The Regulator

Neville, Heitinga, Gibson, Osman, Fellaini, Barkley and Junior. Pienaar could also play in an attacking mid role. So we have 8 players that COULD go in the middle of the park for us. Out of those, I would hope Neville rotates with Hibbert at right back, and Heitinga is a staple of our defense. Out of the 6 remaining, I would imagine Moyes would opt to play Fellaini/Gibson in the middle, with the option then of Ossie as well in a 4-5-1. Barkley and Junior should geta run out in the cups and against the lower end teams. Rodwell was the one sellable asset we could afford to lose. We're not short, we just lack proven quality in the players behind our starting CM's. Barkley and Junior I would hope have a good season. In fact, Duffy, Coleman, Vellios and the two above should all be given a chance this season, and if they can take their opportunities with both hands, we may end up with a much stronger squad than we realise. All 5 players could start a game and I wouldn't be worried. If we played Howard, Coleman, Duffy, Heitinga, Baines, Naismith, Junior, Fellaini, Pienaar, Barkley, Vellios against Leyton Orient int he cup for example, I could see us winning 3 or 4 nil quite comfortably. Same goes for any bottom half teams at home.

Depends on the price but how many times have good prem performers gone somewhere on the cheap when we could have had them? Ben Arfa went to Newcastle for 2mil, just one example of a player we could have had who then went on to be a success. If Tottenham and Arsenal were looking at him he must have something. If he can match any of the potential he seems to have in his trial then we should really be looking to tie him down. Wingers have never been our strong point under Moyes, but now with Pienaar (not really a winger but still a wide player) Coleman, Naismith able to play there, and now Mirallas and Niang, we could have a nice berth of wide options this season.

Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka, Heitinga, Baines, Naismith, Gibson, Osman, Neville, Pienaar, Jelavic Bench: Mucha, Distin, Duffy, Anichebe, Coleman, Barkley, Gueye Man U to win 2-1 We never start well, but we have a nice run of fixtures to kick off with, barring this game. If we win I think it will breed false confidence and we we will lose/draw the easier games. Lose, and we know we'll have to pull our socks up and muck in, and could go on a run. Plus, seriously, how many teams this season will be able to cope with Rooney/Van Persie up front? We'll be lucky to only concede 2.

maybe that's because when Fellaini plays and plays well he is much more valuable than rodwell. The key players for us this season are Baines, Fellaini, Pienaar and Jelavic. These 4 will dictate how far we get in the league. Rodwell on his day is a very prmoising, composed and talented midfielder, but we already have Gibson (who hasn't lost in an everton shirt so far), Osman and a more promising and potentially influential midfielder in Barkley. Rodwell had season after season to cement a starting place, and he hasn't. The same as Gosling as much as I would like to see him develop and ply his craft here, we just got 15m for someone we don't actually need. If Moyes can invest any of it in one wide player I'll be happy. Lest we forget that we might well get Donovan back in January again, Coleman is working his way back into moyes' thinking, and naismith can also play wide right. So really if we can get a starting winger for the right hand side we've got plenty of back up in almost every area now. I've read Matt Phillips which would be a good buy, I'd also welcome Adam Johnson here. City literally have no wide players bar him though so let's not all assume he's available or a possible target as he may well be overpriced. Good bit of business this if you ask me. Can't understand anyone who wouldn't take 15m for rodwell, injury prone or not.

