Bailey

Yeh I never really understood it. He is clearly a talented footballer but he has no real understanding of the game and he is a liability as well. They would be better off starting Lambert.

Both teams were dire. It was like watching the lower leagues. I thought the young Villa lads would kick on with a couple of season's under their belt but they haven't really improved a great deal and Lambert is proving what I thought of him at Norwich. I'm surprised he has been given so long.

I didn't say he was dependant on him. When he has played in the 10 role he has become more isolated, especially with Barkley out as Naismith or whoever else has played there has dropped a little deeper and he has struggled to link the play as well as he can. At Chelsea he had 3 quick, energetic players behind him who bridged that gap whereas Osman, Pienaar, Naismith etc can't bridge that gap as well. Like Naismith and Barkley, I think he prefers to have that space to play in that Rom or any other similar number 10 can bring. Also when Etoo has played number 10 he has always looked to link the play really well but he comes deeper to look for the ball than Rom traditionally would meaning we end up turning the ball over closer to goal more often. Again I'm not saying he can't play in those positions but the way we set up, the way we use the ball, he will have more joy playing around Lukaku than being the main man, at least until we get both Barkley and Mirallas fit. Those 3 on the counter would be scary.

No see that's just it, I do agree with your actual point but you don't half talk some crap to try and justify it.

Yeh of course, never said he wasn't.

Yeh I have actually so you can be let off There are literally pages analysing almost every single one of Rom's touches but its only an odd line here or there for the rest.

Yeh you definitely get the bigger picture at the game itself but you lose a lot of the detail, especially if you are sat behind either of the goals. Like Paddock says though you see players positional sense a lot more. Also agree on the boxing comment. Some of the commentators talk absolute shite and the worse thing is they still score it better than the judges!

Everton 2 - 1 Swansea Barkley

Spot on. I also don't think he is as effective when he is upfront on his own (from what we have seen). When he has been on his own he hasn't linked as well with the rest of the team and its no surprise that his best game so far has come from playing off the big mans shoulder. Look at the first goal, he wouldn't have been in a position to make that late run if he was the main striker. If we hadn't of played Lukaku yesterday he wouldn't have been anywhere near as good IMO. He would have had his moments but it would have been harder to get him into the game.

I know that Lukaku's touch ended up in conceding a goal against Burnley but in the Lille game several players made several far worse touches that the one Lukaku did but luckily for them it didn't end up putting the opposition player through (eventually) but barely a peep is made. He doesn't have the most amazing touch in the world but if he was the perfect player he wouldn't be at Everton. He is a bloody good finisher, he does work hard and as he has shown he will score goals and help create goals for others.

Hopefully we keep Lukaku central and rotate the other 3 behind him.

You don't half come out with some shite about Rom Haf.

Yeh I thought he was very good too. I dont know how he would play in a more attacking team as he had plenty of cover the other night from his two defensive midfielders who were also excellent but he didnt put a foot wrong all game.

He wasnt last year or the year before that. Like any player who has been out of form, one game doesnt mean they are back at their best. Likewise one bad game doesnt mean they are out of form either although you would think otherwise on here sometimes!

Completely agree. The number of times he holds onto the ball when he should be playing someone in is infuriating. He should have put Rom through against Lille with an early slightly lofted through ball but instead he held onto it too long and then tried playing a flat ball to two players at the back post when a Lille defender (Kjaer who was excellent) could easily intercept. He also should have done more in the first half. One example we had worked a lot of space on the edge of the area and I think it fell to him on the corner of the 18 yard box and instead of squaring it to Pienaar to have an unpressurised shot on goal he hit a weak volley/shot from a bad angle that was more akin to a back pass. Pienaar would have probably cocked it up anyway given how he was playing but he should have had the opportunity to do so! Add that to another opportunity where he had the ball in a decent position probably 6 yards wide but 10-12 yards from the byline and instead of firing a shot in or attempting to square the ball, he ran closer to the byline and lost possession (cant remember if it was because he was tackled or because the space had been closed down). He is just so bloody frustrating and we desperately need another consistent wide player in the squad, especially when the likes of Mirallas and Barkley are out.

I'd like to see him sustain this form for at least half a dozen games before saying he is back to his best.

We created enough opportunities in the game to see them off comfortably but didn't finish them off. It's not like we didn't create any chances.

He has his moments. He played well enough in the Utd game and also had his moments in the first game against Leicester. He came off the bench and created a couple of goals at the end of last season too so its not like he is completely crap, he is just really fucking annoying.

Burnley 0 - 3 Everton Naismith

I think it will be the same team that started against Villa.

Thought he started a bit panicky but he got better as the game developed.

He just doesnt do the job he is there to do. We have seen that he does have the ability but he just doesnt beat the man in front of him enough and then when he does he cocks it up. He isnt all bad but he isnt consistent enough and most of the time he either doesnt get involved or you wish he hadnt of been involved, which is pretty much how I viewed him before he came. If you compare him to McManaman that Martinez had at Wigan, they are both there to do very similar jobs, but despite McGeady probably being the better all round player McManaman was able to deliver quality far more regularly.

Yeh I will go with Jags as well. Nice to see him return to form.

It was one of those games where we were poor but we tended to do it at the right end of the pitch. Too often this season we have fucked up in our half leaving us exposed but it's a slightly positive sign that we were actually pretty solid in our half and they didn't create much at all. It was a weird first half because so many players were taking bad first touches when they were in decent positions and it robbed us of all momentum, the main culprits being Barkley and Pienaar. Once Pienaar went off, we sparked into life but McGeady wasted countless opportunities to play a good ball in or take a shot. His movement was decent to get him there but he fucked it up after that. Besic was very disappointing. He was a ghost for the first 75 minutes and only kicked into gear at the end and whilst Barry was by no means perfect he had to do a lot of clearing up for him and put in a massive shift. Jags was good, Hibbert held his own and Baines and Etoo both gave it a good go. Atsu looked livelier than I have seen him when he came on to and Lukaku was very good in his cameo.

I didn't actually think Balotelli was as bad as people are making out. When he actually got on the ball in the first half he looked positive and alongside Sterling they were the only players I thought carried any threat. Its not his fault the midfield were diabolical (Gerrard and Allen in particular) and sat 10 yards off every Madrid player. I don't get what the shirt swapping was all about mind you.