Bluetrip

Mcfudge is shite, you get a glimpse of class once in a blue moon so what. His goal ratio's 1 in 10 and thats not good enough for any striker. Are you Chairman of the official James McFadden fanclub or even the man himself? 12 posts since the start of 2006 and every one's about how brilliant McFadden is. I know you're Scottish and from Motherwell but seriously stop kidding yourself.

Battered them all over the pitch 1st half, we're passing the ball around better than I've seen in a while. Osman's having one of his off days but seems to be on the end of all our best chances.

Assuming we qualify for Europe - which I almost am, the less Fernandes plays the better, it'll only drive his price up and increse interest from outside clubs. He's only here to be put in the shop window after all. 1-0 AJ to score.

The bookies have it 11-10 for them to win, 9-4 draw, 23-10 for the away win. Having a quick look at a couple Bolton message boards, there's a lot of nervous Bolton fans predicting draws on this one. Anything less than a draw and I'll be dissapointed but I'll go for 0-1 Johnson.

Great result and just what we needed for confidence before the Bolton game on Monday. Shining lights were Arteta..again and Johnson, almost everything good came from them. Still infuriates me to see stubbsy and neville play unecessary long balls when theres a shorter easy pass on but fuck it we have a GD of +15 and a defensive record to equal Arsenal. Lookin good for Europe.

Coleman was on Sky News today saying a draw would be a good result for them. We should win this one which probably means it will be an uphill struggle all the way. I'm still going for 3 points 1-0 Johnson.

He's shite, always has been. Every season someone pipes up with his potential to come good, he's 24 now - it's not going to happen. In a few years we'll look back on a striker who's goal ratio is 1 in 10 (a damn sight worse than the classy Stuart Barlow) wondering how the fuck he got away wearing a blue shirt.

I couldn't give two fucks what that waste of space sicknote has got to say. Most over rated player in Everton history.

There's a large dose of gloating in that piece saying he hasn't lived up to the hype but it hasn't been backed up with accurate facts. The Mancs didnt buy the best player on the planet, they bought a player with the potential to be. Nothing has changed in that regard, he's had some outstanding performances and some not so great. It happens to every player, Ronaldinho went missing when the shite knocked them out of the CL, shevchenko at chelsea or Ronaldo at the last World Cup, all previous holders of European player of the Year. Rooney's still one of the most exciting players in the world to watch and he's England's best hope of lifting a trophy (however small that may be) and he's only 22.

Blinkered vision imo, he's an attacking forward not an out and out striker. He creates more goals than most midfielders in the Premiership. He scored 16 goals last year +9 assists, 12 goals this year 9 assists with nine league games to go on top of the fa and CL. I don't think that's a bad return and without him Man U certainly wouldn't be odds on favourite to lift the title again. He'd walk into most European sides. I agree he's been shit for England recently but who hasn't? Can't stand the guy since he left but let's not pretend he's crap cos he doesn't play in a blue shirt any more.

The key point is the mobile and CCTV video evidence. There are several downloadable PC applications which can recover deleted video footage from mobile phones, the police themselves use a type in forensic investigations. You need a sim card reader for your PC which you can get for less than £5 on ebay and the software itself: One is Data Doctor Recovery Memory Card. Fill in fake details to DL the trial straight away, dont even need to activate from the entered email account. Data Doctor Recovery Memory Card (exe) Another is Pro Data Doctor I dont know if you could pick it up on a torrent or newsgroup for free. As for the CCTV, I dont believe one second of footage isn't kept in storage, who's responsible for that - the police or club? The cost is minimal for a security operation of this size. I'd be inclined to give it to the papers and take free legal advice as has been suggested. Makes me sick to thing the police can do what they like and get away with it.

I was thinking the same thing, fucking hobo, looks like he needs a good shower & shave. Reminded me of Dan Ackroyd in Trading Places after his life goes down the shitter.

They can't score and we aren't much better away from home. Not far off the relegation scrap they'll play backs to the wall defence with Carew on his own upfront. I'm hoping Moyes sticks with Vaughan but I think he'll got back to 451. 0-0 draw.

I don't think Beatie has been given a long enough run in the team this season to say he's finished although his injuries have contributed to his lack of chances. In any case, apart from one amazing season at the Dell he was never a prolific striker. I personally think he is better than he has shown this year but Moyes seems to have washed his hands anyway. Putting two youth team graduates ahead of him when he's fit is a pretty damning indictment. Hopefully Blackburn will come in for him this summer.

