nogs

If it's true I think all in all it's a pretty good signing, stories about his attitude are a bit of a concern but Moyes has done a decent job with players like Yak. Besides, as we're not in the financial position to go after a Suarez or a Cardozo, we're gonna have to take a bit of a punt on someone, and I'm sure Moyes has done his homework on the lad if he is signing him up. From what I've seen, he looks like he's got fabulous touch and two great feet, so should fit in nicely with the new Barce-esque Toffees

I think the key point is we're not the finished article yet. I think our midfield is superb and as strong as anyone in the Prem right now, even without Arteta, Fellaini and in the second Heitinga, we totally bossed Villa, and they aren't to shabby in the middle either. It just gives me such a good feeling watching some of the football we've produced in the past few months, just a shame we won't get any reward for it this season. I said on another post yesterday we're short of a 20-goals-a-season striker, we definitely don't score the goals some of our football deserves - as last night proved, we still rely on Cahill from set pieces, which is no further on from where we were five years ago. Yeah the defence has been a let down this season and ultimately it will be letting goals slip that costs us. I think Jags just needs a pre-season under his belt to be totally confident in himself again, I wouldn't want Moyes to rush out and panic-buy a defender, apart from maybe cover at LB, coz i think a striker is more important. We've got some good players at the back, and I'll be interested to see how Coleman and Duffy progress next season. I think as much as anything we need a settled first choice back four, which we havent really had all season. Tactics - yeah, probably a fair point. Not just that we sit back too much when we're ahead, which is always doomed to failure and even more so with a slightly nervous back four. I don't think we're patient enough when we find it hard to break teams down and end up reverting back to big boot stuff, which means giving up possession and inviting pressure etc etc. With some of the touch players we've got now, we should be looking at the Arsenal-Barca way of playing, keep the ball, knock it around and trust in skill, vision and technique to wear opposition down. It's how we've beaten Utd, Chelsea, City etc this season, so why do we not always play like that against the likes of Wolves and West Ham?

The number of times we've thrown away a lead this season we don't deserve to be in Europe tbh, we've gotta sort that out. Absolutely gutted, we're a much, much better team than them, some of their cynical fouling was a disgrace. Oh well, it's been a fantastic effort for the last two thirds of the season, unfortunately just not quite enough. Bring on next year - if we can have a relatively drama-free summer!

I can't, just saying its probably the missing piece in the jigsaw. Gotta be some hidden gems out there somewhere though... <_<

Actually I take the 'worrying' back - for some reason I had it in my head that he was 30/31, managed to add two or three years on him somehow! I agree, get him through pre-season and look forward to him running our midfield again next season

I agree, unless he can stumble across another Mickey sat on the bench for his hometown Spanish club costing £2m

Over the course of the past few seasons, Arteta and Cahill without a doubt. But neither of them have been as pivotal this season - Arteta coz of injury and Cahill coz his forms been a bit up and down. Perhaps that's why we're not seriously challenging for fourth! I think what this season has shown is that when really needed, we've got a few who can stand up and be counted, and that's a good position to be in, you shouldn't rely on just one or two players. John H has held us together defensively and has had an immense first season, Baines and Pienaar have really stood out for consistency and reliability, and I think Fellaini's form from November to when he got injured was what helped us turn the season round, he looked an absolute superstar. Saying that, most of the names on Memmas list are players who either score or create 20 goals a season year in, year out. Maybe that's what we need to add (or what we've missed with Arteta and Cahill not being so prominent). Personally I still think we're short up front, Saha and Yak aren't consistent enough, if we had a striker who you just knew was gonna bang in 20-30 goals a season, we'd be a real force to be reckoned with

So much for luck with injuries easing... On an even more pessimistic note, worrying that Arteta has picked up something like this so soon after coming back from the cruciate injury. We've got no one in the squad who can offer what he can to the team and he's not getting any younger, I wonder if Moyes will start casting half an eye round for his replacement in the summer?

Dunno, Pienaar is very highly rated, he'll be the stand out player for SA at the World Cup no matter how they do, all he needs is three good games in the group stages and he'll be worth £20m. And there's no point selling Yak if we don't make a profit, he has still got an excellent goalscoring record in the PL, asking £15m wouldnt be taking the piss, look what Darren Bent went for.

I think Moyes has got another busy and potentially stressful summer in store to be honest. I think there's big questions to be asked over the long term futures of Pienaar and Yakubu - don't get me wrong, I'd be over the moon if we kept them both, but I think Pienaar fancies a tilt at CL football, and the Yak seems the sort where if he finds things aren't going his way any more, he starts looking at pastures new. Obviously they are both class, class players and would need replacing. I think either way we'd need another striker on top coz Saha's body may not last another full season, everyone has mentioned cover for Baines, and we definitely need a pacy outlet on either flank. That's five signings straight off if Pienaar and Yak do leave, and say we got £35m for the pair, that doesn't leave much room for manoever to find players who will add genuine quality to the side. I think the other hard decision for Moyes is how he sees us playing next season. I don't think the balance in midfield is quite right at the moment, I think we're caught between the stylish, neat passing football Arteta, Pienaar, Ossie and (occasionally) Bily offer, and the more direct style you need to get the best out of Cahill. Personally, i'd base the side around a midfield three of Arteta, Rodwell and Fellaini, and then play two pacy, direct wide men with a big old-fashioned centre-forward up top, but that would require a pretty serious overhaul of personnel. Anyway, my point is, there's no point in us just signing an Ireland, Veloso or Moutinho for the hell of it, the squad is close to being a pretty formidable unit so I think Moyes needs to think very carefully about what it needs to finish it off. I'd say Bily is a good example of a signing that didnt bring to the squad what was necessarily expected, and we can't really afford to spend £10m on a player who is just going to offer what we already have.

