Hafnia

It's almost like telling your brother who's turning 11 that Santa doesn't exist, you know it's cruel and is probably shattering their present delusioned joy, but in the long run it will save him from the big bully's at school. FFS, how many times do you need to find your presents in the wardrobe to find out that you have been lied to??? Quiz question: name the clubs that have been bought whilst he has been actively looking for a buyer? We can assess each buyer after that......

I'm sure there is a perfectly innocent reason for how he was caught up in this and that will be presented by his defence. As with the Gerrard situation, it's not what you did in some cases, it's who you are and your "importance". Same went with Cantona, could you imagine SAF sticking up for Djemba Djemba or Kleberson in the way he did with Eric? Sad thing is, if he was your average talent he may not get the support he may well be afforded and the club may wash their hands of him. Everyone makes mistakes at some stage, let's hope his first alleged big one isn't his downfall. Still a young lad, and whilst we still don't know the details, there will be an element of learning to be taken from this event. He could do with reading Mark Wards book... A lot of young players do tend to get in some form of trouble when they are younger, it seems they are unable to appreciate what they have and what will become of them if they lose it. Nothing is proven, innocent till proven guilty stands for all, footballer or not.

Ah right, I see, Kenwright and Moyes come as a set? So in order to keep Moyes as manager we need to have Kenwright. Wasn't aware of that clause. That's a bit like the old George Michael and Andrew Ridgley partnership, one with obvious talent and one in the limelight for no apparent reason. I was kind of hoping without that then maybe we could keep Moyes and have someone like Lerner backing him (who has put about £85 net transfer funding behind MON) Not that he doesn't sound like he knows he hasn't got the financial backing he needs when asked: Q: "Ultimately you spent less than £5m net, bringing in Fellaini and selling Andy Johnson. How much would it have taken to ‘have a real go’?" A: We’ve had 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th-place finishes in my six seasons and got close to being able to establish ourselves alongside the Big Four. I think £30m-£40m would have given us a realistic chance. But a lot of clubs are spending now, Man City, Villa, Tottenham, Newcastle . . . so we might have needed £30m just to stay fifth. And it could take four years of spending £30m to bridge that gap with the Big Four. source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/everton/article5299415.ece (in fact read the Answer to the question: How much longer can you have the energy to keep pushing Everton forward while the club is scrimping and saving? Would you still like to see a manager like Moyes partnered with a chairman unable to fund him in the way that Lerner has supported MON (who has made some questionable signings admittedly). When in the words from the man himself supports what I have always thought "That if we were given that extra injection of money when we were challenging top 4, we could have made that breakthrough to the level where our revenue would possibly increase by a further £20m a season with champs league"

In short, need Arteta back. He will bring out the best and develop Rodwell, he will stop Fellaini admiring his own Ray Wilkins esque horzontal style passing, and he will give Saha the basis to make intelligent runs that may get picked out.

Ooops, forgot that Kenwright was the brains behind getting the likes of Arteta, Cahill, Pienaar, Neville, Howard, Saha, Lescott individually for less than £5m per man apiece. Can't even be bothered working out the average transfer fee per man on that lot (actually I did £2.78m per man) that was Moyes, not Bill. Yeaaahh, let's stay with Bill, while Martin O'neil is allowed the opportunity to make his blueprint for the future and knock back £18m bids for an average left sided midfielder and continue building with the likes of Delph (who we missed out on) whilst we sell to buy. Any joy that we have had is down to Moyes, not the man who got Moyes in. Our top 5 status is rapidly diminishing. Giving Kenwright credit for our recent near achievments is a joke. Just think what Moyes could do with real financial muscle.

I should start a thread "If chairmen were footballers, would you sign Kenwright?" - it would be chulish to do so, so I won't. However the point remainsa that we all feel like we are in debt to a man who has sacrificed zilch in all honesty (cos he ain't got it to sacrifice), who will profit from a period where the club has improved, but not at the level that the operating staff given the right funding could have. FACT: Lerner tried to buy Everton.

Since when in any sport or business is being the 5th best satisfactory or an opportunity to rejoice? It can be used as a measure to check progress, but when you are quite clearly behind the other 4 in terms of funding and quality and talent pipeline, you know that is all you are going to get unless your business model has a complete overhaul. I for one can not see myself being content with watching us struggle to match the pinnacle of the premiership elite, in Chelsea, Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool and the new pretenders in Man City and Spurs. It will never be through lack of passion, it wil ultimately be down to having the owners having the same financial ambition and investment as fans like us. Unfortunately for Bill, his one main tick point on his CV is David Moyes - he can not expect to remain in control of this club based on that. Any one of us could hold court with a journo and get bleary eyed talking about heroes of the past, but whilst he ain't got the cash to fund this club the way it needs, the heroes of the present and future will not remain at this club.

We are suffering from Arteta-itus, very similar conditions to arthritus but can be more ditressing. Symptoms: may suffer an inability to hold things (namely the ball) The tendancy to hurl frequently (namely a long punt up the field) Blurry vision (evident by repeated passing of the ball to opponents) Symptoms can be reduced by relying on the support of your younger family member (Rodwell) but you really shouldn't be depending on people with little experience of this condition. it's Friday...................

