Saint Benali

Quite interesting reading some of the comments. I actually believe JWP has improved quite a bit in the past few games. That said he isn't playing as amazing as someone is trying to portray. He has the same opta rating as Mo, and he has been a huge let down so far. The thing I think he needs to work on is his longer ball ability passing. As his stats show he doesn't even average 1 successful longer ball a game. Even Hoedt was averaging 5 longer passes a game. Maybe it is just something he doesn't feel comfortable with.

Exactly. The point of VAR is to get the goal decisions correct. That is what it did. Always makes me laugh these muppets like Murphy. As someone pointed out on twitter he said "I'm glad they've got the decisions right, it does need some tweaking but it is better that we have got it." when Liverpool got a goal against them cancelled out by var. They want the under dogs to win and the giants to win. Can't have it both ways.

You do realise Cortese posted profits without the need to sell players right? Our business model if you can call it that after he left was buy cheap, sell high. Which is great when you actually have players who go on to do well and you can sell them high. But as found out with Reed near the end when that doesn't work you are in the ****. The amount Reed has spent on crap players, high contracts to crap players, agents, staff and manager pay offs is probably close to £200m. Cortese was a lot of things but this training ground thing which people bash him with is just laughable. We needed those new facilities, they would help the players and all aspects of the football side of the club. Kat didn't want to pay for it so loaned the club money with a 15% interest added to it. The completed work increased the value of the club. Just before she sold the club she requested the loan and interest be paid back. Then sold the club. So this horrible nasty training centre that nearly bankrupted us made our previous owner a **** load of money. People seem to forget or want to dismiss Cortese was from a banking back ground. He was known as someone who was good at making money. If not why did billionaires trust him with their money? For someone who supposedly almost crippled us the club sure did make a lot of money whilst he was there. The only person who disagreed was that guy who took over, said how bad it was, then the financials came in saying we made a big profit and he was gone. Always wondered what happened to that guy.

It was like the pundits on tv were saying. Everyone looks at the table and thinks oh they are 7th, they must be doing well. Without the two fluke games against City and Chelsea their previous results were Newport: L, Everton: W, Cardiff: L, Palace: L, Spurs: L, Fulham: D. For me that type of run sums up Puel. He can't get a team playing consistent and when on the verge of dropping like a stone somehow manages to do something unexpected and get a result. I don't think he will have the same luck this time around though.

Its a shame we haven't made anything from our corners and free kicks tonight. In these kind of games those are our best chances.

That midfield looks bad. But with injuries, suspensions etc not really many options. Personally I think giving Gunn a look is a good shout. McCarthy has done ok but his positioning has gone backwards a bit. He has made most of the saves a keeper is expected to save though. I keep forgetting we spent a lot of money on Gunn so I don't see the issue in giving him a chance. Won't know how good he is if he doesn't play. Same as the other youngsters.

I thought VAR was to check all goals, penalty decisions, red cards and mistaken identity? So if the way it was used at the world cup is used the same in the PL the ref would have to review the penalty decision?

I didn't think it was one but as others have said if it was the other way around it's a 100% penalty to City. Hopefully all that will stop when VAR comes in though.

The thing I always find funny about Everton fans is they think they are a top 6 club so should be there every season. Not getting into top 6 = failure. But who in place of exactly? Liverpool, City and Spurs are pretty much always in the top 6. Chelsea, Arsenal and Utd are pretty much always in the top 6. Brighton away is no easy game as we well know. In fact they have only lost to Spurs and Chelsea at home all season. 4 of their last 5 away games were against City, Liverpool, Utd and Chelsea. Not many clubs below the top 6 will be getting points from those fixtures. If they want to be a top 6 club they have to spend a mega amount on world class players and a world class manager. They have done neither.

**** knows what happened there but I will take it!

Type of game under Hughes we would be 0-2 already.

Get what you are saying but don't all players have to travel anyway? I love the way you try and make it out he did it from the goodness of his heart though. Not because he was being paid to be there. Personally I agree with others. He just has not made it and looks even further from the team now. To point out someone isn't good enough doesn't mean on a personal level people dislike him. Wish him all the best for his career and I am sure wherever he goes he will continue to try his heart out. But you can't build a business you expect to do well on the basis of 'nice people'. You need them to have the ability to justify their pay packets. Do you get paid because you are nice but not very good at your job? I don't have any issues with JWP at all. I have issues with the people who couldn't admit that maybe, just maybe someone from our academy we all had high hopes for just didn't reach that level. Especially in comparison to others who have passed through it. If we want to improve as a club on the pitch we have to replace many of the players who simply are not good enough. JWP is one of them. The fact our manager would rather have picked a youngster who had never played in the league before over him shows that. Like I say, top lad, gave his all. Time for someone else to be given the chances he was. That is nothing on him from a personal point of view. Simply based on his ability. If people find others pointing that out offensive than seriously what has the world come to.