I think from Moyes' tone in interviews, especially when he refers to the January transfers, is expressing the message that's been there for the last few years. Moyes brought in a striker and two midfielders, and we finished the season as one of the strongest form sides. At one point we scored 12 goals in 3 games. The fact that the whole club was lifted by that to me shows that if Moyes gets a chunk of change, he can actually unearth real quality which will translate into better form for longer periods. A lot of best players over the years cost under 10mil, so there's no need need for massive money as far as players go. there are plenty of good players that are available for reasonable prices, and we wouldn't need that much to be competitive at a higher level. Bring Pienaar back, sign another striker and another wide player, and legitimately how far off are we from having a team that could get europa league or higher? You can tell with Moyes, he has even said, that he wants to win things at Everton, not just for the CV, but because he loves the club. It's the same for the players, they all want the club to reach a higher level, and based on our attacking performances in the second half of last season, if, god willing, we carry it into next season, who knows? Lest we forget we already have a striker, attacking midfielder and defender in Vellios, Barkley and Duffy, who all showed in short spurts last season they can affect the way we play. They'll be a season stronger and hungry, and I'd love them to come in and give Moyes something to think about. Barkley alone is like a created player on Fifa with the stats all on 90, all he needs is a run in the team and a goal or two to get his confidence up and we'll be fighting teams off for his signature. Personally, I think Moyes should stay. What other manager would want to come here when we have loads of debt, no money to spend, have to sell players to buy, and even in those circumstances, a fan base that expect a top ten if not top 5 finish year in year out? The fact that Moyes has lasted 10 years and given us 3 top 5 finishes and I think its 7 top 7 finishes is, as everybody in football now recognises, a massive achievement. If he can get us a cup, and by extension Europa, or just europa itself, it'll give us a platform going forward. Plus based on the fact that Moyes has seen how Harry has been treated, would he really want the pressure of the job at Tottenham? I think not.

I knew someone who suffered from schizophrenia in uni and although I hadn't know him very long, tried to help. It is a very difficult illness to understand and even harder to control, but when he was on medication you couldn't tell, either that he was on it or that he was schizophrenic. he was a really nice guy, when he stopped taking the medication he had to leave uni after some quite bizarre incidents, but it was clear that with help things like this can be conquered. I hope that you get the help you need because sometimes it's just about owning the illness, not letting it control you, and taking a positive attitude with you wherever you go. I hope that things get better for you mate, I'm sure I'm not alone in that wish

Jelavic is a natural goalscorer, 36 in 55 anywhere is a good return, it was the same for Beckford, except Jelavic is better. Beckford still scored ten goals for us, two of them outstanding it has to be said, so why think Jelavic can't come straight in and do the same? This is one of Moyes's faults, and I like Moyes, but it doesn't make me blind to his ridiculous statements; coming out of wigan saying a draw was deserved, we should have thrashed them, and would have just a few seasons ago. I'll ease our new freescoring striker into things...okay, in the meanwhile let's get 6 defenders on the pitch and hope the other team doesn't want it If you want evidence of how playing good football can send you down, look at Wigan, look at Blackpool, look at West Brom, Hull etc etc, all of them were trying to play beautiful football, and I understand it has as much of a downfall as playing too defensive, the result is the same, you're vunerable either way from either conceding too much or not scoring enough. That being said, we have for a short period at least, Donovan, Drenthe, Pienaar, Jelavic, Barkley and Vellios. We've no shortage of creative or dynamic, game changing players, so why should we be happy with the same we'll get forty points, take it as it comes, they were the better side attitude...I'm sorry but sometimes I wish Moyes would grab hold of his balls and actually threaten to win a game, let alone get europe. I'd be satisfied if we finished 10th but actually attacked teams and played at pace. i hate Swansea, but look at how much quicker they make decisions, how many more risks they take in the final third, it might not pay off, but then again it might, as long as the endeavour is there you can reap the rewards, and right now we have the attacking capability in midfield and attack to do this, and Moyes won't. That's what frustrates me, even if we do play one up front, we don't have to hoof it, we can keep it on the floor, play pass and move football. We don't pass and move we scuff and stop lately. We created one or two good chances at Man City barring the goal, so we should create a dozen against Wigan. With Chelsea next we need to be aggressive, after the draw they had sunday, we need to take the game to them and put them on the back foot, If good players smell blood they wont let up, but if you stand your ground most of them back down. We've played like this, so it's not asking the world. Small squad or not, it's still 11 v 11, and on the day we should be going for it instead of hoping we don't lose. Here endeth the rant.

