Zoo 2.0

I'd take John Stones back here all day long, was gutted when we sold him. There were some flaws in his character but a very good player in there that just needed to be moulded. At 26 he's in the prime of his career and if we bought him could arguably get 4-6 years out of him. An all-English defence of Holgate and Stones would be brilliant, with Kenny on the right and Digne on the left. Don't forget that Michael Keane has been revitalised since Project Restart and has looked very, very strong under Carlo. I know I'm the minority but Mina I really rate too, he offers us something else. Stones, Holgate, Keane and Mina is a healthy batch of CB's for me.

We've always mixed white and blue shorts with the home shirt, but I think they've probably only sold white as part of the kit on the store. Whenever we play at Old Trafford for example, we always seem to play in full blue as opposed to white shorts/socks. Edit: I've just seen that the sound bars are Z-Cars too, which is a nice touch.

Look up!

Simple design, but that's always the best way. The iconic Hummel logo across the shoulders as expected with white shorts and socks. The Cazoo sponsor is great too, in the sense that it's not some horrendous logo that takes away from the actual design (like Chevrolet and United). Happy with that.

Tottenham were absolutely shite today against Sheffield, I know Mourinho always seems to do badly in his third season but it seems to have already started going tits up - they were on the wrong end of an appalling VAR decision, but can have no complaints about the result. Lloris was and still remains one of the most overrated goalkeepers on the planet (in the same group as Kepa and Courtois) and the defensive partnership of Sanchez and Dier was totally ripped apart on a constant basis, I'd be disasapointed if DCL and Richarlison can't cause them problems. Harry Kane was proper isolated up top, hopefully Paulo Keandini can have another monster performance and keep him quiet as if we do, and take care of Son (their only other outlet) then we'll take the three points.

So badly want to give it to Anthony Gordon who was excellent but it's Keane again for me. He's looking more like the player who showed all potential at Burnley (and more) which is fantastic to see. I thought that he did really well, but it was only when Carragher commented that he'd had the most aerial interceptions in a league game so far this season (12) that I was assured of how good an afternoon it had been. His interception from Pickford's brain fart literally saved us two points and going to 2-2 so early would surely have swung momentum into Leicester's favour and make it 3-2. I can't praise him enough.

Not sure if you're watching the West Ham / Chelsea game but it's just as bad there. 3 and a half minutes to determine that Antonio (who was lying down on the floor) was offside by a head. Agree with you about Spurs, thought it was a stonewall penalty but would have bet my mortgage they wasn't going to give it.

Unfortunately not, went out on loan to Reading and was dropped after a string of poor performances. He was highly rated at Arsenal (their fans were going mad about him being let go) so I wouldn't write him off just yet, but it seems as though he's not at Premier League level currently.

The actual fuck is Pickford doing here?

Would personally have taken off Charlie and replaced him with Mina as soon as we saw that they were going two up top, gives us an extra man for any through balls / free crosses. Looks as though we'll be getting Davies though, he really needs to put in a good performance tonight.

I love how comfortable we look on the ball, flicking it around in those last 5-10 minutes as if it was against school kids in the playground. Holgate, Keane and Pickford so composed at the back - just what we needed to see in the half at 2-0. It's far from over, but everything crossed and another half like that will see us take the points we want from today.

We're killing these on the counter attack, DCL having an absolute field day against Jonny Evans and their Turkish centre-back (can't remember his name). With Iwobi and Gordon in the mix it's a deadly attack if we can get it right. Leicester's intensity has understandably increased but they're pumping balls high into the box rather than playing them on the deck, I wouldn't be surprised to see Yerry Mina enter proceedings if this continues to shut up shop (and allow us to recycle possession on the counter). Sigrdurdsson and Gomes seem a little anonymous at the moment but that's because so much of the ball is being fished out wide. Anthony Gordon MOTM so far and I'm not even joking, hasn't put a foot wrong. A boring next 10 minutes allowing us to have a HT rest at 2-0 would make me very happy. Great save from Pickford as I post!

Someone wake me up, I've just dreamt Everton have been awarded a penalty via VAR.

Great finish from Charlie, but what a pass from Gordon! He's looked so bright in the opening 10 minutes too, so such a welcome sight. Knowing that we've annoyed Martin Tyler is great too, such bias commentary every time we play.

Gordon getting a nod makes me really happy, now is the perfect time to be playing these youngsters in preparation for next season. He should do much better on the wing too, I think he looked a bit claustrophobic in the middle and couldn't really use his pace. Iwobi starting is good too as he was fantastic against Norwich, Sigurdsson in place of Davies gets a massive thumbs up - expect our midfield to be really deep with us attacking down the flanks as a four. Hopefully Keane can go touch-tight against Vardy, with Holgate giving him a yard - almost in a libero role. Mina coming back to the squad makes me happy, he's really underrated IMO.

