Kant

What would you do to fit in both an aging Baines (but still with a smooth left foot and notable influence on the game) and Galloway who is now superb at LB but faces strong competition from Jags, Stones and Mori who looks like he will start when Jags is gone? Neither is a LW, one lacks the pace and the other lacks the touch and quality, and both are extremely valuable players.

I prefer him at the moment at LB than CB because: a) he has no place at CB with Jags, Stones and Mori battling for a starting berth he looks weak if he had to battle physical strikers, and c) mainly because he is doing great at LB. I would say Baines has to earn his spot back, because Galloway is only going to improve and his pace and stamina are super valuable. Time to retry the experiment of Baines to CM against weak opposition?

Another departure of a big rival after a big game. It happened with Moyes, it happens now with Rodgers... All things said, I think both are more about the attitude of the team instead of the result of the game. Only one team wanted it the 2nd half.

Mirallas is good, but not as good as he thinks. He has lots of ability but is inconsistent. And no way a top 4 club comes knocking with £15m, IMO. I feel he is not playing unfairly, true, but I felt the same with Deulofeu and Deulo has played his way into the team. Can you say the same about Mirallas? Keep in mind that Kone is playing very well, Naismith made a hattrick against Chelsea and Deulofeu has been playing well lately. He is still above McGeady in the pecking order -thank God-.

This lad used to be very good prior to (many) knee injuries.

The players look (some of them) a bit jaded already and that worries me. Lukaku, McCarthy, Stones look like they are playing too much at the moment. Other than that, I'm very happy to see that RM is having a positive impact in the game with the subs.

Never seen McCarthy so jaded before, no wonder he is constantly missing passes.

Al Habsi paying old favours to Roberto Martinez from their time at Wigan!

Amazing free kick from Deulofeu, from about 30-35 metres...Al Habsi could have done more... 1-2.

Corner kick by Deulofeu, headed away by a defender, and Barkley inside the box but at the edge of it hits it with his left foot (around 20 meters). Al - Habsi frankly could have done more... Oh and Barry looks like a boss out there, he controls the game a la Xabi Alonso a few years ago.

We are adding some pression there... as I was writing Barkley scores!!! 1-1

Nobody is doing much except Deulofeu who tries without success so far, but looks dangerous. The defense looks weak but Reading do not test it that much. When they attack, they look more likely to score than us, but they rarely attack.

Please Deulofeu left, Lennon right and Osman off! Galloway on for Stones. Galloway - Funes Mori - Jags - Lennon our line now.

There is a tempo clash: Reading are happy to sit back and defend with numbers, and we only use one side of attack. Despite the best efforts of Deulofeu, Lennon, Barkley and Kone to link up, it is too clogged in that area. Then Reading attack faster and we struggle because Lennon and Mori are not naturals in their position and our players are running back. Lukaku lacks service, but when he's got it he hasn't done anything with it.

Deulofeu has the same attraction and treatment as young Ronaldo had. Ronaldo found a way to go past his older antics (diving, non-threat, let the opposition and fans frustrate him) and deliver the end product we all see now for Madrid. I'm not saying that Deulofeu will end up as him (we wish) but I see the guy has the tools. I really like when he goes directly at defenders, but he can add a trick or two to his repertoire to be less predictable. Other than that, who is playing on the left? We only use one side on attack, and Funes Mori is clearly not a LB.

Same stream problems, please... an inbox

Spot on, except the bit for Kone and Naismith. I'm hoping to see a new version of Kone this year after his injury nightmare. I don't rate Leandro Rodriguez, though, despite the fact that I never heard/seen anything about him. Only because if you are 22 and still playing in Uruguay, with the incredible amount of people willing to make money of young footballers in South America... it doesn't look good for the guy, and I'm seriously doubting he ever makes an appearance for Everton. I'd love to be wrong, though!

Those clubs pay an average of £20-£30m per starting player, so it is understandable. I would be happier comparing our squad with Liverpool and Tottenham, that is where this club should be at the moment. But if you want to play this game, Coleman, Stones, McCarthy, Barkley and Lukaku could possibly start at United and Arsenal. Chelsea, except the first two, would not take any. Liverpool and Tottenham...we can discuss plenty here. IMO Kone this year is playing quite well, shame that the previous 2 years he could not contribute but now he looks sharp and ready. Oviedo should be let go and Garbutt take his spot, but he can also re-sign and stay another year. Pienaar, Osman and Hibbert should not be playing anymore, Gibson hopefully ends his years as well here and I have no judgement for Stanek and Conor Grant. Take all those away, promote the youngsters and sign someone decent per line and we are set. If Martinez was able to sign a good replacement by line next year I would be very happy, guys that really add a valuable contribution (i.e.: not Alcaraz or McGeady). Even though this might be laughed off, I like Cleverley because he can play multiple positions, he looks up to any task Martinez sets for him and he can be benched without creating a bad atmosphere.

