chicagoblue

Hmmm. Well I rather hate Nike, was always pleased with the Umbro shirt as it's what we always had in youth soccer. Oh well.

Just think we looked desperately short of options and had no one at all the bring on. With our lack of fit strikers we're going to be in a bit of trouble here. Hopefully Vic, AJ and Tim are back for the weekend. Knew we were going to struggle when we had to bring Hibbo on for AJ. I know the kid is super young but really I'd have preferred Rodwell into the midfield and leave Neville at the back. It was Hibbo out of position (putting a cross in admittedly) that let Davies break up the wing. Maybe Neville would have been equally caught out but I really count on him for better delivery at least. Oh well, all is not yet lost, hopefully a good week of training and then we'll take West Ham apart.

Gotta say I think Belleti is a complete joke and would not want him in the team. He is good going forward but an abominable tackler. Chelsea can afford to play someone like that because their back line is so solid.

I quite like Fulham actually, really don't want to see them get relegated, but I don't think we'll help them out with that at all. Expect 2-0 or 3-0 for us. I think well continue playing like we did against Fiorentina at home, and Fulham aren't nearly as good as the Italians. Maybe Arteta will shoot a few more and get his name in the Spain side. Arteta, AJ, Jags to score.

On our way boys, on our way!

Nice work James. Based on the lot of injuries I can't see us pulling off a 4-5-1 without bringing Baines into the midfield, which I doubt. Neville - Jags - Yobo - Lescott Arteta - Cars - Cahill - Pienaar -- Yak --- AJ--- Of course there's still the chance that Pienaar won't be playing today because of that shit tackle on Sunday which might force Baines into that left wing role. Would be a lot more confident if we had a few more people off the Physio table. 2-1 to us on the night Cahill and Vic

Is Manny out from that tackle where he got resubbed as a sub a couple weeks back? Will he be back before the end of the season?

Yeah, good point CraccerC. Honestly my only worry yesterday was that I'd forgotten to take my kit with me when I left in the morning. And lo and behold Pienaar gets subbed out ;-) Portsmouth will be a really good one at the weekend and I can see the same side except for Arteta in and Hibbert out. Too bad about Cars picking up that 5th booking, we'll be without him now at Sunderland, maybe, just maybe we'll see Manny come back for that, but I have to say I'm more than a little worried about him. Wish we had some more information on what's going on with him. I'll be pulling for West Ham all week too

Well Pienaar off to protect him from the Yellow that Cars picked up. Hopefully Fernandes can start to dictate the game, because we really need someone to calm things down for us. No one really taking charge in the middle of the park and so Yakubu isn't doing much for us. I can see maybe another sub coming. Fernandes off i think with that knock

Should be a good second half, they'll be pushing on and we'll catch them on the break. I imagine we'll see a couple subs but probably not until 60 minutes or so. I think Fernandes still just needs some games so I imagine we'll see him in it again, maybe for Cahill or Cars and Aj for the Yak

Without Arteta I really have to question the 5 man midfield, just don't think it's our best option. I think we''ll be a bit too negative here. Glad to see Hibbert on D though, that should work well for us.

Licker, I certainly don't disagree with that, and I think both propositions have their merits. It will be interesting to see what Moyes chooses and your plan certainly makes sense when traveling to a team with such a fantastic home record. As long as the score line reads well at 90 though I won't much care who's done the job.

I don't want to see Cars and Nev in the middle any more than anyone else. I think Moyes brought on Hibbert and Manny at half time to see if they would be ready for the weekend and rested Cars and Cahill in case he needed them. Hibbert proved he's ready and has already done a job against Petrov, I can't see not giving that to him. Manny, on the other hand, looked completely out of it. I think Moyes has seen that AJ and Yak are coming together up top and a good performance on the weekend could really solidify that. So if he wants to play with 2 up top he knows he needs a really solid midfield. Cahill isn't at his best in a 4 man midfield, Osman might be a little lightweight to battle that out and with Manny off the pace the only option is the two ball magicians that are Cars and the Lurch. I think Pienaar and Arteta will be able to link up well enough with the two front men to obviate the lack of on the ball quality in the middle of the park. If that isn't working by half time I can see him bring on Cahill, and Osman to switch back to a 4-5-1. Of course, only time will tell, and really I blew my wad on the subs prediction yesterday

Is he really the quality we want moving forward? Not saying that he's not, I just haven't really heard much about him over here.

Based on yesterday's performances I think we might see this: --------------Howard--------------- -Hibbo---Joey---Jags-----Lescott- -Arteta----Cars--Neville--Pienaar- ----------AJ--------Yak----------- I think based on Hibbert's performance last time against Petrov we need to at least try that again. Could they switch Petrov to the wrong side to try and avoid that? Doubtful as his crossing is his biggest threat, especially now that they have a target in Benjani. I imagine Moyes is a bit furious at Fernandes, he doesn't seem to be taking things seriously, like he's preoccupied or something. Shame really, because this is exactly the type of game where I'd personally like to see him partnering Cars in the middle to help Peanuts and Mikel with the service. If we come right out and hit the stride we played through the second half of Brann with I think we'll catch City off step and should be able to get the result. If not, it will be an ugly battle. I'm confident though and will stick with my earlier score 3-1 to us, but it'll have to be 2 to Yak and 1 to AJ, still Ireland for them.

Ha. Very nice, yes. Not sure if anyone remembers the first leg but Hakan Opdal (their keeper) was no slouch. I'm fairly certain he's far and away the best in their league. The finishing was clinical from both Yakubu and AJ and if they can keep that up we'll cruise right through City and beyond. Only wish I had the time/money to get to Fiorentina for the next tie.

Well I won't be taking off my Pienaar jersey any time soon. Hope I can catch a replay somewhere

Is that 3 assists now or 4 for Stevie P. Glorious.

Well fuck me sideways and call me Charlie, I got the subs all right. That'll be a first and a last.

Try this: http://webtv.tv2.no/webtv/metafile.asx?MSG...ZmTCv1pH8YmRnS6 Open up your Window Media Player, go to File --> Open URL and paste that in. It's a Norwegian link and it is working but it's very choppy, heavy demand I imagine.

Yeah, Would think a couple of subs are on the way, but you just never know. Give Cars a rest at least and bring out Manny unless he's got a problem. Cahill off too, bring on Hibbert to warm him up for the weekend and slot the lurch into the middle.

My girl just got me the Stevie P kit so I'll be hoping he's back in the mix. Agree with Jackelz, Manny should keep playing as much as possible and with Arteta and Osman back I think we'd do well to rest Cahill and Cars.

If you don't have the EvertonTV the link on myp2p.eu for the WMP feed does work. It won't launch automatically but if you copy the link and paste it into you're media player "Open URL" it should do. Be warned it's a very high bitrate stream (~1100 kbps) and in Norwegian.

I think we'll win it. We bottled Petrov right up last time with Hibbert and I think we should look to do the same. City aren't nearly the same threat if he's quiet. The result in midweek will be crucial though, we need to see who we're going to have and what fitness is looking like. 3 - 1 to us, Yak, Cahill and Vaughan late for us, Ireland for them.

Heerenveen wanted 4.5 in the window, we wouldn't pay that b/c he only had 18 months left, in the summer it'll be 12, he wants to go, and Heerenveen know that so they'll want to get something, but won't be 4.5, maybe 2.5 or 3. As I've said before I'd certainly welcome him into the side, I think he'd link up really well with Pienaar, Manny and Arteta while giving our defense that layer of protection. A number of American outfield players have moved to Germany with some success though and I can see him maybe doing that before stepping up to England, Italy or Spain.