Where Does Everton Go From Here?

 

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So uh, this is a huge summer for Everton. Coming into the last few weeks of the season I was expecting a squad overhaul, and maybe an Andre Gomes, Bernard, or Alex Iwobi type departure. Unfortunately for us supporters, we have much more to take care of now. Carlo Ancelotti left the club to take the open position at Real Madrid, a move that while obviously understandable, is still very disappointing. So along with a squad that consistently let down supporters last season, Everton is without a manager again. I'm going to do my best to preview this summer from the perspective of a fan, but man, it's looking grim right now. 

Manager

The Athletic reported that club owner Farhad Moshiri and the board had compiled a list of about 40 managers as options to replace Ancelotti. A few of those linked with the club are former Wolves manager, Nuno Espirito Santo, former Bournemouth manager, Eddie Howe, current Brighton manager, Graham Potter, and even current Rangers manager and Liverpool club legend, Steven Gerrard. Let's get that last one out of the way, Steven Gerrard will not be the next manager of Everton Football Club. If you ignore his playing career and general distaste for the club, he would fit the bill, but we can't do that. Gerrard would never be accepted by supporters of the club, nor should he be. I imagine a similar reaction would be had to an appointment of Rafa Benitez, although probably to a lesser extent. Nuno has been linked to the open Crystal Palace job and he appears to be the front-runner there. That most likely takes him out of the conversation. That leaves us with Eddie Howe and Graham Potter as the options based in the UK. My stance on these guys is simple; no way in hell to Eddie Howe, but I'd take Potter in a heartbeat. Potter's Brighton team created tons of chances last season, but they were unable to score goals. Their expected goals per game seemed to be always much higher than their tally at the end of games. The bet with Potter is that his attractive style of football would work better when you switch out players like Neil Maupay and Danny Welback for Richarlison, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and James Rodriguez. I think the most important thing about Potter is that he gives the club an identity. Under Carlo, the team switched formations more times than Christian Pulisic liked racist tweets. The football was beautiful at times, horrendous at others. Potter would build a team to play attacking football, and that puts him at the top of my list, at least when it comes to realistic targets. 

Departures 

A lot of this depends on the manager hired, but I'll hit on a few players likely to move no matter who the board settles on. Moise Kean is gone. PSG will make that move permanent at some point this summer. Bernard is probably gone. He's a solid bench player at times, but his wages are far too high for a player of his caliber. One of Andre Gomes, Alex Iwobi, or Gylfi Sigurdsson will probably leave the club as well. Siggy is the best player of the bunch, and I would prefer to keep him around. Gomes is dead weight and Iwobi doesn't seem to be good enough for Everton. Another name to watch is James Rodriguez. Carlo Ancelotti denied that he wanted to bring James to Real with him, but I can't see him lining up for a team managed by Eddie Howe or Graham Potter. It sucks for everyone involved, but I get it. Carlo might try to bring Richarlison and Lucas Digne along with him to Madrid this summer. Both players are under contract for a few years, but I wouldn't be shocked to see either player depart for a larger club. Fringe players like Jonjoe Kenny will be on the outs as well. Hopefully Allan, Abdoulaye Doucoure, and other quality players decide to stick around for another season. So much of this is up in the air right now though. We could see a completely different squad next season.

Targets

After losing the Emi Buendia sweepstakes to Aston Villa, the main target seems to be PSV Eindhoven right back Denzel Dumfries. Dumfries has a great motor and isn't afraid of getting up the pitch. As the successor to Seamus Coleman, you could probably do much worse. It looks like the club won't target English right backs like Brighton's Tariq Lamptey or Norwich's Max Aarons. Probably for the best considering the fee those players would cost. The club has been linked to aging players from huge clubs as well. Coutinho, Isco, and Miralem Pjanic have all been mentioned, but I can't imagine any of those moves coming to fruition. Hopefully the club brings in a pacey winger that can get up the pitch, something Carlo didn't have. I don't really have any names here, but Adama Traore from Wolves is the kind of the guy I wouldn't hate. Probably not Traore, but a player with similar skills. Honestly, I don't really know. I don't play enough Football Manager to be a pseudo scout on the internet.

