c1982

Wow, this is a huge clutch at those straws even by your standards! I will stick my neck out and say that Rom will have 100% wished Coleman well - IN PRIVATE. Not everyone feels they need to tell the world when they've just had a shit, sadly not many these days, but there's still a few out there.

He and Davies. As I said yesterday, they were out numbered and exposed against Can, Lucas and Wijnaldum as Barkley was too high up. Barry for Calvert-Lewin could have helped this.

Exactly. We already need at least 10 players this summer. Let's actually build around our positives rather than taking a huge step back. Imagine Liverpool or Arsenal with Lukaku's goals this season - both teams have the creativity to provide him with twice as many chances as we do each game - either would be a lot higher as a result. More worryingly, imagine us without his goals. We have one of the premium players in world football - let's embrace this. He's not perfect but nor are we as a club - we're still very much work in progress but it'll be a lot easier to get to where we want to get with a striker of his quality.

Thank god for the 111 tackles (more than any other player in the league despite missing 6 weeks at the AFCON) he has made then - we must be really exposed. He's also our leader of most passes with 1,444. I'd guess he probably covers the most distance too (but can't find the stats for this). Pretty important player in my opinion.

He's played there alongside Barry and more recently Schneiderlin all season. Defensive midfielder/ball winning midfielder whatever you want to call it he's our most effective player at regaining possession. Chelsea are built on the solidity of their defence and the work Matic and Kante do. Where I don't see our defensive unit as comparable to theirs yet I don't think the Schneiderlin and Gueye partnership is a million miles behind Matic and Kante. We obviously don't have the quality of Hazard, Pedro and Willian either!!!

Where would you play statistically the most effective defensive midfielder in the league then?

Plus Drogba came to the league as a 26 year old. Rom is getting more physical and his touch is improving. 04-05 Drogba scored 10 in 26 and 05-06 he scored 12 in 29 in incredible Chelsea league champion teams. Not in team of the year either season nor nominated for the PFA awards but surrounded by top class players; the best in the league. 06-07 is when he came into his own at the age of 28 - top scorer, team of the year, PFA nominee (beaten by Ronaldo). The fact Rom is where he is now probably makes Drogba a decent comparison of where he could be (at least) if he continues his excellent progress.

Then you have those boring fuckers who harp on about the same thing over and over again and everyone in the class just wishes they'd be quiet.

Man Utd 7 - 1 Everton

Koeman targeted Europe this season. We're bang on target. Our defensive record has improved, our attacking record has improved, we have more points with 8 games remaining than we have amassed over each of the previous 2 seasons. We've sold some very poor/average players (more will follow in the summer). We've signed some players who have significantly improved our starting xi and signed/promoted some excellent prospects for the future who have been given opportunities in the first team. I think he's had a pretty decent first 9 months personally.

Rom was very poor yesterday but so was everyone. I dream one day of being able to put out a fully strength team in this type of game. We seriously lacked any creativity yesterday but Rom didn't go out and make anything happen either. I believe if and when the quality of our attacking midfielders improves then we'll have the right striker in Rom ahead of them.

