Elston Gunnn

Don't know where you are, but I'm watching it live on FoxSports 2. Roma is on FoxSoccerPlus. Switch to FoxSports 2 and you're good.

Alcaraz poor pass, almost K goal first 2 min. Good save Tim.

Assuming Stones and Osman won't make it, I'll guess it'll be a sort of 4-2-1-3. ........................... Howard ............................ Coleman .... Alcaraz .... Jagielka .... Garbutt .........McCarthy .................. Barry ............... .................... Gibson or Barkley .................. .... Lukaku ....... Naismith ......... Mirallas ...... Subs: Kone, Gibson/Barkley, Atsu, Distin(?)

I assume Mirallas will leave, and that Pienaar can't stay healthy. I'd like to see Baines rotate with Garbutt at LB and with Oviedo at LM, mostly the latter. Also, I assume RM hasn't given up on the idea that Baines can play more centrally.

Yes, QPR looked like they belong in the EPL. Right now, our guys' lethargic play deserves the pointed criticism it's receiving, here and more generally in the EPL world.

Surely the very best QPR can get is 1 point. Don't like it, but just not a late-miracle 3, please.

It's a fair question. I have an answer -- mine --which isn't necessarily the answer. I'm not trying to persuade you or anyone else that he came to Everton with a fantastic record that promised certain future success. Only trying to explain why I think people thought him so promising. As an American -- a burden on this subject -- my intro to RM was his commentary during the 2010 WC. He was so refreshingly interesting compared to many other so-called experts that I, and others, were very impressed with his knowledge of the intricacies of the game, leagues, teams, players. You may find this difficult to believe, but he did not speak in cliches. (Amazing, I know.). He was unfailingly upbeat, to be sure, but for a commentator, a sunny disposition seemed preferable to the snarky boorishness of others. He was, and is, likable. He explained the game, discussed teams' and players' strengths and weaknesses, and not incidentally seemed to have impressed his fellow commentators. When rumors began that Moyes might be next at MU, and when Moyes declined to sign a new contract, I told the lifelong Everton fan who introduced me to the club that I hoped Martinez would be considered. I knew nothing of his playing or coaching career, save that at the time of his appointment he had Won the FA Cup with Wigan, having in the process embarrassed Everton (3 goals in 3 minutes). Did I and others ignore the disconcerting fact that Wigan went down? Apparently so, a mere oddity that didn't fit the developing narrative. Now maybe some folks saw major flaws in his approach during his first season at Goodison, but surely very few, given a record number of points and a near-miss at a CL spot. The developing narrative certainly wasn't slowed last season. Quite the contrary, it exploded. His always-positive press conferences, then, didn't irritate nearly as many people as now. Easily forgiven, even assuming one were bold enough to think he needed forgiving. He was, or seemed, gold. To repeat: the above isn't intended to persuade you that things are fine, just trust Roberto, blah blah. It is simply my answer to your good question. I've no idea what the rest of this season, this summer, next season will look like. I can't explain this season's EPL disaster; I do not discount the obvious possibility that the explanation is down to RM and no one else.

I think Barry's out only for 2, having accumulated 10 YCs. More's the pity. And your other points here seem just right to me: salvation by backing in, by being not as incompetent as others. Which will be, as you describe it, something other than glorious, entertaining, and respectable. More than pitiful. We hope to see, but have no reason to expect, a drastic turn toward inspired play. If our boys have a remarkably, miraculously successful final 10 matches and a deep run in Europe, we'll be re-energized and -- some of us -- enthusiastic all summer. If we sneak in at 17th on 36 points, we'll be angry -- all of us -- all summer. If ....... well, I've no idea, except that pitiful and angry wouldn't even come close to describing it.

