The Regulator

I honestly think we reneged on our bargaining position with our transfers. The squad was dreadfully unbalanced when we started and we still don't have cover at left back, CB or on the wings. Any manager looking at it would have thought we need at least 4-5 signings and could do with shipping out at least half a dozen. We also have a real dilemma in the middle of the park, in central midfield (defensive mid and attacking) we have Davies, Gueye, Schneiderlin, Klassen, Sigurdsson, Rooney, McCarthy and Besic. That's 8 of our midfielders that all play through the middle of the park. With Vlasic not showing the promise he was bought for so far, that leaves Lookman and Bolasie as the only natural wide players we have. I think any manager barring Sam would have baulked at the idea of inheriting an imbalanced, underperforming squad that needed key additions and had incredibly high aspirations and standards. We all expect Everton to be a competitive, European spot occupying side, however we flatter to deceive and although all our players in form are a force we have one of the weakest 11's in the league at the moment. Kenny has improved massively but Coleman gives us so much more going forward, Baines has been missed, the older CB's need replacing and Keane needs to find form. Although we have quality, I feel we're a long way off our best 11, or even knowing exactly how that looks. Tosun will add goals undoubtedly, I'm tipping him to have the Jelavic effect and be effective from the off, but it cant mask the quality we lack elsewhere. I think Sam is going to stick with the same plan he came here with, defend, keep clean sheets and try and nick a goal. I don't like it, and it makes me think I'd prefer Martinez, but really the blend of discipline and man management is exactly what we need right now. We had a blip but it's because we are rudderless up front, despite DCL's hard work. We'll be fine, and I'd actually be more interested to see how he'd line us up and what our results would be with all players fit and firing. You can say what youw ant about his track record, but this is by far the strongest squad in terms of depth and individual quality, that Allardyce has ever inherited. I think he needs time as much as anyone else to figure out the best approach and then we'll really see the measure of him as a tactical manager. Anyway, rant over

Good to see you all! I still remember all these names to be fair!! Glad some things never change I never did become a rockstar or screenwriter, but if you work in the civil service and have a HR query you better know there's no one better Unless, you know, you count every other HR professional Hope you're all doing better than Sandro's midsection or Davy Klassen's hairline! Don't worry, now im back we'll be in 5th again in no time...

Not sure if this counts as spam, but any users who were here back in '09 still around? Used to post on here quite a bit for a while but then forgot my login Enough happening with the club now that I felt compelled to return with more sarcasm than ever before! Hope everyone is well and Happy New Year!

On the face of it I'd say no. Dempsey had his best years at Fulham, and peaked a few seasons ago. I grant you, a Dempsey of 2 seasons back would waltz into our starting line up, and just about anyone else's he was that proficient in front of goal. I can't see him adding anything to the squad now though, except being a big name on the bench. We need depth it's true, but Barkley will want to aim for the world cup and another AMC, someone in the vein of Dempsey, would probably do more harm than good. Really, I think we need another box to box player, Fernando would be ideal but if not him a player like him. It's that step up that we need, especially with Gibson out, a versatile midfielder with a good engine. Something Dempsey was, but I think is passed now.

When it comes to footballers, sometimes I feel this is harsh. Jagileka can read the game very well, and make very intelligent decisions about where he puts himself in order to maximise preventing an attack from being successful. Football encorporates a lot of judgement and awareness, sensing how hard to hit a ball, feeling when a moment is right to make a pass or go yourself, knowing where to position yourself to intercept an attacking threat. This has almost nothing to do with how eloquently you can answer questions from interviews, which are often times bullshit and pointless anyway. In fact, I've never thought Jagielka to be that bad. Repeating phrases when talking is a sign of nervousness, but also, especially when receiving question after question, as a launching point. Saying "Yes definitely" everytime is probably a default response like "Thank you for your email" or "Hi my names Jupinder can I take your virgin account number?" It's just something he says while he thinks of what to answer.

