ThorpG

1. No 2. Foreign manager 3. 3 (assuming we can offload Osvaldo!) 4. 3 I hope I am mostly wrong...

Do the fans 'fund the club'? Recent reports on TV rights income suggest gate money is not close to being the main income stream now. I think the Board should speak when there is news to announce - 'nothing is happening' type statements do nothing other than create speculation on the exact nuance of each word, can be counter productive.

I am not sure the drive and ambition is gone because we lost one game. Given we have had nothing to play for and yet have won several games in the last few weeks, it would suggest the drive and ambition is very much there in the squad, they could have just cruised to the end of season and finished 10th.

So Champions League football, League titles, cups etc. have nothing to do with it? Seems odd in a world of very driven athletes who must have had immense passion and determination to get to where they are, that winning things plays no part, yet the outlook of the manager (in a career where players will play for many managers) is so important. I would think success (on the pitch and financially) would be top, the others less relevant.

So Man U were favourites. Then Liverpool. Now Spurs. Wonder who will be favourites next week...? I guess if you throw enough sh*t at a wall...

Wilshere has not got the fitness to play in these games, he does not play enough club football through constant injuries. I think he is a really good player when 100% fit, but how often is that?

The worry that is none of those options are international class. Chambers is too inexperienced and Clyne has had a patchier season than last year (personally I prefer him to Chambers). Johnson and Walker are fine charging up field playing like auxiliary wingers, but they just can't defend, particularly Walker. England don't do good right backs - spoilt at left back, where Shaw will likely miss out (a better player than all four right backs mentioned above). Any team at the World Cup with a strong left midfield will cause us grief.

The thing is if you want to stop using a website, what you do is stop using it, not post that you are going to stop using it. If I don't like a shop, I don't go in it. I don't go in anyway and spend lots of time telling the people in the shop I don't like it. You might all be right about trolling etc. (I can't find the energy to get upset to be honest, and some of the stuff is pretty amusing if nothing else, most of it is pretty easy to counter using rational arguments). But really, if you want get to a reaction from administrators walk away and stop paying. Complaining won't change the site, but a cut in revenue would. I do think the unnamed poster who is obviously a skate could do us all a favour and stop posting though... Perhaps there should be a daily cap (say 25) for all posters, as would remove some of the 'devil's advocate' posts, simply because you would waste your allowance. Or put something in place so that if someone posts more than 25 a day, a 24 hour 'cooling off' period kicks in, so the poster cannot post. Maybe terrible ideas, but a bit more progressive than banning everyone...

Of course I am generalising, but based on people sat near me, I reckon I am reasonably safe in my assumption.

Attendances are down (marginally). Do you think it is style of football, with people disgusted by the passing game? Or do you think it might correspond with an extended period of a squeeze on expendable household income? Is that a fair question? Myself I have heard more people say 'it is too expensive' than 'I can't stand the style of football'.

Yes. By you! We used to be no fart and no sh!t...

Would do for me. Might it be that both styles are good if you have world class players...? I think it takes more than one semi-final to prove that a style of football which has resulted in Champions League, World Cup and Euro wins for the last few years is now out of date. Good to watch also. And given we ain't winning league titles any time soon, playing good football seems pretty important to me.

This. Definitely this. Same people who shout 'get it forward, Saints' because we passed it ten times in a row without 'sticking it in the mixer'...

I sort of agree - but every time the crowd shout 'shoot' when Cork, Schneiderlin or Wanyama have the ball, they always smack it high and wide... A midfielder who doesn't lose his head 25 yards out would be good...

Think would we still be in 8th if we played more direct. You are only as good as the players and at the moment 8th place is about right for this squad. Do we really think we should be finishing above Man U, Spurs and Everton, the next three teams above us? Regarding 30% stat, so what? It is not as if he has been managing Barcelona and City. Espanyol (a small team in Spain) and Saints (a small team in England). What would you expect, 50% and titles...? 8th is what it is, irrelevant of win %. Flip it around - his loss % with us is very good... It might not get much better than this for us (given the 7 teams above will likely spend more and sell less than us in close season). Enjoy it while it lasts...

You can win with with either. Bayern's problem was they forgot to defend corners, which then meant the pressure was off Real. Real could 'park the bus' and then counter attack, with no onus on them to force the game. If Bayern had scored early to level I reckon they would have passed Real to death. City favourites to win Premier League and their style is to dominate possession - Liverpool to finish 2nd based on fast counter attacking. Both styles can bring success... Our problem - our strikers are not prolific (goals vs. chances) and our midfielders don't score. The style of football is great.

Should I be pleased or appalled...?

I agree, cannot tolerate banning things just because people don't like them, democracy and all that. Unless people posting genuinely offensive or incendiary posts (racist, violent etc.) then no issue.

If no-one bit it would be a pretty dull forum. Just someone posting a comment and everyone else replying with 'this'...

Only you use terms like 'chosen one' and 'shining light of world football' - no-one else talks like that. Looking at various threads it looks as if the vast majority of people on here think Pochettino is a good (but not great) manager and that we are a good (but not great) team. Which given we finished 8th seems pretty fair, doesn't it? Your comparison with Newcastle is a bit facile. You object to people saying here that Newcastle have had a poor season, but they have had a terrible 2014 (lowest scorers in the division and with relegation form), and their fans have started calling for Pardew's head. Versus their own expectations they have done poorly and they look to be going backwards as a team, particularly once they sold Cabaye. Even you can see that we are on a upward trajectory (league 1 3 years ago, championship 2 years ago, 14th in Prem last year and now 8th). You may be right that this is the limit of our ambitions, but to keep attacking that sort of progress is perverse, who else in the top four divisions can show that progress over 3 years? I am happy with 8th given where we are as a club - I do agree we should target cups more next season, but I think that discussion is long closed.

Remember a great 2-0 win at Goodison, with Davies scoring a cracker. I think there were all of about 150 of us there, with the game shown live on Sky on a Sunday.

Do you reckon Evertonians will be talking about this in 30 years time with equal bitterness, talking about that 'cheating Lovren... Probably not...

Agreed. Given the speculation, pretty wise too. The DoF has made a clear statement, having the manager or players contradict this ain't clever. We are in defensive mode now with press and clubs circling over our squad like vultures - putting up a united front and killing off speculation is the right thing to do. Slightly boring now that Pochettino does not speak in English, when the world knows he can - but when he gets relentless contract / transfer questions, comes in quite useful...

No bias, I wouldn't take either. Chambers has not played enough games yet for me and still shows inexperience (I thought he struggled over recent games, which I guess is why he was dropped for Clyne). I think Clyne is a better player (although there is very little in it), but has not played enough games since the turn of the year. I would take Johnson and Walker. As a nation we ain't blessed with great right backs...

Shows what a great problem we have at right back, two very good players. Which Premier League club has a better pair of right backs than us? I reckon most teams would take Clyne at right back, outside of the usual top four or five.