nogs

The 4-3-3 people have mentioned with Barkley, McCarthy, Cleverley in midfield looks decent on paper, but we just don't have the squad to back that up. Ossie and Naismith just wouldn't fit anywhere, we have no back up wingers in a front 3 and take Lukaku out and we have no one to provide a central focus. We'll play 4-2-3-1 every game with two holding midfielders and a fudge in the front four whenever there are injuries because that is the shape of the squad Martinez has built.

Thanks - have a feeling I might have plenty more to say over the next few weeks...

Hi former part-time poster here who still dips his head in now and again, all the Stones stuff has got me narked enough to commit thoughts to screen again... This Matt Smith fella, where the frigging hell does he get 'Everton won't be able to stop Stones signing for Chelsea' from? Unless I'm living in some parallel universe, I was under the impression we had him under a long term contract, which means WE have the power to say if, when, to whom and for how much he goes. So, and please correct me if I'm wrong, how the fuck can we be 'unable to stop' him? I'd love to put that one to our genius crack reporter and see what he says... This whole saga and our general impotence in the transfer market is killing my interest in PL to be honest. If this hack is right, if Stones has decided he wants the bright lights of a club funded by a gangster and supported by racist thugs, and we, instead of reminding the boy he signed a 5 year contract and needs to knuckle down, cave in for way under his potential worth (50m plus as a starting point), I don't think I can be arsed with this season. Top level football is becoming a racket backed to the hilt by a snide, classless media. Clubs like ours need to start to take a stand against it, starting by defending our key assets from what has amounted to poaching in public. I'll be interested to see if our board has the spine to do it. Rant over.

Just a small point, but do we really need to sign anyone this summer? All this 'sell to buy' stuff is all well and good, but why buy for the sake of it, Moyes did his business in January and we're looking a real team now. I'm sure on of the reasons we start every season so shit is that our squad gets unsettled by uncertainties over who's going out and who's coming in - we'd be better off just keeping our heads down and concentrating on building on what has been a fantastic few months. Ok granted it would mean signing Pienaar, but I'd slap 50 million of Fellaini and tell anyone who wants him to stump up of fuck off, he's integral to us getting to where we wanna be, which is in Europe and winning a trophy, which has got to be worth 50 million to the club.

Really?? Well fair do's mate we all have our opinions but I have to say mine differ wildly to yours on that front. I'm not saying Kenwright is perfect and I acknowledge his biggest flaws have been exposed in his business dealings, but, to dig out a hackneyed old phrase, football is a results business and like it or not, under his reign things on the pitch have improved dramatically. I think its disingenious to suggest 'all he's done' is hire Moyes - why then does Moyes constantly come out singing Bill's praises? Their working relationship is a big factor that has alowed Moyes to do so well, a circumstance Moyes is always at pains to point out does not happen at many football clubs, and certainly wasn't the case at Everton when Johnson was in charge, who let's face it didn't have the best relationship with his managers, which to me is a pretty essential part of the chairman's role.

What 'facts' are you referring too?? You sound like Rafa frigging Benitez!! I love how personal dislike can colour objectivity... Here are some 'facts' for you - the club has not been a 'giant' in terms of consistently challenging for silverware for quarter of a century now; the football landscape changed massively with the introduction of the Premier League, and we failed to keep up, the fault for which lies squarely with Kenwright's predecessors, and especially Peter Johnson, during whose tenure we were reduced to the status of relegation fodder; compared to Johnson's reign, Kenwright's stewardship has seen us become a stable top-six or seven club, despite the obvious financial disadvantages we face, the return of European football to Goodison and us consistently competing for cup silverware, with three semi-finals in the past four years. Now here's an opinion - a couple of cup wins and a couple of runs te the latter stages of European competition, and I would say Kenwright's era at the club has been very good. Discuss

Let's remember something - Tuesday wasn't just a derby, it was a chance to go 7th and be breathing down the necks of Newcastle in 6th. Considering the first half of the season we had, 6th/7th would be a massive achievement and one that I now feel is out of our grasp. We didn't just capitulate a derby, in my eyes we capitulated a potential European spot on Tuesday, and for that Moyes needs to have a long, hard look at himself.

Think it's about time we stopped making excuses for Rodwell myself - fitness aside, he just isn't looking the player we all thought he could be, end of, and I haven't seen anything from him all season that makes me want him anywhere near our first team. Compare him to Gerrard at the same age, who has now spent a decade beating us almost singlehanded, the twat. On today's game, having Osman back in the centre will make a huge difference, I'll cry if Moyes sticks him out on the left to replace Pienaar, it's gotta be Drenthe left and Coleman right for me

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/the-rundown/top-30-best-paid-managers-180530845.html Considering our financial situation I have to admit I was a little surprised to see Moyes' name so high on that list - but I guess if we weren't giving him some serious coin he wouldn't have stuck around for ten years. Some interesting omissions as well - Bielsa for less than half the salary we're paying Moyes, anyone??

Moyes always has and always will be a dour Scot, and seems to revel in portraying that image to the media. He's a hard one to fathom, because although his first priority is clearly defence and his absolute refusal to deviate from 4-5-1 is infuriating to the fans, sometimes you see us play some beautiful, free-flowing stuff with the ball on the deck and wonder why on earth we don't do that all the time? He does have to be careful of his pessimism, the great managers instill an air of invincibility in their teams by acting/sounding like they are unbeatable, and you don't need a fortune to buy the best players, Clough was a genius at using his own arrogance to inspire his players and picking formations/stylkes of play that made the best of their strengths and weaknesses.

