shetland

I think I'm right in thinking that we signed him on a one year deal, so that would mean we get to either keep him on or let him go in the Summer. From what I've seen of him I think he's worth keeping at least for another year, just wondering what everyone else thinks, any thoughts??

I see Fulham are 3-1 up against Villa now if we can manage a goal here then we can be properly in 5th. I'm just not sure we're gonna do it though, I can see this finishing goalless somehow, but then we'd only be a point behind em so still all to play for!!

I'd like us to have a bit more money to compete a bit more with the established 'top 4' and not be limited to one £15m signing every summer but if it was a choice between having Man City's money or staying as we are now then it's a no-brainer really at least no we've got a soul and spirit as noone ever seems to expect us to be competing. Plus I'd rather be the underdogs that neutrals want to do well than the stupidly rich ones they want to see fail.

On what basis do you make that assumption? You say Jacobsen put in a good shift and to be honest I can see Jags going back in the centre instead of Joey

How so? I know before they changed the rules the losing finalist would go into Europe if the winners were already qualified, but I believe now the place would go to the league. Admittedly Europa places down to 7th would make it very likely that we'd qualify but not guaranteed. Anyway we're gonna win the final anyway so it's not relevant COYB!!!!

^^^^ My thoughts exactly!!! ^^^^ I don't want to see any if our top players leave we should be increasing the size of the squad not selling our best assets!!

Great post Londonblue we had to have an off day sooner or later. A bit of a break now to recharge and kick on and finish the season strong and maybe get 5th spot and a cup final! COYB!!!

Real great thread here its really interesting to hear other peoples stories on this. Well as you said you wanted more replies from people outside the city, being from Gloucestershire I can sort of help out. I'm not 100% sure of the exact details of why I came to support the worlds best club, I think it started when we used to visit my gran in Chester when I was a kid and we used to quite often go shopping etc in Liverpool this coincided with me just starting to get into football in general, I used to like going on these trips so decided to support one of the local teams. At the time (sometime in the 85-86 season) Liverpool were top of the league so I chose Everton, or was it Everton who chose me???? Looking back I wouldn't have it any other way, true I've had to put up with plenty of stick over the years being as I've only got to know about 10 fellow blues from my area since but I'm proud to be a blue plus I like being different By the way does the fact that I became a blue when were competing for title make me look like a bit of a glory hunter?? Bear in mind I was only 6/7 years old

This isn't a time for us to be negative and some of us write off our chances with over a month to go the way I see it is, after all those years going out in early rounds to shitty lower division teams, this year we're gonna have to beat 4 of the 5 teams above us to win a trophy. Yeah its gonna be a challenge but why the fuck not eh???? COYB!!!!! Am I right in thinking the cup final is after the Champs League final this year??

Surely us winning the FA cup would happen after the league season has ended, therefore any injuries in that won't stop us getting that 4th spot!!

I think the whole situations fuckin disgraceful to be honest. We saw the same kind of thing with Bolton last season and this year it's even worse, without even going into the feelings of the loyal fans who pay their hard earned money to travel the lengths of Europe to support their team and get to watch players even they haven't heard of! The start of the season Spurs and Villa were making a big fuss about how they were in Europe and they start off by playing strong sides but then when it gets to the business end they make excuses for putting out weak sides, if your gonna do that what was the point in bothering in the first place?? Villa for instance started their European campaign in July (I think!) and to just chuck away all that effort seems crazy to me!! Forgive me if I'm wrong but weren't we challenging for a top 4 place this time last year? and what side did Moyes put out? certainly stronger than what we're able to put out now that's for sure!! I can sort of understand Spurs not wanting injuries just before the CC final but if they'd tried in the 1st leg maybe they'd have been able to do that anyway!!! A mate of mine who's a Villa fan was pretty pissed off about the whole thing, and I said to him I thought they had a decent chance of going far in it and even if your not gonna win it wouldn't it be good for the players and the fans to have a good run in it. Needless to say he agreed! Basically I think it's pathetic and shows contempt to the fans and the competition itself and both teams are an embarrassment to English football!! CSKA to win I bet!!!! Sorry for the rant but I've been like this down the pub the last day or so (and already had a few today) and like I've said to everyone else I'm pretty sure Davey wouldn't have done it unless forced to by injuries!!!

