Everton v Sunderland. Boxing Day @ 15.00.

[allen]

Remind me when Ross is sposed to get a rest again?

He's had his 45 minutes. Getting running, lad.

 

[michaelgt5]

massive 2nd half for us coming up, we simply have to get a goal and get the crowd behind us.

Lukaku has to do more, his touch has been off and hes dropping deep far to often, maybe bringing barkley on will kick start us and liven things up.

 

[wiggum23]

Oh pipe down, Lord Hindsight.

Not really, rotating the squad is fine if you have a comparable player to do it, if not, play your best team and make early subs when winning.

 

[Zorse]

Hopefully the players will be more pissed off than the fans so will want to try and win.

 

[AussieToffee]

well didn't see that coming.

first instinct is to revert back to being negative but I won't because this team will find a way to get something from this.

at worst a draw.

Our unbeaten run won't end like this, not like this.

 

[Hellerad]

Knee off
Jerk on

If you can't rotate the squad at home against Sunderland, you have 0 business chasing CL footy. Wind it in and spit out the bleach. Osman made the mistake, not RM.

 

[davek]

Really? Small squad, no more cm back up, big game in 3 days against a close rival and playing the worst team in league at home. Not a bad decision to rest a key player IMO, couldn't predict the turn of events.

He could have rested him at HT after getting this under control.

There's no excuses. I think the fellers the bees knees like everyone else, but he ****ed up big time here with that clueless decision to play Osman from the off.

 

[Big Doug]

1. Barkley is a booking away from a suspension.
2. We need to keep his feet on the ground and he's had some rave reviews this week.
3. If Osman was enough to defeat Sunderland then we'd be saving Barkley, if not we have Ross as a game-changing option from the bench.
4. We're trying to rotate the squad to keep competition for places and performance levels high.

Sorry mate thats bollocks, do Liverpool drop suarez to keep his feet on the ground?
You play your best players as they are getting raving reviews for a reason!

 

[Darth Toffeeman]

Worst 45 minutes since the FA Cup debacle against Wigan. Horror show. See what Martinez is made of now as we need a complete change in attitude this 2nd half.

 

[dublinbluenose]

Strangely confident that we can turn this around, they havent showed much despite the scoreline and numerical advantage. We will get chances, just have to be clinical.

 

[stevo27]

3 games in 6 days, that's why Osman started

 

[deipnosophist]

This is going to be a backs to the wall defining game for us. 45 minutes to score twice and keep them out. I retain optimism

 

[banno]

Why did Bob start Osman? Barkley should start all day fckn long. Crazy.

Its all with Hindsight mate. Don't think RM expected Osman to mess up like that and Ross does need to odd rest to keep it at peak in what are supposed to be harder games.

 

[paulbefc]

That's it for Osman like. He's quite possible single-handedly put a huge dent in our season. It's a shame he gets a chance to make amends against Southampton. He doesn't deserve it. It was an accident, but it was lazy and utterly unforgivable.

As far is Martinez is concerned, you can't really expect Osman to do that, but this game was big and we're now really looking like we're going to lose, due to his decision.

 

[Sona]

1. Barkley is a booking away from a suspension.
2. We need to keep his feet on the ground and he's had some rave reviews this week.
3. If Osman was enough to defeat Sunderland then we'd be saving Barkley, if not we have Ross as a game-changing option from the bench.
4. We're trying to rotate the squad to keep competition for places and performance levels high.

Agree with this. No one was complaining when he rotated and rested for the Stoke game because we won.