The Regulator

Ross on twitter: "Gutted about the result today an not getting on but signing new deal next week so that's something to keep me smiling." Every cloud...

gueye and macaleny on for neville and bily.....alright well thats two positive subs but what...less than 15 minutes left? 1-1? we can dream...

that's it, 2-0 to the gooners full time i reckon, RVP to get another one What the fuck are we doing bringing on Distin for Saha/ Struggling to understand that, not that we'll get answers

As far as I have read they will have no recognised full backs. Vermalen, Mertesacker, Koscielny and Djourou will all probably start, but any injuries/bookings to those players and wenger has nothing but kids to cover. The result to me depends entirely how we line up. If Distin, Drenthe and Rodwell all start, I believe we can get a draw from it. Arsenal will definitely score, but when is important. I feel like if we can go into half time level we have enough fight to stay in it even if they do score. Especially if their two full backs are natural CB's. Hopefully Coleman and Drenthe can just run at them and make them nervous and we can get some shots from in and around the area. Playing a crossing game here would have the same result as against Stoke. They are all over 6ft at the back and we will have 1 up front. we should expect an annihilation, but I feel with their defensive problems and our need for points our mentality and lineup will ultimately decide this. We need to be positive but aggressive, and hope Fellaini and Rodwell can stifle them in midfield. i don't even want to contemplate what RVP could do to us....

It may sound optimistic, but this is what I've been hoping and praying Moyes has been waiting for. Wait until he turns 18, offer him a bumper 5 year contract and guarantee we will bring players in and he will get first team football, get him signed, and then sick him on the Premier League. a midfield of Rodwell, Fellaini, Drenthe, Coleman and Barkley could be devastating, much the way you see Tottenham's is set up now. Two wide players who like to cut in, a holding player, or in our case two, to break up play and move us up the pitch, and a creative spark, to link up play, find decisive passes and get us goal scoring opportunities. Our back 4 of late has been pretty good defensively, Jags and Johnny seem to be reading each other better, Baines is average on his worst day but he's still trying to get forward, and Hibbert has always been underrated, though i think he's a great tackler of the ball. Saha up front with service should get us goals, and it could all turn around in a matter of weeks for us. We are desperately missing the service up top though, when Carsley left we lost our best holding player at the time, and it left us all at sea for the first few months. This time, we lost our most creative player, even if he was out of form and injury prone, he still saw things people didn't. this is what Barkley can do, and superbly at times as well, so I really hope Moyes gets him tied down long term, and we can start to see him push into the squad. In fairness as well though, I don't disbelieve David when he says he's had a dip in form, you look at any of the prem's best players, and when they are out of form it's almost not worth playing them. All the players who reach the summit in football are unplayable when in form, but wretched when not. Hopefully though, he will pick up soon and who knows, if we can get Donovan in January as well, we might start putting together enough results to give us the confidence to finish the season strongly. the only downside now is I expect us to lose on Saturday and with the top 7 already 7 points beyond us, with the shite playing tonight, we will need to beat the teams above us more often than we lose in the second half of this season to have any hope of getting Europe. that or win the F.A. Cup

At the moment I'd say Sturridge should be Chelsea's first choice. He does miss a few when he shoots from range, but it's his positioning that is above and beyond anything at Everton at the moment. Whether he is drifting in at the far post or dashing through to the near, he does what none of our midfielders and strikers do, and that's put himself where the probability of a goal is much higher. Almost none of our players get into those areas, even on corners, and if they do they miss. Sturridge runs all game, has a great first touch, good vision and is a strong finisher, as well as possessing a little finesse (the backheel goal springs to mind). He's also English and young, so it's pretty much guaranteed he'll be worth more than Torres in the next 3 years. Exactly the kind of player we need and could never afford.

This was solely my point, there has been an argument put forward that he had already played a great 12 months and we wouldn't see the same from him, but what did we get by loaning an unproven striker when this season we have been creating chances but not finishing them? We lack strength in depth anyway, and with Saha being injury prone, what not just hang onto him? Granted he might have had a bad season for us and not scored any, but Saha has only scored 2, so what's the difference? They're both shit when out of form and 20 goal a season strikers when in form. If he'd have gone for 4 mil then I probably wouldn't feel aggrieved by it, but 2mil to me was not a good return on the 11 mil we spent and we may as well have kept him and taken the chance.