Fair play to Tony Hibbert, looked like a midget at centre half but he was a giant, best game for a long while and will stick in the memory. Had to contend with ball after ball coming through, which leads me on to my old mate Fellaini - there are things he does well but he really flatters to deceive. His job is to win the ball and use it (that's if he's a midfielder) his goal got him out of jail. Look at their goal again, the lad should not have got the shot away, he was fellaini's man. When Agard came on the pitch he looked like Usain Bolt given the lack of pace we had in the team tonight. A great 3 points, as with Portsmouth, not great viewing.

Fellaini was half an hour late for the ball that broke when they went on the attack. His attempt at closing down the shot was pathetic. Great strike, should not have got it away. Felli needs a rocket.

Spending £5m on a centre half who couldn't head a ball wasn't a gamble, it was wreckless. Cahill was pennies, VDM you knew he had talent, Saha has always had class, just fitness. I said at the time it could be another Andy Gray and it's looking good so far. Moyes has been prudent all in all.

If he ain't where the ball lands in and around the box cos he's been running the flanks what is the point? People would be quick to criticise a centre half who is caught up the field when the ball is in our half. As long as he shows for the ball and defends from the front then he is doing his job - for me, he does that. We shouldn't be looking at Yak to subsidise other players, we should be looking at the other players to provide service to Yak. It's why we all wanted to be strikers as kids!

Been badly missed, Cahill does not loomk the same player without Arteta in the team. Relishing seeing a flat 4 midfield of Billy - Rodwell - Arteta - Pienaar. Would be good to see Saha and Yak together, that will give any defence a headache.

Blimey, not too sure what Moyes's intention is with this, the reason Yak scores so many is that his priority is to get in and around where the ball is going to be and where he can score from. Does he want Yak to turn into AJ and make runs down the right with little else to show? This really doesn't bode well for the type of football we should be seeing by now, and in saying that I mean we now have 3 strikers who should be vying for 2 positions in the team in a 4-4-2 formation with two wingers in Pienaar and Billy supplying balls in with a central partnership of Rodders and Arteta running the show and doing the work. Is it because we don't have the service players fit at the moment that he is saying this? Which pretty much means lack of strength in the squad which concerned me only two weeks ago beforer Neville and Pienaar got injured. I really don't understand where he is coming from. Yak does a great job coming deep a little, holding the ball up, releasing it and getting forward for the return ball. We have all felt sorry for our forward players over the years for feeding on scraps and this is another reason. Give Yak the opportunity to link up with Louis and there will be goals. Look at Sunderland with Bent and Jones, Spurs with Keane and Defoe - they are bagging goals. We can't keep relying on one striker up front as much as Saha is excelling, Moyes fondness for tryers as opposed to doers is a worry.

Essien came into the prem and bossed the games straight from the off, as did sissoko for Liverpool before injury, as did Diarra, Palacios, Makelele etc etc. These were players who had come from slower tempo teams. It's just that they have high levels of mobility which means they can adapt. Wenger got rid of one of the best central midfielders in Patrick Viera when he seen his legs were on the way out. Without mobility in the premiership you need to be a very technical player to remain in the midfield and compete (Alonso - still covered 11 km most games though) When arteta is back, we will have one of the best partnerships in Rodwell and Spud. I just don't see a starting role for Fellaini.

I'm sure it was £2m. Anyway, I think I reserved judgement on him as I remembered how he could finish. The first thing that impressed me was that he is an athlete in the true sense, secondly his technique is almost perfect. People go on about Owen being a great signing? Saha would have finished all the chances Owen has missed and I bet SAF would have him ahead of Berbatov to partner Rooney. I am due apologies to two players if they have proved me wrong, one is Fellaini, and the other is Heitinga. It may be a personal preference of mine but mobility is a must in this league in order to prosper and those boys do not seem to have it.

Agree 100% with this. Players should not be judged on reputation, it is what they do that counts. Heitinga was poor on Saturday (seems very slow), and to say the Fellaini is now some sort of benchmark for new players is wide of the mark. Fellaini's lack of pace and mobility means he will always be second to most balls, against midfielders like Gerrrard and Essien he will be chasing shadows and we will be punished. It's not his fault he cost £15m and for me at full strength he is a sqaud player at best. We need to hope that he manages to make improvements to his game that will strengthed the team, at the moment his game looks more suited to the italian league. A bad performance is a bad performance, forget the 3 points, there is an indication that a bad loss is on the horizon with displays like that, when that happens everyone will be on the site going banana's about it, let's address the concerns we can see now. One of my previous posts emphasised the importance of not looking at what we have at the minute, it's a case of looking at what can happen if things remain. The club in general seems to be very reactive rather than proactive. I have raised concerns about the fact that we are 2 injuries away from disaster, 1 of them has happened in pienaar which means Osman (invisible man) will replace him, another injury to a key player will have our team looking like very weak indeed, the only source of creativity at the moment appears to be Billy and he shouldn't have to be thrown in at this stage. In two matches we have seen Neville and Pienaar injured, it's not a good sign, especially with Arteta and Jags out with Yak probably 4 weeks away from match fitness. I hate being what could be perceived as negative, I would say I am realistic. A fit Mikel Arteta is vital for our team, never more was that highlighted on Saturday, we had no one looking after the ball, and long ball after long ball seen pompey come right back at us. It's no coincidence that Cahill has his best games when Arteta is fit.

