St1pe

Not a good result but not a terrible one. It puts more pressure on needing 3 points at Stoke though which should be doable given the state they’re in.

The other results are taking a turn for the worst.

Hope we get a comfortable win today - I’m not expecting it but we could really do with one. 2-0 Gayle with both.

I must have missed this but is Shelvey the new Dummet/Perez/Joselu that we're all calling shite now? Just need to be clear so if we haven't scored in the first 20 minutes against Brighton and I'm looking for someone to blame.

Looks more like resting players for the weekend. Pleased to see Silva and Sane aren’t playing... not that it matters ?

Makes sense for him to move on. Personally like many others I think he deserved more game time but if he doesn’t fit Rafa’s play style then there’s no benefit of either party in keeping him. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him do well at another club.

This was your post in the West Ham pre-match thread. Incredible turnaround.

Totally agree with this. He's a bit of an unsung hero at times. Even in the games we've been shit he's been one of the few striving to do something about it. I think he was the only player that believed we could get something in the second half v Everton. Like others have said he can be inconsistent defensively but his effort levels have been brilliant.

Surely Atsu is proof against that? Rafa played Gouffran over him for most of our Championship season and he now starts every game.

Forgot how lush 3 points feels. Massive graft put in from the players and given the lineup was it’s an incredible win.

What on earth is going on ?

It’s just a constant feeling of being punched in the face supporting this lot.

Feel sick at the thought.

That looks dreadful. Hope we somehow pull this out of the bag. We’re awful without Merino though.

Win today. 0-2 Rafa to save Christmas.

Huge game at West Ham given the way the results have gone.

Hope we don’t fall to bits now.

0-1 Pérez. Wenger out!!! We’ve got to be due a daft result man. It’s only fair.

I don’t even remember Sels being as bad as Darlow was in the last two games.

The usual 20 minute drive to the ground took an hour an 40 minutes with radge traffic from Heworth. Nearly pissed myself in the process. Pulled into the car park at kick off time missing the first 10 minutes then froze my balls off watching that shite. We aren’t a good side. That isn’t anything new but there’s 5/6 teams at the bottom that is just as bad. We need to get behind this lot as much as possible because you could see the compete lack of any confidence in that second half - for what it’s worth I didn’t think the crowd got on the players backs today. Thought Yedlin was our best player by a mile but I can’t see a lot of positives when you’ve got Shelvey, Merino and Diame not really trying to win the ball most of the game. The pressing in the second half was awful. That’s probably the least effort I’ve seen from a team winning 3 points. We want shooting for that.

I don’t know if it’s blind faith because I’m going but I think we’ll get a win in this one. I’m hoping we go back with one up front and both Shelvey and Merino on the pitch. With Gayle’s form I fancy him to get a couple. I don’t think Everton have the pace to destroy us like Man U, Leicester and Watford did. I think it’ll be similar to the games earlier in the season where it’s difficult to split the two sides and fingers crossed we’re on the right side of it. Lacelles starting again would be a huge lift too.

Finally watched motd this morning after being completely fed up after Saturday. The final goal doesn’t look any better for him on a second viewing. It’s hard to grasp how we managed to be so bad for that whole move. For what it’s worth I like Clark and the sooner we get back to him and Lascelles the better. We need to stick with what works until we can start looking solid again.

We’re no worse the rest of the bottom 6/8 teams. Don’t think any of them could say they won’t go down.

Awful effort from us. Managing to scrape back to 2-2 to then get completely exposed again is just pathetic. We’ve done nothing but ship goals since changing systems and it’s time to go back to at least looking solid. Leicester were very good in the first but had to put so little effort to win that game in the second half. If there was any positives to take Gayle is looking dangerous and Atsu looked noticeably better than what we had on the pitch. Everton is a must win now.