thehelmet

Knut Olav Rindaroy from Molde who was linked in january for a reported 1.2 mil would provide decent cover for Baines, and even at 2-3 mil I'd say it still looks like a good deal for a norwegian international. I think with a pacey right winger not unlike Donovan there's no real need to look for a stronger striker as the Yak when in form is a killer and Saha, Vaughan and Anichebe can do a good job when called upon. I'm not ruling out a Pienaar or Bilyaletdinov down the right if we can get a full back down the right who can attack and provide crosses like Baines. Coleman fits the bill and perhaps should be given a fair chance. I think the poor support from the full back is the main reason why our right side doesn't quite work. (Except those few games when Donovan had good ones) But a right winger who turns out to be a real bargain at 5-10 mil would be excellent and wellspent money in my opinion..

You do realize Vagner Love is probably the tiniest lone striker in the world today. 171 cm tall and weighing in at 72 kgs I fail to see how he could ever prosper as a lone striker in a league that is as physical as the Premier League. I think we need someone who can get the ball stuck in when we resort to hoofing but who can still contribute when we are doing our best Total Football impression..

All night, all morning and through this day I'm shamed by my vote. Cahill still delivers.

Difference being of course that Mikel looks like he's not too far off his previous form, while Jags seems to have a fair bit to go..

Would much rather see him at Goodison than Ireland if only for the stated positions.. From what I thought I knew though he mostly plays as a striker in Dinamo..? I think we need to look at some proven wingers though as well.

I'm going for City only in that I see them as slightly stronger. I still can't believe Spurs are where they're at from looking at their squad. Top 8 sure, but from their form/play/squad I really feel they've been extremely lucky to end up where they are right now..

Which is an aside since I can't see him slotting into the team with the central midfielders we already have. He's simply not what we need at all.

So make the trade for Anichebe, Peanuts and Yak. Then sell him to Real or Chelsea for 35-40 mil and we got ourselves a transfer budget..

I'll agree for somewhere inbetween the two then.

Gave it to Arteta, I started watching to late to see Vic's goal and from what I saw he didn't really do much. Arteta got himself involved allover, Peanuts looked to have a mostly frustrating game and the fluke goals Birmingham scored came because of small yet unnecessary mistakes.. I kind of felt we should've had a penalty though..

Is that Mikel Arteta by the way!?

Anyone fancy Hazard again? He's running circles around the Shite in the Europa League tonight..

Funny thing though, more than half of those teams (12 to be exact) are not in the premiership any more, and some have dropped more than one division.

Actually, I'd look at it as having adequate cover for each position, and since we will probably/hopefully never be anywhere near where Chelsea are in terms of investment we'll have to do it with a lot less players. The way it is now I believe we have one of the better squads in the premiership, and with a lot less bad luck in pre-season and with injuries I believe we will be Top 4 contenders without a doubt next year. GK: We have Tim Howard, and Mucha looks to be coming in with Slovakia being a bit of a dark horse in Europe I think, hopefully he can pan out like Cech. If we can keep Ruddy or Turner then I feel we are covered for most uncertainties. RB: I'd say we have 2 real contenders for this place, Hibbert and Neville, none of which I feel is really on a par with Baines as his form stands. I wouldn't say it's a priority to improve RB though. We have Coleman coming through, and Yobo and Heitinga can both cover if needed. I remember Gosling filling in here for a bit as well? CB pairing: Jags, Yobo, Heitinga, Distin and Duffy. At least 3 of these are upperhalf PL centrebacks, and hopefully Duffy can keep maturing. I'd sign Senderos if he came on a free and can't see anyone paying close to what we payed for Distin so might as well keep him. LB: No real alternative to Baines here, not even one of the centrebacks (or Hibbert/Coleman who've been tried). Maybe the norwegian mentioned in january if he's not to expensive. This position is where we have the least cover I feel. DM: Fellaini in top form will dominate this position. For cover we have Neville and Heitinga, but playing without an anchorman here seems crazy with the players we have. I actually reckon Rodwell's done a good job here as well. CM-pairing: This is where we have a bit of a surplus. Rodwell, Arteta, Cahill, Osman, Gosling and Pienaar can all play here. Arteta, Cahill and Osman should be first picks for these positions with Rodwell not far off. I feel Pienaar should be operating in a wandering LW position. LW: Bilyaletdinov or Pienaar. I feel Bily with a summer vacation will return rested and in better form than what he has been but I think Peanuts has the drop here, and the link up play with Baines has been wonderful. RW: Another problematic position with Donovan leaving. I suppose both Bily and Pienaar could play here as well, as could Anichebe, Osman and Gosling but all five have other preferred positions. Even if he's been really good and we don't end up getting him, Lando's shown what we lack down the right. Pace and the ability to take the defender on, and there must be a couple of bargains out there to have a look at. Lone striker: As with the CM-pairing, maybe even worse. Yakubu, Saha, Anichebe and Vaughan are all mainly strikers and each of them poses their problem. The Yak dozes off and is a bit lazy at times, should he succeed in finding his form again though we have a top-class striker capable of 20 goals a season (proven). Saha is so injury-prone it's ridiculous as well as sad, disregarding that he is the best we have in terms of completeness as a striker as he is pacy, world-class control, a good shot and capable of doing the work. Anichebe has drops in concentration and looks a bit clumsy at times, but he is big and strong which looks to be what we'd need from a lone striker. Vaughan has been plagued by so many injuries I feel next season will be make or break for him, either he gives a good showing of the potential that seems to be there or we need to offload him. I'd say a class right winger needs to be sorted as soon as the transfer window opens, with Lando's characteristics if it doesn't turn out to be him. Cover for leftback is second priority should, god forbidding, Baines have an injury we're pretty much stranded. If we're after another striker my only concern is we'd probably have to get rid of a couple of players to do that if we're to find anyone worthwhile and who's been somewhat proven. I'd try and sell both the Yak and Anichebe or Vaughan if we have a world-class finisher in mind. Otherwise I don't think it's worth the hassle.

