Agreed. Gibson is the glue.

Not sure the Barcelona hyperbole is warranted after two games though..but too many players had an indifferent match today.

I also think that Naismith has yet to sparkle.

Hopefully Ofoe will fill Gibson's shoes while he is out because our midfield was awful today.

I think we look suspect, and teams like WBA have identified this by attacking against our right back (Hibbert/Neville) once we lose the ball and they counter with fast players on that side.

I think Coleman should switch to right back as he is young and pacey and might be short term alternative until we buy a decent right back who looks the part as Hibbert and Neville are past their sell-by date in my opinion.

I agree Sam. You really don't notice Gibson until you notice that you don't notice him(fuck me time for bed I think)

I was not a fan of Gibson when he first came but he gets better every time he plays for us. I hope he is ok and back for the Newcastle game.

Paul - I agree Coleman's contribution down the right is an important attacking option if we're to maximise the Fellaini and Jelavic partnership

I felt much the same as you as the game progressed Sam, until the introduction of Odemwingie and then I knew we were going to lose the game as were were playing just like the Everton of old.

Some people have tried to defend a poor tactical decision by suggesting Phil Neville for Darron Gibson was a like for like substitution. In which universe?

Gibson is the sort of player who can have multiple partnerships but that doesn't mean you can then perm any two from those other players and produce a decent midfield partnership.

I have never been a fan of Tony Hibbert yet I understand why some fans like him, as he does give his all and make good tackles from time to time; however, I feel he lacks quality on the ball and is regularly exposed by teams that attack our right side knowing full well that he is Everton's weak link.

The position should have been filled by now by a new signing or we should allow Seamus to make that that position his own.

David Moyes is always raving on about how good Hibbert is and I can see him getting a lot of games under Moyes regardless of the fact that, as far as I am concerned, he is simply not good enough and has never been.

It was the Hibbo / Nev combo that really frustrated me. It was like that side of the pitch was covered in treacle when the had the chance to attack and defend. Really made me realise that both shouldn't be on the pitch at the same time if at all possible. And I'm not one to have a go at either of them usually. But with the quality elsewhere, they are really getting shown up.

I agree with everything that has been said about the importance of Gibson. What worried me yesterday was that we clearly need to find a plan B. I think we can only play 4-5-1. I am not sure how Mirellas will fit into this unless he can play right wing. Or could he play in the hole if Fellaini drops back? Yesterday was no disgrace but Moyes does need to find different systems.

Agreed. Gibson is vital cog in a smooth running Everton machine. I have said in recent weeks that central midfield is the are we are short on and it showed yesterday dropping felli back would not have helped that much either as his passing is not as controlled as gibsons.

Fingers crossed that either gibsons injury is only slight or that ofoe is as good as Vincent kompany seems to think.

A real let down yesterday, really shot down in flames. A tightly organised WBA, deserved the points, but it all hinged on Gibsons injury, Fellainis miss and of course Howard flapping again at a cross. He does it time and time again, more corned with pushing players than concentrating where the ball is. Just watch the goal, he is still pushing Long in the back and hasnt even got an eye on the ball.....Hopeless. Yes, I know he made a couple of great saves, but PL keepers should do in 90 minutes.I fear not getting Butland is going to cost us dearly.

I didn't know where to put this but this is a table of transfer spending and wages from 2001 to 2011 and it is staggering to see how low we are

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/premier-league/9514149/Graphic-Premier-League-transfer-and-wage-spending-from-the-200001-season-to-201112.html

Agreed. Gibson is vital cog in a smooth running Everton machine. I have said in recent weeks that central midfield is the are we are short on and it showed yesterday dropping felli back would not have helped that much either as his passing is not as controlled as gibsons.

Fingers crossed that either gibsons injury is only slight or that ofoe is as good as Vincent kompany seems to think.

The question is: in the absence of GIbson, what do we do? What is Plan B?

Well, hopefully it's VOO, the new Belgian. But it's asking a lot of a new, young player to be immediately the hub of the team. So, that aside, what are our options? I'm struggling to think of any more defensive midfield players. If we discount Neville then we're left with Barkely and Junior, neither of whom are good fits.

Unless we bring Fellaini back, which is what I suppose I would do, and use Naismith or Mirallas off Jelavic. Anyone have any other ideas?

Hopefully gibbo is back in two weeks, and if not one of Vidas or Fellaini can do a job there. Need a banner at the ground saying 'no to neville in midfield'. After so many games you'd have thought moyes would have realised he should not be playing there. 6 points from three games is a decent start.

Martin 158 - that site doesn't confirm anything, not sure what point you're trying to make - our position changes year on year. E.g. last year it says our net spend was higher than arsenal and spurs - who both finished above us. Liverpools net spend was less than ours in 09, 10, and 11 and they finished above us in each of these seasons, 04 is also makes interesting reading etc etc.