Honestly, for the number 10 role, I imagine Martinez and the scouting team looking for some players, finding targets and then when they ask formally for a fee they see it...and back off. There is no continental player that, for less than £15m, would do the job Everton needs. The only one I would have liked is Denis Suarez (also at Sevilla, just transferred to Villarreal for 4m). But I have the feeling that the likes of Yarmolenko are far from the club's means (don't you think that any manager would like to spend in any transfer window silly money to guarantee his success?). Then, when the board does not approve spending more than 10-15 in total, we end up bringing a free player, a reject with potential and two unproven players from overseas. Martinez can be a bit optimistic sometimes but I can't imagine him not trying to strenghten the team...and he likes to spend too (i.e.: McCarthy, Lukaku)

Based on the highlights of Malmö v Celtic, he would fit perfectly: can't defend a corner kick to save his life. Thanks but no thanks...

How likely is to get another LB injured? Once Galloway was injured, then there was not a clear option: Barry would have been murdered by Navas and his pace, and at least Browning is young and strong. The team was exactly the same as last week, and I was happy to see a good 1st half, both teams having a go at it and playing some nice football. It could have been 1-1, 2-0 or 0-2, and the match was very entertaining. Lukaku had a poor game overall but he almost score in that freekick at the end of the half. The second half showed why City are contenders and Everton are not: once the players run out of stamina you can see that City has a bit more in terms of quality. Silva was a joy to watch today, Aguero and Sterling combine movement with great technique and once they get De Bruyne instead of Navas they can become a formidable outlet. Otamendi should be better than Mangala, so I expect them to improve. I was quite happy with the first half, not so much with the second half as Sterling and Navas started to cause havoc on our wings, and the tiredness of our centre mids allowed Silva extra time with the ball. The team has a problem with the current formation: Barkley and Kone do not track back. Kone is a striker, so it is quite understandable that he does not have any defensive instincts, and Barkley is totally lost as well. Once the ball goes past them, they just jog back, leaving the full backs exposed and making the whole team unbalance (a CM goes to that cover, or a CB, and the defence starts to lose its shape). I understand that RM wanted more stamina and aggressiveness with Naismith for Kone (who, IMO, did a great job linking up midfield with attack). Mirallas and Deulofeu never track back either and the game required effort as well as movement. The last 20 mins both teams were exhausted, but I am not unhappy with what the team showed today. Howard should have done better in the first goal, though.

Well the ideal is that your positioning avoids you to do a sliding tackle. By sliding to tackle the player is committed, and if the player misses the team loses one defender and its team positioning. For example (in-game fictional examples): - From central positions: Let's say that McCarthy goes for a tackle and misses. The rival will be able to face 1 v 1 a CB unprotected, even shoot from range. - From the wings: Let's say that Coleman is 1 v 1 against Sterling. Sterling dribbles and Coleman tries to tackle and misses. Sterling will cut inside, and face Stones, making all the defenders switch right to cover Coleman's mistake by changing man and leaving the far post unmarked or weakly marked by a LB/LM. If the player was tactically aware and good at reading the game he could anticipate the pass and intercept it. I'm not denying that a good strong tackle can get some players mentally stressed and have an impact on their games -the intimidation effect-. However most of the times I'd rather the player stay on his feet unless he's the last man a-la-Stones sometimes and never allowing a penalty and red card. Also tackles are seen by refs as violent and if mistimed, are almost certainly a yellow card. Sadly, even fair but strong tackles are awarded yellow cards these days...

When Fabregas is in a defending list, that particular attribute must not be very important! Now, seriously talking, I can't but agree with two defensive maestros: Paolo Maldini - "If I have to make a tackle then I have already made a mistake." Xabi Alonso - "I don't think tackling is a quality. It is... something you have to resort to, not a characteristic of your game. I can't get into my head that football development would educate tackling as a quality, something to learn, to teach, a characteristic of your play. How can that be a way of seeing the game? I just don't understand football in those terms. Tackling is a [last] resort, and you will need it, but it isn't a quality to aspire to, a definition. It's hard to change because it's so rooted in the English football culture, but I don't understand it."

I totally agree with most of what it's been said here. Every time I see a footballer/professional sports player do a dumb statement, I just remember: - How outspoken I was when I was 18-22 - How relieved I am nobody did not even care about what I had to say at that age - How I was not a multimillion making walking machine These kids have agents, move millions and do not have lots of what we call brain. Their advisors and trusted people fool them, steal from them and in most cases say what they want to hear or even tell the kid what (the agent wants) they have to do/say. Even most of them write advice for other young colleagues at theplayerstribune.com! After many years of being a sports fan, you learn to let them do the talking on the pitch and forget about more or less everything they say outside of it. Lukaku, or any other, can say how he loves the club and kiss the badge, but if after 6 months he's steering for a transfer, it was not so much love, isn't it? Or he can claim he wants to play the big competitions or be a golden boot, but then a transfer offers and he decides to stay after a chat with the manager. So much of big talk, huh? To sum up: let him develop. And we talk about him and this because there's no footy and still a few weeks until Everton does another transfer or loan!

You don't realise how important a RB is in a team until you put Glen Johnson in there and start leaking goals. Then you spend the next 3-4 years trying to find someone reliable and spending more than what you originally got. The question is not how much did other RB went for, the question for me is 'What kind of club is this?' If Everton starts selling potential top performers without a ready made replacement, then you have no right to deny Barkley's transfer, or Stones' transfer once the powerful clubs come knocking. Stay put, be firm, and try to increase club's income by league position and on the field success.