The only doubts I've heard of about Lukaku seems to be whether his age is accurate.. But that seems to be the case whenever a younger player from Africa features on the frontpages.

GalacticAracnid - Yeah, same same, wasn't meant as an argument I'm just saying that my only possible concern with Heitinga at this point is his height.. He's proven several times though that he has the atletiscism and the general skills to deal with taller/stronger players as well and his current form makes him look fearsome. For everyone slagging Lescott though, pretty much everyone, here on as well, touted him as the best centreback in England.. based on his form then. We all know it's a hard thing to maintain week in week out though. Pairing him with Jagielka means we'll have what is probably the shortest centreback pairing in the league, hell probably the shortest backfour, but as we've seen with our midfield for the last couple of years this does not have to be a problem. With the right work rate, and of course the Everton spirit, I'm sure what we have is a team that can match and at times outplay every other team in the Premiership.

I actually can't think of any single player that I think we'd need to offload. Can't think of one that I would want us to offload. But since it's been pretty obvious from earlier seasons that we need to sell in order to sign I think that the few players that I can understand if we sell are Distin and Anichebe. Sad thing is that would at best give us maybe 4-5 mil £ and that doesn't buy a lot these days. If we could somehow guarantee that we have the chance to sign us a striker with world class work rate and holding abilities I would advocate selling Yakubu as well to finance this. I know chances are slim to find someone of this quality at a decent price though. I'd be extremely pleased if we could maintain the squad we have today and sign Donovan permanently for next season. Might be the selling of Distin and Anichebe could fund this but that's about the extent of what I would be willing to sacrifice..

Well yeah, I'm just saying with the general height of our team they'll fit in perfectly. But just as with our midfield physical battles will be more taxing, and even if he keeps Drogba in his pocket like last week there's a weakness there. To be fair though it's the one weakness I can see, and if they can cope with the taller/stronger players by way of the off-balance nudge and tight marking then there's really no concern. They'll just have to work harder on positioning and composure/concentration.

Heitinga has been a consistent performer this season, and at times carried the backline together with Howard, and the fact that he has the ability to cover at both right back and as defensive mid are great arguments for his signing. Coupled with the fact that we got Bily and Distin as well for the money from the Lescott sale as well I'd say that at the moment it's a no-brainer. Much like the Rooney-sale gave us (through Moyes) the chance to acquire stability and a more complete team, the Lescott sale gave us the money sorely needed to shore up our defense which through bad luck with injuries and form looked terrible. I still believe we could have got way better than Distin from when we signed him, but with the success of Heitinga and the player I still think Bily will turn into, given time and patience, I think we got way more out of that deal than City ever can. And Distin has so far done what I believe he was signed for, as a temporary filler and back-up for CB. I'm still worried about the prospect of Jags and Heitinga as a central pairing though. It's been mentioned before and it will be made apparent when faced with such as Drogba, Carew etc. They are both almost a decimeter (3-4 inches) shorter than most centrebacks. Should they cope with this however, I don't think there's a stronger central pairing in the world. Even if I think Jags is being hyped to the extreme at the moment.

You are correct! I was watching the game on Swedish television even.. One of the studio-people went as far as to say that Fellaini was fully deserving of 7-8 games out due to injury since he escaped punishment from the ref. I've actually never heard anything that unprofessional and biased since starting to watch games some 20 years back. And I actually thought he was a pretty ok commentator up til now.

Order is restored.

I think you can see from replays that Steven lowers his foot as he's about to make contact which eases the impact further and results in the torn socks. Not so with Witsel's insane tackle. Me, I just thought it was great to see Peanuts bounce back from Carragher's tackle. Fellaini caught a lot more flake in Sweden for his tackle on Kyrgiakos which I think is outrageous. And a bit ridiculous.

A cynic might say that loyalty would have nothing to do with choices along those lines, where else is he going to get the number of 1st team games he gets here. It's the best possible way to further his own career at the moment, and proves that he's got a decent head, or advisers. I still hope he blooms and becomes the next England holding midfielder and that he chooses to stay with us forever. And if he wants to go, that we get fantasy sums for him.

When was the last time we brought in 3 players in the same transfer window who could go straight into our starting 11. And how many of the other clubs have done that this window? I am, along with many others, quite disappointed with how said transfers and transfer period has been dealt with but the result has been nothing short of fantastic. And looking at it economically as mentioned we will be able to rid ourselves of some of the debt when we financed our buys by selling instead of taking out further loans. This is a good move for our future. If there's further strengthening needed then it can be done in january but at this point it is quite hard to see how and where we would need it (well yeah, another creative centermidfielder to take some pressure off Arty's back would've been nice). We now have more competition for places, as well as the possibility of resting some players when needed without having to play 3-4 youngsters. I'm satisfied with this transfer window, even if I had my hopes up even higher..

Heitinga can play CB/RB/DM so he'd be cover for most of those I guess. Distin for LB is my guess..