Conclusion

This is a gigantic summer for Everton Football Club. Not only does the squad stink, the club doesn't have a manager or any young prospects outside of Thierry Small. I don't know where they go from here, but that's a question for Marcel Brands to answer, not me. I just hope we don't suck next year. 

AEW Beach Break Preview

Tonight is another special edition of Dynamite for AEW, Beach Break. With a great card of matches, this show should be a lot of fun. I'm going to do my best to preview the show here, but make sure to watch Dynamite at 8:00 EST on TNT tonight. I have a feeling something big is going to happen. 

Matt Hardy and Hangman Page vs. Chaos Project

Great to see "The Original Death Dealer" Luther back on Dynamite. His last appearance involved -1 slamming his face into a birthday cake, and then getting hit by a kendo stick until he ran away. Luther and Serpentico are just here to get squashed by Hangman and Hardy. but it might be a fun match anyway. I'm not a huge fan of Chaos Project, but they're a fine lower-card heel tag team. There's usually some good hijinks where Luther kicks the shit out of Serpentico in their matches, and that's enough for me. Hangman and Hardy will get the win easily in this match. Still holding out hope that Hangman aligns with The Dark Order, but this storyline has me intrigued the whole way. Carny Matt Hardy is one of my favorite characters in wrestling right now too. 

Prediction - Hardy and Hangman win

Eddie Kingston vs. Lance Archer 

Lumberjack Match

Eddie Kingston got the win over Lance Archer last week with the help of The Bunny, but I'm not sure how many people actually saw it. I know that I had trouble watching this match on the TNT app, and I saw similar stories on Twitter and Reddit at the time. From what I did see, Archer dominated Kingston until Eddie's family got involved to cheat for him. That won't be an issue this week, however. The lumberjack stipulation means that wrestlers will be surrounding the ring to make sure nothing shady goes down. Archer is going to get his win back, but man, I love Eddie Kingston. Lance is great too, but I think Eddie is the best talker in the wrestling and I wanna see him back in the title picture soon. Also, someone is probably going to destroy a bunch of the unsigned workers from Dark, so look for the master of the Tornado DDT, Fuego Del Sol. 

Prediction - Lance Archer wins after Eddie tries to cheat again

Thunder Rosa vs. Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. with Reba or Rebel (still don't know)

This match has been months in the making at this point. Britt and Rosa have been feuding since like, November maybe, I don't even remember. Thunder Rosa is really good in the ring, and she's going to put on a great match with Britt. Britt's character has been one of the best in AEW for a long time now, especially her interactions with Tony Schiavone. Pairing her with Reba or Rebel was a genius move. She has a great moveset in the ring and is hilarious on the microphone. I think she'll take this match, but I wouldn't be shocked if Rosa won. These two have to be considered favorites in the upcoming women's tournament, and this could be a preview of the finals. Got to go with Britt though, 412 represent!

Prediction - Britt Baker wins after Reba/Rebel gets involved in the finish

Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford's Wedding, featuring Miro and Charles Taylor

I might be completely alone here, but I'm really excited for this segment. I'm a fan of all four people that we'll definitely see, and Orange Cassidy will most likely get involved somehow. Sexy Chuckie T in a tuxedo is one of the funniest things AEW has done so far, and I'm pumped to see Miro and Kip act like dickheads during a wrestling wedding. It would be so funny if it went off normally though. That would be completely unexpected and also hilarious. 

Tag Team Battle Royale

The Young Bucks are going to win, right? With FTR out of the match, it's got to be them or one of the Inner Circle teams. I'm rooting for PnP, but Jericho and MJF wouldn't surprise me at all. The Bucks vs. Gallows and Anderson at Revolution would be an awesome match, so I'm happy with that outcome as well. I love a good battle royale, especially a tag team one. Hopefully Isiah Kassidy can last longer than one minute this time. 