When we look at what we've already got, I think this will be a very good transfer if it comes off. Saha is finished here, if he earns a new contract I'll be very surprised. Anichebe is showing signs that he might be becoming the player everyone at the club thought he would be, but he is still injury prone and shouldn't really be our first choice striker, not yet anyway. Vellios is the same, while he shows a lot more predatory instinct he is still young and will have to get used to the rigour of the prem before he scores for us on a regular basis. Mcfadden will go, Stracqualursi might earn himself a contract, and while he works as hard as anyone I've seen, I've yet to see proof of him cutting it in the prem, even with his goal on Friday. That leaves us with Gueye and MacAleny, again two young guns who show a lot of promise but really can't take up the mantle of starting striker for a few seasons. Jelavic however, has played and scored in a variety of scrappy, long ball, bad passing, less than 5 shots on target affairs in Scotland, and from what I've seen of him he can also shine in free flowing, high pressure, more than 15 shot on target affairs. More importantly, he could come straight into the team and start for us. Again, it's all an if, but this would definitely respresent good business on paper, nothing is for sure, but still, he seems to have enough quality to get goals wherever he goes, and I would certainly welcome that here. Manolas is the same, I see some people saying we don't need him, but in truth, like other have mentioned, Distin may get ONE more year but that's it, Johnny will go if an offer comes in, but if it doesn't I don't think he'd force a move. having Jagielka, Heitinga, Duffy and Manolas, would again represent good business, as we'd have two experienced high quality (most of the time) defenders and two young, talented defenders as back up. It's worked for Manchester United for years, and I'm all for it. It's the same in the center of the park, Barkley, Rodwell, Fellaini and Gibson are all still young and have room to improve, but if they ended up being our central midfield selection next season I wouldn't be panicking. the wings are where we have always been perennially weak under Moyes, hopefully Drenthe will get a contract, and Coleman can reclaim the sort of form on the wing that put Bale in the shadows for 90 minutes. that being said he could quite easily end up at right back, in which case the priority in the summer should become 3 new wingers. Anyway, rant over. Nothing to see here. Go back to your homes and places of businesses.

As a cardiffian and evertonian, I hope and pray that the shite get to wembley just to have cardiff clinch the cup. BLUE IN POOL, BLUE IN THE DIFF, I'M BLUE THROUGH AND THROUGH, TIME FOR A......well, whatever. Good times

I don't use twitter

I have watched as many games and as much footage as I can, but it could be argued that he is much better on the right than on the left, for players who like taking chances and going for glory cutting in on your stronger foot puts you in the best position to shoot; on your stronger foot, at a diagonal to the goal to give you maximum range, at a distance where you can apply some power. He scored a great goal against Fulham following that pattern and set up Osman's much the same way against Norwich. That being said he should still be capable on the left and it didn't look like he had many ideas there today. Either way though this is Drenthe's first Premier League season, he is young, athletic, powerful, fast and skillful. Plus the balance of our team this season has been way off with a total lack of creative players, and Drenthe to his credit has tried at least to bear that burden where he could. After losing Pienaar, we still had enough to finish the season strongly. Arteta going as well though has exposed a fragility to us, whilst in the past we managed to keep the quality while changing personnel, this year we have lost too many faces and not replaced them. Whether or not Drenthe is good enough in some eyes, to me, his 100% necessary to keep us going forward. For a free, this would be insane to give up. Gibson coming could be a bargain, I'm willing to bet also that with the national incentive as well he'll want to play as good as he can as often as possible. However, by the time rodwell is back and up to fitness it won't really matter. Drenthe though is a player that is hard to get for cheap, the potential for profit is huge, and the potential for him to do well for us is also too much to miss out on. I don't really pay attention to the rumours of he and Moyes, but from what I can tell about what people say of him, he seems like a character, something we definitely need as well, if all that was left was Neville to rally the troops we may as well wear the Salvation Army uniform as our home kit

Royston and Fellaini back is masssive for us, with Donovan as well I feel we will get a goal but lose. 2-1.

