Not for at least another five years, according to Doddy. Enjoy!

One can only hope that the story about the 'average one' getting a new contract is the usual tabloid madness. Of the all crap decisions that Kenwright has made and god knows there have been many, this one would be the worst of all. It smacks of Kevin Campbell's last contract when we offered a king's ransom to a player clearly past his best.

As the wheels now show every sign of comming off ? how many managers drop the clubs record signing after 3 games ? Kenwright wants to sign away many millions of pounds for the compensation package that will follow Moyes sacking ? absolute stark staring madness. It's almost as if Kenwright wants to bankrupt the club.

The Villa result was as inevitable as night following day with the club now set for a long tailspin of poor results. It's hard to get worked up by this as Moyes appears to have carte blanche to do as he pleases and never mind the fact that the results are poor and the football is total shite.

At the Boro game I think it is time people vented their feelings and hopefully this will shock Kenwright back into some sort of reality.

I bet Sheff Wed can't wait for the Carling Cup game - a real chance to build up their shattered confidence by playing against a team with a style of football taken straight from the Conference

God help us!

Having watched us today, I can think off only one effort on target, AJ's freekick. This is not good enougth for a team apparently hoping to qualify for Europe. We have spent around 19 million for two strikers, yet do not play to their strengths, what is the point? I will not jump on the bandwagon of criticising Hibbert as no-one else seems to want the ball. We are shite and will be lucky to finish top ten.

What a disappointment at Villa today. UEFA hangover isn’t an acceptable excuse for the poor performance which lacked spark and heart. As many others have posted, the midfield remains our principal problem area, but, sadly, not the only problem. Using Phil Neville as the playmaker is an unmitigated joke. He tries hard and doesn’t hide but he lacks any semblance of creativity. The number of times the back 4 passed to him as they brought the ball out of defence defied logic, given that he hardly played a forward pass all game. For the same reason, Jags isn’t a midfield player either. Ossie doesn’t have the pace or the strength to trouble Premier defenders consistently. Pienaar, I thought, did OK. Small and slight though he is, he never gave up and has plenty of skill. Sadly, the players who should have been supporting him directly didn’t match his vision. Tony Hibbert takes a lot of stick and whilst he is a capable defender (some of this tackling today was excellent and the supposed in-form Ashley Young delivered very little from their left flank) he is a liability going forward. How many times when there were acres of space in front of him to move into did he look up and chip an aimless ball down the line for AJ to try to retrieve? How many times did he remain rooted in a defensive position instead of bombing on beyond the midfield player with the ball? No wonder Pienaar had a go at him on one occasion when, had he overlapped, we would have had a real opportunity on the right side of their box. Leighton Baines was very impressive, both in terms of ability and commitment. He is a really good buy but he must be wondering why he left Wigan on today’s team showing. And why hasn’t he been given more opportunity with free-kicks? AJ hitting one from outside the box....with respect to AJ, what’s that about??

And then there is the issue of substitutions. At 2-0 down, the thousands of blues at Villa Park would, I’m sure, have welcomed a bold move to throw on an extra striker or two to try to nick something in the last 20 minutes. If we’d have lost 3-0 or worse, I think that there would have been some forgiveness if they had made a real fist of it towards the end. Instead, Moyesie puts on 2 fresh strikers.......and takes off AJ and Big Vic. Where is the logic in that? It wasn’t as if we had played well and kept a solid shape. Far from it. There were several occasions in the 2nd half when the four midfield players were within about 10 yards of each other. There was little shape and seemingly little understanding of their respective roles. McF and Yak did next to nothing. Sorry James but your wonder goals just aren’t enough. And Yak? Well, I know it’s very early days but I have yet to see anything that excites me or gives me hope that he will terrorise defences for the next few years. I really hope I’m proved wrong. At least if AJ had still been on, some added pressure would have been exerted on their back four which might have created space etc etc...... We’ll never know.

We can only hope that Arteta gets back very soon and that he isn’t ’sulking’ as some are suggesting. We have to hope that Tommy G makes a swift and constructive return (and not his ’twin brother’ whose inconsistencies we saw much too often in his first spell). And we need to see a fit and firing TC as soon as possible too. And somehow, for God’s sake, Moyes has get it into his head and on to the training ground and then to instil in his players that they must keep the ball on the floor. AJ and Yak will thrive with the right service which, as everyone who watches the Blues knows, requires the ball to be played through on the deck and around lumbering centre-halves like Zat Knight and Hyppia.


The last week has been depressing but I remain optimistic that the very early season highs can return soon. Let’s start with an attacking performance at Sheff Wed followed by 3 points against Middlesbrough. Perhaps Yak will be up for that one. But let’s all try to keep the faith.

I cant get my head around Moyes decision to drop Yakubu after just three games and correct me if Im wrong but he has actually scored for us hasnt he?. Ok he was poor on thursday but a striker can only be as good as the service he gets and right now at Everton that is non existent..We are looking a very avearge side, not even as good as last season to be frank and its starting to make me wonder if we are going to see the classic E.F.C yoyo of one good season followed by a bad one again..Everton have to improve because the next three games are crucial..We could be out of two cup competitions and in the bottom half of the league in the first week of October if we are not careful

Ray, i think moyes chose johnson ahead of yakubu because of johnsons work rate and lets be honest it does’nt matter who plays up front at the moment because we are not creating anything, we badly miss arteta, gravesen and cahill.

Also da silvas back from his loan spell and has by all accounts done well and some barnsley fans have been saying his passing is excellent but his shooting is’nt upto much, so in that case if he can pass the ball then he must be a starter until the three players i mentioned are fully fit.