He did some good but I think the bad cancels it out to be honest. We are yet to see the true **** up Reed caused in regards to the sheer amount of money he has wasted. Compo to managers and staff, crap players on huge wages, terrible signings that cost a fortune which we are unlikely to get much back from. Those poor decisions will restrict our progress for many seasons to come.

Should of saved that shot that went in. Just lost concentration by the looks of it.

Bloody beautiful. They all played really well imo and showed positivity and desire. But more importantly played like a team who wanted to play like a team rather than individuals. I am just so happy the defensive ultra defend for your lives rubbish we saw under MP2, Puel and Hughes is starting to be banished. And just think, Blackmore, Merrington and co didn't think getting rid of Reed and Hughes was the right decision. I hope they have the balls to hold their hands up and say they were wrong.

Excellent football. Everyone looks like they want to get the ball back asap and actually go forwards with it. Even Vester tried to run with it. It is going to take sometime to get the players actually fit and remove all trace of the defensive **** they were taught under the last 3 managers. But if this is indication of the future then its finally time to feel positive. Especially when he has his own players in. Also think it means players like JWP are done. Press, show strength, get forward asap, great football and how it should be played in this day and age.

Just think about how much money Les has wasted on this squad/manager and staff payoffs..... Going to take quite sometime to undo all the damage he has done to the club.

In terms of movement we are so much better. Soon as we get the ball players get in front of the ball. The problem is we can't keep hold of the ball.

2 goals from open play isn't exactly smashing them in is it?

So everyone has scored except us..... Good free kick by JWP. Shame he has done **** all rest of the game.

I don't think Hughes had much of an effect really. He had a tough run in of games but I imagine his 8 games and the previous 8 games prior to him taking over would have been similar points wise. The question is if he had more of the supposed easier games would he have done better? Looking at his results against those teams this season I would say no.

JWP...…. That is like giving them a goal head start already...

Bit of a weird selection there. Utd have been shipping a lot of goals so would have been nice to see maybe another midfielder instead of a 5th defender. I am all for giving the kids a chance but I don't think having Obafemi start this one was the right call. Gabbi should have started imo. If we leak an early goal the 5 at the back kind of ****s us.

"I don't do relegation"

Very interesting stats. They also mentioned on tv that Hughes last 34 games as a PL manager he has just 5 wins (Swansea x2, West Brom, Bournemouth and Palace) 19 defeats and 10 draws. = 34 games win ratio of 14% loss ratio of 56% 25 points from 102 points available. 0.7 points per game. How anyone with a record like that is employed as a football manager especially in the highest league is just crazy. The thing that winds me up is he talks about luck, bad decisions and creating chances = we are a good team. It is a football game, chances will be created by both teams. If every team scored every chance most games would finish 12-10 or something. Because you don't have a 100% conversion ratio is nothing to do with luck and to imply whoever creates the most chances deserves to win is delusion. It is like saying in a boxing match whoever throws the most punches deserves to win. The problem with Hughes and why we he has the results he has over the past 34 games as a PL manager is simply because he is a **** manager. If you persist in picking players who are woefully out of form and are offering little ie Austin then that is bad management. If you persist in picking players who are making a lot of errors ie Hoedt then that is bad management. I think it was Pep in a documentary that said one of the vital things of being a manager is to recognise when players need to be dropped. You can be good friends with them, they can be leaders behind the scenes, they can train very well. But if they are playing poorly you have to make changes. No matter who they are and what they have done in their careers. Your job is to win games and if you don't recognise players out of form that hinders your ability to do so. To me it seems Hughes just doesn't recognise when players are playing badly. He seems the type of guy who will pick players he personally likes rather than their current ability levels/form. We have some really poor players at this club so he is not fully to blame. But he is responsible for managing what he has and getting the best out of them. Picking the right players at the right times, changing tactics when they need to change and realising which players need to be dropped no matter how well you get on with them. The fact we have so many players we bought on the bench that cost a fortune to me suggests that no matter who we brought in he would still struggle. Like he did at City. He lacks the skills required to be a top level manager in this day and age.