As much as I could criticise Moyes for sticking with Neville, Cahill and Saha when all three were ineffectual today, I think the result of bringing on two strikers has done more for our second half of the season. The youth can challenge for places, but not because the senior players are just shit. It'll be another Bily situation if that happens. If Fellaini was available Neville wouldn't have played, if Rodwell was match fit Cahill would have gone off. Between the strikers we have, and what Saha can do, albeit rarely nowadays, it's worth starting him and using impact subs. When Fellaini, Rodwell and Drenthe are all fit I doubt Cahill and Neville will get a look in. I thought Heitinga did better second half after Neville went off, he's always good at short precise passing, and we needed other players to come on and affect the game. Stracq was fantastic I thought, purely through effort. Never stopped chasing down defenders, holding up the ball, won almost every header and it almost always came back to an everton player. For such a dour game of football I think several performances warranted optimism. Ani is never fit long enough to show what he can do, hopefully he will get a chance and we can once and for all see the best of him. Moyes always cracks on about what a player he is, and he took his goal well, but I can't see him getting the 20 goals a season we need up front. Next season however, and in the second half of this one to an extent, I can see the promise in Vellios, Anichebe, MacAleny and possibly Stracqualursi, all young, hard working players who can score goals. we'll need to really grind out a result against Bolton, as they will be desperate for points, and I doubt they will just roll over for us, but if we can get a good result on wednesday and if stoke drop points, we could move to 8th. Add that to the fact that Newcastle will not stay in the top 7 this season, and we have a half chance at a decent finish. as I said in another thread, with the teams above us and there likelihood of winning trophies 7th might be good enough for europe, and I think if we can get our quality players back and start playing proper football, we might be good enough for 7th. Hope springs eternal.........................................absolutely shit game though

I fully expected us to face a tough game at Sunderland, but from what I can tell, they had glimpses of attack but not a whole lot, while for spells we dominated. I think the doom and gloom won't be lifted until we start converting chances, but we are missing Rodwell and Fellaini badly. I'd be happy if Osman played wide left if it meant we started with Feallini and Rodwell in the middle and Drenthe on the right. Even with Cahill and Saha up front I can see us finishing more opportunities that way. Especially when Donovan is available again. We could have a string of players get injured in Distin, Neville, Cahill, Bily etc and we would still have a stronger starting 11 out for it. Moyes too is being unneccesarily vague about how long people are out for, and more content to mention McFadden's return to form. My only guess is he doesn't like saying how long players are out for so the other team will have to set up expecting our strongest 11. If that is the reason then fair enough, but I think maybe sometimes he's just an arse. West Brom are well organised, well drilled under Hodgson. I think Roy's methods sometimes take a little while to settle in, hence part of the reason for his collapse at Liverpool. H'es a very good manager, but he needs his team to do what he says and be more disciplined. However, West Brom do like the counter attack, and thus sit back and wait for an attempt before bursting on their opponents. You may point out that we are toothless in front of goal at the moment, but the margin hasn't been as much lately. Like I said, with a few of our regular first 11 back I think we will be more dangerous and games like this won't indimidate us as much second half of the season if they can stay fit. I'm going to go for 1-1. West brom are in good form, but just like Sunderland, we tend to be the monkey wrench in these games, and I never usually worry about them. Games to sides we should definitely beat, or definitely lose to, I always worry about, because anything could happen. Against West brom though I think we will create a few chances, and I see us putting one of them away. Probably Drenthe for us, Odemwingie for them.