Wouldn't be surprised if we did win this one, but then would fully expect us to drop points against Blackburn or Stoke. I just get the feeling we've run out of chances now, it was always a big ask to turnaround the poor start we had but in the end I think the lack of a ruthless streak against the likes of Wolves and West Ham is gonna mean the season peters out into disappointment. Villa are in the same boat, they lack a killer edge on a consistent basis. This will be all about who wants it most, and with Moyes giving it the old last, last, lastest chance saloon treatment in the dressing room, I fancy our chances. 2-1 us.

You might have thought given the problems we've had putting some teams away in recent weeks Moyes might have fancied a pacy option down the right who can dribble, pass and cross...

The sight of two grown men kissing aside, I'm gutted firstly because I think Goose is a tidy little player who has developed a handy knack for scoring important goals, but more importantly coz our injury curse has struck again! Is that five cruciate injuries in the past two seasons now? I think a statistic like that is definitely something to be upset about personally

Wolves will be up for this, they're looking good for survival and have put together a decent run of results. But if we approach it in the right way, give it 110% like we must do every game left, we'll have way too much to them. 3-1 to us.

I remember laughing when i heard we were gonna sign him for £6m thinking it was a totally ridiculous rumour - like you ever get a player of his pedigree for that kind of money! 8 months later, the hairs on my neck still stand up every time he charges in for one of them crunching tackles. The man deserves his own cult in his honour!

Mancini has just proved you can't buy class - fantastic result, didn't think we were gonna do it, I love this club

Absolute god-like genius from Rodwell, it's on, watch out shite we're coming to get you!!!

How come we're incapable of getting the ball in the box from a dead ball? Very, very nervous last 10, COYB!!!

So the 64k question is, can we hang on away from home?

Well I was thinking on present form i'd rather have Ossie in middle than Cahill, but what do I know - get in Timmy!

I agree, except I can't see Moyes swapping the Jags/Distin partnership so unfortunately Johnny won't get near Tevez all game from DM. As much as i love Jags, he has looked shaky the last two games and with Tevez bang in form again, I'm more than slightly worried he'll punish us. Just don't quite understand why Moyes can't see that on current form Johnny is the best CB we have. I'd like to see Howard Neville Heitinga Distin Baines Rodwell Pienaar Osman Arteta Bily Yak But i think Moyes will probably play: Howard Neville Jags Distin Baines Heitinga Arteta Osman Cahill Pienaar Yak

I really, really hope that by saying this I get proved totally wrong and have to eat a large hunk of humble pie but i think that's it for Europe this season, we've dropped too many points in important matches away from home in the past couple of months and left ourselves with too much to do. This is my VERY optimistic view of how the table could look adding in the March fixtures - if it looks anything like this by Easter then I might start believing again... 4th Spurs - Stoke (a), Pompey (h) - 4pts, total 56, 7 games to play 5th City - Fulham (a), us (h), Wigan (h) - 4pts, total 54, 7 games to play 6th Liverpool - Pompey (h), Man U (a), Sunderland (h) - 6 pts, total 54, 6 games to play 7th Villa - Wigan (a), Wolves (h), Sunderland (h), Chelsea (a) - 5pts, total 51, 7 games to play 8th Everton - Bolton (h), Man C (a), Wolves (a) - 9pts, total 51, 6 games to play 9th Birmingham - Sunderland (a), Blackburn (a), Arsenal (h) - 4pts, total 48, 6 games to play

If I'm honest i'vealways thought Pip is an aberration at centre mid, his touch and distribution of the ball along the deck is poor by premier league standards, he lacks vision, pace and skill. That said, i think he's a pretty decent defender, I mean for christ's sake, he played 263 times for ferguson at Utd and has been capped 59 times for England, mainly playing a full-back - you just do not have that kind of career if you're a 'waste of space', his tackling, tenacity, commitment and reading of the game are his great strengths. He can also occasionally ping in a deadly cross from out wide, much better than Hibbo ever manages anyway. And although i used to dread seeing him being named as the DM in our side, I did gradually come round to realising that, in a young side with few obvious leaders, he has played an absolutely pivotal role in our development over the past couple of years, because he is a natural leader, he does inspire confidence in those around us, he has experience playing at the highest level, and he's got that competitive edge to his personality you need as a captain. That said, I think it's time to say thank you and let him take more of a back seat role now - he's 33, we need to improve again next season if we're going to make a serious assault on the top four and I think we need someone at RB who can offer more going forward. I'm hoping Coleman will push on and stake a claim for next season, but more importantly, I think we now have a ready-made replacement captain in Jags. I think Pip should still be club captain, i think he can do a job as a squad player, and I would love to see him do his coaching badges working for us because he is someone Moyes clearly trusts and likes working with. But i agree, I don't think he should be in a first choice XI next season.

Woops my bad, apologies... Still, he looked pretty good v Hull... :|

Definitely a must win, we're on a terrible run away from home, if it doesn't end Saturday it really is season over. Liverpool losing at Wigan has opened the door for us just a chink, they're definitely within range if we win, we've just got to take advantage. Seems like we're saying it a lot recently, but a massive, massive game for us.