rowlo-efc

I had a lot of respect for Chelsea until we played them.. They have great players and one of the best midfielders and Centre backs in Europe in Lampard and Terry - but talk about cheats.. Del Horno - every time he twisted his sock he fell over. terry and Huth constantly kicked and elbowed BT and Dunc (although they gave as good as they got) and Essien is a dirty bastard - some of his tackles were disgraceful.. also - Valente was sliding nice passes about and Dunc was winning everything and causing no end of bother - thats why they fouled both of them... Now I just see them as a bunch of cheats and I hope that us taking points off them and charlton winning last night will rock their boat and cause them to slip up. I would laugh then! As the song goes... 'where were you, where were you, where were you when you were shit?'

Disagree - we have plenty of central midfielders that can cover for Neville's position in the holding role. And the holding role doesnt work that well in a 4-4-2 formation - yet neville still sits back - just infront of the back 4. I think that Moyes should put neville at left back and have a midfield of arteta....Davies.....Cahill.......VDM It is very attacking but is exactly what we need.

Anyway - just to annoy you more fozzie22 - I blame Moysey for last nights goal and the reason for this... Ferrari was involved in a heavy collision that saw him removed from teh pitch for treatment - when he came back on he could barely walk, let alone run... So, as expected, boro fired the ball down their right hand side (our left) and attacked the weakened ferrari. He kept drifting out of position because he couldn't run - yet Moysey left him on. Then when the ball was threaded through to Jimmy fatwank, the only player in any sort of position to cover it was....Ferrari - who couldn't track back quick enough. Okay - where was weir and why did it take yobo longer to turn than a double decker bus? But even if we take this into account - I cant help but think that if Moysey had made the substitution straight away - we wouldn't have conceded! Oh well - thats my opinion! GRRR.

Thats what I thought but the EFc story says that killa is the next in line - I really cant understand what moyes sees in him. He is average at best - and we rarely see him at best!

You'd be suprised. Steve Simmo (i used to play golf with him before EFC let him go) used to read the forums, newspapers, websites etc.etc. So too did Steve Watson and Rhino (played golf with them as well - through Simmo). I know that officials at EFC look at the sites regularly to get a jist of the fans view. - so he may just be looking!!! You never know! Anyway - how do we know that Cahill isn't going to play - didn't think that he would miss the oppurtunity to help the Aussies qualify for the world cup -especially as it was uruguay who knocked them out of the qualifiers last time around!

Yes you are - go and take a chill pill will ya! take deep breaths before posting and have a swift pint!

If you boo the mistakes then next time round there will be added pressure to perform - then, when a mistake is made - that individual will feel a let down and his game will rapidly go down hill. It is happening to Everton and it simply doesn't help. I understand the frustration - I paid my money too. But I dont boo - if they get beat they know that they haven't been good enough - it doesn't take a crowd full of doom and gloomers to tell them that. At the end of the day - despite the money they get paid (which is outrageous - because I dont earn it!) - they are still Human - they still hear things and still very much have emotions which can be effected by the same things that effect you or I. to say that they should get on with it and ignore it because they are supposed to be professionals is a complete and utter load of bollox - when bonus time comes round in your workplace - do you think your Boss forgets about the tiff that you both had at the last years xmas party - does he shite! Human nature prohibits us from being consumate professionals - A player cannot play with flair and sensation if he has no emotion - so its swings and roundabouts - you want the emotion when we are winning - but not when we are losing. Its tough shit - its there and booing makes it worse. it causes our heads to drop and ultimately it is the fans that suffer when we get beat because we cant find it in our hearts to support the team in a positive way. Effectively - those that boo or jeer the team are biting their noses off to spite their own faces.