First off, Merry Christmas Everyone! Hope you all had a good day, thought I'd give you a bit of Christmas cheer and fill you in on the last 24 hours of my life. i don't post all that much but I figured this was worth sharing since we've probably all had a bad Christmas experience. I work nights at the moment at the Parc Hotel, 4 star place, very swank, lots of companies booking with us and usually quite a quiet and unassuming place. Over Christmas in hotels, rates often drop dramatically, well below standard prices (something I've learned not a lot of people are aware of) because most people stay with their families and noone really wants to be in a hotel over Christmas, except maybe Alan Partridge, but then it would still be a travel tavern. The hotel has a total allowance of 159 guests, last night there were a mere 52 staying. Before I get to that, I should mention I went out for the first time in months on Friday night, the highlights of which included me rugby tackling a guy carrying chocolates for his wife, freestyling with a busker, getting thrown out of 3 different clubs, watching highlights from Spurs/Arsenal in 04/05 in the executive lounge at work while eating nutella with my mate, and generally getting drunk enough to make Oliver Reed grimace. Having only had 4 hours sleep I then missioned into town to do the obligatory Christmas Eve shop, realising I had been paid 400 pounds less than I should have, spending 2 hours working out my finances at the hotel with the receptionist, and finally getting home again for about half 6. Unable to sleep, I then got dressed and went to work for 10.30pm. A family of 40 was booked in for Christmas lunch the next day, they were occupying 20 rooms in the hotel, and had spent all day in the Social (our bar) getting hammered. It was to be a joint celebration as the oldest member of the family, Mrs Williams, was turning 80 on Christmas day. Staying opposite her room were two of her grandchildren, both in there mid 20's, one of whom was a law student in his 3rd year at Cardiff University (it was his name the room was booked under). As part of my duties I have to walk round the hotel top to bottom, and check all the fire exits, and generally make sure everything is ok. On the second floor I passed four drunken revellers, who instantly quietened down upon seeing me (in my blue tie and smart shirt I can look quite official and on occasion, intimidating if need be), and disregarding them I continued my walk. When I got back to reception, not less than 30 seconds afterwards myself and Albeniz, my colleague on nights, heard loud rumbling on the floor above us. Down came a single drunken guest, Mr. Evans, who wanted to go outside for a cigarette. While he was outside, I got a call from a room on the 1st floor complaining of noise and people gathered in the hallway outside. As Mr. Evans went to return to his room, I asked if he was staying on the first floor and whether he had guests in his room. His answer, no. I followed him tot the hallway to see a man and a woman rush back into a room and slam the door shut. Two fire extinguishers were missing, and the hallway was covered in foam. After repeatedly knocking, going back and forth and warning them that if they didn't calm down we would have to ask them to leave, we called the police. The police arrived and I took them to the room, which was empty, and completely trashed. The TV smashed, the bathroom, well I'll let you fill in the blanks, and all the bed sheets were missing. as we left the room the woman who complained said she saw them run into the room opposite. A little old lady answered and said there was no one else in the room, only for me to see a figure dart across in the background. The police entered and found the four grandchildren all half naked and paralytic. Over the next half hour, one of the mothers came from her room to lambaste her son while the police put him in cuffs. Mr. Evans it seems was not just a law student, but an utter knob as well. Convinced he knew the law better than 3 police officers, all in their mid thirties, he REFUSED A FIXED PENALTY. Instead, he was carted off into a riot van and has probably spent most of Christmas day in a cell by himself. Over the next two hours, I gave a statement to the police, consoled the mothers as they cried in the lobby, and argued with the two french men dressed like members of Duran Duran who insisted on juggling tangerines in the lobby while all this was happening. Not only will he now be prosecuted for criminal damage, theft and resisting arrest, but Grandma may also end up in the stand for obstruction of justice. Of course before he was dragged from the hotel he couldn't help but blame this all on me, which he could also be charged for, even though we warned him almost 3 dozen times that none of this had to happen if they all just shut up and went to sleep. I may now have to go to court to give evidence if it goes to trial, and I've had only 8 hours sleep in 4 days. I'm also working tonight at 10.30 again, and the whole family is booked in until the 28th. There is a strong possibility Grandma spent most of the day by herself as everyone else was at Cardiff Bay Police station. Christmas in hotels are usually the quietest time of the year, so much so that I decided i would work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so I could have New Years off. Sod's Law it seems, is the only law in the world that can't be broken, and that you always wish you could. And so ends our Christmas tale, I hope it's entertained you in some way, and may all your Christmases be better than mine

