Marked for Christopher Bennett
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Defensive actions: 37, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Market10 Sep 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ulises Ortegoza will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Everton the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market10 Sep 2029
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Iliman N'Diaye was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.37, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match8 Sep 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Carlos Alcaraz. 2‑0 against Brentford, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad10 Sep 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dwight McNeil, and the manager let it.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Defensive actions: 18, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match25 Aug 2029
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
A defender's afternoon for James Garner
Defensive actions: 28. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad27 Aug 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Iliman N'Diaye was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.48, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Marked 9.28 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Market27 Aug 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Everton have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad27 Aug 2029
The manager makes an example of Emil Riis
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market20 Aug 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Everton can pretend not to have heard.
Market20 Aug 2029
Newcastle United pay $1.7M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad20 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market20 Aug 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Everton they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match18 Aug 2029
Fulham left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad20 Aug 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jarrad Branthwaite, and the manager let it.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
A performance of 9.16 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
A performance of 9.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
A performance of 8.20 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Aug 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Everton, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market6 Aug 2029
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Market6 Aug 2029
Everton bring in an old head
Javier Lopez is 35 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Market6 Aug 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Everton will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad6 Aug 2029
The manager makes an example of Kadan Young
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Jul 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Everton, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Matthias Seidl: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Everton have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market23 Jul 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Everton they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market23 Jul 2029
The phone has started ringing about Christopher Bennett again, and this time the name on the line is Reading. Everton are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad23 Jul 2029
The manager makes an example of Merlin Röhl
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jun 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market11 Jun 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Everton, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Jun 2029
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad11 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jun 2029
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad11 Jun 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Christopher Bennett commits to Everton for another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 May 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad21 May 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 May 2029
142 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad21 May 2029
81 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Loan watch21 May 2029
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Everton, and 5 appearances in 37 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad21 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jay Stansfield, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Apr 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Everton, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Apr 2029
116 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Mar 2029
Still nobody has beaten Everton
The unbeaten run reaches 13. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market26 Mar 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Everton, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Mar 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad26 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Iliman N'Diaye
6 goals and a season average of 7.63 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
Marked 8.89 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad26 Mar 2029
The medical room confirms 27 days on the sidelines for Malik Olayiwola, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
A masterclass from Beto
Marked 8.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Loan watch26 Mar 2029
“I did not go to Preston to sit and watch. I want to come back to Everton and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 29 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Defensive actions: 37, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad26 Feb 2029
16 goals and a season average of 7.64. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match24 Feb 2029
Still nobody has beaten Everton
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Braiden Graham: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Everton have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Feb 2029
No hiding place for Beto
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Beto, and the manager let it.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Loan watch26 Feb 2029
“I watch every Everton game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Preston runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market29 Jan 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad29 Jan 2029
A season average of 7.68 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad29 Jan 2029
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad29 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match27 Jan 2029
A 3‑2 win over Tottenham, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
Marked 9.29 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.62, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad29 Jan 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match27 Dec 2028
Everton bow out of the cup
Aston Villa go through and Everton go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market1 Jan 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Everton, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad1 Jan 2029
13 goals and a season average of 7.58. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad1 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.62, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match30 Dec 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Carlos Alcaraz. 3‑1 against Crystal Palace, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
A performance of 8.36 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
One of those days for Beto
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.27, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Dec 2028
There were 11 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad4 Dec 2028
404 appearances across 11 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Everton know what they have.
Market4 Dec 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Everton, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market4 Dec 2028
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad4 Dec 2028
11 goals and a season average of 7.53. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad4 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match2 Dec 2028
The wait goes on for Everton
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Nov 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market6 Nov 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Everton can pretend not to have heard.
Squad6 Nov 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match4 Nov 2028
Chelsea left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Marked 9.18 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad6 Nov 2028
7 goals and a season average of 7.47 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad6 Nov 2028
No hiding place for Beto
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Beto, and the manager let it.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Loan watch6 Nov 2028
“I watch every Everton game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Preston runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Oct 2028
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Everton have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market9 Oct 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Everton can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ferland Mendy and Everton agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Oct 2028
It finished 5‑3, and it was Carlos Alcaraz’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Everton.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 10.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Marked 8.68 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
A performance of 8.44 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Sep 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Preston may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad4 Sep 2028
David Alaba was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lewi Richards, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Lewi Richards has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Preston will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Market4 Sep 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Thierry Small’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market4 Sep 2028
The window shut and Alex Robertson is still in the building
Preston spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Aug 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Everton can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Iliman N'Diaye was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match26 Aug 2028
It finished 3‑2, and it was Mason Melia’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Everton.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
A performance of 8.92 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
A performance of 8.90 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
A performance of 8.69 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad28 Aug 2028
The manager makes an example of Ulises Ortegoza
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad28 Aug 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Christopher Bennett commits to Everton for another 4 years.
Squad28 Aug 2028
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Jordan Pickford knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Jul 2028
Illan Meslier has left for Bristol City in a $11.0M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market17 Jul 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Everton, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Everton count the cost of losing Beto
98 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market17 Jul 2028
Only the photograph left for Adama Soumaoro
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adama Soumaoro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Everton the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Iliman N'Diaye was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ulises Ortegoza, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Jan 2028
He is 20, and nobody at Everton signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad24 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
7 goals and a season average of 7.50. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
A performance of 8.82 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad24 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tim Iroegbunam, and the manager let it.
Match22 Jan 2028
It needed Dwight McNeil to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Sunderland, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Beto keeps on missing
Shots: 7, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.