Newty82

Sky cut odds to 1/1 for him to join us following a run of bets.

Haha!!! It was another classic!!!

Love it! Excited by this. Not so much from the playing/scoring angle but the experience he'll bring for the likes of Lukaku and the next gen, the European experience, the knowledge etc. Brilliant coup this is.

When Everton transfer links are strong and then go quiet...that's usually a good sign. We do business the proper way. Have the links with Welbeck been strong enough to get excited about it going quiet? Not sure. I'm usually really reserved on transfers, but I'm allowing myself to get excited that we will bring in more before the end of the window....

Honestly, if we got Eto'o and Welbeck on top of what we have already brought in...that would be immense! Can see a few players leaving Utd with the arrival of Di Maria and them still chasing Vadel.

Yes! If it means we beat the bastards...its worth 200k a week!!!

Never a truer word spoken my friend!!!

Sky have suspended betting as he is supposed to come our way tomorrow.

Love him to be here for the right wages. And I have no doubt that we will only offer what we can afford. Some make out its lunacy to pay him 100k per week...well its lunacy to get angry about something you don't factually know. You nutters. This mercenary stuff is bollocks too. Be a good experienced presence in our squad. Lukaku will learn loads from him. His honors list is huge. Goal scoring record at the highest level impressive. And he'll sell shirts.

I can't see Utd loaning him to us? Surely they see us as a direct rival in that 4th- 7th race???

I think the way we are being strongly linked with Welbeck and Eto'o shows that, even if we don't get any of these two, we are in the hunt for new signings before the window closes next week. Hold tight...could be a bumpy ride!!!

To be fair, the things that went wrong at Leicester couldn't be fixed in a week. We played well for 45 minutes at Leicester, and about 70 minutes against Arsenal. We should be able to pull off a full game against Chelsea (!!!). Fitness isn't a quick fix. I am wondering if, with Bobby only being a young footy manager at 41, this would have been his first experience of having several players away at a world cup. The approach in pre season maybe reflects this. Low key, strange player choices, not many games etc. I guess there has to be a right balance between rest and intensity. I have no idea how they would figure out the best way...but I am sure that Bobby has analysed it all and probably, hopefully, learnt from it and be a better manager for it. To our advantage. We'll be in full swing within a couple of games and will all be making cyber love again on this forum.

I'd like Welbeck. He has something to offer us I think. Got some good skills. Remember being impressed with him in the world cup. Another player at a 'top' club who needs to break away to play more and fulfill his potential.

I'd like Eto'o. So long as his role and pay are right for the club/team. Great experience. World game knowledge. Been there, done that. The youngsters would look up to him. Would help us out a lot I think.

Oh yeah, definitely split fans. He cost that much, so everyone will have an opinion...or 10! I'm open minded. Take it as it comes. The naisy situation should have taught us that. He's going to be rough at times, he's going to be lethal at times. My big hope is that he is more consistent than last season. Remember, my big issue with him was the, largely unnoticed, long period he went without scoring after his initial burst of goals.

That you Haf?!

I guess we can all agree on us wanting him to do something, don't we? We really want him to be this player that we had heard about. If it comes down to attitude, we'll not a lot can be done. Why do these flair type players have attitude? Always seemed to be the way when playing school/local football...the ones with that bit of skill and flair were right cocks!!!

Bring on Chelsea!!! Another 90 minutes is another step closer to full fitness. All the questioning of tactics, subs etc is a bit daft this early in the season. We lose intensity? Fitness. We lose concentration? Fitness. We make mistakes late on? Fitness. We get slack marking, tackling, tracking late on? Fitness. All the little errors that peeps are pointing out in the closing stages of the last 2 games all point to lack of fitness. I'm not trying to be a smart arse (go on, someone say it!), but it's so obvious that we are not 90 minute fit as a whole team. So at the moment, for me, everything else is irrelevant. If it's still happening in 5 games time, then I'm a worried man. To start suggesting that the tactics are wrong or that we can't defend under Martinez(or close out teams/whatever term you want to use) based on 2 games is wrong. Again, look to last season rather than 2 games. 15 clean sheets. A record for us that over the last 20 years that has only been matched once (95-96) and beaten once (2008 I think).

Haha haha!!! Brilliant!!!

Interesting that Martinez said afterwards that we ran out of energy and it became a feeling of wanting the game to end (from the players that is!!!). Also interesting that he said we played very well for 80 minutes. He sounded a bit more disappointed then usual when talking about the energy thing. I think he knows we need to up our stamina. So really, our challenge to Martinez shouldn't be about subs, line ups etc but it should be about 'what are you going to do to get us up to speed for a full 90 minutes?' I can't remember them being all over us for the entire 2nd half. They were the overall better team in the 2nd half, and Giroud made a massive difference for them. We certainly faded out quite quickly around 70 odd minutes. The struggle really started around then.

I still think he can do something for us. He will frustrate like these out and out run at em wingers do, but he can deliver. If not, well he cost fuck all so never mind.

Naisy for me. The wee bas'tad never stopped! He must have been the most fouled player on the pitch today. A real pain in the arse for them lot. He's just what we need in that team...Bit of old school determination and controlled aggression. Just wish he had more pace!!!

By the way...go back through the threads to years gone by. Or search your memory. In the previous era, I remember I always told my mates and anyone that would listen that the most annoying thing about the then Everton way was that you could guarantee that if we were winning after 70 odd minutes, we'd start sitting deeper and deeper and clinging on. A hell of a lot of times it just did not work. It's worth remembering.

Gutted. Absolutely gutted. I'm not going to use the powers of hindsight to say this should have happened or that should have happened. So and so should have done x, y but not z. It's false. The only thing I will say is that I thought the team tired alarmingly. I believe firmly that we need more match fitness. More real pace Premiership stamina. I always say that pre season results don't concern me. But I do remember feeling, after reading some reports from you boys in pre season, a bit concerned that we weren't looking sharp enough. We need need to get up to pace. No doubt we've all played footy or another stamina based sport. You know it's easy when your fit and fresh. Every pass is easy. Then you tire, and the mental side of it goes downhill quicker than anything. Slow to follow your man, every stroke of the ball is labored, every tackle too late. That's just how we looked later on today. The plus side is that it's another 90 minutes of tempo football played. It's a fair point gained (doesn't feel that way!) and when we were fresh, we were the dogs bollocks. Onwards and upwards. (End note...its early days but I'll be keeping an eye on Jags n Distin. Time to start bleeding the next gen in more???)

Lukaku is on the right??? Anyway, yeah, I think Kev has a bit of freedom to roam today.