mrfahaji

This is the problem. Absolutely no purpose or incisiveness from the two central midfielders. From at least one of them you need to have some energy and some forward thinking, whether that's carrying the ball or looking for forward passes.

Generally agree, but thought Long was a bright spot for the first 20 minutes or so. Second half he was anonymous but our entire team performance had dropped to previously undiscovered depths by that point! Our style of play doesn't really suit him, but I still feel Long can be an asset for us.

Regarding Martina, my view of him is that he shouldn't be a player used as part of a rotation policy, but rather as a back up for when we have injuries (we're not going to have 3 or 4 top level right backs...) But in actual fact, that is what he is. Pied is out for the season and Cedric has had a fairly long lay off. I'm not excusing his performance, it drove me up the wall and it's not the first time this season. BUT to put things in perspective, he wouldn't be playing as many games if we had a fully fit squad. There are other players who were woeful tonight who are supposed to be competing for regular team football. That concerns me more - take out a few of our first teamers and we drop to a dreadful standard.

Not sure if that's sarcasm... If it isn't, of all the players to be getting criticism from tonight/this season, Austin seems to be an odd choice!

Yeah I appreciate that, I wasn't criticising your post.

Pamplemousse may have a point but if you're not unbelievably p1ssed off and despondent at this performance tonight then there's something wrong with you.

Is Martina incapable of putting in a cross first time?

I just think we have too many average players and not enough good ones. The rotation policy is right really, but you can't have JWP, Clasie &a Rodriguez as 3 of your attacking 5 and expect a decent return. The system and the style of play has looked really good at times, but as soon as we are without Tadic we don't look like creating anything. Perhaps that's because of the system, but I don't think so.

I expect he is.

I was thinking of watching The Apprentice later, but think I've had my fill of watching a bunch of clueless competitors running round like headless chickens

The disappointing thing with this line up is that our most dynamic midfielder is the holding player. Hjobjerg is not on the greatest form but both he and Romeu do carry the ball a bit and make purposeful runs. JWP and Clasie just sit there making 10 yard passes, never anything incisive or purposeful. As much as Davis is far from being the answer, he at least does offer a bit more in that department.

If you want to use that analogy, then our business model is like selling your £500k house in a nice area and buying a £200k house in an up-and-coming area. It might be not be as good now, but maybe in a few years that house will also be worth £500k. Keep doing that and eventually you either have lots of money or lots of houses. If I was to be critical of the club, it wouldn't be for this transfer model, but rather that if you sell a £500k house, you can afford TWO £200k houses and double your chances of having another success story. Feels like we generally took a one-in-one-out approach, and you're then taking more of a risk. Perhaps there weren't any other good options out there, but I'm a little sceptical.

Just been looking this up, I believe the channel may be 414. Not at home so can't check for sure! If that fails, I'll be hooking my PC up to my TV and use the BT website.

Just had a chuckle at your description of a work colleague.

Tell that to Darlington. (I realise your post is probably somewhat facetious...)

Ok, we opened them up and he was in space, but when people say "getting in behind", it makes me think of either outsprinting the defence to latch on to a ball or dribbling past them. Not sure Rodriguez did either of those. If it was just his finishing that was lacking then I'd see it as a confidence issue, and would be optimistic about him regaining form. While I haven't lost hope entirely, it's more concerning that he looks heavy legged and lacking any sort of sharpness (which may be down to lack of match fitness, but equally may be a permanent result of his injury).

Is this an appropriate game to be giving Rodriguez some match practice? The way he looks at the moment, I can't see him getting in behind any defence.

Disappointing, the best thing about our shirt this season is how it looks from the back.

Too old for me, but I remember my Dad talking about it.

The reason Everton are my most hated club in the Premier League is not actually because of Koeman (though, as with Pochettino, it's never easy to watch a manager leave you and have more success elsewhere), but because of the absurd behaviour of the Everton fans in the wake of his departure. Showed themselves to be a quite pathetic, delusional group.

I reckon we should sign that Sofiane Boufal chap from Lille.

Haha! Virtually saying Tim Sherwood is going to responsible for EVERYTHING, but Luke Williams will still be the manager. I like Tim's promise of imparting some "words of wisdom". Wonder what they will be?! "Attackers... I want you to attack. Defenders... defend."

Their fans would never agree to being a 'franchise' club.

We do have a track record of selling our players, in fact it's partly how we sell the club to those considering joining, but we have also shown more of a trend in recent years of hanging to those for a year once teams are interested. Schneiderlin, Wanyama & Mane all had clubs interested in Summer 2015 and we didn't sell. Given Van Dijk's recent new contract, I imagine we won't sell him unless we receive an offer way beyond what we value him at and have identified a suitable replacement. (Possible exception if we end up having a disastrous season, getting relegated or flirting with relegation, but I'm going to assume that doesn't happen...)