Baba

Southampton created over 10% more chances than us both this season and last, so on a like for like and minutes played against minutes played basis, Pelle could have 10% more opportunities to score than Lukaku, yet still scores nearly 20% fewer goals. Not sure we could afford to suffer those reduced margins with the lack of goals from elsewhere in the team.

Very similar to the British expression 'running around like headless chickens'.

Not sure if serious; wasn't Defoe playing against a team of singers, actors and dancers etc.?!

Yes, no question, but he does have a strange knack of getting lucky, and when in clear sight of goal he normally makes it count. All by-the-by really, we nearly all now want him gone and for obvious reasons. Point is though, if we were looking to identify replacements then there are not many who have scored 3 in 3 recently in the friendlies - so goal scorers may not be easy to come by. Better footballers can be had quite readily without a doubt, but we need the goals because there are not many from the rest of the squad.

Yet another goal for the big man tonight; if he carries on at the rate of 1 a game in the Euros we might see the fee going even higher.

That's where I'm going wrong then; I'm having all the courses... Starter of bruschetta tonight was 9 large slices of garlic bread, each piled high lol. Paying for entry to museums is strange as well, but then again I think it's the same in some continental European countries. The zoo was free though; can't figure that out either.

A rustic penne pasta dish with Italian sausage, white beans, roasted cherry tomatoes and garlic in a tomato sauce. Didn't finish it all as it came in a bowl about as big as our bathroom sink, and had already had a sandwich the size of a bike wheel for lunch and a breakfast omelette of 5 (probably dinosaur size) eggs plus pancakes etc. Portion size is way off in USA. Kids had chicken nuggets again.

Referred to locally as '2nd city' by some though, harking back to a time before LA had grown to what it is now I suppose. Similar to brummies calling Birmingham the English 2nd city when Manchester, Liverpool, probably Leeds and maybe Sheffield would all consider themselves to be higher in that pecking order, maybe not for population size but rather for culture, history etc. Very wet here this evening, hoping it'll stop before we leave for dinner at 7. Can't complain about a couple of hours rain though, been 25 - 30 C since we arrived and will be good again from tomorrow.

Good play on words Erm, okay

Thanks Rubecula. I'd never been to the USA either until about 6 years ago and had always thought that it wouldn't be for me. My wife persuaded me as she had been many times to various places, so I gave it a go and was more than pleasantly surprised so have been back every year since. U.S. cities seem to have something that our admittedly grander and more historic cities like London, Rome, Paris etc. don't have. Probably partly due to the scale (NYC especially) and the fact that we grew up watching movies and TV shows where NY, LA, SF etc. were the backdrop - and back then far more aspirational than the grey and dull terraced streets or prefab estates where many of us spent our childhoods.

Thanks Mark, I'll check those out. Parks are always a winner for us, spend loads of time in Central Park normally so will be doing the same in the many Chicago parks.

We're spending a week in Chicago during half term (from end of next week) Usually spend that week in New York but decided to try somewhere new, even though we'd happily have returned to NYC again this year. Any tips for things not to miss whilst there would be much appreciated - with suitability for pre-teen children a consideration.

More generally, strikers tend to have purple patches then go dry. Best example of this for me has always been Defoe who historically has seemed to get into double figures every season, but does so by virtue of gluts of goals scored in a handful of games. 2 in 2016 is poor by any measure, but the context needs to be considered, which is one of us having spent most of 2016 pinned defending our own box and conceding goals after periods of being pushed back. Now is the time for him to go, he'll never live up to expectations of having to single handedly win games for us and the weight of this expectation has disengaged him. Best for him and us if he goes (and hopefully takes along Niasse to carry his bags...)

19 of those who voted on this thread will be disappointed, though he was never likely to consider coming here imo: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36351371

Stones handed in a request last season didn't he, or did that prove to be a rumour? If it is true, and I believe it to be, then we should be looking to move him on. Any player who wants to be elsewhere, Lukaku perhaps another example though he's not yet asked to leave, ought to be sold for the best price that can be had. I believe that no matter how good the player in question is, if that player doesn't want to be here then we'll never get the performance from them that they are capable of. I'd sell Stones to Chelsea if that's where he said he wanted to be, and spend the money on two good solid centre halves, with the reassurance that we have young promising players coming through for the longer term.

Goals to minute ratio can be misleading though. If that statistic is used to measure how good a striker is then according to the stats, Javier Hernandez is better than Suarez, Van Persie, Shearer, Drogba, Torres etc. Bony had a great 2014, scoring 20 of his premier league career total 32 goals, but hasn't found that level again since and at 27 only appears to have had one good season in each of the Czech and Dutch leagues. The fact that he was mainly used as a sub for City coming on late in games when opposition defenders were tired would only serve to provide opportunity to enhance the minutes per goal ratio - especially when you have the most creative midfielders in the league behind you.

Who was the ex-Liverpool player?

Indeed, and that is precisely the point. Twitter is a world of polarised opinions rather than balanced critique. In the case of Lukaku he's either hated or loved on there, rather than assessed more accurately as a player who's goals and assists have been key to keeping us afloat this season but who now has reached a level of performance and application, along with 90% of his team mates, where questions need to be answered and decisions made on all sides. Commit and stay, or move on.

Pellegrini would be my preference from that list. He conducts himself with dignity, fitting with our ethos, has vast experience and never seems to have fallen out with any of his players or had issues managing big names in a big squad. Suggests that he commands respect, which reflects upon his footballing credibility perhaps if we can assume that Martinez knowledge and philosophy didnt achieve that same respect and ultimately led to his demise.

Not quite sure of the point or relevance here? If you go on to Twitter and search on McCarthy, Barkley, Robles etc, tweets in the last 24hrs include comments such as 'Stealing our money', 'on holiday mode', 'Start putting a shift in for our fans', 'the worst goalkeeper av ever seen! And av seen some stinkers', 'Also Tom cleverley is right up there with the worst Everton players I've ever had to witness' etc. etc. Essentially, most of the players and certainly those where expectations are higher due to their previous highs, are getting slaughtered on Twitter. I suspect that if Tom Cleverley hadn't been hounded off there previously whilst at Utd then he'd be receiving massive stick again now, irrespective of whether it's justifiable or not.

You have to wonder how frustrated the Sunderland fans are as well. If they'd played like this all season they never would have been in a relegation fight. They've not only saved themselves tonight, they still look like they want to humiliate us with more than 3.

Correct, yes. Apparently arrived at Notts County in Jan 1997 when they were already facing a relegation battle. Redeemed himself by taking them up as champions the following year though.

Can't be all that bad if you get time to take in the match Mark Literally can't remember when I last got five minutes break for a coffee!

No great surprise that Big Sam has pulled it off again though, he's the opposite of Martinez in some key aspects. One of those is that he never takes a team down. Ever.

Wow, Joel really is having a mare