Everton v Sunderland. Boxing Day @ 15.00.

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Still reckon we have enough but we'll have to be quick out of the blocks and firing on all cylinders. If Osman starts then it could be game over from the beginning. Feel free to vault me on this if he plays a blinder like. I just think Martinez realised today how much better we were without him, even down to 10. Should be used as a last 15 sub only imo, and i've been a big Osman fan over the years. Just hasn't got the legs to be in our midfield now. Slows the whole play down.

I think we'll hopefully see a move for a Centre mid pretty early on - probably on loan or a cheap deal. We need it though. *Prays for Casemiro*

of course he will start he's like a bad ****ing smell, add to that Barry, Howard and possibly mirallas out alongside clattenburg being ref I cant see anything than a draw at best. If Kev is fit I would play:

Robles

Coleman Jagielka Distin Baines

Barkley McCarthy

Pienaar Mirallas Oviedo

Lukaku
 
We're looking much better thank you fella, just struggling to score goals but we're right in with a chance of staying up.

Good to see you challenging for the top 4 btw.

Actually think you might sneak out of it. You're defence is looking solid and i'm pretty sure Poyet's only game-plan today was soak up the pressure and maybe nick a goal. It made it a lot easier with us only having 10 like but it was a sending off all day long so no complaints, just disappointed as if we're gonna be challenging we really should be putting teams like Sunderland to bed early on.

We need a good transfer window or it's gonna be the same old story, with a lot of rebuilding to do in the summer...
 
of course he will start he's like a bad ****ing smell, add to that Barry, Howard and possibly mirallas out alongside clattenburg being ref I cant see anything than a draw at best. If Kev is fit I would play:

Robles

Coleman Jagielka Distin Baines

Barkley McCarthy

Pienaar Mirallas Oviedo

Lukaku

That would be my team mate, maybe push Kev wide right and Pienaar central, drifting left to link up with Baines/Oviedo and allowing Barkley to push up when attacking and then covering centrally when defending.
 
Still by miles hte better team with 10 men.

Absolute stupidity from Osman and Howard, but Osman shouldn't have even been on the pitch. Barkley needs to stop shooting from everywhere, you've scored twice from outside the box this season, only one from open play, you're not Roberto Carlos.
 
Still by miles hte better team with 10 men.

Absolute stupidity from Osman and Howard, but Osman shouldn't have even been on the pitch. Barkley needs to stop shooting from everywhere, you've scored twice from outside the box this season, only one from open play, you're not Roberto Carlos.

He had 5 shots from open play. 3 were on target and one caused the keeper real problems. The 6th shot was the free kick. When a player has that talent, why not? All it takes is a fumble from the keeper or a lucky rebound and it's a goal. We nearly scored from a rebound from one of his shots today. Only disappointment for me from him today was the lack of a driving run, but Sunderland had 10 men behind the ball and four of them pretty much marking Barkley every time he got the ball.

*correction 2 on target - he had a shot which just skimmed past the post
 
I found that we struggled to create an opening in the final third. Sunderland defended well and you have to give them credit. On numerous occasions Barkley had the ball, he had no other option but to go for the shot as we didn't give him anything to play the ball into. Lukaku had to come wide for the ball because he wasn't getting it in the centre. It's harder with 10 men and the lads were completely shell shocked by Howard's dismissal. This game would show them something and it will bring out some performances over the next few weeks. We've been playing average for the last few games, but we managed to score in the others. This is our "bad patch" of the season and we should turn it around on Sunday
 
He had 5 shots from open play. 3 were on target and one caused the keeper real problems. The 6th shot was the free kick. When a player has that talent, why not? All it takes is a fumble from the keeper or a lucky rebound and it's a goal. We nearly scored from a rebound from one of his shots today. Only disappointment for me from him today was the lack of a driving run, but Sunderland had 10 men behind the ball and four of them pretty much marking Barkley every time he got the ball.

*correction 2 on target - he had a shot which just skimmed past the post

8 shots from outside the box; http://espnfc.com/en/gamecast/367324/gamecast.html?soccernet=true&cc=null

I'm all for having a pop every now and then but the whole ground was getting a bit fed up of him shooting from too far out. Especially when there are passes on. His first instinct from that distance is to shoot, not to pass. Otherway round IMO, look to see whats about and then decide whether to have a go.
 
Still by miles hte better team with 10 men.

Absolute stupidity from Osman and Howard, but Osman shouldn't have even been on the pitch. Barkley needs to stop shooting from everywhere, you've scored twice from outside the box this season, only one from open play, you're not Roberto Carlos.

Roberto Carlos who, incidentally, blasted most of his shots miles over the bar anyway.
 
Argh utterly frustrating. A football manager type match. Must win on Sunday now to keep in touch. But what a fantastic opportunity to overtake that lot missed. I'm going to take Lukaku out of my fantasy team, since he's been in he's not scored.
 
Argh utterly frustrating. A football manager type match. Must win on Sunday now to keep in touch. But what a fantastic opportunity to overtake that lot missed. I'm going to take Lukaku out of my fantasy team, since he's been in he's not scored.

hahahaha this!
 
No excuses losing this one. Can't get beat by bottom of the league and claim CL aspirations. 10 men or not

Erm..

awb284.jpg


Somebody better tell City they're not getting CL this year.
 
Grim. Is it all that bad though? Someone tell me it's gunna be fine please.

We'll snot Southampton and the sh*te will lose to Chelsea? Come on?
 
For me, it's not a penalty, it's a blatant dive, but when you commit, it's going to be a penalty, Sadly for us, it meant Howard was replaced, fortunately for us, Martinez clearly hasn't knocked the confidence of young Joel, and one small blip, was followed, by a few excellent saves, however easy they come.

Sadly, today wasn't our day, and you feel that after we rode our luck against Fulham, we'd be outdone by some team at some point. But i thoroughly expected Southampton to be the test, not Sunderland, so credit where credit is due, they looked dangerous at times Sunderland, and once they scored, sat back and made it very tricky for us to play, which was very frustrating. Their defence/midfield set up excellently, and as a resuly we couldn't break through, credit to their goalie who made 4-5 excellent saves, and you did have to question if it was going to be our day, and it wasn't.

Question is, why isn't Barkley starting? For me, the cup should take a back seat this season, and this was the game Martinez should have been resting Ross in. One of the few mistakes Martinez made. That said McCarthy and Barry had their worst games for us today, nothing against us, it was just one of those days, especially with a ref like Probert, who is so fixated on being a 'top' refereee who never misses anything he stops the game every 5 seconds for a foul.

As for the Red Card Incident... Howard should have seen the man, but that said, Osman should know his surroundings, and well if there's a man there, boot it into touch.

Sunday is crucial now, and like last week, when everyone won, and we have to respond, we didn't this week. We could have done with Southampton getting a good battering today, a 3-0 was a disaster.

Now we have to get behind the lads, like mad on Sunday, because they'll need the vocal effort.
 
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Gutted still. That was a shocking lack of leadership and poor focus in a banker fixture.

Worst of it is that the suspensions are in key areas and one of them lets in Osman for another start.

I really do fear a poor result v S'ton will see us struggling with momentum lost and two teams close behind ready to overtake.

From talk of going top after this run of games, we could actually end up slipping to 7th quite easily.

Sunday is the biggest game we've faced this season in many ways. Win it and get back on track; lose or draw and it's a psychological blow we'll struggle to overcome in the next few weeks.
 
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