Matt

i see where youre coming from (trying to at least) but i can only see it as an improvement from last season. If we had had the injuries weve had and not increased the size of the squad in the summer, the kids that we see on the bench wouldve been regulars instead, so the squad has improved in that respect. We are 3 points of the pace compared with last year, in the same amount of competitions (cant remember when we went out of Europe last year, so i may be wrong there) and players coming back from injury. Granted, we played harder games at the beginning of last season to get to the same position then but we're only 10 games in! there are 28 games to go. As for these other teams; Villa will wonder along not doing much, Sunderland will stutter eventually, City will implode and Hughes wont be able to deal with it. Spurs can give a decent challenge for the CL places. Liverpool will be lucky to finish in the top 6 if they continue like this (and long may it do so!). Every team will have a blip during the season, weve got ours out of the way early on (fingers crossed).

didnt city, spurs and villa all spend more than us last year too? didnt help them then did it. just out of curiosity, anyone remember how their respective starts to the season went? I remember spurs having a nightmare (2 wins in 10 or something?) but the others? how have we slipped backwards?! thats crazy! we have a bigger, stronger squad which has to mean we have improved the team! The things that have dipped are form, confidence and more injuries but these will improve as we go along. just keep the faith!

is Billy suspended for this game? i thought he was available and if so would give us plenty of creativity. would be nice to have Pienaar back too mind...

not sure how its better for us but its fun to watch!

done! thanks for the brief break from work!

No need to apologise mate! fantastic stuff....

ok, i understand the pessimism but surely going into Decemeber with a near full strength squad is cause to boost hope (assuming Mick's blog is correct!). Yeah, we have tough games coming up, easy games have gone by where we have lost points and the other teams around us werent as strong last year, but come on! Hull this time last year were pushing 4th! Its too early in the season to write us off and you never know whats going to happen. if we continue to play like we have been doing then yeah, midtable is likely. But surely when we get Pienaar, Jags, Neville and Arteta back, we are going to have such a strong team that noone should really stop us! Also, if Liverpool keep playing the say they are (long may it continue and long may Rafa and the yanks stay in charge!) they wont finish top 4, which means theres an extra plcae up for grabs. Spurs are doing well, as are Sunderland and City, but i dont see them going the whole way. right, im off to the doctors, back to this later!

taken from the bbc site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/8333388.stm Michael Ballack (Germany), Chelsea Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Juventus Iker Casillas (Spain), Real Madrid Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Real Madrid Diego (Brazil), Juventus Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Chelsea Michael Essien (Ghana), Chelsea Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon), Inter Milan Steven Gerrard (England), Liverpool Thierry Henry (France), Barcelona Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden), Barcelona Andres Iniesta (Spain), Barcelona Kaka (Brazil), Real Madrid Frank Lampard (England), Chelsea Luis Fabiano (Brazil), Sevilla Lionel Messi (Argentina), Barcelona Carles Puyol (Spain), Barcelona Franck Ribery (France), Bayern Munich Wayne Rooney (England), Manchester United John Terry (England), Chelsea Fernando Torres (Spain), Liverpool David Villa (Spain), Valencia Xavi (Spain), Barcelona Barca have 6 players!!! 6!!! Dont understand how Ballack is in there to be honest, but anyway, what are your thoughts? anyone missing?

i disagree, we have acheived a CL place in the past, and theres no reason why we cant push again. i understand what you mean, the media seem oto have the Big Four then everyone else. im a little young to remember the 80s, so dont know much about the media then. but i see your point...

i found one of my favourite games of all time free online!!!! for all those who loved him, here is Rick Dangerous for your enjoyment: http://rickdangerousflash.free.fr/

for me, a true replacement for Carsely is the most important, then someone with dribbling, silky skills. Dont agree with needing a poacher-striker (though i wouldnt turn one down!). Saha is world class and once we get Stevie P and Arteta back creating opportunities for him, the Yak holding up the ball for him.... no worries there. We need someone to dominate the midfield, Neville but with better vision, more accurate passing and someone who can drive forward. which should be easy to find

not sure what he is like in reality but in Championship Manager 99/00 (my last copy im afraid), you could buy him for 100k and he instantly became worth 12m and scored bucket loads! but, "Wigan Athletic, Blackburn Rovers and Portsmouth have also been linked with a move for the player." errr... thats a little worrying...

i think its going to defy all the hype and be a boring, hard fought 0-0. And you know what, i would take it. for those lucky enough to be goin however, i hope we win 7-3 with Saha and Yak both getting 3, with Hibbo roundin it off nicely...