I'm still of the opinion that his best moments came from playing behind the striker. He was never a wide player let's be fair, and look at his goals, against Wolves, against Man U, all came from the attack mid position where he opened up and hit a scorcher from the middle of the park. He never had the pace or engine to play wide, the qualities Pienaar and now Drenthe had ad infinitum. despite this, players in the prem must learn to play wherever necessary and he did play wide in Russia. he's had enough time to adjust to the pace but I've seen plenty of games where he made sloppy passes, didn't track back and barely made an impact. i hope he goes on to do well, because I don't really hold his price tage against him. He looked a good player, and probably still can be, but if we ever get to spend 9 mil again, I'd much rather we poach another Prem player, than take another risk and get another Bily.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16301357.stm

Ah fair enough mate, same here with the hansen joke (grey area? no? I'll get my coat), only I guess I feel there's a point to make with this because I think it's silly that anyone is making anything at all out of this in the first place. Racism in the world in general isn't a patch on what it used to be, i think too many people forget that in a quest for political correctness, picking on words and expressions that barely insinuate racism in an effort to abolish it completely. As long as people are different there will always be a difference of opinion, and as long as there is ignorance there will always be ignorant views. It's just the way things are. Minimize it yes, but to eradict it completely is impossible.

That's the whole point isn't it? "Coloured" refers to a skin colour other than white, grouping together any ethnicity, race, gender, creed etc into one easily definable collective term, which may be why people of "colour" take offence, because it suggests a collective identity. In a certain light it can be deemed dismissive and ignorant to use the term. Of course I have a colour, I'm not see through, but if someone said I was coloured you wouldn't think white would you? When it comes to Hansen saying it I think it falls into a grey area though

I must admit I wasn't offended when he said coloured but i did think of a scene from Ocean's Eleven when I saw it: It pissed Bernie off, but is that how "coloured" people react ten years on? after all, to say "foreign" players would be inaccurate as a lot of ethnic players are from the uk, to say ethnic may have been inaccurate as well....coloured, although it sounds offensive, to me isn't. But I'm not "coloured" so how would I know what offends me? I do love the irony of a Liverpool player getting banned and fined for being racist, and then a former Liverpool player getting in trouble for talking about it.