Ray,don’t worry mate.Remember Moyes is still young and learning the game,afterall he has only been here just over 5yrs and thats not long enough to get a team playing football.I think he needs at least another 5yrs to get us actually passing the ball to feet.Don’t forget the man is a genius.And don’t worry about the defeat today.We were playing Villa who are a good side, and have spent more money than us,so that makes it okay.

I’m worried the real hurting is about to begin. One can only prey that talk of a contract extension for Moyes is tabloid speculation. What truly worries me is his after-match comments, these were even more alarming than his team selection. Osman’s performance today was diabolical I lost count of the number of times he through his arms in the air when challenged by the opposition. He showed no belief or conviction and was an embarrassment to the shirt. Pinnear may be of a slight build also but all credit to the lad he was prepared to have a go. Our captains only meaningful contribution was to diffuse a bust up between the Villa players. I find Moyes assertion that the game was lost in each of the boxes staggering in its inaccuracy. The truth is the game was lost in the middle of the park. We were quite frankly overrun - the result - our defence was often on the back foot and the forwards got little or no service. Indeed the first goal conceded stemmed from Neville needlessly giving the ball away. The truth is Neville can play at full back but when deployed in the middle can’t seem to tackle, can’t pass and lacks vision. He looked totally lost at times in the middle of the park. Hardly a source of inspiration to anyone. It is perhaps this aspect that is the most alarming of all - the fact that the manager is totally oblivious to the real problems. Regrettably if he can’t see where the problems lie how on earth is he going to put things right. I like others, actually believe Moyes has put together a decent squad at considerable cost but unfortunately he appears unable to recognise the strengths and weakness of the team. If he continues to select Osman or Neville to play in midfield after todays performance I’m afraid the future will be very bleak indeed.

Santosh, my heart bleeds for you. The fickle finger of fate has decreed you will be an Evertonian for ever and there is bugger all you can do about it.

Santosh mate I’m sorry to have to tell you but part of being a Evertonian is the hurt that they cause you Ive followed the blues for many years and just when you start to think its going to get better they let you down 1970 I thought we will dominate the 70s wrong then in the 80s I thought who can stop us easy Kendall left so buckle up for a rocky ride all I can say is I never want to stop.

From the evidence to date it appears that David Moyes has the ability to operate within a strict and punitive transfer budget; however, when the Club's transfer policy is relaxed, he adopts the mentality of a kid with ADHD in a sweet shop.

The over-indulgent spree on Yakubu at the expense of bolstering the midfield with the required creativity undoubtedly needed has resulted in the over-reliance on the likes of Osman, Neville, Carsley and Peinnar who cannot cut it in the cut and thrust of the Premier League.

It would appear that the chickens have come home to roost and we are now being subject to the chasmic highs and lows that each succesive season seems to bring under Moyes... What is the future of Everton under his tenure? Surely we have experienced for too long this gut-wrenching inability to maintain progress.

The one thing we didnt bother to do in the summer was to rectify our wide midfield positions, ok he brought Pienaar in on loan but I dont think Moyes had the intentions of making him a regular or a blue eyed blue such are the mega frustratingly bad Osman,Neville and Hibbert..Those guys are practically undroppable. For as long as I can remember the wide areas have been one of the biggest problems in our team and that I would say right throughout Moyes tenure in charge..We have tried and failed with so many players but maybe thats another suggestion that we dont play good enough passing football..Wingers will never prosper the way we set up our stall. My biggest concern now is that this is most definetly Moyes team and they are all his signings and playing the football he wants..The Walter Smith era is a long distant memory and while Moyes has improved our overall league positions Im going to make the statement that he takes clueless football to a new level..Watching the Villa game I could see that I could sit around until after midnight yet we still wouldnt have scored,same against Kharkiv. If we get knocked out of the cup at Hillsborough then the season really will be in a state of depression..I personally think that will only ever be Moyes chance of silverwear so I just hope we get our bloody finger out and do something..One good season one bad season anyone?

Santosh my friend.
Take comfort in the fact that we are all hurting with you (doddy excluded).
Being a blue is a rollercoaster, this club will bring out in you every emotion known to man.
It just keeps kicking you in the bollcks.
NSNO

....but each kick gets harder and the pain cuts a lot deeper each time.

Definitely need balls of steel to support this club Nelly

Thanks Dave,Dick,Roy and other guys for all your great comments.
Its clear from the replies that even my 20 years as a fan is not enough to have experienced all that our club is about...its not that im not used to the kicks in the bollocks from our club..its just that i assumed the kicks would be less this year...
All i ask for is passion and committment from the lads on the pitch...after that i dont mind a thrashing.....
Glad to have you others as fans with me to help deal with the hurt....

Lets look at the positives:
1. Everton are in the top half of the table.
2. Atreta, Howard and Gravesen should all be back next weekend.
3. Cahill and Vaughan will be back soon.
4. Chelsea didn’t take any points from Villa, and Liverpool only took a point becasue Steven Gerrard dived late on.
5. We didn’t play well last Thursday but we were still a better side than FC Metalist Kh.

It really isn’t that bad.

My opinion that Evertonians are even more fickle than Newcastle fans, more especially the School of Science cult which gathers under this banner,is well and truly amplified through some of the comments here.
Totally away with the fairies !

7 games played...long injury list...players off form...3 of last season’s top 7 played in the first 7 games.

Who in management could play a better hand right now with the cards he’s dealt ?

Yer all mad !

Stark ravin Sheedy.
Otherwise i’d have chucked it years ago.
Where’s me pills !