S-Clarke

You wouldn't see the (good or bad) results of that in such a short window in an academy structure, so no, that's not it.

Academy output will fluctuate over years. At the moment Everton have a very impressive crop of young players on their way up, but there's still no guarantee any of those will make it at a higher level. From what I can tell, we've had to fill out the academy squads in the last couple of years with external purchases - which shows that the conveyor belt hasn't really been there for these year groups. This would probably coincide with the time we were in administration and this particular age group had very little input. The fact is that we have invested a lot into the academy and the structure around it, this will reap rewards over time - but you have to be patient, as it will be a fair few years until we see the benefit of this.

Would expect to see him back in the 11 at the weekend to be honest.

Yeah, ditto. In a positive note, Lemina looked pretty impressive in those short seconds!

tbf they were both in the Wolves training vid too.

There have been lots of worse games. I remember coming away from the Hapoel game despondent. Then you had Shef U in the quarters a few seasons back, Sunderland in the last 16. There have been plenty worse.

Liverpool have the most favourable draw (After Utd) in the UCL you'd have to say. Liverpool, Sevilla, Maribor, Spartak Spurs group though, what the actual? Real Madrid, Dortmund, Tottenham, APOEL (poor APOEL)

I must admit, I was starting to wonder where his new contract was. Good news, I think everyone loves Maya. Didn't realise he's made 150 odd app's for us! Watch the Liverpool fans clutch onto this as a reason they're getting VVD..

We never announce injuries, for some reason.

He's exactly what I hoped Redmond would be for us. Gray is excellent, would cost a lot of $$ though.

Blimey, he's gone on to big things. Always thought it was a bit clumsy in my opinion.

It's not like he has to be extra fit, he's only a goal keeper. I was staggered he didn't play last night to be honest. Now we've got no cup games until the new year, so we won't see him until then.

And of course that. Too late in the day, unless we have our ducks lined up already. If we get £75m, he throws another big paddy, we bring in a £25m attacker and a £20m centre back replacement, I think most of us would just reluctantly accept that. Just think it's too late to sort any of that out.

Whatever happens, it's simply too late in the day to sell now. If he doesn't want to play for us after August, let him rot. But selling now would just prove all these annoying Liverpool pundits and fans right.

We don't seem to have much luck with these number 10 types. But personally, with Lemina and Romeu in the central area, I'd be tempted to give him a free role - just go and do the business. I think his game is limited if he's stuck to a specific position or asked to track back. That's not saying he shouldn't do that, but those sort of players need a more fluid role in the side imo.

Good old Rog.

No word on it to be honest, doesn't seem to be listed as injured anywhere. He was in the U23 game a week or so ago, so it suggests he's around. I've seen him in the training pics too. Bit odd. He's the sort of player I think is crying out for a run of games, would be a shame if he's just cast to the side.

Fair enough.

Source...?

What's happened tonight that has made the Liverpool thing re-ignite again? Have I missed something?

Our 2nd game in L1 was against that lot with Pards at the helm, sat on -9 points. We were done 3-1 or something, Lambert got a goal, but it was dreadful.

We will need to be a hell of a lot better, and I'm confident we will be. I'd be cautious throwing Hoedt straight in for this one to be honest, but he should be on the bench I'd have thought. Lemina back in midfield with Romeu for sure, gives us a bit of a presence. We've tried with JWP and Davis in the CM roles in recent season and it never really works, they're too wishy washy to play there for me - they need to be playing ahead of the two. I'd go with Austin up to, Gabbi, Redmond with Davis as the support - give Gabbi a role whereby he can use the channels, he's excellent at that. Bofual hasn't done anything tonight to help himself.

Well you didn't say that did you, you inferred that real fans are the ones who are posting the OTT reactions thus trying to make me out as some sort of cyber apologist who isn't a real fan. This isn't a contest about who is the bigger fan, you've done this with me before for some reason - it's irrelevant, we all support the same team. I'm not making any obvious excuses for tonight, I've admitted that it was shambolic and shocking. But it's done, it's gone, it's put to bed. The players will put this behind them and we need to forget it as well. I didn't suggest Huddersfield will be an easy win what so ever, I said I'd expect a much better performance. There are reasons and debates to be had as to why we were poor and it could go on and on and on, but I've been to the first two games of this season and I have seen an improvement - the people who sit around me have seen an improvement, I can see positive approaches and changes in what we're trying to do. Tonight seemed quite a distance away from what we've dished up this season to me. Tonight's done, it was horrible. MP isn't a mug and I'm sure he will be ripping into a few of those lads tonight, but they will move onto Saturday as we should.

I get those concerns, but I have seen some positive changes to that in our first two league games. Still lots of work to do, and I think we're trying for another attacker as I think we need a bit more pace/power to stretch the game a bit. I don't think MPe is a mug though, he doesn't strike me as a character who will take ****. Will be interested to hear his reaction tonight.

For a club historian, you come across as a right jerk mate. Not sure what your issue is with me, but anyone can see that the reactions are OTT tonight when you see crap like ''MPe is on a thin rope'' etc etc. People need to give that OTT crap a f***ing rest. It was ****, no one is denying that. But it's 1 ****ing game at the start of a season, for fans to be going absolutely crazy on the back of it is insane. Sorry if that doesn't make me a proper fan. Maybe I should ask for a refund to my season ticket and all my away tickets. If you want passion, there you go. Jerk.