And the 6th is also my birthday!!!

no the game has been moved to the 6th because boro are in the Uefa cup on the thursday night!!!

http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?hlid=32...el=english_cups look at the possession in the table at the bottom of the article - 60%

The fans reaction to the defeat last night was a disgrace - booing at full time should never be heard, especially when we had been unlucky to have not scored. At thats exactly what it was - unlucky. But it doesnt really matter - its the carling cup - a mickey mouse tournament that will only get in the way. Okay - its a route to Europe - but who cares? I think that the team will have gained a lot from last night - there were some interesting changes - kilbane at left back, Davies in centre mid, VDM, Arteta's 3rd game at right wing, arteta and hibbo linking up BT's 2nd competitive game since injury... We can take a lot from the performance and analyse the bad points and turn misfortune around - hopefully starting with the brummies... but it WILL NEVER HAPPEN if the attitude of the fans doesn't change from Doom and Gloom The fans will send us down this year, if we are not careful. Only 3 days before, the atmosphere was electric - drawing with the league champions - yet Wednesday and apart from the odd 'if ya know yer history' - the crowd was silent - Dead almost. How can players raise the game if they are thinking that the fans aren't happy?

The fans reaction to the defeat last night was a disgrace - booing at full time should never be heard, especially when we had been unlucky to have not scored. At thats exactly what it was - unlucky. But it doesnt really matter - its the carling cup - a mickey mouse tournament that will only get in the way. Okay - its a route to Europe - but who cares? I think that the team will have gained a lot from last night - there were some interesting changes - kilbane at left back, Davies in centre mid, VDM, Arteta's 3rd game at right wing, arteta and hibbo linking up BT's 2nd competitive game since injury... We can take a lot from the performance and analyse the bad points and turn misfortune around - hopefully starting with the brummies... but it WILL NEVER HAPPEN if the attitude of the fans doesn't change from Doom and Gloom The fans will send us down this year, if we are not careful. Only 3 days before, the atmosphere was electric - drawing with the league champions - yet Wednesday and apart from the odd 'if ya know yer history' - the crowd was silent - Dead almost. How can players raise the game if they are thinking that the fans aren't happy?

It says that kilbane will be the natural choice! I would play neville there and start VDM and Cahill with Davies and Arteta. (or Osman for Davies).

Its sad but true - but as Ianthetoffee says - he linked up well with Arteta during the game but always looked to give the ball back in fear of a bad cross - but when he did cross, it wasn't actually that bad. He just needs more confidence going forward and crossing the ball - that can only come by his teamates and the fans encouraging him during the game - when he gets a chance to cross - let him know!

says that he has a minor ankle injury and wont play against Birmingham (too soon) - but it will be alright after that.

Lets hope and pray that that is the case! Cahill would have done well last night - given the number of crosses we put in the box.

He got forward a bit last night and It will have done him the world of good - his inexperience at knowing when to cross the ball showed - a few times he should have crossed first time but looked for a safer option of passing inside to Neville or Davies. It will come soon....

Me too. The way I see it is that the Carling cup is a bit of a ball ache. We struggled with the amount of matches we had to play at the start of the year - with the Carling cup - we would have still been playing midweek games and knackering out the squad - we cant afford to do that given our current state of affairs, league position and injury list.

Hibbo tackles better than anyone in the side (in my opinion) but his distribution is worse than anybody's in the side. In fact - the more time you give him on the ball, the worse the pass is. If he could pass a ball or cross a ball (like Gary Neville) then he would have England caps to his name - sadly, he doesn't seem to work on his passing!

He's obviously right footed - but so too was Anders Limpar and he was a great winger for us. I was impressed with VDM in the last 30 mins last night. He looked a bit like 'kanchelskis' - cutting inside to get a shot off - what we desparately need. His crosses where superb - had Cahill played we may have got something from the game... WE seemed to be 'reaching' for the ball int he box - rather than attacking the ball. the strikers were not very good last night.

