Cornish Steve

When I read news articles calling for a manager's scalp, my first thought is usually "who's angling for the job?" After all, it's a lucrative job - and a new manager always brings in a new team. Then there are those looking to sell papers. It causes far more intrigue to claim someone's for the chop than to be boring and suggest nothing will happen. In other words, it's in the interests of a majority of spokespeople to oust a manager. Thank goodness for clubs and fans that look at the long-term picture instead of responding to short-sighted and self-interested pressure from the media.

He may well be needed to play at the back in some upcoming games.

Put out an experimental team. With Europe and the league already stretching the squad, we could do without FA Cup games too. The worst scenario right now would be a draw forcing a replay.

What a complete an utter bunch of whiners! We laugh at other sites going into meltdown, then all it takes is three losses in succession and some made-up newspaper headlines, and "off with his head." If this is what football has come to, with fans demanding (and sadly sometimes getting) their way when they don't win everything or get instant gratification, it's a sad day. McDonald's rules the world. Instant everything. What utter bollocks.

Sorry to give you a bad rap, Matt, but when you win we know it's a bad day! Still, you share that distinction today with Peter H, rusty, and TonkaRoost. No change at the top of the other leader boards.

No cheating by searching on the Internet!! How many of these questions can you answer correctly? 1) Which player in the current squad has scored the most goals for Everton? 2) Which current player has made the most appearances for Everton in Europe? 3) Which American player has scored the most goals for Everton? 4) Which player has made the most appearances for Everton as a substitute? 5) Who's the youngest player to have ever scored for Everton? 6) Which former Everton player also played for the Canadian national team? 7) How many Spanish citizens have ever played for Everton? 8) Who is the only German to have played for Everton? 9) Which two former Everton players share the Premier League record for red cards? 10) Which former Everton player holds a degree in Law?

My younger daughter is already in Times Square NYC, so my wife will probably insist that we try to spot her as they show the crowds on TV. So, we'll be awake!

Happy new year, Joel, me ol' fruit.

FWIW, I'd say that McCarthy is worth about £25m on the open market, maybe a little more. To Everton, though, given the role he plays, he's worth considerably more than that. At £13m, he was a steal.

But Haf, what did he do with the ball when making those passes? There were no balls penetrating the Krasnodar defence, there were no incisive passes that brought the game to life, not that I remember anyway. There were no runs to draw Krasnodar players out of position. Accurate passing is a start, for sure, but he needs to demonstrate some creativity and urgency. (Mind you, so do several other of our players right now.)

Sorry to hear about the job. Your last name's not Pardew, is it?

Maybe I should have posted my comments in this thread... http://www.toffeetalk.com/index.php?/topic/26854-another-factor-in-our-bad-season/?p=442608 The point is, why impose retroactive punishment that further hurts us?

As for McCarthy being a linchpin, I've certainly written that in the past. In some ways, the team's strategy has been built around him - and I'm guessing that Besic was brought in to build on that approach. Most games are won or lost in midfield. What's the definition of a linchpin? "A central cohesive element." This is exactly what McCarthy is, and he performs his role really well. I'm looking forward to McCarthy and Besic playing together, because they could become not just linchpins but central pillars.

I have to agree with this. In that game, Ledson had the ball often enough but did little with it. He lacked creativity. Maybe the lad will improve with more game time, but it would be a big risk to start him right now.

It's good that the FA have given Cisse a retroactive red card. His 3-match suspension, however, benefits our competitors and not us. If a red card is given retroactively, maybe one goal should be added to the other team's total for each affected half. In other words, if the sending off would have been in the first half, add two goals for the opponents; if in the second half, add one goal for the opponents.

Many congratulations. Get ready for the fact, though, that she'll soon have you wrapped around her little finger!

Am a bit late to this thread, but we had a great time. All six children were here, with our older daughter and family driving from Birmingham (Alabama, that is) and oldest son (and his girlfriend) flying in from Denver. Our second son lives 40 minutes away, and our fourth son attends college about four hours away. The other two still live at home. What with friends coming around too, there were sixteen of us around the table, wearing Christmas cracker paper crowns as we poured brandy on the Christmas pud and then set fire to it. Good to hear that others had a wonderful time as well. Hopefully all those hours spent building bikes and the like paid off.

Frankly, either configuration involving Lukaku and Kone would suffice. The key point is that Naismith must not be playing wide.

This is the setup I would hope for. The most likely difference would be Barry for Barkley.

The other day, someone posted a link that shows just how much Lukaku does put into each game. Your statement implies he just ambles around, and that's simply not true. Remember: prior to this season, he rarely played for 90 minutes. Now, it's much more common. Of the points listed, the most pertinent would be the number of individual errors that lead to goals. This is a far bigger problem for Everton than any other club. If I remember the numbers correctly, we've given up half as many goals again, for this reason, than any other team in the league. This matter alone goes a long way to explaining the difference between this season's points total and last season's. We don't lose a lot of games by more than one goal, so errors cost us a lot of points.

For the Newcastle game, I managed a tie with the TT Forum Average - 4 points. The TT Forum Average is doing rather well - ahead both for the month and for the season. MikeO is the only person to score more points per prediction. There's the challenge for the rest of the season - to beat the forum average. Congratulations to duncanmckenzieismagic, who scored 3 points in his first prediction - and may have won if he'd predicted a goalscorer. Welcome back to efc1111, who has rejoined the prediction game. Please note that your name appears in the monthly totals only if you've made a prediction this month. Your name appears in the list of points per prediction only if you've predicted at least half of the scores this season.

Hull 1-4 Everton Lukaku

Not too bad a record so far. Not everyone is going to work out. I'd cite McCarthy, besic, Etoo, and time may reveal Kone.

I agree with you, and that's especially evident during a game. Ten minutes after the start against Newcastle, there were comments about McGeady being brilliant; by half-time, he was the devil incarnate. That will always be the case. What frustrates me, though, are the extreme comments, often personal, well after the game is over. These are considered comments, not emotional comments made on the spur of the moment. They would appear to be more about grinding personal axes.

That's because Sir Alex, Wenger, and Mourinho are crap.