. If this is the case, Im happy with that.

P.S. Well isnt this place all shiny and new! its good to be back.

You're quite right, DM. And the other half of the story is that when forwards *do* put themselves about the pitch and sweat cobs, they get stick for not scoring enough goals.

In the 2006 World Cup, for example, Heskey put in some game-saving tackles in his own box, having sprinted back to do so. His thanks from England fans tended to be moaning that, 10 seconds later, he wasn't already up in the opponents' area to be on the end of a clogged up the field 'pass' from the defender whose arris Heskey had just been covering.

I seriously began to expect that at some point he'd get booed for not being on the receiving end of his own defensive clearance. We fans do tend to want to have our cake and eat it.

I think it partly depends on formation/tactics. When you have three men up, it's reasonable to expect plenty of fetching and carrying, especially from the two wide forwards. When you are away from home and using a strategy of a sole striker and hitting on the break, the only work rate you want to see from the forward is intelligent positional adjustment.

Can you imagine Malcolm Macdonald scoring better than a goal ever second game for Newcastle and Arsenal (which he did) if he'd been expected to demonstrate 'work rate'?

Should have gone for a quality finisher like Earnshaw!

Is it true that Nadine Dorris is putting forward a Parliamentary amendment to make it illegal for clubs to get rid of Earnshaw without talking to a faith-based independent counsellor first?

Can I just remind everyone that he actually cost £2.5 million not 4

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everton rejected a £3 million bid earlier in the summer. He cost us 4. It's not a ridiculous amount for a player with his pedigree by any means, but it's still a significant outlay for this division.

Andrew Neville has confirmed that we paid £2.5m for him.

He'll do great in left midfield or maybe left back with the space to run into!

True_blue,

you forgot to add to your comment that Sven is rubbish or needs sacking

"Everton rejected a £3 million bid earlier in the summer. He cost us 4. It's not a ridiculous amount for a player with his pedigree by any means, but it's still a significant outlay for this division."

The first bid was rejected by Everton before Kenwright's 'we need money plee' so it wouldn't surprise me if they accepted less afterwards when near enough anything would have done for them.

As for Beckford himself, I think Yak last season was playing on his own so we were right to expect a decent amount of work-rate from him because the system required him to run channels and close down the defenders in possession. Granted, it wasn't his natural game but you still need to adapt to the requirements of the system and the team and I don't think he did that and deserved some of the criticism he got (that said I didn't and wouldn't criticize him during the match).

I think Jermaine will play as part of a two up front with, let's say, Vassell for arguments sake and I think Darius could be the one who does run the channels and closes down defenders whilst Beckford can stay up front and always be occupying the two CB's and be that 'fox in the box' type player without harming the team defensively. So I think with a two we can be more tolerant with Beckford for lack of work-rate but if he plays on his own, I think we're right to expect more from him in terms of work-rate, closing down etc.

I've been quite vocal in my support for the diamond and I hope Sven plays that against Barnsley because it will suit the players we have and they seem to be playing better in it.

Everton have also confirmed the deal was for £2.5m. £4m was lazy media talk

He's a good player. Work rate is not as bad as some say, but he is a poacher not an extra defender on the edge of his own penalty area.

He's used to idiot fans criticising him for the wrong reasons, so nothing your more enlightened fans throw at him is likely to bother him.. (A benefit of spending some time at Leeds )

He operated best at Leeds in partnership with Becchio, who is not such a goal scorer (though he's not bad) but is very good at holding the ball up and creating for others. Thats what he needs, its pointless criticing him for not being good as a lone front man, you might as well criticise a lion for not being vegetarian.

Can you afford 4-4-2? Thats what he needs to be at his best.

It's an ongoing argument here, 2020. Fans split between 4-3-3 (on paper – perhaps too often 4-5-1 when actually applied on grass) and 4-D-2. Not many takers for a flat midfield 4 rather than a diamond.

Please listen to 2020 Sven - he has vision !

We dream of 90 minutes of 4-D-2. That's when we play our best football and as soon as we start to look good, the Tincker-man goes and changes it.