Lallana's Left Peg

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!

Spurs transfer policy now matches ours. Levy told supporters groups towards the end of last season that he was done spending £20m+ on players and would instead focus on the ~£10m signings where the player had development and potential scope.

The vision remains, but the game doesn't allow it to happen. Lallana, Shaw, and Chambers all wanted to leave. In an alternative world we have those three in our first team and the squad also includes Reed, JWP, Targett etc. It is not our vision that should be questioned, but rather whether the game will allow it to happen.

Fonte has been making noises since the summer about other clubs etc. I doubt the club are looking to sell him but we do know the current regime aren't against selling players whilst they still have resale value.

Stekelenburg looks very good to me, I think he's just about the best we could do under the circumstances.

To be fair, when you sell one player in a position and then buy another player who plays in the same position, he is the replacement.

The other thing that is a strength of the club is scouting and our youth policy, therefore it is fair to assume that 'big name' signings are not so much of a requirement for us given we think we can find value in the market and can also call on the Academy.

They'll be plenty of injuries this season!

Spurs are good at it too.

I agree. For what it is worth I can see a team going down with a record points total this season and the league being won by a team in the low 80's or so. Everything is getting very congested in the league!

Don't disagree with the sentiment of the article but one important thing to remember which isn't considered - we've just sold two of our first teamers (one of which is probably our best player) and lost another first choice central defender whilst Stoke and Palace haven't lost any first team player. So the concern from fans is that other teams are catching up and Saints have to work hard to stand still. Of course, it'll happen to Stoke and Palace too if they have a season like we did but those teams will have a net spend this summer and Saints will do well if we spend what we earn (and even then, we seem to have a policy of having wages of new signings covered by transfer fees as well). EDIT: Stoke lost N'Zonzi to be fair.

Reed drops down the pecking order a bit but the number of games we get hopefully means he should still get enough games to continue developing.

Tall but not overly strong, uses his body well to protect and win the ball, not quick but uses ball well, very one footed. It's like he is almost a carbon copy.