Matt

ive looked on a few sites now but none of them elaborate further than the last 32 are made up of the top 2 teams of the leauges and the rejects from the CL. oh, and they will be 2 legs too. i think thats right, i forgotten my glasses again today...

http://www.evertonfc.com/news/archive/young-blue-wins-award. for those wondering how young Lukas was doing...

bloody hell Iggy! moving on so soon? it all depends on who we have available, but i would go 0-2 just because Everton never do what you expect them to...

honestly, ive defended this lad to the kilt and he just proves me wrong everytime... i give up...

i have noticed that actually. it is very strange but also very useful! had you invented the aeroplane, i would agree. however, since the aeroplane was an english invention, we'll have to go with the correct spelling: http://uktv.co.uk/yesterday/item/aid/527990 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroplane honestly it depends where you read, could be french, english, US or brazil. i actually say airplane myself, but the english cant speak english so there you go...

we were outclassed. its that simple.

im going with Howard, without whom it wouldve been a repeat of the away game. I thought Screech was very good in the first half, as were Billy, Baines, Hibbert and the Yak. 2nd half, they all disappeared. Gosling shouldnt be allowed on the pitch again, nor should Jo (im fed up of defending him now, he just cant deal with the EPL or Europe). As for the rest, they didnt do enough to get a mention, which could be a good thing, could be bad. I leave it to you...

anyone see Nuno on CH5?! no wonder his knees have gone, he's got big!!!

how many times have we heard "and a fantastic reflex save to keep everton in the game"... still, we're not looking too bad. except gosling. he's useless....

something that always cracked me up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnHv7NGWb0k

i might start to feel a little more optimistic: http://www.evertonfc.com/match/report/0910/everton-v-benfica.html "Head-to-head This is the second meeting between the sides in a competitive game after the first a fortnight ago, although we had previously played a pre-season friendly in La Coruna, Spain during July 1987 – the sides drawing 0-0 with Benfica winning 5-3 on penalties. Everton have never played Portuguese opposition at home in Europe before, while Benfica have an away record of P10 W2 D0 L8 against English opponents. " anyone a little more relaxed now? i might change my prediction from 0-0 to 1-0 to us!

CraccerC and I have been debating this in another thread too, but rather than post a second time heres the link to the thread: http://www.toffeetalk.com/index.php?showtopic=19178

does anyone know if the bookies are offering odds for this? ive just got that feeling...

we havent won the league recently, but we have qualified for the CL in the recent past. i know the past is the past, but its proof that a team worse off than we are now, and worse of than the other teams at the time (Liverpool being the prime example) can overcome the odds. Look at the team that played Villareal: Nigel Martyn, Tony Hibbert, Joseph Yobo, David Weir, Alessandro Pistone (James McFadden, 80), Tim Cahill, Mikel Arteta, Phil Neville, Simon Davies, Kevin Kilbane (Duncan Ferguson, 63), James Beattie (Marcus Bent, 63). Youve got to admit we've come a long way since then. and as for other teams investing more than us this year, this is no different than normal. Spurs, every year, spend a fortune and acheive nothing. The link below is for the spending in the year we qualified for CL, 2004/2005: http://www.footballeconomy.com/stats/stats_turnover_10.htm West Brom spent 4 times as much as we did! I know where youre coming from, i reallly do, but looking back over the years, we have continually defied all the odds to qualify, with skeleton squads and shoestring budgets. dont see why we cant again, especially since we have replaced McFadden, Beattie and Bent with Billy, Yak and Saha...

that liverpool fail to qualify for the CL knockout stages, drop into the Europa league and we face them in the latter stages? to be honest im a little excited and worried at the same time by the prospect, but is it possible?

thanks Mike. im goin the opticians now.... i hope theyve (OS) got this wrong....

RE: Arteta's injury, and all the others, the OS' view on things: http://www.evertonfc.com/match/latest-injuries.html most notable Mikel Arteta (Injury: Ruptured cruciate ligament Expected return: Late 2009/Early 2010) Leon Osman (Injury: Foot Expected return: Unknown!!!) Steven Pienaar (Injury: Knee Expected return: Unknown!!!)

you got a link for it? i cant find this anywhere on the OS...

i feel so sorry for them.... i hope they use the new income for a hitman for the staff in charge of this...

i honestly thought that when he signed that new 4 contract with the min release clause of E24m, would make people realise WE ARE NEVER GOING TO SIGN HIM!!!! i dont know why, but everytime i see his name mentioned in connection with us, my blood boils. right, rant over... ****** for those who dont believe me: http://www.portugoal.net/index.php/more-sporting-news/1294-moutinho-signs-new-sporting-contract seems its E22.5m but still a valid arguement!

oh lord not this again.... Here's hoping this is all some dramatic mindgame ahead of the Benfica game, though i doubt it! Best wishes Mikel, take it easy and just make sure you get yourself back this season...

very welcome! to be honest, its been so refreshing being able to get back on here after a 4 week absense, work has finally calmed down again. nothing like a bit of online banter!

tis as i thought then... im still going to be boring and say 0-0. a clean sheet is just as important at the moment.

i see where youre coming from (trying to at least) but i can only see it as an improvement from last season. If we had had the injuries weve had and not increased the size of the squad in the summer, the kids that we see on the bench wouldve been regulars instead, so the squad has improved in that respect. We are 3 points of the pace compared with last year, in the same amount of competitions (cant remember when we went out of Europe last year, so i may be wrong there) and players coming back from injury. Granted, we played harder games at the beginning of last season to get to the same position then but we're only 10 games in! there are 28 games to go. As for these other teams; Villa will wonder along not doing much, Sunderland will stutter eventually, City will implode and Hughes wont be able to deal with it. Spurs can give a decent challenge for the CL places. Liverpool will be lucky to finish in the top 6 if they continue like this (and long may it do so!). Every team will have a blip during the season, weve got ours out of the way early on (fingers crossed).

didnt city, spurs and villa all spend more than us last year too? didnt help them then did it. just out of curiosity, anyone remember how their respective starts to the season went? I remember spurs having a nightmare (2 wins in 10 or something?) but the others? how have we slipped backwards?! thats crazy! we have a bigger, stronger squad which has to mean we have improved the team! The things that have dipped are form, confidence and more injuries but these will improve as we go along. just keep the faith!