tonyh

Well I suppose technically that IS playing through the middle ...

But I felt they dealt pretty comfortably with almost all the crosses we put in. From what I remember the two best chances (apart from Pienaar hitting the bar) were the two shots Saha had, and both times it was worked in more from the centre. But to do that better we need Arteta further up.

I agree he shouldn't have been playing so deep but I can only guess that was Moyes' plan as he stayed there the whole game. Otherwise Moyes would have been screaming at him to push up more. So we had two deep central midfielders, OK Cahill plays slightly off but he's not exactly a creative player with the ball to feet. So all the attacking play went wide with the aim of getting crosses in. There needs to be more variation than that.

Well that clears that one up then ... It's my opinion. They have plenty of possession, but most of the play aims at getting the ball down the wings to get crosses in. Do we have the forwards for that? Beckford seems like the kind of player that would thrive on balls over the top or through balls, Saha we have seen score headers from crosses but he's got great feet and can do more with the ball at his feet. That's why I think it's too predictable at the moment. Arteta was too deep today and he's one of the players we need playing it through the middle.

Why?

Big problem was I don't think we actually had a shot on target until Saha's two shots in the last ten minutes. Why is the only way to attack trying to work the ball out wide to get crosses in? It's too predictable.

I agree he's got to learn, and he'll only do that from playing. But what I'm saying is that we can't just stick him in – he has to be brought in gradually and protected. The way some people talk about him you'd think he's been playing at the top level for a couple of seasons and we know he can handle it. He hasn't and we don't.

Totally agree. Some people are going way, way overboard about him. We can all see he's great going forward but he's got no Premier League experience and could be found out defensively. I think he's going to be a very good player for us, but if he gets thrown in too early and has a shocker or two defensively his confidence could totally collapse. I agree with Moyes that patience is very important.

Presumably there'll be a decent loan fee, too? So we do get some cash, aside from saving on the wages of a player who's not playing.

We had only two methods of trying to create chances: i) long ball, looking for flick ons, ii) work it out wide, get crosses in. Do they not realise that DUNCAN FERGUSON NO LONGER PLAYS?

Another thing about Fellaini is that Moyes keeps picking him. If we trust Moyes then I suppose we have to trust his apparent opinion that Fellaini is decent. And don't tell me that he's picking him because he doesn't want to lose face or admit that he was a waste of money – look at what happened to Per Kroldrup, who Moyes obviously realised was a dud after signing him.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/nov/18/mikel-arteta-knee-surgery-everton