Pearso

You couldn't have taken Tim home with you?

You couldn't have taken Tim home with you?

You couldn't have taken Tim home with you?

I'm not entirely sure anyone is convinced Joel is our next long term keeper, because he hasn't had a blinder nor a shocker. He's been solid and dealt with what's been thrown at him. You can only save the shots that are fired at you.
 
The farce for me is that Howard is consistently underperforming. Not only does Robles deserve to be given a chance by means of Howards poor form, but he hasn't done anything to suggest he should lose it when he has been given a chance!
 
If he has a few howlers then by all means I can live with Howard being picked but Robles playing is what's best for the team, however way you want to spin it!

He's out for 6 weeks apparently :jump for joy:

How can anyone possibly be not happy with that result? Playing City away and we don't get beaten? I'm as frustrated as anyone that we are drawing our way to a bottom half finish but in this instance a point is a blessing, not a curse.

How can anyone possibly be not happy with that result? Playing City away and we don't get beaten? I'm as frustrated as anyone that we are drawing our way to a bottom half finish but in this instance a point is a blessing, not a curse.

Wish RM didn't make such early subs! ?

You can only hope he comes good, like Barry did after his woeful last season. But just like the Barry situation last season, it is so damn frustrating watching Martinez persist with Howard after he continually screws up and costs us goals/points, simply because he's one of his favourites. Leadership qualities? Gtfo.

You can only hope he comes good, like Barry did after his woeful last season. But just like the Barry situation last season, it is so damn frustrating watching Martinez persist with Howard after he continually screws up and costs us goals/points, simply because he's one of his favourites. Leadership qualities? Gtfo.

Stones made contact with the ball. Bullshit call. Despite that, we give up yet another lead when we should see the game out.

Janmaat should be off and the Kak should have had a pen.

Wait, Kevin Mirallas is alive?

3 points from Norwich, Bournemouth, Palace & Leicester.
 
Fuck off.

There isn't a hell of a lot to say about the first half to be honest; not a lot actually happened. For some reason the first half had the feel to it of an early kick off. I thought we were ever so slightly off the pace and a bit lethargic in our play. We were just too slow when we had the ball, and also sloppy with it, our old friend of a lack of movement off the ball reared its head, and due to how narrow we were it was all too congested for us meaning we struggled to get much of a foothold in the game. Scrappy about sums it up. There were three players that were particularly bad for us - Naismith, Kone and Lukaku. Naismith and Lukaku were completely anonymous; you wouldn't have even known they were on the pitch, and Kone was just appalling. I would have been quite happy for Naismith or Kone, or both, being substituted at half time. You leave Lukaku on because there isn't really anyone else you could bring on. That being said Swansea weren't great themselves and I still thought we managed to be the better side just about.
 
Martinez must have got into them at half time because we were a transformed side. We had people moving the ball quickly, players showing terrific movement to get themselves into position to receive the ball in space, and there was finally some intent to our play. All this meant that we created chance after chance in the second half, our creativity was top notch and a big reason for that was Ross Barkley. He was on another planet to the rest of our midfield and forward players. It looked effortless for the lad too - like he could go up another few levels. We were the dominant side by some margin. Our only problem was that we just couldn't put the ball in the back of the net. Lukaku, and to a lesser extent Kone, let us down in that regard. Between poor finishing (from Lukaku), good defending (by Williams) and day dreaming (by Kone) we just could not get the goal(s) our smart play deserved. We didn't quite have it all our own way though and our defence still had some work to do, and didn't they do a fine job? Jags was his usual battling self, Galloway and Browning were given a tough time but stood up manfully to the challenge and Stones... it was hard to believe he's still at the beginning of his career with the performance he put in. Howard also needs a mention because he wasn't really needed for large periods of the game but when he was called upon he was there and did his job.
 
Before the game a point here would have been a very acceptable result and we are still up on our points tally from the same games as last season, it's just a bit hard to take when we were much the better side and created more than enough to take the three points.
 
 
Howard - Like I said above; wasn't needed often during the game but still kept his head on the few occasions he was needed.
 
 
Browning - Had very little help against Montero from Kone (he probably got more help from Deulofeu!) and I thought he'd crumble under the pressure and a goal would come from that avenue, but he got better and better as the game went on. He actually ended up having Montero's number, which shows that he's a quick learner. Not much in the way of going forward but his defending was good. A very promising showing from him.
 
Stones - Absolutely majestic. His reading of the game yesterday was as good as you'll see. I lost count of the amount of times he was exactly where a Swansea player played the ball. Then he'd just stride out of defence with nonchalance and get us moving up the pitch again. And he was invaluable to Browning too because he often came across to deal with problems over on that side. It's said that he's a Rolls Royce of a player and that was certainly a Rolls Royce of a performance from him.
 
Jagielka - He is the perfect partner for Stones and yesterday was that in action. You've had the prettiness of Stones' play (not that he can't do the dirty work too like) and Jags with the blood and thunder defending, throwing tackles in and battling for everything. They compliment each other so well. And what Stones did on the right helping Browning, Jags did on the left with Galloway. They're always talking to each other throughout games and their partnership looks rock solid this season.
 
Galloway - A similar performance to Browning really. I thought he looked a weak link at the beginning of the game but as the game went on he improved and I stopped worrying altogether. Another aspect that he improved on yesterday was his attacking play. In the second half he was involved quite a lot in us getting at Swansea and the likes of Barkley seemed to trust him more in an attacking position; rather than turning back inside he'd be given the ball instead. He had a good chance towards the end of the game to get his first senior goal but fluffed it quite badly. At that point I was wishing Baines was out there, but I won't hold it against him!
 