We've got a massive window coming up as yesterday showed how short we are in key areas. I'd say the main issues are lack of back-up defensively, big game players and attacking mobility. I'd guess we need at least 10 new faces to cover the outgoings of the past 2 windows and expected outgoings this summer. Gk- we need a new first choice keeper. Joel has done well but he's not going to take us to the next level. Pickford looks decent but I'd be keeping a very close eye on how Butland's return to 1st football goes. Full-backs - Coleman's injury means we need someone to take his place rather than just back-up. Personally I would test how happy Trippier is playing 2nd fiddle to Walker at Spurs. There's a few quality left backs that could replace Baines. I like Rodriguez at Wolfsburg but think Robertson (Hull), Tierney (Celtic), Taylor (Leeds) could all be good options to take that position off an aging Baines. Cb - I'd sell Mori and free Jags so that leaves us with just Williams and Holgate/Galloway as back options when playing 3 cbs. Keane must be a priority then we still need at least 1 more who can go straight in. van Dijk seems unrealistic but would be ideal. Maguire and Gibson are decent shouts but I'd look at players like Monalos first. Defensive/central midfielders - in Gueye, Davies and Schneiderlin (and hopefully a fully fit Besic) I think we're strong but with McCarthy's future questionable and Barry likely to play very little (that's if he's even here) maybe we need 1 more. Hopefully Walsh or Williams can step up and make a similar impact to Davies but it's a big ask. Attack midfielders/wingers - this is where we are seriously lacking. We need to spend big to improve this area. Liverpool have Mane, Firminho, Coutinho and Lallana - all who would improve us. Barkley has the quality but need better attacking players to interchange with and play clever 1-2s. Bolassie will hopefully come back strong as I think he's good enough but that probably won't be until 2018. I'd like Geri to come back and flourish with stronger defensive players behind him and think Mirallas is a decent option but we need at least 2 top quality attacking/mobile midfielders to allow our decent options be back-up. Strikers/forwards - we will hopefully keep Lukaku and in Calvert-Lewin and Lookman we have great prospects for the future. This is where we are crying out for Rooney in my opinion - he is still good enough as a 2nd striker on the pitch but I just think he can help change the whole mentality of the club. He's done it all, he's a massive name and he's an Evertonian. I still think we need another too. This is where we need a Steve Walsh gem as not many established strikers are going to choose us with the prospect of sitting on the bench. That's my take on things.

Because Gana and Davies were exposed - we needed an extra body in there. I can see why the plan was to go 3 at the back as that's proved the best system to snuff out their attack but we then counteracted that by leaving ourself short in centre mid. Barkley needs to do more working back in this type of game.

That would have been even worse as we'd have had a less mobile Barry and Davies vs Lucas, Can and Wijnaldum who were able to get the ball to their danger men too easy. We really needed McCarthy or Schneiderlin today but without them maybe Koeman should have put Barry in at the expense of Calvert-Lewin or Barkley.

Best of a bad bunch votes hence why this poll shouldn't be used as an indicator to a players quality/importance to EFC. In reality nobody was more than a 5 out of 10 and that's being generous so I've not voted.

He was very poor by his high standards but look at the positioning and lack of pace from Pennington, the lack of understanding of the right wing back role by Holgate (he shouldn't have been there in the first place), the fact that Davies and Gana were exposed time and time again due to the position/inability to make the ball stick by Rom, Dom and Ross and finally plainly shite goalkeeping on the 3rd. Gana was chasing shadows at times but at least he was actually moving. We look best when Gana and Schneiderlin are playing deep with Davies, Barkley and Lukaku ahead - this should be what we need to build on with this summer promising to be one of much change.

Hindsight makes it easy to say that just wasn't the line-up for today. I actually think Schneiderlin was the biggest miss today as they ran through us far too easily - Gana, Davies and Ross missed him too. That's where we needed McCarthy coming in and sharing the game with Barry. I also didn't see why Holgate was used as a wing back putting more pressure on Pennington at cb - for me, Holgate should have been the 3rd cb with Kenny at right wing back - if he's not up to it then we need to recall Connelley as at least he's been playing that role in the Championship. Very disappointing today - the injuries showed up our lack of depth which is critical to address in the summer.

It should be 'insert who will pay the most to sponsor us' Bramley Moore Stadium.

Don't know but I presume if you can access this then you can access the Premier League website.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/everton-transfers-interest-harry-maguire-12817469

Scored another hattrick tonight - Oxford are on fire at the moment and look good for a late push for the play-offs.

No joke but not a clue about severity of the injury.

I think Sterling has developed into a very good player this season. To be honest, I find it hard to criticise going with Lallana, Alli and Sterling behind the striker. My criticism comes when Lingard and Redmond are given game time ahead of him, although I do feel this was just Southgate giving a couple of his trusted u21 players a run out.