Chelsea v Everton. 11th Feb at 19.45.

[flibbyflob]

Shock News: Mourinho didn't think Ivanovic used his head

Should get done for that later.

Bobby wrong saying Barry shouldn't have been sent off though.

 

[deipnosophist]

Eight or ninth would be difficult but possibly achievable, being eleven and seven points behind respectively. Tenth to twelfth is a fair prediction.

Personally, the whole we will win the 'Europa League' is a pipe dream. There are far too many good teams compared to our current state.

Right now I would purely take survival and some signs that this season is merely a blip, rather than more deep rooted problems.

I think we have a very good chance. We dismantled Wolfsburg and I can see us doing similar to any other continental team. It is Liverpool and Spurs who will cause us problems so I'm hoping we avoid them (until the final at least).

To be honest though, I am just relieved we have put relegation fears behind us

 

[stamullenblue]

We didn't play well though, and while Chelsea are a very good team they we're playing badly and without imagination. We defended well, agreed, but with the honourable exceptions of 3 of our back 4 (Coleman was awful on the ball) we made mistake after mistake. Those 5 seconds near the end during which 3 different players sliced their attempted clearances epitomised just how dreadful we are on the ball.

Tough place to go and we were in it right to the end ... Much better and something to build on are my thoughts !!

 

[Blue Cheese]

ask him for lottery numbers

 

[Del]

The type of performance that desperate relegation threatened teams put in. Make no mistake the manager and team are in fear right now, they realise we are in a relegation scrap and hope to grind out a few results. Villa will get a new manager and will pull clear of the drop. You never know the same might be true of qpr. If we accept that palace and west Brom are safe that leaves burnley Leicester hull and sunderland as our only rivals for the drop. Leicester are probably gone but what if they sack Pearson and the new man galvanises them. Burnley hull and sunderland are all capable of stringing a few results together. We are in deep deep trouble and could go down as I can't believe the players believe in this kind of anti football.

We have one defeat in our last 5 games and have played City/Liverpool and Chelsea

Villa have lost 5 of there last 5

QPR have lost 3 of the last 5

Burnley lost 4 of the last 5

Leicester 4 out of the last 5

Sunderland 3 defeats

Hull 3

We are slowly getting a bit of form back, We are defending well and look like a team, Those other sides are bouncing from one defeat to the next

 

[marty mcfly]

There was three times when the defence expected Howard to come for the cross and each time Stones or Jags bollocked him.
Its because they built up a trust in Joel coming for them through thick and thin.

Thats unacceptable and the very reason why he shouldn't have played.

Too scared to come and claim the ball for the goal.
Fact if Joel plays he claims that all day long and the goal doesnt go in.

Fuming tonight with Martinez in particular for bringing him back in.

He's too small. He looks like a midget compared to Joel in goals.

 

[The Esk]

We have one defeat in our last 5 games and have played City/Liverpool and Chelsea

Villa have lost 5 of there last 5

QPR have lost 3 of the last 5

Burnley lost 4 of the last 5

Leicester 4 out of the last 5

Sunderland 3 defeats

Hull 3

We are slowly getting a bit of form back, We are defending well and look like a team, Those other sides are bouncing from one defeat to the next

A crazy season @Del and @davek our two beacons of light shining through the gloom

Agree totally with you though Del

 

[Titus Bramble]

We have one defeat in our last 5 games and have played City/Liverpool and Chelsea

Villa have lost 5 of there last 5

QPR have lost 3 of the last 5

Burnley lost 4 of the last 5

Leicester 4 out of the last 5

Sunderland 3 defeats

Hull 3

We are slowly getting a bit of form back, We are defending well and look like a team, Those other sides are bouncing from one defeat to the next

Can you stop talking sense please. It's really out of keeping with the rest of this thread,

 

[JP McMurphy]

Naismith can't pass to a team mate, Howard is trying his hardest to look spectacular with his one handers, and Barry is just useless. Lennon is no better than McGeady or Atsu, so without those in the side, we'd be looking at climbing the table and possibly progressing in the EL. If Martinez can't see the weaknesses in the side, he doesn't deserve to be the Everton manager.
As for tonight's game, I thought the rest played well and the result must have been choking

 

[flibbyflob]

We have one defeat in our last 5 games and have played City/Liverpool and Chelsea

Villa have lost 5 of there last 5

QPR have lost 3 of the last 5

Burnley lost 4 of the last 5

Leicester 4 out of the last 5

Sunderland 3 defeats

Hull 3

We are slowly getting a bit of form back, We are defending well and look like a team, Those other sides are bouncing from one defeat to the next

Not just the results, our performance as a team is chalk and cheese now to what it was a month ago. Guess we need to get a couple of wins to relax everyone though.

 

[Del]

Can you stop talking sense please. It's really out of keeping with the rest of this thread,

Sorry

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[deipnosophist]

@Del and I occasionally have disagreements, but I am backing him 100% in staving off 'we're going to be relegated' calls. Never going to happen

 

[Fansince1988]

I'm not worried about relegation at all as our form has improved enough to get the points needed.But in the long run I am concerned about Martinez as some thing he does I cannot understand,getting Besic off was fine because of his yellow card,but why didn't he put Gibson on for Barry.He doesn't seem to ever want to bring off Barry,Naismith or Lukaku,Kone should have 15/20mins at the end if Lukaku isn't doing the business.

 

[marty mcfly]

People slating Rom, I personally thought he ran them ragged just didn't have any support.

Ross has been 'Englished' his natural talent and his gift of running at defenders has been coached out of him, it is an absolute disgrace!

He looks like a completely different player this year. He looks slow.

 

[dannyboy]

I think we have a very good chance. We dismantled Wolfsburg and I can see us doing similar to any other continental team. It is Liverpool and Spurs who will cause us problems so I'm hoping we avoid them (until the final at least).

To be honest though, I am just relieved we have put relegation fears behind us

Really? We're not playing very well and we still have in my opinion a very weak squad mentally. The draw is littered with teams who will definitely go in as favourites against us.