Oztoffee

Did I see the same game? To me Naismith and Peanuts ran their arses off trying to fill the spaces left by Osman who failed to turn up and Neville who did turn up but should have been left in the bus! Fellaini was crap in the first half and marginally better in the second half (2 headers made the difference). Howard again was not in any way in control of the 6-yard box and Distin & Jags were reasonably solid at the back but lacking in finesse (ie passes) going forward. Jelly is a trier, but WTF is he out on the wing collecting balls when he's a poacher? Mirallas need not have bothered coming on for what he did. Only Victor (god bless him) comes away with any plaudits. His runs off the ball and through balls in the penalty area were a breath of fresh air that came too late to save the game...he has to start next game. Neville should never pull on an Everton shirt again...moving him out of midfield was the best thing that could have happened. Only City and Chelsea have fewer goals against, proving that the defence is working well, but we are out of the picture in attack. This has been an Everton problem for 10 / 12 years and must be addressed ASAP. Midfield are not providing enough good ball and the forwards have been predictable running the channels. We have a history of taking proven goalscorers and turning them into workhorses......working for the team but not scoring goals. We need to change....and quickly!

But isn't this the Moyes way? Buy a player because he's good at something (otherwise he wouldn't have been bought) and then play him somewhere else where he's out of his depth. Not the player's fault! But that is Moyes' history.

Another lost 2 points against opposition we should belt past. Sorry, we didn't lose points...we just really never wanted them. They were there for the taking and we let many opportunuties go by. Why is Neville still allowed on the pitch? FFS! I missed the first 20 mins of the game, but of the rest he made his first tackle in extra time FFS! Mostly he just stood around and pointed and made obvious passes that I could have made even at my OAP age! Too disappointed to say more...except that I was shitting myself in the last 10 mins because I thought Swansea could score...THEN I'd....Aaaaaargh!

I've been known on here not to be a rabid Moyes fan,though I admit that h'e changed this season for the better.....apart from subs at Cheltenham. If, however he did fancy a tilt with Schalke we could do worse than look at Guus Hiddinck. Proven ability with a great track record and good at man-management too. I'm too tired/lazy to seek out what the current situation is as to whether he could become available......worth a crack IMO. What say you???

Must say, like many others I guess, I was surprised by Moyes' subs. OK Maggie given a little go to shop-window him for on-sale maybe (was it me or did he look like he was a Pukka Pies addict?), but Hitz and Naismith?? One can only speculate as to why no Barkley, but I can understand maybe Hitz and Naisy given a little run to keep them interested in a first team place. But then they get a run most games anyhow! Moyes obviously thinks that Barkley isn't ready yet/good enough/fit enough/doesn't have the right attitude at training etc etc. I'd go for the attitude thing personally...there's something not quite kosher about the whole Moyes/Barkley thing and Moyes is and always will be the gaffer...so he's always right.

The Royals must continue. I only get 5 mins of quiet a couple of times a week when the wife reads the women's magazines! Without the Royals there would be no women's mags as there would be little else to write about. Mind you, they already write crap about almost everything and the womenfolk just lap it up

It's hard to imagine Jelavic possibly having such a bad game again so soon and Peanuts really is buzzing at the moment. Osman is getting the opportunities too so I can see a really good result on the cards here providing we can tighten up at the back and concentrate a little more......the recent goals against us have been almost laughable...schoolboy stuff in some cases. Looking at the rest of the Prem 'keepers, I think Tim is really only adaequate at best and I reckon a replacement must be on Moyes' New Year wish list. All that said, a cracking 4-1 win is not too much to expect. As someone said earlier, a tonking is on the cards for someone....I reckon it's Wigan!

Out of the loop downunder a little, so what's the news on Neville? IMO (such as it is) this is a good opportunity to quietly pull him aside and say 'enough is enough'. Whether Moyes would actually do that is another thing of course. Don't get me wrong...a great club servant...was really useful when we needed some steel in midfield (..ish)....blah...blah. But I feel, just like Timmy that his time is over and maybe he should step aside before the axe comes down. Surely as a proffessional he should be aware of that himself. If he plays on, I think it must be Moyes getting in his ear, maybe he'd think that Neville still has a role to play at Goodison as a player, although I must admit if that happened I'd be really dissappointed with Moyes as it was obvious to all that Neville couldn't handle it any longer and was deteriorating almost with every game. It's Timmy, Graveson and Carsley all over again....one season too much. What say you all?