I made the conscious decision to sit in the Top balcony last night so that i could see what was going on 'off the ball'. firstly - well done that little lad who ran on and tried to slide tackle the boro defence - followed by running back towards the Gwladys street with his arsm raised as if he'd scored the winner in the FA cup final! Secondly. I though that in the first half before he was injured, Ferrari looked very good and linked with Kilbane very well. The goal sadly came as a result of Ferrari's injury. they played the ball towards him and jimmy flloydddddd fatwank beat him for pace because Ferrari couldn't run. Then Martyn made a boo boo and let it go between his legs! (school boy error) I blame Moysey for the goal - it was obvious to me that Ferrari was finished but he didn't sub him straight away - and we had an international defender on the bench - per kroldrup. We had chance after chance really - Arteta was fantastic and his link up play with Hibbert in the first half was a joy to watch. Second half - not so good to start. In fact boro were all over us for the first ten minutes - but another goal didn't come despite one the most clear cut chances that i have ever seen - Jimmy fatwank couldn't hit the target! It then brightened up a bit for the blues - and as the clock ticked, we got better and better. onthe hour mark, VDM made his long awaited début - first touch - gave the ball away in his own half Ajudging that to have been nerves - he quickly got into the game and one us a foul - which Arteta almost converted, leaving the crossbar rattling... VDm then began to show us why Inter had signed him all two years ago - his crossing was very good - infact too good for the Everton strike force. BT was poor - he tracked back well (better than Mcfadden and Bent) but his off the ball positioning and reading of the game is amatuerish - pub team at best! He had two clear chances for me - missed both of them - one he fluffed and the other he hit wide. McFadden - worst player on the pitch. enough said - the lad had lots of chances to set things up but - like Peter beagrie used to, he failed to give the ball up until he had lost it. Weir/Yobo -usual from them So in summary I thought we played ok - we where better than boro going forward but looked nervous at the back and in midfield when they attacked. Arteta was sensational for us - had a good shot saved (good save) and a free kick that hit the bar. He took players on and his crossing was very good. VDM - I could like this guy - nice crosses - decent shot off aswell.. Neville - played well - was the voice on the park and got himself about a bit - especially down the right - supporting hibbert and arteta on the overlap. truth for me....we had the beating of boro - they were certainly no better than us - but.....story of our season - WE COULDNT SCORE!

Well - i'll be there regardless - I've been to some dodgy places watching EFC - and in all whethers - including snow during the away game at Port Vale (FA Cup 96 (i think) - Mat Jackson had a howler- we lost) Then there was hale and sleet at Bristol in the Fa cup in 95 (we won - mat jackson scored) Then there was the tear gas at panithaniakos! how that hurt! But all worth it to watch the blues

VDM - there has been a lot of hype about VDM lately - especially on this forum. I am unsure as to whether or not he will cut the mustard in the premiership - he has been likened to Bergkamp and it has been mentioned that his style of play will suit the english game better than the Italian girlie stuff. For me, it is impossible to rely on one player to 'pull us out of the shit' - especially when that player has only played once for the reserves and has not kicked a competitive football for months and months. No doubt that he is a good player - he wouldn't have played for the Netherlands or be adored by many dutch fans if he wasn't. (see ebay - loads of signed Dutch shirts on offer - must be a big star in Holland) I would love him to be the next Anders Limpar. Get himself wide but also get around the park alot. If you remember correctly - Limpar could play right or left and was a wicked player - supported all the time and attacked defences with style and pace - his crosses where always troublesome for the opposition! Altough a good player I'm sure, I will not be counting my chickens yet! What do we think? will he cut the mustard - will he make the grade? Predictions before the boro game please (so that I can review tomorrow).

My prediction is that Boro will not bring a big team to face us as they have to think about Europe. Moyes will field the following: .....................Martyn....................... Hibbo.......Yobo.......Kroldrup..........Ferrari Osman.....Davies......Kilbane..........VDM ......Bent.......................McFadden....... On the bench Arteta weir Wright Beattie Neville I think that he may also want to start BT to keep his confidence high (possibly get a goal). I predict a very lack lustre 1-0 win for us (a boring game througout).