The Villa game's got 0-0 written all over it. They've got the 6th best home defensive record in the league right after us and neither team are scoring a lot. With regards to challenging the top four, I don't think that's realistic. Bearing in mind most of the sky money has already been spent on bringing in this years players and Kenwright hasn't got a pot to piss in. Chelsea, shite, mancs and arsenal will all be spending big in the transfer window you can guarantee that and also that we wont. We still have one of the smallest squads in the Premiership and the UEFA cup games will push us to the limit consolidating this years position never mind trying to break into a Champions League place.

Apart from the homesick part being complete fabrication, who are we going to buy better than Johnson with 12m? Lazy journalism at it's best.

Great result and some outstanding performances especially Fernandes. We started brilliantly and put them on the back foot, which speaks volumes for us against a top three side who havent lost a league game this year. Although I'd have to agree with an earlier comment, I thought Arsenal showed more spirit for the majority of the game, not class but actual desire. As they came into the game we lost our concentration not tracking runs and backing off into our own area when they attacked. Confidence started going, players stopped looking to receive the pass and we reverted to type - ball over the top for AJ. When we won the ball back they'd have a player running 100% speed at the ball forcing the 50/50 direct ball. Giving them this much respect with their fist choice strikers fit would have been a very dangerous game. I'm not going to labour the point but you don't need to be a world class player to apply pressure for an 90 minutes. We got a bit of luck which we have lacked in other games so it does even out over a whole season. Roll on Europe.

You aren't wrong. That just about summed up our squad in the season we finished 4th didn't it. Something like 15 players contracts were up. Re Fenandes I was impressed and it's a great change not to expect a direct 50/50 ball from midfield with him and arteta in the same side.

You are right it doesn't add up but it hasn't done that for a very long time. To say the unaccounted cash went to the bank manager is a concession less cynical than my own view on it.

Excellent post Rowlo, well said. I've said similar things in bits. It's about time the doom merchants and 'moyes out' brigade took a big reality check. The finger should be pointing firmly at 'zero investment' Bill Kenwright if we want to see improvement on a top 6-8 finish. We are at the limit of our capability with the current squad, its there to see when we pick up a couple of injuries.

It's a big blow and we needed 3 points today. Still we managed without him for a while before and we are the highest we've been all season. 6th with 9 games to go is a good platform.

It's a backup that's all - how many times have we qualified for Europe through the league in the last 20 years? Once, so no I don't think we can throw away this cup for sake of ego. We don't have the money the top 4 teams do to guarantee a European place so we take what's given - along with the teams around us.

Actually if you read the initial post which is what I was referring to, Rob was proposing the new approach for the remaining 10 games prefering midtable and trying attacking football than a UEFA place. In any case we drew against Arsenal away with 10 men and were beating Chelsea until the last couple of minutes so who's to say we can't win those games. Portsmouth is our second to last game and that could well be a six pointer. We have been playing a relatively defensive game for the majority of Moyes reign, it's his style, based around the current players we have and has seen our best results for sixteen years. Gambling on something new so close to the end of the season within reach of a UEFA place could be a complete disaster. Every league place is going to be worth up to a £million and looking how tight the league is that could be a lot of cash.

I have to say I'm surprised you are happy to write a UEFA cup place off in order to get Beatie his confidence back or even see a more attacking football style. The direct monetary rewards in the UEFA Cup in might not be substantial until the latter stages but is that all its about? All the games are screened around the world which raises Everton's profile, leads to better sponsorship and also the type of players we can attract. I'm sure if you asked any ambitious player looking to move to the Premiership, they would take the chance to play in Europe over a midtable team with only the league and fa cup to offer. Not only that but each Premiership place last year was worth £500,000 each and it will be a lot more this year with the huge Sky money injection. I don't think we can afford to waste any points. Kenwright has no money to invest and never has. Johnson, Lescott and Howard were bought with next years sky money. Every league place is vital to the players we can bring in over the summer. It is just not feasible to expect us to challenge for a Champions League place, we did it once with a lot of 1-0 wins and the Shite falling to pieces - I can't see that happening with their new investment. How can you expect us to compete year in year out when gap of the top 4 teams spending power, player infrastructure and facilities get further and further away from the rest of the league.

I don't think anyone would let him take a penalty at the moment, unless we were five goals to the good .