Howard without a shadow of a doubt, I really couldn't award it to anyone else. Howard: 9/10 - awesome reaction saves, saved us from being punished in the way our perfromance deserved. Baines: 7/10 - not bad, looked to get forward, needs to improve on his set pieces, nearpost again, lessons from Billy Distin: 6/10 - looked a bit off it, didn't get clsoe enough to his man to mark and allwoed one to turn a shoot a couple of times Yobo: 7/10 - defensively our best player Heitinga: 5/10 - don't really want to criticise new player but looks very slow and has a bit of a sunday league mentality, good ball for saha's gola, that's it. Osman: 5/10 - only memorable thing was a cross for fellaini, really does need to get involved for a full 90 mins, wants to look at Pienaar for an example. Rodwell: 6/10 - can do better, still looked for ball and never went missing Fellaini: 6/10 - lack of mobility is a major concern, allows players past far to easily. Great in the air, could do with Darren Campbell working on him. Pienaar: 7/10 - works for the team , had little support Cahill: 6/10 - seems to play best whenb arteta is fit, seems to miss him Saha: 8/10 - class act, silkiest centre forward I have seen in a blue shirt.

Below standard performance, not much to take from that apart from the points. Against a better team we will have been battered. Fellaini i'm sorry is not good enough for centre of the park. Two minutes into stoppage time they broke from defence and he jogged while the defender breezed past him and they nearly scored. He has no sense of urgency in general, his lack of mobility gives opponents a chance to get past him and open us up.

I've got an hour to make my subs for fantasy footy, I have Rodwell and Pienaar, i'm going to put Billy in but need to know if he's gonna play. Might have the king up front......

I think we will end up going back for Victor Moses, which I hope we do - type of forward we need. City are unlikely to let Jo leave for less than £10m, especially after the lescott saga. £10m for Jo? Not sure as yet. If we are to play 442 and he prospers in that role then maybe, but at this moment in time I think £10m+ could be better used towards moutino or van der vaart as we need a creative central midfielder option to cover arteta.

Nev is a great pro, and i for one am happy that he is at our club, he no doubt brings things to the squad that the average pro doesn't. However that doesn't mean we shouldn't look at how the team performs without him. For me is certainly isn't the first name on the team sheet, he isn't in the first 11 if heitinga proves himself at right back. I feel that his role going forward may be to steady the team when holding on to a narrow lead. We have attacking options in midfield that justify dropping him, they way rodwell is playing makes him nailed on for the holding role. It's evolution, it's what happens, the same thing is happening to his brother. Being captain doesn't warrant auto selection. Liverpool will soon be looking at carragher as being dropped, crazy how fast the years go by for these lads.

Front page of the daily mirror says 'england ace in knife raid terror'. Which generally irritates me. Jags as great as he is a player, isn't an england regular yet. The fact is that the editor does not deem everton as worthy of a front page association with a player. If it was torres would they have said spanish ace? No probably not. Mostly you will get them mentioning spurs, man u, liverpool. Etc. It's a petty rant considering what jags has been through, but it has got my back up none the less.

Duncan was an enigma, but our enigma, he was kindered spirit with the fans and on his day a frightening sight for any defender. One great game for Dunc was worth 10 in the memory than for any other player for the fact that he alone epitomised everything an Everton fan that they felt they would be on the pitch if they had that chance. Yes he had injuries, punched players, got sent off, but the sight of him intimidating players who were supposedly hard men, or supposedly cultured defenders gave us fans an opprtunity to have someone on the pitch who stuck two fingers up to the fact that we weren't a great team, but we had someone there who at least carried some of the spirit of the great team of 84 where it was "if you wanna fight, we'll fight, if you wanna play, let's play hard" As a player I feel it is difficult to judge his ability as he was unfortunately injured more than he was fit, at the start of the 1996-97 season when he was fit - he looked unreal - after 2 goals against Man United followed a knee injury that required surgery. To your point MikeO, Ferguson never got to play many matches with Kanchelskis as Andre dislocated his shoulder and his return coincided with injuries for Duncan. You can't really expect someone to receive wing service from hinchcliffe when he wasn't a winger, yes a corner taker but not a winger like Billy. Another point is Limpar played only 2 games in the 96-97 season. Apart from that he was a true gent off the pitch and never forgot about the importance he had to the fans - i'm not going into testimony's because everyone seems to have one to support this. On his day a great player - potential unfulfilled admittedly, but we got more memories from a dark period in one player than we did with many others combined.

Didn't the thieves know it was Lescott that went and doubled his wages! In all seriousness this is getting worse, most players have families. They need to have their houses loike fort knox nowadays.