shurlock

I think we ultimately run out of legs and mental errors start to creep in. That’s especially likely when you’re happy to let the opposition have plenty of the ball (as we are) and you have a young squad (as we do). Our intensity levels partly compensate for a lack of quality but they are simply not sustainable over 90mins. We also don’t have enough attacking or counterattacking quality off the bench that can come on and keep defenses honest rather than encourage teams to squeeze up and maintain a higher and higher line.

Christ you’re weird. Bumping well-known, marathon threads is one thing; bumping and moralising over an obscure thread commented on by a handful of posters - well, that’s pure soggy.

Shami Chakrabarti has let herself go.

Not sure City’s fixtures are easier. Both Burnley and Brighton are capable of s**thousing draws.

Burnley away, on paper, is tricky.

Noted.

Me, I’ll take any opportunity to post the image of a random 80s z-lister for trousers.

De Gea nice one!

The Cornish Beckenbauer.

Ings on the whole has been pretty disappointing - clearly this assessment is partly clouded by his injuries. But over the course of the season, he's looked increasingly off the pace. Yes he's linked up well on occasions but is rarely getting into goal-scoring positions (though both may be a function of playing deeper). With Long, you'll get a 6 or 7/10 performance every week. His game is limited but he rarely goes missing -he'll occupy CBs, get us further up the pitch and create space for our better ball plays. That said, neither Ings nor Long is a long-term option.

Valery (not Sims) came on for Long.

He was trying to impress Ben Foster who’s the best in the business.

Back from the game. Enjoyed the halftime show and our contribution to it.

Many of those fees weren’t cheap unless you willfully overlook the role of inflation.

Exactly. He has plenty of time on the ball as a CB, so looks relatively composed. Shift him into the trenches of DM and it would be a different story. Just look at how JWP’s distribution suffered when he was played alongside Hoj against Wolves and his passing is much better than Stephen’s.

In truth, I think only Glasgow was raving about Ben ‘aura’ Gibson.

I thought we led the way in doing in-depth checks of players characters -their personalities, attitudes in training and even their social habits- to make sure they'd fit in.

Terrible defending by Bednarek to head it back and across goal.

Man for man, they're better than us today. Not one of our players has looked good.

Give me Leeds every day of the week.

Head's gone pal.

Wrong. The ECJ is only relevant regarding member states’ compliance with EU treaties, their interpretation of EU law and decisions on the legality of EU institutions. It has no jurisdiction beyond that.

I'm sure people have been PM'ing you given your wealth of knowledge on Everton; but to what extent has Martyn Glover -rather than say Steve Walsh or RK- been responsible for their recruitment failures?

Didn't he also say that Mopo (and his blue tie) would be out of a job by Xmas - Xmas 2014, that is