I think his career ended when he scored his goal in his testimonal. I very much doubt we'll see him pull on a blue shirt again, although I've always liked Tony, never a skillful player but hard working and on his day a good defender, remember when we needed him to play centre back (think against man city? might be mistaken) and he played an absolute blinder. Great servant and a fan favourite, really hope he takes up a role within the everton structure. Incidentally, I always sell Tony on Fifa and it's always Villa or West Ham that buy him, I struggle to get them to more than 500k though :/

I may be the only one, but good as Lukaku can be, I think really we should be looking at him the same way he's looking at us, a stepping stone. Lukaku's goals might mean we can make top 4, if it were the case, we'd have extra cash and the prospect of potentially being in the champions league the following season to attract new talent. Relying on Lukaku and his goals would be like Liverpool were with Torres, having only Babel and Ngog as back up because Torres was so nailed on to score at that time. Even if we did buy him, he could get a serious injury or simply lose form and we've spent the bulk of our available cash on securing teh services of a striker who has already provided us with what we needed, opening the door to the highest level of competition. I know the point above could apply to any striker eg Jelavic's sublime half season followed by goal anemia, but I feel like we should be looking for the Michu's, the cheaper deals on players of quality who for whatever reason are not as recognised as players like Lukaku and Benteke. Don't get me wrong, I think the Predator is the best striker we've had in a very long time, but we have to accept he's here for one year only, and adjust our targets accordingly.

That "Rio Ferdinand thinking about merking someone" smacks of casual racism. Didn't read on from that point.

In fairness, I'd say it balances out, as BBC's cheif football writer Phil McNulty is an everton fan, or at least that's what I can gather, given his nature of being able to mention Everton someway in every article he writes.

Add to that the idea that Wigan effectively had a choice, go guns blazing and win the cup but likely suffer relegation, or take it easy in the cup and focus on trying to beat arsenal at the Emirates in the middle of strong spell of form for them. They opted to go for the trophy, and they got it, thanks in large part to our new manager. The winning mentality can only apply to a squad that can sustain it. Wigan and Birmingham had average squads with hard grafters and a few players of quality, we have a squad full of quality. If we win a cup we'll have the experience to not let it effect our league aspirations negatively. Plus Wigan and Birmingham both knew it's all they could hope to get out of their seasons, while we have much more to aim for. Swansea are in the middle ground, they did drop off after their cup win and towards the end of the season looked quite weak. This season however they have recovered their strength and are showing the determination that gets caked in after winning a trophy. I wouldn't be surprised if they made the last 16 in Europa. We've come close before, and if we can overturn Fulham, I reckon we have as good a chance as any at winning the league cup. If we can get it, it means at the very least european football next season, so I really hope RM can pull it off. With the squad we've got now, I really think he can.

I think every fan of the club should get to vote. And I also think that this crest stuff is a load of horseshit. Seriously.

I know we did it with Duffy? Wasn't he on loan and we had a load of injuries at the back? I seem to remember him coming back to play against Villa, and having a good game too. I would think that in this case, they can't just recall a striker because theirs aren't scoring. If Eto'o, Torres and Ba all got injured then maybe, but even then, they'd all have to be out for a at least a month to justify it, given that Chelsea have more attacking midfielders than sense, plus I'm sure Schurrle can play upfront. So my answer would be no chance, they've loaned him for experience, if they thought he would play a part they would have kept him and loaned Ba, obviously they feel Eto'o/Ba/Torres can get the job done. Based on the start they've had though, I'd be worried about who made the Lukaku decision keeping their job

Naismith was on a free though, so criticism should come quicker and easier. Granted he came back from an injury last season that takes a while to recover from, but all the same, he needs to do what he did on Saturday and work his tits off because that's the only way he'll stay in the frame. McCarthy on the other hand, is a young player we spent a chunk of change on with a view to being an important midfielder for us in the future. He should have a good dozen games at getting into the team and showing what he can do before he gets any cynicism or criticism from fans imo. Plus, I think McCarthy, Barkley and Barry could give us an incredible balance in midfield and make our passing game not just more fluent but also faster and more incisive.

In terms of selection, same back 5, barry barkley mccarthy mirallas pienaar and kone. I get the feeling this will be a tight game, we'll do well not to concede but I think we will. That ebing said I also think we'll grab a goal. I cant really see past a 1-1 draw for this one. Which is fine, we could really do with winning, but not losing in our first 4 games is still decent.

Don't get me wrong I'd love it if he started as I think he's a very attacking, dangerous player on the ball. He can put in a variety of crosses and also switch feet and cut inside. Haven't seen much of his shooting but his positioning and reactions are excellent. My only thought about starting against Chelsea is they have a very strong defense and being away from home I'd warrant they'd play 4-2-3-1 which will make itr even harder to break through. I'd rather save Delofeu's explosiveness for when Cole is getting tired and we can exploit any complacency that surfaces.