A big problem is without Gibson and Heitinga in the team we play poorly. Jags and Distin are solid defenders yes but rubbish with distribution. If Gibson isn't there to take it off them we revert to zombie football. Heitinga should have come on when Gibson went off. It was poor tactics and hopefully a lesson learned.

Moyes has said he went for the win and that may have been a mistake. I would prefer it if he admitted that the Gibson/Neville sub was where he got it wrong. It could be an important result though because you learn more in defeat than in victory. Maybe the players thought we could just turn up and win.

Bizzare stuff in some ways. Our passing/movement was going well, not too much initially in the way of openings but it was only a matter of time cos we were pulling their defence all over the place.

Okay, I get that the shape went wrong when Gibson went off – but what happened to our passing? For the last 70 minutes we could hardly find a blue shirt in the final third; Pienaar, Baines, Fellaini couldn't buy a decent ball. Just odd that they all went flat at once. Also, the work rate wasn't there, and there's no excuse for that.

Learn from this and let's hope our new Belgian becomes a star... Brains and brawn, boys, brains and brawn.

John (#213), you say that in the last 70 minutes we couldn't buy a decent ball, the timing coincides with Gibson hobbling off. I agree with a number of posts that Heitinga on for Gibson would've been the better option. The joys of hindsight!!!

When Gibson is playing we can stretch our midfield because he has a greater range of passing than either Fellaini, Neville or Osman. This both pulls some of their midfielders away from their centre backs (creating spaces for the likes of Pienaar, Osman, Fellaini, Naismith and Jelavic to use) and doesn't give space in front of our defence for a team to counter-attack quickly into.

Without the threat of a ball over the top, the opposition can easily neutralise us by simply dropping back quickly when we have the ball, and counter attacking quickly when they pinch it off us. The attacking players are squeezed back towards our slowly advancing central midfield, everything becomes congested and slow, with players almost getting in each others way as they look to move around in search of the ball or space.

We either need someone else who can spray balls around from that defensive CM position, or two players who can play fast and accurate one touch passes between them to pull their midfielders out of position and create space for our attacking players to operate in. Neville and Osman together give us neither of those scenarios.

Si your insight and analysis into Gibson's role and contribution brings a lot of clarity into why we're much more of a threat going forward and tighter in defence

The legend of Gibson continues.. seriously we have headless chickens running all over the park that we must have someone that 'sits' in order to retain any form of structure and cohesion. Gibson lets the ball do the work and keeps the opposition on the back foot. But my word, speaking as a neutral, Scholes was amazing in midfield no wonder they can give Gibson away. But we all know that already, no further superlatives remains.

What is an absolute certainty is that Phil Nevile in mid field is NOT an acceptable option for Davey Boy. But will Davey see it that way?

Phil (205) made a good point about some of our players getting a bit carried away and maybe forgetting that they need to battle too. As far as the point about Phil Neville in midfield, I think it was Si who said he might be a decent foil for Gibson when called on but he certainly isn't a replacement. Phil was right when he said that we might learn a valuable lesson in the defeat. I can't wait to see this new lad get settled into the midfield. I know its only on youtube but he looks a great player. He looks like a fine partner for Gibson.

We may look suspect, on occasion, down the right. Howard may, on occasion, flap at crosses but if at this stage of the season we are starting to play the blame game let us look at the second goal on Saturday. Two of the players we were praying would not be picked off on deadline day....Baines and Fellaini, together with usual whipping boy Osman, combined to fuck about with the ball on the edge of our own box which allowed them a clear shot on goal that Howard seaved well.

We have been beaten by a decent side on their own patch......the wheels will only come off if we want them to!

It seems to me indicative of two things that so many people are getting out of their prams about this result. One is that expectations have been raised (and quite rightly so) and the other is how desperate we have become for some kind of success. We are not kopites ffs... we will lose games. Keep calm and carry on walking down Lime St swingin' that chain...

I will never understand United letting Gibson go for such a pittance unless it was the belief that people like Cleverly were going to replace Scholes the irreplaceable. As Si says, Gibson does a beautiful job distributing the ball from the back, we have no like for like replacement (certainly not Neville) and no combinations of players that can produce the same thing.

I agree with the comment as I too felt like Everton were going to get mugged in this one especially after Gibson went off. He really brought some solidity to the midfield and Neville's intoduction seemed to signal an Albion revival after Everton had dominated the opening 20 minutes without getting the all important first goal.

I particularly was pleased when Odemwingie was left out of their starting eleven but when he came on he made us suffer. He is no spring chicken but still has speed, something we lacked today. Everton were too slow and methodical and lacking the fluency of the previous games.

We need someone in midfield to dominate proceedings when the going get's tough and players like Pienaar and Osman lack this although to be fair Pienaar took some heavy kicks early on.