Cornish Steve

Puka Av Caught. Now it's my turn. Steve Puka How does it feel to support a team whose top recruit this transfer window is a 20 year-old who's never played outside one rinkydink country somewhere in Latin America and only made his debut for them a year ago? On top of the world, are we? Hoping to avoid relegation this year, are we?

Understandable if the guy's returning from injury. Haven't said that, the two just don't get along, do they?

Would anyone care to predict the score? I shall go with 3-1 ManU over Wigan.

Three weeks ago, it was £40m. Now ManU offers £30m? Try £50m. It must be the Grauniad editors mistyping again.

Oops! That will teach me to rush a post ahead of a meeting! But you knew who I meant!

Best answer to that is for us to finish above the Reds in the table - especially if we still have Fellaini. Let's see how the question is phrased this time next year.

A baker's dozen for you. 1) Once he's acclimatized, Deulefeu will be a real star this year 2) Fellaini will struggle at ManU and want to leave when they fail to win Champions League qualification 3) Baines will take over from Young as England's left back 4) At least one of our younger players will have a stellar season and be sold for over 20m 5) The three promoted teams will be relegated this season 6) Liverpool will be knocked out of all cups by teams from the lower divisions and will fire Brenda 7) Newcastle will be bottom of the table by Christmas and remain in the lower half of the table for the entire season 8) ManC owners will get bored and sell the team next summer 9) This will be Arsene Wenger's final season with Arsenal 10) Like last year, no English team will make it to the final four of the Champions League 11) With the introduction of goal line technology, there will now be a push for the right to challenge ref decisions through replays 12) There will be at least one scandal this year related to the rigging of games 13) England will struggle to qualify for the World Cup

This thread is just an excuse for you to reiterate your view that Joey Barton deserves to be at Everton. Yes, an unpopular opinion!

Now the time limit has passed on his release clause, expect to pay what he's worth, which is considerably more than the release number would have been. The DP should be at least 3m.

Oviedo was really sharp. Coleman had another good game. Robles, on the whole, was good. On the other hand, Barkley was awful. Once again, Fellaini was a joke. Anichebe and Jelavic did little. From about 65 minutes to 80 minutes, we had a good spell, with good possession and some excellent counter attacks. Mirallas can be very quick, but he doesn't look up and he spoiled a couple of the break-aways. This was not such a good performance, but the motivation probably wasn't there.

Thanks. All the best to you, too. Two excellent teams, well matched, and the potential for an exciting game. Incidentally, since you beat Inter 4-0, how is it that you're not playing in the 3rd-4th place match? Delighted that we'll get to play your team, but you deserve a higher place than 6th.

An understandable mistake. In the last match, not much difference between the two.

The only explanation I can think of is that the organizers changed the rules so that the LA Galaxy make it to the 3rd/4th play-off AND they face weaker opposition. How else can this be interpreted? It makes no logical sense whatsoever. It's one rule for the goose (Everton) and another for the gander (Galaxy).

OK - I just can't get my head around this. Everton win the first match and lose the second - aggregate 2-3. LA Galaxy lose the first match and win the second - aggregate 4-4. Since aggregate rather than bracket determines 3rd-4th versus 5th-6th game, Everton are sent to the latter. AC Milan win the first match and lose the second - aggregate 2-3. Valencia lose the first match and win the second - aggregate 5-2. So why are we playing Valencia and not AC Milan?????

I'm beginning to think that Matt is the original Milky Bar Kid. Of course, he supports Everton because they are "strong and tough, and only the best is good enough!" Do you happen to wear specs?

Nestle in Vevey? I remember taking the train every day for a week Montreux to Geneve, and I would positively look forward to the female guard saying the name 'Vevey'. The French language can be very sensuous, and that town's name very much so.

Their principal problems remain: shoddy defending and a lack of an anchor in midfield. These will be fixed in the transfer market (and I think think they'll steal Fellaini). The only thing that Moyes can really be blamed for is tactical approach, and in particular going with just one man up front. Injuries, to some extent, are the bad luck of the draw. I doubt they are because of Moyes' training regime, although the press and commentators do like to fit things into their tidy little narratives. If I was a Red fan, though, I would be worried. The problems with defence and midfield have been glaring all preseason, and nothing has yet been done about it. Now there are just 11 days to go before the new season starts.

I suspect the negative comments in this thread represent a deep-seated resentment to the fact that I happen to be married to the most beautiful and wonderful woman in the world and have been for over 32 years. Sorry guys, but she's not available. I didn't mean to cause such upset, but some things can't be helped.

The away kit does retain the blue shorts, though. I see the press has published a recent story that the colours will be problematic when playing Chelsea: too similar.

Here I blame the media and its obsession with the bad. Both the US and UK spend massive amounts on helping other nations, but it rarely gets recorded. Take George Bush, for example. He initiated and authorized a massive program to help AIDS victims across Africa. Even his harshest critics praised what he did, which was far more than anyone expected. Did it ever get reported? This is true of many thousands of programs around the world. Things are nowhere near as bad as they are made out. All countries have their good and bad, but I'm glad I'm from the UK and live in the US - both countries to be admired in many ways.

Haven't seen much of Tony Hibbert.

Me too. I don't see him as anything special.

I thought he was known for his habitual laziness.

Their first and only signing this window?

I suspect we'll see quite a different team playing tomorrow, getting the most of these preseason fixtures to test each player. I'd expect Oviedo to start, for example, and maybe even Deulofeu.