Where are all you doubters now? All of those who wanted rid of Moyes and wanted shut of Fellaini. All those who said having injuries is no excuse. Well they have put Man City in their place and I hope they have put you doubters in your place.

That performance by Fellaini will have alerted the big boys ... like Chelsea and even Citeh for whom De Jong and Barry were ordinary. Will Moyes/Kenwright be tempted by a 25 million pound bid? Hope not — the lad is massive at the moment.

Magnificent is not too strong a word. The first 10 mins suggested they had pomp and purpose and might do us. And then we just, simply, took over.

I am more than delighted for Fellaini simply because I’m not surprised, and the threads of yore bear me out. I mean how good can this boy get?

And then to think that Arteta, Rodwell, Jags and even Anichebe are all close. Warms the heart.

And then my mind turns to the ineptitude of Aug, Sep & Oct. Almost unforgiveable, even allowing for the injuries. And more recently the misfortune of 9 dropped points against Liverpool, Birmingham, Sunderland & Arsenal. That bit perhaps can’t be helped, and those 9 pts would have us 3 pts off a CL place and with the wind in our sails.

You can’t legislate for bad luck, but you can for bad tactics, or team selection or lack of attention, and that characterised far too much of our form in the first half of the season. If we’d only rescued 6 pts from all the ones we threw away we’d be sitting dangerously on everyone’s shoulder.

It occurred to me after the Arsenal game that we should just go out and try to win every game between now & May. With a full team there is no-one to fear, especially this season. We’re mid-table and sod all to lose.

If Moyes and the players are of similar mind (and Moyes & Pip appear to be) then this could be a stonking second half to the season.

Alan I can't understand what you are talking about. It has been nothing to do with bad tactics that we had a bad start to the season, it’s all about our best players being injured and we have also had a lot of bad luck considering we have conceded the most goals in the league from deflections.

Was lucky enough to be at the game today. Fantastic performance. Pienaar and Fellaini were pretty much faultless. Showboating at the end as well was the icing on the cake. Watching City’s multimillion pound players chasing and trying to just get a touch of the ball! Priceless. I Don’t think the timing was great with the Neill fiasco but I’m glad it did not affect the performance.

I will say how good it was to see Everton dangerous and potent from both flanks. Having Donovan as an outlet down the right has really changed the way we play. Fantastic.

The proudest I have been at a game for years (if not the 95 cup final then probably the eighties). The performance for me outshone the result, Fellaini's double drag back gave me particular satisfaction as did the performance of Bilyaletdinov, another player who the troglodites have targetted.

Subject of the next poll though, who's next to be sold, Fellaini or Rodwell? Sorry chaps,hate to bring us down to earth!

When Moyes said Fellaini is the best player in his position a few weeks back, I thought he had Sven glasses on.

The last three or Four games he has shown he is a £30 mill player not a £15 mil. I was praying that the fee was 15 mill euros, but it was pounds. Now that seems a drop in the ocean.

What he did to Bellamy near the end was better than what Fernandes did to Fabregas.

He was WORLD CLASS today and will only get better.

As serious criticism of everton’s play and Moye’s tactics earlier in the season were fully justified so is the praise for how Everton are playing now and Moyes tactics and buys in getting them to play well. There is no conflict in that and no room for crowing either way. Exceptional displays in recent weeks but Pienaar, Rodwell, Fellaini and Saha are all transfer targets and Donovan is only on loan. A real shame as he seems to have been a catalyst for the Blues.

I guarantee Donovan won't want to leave us. He's at the best football club in the world with the best fans in the world with the best and most driven up-and-coming manager in the world.

He will get better tutelage here and also with how the fans were towards him (you were a credit) then he will never want to play for Galaxy with the Yank fans who don't understand the passion in football. (Don't mean to offend all Yanks but I think I do speak for the majority of Yank fans as they go to the game but no country is as passionate about football as England.)

I wonder if Donovan’s head will get turned, cos as a footballer where would rather play — MLS or GP, which is rockin, regardless of a Californian lifestyle. But for what I’ve seen of him I’d like to see him till the end of the season.

Pienaar £2.5 mill
Cahill £1.5 mill
Arteta £3 mill
Jags £4 mill
Heitinga £6 mill
Baines £6 mill
Neville £4mill
Saha FREE

Robinho £32.5 million...

END OF!

