Matt

we were outclassed. its that simple.

im going with Howard, without whom it wouldve been a repeat of the away game. I thought Screech was very good in the first half, as were Billy, Baines, Hibbert and the Yak. 2nd half, they all disappeared.

Gosling shouldnt be allowed on the pitch again, nor should Jo (im fed up of defending him now, he just cant deal with the EPL or Europe). As for the rest, they didnt do enough to get a mention, which could be a good thing, could be bad. I leave it to you...

anyone see Nuno on CH5?! no wonder his knees have gone, he's got big!!!

how many times have we heard "and a fantastic reflex save to keep everton in the game"... still, we're not looking too bad. except gosling. he's useless....

something that always cracked me up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnHv7NGWb0k

i might start to feel a little more optimistic:

http://www.evertonfc.com/match/report/0910/everton-v-benfica.html

"Head-to-head

This is the second meeting between the sides in a competitive game after the first a fortnight ago, although we had previously played a pre-season friendly in La Coruna, Spain during July 1987 – the sides drawing 0-0 with Benfica winning 5-3 on penalties.

Everton have never played Portuguese opposition at home in Europe before, while Benfica have an away record of P10 W2 D0 L8 against English opponents. "

anyone a little more relaxed now? i might change my prediction from 0-0 to 1-0 to us!

CraccerC and I have been debating this in another thread too, but rather than post a second time heres the link to the thread:

http://www.toffeetalk.com/index.php?showtopic=19178

does anyone know if the bookies are offering odds for this? ive just got that feeling...

we've also won the league in the past, it is what it is - the past. i don't remember the 80s each I just think the belief that we can get anywhere near breaking the top 4 with our squad is admirable but blind optimism...we're a million miles away arsenal, liverpool, united and chelsea. Throw Spurs and City into the equation now and we'll do extremely well to get european football this year, it's just being realistic.

we havent won the league recently, but we have qualified for the CL in the recent past. i know the past is the past, but its proof that a team worse off than we are now, and worse of than the other teams at the time (Liverpool being the prime example) can overcome the odds. Look at the team that played Villareal: Nigel Martyn, Tony Hibbert, Joseph Yobo, David Weir, Alessandro Pistone (James McFadden, 80), Tim Cahill, Mikel Arteta, Phil Neville, Simon Davies, Kevin Kilbane (Duncan Ferguson, 63), James Beattie (Marcus Bent, 63). Youve got to admit we've come a long way since then.

and as for other teams investing more than us this year, this is no different than normal. Spurs, every year, spend a fortune and acheive nothing. The link below is for the spending in the year we qualified for CL, 2004/2005:

http://www.footballeconomy.com/stats/stats_turnover_10.htm

West Brom spent 4 times as much as we did! I know where youre coming from, i reallly do, but looking back over the years, we have continually defied all the odds to qualify, with skeleton squads and shoestring budgets. dont see why we cant again, especially since we have replaced McFadden, Beattie and Bent with Billy, Yak and Saha...

that liverpool fail to qualify for the CL knockout stages, drop into the Europa league and we face them in the latter stages?

to be honest im a little excited and worried at the same time by the prospect, but is it possible?

http://www.evertonfc.com/news/archive/moyes-on-saha.html

thanks Mike. im goin the opticians now....

i hope theyve (OS) got this wrong....

RE: Arteta's injury, and all the others, the OS' view on things:

http://www.evertonfc.com/match/latest-injuries.html

most notable

Mikel Arteta (Injury: Ruptured cruciate ligament Expected return: Late 2009/Early 2010)

Leon Osman (Injury: Foot Expected return: Unknown!!!)

Steven Pienaar (Injury: Knee Expected return: Unknown!!!)

Not great news on the os..........

 

Everton (from): Howard, Nash, Hibbert, Distin, Yobo, Baines, Cahill, Fellaini, Rodwell, Gosling, Coleman, Jo, Yakubu, Saha, Baxter, Wallace, Akpan, Agard, Duffy.

 

No peanuts, and according to the blurb that went with that squad list Saha is still carrying his injury (calf strain) and might not play.

 

Shows all the signs of us having few fireworks bar maybe the odd damp squib........

you got a link for it? i cant find this anywhere on the OS...

i feel so sorry for them.... i hope they use the new income for a hitman for the staff in charge of this...

i swear the day moutinho moves (to anyone) it will be the happiest day of my life!

i honestly thought that when he signed that new 4 contract with the min release clause of E24m, would make people realise WE ARE NEVER GOING TO SIGN HIM!!!! i dont know why, but everytime i see his name mentioned in connection with us, my blood boils. right, rant over...

******

for those who dont believe me:

http://www.portugoal.net/index.php/more-sporting-news/1294-moutinho-signs-new-sporting-contract

seems its E22.5m but still a valid arguement!

Devastating news we need to try and get in a replacement in January (Moutinho!)

its also in the Echo

 

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/everton-fc/everton-fc-news/2009/11/04/everton-fc-rocked-by-fresh-mikel-arteta-injury-anguish-100252-25086249/

oh lord not this again....

Here's hoping this is all some dramatic mindgame ahead of the Benfica game, though i doubt it! Best wishes Mikel, take it easy and just make sure you get yourself back this season...

Interesting thread, good seeing other peeps slant on it, well done for starting it spiderman.

very welcome! to be honest, its been so refreshing being able to get back on here after a 4 week absense, work has finally calmed down again. nothing like a bit of online banter!

No, Bily can play And i mirror what The Beard has said. We were equal to everything before the mad 5mins, and at home Benfica wont be as attack minded so aslong as we apply pressure on their defense, we should be ok. Having Yobo and Baines back will make a huge difference to the defense and Hibbert likes his tackling, so we shall see DiMaria struggle after Hibbo's first cruncher Baines and Bily will have to work over time though, Bily for singularly being our creative force and Baines being the only one able to over-lap I agree with Beard. 2-1 to us, who scores????? im gonna say Yak and Jo both in need of a goal.

tis as i thought then... im still going to be boring and say 0-0. a clean sheet is just as important at the moment.

Read my last post, a bigger and stronger squad only keps you on a par with other teams who have also improved their squads.

"How have we slipped backwards" just look at our position compared to the teams previously mentioned.

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).

A stronger squad does not necessarily mean we have improved, it would only keep us on a par with other teams that have also improved, but in our case City, Spurs, Villa, and even Sunderland have spent more than us so we havent improved at all, in fact we are starting to slip backwards.

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!

I actually think we will win 2-0

 

I am hoping that Benfica will come here over confident and be expecting us to roll over as easily as we did over there.

 

While they did look a decent side I dont think they are anything special . I just thought it was one of those nights when everything went right for them. An example of that was Saviolas first goal that bounced over the keeper, same as the goal they got from the corner were the header bounced over the defender on the line

 

If Hibbo is back we should at least have a recognised back 4. My only concern is that we havent got any creativeity in midfield without Piennar

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!