Was abroad when I heard about this, absolutely devastating, as a fellow Evertonian, Welshman and local lad from Chester, as well as being an outstanding player, he was one of my all-time favourites in a blue shirt and I was gutted when he left, nothing ever got said but I always had the feeling we'd seen one of our best walk away over the turmoil the club was in at the time. As others have said, he also came across as a genuinely likable, modest and decent guy, a true professional with so much to offer to the game, and potentially a great manager as well. I still can't believe it, my thoughts are with his wife and those two poor boys, I hope the scum press do the decent thing and leave them alone soon. RIP Gary, you'll be hugely missed, and I hope those of you who make the match on Saturday pay him the respect he deserves.

It's funny, we're playing shite and suddenly we have three players in the England team!! Not often that happens! I think it's great, yeah it means all the rumours about Rodwell in particular will start all over again, but hopefully he will come back full of confidence and start turning his talent into the kind of form that will kick start our season. Him and Felli should be one of the most exciting young midfield pairings in the Prem, and if they play to their potential they should only be leaving for stupid money.

I can't understand why people seem to be trying to argue that the strength of our squad is no excuse for our current form - compared to the squad we had when we last qualified for Europe and got to the cup final, this bunch is much, much weaker, and it is showing in both our form and our morale. Yes our squad has been 'refreshed' - we've lost some very good players and replaced them with a handful of unknown kids. Right now we look a team devoid of morale, ideas and ability. Going back to Moyes - at some point we have to face facts. Yes he has rightly won praise for what is seen to be over-achieving within the financial constraints he faces at the club, but he is NEVER going to be the world class manager people all too hopefully talk him us as. Evidence? His inability to adapt tactically, his ingrained negativity, and the fact that he cannot for the life of him get a team ready and up to scratch for the start of a league season. How many times now have we gone into November sat in the bottom six? How many times have we only taken an average of a point a game from our first ten games of the season? If we're talking about our club motto, that is just not good enough, and right now I can't ever see Moyes getting over that deficiency while he's Everton manager.

Bad times. I wasn't that bothered about losing Arteta based on performances last season but Fellaini will be a huge loss and a sure sign that the club is not just stagnating but going backwards. Since we reached the FA Cup final two years ago we've lost Lescott, Pienaar, Arteta and Yakubu and barely replaced anyone bar bringing Distin in at CB - no club can afford to keep selling talent like that without buying, I mean look at where Aston Villa have gone, from being serious top four contenders to nobodies, and they have money to spend. I'm starting to really worry about the future of our club

Saw him play in Crewe's first team at 17 in the Championship and he looked quality, hasn't really kicked on from there though, don't think he's good enough for us.

That's Heitinga's season over if he's done a hamstring. When will it end?!

Find it funny how some people have turned on him tbh. He was one of our best players last season and in my opinion is head and shoulders the best CB at the club, proven world class, which Distin definitely is not and Jagielka still has to prove himself to be.

Should be an interesting end to the season, no strikers and no midfield!!

Yeah great, another batch exciting young talent we can develop to sell to the Manc scum. With all the rumours about Rodwell leaving I just can't get excited about any of our young kids coz we'll never get to see them fulfill their potential in a blue shirt anyway, and when you become that kind of selling club, you're destined to never be anything more than mediocre

Not really no - I think he's good enough to play the anchor role in a 4-4-2 giving the other three in midfield the freedom to get forward.

I've said it on another post and I'm gonna stick my neck out here as well - Fellaini will go before Rodwell. Feel free to rip me mercilessly if I'm wrong.

So where exactly do you suggest they find the money from? Incidentally, I'm with Moyes all the way on the Rodwell/Fellaini issue. You only sell good players when they want to leave (I think Newcastle fucked up big times with Carroll, for instance), although there's no doubt Fellaini is the better player at moment (and best player we've got), I think it's inevitable he will go looking for CL football/top wages sooner rather than later, so let's forget all this talk about selling Rodwell, let's see just how good he really is, coz either a lot of people in football have got it very wrong about him or there's something wrong in the way we're bringing him on if he doesn't become a top player

As much as I hate the thought i think it's far more likely Felli will leave, he's the proven article, why would teams splash £30m on Rodwell's potential when they can get a guy who can walk straight into any of their first teams and improve them? If he does, then it's up to Rodwell to prove he can step up. And as for sending pics of his nob to hookers - so fucking what? It's the fucking 21st century, not the frigging 1950s!!

Couldn't disagree more. It suited the players he had in 2005, apart from Cahill I cant think of a single playerin the squad now who thrives in a 4-5-1, he's stuck to what he knows and hasn't adapted at all. We haven't got a single striker capable of playing up front effectively on his own. Beckford and Saha both work best playing alongside another striker for different reasons, yet Moyes still persists with Saha up top and only throwing beckford on for the odd 10 or 15 minutes. We don't have enough pace to break from midfield to support a lone striker, to me it's blatantly obvious we work best in a 4-4-2

Did that just happen? Wretched, gutless, abysmal, none of them come close. Fuck off the lot of them, the players, the board and Moyes, I don't want that fucking shite associated with my football club. Utter bollocks.