Lallana's Left Peg

That's a first U21 callup for Stephens I think?

Well if we're dealing in pure fantasy then I would sign a £30m player and that player would be Edison Cavani. He'd cost more than £30m, but this is fantasy, so we'd sign him for £30m.

It's going to be interesting to see what position he gets a chance in, when eventually he does get a chance. As an attacking midfielder we've seen Tadic, Davis, and JWP all selected ahead of him. As a second striker we've seen Mane and Long both selected ahead of him.

Runs like he is wearing wellies these days and has the turning circle of an oil tanker.

My own unsubstantiated theory is that the new ball is said to move a bit (according to a few goalkeepers) so players are having a go and seeing what happens after noticing something in training but as with most things what is looking good in training does not work whatsoever in a game situation.

Harry Reed a one man unnecessary fouling machine. Not sure why he plays like that. It's not very controlled.

Thanks for the link - forgot about this.

The only thing I don't understand about 'the model', which is more imposed on us than through choice admittedly, is what we'll do with all the extra cash we generate from buying a player, developing him, and selling him on for a lot of money. Eventually there should be a decent cash surplus - but how do we make that work for us in current FFP rules etc.? That said, I don't think there is anywhere near as much cash in the bank as people think from all the sales.

We're going out unless we significantly improve.

Six competitive games in and passing still not right, and balance between attack and defence not right. Have no idea how this has happened to be honest, it's like night and day from last season.

He made a claim after the Everton home game last season that his best position is in front of the back three. I'd imagine that would severely decrease his chances of being a starter in our team. However Reed also played an important part in January when we were down to the bare bones and be played very well as a part of a DM two in that period when we had to grind out some results at Ipswich and Newcastle.

It depends on the extent of the damage and how quick his body is at recovering. It could be 3 weeks or it could be 3 months. Remember the Lallana saga from Christmas 2012? No-one knew how long he would be out for.

As I said at the time, his foot was planted and a Man City player rolled into his leg - his foot stayed where it was and his knee buckled a bit. It's ligaments / tendons. No-one knows the extent of the damage but it's not something that you come back from in a week or two. He can likely move and run ok but it's the twisting and turning that is an issue and that is why his leg will be set in a cast so it can't move and no strain can be placed on the damaged ligaments / tendons.

Last season was brilliant, a massive overachievement in the circumstances and we finished 7th and had to rely on another team above us winning the FA Cup so we could qualify for Europe. I'd rather have some fun in the Europa League and finish 10th - 12th than have another run at finishing top half with no Europe.

He came out with this nonsense during his commentary on the Celtic game in Europe a few weeks back too

Some chatter in Manchester about Jason Denayer potentially joining Everton on loan. Not sure if that is anything to do with John Stones leaving or if the interest is there regardless but Everton being linked with plenty of CB's other than VvD.

The club have often publicly said that they are targeting summer 2016 for a big jump in commercial revenue. Lets hope it is the sort of jump in revenue that allows us to grow the wage bill without having to sell players for a lot of money.

Be nice to see us pass the ball properly for the first time this season. A good opportunity to get some confidence.

I'm saying Everton would have almost certainly found it even easier to carve us open.

To press with that personnel on the field would have been asking for trouble. It was bad enough when we sat back and tried to defend properly. Far too many Everton players managed to stroll pass their opposite number with and without the ball.

None of that has anything to do with the performance today though, which taken in isolation is obviously just one game and a bad day at the office - management and players alike. In a wider sense it is also a sobering reflection that the idea that this club can do well in the league and Europe seems very far fetched, both from a squad depth of quality perspective and the clubs ability to cope with the schedule. I'm fully aware of Saints place in the wider context of football and we have just about hit our limit of the possible I think, and that is fine by me, but I also think there are aspects of todays performance which may reflect a wider issue we now have at the club where we either have to play a different way to last season and be good at it, or recruit players to play as we did last season and see how we go. As we have seen in four games now, it appears we are trying to play the same way as last season with inferior players and it isn't working too well. Time for all at the club to show this sort of joined up strategy in recruitment and playing style we seemed keen to milk when thing were going so well last season.

This isn't a reaction to an individual game nor the obvious issues we have right now with the balance of the team, but in our first four competitive games this season does anyone else think our passing has been absolutely shocking? Very little incisiveness, poor movement, no confidence in tight situations, passing straight to the opposition, far too many passes putting players into trouble or not giving them a chance of doing anything with it- I could go on. It's a far cry from last season where even if we lacked a cutting edge our passing and general patterns of play would be decent. This season, thus far, I'm seeing none of that. Why is this?

It's almost like Koeman didn't see the game last week and decided a team that is unbalanced and creates enough space in the midfield for the opposition to drive a bus through could work. We've got what we have deserved. However, independent of shape, balance, and tactics, what on earth is going on with our passing - this is the third game in a row now where it has been absolutely shocking. As bad as it has been since we've been back in the Premier League.

Kenwright is so nasty he's openly admitted he'd sell the club if the right investors came along but he won't sell the club and leave it in the hands of people he isn't sure will drive Everton forward. He's an absolute monster, he should be locked up

I wrongly presumed that Chelsea would be too big and strong for our lads but I'm glad I am being proved wrong thus far with that score!