Just watching Final Score, he's now got the first "Yaktrick" since Fulham for us. Garth Crooks couldn't stop laughing as they discussed how Everton are in dire need of a goalscorer and sold a return to form Yakubu. After he came back from the World Cup he looked a shadow of his former self. This season however, he seems to have shaking off the bad patch and started banging in the goals again. Did noone else look to give him the encouragement that he could do that at Finch Farm? Or did they think losing another striker in favour of a no name from the Argentinain league was a better idea? why not just stick with the Yak????? Of course this a view derived purely from hindsight, but nonetheless, it still made no sense. If we're not using stracqualursi, couldn't we have kept Yak, knowing that he definitely has goals in him at Premier League level? Ball...dropped

Yakubu. 2mil. FFS. A lot of the transfers i can forgive, but why bother? For 2mil? Looking at his stats this year for a team like Blackburn, he could have had a dozen here already this season.

As a welshman and an evertonian, this has shocked and saddened me. i watched BBC News when I found out and Robbie Savage was on, he could barely speak. This is a dark day for the game, a truly inspirational man, not for his achievements as such, but his attitude. Everybody liked him and got along with him, the young players of the wales squad looked up to him, and he was truly one of the nicest players in the sport. A different breed, one bereft of ego and posturing, of quiet nature and strong character. On the pitch, a consistent performer and consummate professional. Rest In Peace Gary, lost but not forgotten. Ever.

Think people are expecting too much from vellios and gueye. Gueye seems to have this reputation already as some kind of vunderkind, and while he may be a good player, maybe he's not playing because he's not ready? I think Moyes is fully aware of what Vellios is capable of, but also aware of the mistakes he could make, and what asking him to lead the line entails. This is Vellios' first full season with us, and to ask him to start ahead of Louis Saha would put immense pressure on him. Cahill may be past his best, but he still helped create the goal for Tolis and he still knows what is required. plus, everyone has a bad run of form, and if you remember he went to the asia cup, came back injured, and for most of the second half of last season didn't play that much. He's had a run of games where his form has been poor, but his spirit is still there, and if it is, he can get form again. It's when the spirit ebbs away that a player truly becomes useless, it hasn't happened to either of them. What has actually happened is a bad run of games followed by two fortunate wins. While the team is confident it won't be until they start scoring again that they build up any kind of form. Personally, I think they are both one goal away from getting the hunger back, and as soon as they do they will start getting goals, not banging them in every game, but finishing the chances they should. 20 goals between the two of them for the season would be fine by me, so long as we can get half a dozen each from our midfielders, and fingers crossed, get another striker in jan to bolster our attack.

If that's true then come January we should be alright. i like this guy, tall, strong but quick and good with both feet. He reminds of Drogba actually. Hope he doesn't turn into an arrogant prick as well All the same, I doubt we'll get him. I know Torres, Drogba, and Sturrdige are ahead of him, but a couple of injuries and with extra cup/european fixtures they'll need him I'm sure. I wouldn't mind going for Kalou instead, I don't see him breaking his way back into the team since he normally plays wide for them. Kalou and drenthe on the wings would give us what villa had a few seasons back, with ashley young and agbonlahor. We're not very good at counter attack and I'd actually prefer a quick, decisive player above a potentially good striker. If scoring goals is a trade, setting them up can be an art form. We've genuinely lacked ingenuity in the final third, and I think we have players capable of scoring regularly, we just don't create good opportunities, just half chances and the occasional wonder strike. Still we all knew we would be linked with every out of favour striker in the prem when kenwright said money was available so lets just hope we get something in january.