Even Timmy said in effect that you have to admit to yourself that the boat has sailed. Love him in a manly way if we must, but FFS realise that when he left he was at least a season past his best. I prefer to remember him as he was.....see Paul McCartney if you need any further proof. Thanks Timmy, you are IMO a true Evertonian, welcome at Goodison at any time. Take the applause........but leave your boots at home:)

I personally am not too bothered about the decisions, it's the lack of consistency that is the real problem. Each referee views each incident in a different light and the variables can be quite stunning. I know what I'm talking about because I've done it! I let a probable deliberate handball slide because the player involved already had a yellow card for a nothing incident (he was booked as an example to others because the game was getting a tad tetchy), the game was evenly balanced with about 5 mins to go and to award a penalty and send the player off would unfairly punish the offending player's team. I had 3 seconds to think about it and that's the decision I came up with. Would I have come to the same conclusion in the first half? Probably not....that's the whole point. But note I said probable. It cannot ever be proven that a handball was deliberate in most cases. Don't get me started on 'ball to hand' either! It's a lose-lose arguement. These however are matters of opinion, not matters of fact. Matters of fact include offside decisions, ball in/out of play, ball crosses goal-line yes/ no etc. These can be decided by replay evidence which surely must come. Matters of opinion will always be contentious issues and we are stuck with them until the Referee's Association gets it's shit together and does something positive about different training for referees.

Most frustrating player, he always produced more for Ireland than he did for us, but then Moyes didn't play him in his right possie if I remember. A real grafter though, he always played his heart out. Good luck, Kevin.

Thanks for asking MikeO. It was the best....good to be back at Goodison again after so long. I'd really forgotten how crap the Lower Bullens Rd stand is....missed half the derby game because of pillars, low roof and couldn't see the screens either. Great atmosphere though, I was right next to the away supporters and they were great for the most part except for the odd twat.....older blokes too they were (probably pissed before they got there). At least I didn't get wet! My missus wasn't overly impressed with the whole thing though. She's Aussie (poor thing) and just didn't get it at all. She keeps trying to get me to change support to another team so I don't get so grumpy....as if! Generally the weather was crap, wet and/or cold....was glad to get home really. 5 weeks away and living out of suitcases doesn't promote harmonious relationships with ones other half. But I wouldn't have missed it for the world! COYB!

I must say though that having seen a few of the other games on offer this week, we're not looking helluva good. Some teams who we've lost points to are looking rather smarter at the minute while we seem to have gone off the boil. I mean, the Arse were crap this weekend and we thought we'd won the cup when we came away with a draw the week before. The Prem world is changing...Citeh faltering a little, Chelski in total disarray and Arsenal out for the count. There's a new breed of teams out there just waiting for an opportunity.....Spurs, WBA, Swansea, West Ham and us. And we pick this time to go missing when results count? I know we're x points and y places better off than last season at this time but we do need to get a bit of a hurry up and start winning the games we're losing points in to lesser teams. I thought some weeks ago that we were on a roll and had shrugged off the bogeys of previous seasons bad starts, unfortunately we just exchanged an early season bad start for a mid season crap run. We need to get a grip and get some results on the board. For the life of me I just can't see where we're going wrong.... we have the players, and for the most part they are better pound for pound than any others outside the top 2 teams and waaaay better than the likes of WBA, West Ham and Swansea, yet we play as if we're only waiting for the full time whistle and it isn't coming quick enough! I feel for Moyes at the moment, nothing is going right and maybe he's just like me and doesn't know how to fix it. However, he's getting 8 mill a year to Know how to fix it.....I'll do that for half of what he's getting!

I watched this on TV and watched some of the Utd v W Ham game at HT and at the end of the Everton game. What a shipload of crap it was! The way we played against the Arse we would have crushed Utd today. Yes we were unlucky with refereeing decisions (again) but we should be patient.....and that really goes against the grain for me. (I'm into instant gratification). The signs are there...we're playing with skill and effort...maybe too much of the latter. Pienaar was trying REALLY hard and tried to do too much when the easy options were perhaps better. The difference is we're NOT LOSING too many games and that I believe is really important right now. This time last season we were languishing without hope in the 'also rans' section and our points tally at the moment would have seemed totally out of reach. We have a springboard now to build on as recent history has proven, in the second half of the season. CL? Maybe, but I think that a Euro spot at least is more than just a possibility.

