Just how bad is VDM if he can't get in this squad? This has been a bad weekend so far and all the results have gone redshites way.

It's now up to the team in the next 2 weeks to pick themselves back up. Cahill was the biggest miss today, he wouldn't have been bullied like the rest of the team were.

I have said many times that every season the toll of injuries, suspensions and fatigue drags our valiant squad down... just look at the stats!! If we do not get a REAL investor, we will struggle and that is apparent to every supporter who doesn?t wear blue-tinted glasses. The last few games have been won by sheer effort and, until we get investment, that's the best we can expect.

I realise the bench is full of kids but with injury time remaining why we don't throw an attacker on for the injured Jo i will never know. Baxter may not be ready but still more likely to score than Rodwell.

As for the overall shape of the team, if we begin next season with Osman in the starting line up we will not have moved on one bit. Never has a lightweight player done so little yet never got dropped or substituted during a game. A good pass or cross or shot is what I would expect from a so called creative player: he offers nothing and is blown off the ball too easily.

Do we really care about Europes 2nd competition next year?... it's a waste of time and resources, and could pull us into a relegation fight, the only benefit is a piss-up abroad for the fans.

We are nowhere near ready for the Champions League so we?re caught in limbo until we get investment. This year is as good as it's going to get for now. It would be fantastic if we could go further in the cup, but if the redshite win anything my summer will be totally ruined aka 2005!

We can all harp on about our small squad and lack of finances but we took the lead today and we should have been able to see the game out. Perhaps some of the team are believing their own hype.

We should now be scrapping for every point going, win ugly. Points are all that matter, I couldn?t give a shit if it?s by hoofing the ball and kicking the shit out of the opposition.

The Semi is looking promising. No Rooney or Scholes and the possibility of jet-lagged United players focusing on Premiership glory might work in our favour.

Losing today is definitely a blow but come the end of the season I think we could be smiling. COYB!

Do us a favour, David: get shut of this very poor player asap. He has been walking around the place feeling down because of this and that, my feeling is he knows he ain't up to Premier League standard, simple as.

Yes, we are having a better season than I thought we would have, but until we win every game and every competition, there's always room for improvement and on these pages we disucss that. Nothing satifies if not the best. 2-1 to relegation fodder is not good enough and some of us like to make this known here. Pipe down and write somet worth reading. Or save your energy typing anything at all.

5th place and winning the cup, and I?ll be in heaven. But we are Everton, and losing 6 points to Pompey is a disgrace.

There were two teams out there today and one of them was fighting for its life in front of its own fans. Sometimes teams in that position get the result. But for one mistake from the ref, we?d have come home with a point from a scrappy game without our best players and with a bench full of players who haven?t started shaving yet. Shit happens.

Another game where we do not have one shot on goal in the second half ? sorry, except for the ?shot? from Jo....

And don?t get me going with the subs and the timing. We are a goal down and a midfielder comes on. Just when I think Moyes has cracked, it we get a game like today. Bet hey this is Everton and after 50 years, nothing changers.

If the Everton Board of Directors hasn?t got the money to give to him then what is he expected to do? He can't bring in loads of quality players in for fuck all, can he? ? or keep getting rid of half decent players to make the funds up, aye can he now (Johnson)!!!

I just don't agree with some of your post at all, Jim. Yeh we lost today, only our second defeat in 19 is it, but we're still sat in 6th position looking pretty good for Europe if you ask me and thats a great achievement considering the start we had at the begining of the season and that we?ve had key player after key player get injured along the way.

We keep getting hurdles thrown in front of us but yet we keep on getting over ?em: the bad start to season, out of the Uefa Cup, out of the Carling Cup, the injuries one after another... but yet we still kick on and get results with a squad as thin as ours.

You should be proud of the teams and Moyes?s achievements this season, not slating ?em after one defeat. We need to get behind ?em more than ever now to push ?em on to finish off this good season were having, not get on their backs after one fucking defeat ? no matter how bad it was today!!!!!

We weren?t massively worse than them, we didn?t get battered, we did exactly the same as we have done most of the season and in truth for most of the last 3 years ? we played poor football, showing little or no creativity and imagination, and had a midfield that is generally ineffective (without Arteta).

If coming 6th is your expectation then we are different, I want more but am honest enough to realise (perhaps its my age having watched footie for 40+ years), that you will never ever win anything on a sustained level without the basic ability to play football i.e. control and pass the ball on the deck.

Is that in Moyes?s makeup? Is that the way he sets out teams to play? We may not have the massive money of the 3 of the Sky 4 but what do Arsenal do? They preach football, they groom youngsters to do that, they only select players who can pass and they do it without massive injections of cash.

Wenger and his coaching staff look for footballers first and foremost ? that?s the model I want ? those are my expectations. Why were we called the school of Science? precisely because of those principles ? now we?re ?Bog Standard Secondary School? in Average Row managed by Mr NoImagination.

All those Moyes slaters, I ask you ? how would Liverpool cope without Gerrard, Torres and Carragher? Arsenal without van Persie, Fabregas and Adebayor? Chelsea without Lampard, Terry and Drogba? Villa without Young, Agbongalor and Barry? The answer is they would ALL struggle. Only Man U have a squad to deal with such injuries to key players.

Personally I don't agree with the team Moyes picked yesterday but I believe he is by far the best manager we could possibly have and I personally would not want anyone else to manage our team. Everyone is entitled to their opinions I agree but I just don't understand the lack of appreciation of Moyes from certain people. He has a net spend of something like £24m over seven years and we are generally regarded as one of the ?best of the rest? outside the sky 4. In my opinion he is as close to a miracle worker as you could have.

• James ? England goalie
• Campbell, Distin, Johnson, Hreidarsson ? experienced defence.
• Sean Davis and Kranjcar in midfield ? both players who have interested us.
• Crouch, who on his day can be dangerous, yesterday, had one of those games.
• Nugent has a massive point to prove and ran his legs off.

Give the boys a bit of slack. It was one game too many before the international break. And as said above, at least Cahill may stay at home and recover fully, rather than travelling half way around the world.

Also, we have a semi at Wembley looming and anyone who has played any level of footie, knows that you can try and switch off but that tackle you would normally go into 100%, only gets 90%. No-one wants to get injued now, especially those who have slogged their way through this far.

4th was only ever an outside chance after our start. Arsenal have all their players returning and the weather(!) and are starting to play their quick passing game again.

Having a full team available (with what we have left), for the semi, has to be our priority, along with finishing 6th, minimum. (It would be great to finish above Villa though.)

And before anyone says that lacks ambition, it does not. It is being realistic at this stage of the season, with the injuries we have. Moyes and this team need to win a trophy to move on to the next level. It will make them stronger mentality but also instill the belief that they are a good team, capable of winning trophies.

We need to forget this one now and not get bogged down in negativity. We have bigger fish to fry, just around the corner.
COYB

Pienaar runs a lot but his finished product is slipshod and he really can?t score. Osman has had his moments but not many and he is a DM pet so will always be picked unless he is injured. Fellaini was a costly buy but so far a rough diamond which isn?t helping but will keep his place because of the fee.

Sure it may be better to play the youngsters and why not? Could they do any worse? No... but it?s DM?s call and we have to live with that for the time being until someone buys the club and gives the money to compete in the big market. Despite this, Everton have done well and ? as I said two weeks ago ? we will stumble occasionally just like yesterday until we can eradicate the weak links.