chicagoblue

Loaned to Brest until end of season, came through on BBC at 11:59. We just never learn do we?

Thought our defenders took unnecessary chances more than once by going down in our box under questionable challenges. We go them on the day, but we won't always. Heitinga guilty more than once. Just doesnt seem to have the necessary appetite for aerial combat. All the attacking players looked really good, even Leon with his crock up. Best attacking display we've seen for nearly a month by my count. Really pleased that both Kev and Gibbo seem to have come through without doing themselves any more damage, and the Baines/Pienaar partnership seemed to click right back into gear. I think have the attacking balance offered by Kev makes a huge difference. Don't think you can drop Vic after that performance, so I'd have Jelly on the bench again against Villa. Need to show confidence in the lad as we seem to be making better use of his assets at the moment than Jelly's. Fingers crossed now for a touch of transfer window magic and we'll be off to the races.

Gotta go back to class COYB!

Just not getting the same possession high up the pitch this half.

Just can't see this happening. For all his size advantage in the Korean league he's not even averaging 1 in 3. Unless he's available in the Vellios price range that is. Would far rather see us pick up a pacy, tricky forward who wants to run in behind than another behemoth for us to launch air mail towards. http://youtu.be/VD4c4rJG03w

Has he done anything since he left us? Last I heard he was well out of favor at Valencia. Apparently he's in Turkey now, and he's scored 18 in 45 since his permanent move. Not a bad return at all for a two million euro transfer. For that money I'd still have him back.

Good sleuthing Avin. Bit strange for all this to come up after the fee had been agreed. Due diligence 101 would be for the lawyers to clear any transfer before agreeing to lay out millions of dollars. Have to conclude either that Everton are institutionally incompetent, which after witnessing the "service" at Goodison is certainly a possibility, or this issue is only a civil matter, in which case the worst case scenario is monetary judgment and bad press. Do any of our Dutch friends know how to access the relevant court registries? I'm half tempted to see if they have an English version. From reading the links here and elsewhere my guess is that the real issue is the structuring of the deal in light of whatever medical info was either known or discovered. Seems not unlikely that Everton knew there would be some issue with his knee, agreed a reasonably generous up front payment to get the ball rolling, and always planned to finagle a better deal with the medical issue on the belief that Twente were already well on their way to bringing in Fer's replacement and so wouldn't kick up too much of a fuss. If so, either Twente are calling our bluff, or they're bluffing on their side now to see if we fold and give them the lump sum. Knowing Moyes, we have a fair few targets, we'll make known an approach to one of those and see if Twente blink. Oh to be a fly on the wall with teleportation ability. Must be fun times at both boardrooms.

They are on a poor run, but really, so are we. Unless we pull out thumb out and score early I can see this being very similar to the Swansea match, though at least one team will score. Hopefully Fer will have at least signed by then, which should give us a boost. Agree that Jelly needs to start on the Bench, and with our slightly light midfield, I'd be inclined to start the two big lads up front, allow them to have at it with Felli sitting deep. If that hasn't done the trick by 6-70 minutes, switch back to 4-5-1 with Jelly up top. Another clean sheet in the league would also be great.

Finally seen the EvertonTV highlights. Did not deserve to win that. Howard has to be MOTM, kept us in that a couple of times.

Went with Baines despite the fact that he's probably my favorite Everton player. I think Av makes a few really good points. Baines right now is probably at the top of his value, and we have 1 or 2 options that can come in to replace him. A few premier league teams need a LB right now and we'll get a premium for his being English. Can't deny that he is the source of much our attack play, but if Felli is partly responsible for our one dimensional attack, then Baines is as well. When Felli is played in position this complaint also disappears. Really, neither is the problem, but the way we're organized, whether it's to try and take advantage of Felli's height or b/c we don't have the second striker Moyes wants I don't know, but, and he's said it himself, shoving Felli up front is not the best use of that resource. Very much doubt you'd see him up there, except when pushing for a late comeback, if he were to play for most any other team. Perhaps with Vic's emergence there may be more and more of an argument to sit Felli back, if that happens I think we'll really see a transformation in our play again and we'll be reminded of his unique skill set. While Baines certainly has the local connection and is a home favourite, Felli has the ability to be a brand ambassador across the world. Once you see him play you know who Everton are. Also think, release clause aside, that his value will continue to rise. In terms of Baines' ability to tick a few boxes for the team, I don't really think that any of them are irreplaceable right now apart from direct free kicks on the right side from 22-35 yards. Everything else we have a more than competent replacement for.

Must have failed in his appeal to get the international ban reduced, figured no reason to slug it out in a real league while he has not chance of contention. Go get the big money while it's on the table and in a couple years see if he can get a move back to a real league back into the France picture. Can't totally say I blame him.

Pretty accurate. Doesn't help that we've not been able to rotate. Definitely think the Christmas schedule is catching up with us right now, just don't have the extra yard that we had back in Oct/Nov. Also think playing Neville in mid is completely unnecessary against all but, maybe the top sides. Hitz is a much better option in there. Sit him alongside Fellaini in the centre with Osman/Mirallas/Pienaar rotating through the wings and behind the striker. The sooner we get someone with a bit more passing range in the middle of teh park, the sooner we can cut out the non-stop route 1 bombs. Vic has to start the next game or two and I'll join the perhaps premature chorus calling for Vellios to be given another shout. Jelly needs a rest and to be brought on once teams are battered from the two big lads so he can pick off a few and build his confidence back up. Vellios and Vic may not have the technique and finishing of Jelly, but he's not doing it right now and neither of those two are going to cost us anything defensively and both can hold the ball up more than competently to bring in the midfield.

Does sound exactly like us, and that kind of money wouldn't seem to require a big sale to push through. With our half decent play, I can definitely see us being the most attractive prospect in terms of footballing for him. He's still young, so time to make the big money contract after a few years with us, might temper the otherwise super lucrative Russian offer.

Well that was pathetic. Beggars belief that we record two 0-0 draws against Swanse and Southampton after our run of what, 16 games scoring and conceding? We certainly improved with the substitutions, but at least 8 of the first 11 were on another planet today and that's just not good enough. End of the day I think we lost out on Champions league sometime in November with our string of draws. But two more like this from totally winable games is now looking likely to cost us even being able to make a fight out of it. Jelly, sadly, needs to be sat now. Start bringing him back on with 10-15 left in games. Two positives from this game. Vic looks like he's set to carry on some decent form and Kev appears to have escaped without injury.

What was that!? Wank wank wank

Not sure how Naismith and Pienaar are both still on the pitch, they've both been so so poor.

Time for Ovideo in place of Naismith or Pienaar

Keep on pushing now. Starting to open up. Despite the shit we played for 45, this is still available for us.

Immediately you can see that Mirallas wants to attack. Love the attitude.

Warming up now

Wow. Jelly of at 66 minutes. Not seen that for a while.

Oh Jellyfish................

It's got to be Nev going back and an attacker coming on.

Not what we need.

We need pace in behind to break their high pressure. How does Moyes not see this?