Pearso

It's possible next season we could be playing at the Camp Nou or Bernabeu on a Wednesday night then backing up against Sheffield Wednesday on the Sunday.

Would have laughed at you a year ago but as MC said, his form has swayed that a little bit. I wouldn't sell him yet either, maybe wait til the end of the season because I thought he was easily the best RB in the prem last season. Hopefully Bobby can get him and everyone else back into form and he can play like we know he can.

He hasn't been doing 'what he does best' though. He's getting shut down every single time because it's so damn obvious what's about to happen. Same goes for Coleman. The only thing Baines is contributing going forward at the moment is set piece delivery, which Garbutt is better at anyway. I've always though Baines could be played in a midfield role, I still toy around with it on FIFA all the time No, that ball to Mirallas doesn't justify a move on it's own, but it showed he's got something that we've missed from our midfield all season, a bit of creativity.

I don't see us in a relegation battle either. First season I supported the blues was 2011-2012, Cahill's last season if you'll recall and at Christmas time we were sitting in the position we were in now. We hit great form second half of the season to finish 7th, and were within reaching distance of (if I recall correctly) Chelsea in 6th who went on to win the Champions League. The differences between then and now are: -We have a manager who wants to win games, rather than not lose them. -We have talent across the park, as well as depth rather than academy players filling up the subs bench. -Bilyaletinov (sp?) was our winger going forward, now we have Mirallas. -Saha was our striker, backed up by Cahill, neither of whom could even get a sniff of a shot away inside the box. Now we have Lukaku, Eto'o and Barkley. -Phil Neville was our centre-mid with big-wig, now we've got McCarthy and Besic/Barry (irrespective of the latter's form, we're much better off with him than Neville) I could go on forever about the positives over three seasons ago, but you all know them. My point is it's only December, and there's plenty of time to come good and start playing to the capabilities that we know this squad/manager produced last season. This time last season Arsenal were marching towards a title, and by the end only beat us to 4th because we threw it away. Teams go through bad patches of form, it happens in every sport. We'll come out of it, I'm sure of it. Whether we end up finishing twelfth or lower end of the top 10 I don't know, but I'm certain we won't be in a relegation fight.

Arsenal vs Southampton, Chelsea vs Spurs. This is a must-win (excuse the cliche) to keep in touch with the pack for top four. I hope Bobby has got some sort of plan B, it feels like every team has got us figured out by forcing us out wide and putting in rubbish crosses, or letting us dick around with the ball with pointless possession before giving it away and getting rear-ended on the counter. Hope he mixes the formation or squad up a bit, although it could be difficult given our injury list.

Can't believe the Barkley bashing. He and Lukaku are the future of Everton, and whilst they're both starters in the 11 each week, THEY'RE BOTH STILL 21! FFS, give them time. We've watched both of them do amazing things on the field, they're not over hyped duds. Give it three or four seasons and we'll be lucky to still have either of them. Mirallas was playing in Greece until his mid 20's until Moyes picked him up, and he's come along to be one of the best wingers in the premier league. Those saying Barkley has learnt everything he will learn need to get their heads checked.

I'm glad you're a pre-Sheik fan, now I don't have to hate you.

I had to double check we weren't still in the League Cup given some of these selections. They're gonna be hard to stop with their current form but maybe that's the best part about playing them straight after an international break.

Very excited for this. Despite our pretty lacklustre start to the season we'll be two points off top four with a win. If we can stay in touch with the pack until we hit some good form (which might roll on from the win against Lille) we could break in this season, as I don't see anyone but City and Chelsea looking strong enough for a guaranteed top four finish.

I like this. I want to see all three of Eto'o, Barkley and Lukaku starting in our strongest line up. Naismith has staked a huge claim for himself and credit to him, but he's completely wasted on the wing IMO. Play him through the centre or not at all, and as good as he's been he's not going to force Eto'o or Barkley to the bench.

Hahaha I remember seeing his follow up shot, the replay cut out before it hit the keeper in the head though. I was laughing at him hitting the cross bar at point blanc range, but to hear it hit the keeper is hillarious. I've always wanted to see those two on the pitch together. I know we don't usually play with 2 strikers, but they showed today that when either one gets the ball they're going to cause panic (even though Rom was pretty average). Eto'o also has the vision and class to play Lukaku in behind, which I'm not particularly confident in anyone else to do besides Barkley.

Happy enough with a point given how much ball we carelessly gave away. Frustrating to watch, I think the fact we defended so well and kept a clean sheet masked how poor the performance was when we had the ball.

Oh and Howard... I thought he had a solid game, but he definitely stuffed up for Gerrard's goal. Mark 'cokehead' Bosnich was one of the pundits on Fox Sports here and he summed it up pretty well, saying Howard started off his line and had to dive backwards for the ball, hence pushing it into the net. Had he started on his line he has to dive forward and he has momentum on his side. It wasn't like it was placed in the corner. Tbh I thought they outplayed us, so I think I'd be pushing it to say we should have got the 3 points if not for Howard.

