chicago_shearer

The general standard of football commentary and punditry is terrible. Even the 'good' ones are clueless. All they do is state the bleeding obvious, re-order and recycle cliches. There is nothing professional or informative about it. http://www.zonalmarking.net/ ^ I wish it was possible to find some pundits during or after a match that do what these guys do. Regularly more insightful and informative than anyone overpaid ex-pro on TV.

Potential benefit: Cup run. Potential cost: More fixtures, potential for injuries to key first team players. Cost > benefit. If this was a later stage of the competition, then maybe it would be worth having a go. But it isn't. If something happened to Carroll, HBA, Enrique etc. it could destroy us. Play the kids, take the beating, move on.

FULL FUCKING TIME If that sideshow bob dick Fellaini had put that in, it would have ruined my year.

"I'm not saying they deserve to win today..." Hahaha...

Carroll doing his best Tiote impression with that tackle.

Pienaar has learned the hard way what happens when you challenge Tiote.

Everton 0 Brazil 1 HT

SWEET HOLY JESUS

Milan, ha.

Mama said there'd be days like this. She didn't say they would come at home against Blackpool, but she didn't say we'd beat Villa 6-0 either. The question now is whether you plod on to Everton with the same XI, learning nothing and then losing to a much better team or whether we change quickly. Because you can have bad days, but you have to offset them by getting points you don't expect. Next weekend would be an example.

Please score.

Saw that picture on the official site of Enrique shaking hands with Llambas and some other bloke and I thought it would be something about him signing a new deal. Turns out its about a fucking dentist.

If they want him that badly, they'll pay the compensation either way. That is the point of a contract. It entitles you to compensation. A rolling contract does not.

If Hughton signs a rolling contract then he must have the agent from Extras.

Good shout. Really? Obviously I still don't think we're all that good btw, before someone accuses me of arrogance again. I still think the Swiss are better than Algeria, Slovenia and the USA. Just shit tonight.

A draw would be a very good result. The Swiss are better than any team England played at the World Cup bar Germany.

Some people on here obviously look at Hughton and see a likeable, lucky coach who bares little responsibility for our success and is inevitably going to be found out. Fair enough. Maybe the wheels will come off and we can get back to the exciting intrigue of sacking managers. But if we get to Christmas and the club are doing OK in the league - mid table, let's say - then this contract situation with Hughton could start to become worrying. Because while you might see a bumbling novice who has stumbled into a big job, there are going to be a few chairmen of clubs in the Championship who see an out of contract, relatively inexpensive manager who has taken one of the most high pressure jobs in the country and exceeded expectations.

Abso-fucking-lutely. Is this squad capable of finishing 11th or 14th? God knows....probably. But does it matter? Unless you are a total meth addict who thinks this team should be aiming for European qualification, then there is no difference between lower midtable and safety. If you were offered 17th and guaranteed safety, why in hell would you turn it down when your ambition is a few insignificant places up the table?

Postives: Best central midfield options we've had in a long time, really strong at centre-half, a great left-back, options up front and on the wing (been a long time since we've gone into a season being able to say that). And we may have signed a world class player in Ben Arfa. Negatives: Too early to think that Andy Carroll will maintain his form and give us the 10-15 goals that we need. Shola and Best probably aren't good enough if he doesn't maintain his form or if he gets injured. Jury is out on Perch and Simpson, and there are a couple of question marks about Harper. No depth at the full back position. All in all, B+. It would be a monumental cock up if we went down with this team.

Van Der Vaart would explain why Bentley is allowed to go to Fulham on loan.

Those kids at Stoke.

So you go out again, make all the same mistakes and end up being sick again 24 hours later. The one irrefutable positive to come out of relegation was getting rid of some stupidly expensive and overrated players that would otherwise probably have clung on to the free ride for the rest of their careers. Everything else is uncertain. The wheels could come off very quickly. The club recovered from relegation as well as they could possibly have done. Whether the right lessons have been learned is at least a year or more away from being known.

I'd rather have Hutton at the moment.

I hope Tiote plays in the return fixture at SJP and brings the pain.

Yes. I hope Mick McCarthy dies a painful death after the way he got his team to play today. Fair play to Barton he has to get used to that because i'm sure he'll get the same against other teams I'm looking forward to seeing the new CM Tiote You can't expect him to put up with that sort of treatment every week. Fair enough, he has to keep his cool, but even a zen buddhist is going to get frustrated when defenders are allowed to fly in with impunity like Wolves did today.