A comprehensive drubbing a week after heading down to Arsenal and beating them late into injury time. We cleaned Mancini’s clock for him. Play like that and we should fear no team. Play like that and we are quite seriously one of the strongest teams in the league.

I had been worried that Man City, having a very different style of play than Arsenal, might outpace us, but we got their measure early in the first half and then pissed all over them. Wish we would convert more of our chances!! Honestly this could have been 4-0.

Other folks have said it, but, for me, I was most pleased because the team played as a unit. For most of the first half, we looked like this beautiful machine.

I am missing Donovan already and I’m really happy Bily had a good game. When his blood is up, he is a really great player to watch.

Moyes needs to convince that team that they can challenge for the title next season and hold on to Felli, Saha, and Peanuts. I don’t think that is crazy talk.

Also pleased we kept a clean sheet. When do we play the Red Shite?

"I Don’t think the timing was great with the Neill fiasco but I’m glad it did not affect the performance."

James, what about that whole transaction seemed like a fiasco to you? To me, we lost a material mercenary and made £800,000 of profit towards some other gjem for Davey to unearth.

Fella is proving to be one of the best, and I don’t see us selling him or Rodwell at all. The club knows they’re unique assets,

Bily played well, as did Donovan. Like others have said, he’s not going to want to leave, and I think he’ll get a goal or two soon.

I wanna see Saha baggin’ braces.

Absolutely useless. When will we finish teams off. That should have been at least five. So typical of Moyes. Get rid of Moyes now and as for Felliani;- why the fuck can’t he score: useless.

Wink, Wink ; )

Do you think it is coincidence that our change in performaces have been since Pip came back? Not the greatest player, I think we will all agree, but his presence on the pitch seems to instill confidence in all. Just a thought.

Spot on post martin Mason.

Some of us simply speak the truth based on what we see and the very nature of football means that from month to month that can change drastically.

The problem is there are some people who follow David Moyes like a religion and any questioning of him is seen as treachery of the highest order!!

Fellaini and Moyes both did magnificently today and I’m sure we are ALL in agreement on that. The reason we all agree is simple; it’s because it’s a FACT!!!

The thing is, we are miles behind where we should be and Fellaini has now churned out half a dozen great displays... after 12 months.

That's all well and good going forward but Ian and the likes, as always, seem to think that a few good displays/results re-write history as well.

They don’t.

They give us hope for the future but they do not re-write history. If I miss a penalty today and score one tomorrow I cannot come and say, "See, I told you I’m a boss penalty taker"!!

You are as good as your performances and, as always, I will continue to comment honesty based on what actually happens as opposed to blind faith.

Right now though massive credit to everyone. The team and manager were brilliant to a man and Fellaini was simply outstanding.

Neil are you suggesting I follow David Moyes like a religion? Basically every time Moyes is questioned he comes up with the right answers time and time again. But people ask the same questions every season and he responds.

It's not that I see questioning of him as treachery, it’s just that some of the questions are really stupid, and the answers seem obvious to me and I don't understand why other people can't understand. Like why is it so hard to understand why we are ’’miles behind were we should be’’? The answer is simple... too many injuries to key players and youngsters like Rodwell and Gosling having to step up when they are not ready.

You might say why did he not bring somebody in then if he thought they were not ready, the answer is we can't afford to. Why has it taken Fellaini 12 months? Because he couldn’t speak English, he needed to adapt and settle, and get to know his team mates, he had back problems... he had a virus... he was played out of position because all the strikers were injured... and as Moyes said he was bought as potential and needed time to improve. But people on here wanted him to be Maradona because he was £15M.

I’m not saying Saha is great because he scored a penalty or Fellaini is great because he played great today, I am saying it because they have been great for some time, and even before Fellaini wasn’t great, it was very clear to me that he had bags of potential.

I wouldn’t class myself as a Fellaini doubter... I always thought he looked like he could be a good player. But I didn’t know he could do what he did today. He was exceptional, destroyer, ball player, attacking target. He’s getting older and he’s getting fitter/stronger. There’ll be a few managers looking at that performance and rubbing their chin like an evil mastermind.

Michael Kenrick. What’s happened to you of late? Could you have been more negative in the match report about a performance that was near perfect?

Everton with no money playing the super rich club, where is the money? You can't buy passion... In Moyes We Trust.