Jon Moxley, PAC, and Rey Fenix vs. Kenny Omega and The Good Brothers

This has match of the year potential. Fenix and Omega put on a classic in 2021 already, now we're throwing Mox and PAC in too? This is going to be so good. The Good Brothers crack me up whenever they're on screen, and Kenny Omega is the best wrestler in the world. I look forward to how he fits "NORTH CAROLINA!" into his entrance each week. I wonder if someone new shows up this week. Maybe someone with a briefcase. Not sure who that could be, but it's something to think about. 

Prediction - Moxley pins one of Gallows or Anderson, but Omega and friends end the show on top

Christian's Return to the WWE Last Night Was Incredible

 

The last time we saw Christian wrestle in a WWE ring, it was February 2014. He won a fatal four-way match over Alberto Del Rio (real bad dude), Dolph Ziggler, and Sheamus on RAW. Christian was the number one contender for Big E's Intercontinental Championship. During the match, he sustained another concussion from a Del Rio kick and was forced to retire. He never got the match against Big E, and nobody thought he'd ever wrestle again. 

I was 13 years old when Christian wrestled his last match. He was one of my favorite wrestlers. Ever since he retired, he's been on my short list of dream comebacks along with CM Punk and Edge. I never thought it would happen, and honestly, I never really thought he should. But then Edge came back. 

When Edge returned in the Rumble match last year, it made me think about possibilities. If Edge could do it, why not Christian? Obviously, it wasn't that simple. Brain injuries are much different than spine injuries, but the chance was there. When we saw that Edge hadn't lost a step during his nine year hiatus, I thought about Christian again. And then when Christian showed up to wrestle Randy Orton in June, I thought it might really happen. Instead of wrestling a match that night, Christian got hit with a low-blow by Ric Flair and then punted by Randy. Not a real match. I thought that was it, until last night.

There's nothing like a Royal Rumble countdown. Hearing the whole crowd yell each number at the top of their lungs is always a highlight of the show. We didn't get that this year. What we did get was so much better. After Carlito and Kane made special appearances in the match, I figured it was over. Everyone else was going to be a current wrestler. Then the countdown for the 24th entrant started. I was sitting on my couch. My roommate was texting. One word made us both jump out of our seats. "Go!"

The second "Just Close Your Eyes" hit and Christian's Titantron went up, I couldn't sit down. It was a surreal moment. Nobody thought Christian would ever be able to take another bump and here he is, in the Royal Rumble match. Not just that, he did it with Edge. In 2021. That's insane. I stood for the rest of the show after he came out. Christian made it to the final four and just like Edge, he hadn't lost a step. He hit a Killswitch on Big E and helped eliminate Bobby Lashley. It was just like the Christian of ten years ago. 

Why did Christian's return mean so much to me? It's a question I've been thinking about all day as I write this piece. The best answer I could come up with is this; pure nostalgia. Wrestling was a big part of my childhood. I spent at least 5 hours a week watching it from age 11 to 15 or 16. I definitely spent more than 5 hours thinking about it each week. I was even able to see it in person a handful of times. Seeing someone return that was such a huge figure during that time always brings me back. Even when it's someone that I don't have a huge connection with like Edge or John Morrison, I still go nuts for them. Christian was different. As I mentioned earlier, he's one of my favorites. Always has been, always will be. Seeing him return to the ring after seven years on the shelf made me feel like that 11 year old kid again. That doesn't happen much in today's wrestling.  

I'm still a wrestling fan, but it's different. I don't have time to watch the daily shows anymore, with the exception of Dynamite. Maybe Christian's return will change that. Edge's did for a couple of months, Christian's could do the same. Last night was an all-time Royal Rumble for me. I just wish that there were fans there for Christian's big moment. Maybe it'll happen at Wrestlemania.