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I will have my fingers crossed now for 2 things: That Jack makes a speedy recovery, and that in the mean time Barkley gets partnered with Felli.

need goals in the second half, we've equalised deservedly, but we need some attacking threat on. Get Vellios on for Cahill and go at em. we shouldnt be in this position we should be cruising 2-0 up

FAN FUCKING TASTIC

i agree, Joe Allen has been playing great for wales lately, im sure at least some of it is down to the level required to play prem football. ledley has also stagnated in scotland, it's just not the same.

what happened to that guy on twitter who was the one for efc updates? forget his name, think he had his own thread during the summer for transfer rumours because he was spot on 90% of the time? has he said anything?

yeah he's got some competition for the Wales starting line-up but he will get there eventually I think. I was debating this with my friends a few months back, it's pretty much the consensus that Cardiff had probably the best chance for promotion they've had in years last season, but it was clear that a number of players weren't happy under Jones, and to be fair Kevin McNaughton was our player of the season and he also plays RB. Matthews contract was running out anyway, and i just don't think Jones did anywhere near enough to convince him his future lay at Cardiff, especially since Jones knew he couldn't say the same. Bothroyd, Chopra, Burke, and a host of other left in the summer, leaving a rebuilding job for mackay, who's done pretty well so far. I think matthews was just in that group of players that thought Cardiff weren't going to be able to match their ambition, after all he agreed to join Celtic well before the end of the season.

Matthews was great at times for Cardiff. He is not a CB though, attacking full back, plays on the right side. So bit like Coleman in that respect. was sad to see him leave Cardiff, good young player, would be good to have him as Hibbert and Neville aren't getting any younger. He and Seamus at right back would be decent options in a couple of years, providing they reach their potential.

Personally it's one of two for me. Whenever Bily has played in an attacking mid role he's looked promising, not quick and nimble but he's good with the ball at his feet and one of less than half a dozen of our players that can shoot from outside the box. Cahill hasn't looked himself and as much as every team says he's a danger i fear he is past his prime and should be used as an impact sub from now on. If our midfield features Bily in a central attacking role then I think he can get some form and maybe stake out a first 11 berth. However, out wide he has been useless for us, and if that's where Moyes sees him then we need to get rid in january. take whatever we can get and try and get another loan deal for someone like drenthe...highly doubtful but possible all the same. either way its the same with heitinga, Moyes clearly didn't buy him as a first choice CB even though that's what he is for Holland, and in the same way Johnny spoke out in the media (or at least was claimed to) Bily has as well to try and spark a reaction from the manager. But the only way he should be doing that is on the training ground. I'll be very interested to see how we line up against wolves. It's unfortunately become an important game to win for us instead of a routine one, and looking at wolves games after us they need a win against us to. I can't see where another one for them will come from in their next 5 games. if he wants to go he can go, but if he wants to play premier league football he needs to act like a premier league footballer, get his head down and earn a place in the squad. And another point about him on the wing, he's had 2 years to get with the pace, if he did it in Russia surely he's had enough time to do it here. No sympathy for the out of position argument in that respect. He doesn't lack skill so much as pace, which you can train up to get. Look how fast Dustbin is ffs

Bill's been at the chang again

Haha it was a while back man, but every once in a while I like to spare a thought for the poor bastard that's stuck with her now To be honest, I'm on here more because I sold my xbox No xbox and no girlfriend = Internet forums!!!! lol

Coat-Hangers, dirty looks from passing strangers, the Americanisation of Great Britain.......personal injury adverts...my ex

Johnny Cochran was O.J. Simpson's lawyer. The question I ask is, when we have been playing well, and winning games comfortably, has it been down to just where players have played on the pitch? Has it fuck in my opinion, but again that's just me. Like I said before, every player pulling on an Everton shirt knows they have to do whatever they can in whatever position they're asked to for the club. SAF may change his formations every two years because he has a plethora of talent to choose from. Honestly, how big do you think our squad is? Vellios is injured, Gueye coming back from injury. Who do you so desperately want to see up front?? we just don't have the players to do what everyone seems to want. Yes I wholeheartedly agree the team needs to fight more, but surely they don't need telling. They all know what's expected and I'm sure they've felt the hairdryer already. I struggle to think what more could be done bar the players putting in a shift and getting a win.