Ryan your ’material mercenary’ jibe is OTT. Lucas Neill has put in good shifts for us - particularly of late, and Bosnich and Robbie Slater made it pretty plain commentating on Fox Sports last night over here in Oz that the move to Galatasaray was not instigated by Lucas or his agent but, rather, was the product of Everton’s response to an enquiry from the Turkish club.

Just got in with all sorts of unusual endorphins in me system, not illegal ones mind, just ones that being an Evertonian I’m not used to lately. What a brilliant performance, it was like the old days when we were good. David Gallant and Dermot Ryan said it all for me, keep posting lads hic...

I think that selling Neill, all things considered, was another bit of great business. Neill was filling in at CB, where he did a good job for a few weeks.

However, with Distin returning, Yobo and Jags waiting in the wings and Johnny Heitinga making one of the CB positions his own, I think Moyes realised that Neill may be surplus to requirements — especially given the emergence of Seamus Coleman as a promising RB. With Pip and Hibbert also contesting that position, selling a high earner like Neill and getting a million pound profit after four months seems like great business to me.

As for the impact of Donovan and the return of Neville, yes — these are factors in our revival. But to single these two factors out does the performances of Fellaini, Pienaar, Cahill (yes, his form has turned the corner too even though he hasn’t bulged the net as regularly) and Heitinga a disservice.

The improvement has been due to a combination of all these factors, and it could even be argued that Moyes has become more bold and attacking now that he has more options.

All-in-all I too feel that we can now take on any team in this division and be reasonably optimistic about beating them.
COYB!!!

Regarding Donovan having his head turned and joining the Blues permanently.... won’t happen. The boy just signed a long-term contract with the Galaxy. This loan was a win-win as Donovan needs to stay sharp for SA 2010 and Everton could use him short term. Donovan has made a long term commitment to MLS and US Soccer. He’s not the type to break that commitment.

Frankly, I hope he does. He’s been stellar IMO. His corners are fantastic and his pace and play out wide has been excellent. But I don’t see him turning his back on US Soccer / MLS.

He’s the anti-Beckham. He’s in it to improve the exposure of the game here in the States. He’s a "marketing partner" as it were. If he left, I’d be stunned.But if he did, I’d be happy. It would be a great permanent signing for Everton.

Coming over here he had the US stigma. Don’t underestimate the Yanks... We actually have a very solid squad. Not up to snuff with your England team mind you, but one that includes two Blues. And one that potentially can cause a lot of damage come June.

At least that’s what we expect from Donovan, Dempsey, Altidore, Gooch, Howard and Co. over here.... Beware the Yanks, and COYB!

And really more to the point: WHAT A DAY! Fantastic!

Ian Tunstead, why you feel the need or justification to have a go at your so called doubters baffles me. I’ve not posted on here for a while but have kept up to date with the posts and comments and normally someone has said what I think by the time I’ve read through all the comments; however this time I’m near getting in early, so here goes.....

You would probably class me as a doubter, for arguments sake I won’t disagree, what I will say is that I say it as I see it.

For A LOT of the 8 years or so Moyes has been at Everton, I believe the following to be true:

1) The squad has improved incredibly
2) Results have improved significantly
3) The football on show however, for the vast majority of time, has been appaling, hoofball, % football, strikers running into corners to chase the ball, midfield bypassed, etc. I could go on
4) Too many players have been bought and then played out of position for months or even years, resulting in consistently bad performances, loss of confidence and form until eventually being put in their correct best position (Which was already known before we bought them) and then their performances improved. For evidence please see, Mikel Arteta, Phil Jagielka, Phil Neville, Yobo (He was played in Midfield for Christ sake) and now we have Fellaini.
5) Appaling use of substitutions
6) Negative tactics against inferior opposition AT GOODISON
7) No wins away against any of the Big 4 and no wins EVER against Chelsea, furthermore shocking and indeed embarrasing displays against these teams for the most part, look what the mighty Leeds did at United a couple of weeks ago.... do you think our Davey watched it?????

FYI, we still have lots of injuries, we don’t have our players back yet, nothing has really changed on that front, still injured are Arteta, Jagielka, Osman, Anichebe, Hibbert, Rodwell with Yobo and Yakubu away in Africa.

So why were we playing negative rubbish hoofball with the same players only a few weeks ago? How come we are now playing fabulous attacking, creative, flowing football where we haven’t for MOST of the last 5 years? Oh yes, all our players are back from injury...... NOT!!!

The difference is players are being played in their BEST positions AT LAST and someone has actually told them to play football NOT hoofball. Tony Marsh has been saying for ages that this Everton team should be better than they are and hoofball does nothing but play into the oppositions hands.