Looking at our next 6 fixtures: Sunderland - Away West Bromich Albion - Away Bolton Wanderers - Home Tottenham Hotspurs - Away Aston Villa - Away Blackburn Rovers - Home The 7th is Man City at Goodison, depending on how we do up til then we could be in a strong position and look to get a scalp off the league leaders. Or we could be in mid table obscurity or worse... 18 points would take us to 38, just 6 points above a guaranteed Europa league spot, which Arsenal currently sit in. 4 away games is not such a bad thing either, we've won 3, lost 4, but bear in mind the 4 losses were Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and an in form Newcastle. The teams we're playing a way to don't all have glistening records at home either. Villa, Sunderland and West Brom have won a collective 7 games at home between them this season. Tottenham look to be impregnable at home however like the other 3 teams we usually do well at their ground, picking up draws and the odd win as of late. All 4 teams can cause us problems but we've conceeded just 9 goals on our travels, and we all know that our defending is getting better, it's our attacking that's the problem. With Donovan arriving however, and the prospect of "one or two other wee signings" to come, there is reason for optimism. However, as I said earlier, the team in 5th place, the only guaranteed Europa League spot, is only 6 points behind the maximum we could take from all 6 games. The two home games should be 6 points in the bag, but they will both need as many points as they can get their hands on and we will need to be clinical in order to get the win. After the next two games, we will be exactly half way through the season, with as much time to pick up enough points to finish strongly, we still have the FA cup in which we stand as good a chance as anyone, relatively. Then of course there is the fact that even 8th place may be good enough for Europe. Arsenal and Chelsea won't win the Champions league but if they did and finished in a European place, then an extra would be added to the league. If any 2 of the top 5 teams make the final of the FA Cup, then the result would be the same. Then there is the prospect of either Manchester club winning the Europa league, which is highly possible. In which case a third would be added meaning 8th is good enough. Without a doubt this year the top 6 teams will be as it stands, probably in a different order. However 7th will remain up for grabs and really, without investment, we can't hope for any more. It might be enough though for a shot at Europe, and remember how good that felt. The extra TV revenue, tickets at the ground, increased publicity, increased revenue, a chance for the youth and the offer of European football to potential targets. I think we've missed Europe massively, I think money was invested in the squad on the basis of increased revenue from Europe, and I think we've suffered financially and as a whole without it. Some people say the Europa League isn't important, but to us it would be a massive boost. Moyes still has the eye for quality players that don't cost much, look at how Drenthe has taken to the team and the league, and to get European football would mean loosening the ties that bind and allowing us a little room to maneuver in the market. Out of the next 6 games, 14-18 points would keep us in the frame, 8-12 points would keep us stable, and anything less and we should forget ambition and concentrate on survival. It's too late now for you never know what could happen talk, these 6 games take us into a tough run of fixtures with Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham at home, and Wigan and QPR away. We know the team we've got can and has played the top teams without fear and gotten points. We know we have played lesser teams and driven straight throuhg them without stopping. What we need is to conjure up that form and show we can stand up and be counted. i don't doubt we have the talent, but we need the consistency now. Manchester United typically do well over Christmas, maybe it's Sir Alex, or maybe it's because they know they do well that they return to that way of thinking and produce the football they're capable of, but they are starting to demolish teams and every game is 3 points for them now. We need to be the same, the quality is there, and the next 6 games will determine whether we get back to a level where Ferguson dubbed us "Title Contenders" after we beat them thoroughly 3-1 a few years back, or whether we end up as a 10 second overview by Alan Hansen on MOTD at the end of the season...

Another kid? Really? Fine, but it doesn't change the fact we're not short on strikers at all, we just have loads that don't get used/used properly. Saha is not playing up to his standard, Vellios gets subbed on but mostly when there's very little time left, yet still has enough to make an impact. MacAleny might see the same, as will Gueye, but I suspect no starts. Stracqualursi if we're still crossing with no results and there's 5 minutes left. McFadden and Anichebe are both crocked, but that's 7 strikers on our books, with one on loan and one very promising one still a year or two shy of getting to the first team. Great we're getting a striker, but will Moyes give him more than 90 minutes over the whole second half of the season? Personally even Beckford was a better option, because he knew where the goal was and at times producing something spectacular. This kid may have good stats in Northern Ireland, but I get the feeling Seamus gets so many starts because he's our only right-midfield player, and even then he's really a right back. If we had any kind of competition out there, he wouldn't be getting as many games right now, even though he's started to pick up a little bit. Had moments where he showed you can get gems on the cheap, but he's far from a diamond in the rough. same for this kid? Plus, a highly rated striker that only us and Swansea are looking at means either everyone else has missed a trick or they've all spotted a reason not to sign him and we haven't.

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/transfer-news/ex-Arsenal-and-Barcelona-star-Thierry-Henry-approached-by-Everton-manager-David-Moyes-for-January-loan-deal-article842007.html Dyu think Henry asked Moyes what the french was for not a chance?