I know, it makes me sad. I have heard of these abomination love-child-mutant-offspring-from-The-Fast-Show-and-Little Britain, but refuse to give them any recognition... i dont know why i bothered, sorry boverred, with uni! Everything i learnt in the linguisitics courses is now obsolete!

why not? surely finishing 5th puts you in the top 5?!

fair points by both of you, but even if we have tougher games in the second half of the season, hopefully we will have a stronger squad than we did last year which would balance it out? West Ham and Hull should be 6 points and we could get a point against Utd, especially since the diving nancy has gone now. Its going to be a tough runup to Christmas, but when has that ever been easy for us? I just think with players coming back rather than getting injured (he says tapping every piece of wood in sight!) we're going into the festive period better off... well, heres hoping anyway...

lets be honest with ourselves, we werent going to win the title, but 4th/5th was a real possibility, and i think it still is. 15 points this time last year (if my maths is correct - taken from below link), 3 more than we currently have. But out massive run of successful results didnt start until December, after we got beat 3-2 by Villa. December is 4 weeks away so hopefully we can have the same response like last year but sooner. On top of that, our players are starting to come back, unlike last year where they started to drop like flies. after the Villa result, we got beat 3 times throughout the rest of the season (in the league), drew 7 and won 11. Not brilliant, but with no strikers and losing Arteta and later on Jags, we finished 5th on a skeleton squad which i think we all agree was a great acheivement. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everton_F.C._season_2008%E2%80%9309 sorry if this is badly worded, bit hectic at work today, but hopefully my point is clear enough; we're not that far off where we were this time last year and have key players coming back from injury rather than getting injured. Is that not something to be optimistic about?

HA! well, seems they were getting caught at Asda, decided to switch to Tesco, more money in it? hehehe

oldies but goldies!

this has just made my evening! Kudos, Reg. Kudos....

well, if he lived up to the hype and calms down on the card-collecting in games, he could be a real gem. sounds like Felli's collection when he first joined!

will be good for the kid to get some league experience, so long as he doesnt get injured....

sorry mate, im confused now. The link says: "Joseph Yobo (head), Steven Pienaar (knee), Leighton Baines (calf) and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (thigh) are all being given every chance ahead of Saturdays game...." which previous post? ********************* just found your post. Kipper or Newspaper, which is more reliable (and im not being sarcastic here either, i dont get to read either really)?

A 'heads up' for those men who may be regular Tesco customers. This one caught me by surprise. Over the last month I became a victim of a clever scam while out shopping. Simply going out to get supplies has turned out to be quite traumatic. Don't be naive enough to think it couldn't happen to you or your friends. Here's how the scam works: Two seriously good-looking 20-21 year-old girls come over to your car as you are packing your shopping into the trunk. They both start wiping your windshield with a rag and Windowlene, with their breasts almost falling out of their skimpy T-shirts. It is impossible not to look. When you thank them and offer them a tip, they say 'No' and instead ask you for a ride to McDonalds. You agree and they get into the back seat. On the way, they start undressing. Then one of them climbs over into the front seat and starts crawling all over you,while the other one steals your wallet. I had my wallet stolen September 4th, 9th, 10th, twice on the 15th, 17th, 20th, 24th & 29th. Also October 1st & 4th, Twice on the 8th, 16th, 23rd, 26th & 30th, three times last Monday and very likely again this upcoming weekend. So tell your friends to be careful. P.S. Tesco have wallets on sale for 2.99 each.

if he isnt then we at least need Pienaar back, god knows Yak and Jo arent going to create chances for themselves. It does say we expect a few returns, though i wont hold my breath!