Neville in central midfield is a joke, he constantly gives the ball away, goes backwards or hoofs the ball into the corners, at right back he is actually pretty good, but then Mr Moyes prefers Hibbert doesn’t he, and Pip MUST play, so it is central midfield isn’t it, oh yeh that means we can’t have 2 defensive midfielders so Rodwell can’t play and Fellaini has to play up front! Give me strength!

So what happenned, Rodwell, Hibbert, Osman injured!!!!! Neville then goes to Right Back (He has to play of course ALWAYS because Moyes loves him so much, can’t play Seamus even though he is better going forward), Fellaini then can play in his PROPER position for the first time EVER in an Everton shirt, 2 genuine wingers in Donovan and Billy with Pienaar in central midfield (Who can actually pass a ball, be positive and tackle without giveing fouls away) and suddenly the SAME players are a different team.

And you say it is because all our players are back from injury and Moyes was always right....... Don’t make me laugh!

The injuries are still their, infact you could argue they are worse than EVER. Playing players in their correct positions isn’t the hardest thing in the world to do, but Davey certainly thinks it is.

Having said all that, thank God SOME Evertonians gave Moyes hell for the crap football being served up and questionning whether it was time for Moyes to go or not. These Evertonians (Yes, including Mr Marsh) might actually have give Moyes the kick up the arse (AGAIN, see Tottenham at home a couple of years ago) and woke him up.............

Then again, it could just be because of the injuries we had that Moyes was forced to play players in their correct positions at last, what is the truth?????? Who knows, but I don’t think Mr Moyes is the tactical genius you seem to believe he is, we’ll see when all our players are back fit, if Neville goes back into central midfield we will have our answer!!!!!

Absolutely brilliant today... finally got it ALL right. I thought everyone played well... Fellai being the outstanding one. I really like Johnny "little giant" Heitinga though... Well done lads... just wondered what the team had have been if Osman was fit???

Robbie, totally agree with everything you said, but thought the team are much better with Pip, he put in a great shift. Having to put up with players out of position constantly does my head in, never mind what the players must think. I just hope Moyes looks at how well we are playing now but can't honestly believe it has taken him so long to get there in the first place! More of the same please Mr Moyes!

Our displays recently have been leading up to this, I have posted lots of times saying as the injured players come back, we will get better and better.

I must admit though, I thought we would have to wait until Arteta was back until we could play like THAT. Now I’m thinking would Arteta get into that midfield? Quite simply on recent showings I can’t think of a better midfield in the country.

If you picked the requirements for a complete midfield you would want: two interchangeable wide men with a good touch, crossing ability and pace (alright, Bily's not fast but we have everything else there); a midfield enforcer with height, strength, touch and the sense to lay off the easy ball; a creative genius with workrate, finally a none stop pain in the arse who will disrupt our opponents from the front and pop up with the odd goal or two.

I hope that we can keep Fellaini and Pienaar (not just because I can now spell their names) because after that game they will be coveted by ALL the big RICH teams. At one time, not long ago, I thought only possibly Jags would get a game with the Sky 4... now I think that they would be first names on the team sheet for ALL of them; Fellaini for Madrid and Barca as well... yes, he was THAT good.

"Fella is proving to be one of the best, and I don’t see us selling him or Rodwell at all. The club knows they’re unique assets,"

Come on mate, just accept it. It’ll be easier to take when it happens ;)

Bit late coming to the party I know (out last night) so not sure where to add my comments but there seems to be some Moyes-bashing (yawn, enjoy the moment guys!) going on in the other thread so here will do...

Thought the boys were excellent without exception last night and delighted with both the performance and the result.
OK so City were shite but we played them off the park.
Fellaini was immense, Pienaar and Cahill good too and Donovan again brought a lot to the game. Also very impressed with Bily, just a shame he couldn’t have taken one of those chances.

One afterthought though — have to agree with those talking about playing people out of position — can’t understand why Fellaini has been played so far up the field for so long when we were all told he was bought as a defensive midfielder. Now we’re reaping the rewards of his proper position and form — but why only now? Bizarre.

Overall though, really enjoyed a great attacking display. Need to do that every week.

"One afterthought though — have to agree with those talking about playing people out of position — I can’t understand why Fellaini has been played so far up the field for so long when we were all told he was bought as a defensive midfielder."

