Newcastle United v Everton. Saturday 5th March @ 15.00.

[billycopper]

Eff me that was tough. Terrible game IMO because of how scappy and how much lack of football was played.

And in all honesty....we should've won this 5-1 the amount of chances we had. How we didnt kill that game off I have no idea AT. ALL.

Now....Arteta starts on the left from now on. Defence needs sorting...

Agreed. I think the anchor role is key to it. Apparently Moyes and Round were both face-palming over the amount of times that Jonny lost the ball high up the pitch. If Neville's not going to be fit, then we have to consider playing Jags in midfield (where he played a lot for the Blades) and Heit in behind him or even Hibbo there. Two problems with that are that Coleman's not fully fit himself to play at right back and Hibbert is likely to give fouls away in more dangerous areas if we use him centrally.

 

[met069]

Distin put in a very good shift too.

Anichibe looked fired up

Saha gassed by the end

Hibbert sadly the weak link in the defence

 

[TX Bill]

Agreed. I think the anchor role is key to it. Apparently Moyes and Round were both face-palming over the amount of times that Jonny lost the ball high up the pitch. If Neville's not going to be fit, then we have to consider playing Jags in midfield (where he played a lot for the Blades) and Heit in behind him or even Hibbo there. Two problems with that are that Coleman's not fully fit himself to play at right back and Hibbert is likely to give fouls away in more dangerous areas if we use him centrally.

He lost it once with two minutes to go when he tried to accelerate past Tiote and Tiote shouldered him off the ball to win it. If they had scored on a counter from that, I guarantee Johnny wouldn't have seen a minute on the pitch for the rest of the season.

Luckily, nothing came of it.

 

[TX Bill]

Oh, and credit to Newcastle keeper Harper for making several good saves, two of which were certain goals.

 

[billytoffee]

That was hard work - has not done too much for my dodgy blood presure !!!!

Arteta - looking like getting back to his best.

Rodwell - disappointed me today. Too many misplaced passes for someone of his quality (or potential).

Distin - dropping back that extra yard a bit too often playing them onside.

Lets hope we can build on this one and that its not another of those false dawns that we have suffered oh so much this season!!

 

[Chang Elephant]

Cynical or not but I wanted Nolan to get badly injured today!

Permanently injured would be better

 

[faddy the blue]

Permanently injured would be better

I think that would be cynical.

 

[Tennessee Blue Mike]

There's something up...

The player at the end of last season and in pre-season looked very good, very direct, used his strength all coming from the wings...

Then since he signed his contract and Moyes started to play him up top or off a striker...he doesnt know what to do. Could be a confidence thing...after all he WANTS to be a striker but he clearly doesnt look good as one and he's suffering from it.

I have seen this for the last couple of games. I coach High School level here and I can see it in his face. He may be carrying a knock.

He has so much potential. I'll go with the 8 minute answer at the moment but watch him next time out. Also, I wonder why he wasn't selected today?

 

[billycopper]

If Brum show up Wednesday like they did today, we'll turn 'em over.

That said, we'll struggle because hey, we're Everton.

This month looks like being crucial for our league placing. If we can beat Brum will put ourselves 9 points away from the relegation zone and within a point of the Europa league. We'll then have Fulham at home to consolidate it and hopefully overtake the RS.

 

[billycopper]

He lost it once with two minutes to go when he tried to accelerate past Tiote and Tiote shouldered him off the ball to win it. If they had scored on a counter from that, I guarantee Johnny wouldn't have seen a minute on the pitch for the rest of the season.

Luckily, nothing came of it.

I saw him pass the ball 5 yards to no one a couple of times. Sharpy was doing his nut in the radio commentary about how he was causing his own team so many problems.

 

[Toffe3m4n]

 

[barca-own-ya]

This month looks like being crucial for our league placing. If we can beat Brum will put ourselves 9 points away from the relegation zone and within a point of the Europa league. We'll then have Fulham at home to consolidate it and hopefully overtake the RS.

if the mancs beat the RS and we beat brum dont we overtake them before we even play fulham?

 

[Tommy Chong]

4 of our next 5 matches are at home... We can accumulate some good points here!

 

[THFC6061]

Great result for Everton today.

It's very difficult to come away from St James Park with anything, so all credit to Moyes and his men today.

Perhaps a Europa League place is a possibility now if Everton can put a decent run together?

 

[wellillwill]

Jebus. That was a long 95 minutes. Great shift put in by the team but Heitinga is a liability in the centre of midfield and Anichebe makes me cry every time he touches the ball. We should have had a couple more in the latter stages of that game.

And Moyes deserves credit for playing two strikers in the closing stages of the game. We should have buried them.