DuncanRG

Why is it that any footfall fan who talks about a player's 'level' is, without fail, talking absolute garbage?

My point being that attacking is all well and good, but defensive players need to defend. Wanyama is a better defending than Romeu, or any of our midfielders, or indeed most midfielders in the league.

In the same way as playing Long at left back would be the better option for attacking football!

The league season's been very good. Our exit from the Europa League will always be disappointing, and that was the most important part of the season for me.

Have you ever seen a media organisation say 'look, we called it'? I've very rarely seen a journalist 'call it' either, now you mention it. You hardly ever see stories saying a transfer will happen, only that clubs are interested, in talks etc. Those stories can be accurate without a transfer actually happening. Only a daft fan, of which there sadly appear to be many millions, would think these stories are predictions. I suppose the only exception is when reporters describe a 'race to sign' so and so. That suggests he will sign for someone, which isn't always true as we've learnt with Wanyama and others.

I don't know - the fact there was a first choice which fell through was mentioned by Les Reed in those behind the scenes videos from a few months ago but he wasn't named. Trippier is a good guess.

Yep. Title challengers are always good to watch but it's so much better when it's a different style and not one of the usual suspects.

Europa League qualification will be a factor, but probably not a big or decisive one. We're one of the more attractive propositions in England, but with the TV money we'll inevitably have inflated prices and rivals willing to spend more than us. We'll quickly have to assess the lie of the land to make sure we can secure our targets. What we don't want is to sell Wanyama and find our replacement has already signed for someone else, as appears to have happened with Clyne last year.

You don't fight for titles by luck or going on a good run. Anyone who is this close to winning the league is the real deal. Teams who have runs and drop off, such as Southampton last year, are not. You're right that it's not Ranieri alone that's behind Leicester's success - you can tell from interviews that the entire club is well run, with a formidable team spirit nurtured alongside all the science, analysis and the rest. It started with Pearson and it's the same thing we're trying to do with lesser, but still impressive, success. Spurs are a little bit different - for years they've been far less than the sum of their expensive parts. Pochettino shifted the dead wood, recruited brilliantly and has crafted a fantastic team very quickly indeed. It was his appointment that changed things, and Levy takes some credit for starting and stewarding that relationship.

You felt Leicester were going to score as soon as Mahrez picked up the ball on the break. They're so efficient. I'd love to watch them play Barcelona next season.

What? If we didn't deserve that point, what was the fairest result? Everton were absolutely woeful.

Similar to the Leicester game - should have done much better. Two easy points dropped.

Love Rodriguez shooting there - nine times out of ten our other players would have pulled back and tried to find a pass.

Got to keep the intensity up. Need Clasie and Davis to deliver

Lovely link-up play there, but Everton seriously can't defend.

It's a must win to challenge for the top six. We deserve that if we become consistent.

Yes. Long isn't much use when you're pinning them to their penalty area. Not much space to run into but lots of chances to put balls into the box.

Davis will help us but I'm surprised it's Pelle off and not Long or Tadic. He's been one of our more dangerous players

You can just see Lukaku coming on and scoring here, can't you

That's a weak Everton team, with its entire spine taken out. We should win this, but have to be wary of a late charge with Lukaku and Barkley coming on.

Why would Martina leave? He's grown into the team over the season and ultimately done pretty well.

Do you really not notice when he's gone? If not, you will. This is an interesting message for Krueger to send: "That whole ‘you have to stay’ thing, that’s eventually not going to be in the language. We want it to be a crazy decision to leave here but we have to earn that." It's rarely going to be a crazy decision to leave Southampton for Manchester United or Arsenal. But perhaps Krueger is looking for whatever it is that helps Everton keep so many good players?

Those comments about Croatia have made me dislike him far more than anything he did with Saints. Can't help but smile watching tonight's goal though - that's football at its best.

They don't play like a team which lacks motivation or unity, just one that can't defend. That's what Martinez teams are like, it seems. I'm amazed there's not more talk about him being sacked. He deserves credit for maintaining such a strong squad but criticism for failing to make the most of it.

Yep, you might be right. You could probably find stats for that as well, though! (There's also a debate about whether that's a problem with his passing or decision making, though. Should defensive mids have to play long raking passes?)