If only this could be true

The biggest culprit for that goal is Howard The ball was high and floaty and any keeper worth his salt would have been coming out and taking control of that situation. You can see him think about it but then he back tracks and in the end that is what allows Bassong to score, because he is then out of position. Any ball with that type of flight when it is that close to the goal should always be the keepers. I can understand him not wanting to catch it due to the conditions, but he needs to be punching that clear. Absolutely correct....not the first time that Howard has backed off when he should be out there taking control. That's why the 6=yard box used to be called the goal area. Because the 'keeper had control in that area. It was his decisions there that counted and the box was literally under his management. No excuses! The rest of the game was so predictable. I just knew (could feel it in my water) that we'd come out the second half as a different team....we'd hold out until the end. As the end got closer the equaliser was inevitable. I knew it and the crowd at the ground knew it, you could feel it even on TV. CL? Never at this level of performance. I'm amazed that we're still up there in the top 5, but the points don't lie. Unless there's a swift change of attitude, tactics and refereeing ability we'll be lucky to finish in the top 8.

Sideliner has it right I reckon. Just looking at the games this week, if we ever get to the CL I'm afraid we would be uncompetitive. Even though Chelski lost quite badly I get the feeling that because of our lack of depth we wouldn't have done as well. Let's be honest, Real Madrid too would have torn us a new one and I can't see us anytime soon being in the Utd position where they could field a second XI because they are so dominant in their group. CL.......be careful what you wish for!

Maybe I've been looking in the wrong part of the forum, but I havn't seen anything that anyone has written about the performances of Mirallas to date. TBH I think he's been a bit hot and cold. He looks like he's got the right sort of energy and willingness to get stuck in and also to back-pedal when the need arises. He's been in some great spots for a snap shot at goal, but he's also had times when he's had a shot that was spectacularly bad where other team members have been in positions that were far better and much more likely to result in a goal or at least a shot that tested the keeper (nearly showed my age and wrote 'custodian'). I personally think he's trying a bit too hard at times, maybe a few words from Moyes about choices will sort it. Having said that, it really is refreshing to have someone on board who is willing to have a go at times.....I think we were getting predictable over the past couple of seasons. With Mirallas and Jelly showing form and Anichebe maybe finding his self-belief at last we have some unpredictable forwards that may keep the opposition on their toes. Having tickets for the Liverpool game, can't wait to see it. COYB!

Awesome for the most part today. However if we play against better teams like we did for the 2nd half we will get punished. I see Peinaar was absolutely stuffed last ten minutes, Fellaini was at half speed too. Oviedo ran about but to little effect really. Once Jeli had gone we lost impetus and they came back at us...a bit worrisome for the last 15 mins and they had a few chances. Lucky that they were worse than we were by then:) All in all though 3 points without too much bovver.

Just a quick addition to the above post....during my search for tickets I phoned the fansite number (yes....from Oz!). It was 10p per minute and I was put on hold for ever. Meanwhile the background music was Z Cars (of course) but it was the tinniest, scratchiest, most distorted piece of crap it has ever been my misfortune to hear. Surely to God we could get something done about it.....it was not a good thing professionally speaking and anyone calling must have been disappointed. More humorously, when the girl eventually answered I realised how long I'd been away......couldn't understand a bloody word she said! I had to interrupt her and tell her to slow down a bit so I could understand. So she spoke REAL slow and like she was talking to a baby, Shit it was so funny I cracked up! Looking forward the the game. COYB!

The OS is saying they are going to up his training schedule as he's doing OK, but a decision still hasn't been made. Could be a worthwhile investment if he can get up to full fitness and as apparently Everton are one of the fittest teams in the Prem we have the people to do that for him.

Replying to Nikkolamur firstly; you're absolutely right..no chance in that area.....been there and tried that to no avail. What I have done is get a membership to ForEverton Overseas. Costs 20 pounds but you have access to tickets at a slight discount rate. I had to join from Oz giving my home phone number but having the tickets delivered to my sisters place in the Wirral because by the time the tickets are delivered I'll be there. This was 2 days ago....the money has been taken off my credit card almost immediately and I'm waiting for my sister to phone to tell me the tickets have arrived. I got 2 Bullens Rd OAP tickets for 68 quid including the ForEverton membership. Worth a go Nikko and good luck!

Really do hope you're right....we also have to keep Heitinga. He'd be a great asset together with Bainsey amongst the younger players.

Overall we are starting to get a bit long in the tooth at the back...Hibbert 31, Jags 30, Distin 35, Neville 35. We really need to blood some young 'uns at the back while we still have a little time up our sleeves.

Hello folks! I don't know whether this is the right part of the forum for this....... I havn't been to an Everton game in UK for about 45 years (saw them in Brisbane a few years ago though). I'm back home in October and will be around for the game against Liverpool. I'm wondering how easy (or otherwise) it would be to get a couple of tickets? I don't get into town until about 17th...is this too late If so, any ideas would be welcome. Oztoffee