 
Kone - It was like this was first game back after his bad injury and all the promising signs he'd shown this season were nowhere to be found. He looked leggy right from the off, he did absolutely nothing in the way of defending (if that's Mirallas not tracking back he's getting called a lazy cunt), his passing was substandard and I was getting seriously pissed off with him yesterday and I would've hauled him off at half time. He was one that didn't improve a jot in the second half as well, which made it worse. And that cock up He looks like he could do with a rest for a game or two to get his wind back.
 
McCarthy - I was pleased with his performance yesterday. He hasn't had the best start to the season for us but I thought he looked much more like the McCarthy that is one of my favourite players. He had a couple of dodgy moments in the game but he recovered the situations well, showed good positional discipline, was another that helped Browning when he was under pressure and, on the whole, did a great shielding of the defence. I hope he keeps it up.
 
Barry - I thought he had a rough start to the game to honest, he looked one of the most sluggish and I feared the worst. I shouldn't have though because, other than one mess up from him, he didn't really put a foot wrong, and only ended up with a yellow because he was protecting the team after a Barkley brainfart. He actually ended up being one of our most impressive players. Whenever Galloway was caught up the pitch he slotted in seamlessly at left-back and covered for him. When Swansea came through the middle he was there to intercept and quickly get the ball going in the other direction. It's so good to have the Gareth Barry back that you can rely on.
 
Naismith - His first half was the complete opposite to last week; he was utterly invisible. He was another that I wouldn't have cared if they'd gone off at half time he was that bad. However, I'm actually glad he wasn't subbed because I thought he improved massively in the second half, and was actually heavily involved in the most of our attacking play. He had a bad first 45 but he certainly didn't have a bad game.
 
 
Barkley - I'm so happy with his performance yesterday, and so happy he's proving doubters wrong. He was one of few players to come out of the first half with anything approaching positivity - he at least was looking to make things happen, but the rest of our players just didn't have their heads in the game. Second half when the rest of the side had woken up his level went up another gear as well. He was on another planet at times (in a good way). People have said he can't dominate and control games, but I thought that's exactly what he did yesterday. He took the game by the scruff of the neck and controlled our entire attacking play, he led us around the pitch. He dropped deep to receive the ball and just piled forward with it. He perhaps could have taken on a couple of shots at times but we want him to create and that's what he tried to do, and if not for poor finishing by Lukaku and a day dreaming Kone he'd have added to his assists tally after a beautiful through ball (for Rom) and a brilliant cut back (for Kone). Guilty of maybe dallying on the ball a few times, in attacking and defensive positions, but I'm excited about him this season. Very excited. My MOTM.
 
 
Lukaku - Like Naismith he was an absolute passenger in the first half. I wasn't even annoyed by him because I just didn't notice him! He was lucky Kone was even worse and we don't really have another striking option. I did think he improved in the second half though and got himself into some good scoring positions but his finishing was shite. And when it wasn't Williams was getting a block in. When chances come his way he's got to take them or dominating games like that mean fuck all.

Note to news editors right now: The headline shouldn't be "Chelsea lose to Everton" but "Everton beat Chelsea." Please give credit to a top-four team instead of focusing on the relegation battle.

For me a return to the top 8 and a decent cup run would be ideal. I think it's a bit too ambitious to go back to our standards of two seasons ago, when we nearly cracked the top four. The knockdown and rebuild job from last season will be too much, though hopefully it'll set us up for a decent charge in the next couple of seasons. The catch is whether or not the young core of this squad (Stones, Barkley, McCarthy, Deulofeu) will be here in those coming seasons to actually have a decent go.

For me a return to the top 8 and a decent cup run would be ideal. I think it's a bit too ambitious to go back to our standards of two seasons ago, when we nearly cracked the top four. The knockdown and rebuild job from last season will be too much, though hopefully it'll set us up for a decent charge in the next couple of seasons. The catch is whether or not the young core of this squad (Stones, Barkley, McCarthy, Deulofeu) will be here in those coming seasons to actually have a decent go.

I hope we go out and absolutely maul them. This whole Stones saga has rocketed the plastics up to my most hated fans.
 
If ever there were a game I would again fly across the world to get to Goodison for it'd be this one. I felt the same about the time Moyes and United came back to Goodison in Martinez' first season, and we wiped the floor with them that day. You scousers best have the ground bouncing that day! I reckon I'll wake my whole street at 3.30am when I roar at Mirallas double footing Terry at 3-0 up

I've got a 16 year old step son who until this past 6 or so months has been a fifa addict. Knew all the players. Did my nut in. All bacause of FIFA.
 
I bought a ps4 for myself in January with FIFA in the hope of jumping on the bandwagon. Played on it a few times. Gave up when I was Barcelona and got beat by AFC Wimbledon. Shit game anyway.

I'm just glad I'm not involved.... Real popcorn material though so I take my hats off to you both. You're both decent lads deep down so maybe a tug and a kiss should be on the cards.

Please don't, it's an excellent read.

It would make for our usual method of not taking the competition seriously and going out at the first hurdle.

As mentioned that was more about the huge anti climax of that window. If I remember correctly we were pushing the top four behind chelsea and arsenal with Tottenham behind us, we were begging for a big signing after a quiet summer window and Moyes came out and signed an unknown centre back for the future.
 
I remember being unhappy with the signing but it was aimed at Moyes and the board, not Stones.

Barnsley will probably want some too. That aside I agree with you.