Jesse_Wray

That. Is. Woeful.

Well I'm immensely proud of the Everton boys for making it to the FA Cup final - effectively without our 'spine' (Yakubu, Arteta and Jagielka). Big congrats must go to Chelsea - the better team definitely won it. Hiddink did his homework perfectly in identifying Hibbert and Osman (who was fucking lazy) as our weak links (particularly Hibbert, who really seemed to struggle in the heat). What really lost it for Everton was after Chelsea started applying pressure, Phil Neville and Co. lost a little composure and predictably resorted to the long ball forward. Everton's main strength is heading from wide crosses, but by playing hoofball, they totally isolated Saha/Fellaini which lead to easy turnovers and gave Baines and Hibbert/Jacobsen absolutely no time to get forward. The only other great chance was from a Baines' cross into Saha after the team spent time to put together a few passes. Pienaar (our best player by a country mile, followed by Fellaini) seemed to be the only one trying to keep possession and do some simple build-up work. Saha's goal, although offside, was pure quality. The finish was great, but he showed every bit of his experience to get into the position for it. If you watch the replays he's right on the shoulder of Terry to begin with, but as Fellaini goes up for the header Saha ghosts away from Terry and into the spot he KNOWS the ball is going to land. If he can stay fit for a nice long spell next season I reckon he can score around a dozen goals.

Competition for Pienaar? Pienaar has pretty much secured the left wing, and, as far as I can see, Lennon is just a right winger - not much of a left boot. So he'd actually be competition for Osman and Arteta.

At the start of the season we clearly needed a proper replacement for Carsley in the defensive/holding midfield role. But as the season has progressed, I'd argue that Neville has grown into the role really well. (Hibbert's good form has helped out too) I've also noticed that a lot of people on here aren't mentioning a def-mid on their transfer wish lists. Whereas earlier in the season it was at the top of almost everybody's lists. So, are we happy for Nev to become our permanent def-mid and for Moyes to spend the transfer money elsewhere? Or do we need to bring in a fresh face for the role? (not sure if this should be in this forum, or the rumours forum - move as necessary)

While he doesn't play against Everton (hopefully in a season or two he will ) I think Messi is by far the most exciting (and therefore dangerous/scary when he's on the opposing side) player in the world. Whenever the ball is at his feet I always have this feeling he's about to absolutely turn it on and score a wonder goal. I love players that can turn a game in an instant, which is exactly what Messi can do.

My guess is that Timmy will definitely win it, followed rather closely by Schwarzer and then McDonald in third.

I'll just pull you up on this Mike. The Christian God isn't limited to doing one thing at a time, he has the benefit of omnipotence. To be everywhere and see everything. So while it's hard to accept there is war, disease, famine, etc, I'm glad God is omnipotent and is able to pay attention to the little things. I consider a god that only pays attention to the big things to be a pretty piss-poor god. I'm glad he's not too big and that he's able to be intimately involved in everyone's lives. Also, I'm of a similar view to CraccerC in that I believe God has blessed everyone with talents an opportunities, it's just that people like Pienaar recognise they're gifts from God. So I don't really think Pienaar was specifically saying, 'Thanks God for helping me turn my marker and whip in that delightful shot', I think he was more or less saying thankyou for all that God has done throughout his life and the talents he blessed him with. I also think it was an opportunity for Pienaar to say, 'This is the reason why I find it ok to play on Easter Sunday, as a way to honour my God through publicising my faith'.

Sorry, but I'm going to have to pull you up on that. While I can certainly agree with that statement, it's exactly the same for Athiests. They too can get very aggressive when it comes to religious debate. In my experiences (and I'm not claiming this extends the world over) it's often the fervent Athiests who begin the aggressive diatribe in threads such as this. This gladdens my heart really. As a Christian I'm really happy to see that Pienaar was able to score one for god (and a cracking goal at that) on Easter Sunday. Whatever qualms I had with playing football on a holy day have been lessened thanks to Pienaar bringing the attention back to God.

Ba! Ha ha! Awesome. Did you just Google search that? I must use it some time.

Well I do have an opinion, but I chose against voicing it; simply because it would have opened up, or added to, a messy old religious can of worms. If you must know why I called holystove and idiot, it was because they chose to use the phrase "cult proceedings". Which, in my mind, was just an attempt at shit-stirring. However, having said all that, I notice he/she has apologised and I actually really admire that. Therefore, I hope they can accept my genuine apology for calling them an idiot The rest of you, though, are all still idiots!!

You're an idiot.

I've only managed to see the highlights from Saturday's match against Pompey, and I'm wondering how Jacobsen performed. Obviously we can't conclusively judge him merely on his debut, but what did people think of him?

Well I'm an Aussie and I think I've got much different reasons for chosing to support Everton than others on here. I've always loved football and only got to play it at school when I was younger. We didn't have a 'professional' football competition here until 05/06 and we never used to have that much coverage of the EPL and the other top leagues. So it wasn't until 2004, when I was 17 that I decided I needed to start following football more actively and that I needed to pick an EPL side. I thought about my decision pretty thoroughly and ended up with Everton. I chose them for four main reasons: - They have one of the most consistent top tier historys in England, i.e. they're not likely to be yoyo-ing between divisions and they're likely to stay in the Premiership. - I'm a big fan of rivalries and derbies, and what better derby than the Merseyside? - I'm also a big fan of underdogs. And, with a lot of people I know supporting Liverpool, I decided to go against the grain and support the Toffees. - While everyone here in Australia back then was signing the praises of Harry Kewell, I was starting to notice Tim Cahill a lot more towards the end of 2004. I always had the feeling he would be big and I knew it would be important to follow a side with an Aussie player as the media coverage for that side would be much more comprehensive here in Aus. therefore, having Timmy in the side has made it easier to follow Everton. If I could go back to 2004 and choose all over again, there's no way i would choose any other side but Everton. Being the 'underdog' side on Merseyside means that we Toffees supporters are more passionate and can appreciate success much more than Liverpool supporters, or supporters of any other EPL side. The passion Everton supporters have is so strong that I can feel it thousands of kilometres away here in Melbourne, Australia.

Yeah that's what I thought. And it appears my 'panic signing' theory is wrong, given what that extract says Everton were interested in him in 2006.

That makes no sense. You've just been talking Yobo up as a good center half, and now you're saying his a disastrous center half. My feeling is that Jacobsen must be given a go against Stoke. They're not a terribly good side (save for Delap's monster throws!) and it's against these lower quality sides that our new players must be trialled. Jacobsen was a puzzling aquisition for my money. He's evidently not a level above our other right backs (Hibbert and Nev), and it's not as if we need more cover for that position. I'm beginning to wonder if he was a panic signing by Moyes. Rather like Castillo, in that Moyes only saw videos of the bloke playing, but has now realised he's not so good after seeing him in training.

And the fact that above the number 17 it says "DADDY". That's should help.