EFCtaxi, I agree that a bit of banter is always a good thing, however I am puzzled by you saying your happy the RS won. I'm not much of a Real fan always been more of a Barca man myself, and yes most people say we should support English sides in Europe. However there was a part of me kinda hoping Real would do them over, to be honest I really don't care either way let alone am I happy with the result!!! Still everyone's entitled to their opinion thats what makes a good forum!!!

Sorry if I'm being stupid but I forget this every season it seems. I personally think that we will finish higher in 6th in the table but if we only manage 6th what needs to happen in the cups for an extra UEFA cup space in the league to become available. I had a feeling that things had changed since last season but unsure. Been thinking about it today as we seem to be doing a great job of cementing a top 6 place after the start we had I'm very happy to be having these thoughts!! Can anyone help me out here?

I couldn't agree more great article. Friends of mine who support other clubs often comment on how we've got one of the best managers in the country, in fact the other day a mate of mine (a spurs fan) called Moyes a genius! You only have to look at where we were before he took over to see that he's a major part of our stability in recent years and long may it continue. Thats why I couldn't understand it earlier in the season when some blues were saying 'get rid of Moyes'

^^^^^^ pretty much sums up what I was thinking ^^^^^^ Yes has shown some glimpses of quality in his career but he's just too much of a hassle in my view!

Totally fuckin right!!! I think we can beat the shite tonight but bit skint at the moment so not gonna put any of my hard-earned on it, but even if I was certain of us losing tonight there's no way I'd put money on them winning, it would make me feel unclean!!

Actually I think you'll find he only needs 1 more to reach 100 goals and the way the fat little fuckers been playing recently it's almost inevitable that he gets it against us. But like I've been saying to my manc mates all week I don't give a fuck if he does score cos we're gonna win it 3-1! (well I can hope can't I????)

That's true as well it wasn't just us there were others who suffered the same fate. It just amazes me the sheer difference in quality of the teams all the other english teams got and Standard. Not sure about what they're doing next season but then I can't see us getting in it anyway so won't matter!

I know its too late to be talking about this and I probably wouldn't be writing this had we won last night but I've been saying it to all my mates since I knew we could have drawn Liege. How the fuck could a team with obvious quality definitely good enough to be in the CL group stages (especially this year a lot worse teams are in there) not be seeded in the draw? I know it goes on past year's performances but let's be real about it, Belgian football may not be the highest standard but they've always had 1 or 2 teams making progress and yet I see that Brugge, FC Twente and Partizan Belgrade appear to have been seeded but Liege not and I just want someone to explain to me why this was the case?? Sour grapes maybe but we've been knocked out by a decent side albeit not helped by too lack-lustre performances from our boys.

Quite a lots been said on here about how Liege have got a really good record at home but the way I see it these records are made to be broken, take Croatia for example before England played over there last month everyone built up loads of fuss about how they'd never lost a home competitive game but we went there and won easily. I'm not saying that we're gonna go over there and score 4 in fact I'm as worried about watching the game tonight as everyone else seems to be. I just think we need to save the negative comments etc. til the games over and get behind our team COYB!!!!!!

For me it's gotta be cahill just for the effect he has on the team and the sheer value for money but there's many more already been mentioned that are great signings imo

Well said Bri that pretty much sums it up for me! Newcastle are a club going nowhere that everytime something good seems to be happening it always ends up turning to shit, with deluded fans a squad bigger but worse than ours and a load of fuckheads in charge who haven't got a clue if it was Celtic or Rangers being linked with him I would be slightly more concerned but that shower of shit?? Fuckin no chance!!! P.S. And Steve Watson? I think twit pretty much sums it up!

Well my take on this is that Yes I want investment in our club as much as the rest of us but not to the Chelsea or Man Shitty extent, I just want us to be able to buy a few £10+ mil players a year and compete at the top level, to be honest I'd rather be in the shit financial position we find ourselves now than sell our souls to some multi billionaire with no affinity to the club who goes out buying superstar players well above our current level and leave all the up and coming young talent we have with no chance of making the first team. As has already been said "Oh for a loaded Evertonian with cash burning a hole in his pocket"

I completely agree with ya there. I mean I want investment in Everton as much as the rest of us but nothing like this I just hope the city fans are ready to be hated as much as if not more than Chelsea, with any trophy they manage to win from now on not being looked at in the same light!!!

Well said!! I think that's all we can do now, the season hasn't started yet and so we haven't started badly yet, until then at least we can be postive only when the shit hits the fan need we worry!