Baba

Hopefully last night's game will be the last time we see Kane and Sterling starting for England in this tournament. Both utter wank again.

That match is one of the highlights of the season for me. It was beautiful viewing.

I think they are pretty decent fixtures. Liecester will be shite next year, another Blackburn if I've ever seen one.

https://twitter.com/willhillbet/status/742456189875855360
 
 

To take that next step up, all Barkley needs to do is improve his decision making. He needs to be that second or 2 quicker. Set off from Point A and know what he is going to do before he gets to Point B, not decide when he gets there.
 
That'll make a big difference to his performances.

I'll be fuming if that's the case. Major reason why we've been so shit. I'd hope none of them will be in the starting 11 come August.

Pelle created 79 chances in 68 games in the last two seasons, Lukaku 88 in 73, assists is reliant upon the recipient doing their bit so can't fairly be compared. Lukaku, who we pretty much all agree needs to go, and asap, scores 20% more goals than Pelle in a team that creates 10% fewer chances. Without Naismith who used to chip in, I can't see how we could afford to replace Lukaku for Pelle unless it was replacement with two Pelle's. His replacement needs to be equivalent, but Pelle would be a good step up as a Kone or Naismith replacement.

Normal service has been resumed

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.

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.

Ah, thanks for clarifying I was going to say that if he's cheap we'll ignore the fact that he's mouthing off to the press to push for a bigger move which would be the definition of double standard.
 
Aaah, the semi-final again, the one we got to (where nearly everyone was shit) because of Roms quarter final performance. People just ignore that unless someone puts a youtube clip up to remind them (I won't bother though ) because it's convenient to ignore it...
 
He's still not the finished article, he won't hit his peak for another 5 years most likely, but he still scores. We will miss him, and by him I mean his goals and play, not his attitude.

yes agreed but he also has a good sense of humor. remember when all his players were being sold and he posted a picture of an empty pitch for their training session? i like that, he doesn't take it too seriously that he can't have some fun.

McCarthy and Barry need benching full stop. It's an awful partnership and a hinderance to our attack. Everton need to push on and get at least one player in there who can go both ways and see forward passes.
 
I've said for seasons now that position has been neglected. Besic, McCarthy and Barry aren't good enough if we want to be successful. For a 35 year old with no legs to be our best midfielder something is drastically wrong!

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.

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.

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.

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.

yes we tried that with Vic, Jelavic, etc and it didn't work. so maybe Rom is talented after all.

To be be honest John just needs to conduct himself better, he's took this subject off track - it's about a stadium. I mean how many posts can be about trains? It's seems he's a forum sleeper who builds up a head of steam when we talk about stadium location. It's all gone a bit loco in here.

^^^Had to edit that as I'd missed out the word 'not' in between 'I'm' and 'into'.

mike i think you're missing the point. there are 3 things to acheieve in the league. win the league, champions league place, europa league place. Number 1 wasn't possible but by winning the Europa cup he acheived both 2 and 3 without having to do anything other than stay up in the league (which he did). Had he gone for Number 1 he would have fallen out of Europa and possibly not gotten CL.
 
The cup win was the better strategy for a team that size. It paid off.

Millennium park is huge and beautiful. The bean is an art piece in that park your kids will love. It's a massive "bean" that's one piece of metal. Fun to look into and take pictures and play around.
 
Giordanos deep dish pizza is excellent. Takes an hour to make it so be aware before going that it will take a while, but it's delicious.
 
Kids might like a ride on the L train. Above ground train in a lot of movies.
 
There's a lot of shopping on Michigan ave too for the wife.
 
Great city, people are very friendly and helpful if you get lost or need directions.

And you are allowed your opinion but let others have theirs
 
It was like when people expressed grave concerns about Martinez's defensive record before he was appointed Everton manager and you went into one saying the only reason they were relegated was because Alcaraz had been out injured. You got on your high horsed and accused anyone who slated Martinez of being some kind of football snob, you often insinuated that you could see things beyond our comprehension
 
Turns out he was just incompetent defensively and Alcaraz was shite

I have been thinking about explaining my support for Everton for a little while so I thought I'd go ahead and take a shot.
 
Growing up in the 1980-90s in the United States, you aren't born with soccer like you are in England. Picking a side isn't as simple as supporting the side your father supported. My family history, at least as I know it (or frankly don't know it), doesn't suggest anything. My surname (Boyea) is French, but that isn't particularly helpful. My mother's maiden name is Smith, which suggests some sort of English history, but again, the genealogy is obscure.
 
I played soccer as a youth player, like a lot of Americans do, but I moved to a very small town when I was in the 8th grade. There wasn't a soccer program in the small town so I played American football, baseball, basketball and ran track. I wasn't very good at much of it. I followed the US Men's soccer team in World Cup matches and maybe some qualifying matches when they were on television. The premiere league was just not on my radar.
 
I graduated from college in 2002 and can remember that summer watching the US team make their best run in the World Cup they'd ever made. But I entered the active duty military in that year and didn't really follow again until the world cup in 2006. That was not a good year for the US.
 
It sort of stayed that way for me for awhile--getting interested in the World Cup but not really following up on that interest. I would say that some part of that was that I couldn't watch the EPL or La Liga on TV at the time. In 2010, Landon Donovan scored that fabulous goal against Algeria to secure the round of 16. I remember that moment very specifically. It was about 10 a.m. on the east coast of the US and man it was great.
 
In the run up to the 2014 world cup, NBC (a US broadcaster) started showing the odd EPL match. I watched as many of them as I could. And I loved them. Then the World Cup was on again. The 2014 World Cup was an event for me. I took days off of work to make sure I could watch US matches and I watched as many of the matches that were not the US as I could.
 
So after the 2014 WC, I knew I needed more soccer in my life. So I took a look through my options in the EPL. I picked Everton for the following reasons (no particular order):
 
1.) I liked that Everton is sponsored by a cheap beer (I respect cheap beer)
2.) I love the color blue and every team I've ever played for was blue
3.) Tim Howard (and I learned later that Everton had a solid tradition of American players)
4.) It isn't a front runner side like Chelsea, Man U, Etc.
 
But as I learned more about the team and its history I kept falling more and more in love. Here's why:
 
1.) Liverpool is a working person's city
2.) It has a rich history of success
3.) Everton supporters are the best in the world.
 
A big regret of mine is that it took me so long to find my home with Everton. But I'm proud to be a blue now.