This post may wind up sounding confrontational, or naive -- I don't yet know, not having written most of it yet -- but my intention is to solicit straightforward responses to some questions. I begin by granting that RM has lost the plot, and that his actors sure appear to have lost faith in his direction. I grant, too, that I am in a less perilous psychological state than many of you, as I have followed Everton intermittently and from afar for a mere 20 years, but more importantly have been an Everton absolute-nutter for only about 7-8 years, as my TV access to EPL and especially Everton matches is fairly recent. Not having grown up an Everton fanatic, never having been to Goodson, not living alongside Liverpool nutters, my devastation at relegation will feel real, but probably won't be really, really real, as will be the case with many of you. Your joy and pain, respectively, far surpass mine. So I'll depend here on your being "thinking Evertonians" rather than murderous Evertonians. "Toffee Talk: For the Fratricidal Evertonian." 1. Assuming we're almost all right now fearful, even firmly convinced, we'll not get to 40, does anyone -- anyone -- think it will actually take 40 to stay up? Anyone? 2. If "yes," you're excused; no comfort here. But if "no," ok, how many to stay up? 3. I have posted previously that we need 36. Is that crazy, stupid, dumber than dirt? Because we need more? Less? [.........] 4. But say your response to #2 above is 37, 38, 39. Ok, do you think 3 of the current bottom 5 -- Sunderland, Villa, QPR, Burnley, Leicester -- will achieve 39? 38? 37? Which 3?

Fortunately our bottom 3 competition all lost tonight. Everton's next big game is this Saturday, rescheduled QPR home to Spurs. Pathetic. Foster gave Villa 2 points last night. Need 36 points, but as others have pointed out, we may not get there.

Stoke 1-2 Everton Lukaku

Dumbass Ben Foster gives Villa a last-second penalty. Villa win 2-1.

I'm definitely looking down. But.... We will not need 40 points. Probably 36 will do. I have yet to see anyone argue that 3 of the current bottom 5 will reach 36, much less 38-40. Agree that it's utterly pathetic to be hoping to get 36 points.

Arsenal 2-2 Everton Lukaku

Slaven Bilic? Yes, I'll take it.

Well, true, he had the runs, but...... You're not confusing him with Liverpool, maybe?

Besiktas win on PKs!

Hard to believe we are where we are, for sure. Maybe we can actually win one of the two must-wins, get a 94th-minute point from the other must-win, and take 4 points from some other 4 matches. 36 points plus goal difference. We're saved. Then it's on to Warsaw....... Gulp, 3 days later.

One match ban, because of a bizarre rule that I can't explain, but I think someone else can. Anyhow, only one match now, but if he gets another yellow before some date (in March?), he sits 2.

I suppose Everton could yet rise to 8th or 9th, but that would require a set of performances that right now seem beyond the squad's capability. So I'm reduced to trying to be optimistic while looking down, not up. A couple of weeks back, I posted that we wouldn't need more than 39 points. I now think -- either because I'm whistling past the graveyard or I'm being realistic -- that figure is too high. Maybe something like 36 will see us safe. Last season the relegation 3 had 33, 32, and 30 points. WBA stayed up on 36 (though the 17th team needed only 34). As I look at the teams below us, I don't see 37 or 38, much less 39-40, from Leicester, Aston Villa, Burnley, QPR, or Sunderland. And certainly not from 3 of these now-bottom 5 teams. So, can Everton get to 37, even 36? Good heavens, might 17th depend on goal difference? Well, good news there, as Everton is now at -4, whereas the best of the bottom 5 is at -14. Everton's sterling play today has us up to 28 points. Twelve matches left. Can we win 3 and get 2 draws? 39 points. How about a couple of wins and 4 draws? 38 points. Two wins, 3 draws, 37. Two wins and three draws will see us through. A single win and 4 draws probably sees us through on goal difference, though that last match day would be tense. Just as today was must-win, home to Burnley and Sunderland may well be must-wins. Sooner or later, our boys must win one that they must-win.

Don't know whether it's Europa hangover, but far too many weak clearances, sloppy passes, failure to close down when Leicester have the ball. Lukaku and Barkley have not even come close on the only two very promising opportunities.

Everton 3-1 Leicester Lukaku

Weather an issue? Predicting heavy rain and wind tomorrow aft. Or is that just another perfect February gameday for football?

I'm hoping for ...... Howard Coleman .... Stones .... Jagielka .... Baines McCarthy ........ Besic Lennon .............. Barkley .............. Mirallas Lukaku Subs: Garbutt for Mirallas (60), Atsu for Lennon (65), Kone for Lukaku (80) [start Gibson, Atsu, Alcaraz, Naismith, Garbutt, possibly Kone v. YB]

Are you in US? On long-shot possibility it does you any good -- soccer pub after work? -- game to be shown again on FoxSoccerPlus this aft at 5 EST.