Browning and Stones for me very impressive. I crack a semi every time Stones beats the first man and just dribbles the ball into midfield. I thought Hibbert was too easily beaten, Sterling was taking the piss out of him. Browning has got to be number 2 behind Coleman, no need to chuck Stones out there anymore. I also thought Naismith was good despite giving the ball away with a few lousy passes. He looks the most aggressive with the ball at the moment (after Mirallas went off anyway), and even though he's no where near the best on the pitch technically you can tell the Liverpool defenders had to pull their fingers out and concentrate when he made one of his driving runs. As for all the flak Lukaku is getting, I reckon he'll hit his straps with Barkley back behind him. He thrives on getting the ball with some space and an isolated defender. As much as I like Naismith, he doesn't create space like Ross does. Bring on the Mancs. 3 points coming our way!

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Welcome mate! I had pretty similar reasons to you, especially the one about not wanting to jump on one of the cash cow clubs. Also for me it was Tim Cahill rather than Howard, as I'm Aussie. I'm also with you on the term soccer Football is an umbrella term in my mind and covers Rugby, Australian Rules, Gaelic, Gridiron etc.

Is this game not being televised? Fox Sports aren't showing it until 5 hours after kick-off and I can't find a stream.

I think our back four and midfield are absolute quality, but our attacking options probably let us down a bit sometimes in terms of creativity and being clinical. We need 2 strikers of Lukaku's standard or better, and maybe a bit more depth, but I don't think we're that far away. Arsenal were well in the title race until what, three weeks ago? Now we're 1 point from them with 3 to play. Question is just how high can Bobby take us without getting substantial investment? The scary thing is we've almost broken top four and its only his first season. Look what Arsenal, Tottenham & Man United have spent this season and we've matched or bettered all of them.

If you're referring to the one that had him down on his haunches for a few minutes, he just took a hit in the jatz crackers. The commentators were going about how he took a knock as well but the replay showed he just copped it in the nuts.

Not sure about the criticism of Howard, the Puncheon and Jerome's finishes were clinical and perfectly placed, they took paint off the posts as the went in. The header, well what is he supposed to do in that situation? Some very frustrating things surfaced from todays game: - Martinez still seems to struggle to have an answer for teams packing the box. Palace did this exact thing at Selhurst Park, except this time they picked up goals as well. I'm not having a go at Martinez, it's just become pretty blatant to me at the moment that with our squad he hasn't found the best way to combat a team sitting back. We look boss countering teams, but when we build up from the back and pressure teams we're toothless in the final third. - We may as well just give our corner kicks to the opposition to take as goal kicks. We are so, so, so bad at getting a decent head on the ball to challenge the keeper. The last time I can recall us scoring directly from a corner (Naismith's deflected effort recently doesn't count) was Lukaku's header at Gladys Street end against Liverpool. That was like 6 months ago now. I don't think the race for fourth is over. I have no doubt Arsenal will drop points in their last four games, so it's up to the blues to get as many points as they can to keep the pressure on Arsenal. They can start by bending Moyes over and embarrassing him at a hostile Goodison Park on Sunday.

Imagine if you had of told them they'd be singing that back in January when they were topping the league. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

I would take him back for a bargain price but I wouldn't fit him in my starting 11. I think a lot of people forget just how much he did to get us to 6th last season, how many times he saved the day in those scrappy games against bottom half opposition. He's been balls at United no doubt, but he's been used as a battering ram by Moyes in the last few seasons and he's moved into a squad that has RVP and Rooney as the focal points, needing quality ball and not Jagielka hoofs. I think he could be used well as backup for our CM's or as mentioned a plan B up front if our wide play is shut down. But in all honesty, the bloke is never going to come back to Everton to come on as a bench player. He's clearly got too much of an ego on him, which was sometimes the driving force behind his passionate performances, but also why a lot of fans don't want him back.

Brilliant. I doubt he'll be match fit or shake the rustiness in time to start against City on the last day, but it'll be good to have someone on the bench to slot into CM should whoever is playing there (obviously Barry is ineligible) take a knock.

I've watched Jedinak pretty close this season cause he's the only Aussie left in the premier league at the moment (besides Brad Jones for Liverpool, but there's not much to look out for other than additional splinters in his ass cheeks each week), and I've been very impressed with him. I thought he might struggle with the step up from Championship but he seems to thrive in the competitive environment each week. He never really lit the world on fire for the national team, although I was told he was very good for the Central Coast Mariners in the A-League for what it's worth, but I think its such a shame he's only come on as such a good player at 30. Anyway, I'm sure he'll give Barkley, Osman or Naismith (whoever's in the hole) some trouble throughout the game. I've got a pretty bad feeling about this game. I can see a draw coming on, levelling us on points and opening up a straight shootout over the last 4 games with Arsenal for 4th. Hope I'm wrong though, maybe Pulis being desperate for the 3 points will open up his game a little bit.