Moyes actually addresses this question directly in his post-match interview. I’m not necessarily saying I agree with the logic of what he says but he does at least give an explanation. It's basically along the lines of Fellaini not being ready at first, due to age and even physicality (he calls him a ’young boy’ at least once), so Moyes played him further up to get him used to playing in the Premier League until he was ready to take on the role he was bought for.

Cue Moyes supporters saying this was a brilliant piece of man management of great young talent and Moyes bashers saying it was stupid etc etc. For once I can’t quite make my mind up as I can see some sense in what Moyes says, but I’ve found it frustrating watching Fellaini effectively being used as a long ball target man.

Either way, we’ve got to a stage we can be happy with now.

Mike, I have been saying the exact same reason before Moyes said anything, plus the fact that we had no strikers so it had to be done.

Robbie... where do I begin? The reason I feel the need to have a go is simple. People on this site want rid of Moyes and, from my experience in life, negativity can be contagious and this negativity would filter out and spread from readers of this site to Goodison Park and even National newspapers. The fans would make their feeling known to the players which potentially would result in the loss of David Moyes, who I have witnessed rebuild this great club that I love so much. I will not stand by and allow that to happen.

I will do my best to answer all your other pathetic criticisms of Moyes. Basically we all have our own opinion on football tactics and players etc. Just because you think something is the right decision doesn't mean 30,000 other supporters would agree with you or I.

Just because Moyes doesn’t always explain the reasons to his decisions doesn't mean that he makes the decision without good reason (we don’t always know what goes on behind the scenes); you have to give the benefit of the doubt.

I agree with your point 1 and 2 and even 3... although you must recognise the fact that for the first 2 or 3 years the team wasn't really his and was full of average aging players and so Moyes needed to get results however he could, which I think is understandable. In more recent times, when we have been poor is when our creative players have been injured.

Regarding your 4th point, what you must accept is that we have not always been blessed with a big squad or money to go and buy specialist players, so I think it is a clever move by Moyes to buy players who can cover 2 or 3 different positions.

I thought Mikel played great on the right, winning player of the season a couple of times from that position plus he was the only one in the team who could cross a ball to Tim Cahill's head, who was our main threat for some time, so I believe it was a good decision and suited the team at the time. (Type in on YouTube "Arteta" — I was surprised just how many clips and goals it shows of Arteta from the right crossing for Cahill to score.) He then had one poor season on the right when his crossing went terrible but he had to play through injury and had groin problems at the time.

Fellaini again is obvious: he was playing crap and we had no strikers so put him upfront and it turned out to be a good decision, him ending the season as top scorer. I also think Neville has played well wherever he has played for the majority of the time. Ok Jagielka didn’t work out but it was worth a try it was better that than leaving him on the bench because at the time there was no way Yobo and Lescott deserved to be dropped for him. There are good reasons for all his decisions but people on here seem to enjoy being petty and pulling him up over every decision.

I disagree with point 5. When he has had a proper bench to choose from in recent weeks his substitutions have won us games and played a part in setting up goals, eg Vaughan, Bily, Neville and Coleman. But unfortunately Moyes usually only has kids to pick from to change a game which is unlikely.

Point 6 I disagree with. If all his strikers are injured, he can't play attacking formations, simple.

Point 7 is true but they are top 4 teams for a reason they have the best managers, the best players, the biggest squads, with the most experience, the best stadiums, the most money... it’s hardly a level playing field, is it?

I will answer the rest a bit later...

Michael Upton, Citeh wasn’t shite; before Saturday they had only lost twice to Man U & Spurs and they’re paqcked with great footballers. Make no mistake they were’nt shite, we were brilliant and just made them look ordinary.

And a question for Jamie Crowley or any of our USA based Blues Brothers, has the club’s profile been raised with Donovan & Howard being blues? Because a friend who is based in the USA syas that it hasn’t made a jot of difference, if that’s the case, then our marketing department wants sacking en masse.

David, I’ve heard Everton mentioned more in the last week or so on Setanta and Fox Sports than I have in the last say 3 years cumulatively. So there’s exposure definitely. I do believe people are watching Donovan to see if he "can make it over there", hence watching Everton more.

But insofar as adding to the fan base.... I doubt it in any quantitive numbers. My country is full of glory hunters who latch onto ManU, Chelsea, and Liverpool.

But again, no question the profile of the Club has been raised over here and that can only be a good thing.