Cornish Steve

Having read the Newcastle thread last night, I can't believe just how fickle some fans can be. The team goes through a sticky patch, and our manager is suddenly crap, our best players are suddenly crap, our tactics are crap, and everyone should be fired. Indeed, it would appear that some armchair warriors are so confident they are right that they seriously think they could do a better job and they are the only ones with the right answers. Quite frankly, this is hilarious. Of course, everyone has the right to post their own opinions, but it takes some gall to think we know it all and to turn on the team in sometimes rather vicious ways. The name-calling would appear to be classic examples of ad-hom attacks revealing weak and unsubstantiated claims. Personally, I'm hoping that the bad moods will be healed with the passage of time. If not, maybe the term 'fan' needs to be redefined to mean someone who supports the team, its players, and its manager only when they win.

Isn't that the best indicator of all that they are not good enough? Even if we received little cash, we'd save on their wages and open up spots for others - academy players or those brought in later.

I agree with you (and a couple of others with the same opinion) that one or two ugly wins would not go amiss. I would point out, however, that, when that happens, plenty of others moan and complain about how we didn't deserve it and how we're playing crap. I agree with you that it's about attitude: Get behind the team, get behind the manager, and look for the positives instead of trying to find the worst of everything.

Newcastle 1-2 Everton Kone

...and we laugh at other team's forums when, after back-to-back defeats, their fans call for the manager's head.

Robles Hibbert Alcaraz Barry Garbutt McCarthy Besic McGeady Barkley Kone Lukaku Heaven knows what configuration I mean here, but I at least wanted to identify my preferred starters. Rest Coleman and Baines ahead of the Hull game. From here on, despite the injuries, there's just no way that either Pienaar or Gibson should play. I'd rather see youngsters be given a chance.

So will be Pulis be back, or will he end up at Brighton?

'The Imitation Game' just came out in the US. Went to see it last night and thought it was great.

There are always exceptions I don't think about. When Everton score no goals, no one gets any points for predicting a goalscorer, first or otherwise. It is fair, though, that someone who predicts the correct score when Everton score no goals should receive the 3-point bonus. It may not mean a total of 10 points, but it does mean 8 points. Let me change formulae in my spreadsheet. BlueBlood's improved score will be reflected in the next result summary.

I suspect you may be in a big majority on that.

That is just plain ridiculous. Only in Britain!

Looks like Robles will get his chance tomorrow since Howard is injured. Given more game time, I suspect that Robles will do better than most predict.

I wouldn't have used the term "for the chop"; instead, I would say who falls into the category of "dead wood" and we should, as a consequence, trade if possible. 1) Gibson 2) Pienaar 3) Barkley 4) Mirallas 5) Osman 6) McAleny 7) Distin 8) Browning The reason Barkley is on the list is due to (i) other teams seems willing to pay a small fortune for him, and (ii) he appears to have let all the praise and glory headlines go to his head. As for Mirallas, (i) he's terribly inconsistent, (ii) he's too much of a prima donna, and (iii) he's proved to be rather fragile. I understand that others disagree, but so be it.

Surprising choice from me. Even though he played only half the game, I thought Alcaraz was the most composed player in the second half. His partnership with Stones, as we saw last season, works well.

At the end of this month, the criterion for appearing in the column for 'Average Points per Game' will change from being just 3 to being at least 50% of games played.

For the Stoke game, the winner is BlueBlood81 - the only person to predict correctly the final score. We know that December is, so far, a depressing month because Matt is alone at the top of the monthly leader board. MikeO leads for the season (tied with the TT Forum Average). As for average points per game, Droobie has taken the lead - despite not having made any prediction for this game! He's going to have to start making more predictions, however, because the minimum number of predictions required to remain in that category will increase from 3 to 6 at the end of this month.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Charlie Adam's antics is the Stoke game. He was only on the field for, what, ten minutes? He cynically brought down and injured Mirallas, and then he kicked the ball away to waste time. His attitude stinks, and he really doesn't deserve to be playing in the PL.

I just don't get how several are leaving McCarthy out of the line-up. He has to be the first name on the sheet. Barry will have benefited from the enforced rest. Personally, I'd like to see Lukaku and Kone start together up front, because their different styles may work well together. Howard Coleman Jagielka Stones Baines McGeady Barry McCarthy Mirallas Lukaku Kone During the second half, bring on Barkley, Eto'o, and Besic.

Everton 2-1 Stoke Lukaku

Baines has the potential to do this. Over time, so does Besic.

It never ceases to amaze me how happy are some of the world's most unfortunate people. When we take time to be with a sick child or a homeless person or someone mentally challenged, they really appreciate it. My oldest son spent six weeks teaching disabled orphans in Tibet (for 'orphan' read 'dumped by their parents due to the one-child policy'). They had little hope and were discriminated against, yet he told me they were the happiest children he had ever been with. The other day, I attended a Christmas event for about 50 mentally challenged adults. I always make a point of touching their arm or patting their shoulder. One guy, who never said anything the whole time, kept standing up, walking over to me, patting my shoulder, and offering me the most wonderful grin. Such incidents are so heart-warming.

It's usually bad news when Matt tops the leader board, and this round is no exception. He won outright this week, and is one of six tied for the lead in December. MikeO is now level with the TT Forum Average for season top spot and also leads for average points per prediction.

If they do go ahead with a WC in Qatar, I really hope that Israel qualify.

I agree with this - except Stones for Distin as mentioned earlier. Also, I'd include Kone instead of Naismith. The weakness of this setup is that there's no natural winger.

A box of Kleenex soft tissues for the team physio.