I have been thinking about the Yak situation myself, and could there not be the mentality of big fish/small pond applied here? I mean, at Everton, the weight of expectation on him to score goals was always there after the first season. He got injured the following season, and looked fat and out of sorts coming back from the world cup. so much so that he was loaned to Leicester. You could argue that his time at Leicester was productive, given his goal return, but Leicester were playing well anyway and scoring in the championship is a lot easier than in the Prem. teams in the premier league like Stoke, have to become well drilled at the back to maintain stability. Defense is second to offense in teams that can afford it, but in teams that can't, it has to be the other way round. just like you can't win matches without scoring, you can't lose them without conceding. teams that come up and attack like Blackpool and Hull, go back down quickly. Teams that come up and defend, like Stoke, stay up for years and become established teams. Yak is 29, had become prone to injury and in preseason probably showed little sign that he was going to start banging them in again, obviously not more so than Vellios, because Moyes opted to sell yak and give Vellios opportunities. Think of the time of the transfer, deadline day, 2m for a player that is 29, looks like hes had his best years and doesnt really want to play at your club anymore? I probably would have done the same. So yak travels from Everton, a club that for seasons has knocked on the door of the european spots eagerly awaiting a return to continental football, to Blackburn where the hope is just to acquire enough points to stay up. Look at Blackburns strikers, it stands out that Yakubu is probably their best option. Now look at the quality that is actually feeding the yak, Pedersen and Hoillett are two very attack minded players who create lots of opportunities. Yak can goal-hang for most of a Blackburn match and still probably notch two a game without doing anything, but look at him. Against Swansea he ran the channels, made little sprints and dashes reminiscent of the old Yak, and scored 4 goals. to me, it's because he is by far their first choice striker, and he is relishing playing the hero. Plus with all the crowd focus on Kean, who'd really notice the Yak having a bad game with so much going on. It's like when Alan Shearer managed Newcastle, he had fuck all to do with them going down, but in just being there he could be respected, admired and even applauded for doing whatever he could to help the club. Yak may be scoring a lot, but Blackburn concede a lot. We don't, and obviously Moyes has reverted to trying to minimise the goals one end, whilst he has stripped the attacking line to appease the banks. After all, if we had sold Jagielka and started shipping loads of goals, we would have all blamed Moyes for that too. I for one thought what a pointless sale it was when we are so short up front, but Yakubu cost too much to have a bad season with us again, and to be honest we've got 7 strikers as it is, it's not that we aren't scoring enough, we don't create enough. You don't create and therefore have no chance of scoring, the bigger problem is our midfield. For the second highlighted point, I don't see us going backwards just stalling at the lights. Fellaini, Rodwell and by this time next week, Barkley, will have all signed new contracts. not only will the value of all three peak in the next 3-5 years, but I fully see that being our core midfield by this time next year. And you can fully expect teams to fear it. Three, very talented, young and ambitious footballers as the heart of a grand old team will help bring glory back to the blue half of Mersey. Ensuring the future is protected allows a colder look at the present and I certainly don't see the likes of neville, bilyaletdinov and even cahill starting games towards the end of the season. The bench for some, others will move on, some will stay at the club, but with the potential of our young players and wisdom of the old there is a new Everton being born. Probably without Moyes, but not yet. Money is needed, but not to survive. Not only are we strong enough to get the results needed, we will still be up with a shout come the end of the season. And it's not because we deserve it, or we're the "best of the rest", it's because we're Everton Football Club, we have tasted greatness, we have sat at the same table as other legends have and clubs like ours don't fall by the wayside. They survive, they endure, and they reclaim. Our team under moyes has always been 2-3 players shy of greatness, and even now, it isn't far away. And it isn't dreaming either, because the squad we have can produce a level of performance beyond people's expectations, but it takes confidence to reach it. Confidence is what we lack, and it can only come from performances. Moyes has made mistakes, and confused us with tactics, but he still knows what it takes to be up there and he knows as well as we all should that in two or three games times, the mentality, the confidence, could all be in the other extreme and we'll be talking of europe once again. Patience is a virtue, and by default Everton fans have to be the most virtuous on the planet, but we need a little faith as well. COYB