Lenny

This echoes my feelings, too. Likeable, hard working and surprisingly capable at times defensively, but for his position his end product is consistently poor. He almost always fluffs either the assist or the shot. He has very limited vision too; he was lucky with his shot-come-pass for Joel's goal, and the chance he put wide from Bruno's long ball early in the game, whilst difficult, would have been squared by a good player, with Joel well positioned for a tap in.

Pretty poor game, but I'm still enjoying watching with minimal pressure or concern. Bruno likes to play the pass noticeably quicker than almost everyone else in the team; he's too quick of mind for some of our players. ASM is just off form, not for lack of effort and he seems to be trying to mix his play up but very little is coming off for him.

I would go as far as agreeing that it's team capable of achieving top 8, but I don't think it's a team that would be regularly operating within the top 8. It would obviously require some serious depth to support it, too. I don't think we have a midfield three combination currently that can control games throughout the course of the season, and we need at least another dependable creative/wide player along with the quality forward you've suggested. Hopefully we're looking for a striker, a winger, an attacking midfielder/no10 as well as a defensive midfielder, and a centre back. With an additional defensive as well as attacking central midfielder we'd have lots of combinations of players that could play dependant on the opposition. Half a team full of quality players isn't much to ask for is it?

It's no coincidence that he's looking more effective with a player sat behind him that will actively look to use him to his strengths. His expectation and anticipation of the pass from Bruno is almost making him look a yard faster and as a result he's getting into dangerous positions with increased frequency. He's starting to look like he's enjoying himself again, too, which is critical for him in particular it seems.

The thought of us ever being anywhere near as good as this Liverpool team seems absurdly unfathomable

There are a number of players at the club currently that either shouldn't or can't be "flogged" at the first opportunity, for various reasons, and should be demoted to a squad player as we look to improve in the immediate future. Wood is one of those players. I'm not a fan of his, at all in fact, but calling his use under the conditions we hope are the case next season disastrous is pretty negligent of context. It stands to reason that bringing a single squad player in at any one time, to an organised, quality team will likely result in improved performance from them given that they have better players surrounding them than what we're seeing now. Wood will be given that chance, and if he doesn't fulfil it, he'll rightfully be moved on. Wood may well be ineffective for us a times (a lot of the time), but equally, what are we doing to accommodate his strengths, or any centre forward's strengths for that matter? We're hardly putting chance after chance on a plate for him. The reality of our squad is that whilst the effort and organisation has improved immeasurably, the lack of quality across the pitch is still hugely evident; we're largely getting by on unbelievable team spirit and wave of momentum. I'd expect that when we have more than just ASM that can create something, we'll see more chances afforded to the striker(s).

He only really has Enrique ahead of him in recent times (not that there's a large pool of competition).

Who was it that took Joelinton out in the build up to the goal? Did they get booked?

I honestly can't see Zaha being the type of player that would fit into Howe's gameplan, and he's already accommodating ASM as it is. He's clearly got talent and productivity, but Howe has made it very clear that he [rightfully] favours group cohesion on the pitch over relying on individual brilliance to win a game.

Does Zaha work hard defensively? I always had him down as a similar mould to ASM with little defensive discipline or desire. I'd be very surprised if we go out and buy a player that's not going to defend from the front. Howe seems to like an extremely aggressive press so imagine he'll be looking at players that buy into that.

Gayle hasn't played regularly for 3 years, is 32 years old now and when he has played for us he's looked far from the player he was a few years ago so I'm not certain he would have quite the appeal he once had.

The was atrocious from Man Utd.

How does Matic get games in the Premier League nowadays, he makes Shelvey look like Usain Bolt.

I think the save from the header was very good. The shot from range was routine.

Every now and then I feel like that Everton song they walk out to sounds like the Red Dwarf theme music Also I don't think I've ever been such a Man Utd fan as I am today. Shame they can't be depended on for anything.

I agree with the sentiment but those written-off games are just shy of half of our remaining games TBF

If there's consistency with the referee's then there shouldn't really be anything to be frustrated about when there's clear contact.

ASM had a pen denied for far more contact than that earlier in the season. Not that I'm complaining; the safety-first side of me wants an Everton win.

It should be pointed out too though, that he's still the only player in our team that can legitimately create something on his own, so perhaps with some more attacking quality around him he'll improve. It's certainly heading towards make or break for him though.

The rest of his career is very much in his own hands right now. If he can buy into what Howe (and any top/ambitious team) wants, he could be our star player for the coming years (and I'd love it). If he doesn't however, then he'll be gone and will likely never be anything more than a highlight reel player for an average club. He has no better opportunity in his career than he has right now to be at the forefront of something [hopefully] special. It's on him to take it, but the clock is ticking for him as we get closer to to the transfer window.

I do think ASM's lack of discipline off the ball will hinder him under Howe. A good press only works if every player is applying it and if one player drops off then it actually completely opens you up. ASM doesn't do it. I would love nothing more than for him to be our star player as we head into a more exciting era, but he's actually got to do more otherwise he'll be out. He has the opportunity to be the front of something really positive, but he's got to work for it.

A bit of context needs to be had with this I suppose. It was a really frustrating result, particularly given how apparent the opportunity was there to get three points and the position we found ourselves in at the point they scored; but the players have been working and training out of their skin for the past couple of months and the pile up of games has clearly led to them running out of steam. I think it's been quite evident in the last few games and I've also no doubt the injuries are a result of the intensity with which Howe works as well. It can't be understated just how unsustainably incredible the run we've had has been this year. Hopefully we've done enough and got enough to see us through the remaining games successfully.

He's very good at using his opponents momentum against them by taking the ball directly into ground they can't occupy.

Same, I've always had a soft spot for him; he was the supplemental breath of optimism to Rafa, during a time where there was no real reason for any. But it's now probably in both the clubs and his interests to part.

Fair comment, however he's not really shown any particular response to Howe coming in terms of on-pitch output. Given that every player has had equal chance to cement a place in the team, I'd have thought he'd be one of the first to do so, but it's not happened.