Quinn31

I'm going to make myself a stiff drink now and pretend that the past 24 hours hasn't happened.

I know this is unlikely, but would love to see us go 3-5-2/3-5-1-1/5-3-2 tomorrow given the injuries to Ross, Mirallas. Having Stones, Distin, and Jags at the back would leave us solid in the back, and Coleman and Baines could provide most of our width.

Really think this means we may need to bring in two widemen since Kennedy isn't up to par (yet).

I reckon that means that we are either in for him or we aren't, but I'm sure things will resolve themselves in 48 hours!

Shame that our players seem to be able to bury headers into their own net but can put anything close to target in the opponent's 18 yard box! Really though, I hope Martinez puts an emphasis on improving our play from corners.

As an American, it's really sad to see him decide to hang up his boots. I hope he visits Goodison every so often as a fan. That being said, his play hasn't been as good over the past year or two, and he clearly doesn't love playing the game as much as he used to.

He absolutely buried that header though! (or was that Coleman's?)

Too bad Chelsea already let Ross Turnbull leave on a permanent deal, or I have a feeling he'd have been linked with a dream move to Real Madrid along with Cech and Courtois...

I get that his fitness was awful last year, given that he was only available for selection for about a dozen matches or less, but I'm seeing a lot of people speak poorly of him while I thought he was quite decent with the exception of the Liverpool match (which he was only half-fit for)... Why don't a lot of you all rate him? I think he's decent cover when fit.

Don't we already have another one of those in McGeady? Also, Deulofeu was often like this.

We need at least one, maybe two wide men. Would like Atsu on loan, but Kalou would be nice as well or instead of Atsu. Keep in mind that we currently have the same number of senior players in the squad as we did last year, and late in the year we learned that our squad was too thin, so we definitely need to bring a few more in.

I like Lundstram going somewhere where he can get time, especially in the Championship, but Blackpool is a mess. Second year in a row that they've only had like 9 senior players signed to permanent deals at this stage in the season. Karl Oyston really has let that club collapse since Holloway had took them to rather unbelievable highs. I don't know, I want Lundstram to play, but I want him developing in a professional environment. We're throwing him into the deep end on this one.

He reminds me of a lesser version of Tim Cahill. Not identical players, and I think Cahill is better, but both get their job done with hard work and workrate rather than technical ability or flash. Also both seem to be excellent role models off the pitch. Good on him.

We were before he made a January move to China that lasted only about a year. Now he went back to France and had a horrible record. Again, we could use more depth, but I think he may be past it, or Martinez would at least need to take him on trial before offering a contract. Not really a Martinez-type player if you ask me.

Agreed. Why am I agreeing with you so much these days?

That puts us as having one more player in the squad than last year unless you count Gibson and Kone as "new signings"... I don't know, I wouldn't mind bringing in a few more on loan/cheap for depths sake.

Agree with WIckham. Apparently he has one year left on his contract and Sunderland are telling him to either sign a new contract with them or be sold, so if we show interest, I reckon we'd have a decent shot at nabbing him.

If I hear 48 hours again I'm going to jump off a bridge.

The African Cup of Nations lasts from January 17th to February 8th. Not as big of a deal as some make it.

So he may or may not sign in the next 2-3 weeks is what I'm gathering?

Would love Atsu, but we better hurry because it seems Sunderland are chasing him.

Really would like to bring in Traore on loan given that he's probably available and familiar with the club... Also, would be interesting to see if Deulofeu is told that he won't feature much for Barca (a possibility still) and maybe we could nab him on loan again come late August.

None of our widemen were very good really. I mean, they just had very little impact, which i think hurt us tactically, as Klinsmann set us up in a few matches to be tight and compact in central midfield, meaning that we needed a good effort from our widemen to support Dempsey. It didn't happen.

No point in signing him unless we're confident that Garbutt won't ever have a role here, but Martinez has said otherwise. Leftback isn't a position in which you need four players for. That being said, who knows if Oviedo will want to stay here behind Baines if he continues to prove that he's good enough to be in the starting 11 elsewhere.

To be honest, I'd rather have Lukaku on loan than Kone leading the line, but that's probably a false choice, and I'd rather bring Lukaku or someone else in on a permanent. Maybe if we can't nab Lukaku now, we can bring in a striker or two on a permanent AND Lukaku on a loan just before the deadline if Chelsea decide that he's excess.