It happened in the 2000/01 season with Aston Villa and Newcastle United, who were sponsored by NTL (who are now Virgin Media). If I remember rightly NTL also sponsored Celtic and Rangers that season, and the Old Firm have often shared shirt sponsors (Carling and Tennants spring to mind).

I take small comfort in the way that the title "race" has gone the way it has. I don't think I could handle them sneaking it at the end by a point or two, at least this way we've known for months that they were going to do it. I said when they hired Klopp that he would be the one to do it, took Dortmund from mid-table to the Champions League final, knocking Bayern off their perch domestically in doing so. Little surprise that he has achieved what he has - I just hope that City come back stronger, Chelsea's additions help them challenge and United sort themselves out. Hopefully 2021 sees a new champion. Above all, I've always said that I'm an Everton supporter, so the fact that we have Carlo and what seems to be a good plan for the future gives me hope. Gutted to see them do it, but let's focus on the positives around our own club.

Just me that doesn't understand what the fuss is about? He's played what, four games this season yet is if he doesn't sign this suddenly becomes a massive problem? Lucas Digne is the undisputed left-back at Everton, if Leighton was to leave then all we would need to do would be to purchase/loan someone to fill the void in case Lucas was injured. Don't get me wrong, Baines is one of my favourites and it'd be sad to see him go but I can't understand the mass panic that this has caused. If he stays, brilliant. If he leaves then we look at cheap options to fill in the "bench warming, come on in the 94th minute if needed position". Personally, I think it comes down to what Leighton wants to do at this stage of his life. If I remember rightly he said that he wasn't that into football, it's just that he's really good at it and made it into a career. His passion is in music and he's best mates with Miles Kane, he could quite literally turn down the contract so that he can play on his guitar more.

The transfer market was broken from the second Neymar was sold to PSG for £198m. From the second that transfer was made the market value of everybody was readjusted, leading to the crazy fees that have been spent over the past couple of years. Ousmane Dembele, who was brought in to replace Neymar (after one season at Rennes, and one at BVB) cost over £100m as a result of the adjusted fees - there's no way he would cost a fraction of that pre-Neymar. João Felix, after one season with Benfica cost over £100m in his transfer to Atletico Madrid. Again, no way this would have been the case pre-Neymar. Covid might be a factor in reducing fees, Barcelona are looking at swap deals (Arthur Melo & Pjanic at the moment) and other top clubs have already confirmed they'll be less active in the upcoming window. We'll just wait and see.

Much better second half, although it really couldn't have been much worse. Insane performance from Alex Iwobi (easily MOTM) and hopefully he could build on this as everything seemed to go through him, he was a real nuisance for Norwich and all over the pitch, one of those games where I don't think anyone would like to go up against him. Well played to Sigurdsson for tightening up the midfield too, something which was badly needed after the first 45. DCL seemed to be snatching at a lot of his chances today, some 25 yard screamers that could have possibly turned out better had they been passes to a team-mate, but hey ho. Kean looked quite lively but still has a lot to learn, got booked for a reckless challenge and tried to dribble out of his own box with 91 minutes on the clock, he was actually tackled but the ball luckily fell to another Everton player - it could have been a real clanger. Pickford solid (thought didn't have much to do) and much better from Michael Keane after a poor opening 10 minutes. No real ''bad'' performances other than Davies who I've spoken about in depth already. Norwich had a lot of energy, but not much else. For all their dominance in the first 45 minutes they hit the post once, and barely did anything else of note in the entire game. Not to mention that the fact that we look so lethargic is that we've had less time to rest than anyone in the league after coming back from a three month break against Liverpool, one of the most hard-working, pressing teams in the entire sport.

KKKKKKKKEANE

Apparently BBC were told Bernard was coming off ... Glad to see Davies out of the game, Sigurdsson should hopefully be able to put his foot on the ball and dictate tempo a bit better. Bernard works best when the ball is played in front of him, through the defensive line. It's pointless giving it to him with his back to goal like we saw in the first half, it's just not what he's built for.

Very, very comfortable but that's just because of how poor Norwich are. The defence has been solid (although Keane has had his moments) and the strikers haven't had much to work with. Gomes has been pretty non existent and Davies has been simply shite - Sigurdsson in his place would get a thumbs up from me at the moment. Ramping up the intensity is really needed, it feels like a friendly when in actual fact it should be the easiest three points of the season. They're bottom of the league and resting their best players (Pukki and Cantwell), dropping points here would be a travesty although considering how the first half went I'm happy to sit here at 0-0.

Half time at best, it's one of the worst performances I've seen and the conditions shouldn't be a factor. I'd be surprised if he's made 25% of his passes, horrendous ball retention and one of the biggest factors as to why Norwich are having so much freedom. The strikers press high, Norwich play is long, the defence wins the header and then Davies gives it away.