Thiago

I knew he was going to do it.

The problem they've got now, more than anything, is that when you look at their squad it's firmly a League One squad. What I mean by that is, strip the club name off and it would fit in with any other squad in terms of background. There's a couple of decent ex-Championship players, a few young lads on loan from bigger clubs or who need a restart and then a lot of just unknowns that are just as likely to end up in League 2 as they are the Championship. When you look at the other 'big' clubs that get relegated to that level or even the Championship they all had a few players far too good for it. Blackburn had players like David Raya, Bradley Dack, Mulgrew. We had Coloccini, Nolan, Jonas first time round. If they went up tomorrow you'd need to drop easy £15-20m to make the squad competitive in the bottom half.

I'd love to go for a pint with him.

The negative comments towards him are really irritating me. We've had so many whoppers come to this club, not perform, and stroll around when the club needed them. This lad has run his socks off in every game, tried to win headers, and help his teammates out - a few times tonight he even slotted in on the wing to cover for Maxi. If he doesn't score a single goal and we stop up he's done his job.

High five to Donny van de Beek too. He could have been on the winning side tonight if he'd fancied a relegation battle.

He is to Howe what Heskey became for England. He's a lump that will chase and facilitate for other players. I'd love him to get some goals but he'll get cheers from me as long as he keeps this up.

Solid, steady, and seemed to read the room with Maxi's bombing on.

Fucking outrageous how much better he is than us

Back to his old self a bit more. He'll never recapture his early form, and that's fine, but seeing him pressing and driving is lovely.

I'd be fucking worried if I was an Everton fan.

1.) Against Cambridge. 2.) He's played here before.

So here's the only logical explanation I can see from it. We tend to concede later in games, and if you start him and he's gassed after 65-75 you likely have to take him off, succeeding control of proceedings. Whether we want to admit it or not, the PL is the most physically demanding league, and adjusting to that after a lot of travel and little time to bed in is a big ask. We'll know how right or wrong he is come 10pm tonight.

I've met Parkinson at a party and he was genuinely awful crack. Chris Brown however was lovely.

I always find it odd how often Everton fans talk about how big they SHOULD be when so many mock us for thinking we could be bigger. They've done next to nothing in the Premier League era of note.

Was this any good?

No, but Sunderland have painted themselves into a corner. The fans are desperate for some sort of joy and now want Keane. He's got cache from his previous stint and anything other than him now will feel like a let down.

He's essentially installed an Udinese type model and made the most of greater financial clout/resources. He said in an interview he doesn't always look at deals as influencing the present citing Alexis McAllister. There's still part of me thinks he's agreed to go elsewhere and there's a punch line coming That said, he's a game changing appointment.

At first I admired his honesty and openness, but I do worry when that may cross a line with this.

Am I alone in being slightly uncertain about this podcast he's doing?

He's no Lee Congerton.

When you're wearing rose tinted specs they're all red flags...

To be fair, even Man City switched to a more sustainable financial model in time. We can discuss swelled sponsorships and the like, but through their network of clubs they've been able to flip players and utilise some of those profits to offset big signings for Man City.

It's an odd situation that I can't quite figure out. This kid is not another Nacho Gonzalez. He was/is highly rated in Mexico and has been chased by the US and Mexico at international level. The idea he's not even getting a kick for our youths makes no sense even if there's talk of an injury.

Spent the morning watching his chat with Mark Clemmett for UCB. Clem aside, he comes across very well and seems to understand what his role is and the relationship building element attached to that. The fact he's committed to us in this situation is massive. It can't be undersold.

As others have said Keane is a short fuse that seems to have fallen out with a good number of the players he's worked with of late. Aside from all that, do we think he's put any of the time in to stay up to date with tactical trends? If he hasn't, does he know enough people that have for which he could build his backroom team with? Defoe has undoubted ability as a finisher but he's going to be a passenger off the ball and do they consistently create the kind of chances he will score? Don't get me wrong, if an ageing Loic Remy was available on a free and we were up shit creek I'd scream for it, but it seems so odd to me that a club professing a 'data driven approach' are quite happy to abandon that for sentiment.