Agreed. The mentality seems to be expecting the best from our players, being angry when they don’t live up to these standards, and appropriately criticising poor behaviour from opponents and match officials when justified. Much better than the “we can have no complaints” and occasionally defeatist public statements that we’ve seen previously.

Could the volte face be down to his being overlooked by Spurs in the summer do you think? I have a feeling he thought he was a shoe-in for the job, and when it didn't happen he must have been hurt. So perhaps he's realised that he needs to project a different persona in order to attract offers from "bigger" clubs.

Just throwing it out there!

I have mixed feelings;

Positive:

1: Everton would have been dead and burried in derbies past, after going 0-2 down, probably gone down to 10 men and conceded another.

2. We now have the creative players to trouble anyone and are a very good side.

Still a concern

1. Liverpool, having come back from 0-2 against us, would have probably gone on to win - we still lacked the belief in the second half

2. We have about 14 good players - which wouldn't be enough in the Championship these days. I think we need about three faces in January.

Still - that is probably the best we have played against Liverpool for five or six years. Up the fuckin blues.

What matters is results, not how Moyes reacts to dirty players. Moyes has some flaws that you cannot overlook. His continued picking of Neville in midfield is just such a flaw.

To me Moyes lacks the skills to pick a winning team even with injuries. As long as Moyes stays that way he will never win anything.

How long can Everton afford to pay him £65,000 per week while he never wins us anything? To me, he is overpaid.

I think Moyes deserves credit for getting us among the top 8, but I think it is high time for a change. Hopefully he will not sign a new long term contract, time to look for a better manager than Moyes!

Mark @008.

I agree with your concern #1, however, I think that if RatBoy hadn't kicked Kevin off the park we would have created a lot more chances in the second half - hopefully some of them would have been put away.

After being 2 down with such a weakened midfield, I think it is a sign of how far we have come and how far liverpool had slipped. Without all 3 officials on their side they do not win some many games these days.

I don't think David Moyes has changed much from the day he walked into Goodison. He was positive from day 1 and told Kenwright that despite our league position we would not go down, a promise he kept. What I do think happened is that despite making us a top half team, he wasnt allowed to build on that success due to lack of funds. Then to add to his problems not only wasnt he allowed funds to add to his squad but was forced to sell his better players to help balance the books.

Now given that situation who wouldnt be slightly miffed by the whole situation, here was a man who has clearly demonstrated that he could challenge for a Champions league spot given some money to add to his squad. So he was left in a situation that because he had done such a good job fans expected a top 6 finish while the board were not only not letting him spend any money but made him sell his better players. So I can well understand why he wasnt walking round with a smile on his face, he knew he could fulfill fans dreams by competing at the top but he knew funds wouldnt allow him to compete.

So I don't believe he has changed at all, only now he was given some money to spend and he is showing what he can produce with a small amount of investment. I also think he is refusing to sign a new contract because he is saying to the board either commit to giving me money to spend or I wont sign another contract. In a way he is doing what every fan wants that is some investment into the club, theh have promised this guy for at least 5 years that they are actively seeking new investment well I think he is now saying put up or I am off. I would not like to contemplate what will happen if he left this summer.

Possibly he has resigned himself to not signing a new contract and may start to enjoy the last few months of his current job. A devil may care attitude if you will? Just throwing that out there!

Tony - I believe that you have a good point there - thankfully due to Moyes integrity he will do his job well until his contract runs out - After that who knows where the club will be come the start of next season.

That's why dreaming of qualifying for the champions league is one thing , but as always it is extremely important we secure our premiership berth for next season asap so tha contract negotiations can begin and then Moyes' and Everton's future can be addressed.

Moyes is generally quite pro-Everton in his pre and post-match utterances, as one would expect. I admired him a few months ago when he said he wouldn't pay to watch us the way we had been playing, and would with the new, more expansive play.

I could quite happily have throttled him after the Anfield fiasco in April, when instead of understanding some fans' frustrations at the team he sent out, compounded things by stating he should've rested more in hindsight.

The contract talk is exactly what played out a few years ago. If he is going to go, then he'll have told Kenwright and no doubt he's looking 24/7 for the next manager. So it'll be Phil Neville then. Shudders.

Tony - unless he knows he's going to Utd, and that he's going at the end of this season then I view that as unhelpful blather.

I always thought when bringing in Jelavic there was a great deal of fist banging on his part to extricate funds from Kenwright. Moyes is ambitious and wants to be in the Champions League for sure, and the privilege of a zero net spend these last two transfer windows isn't enough to placate him much longer.

If he's not in the CL next season, its more shelf-life waiting for the good times to come. Lescott wanted it, Arteta, Pienaar... Baines, Fallaini will one day need that too. He's given the equivalent in 'manager-years' so owes us nothing.

Granted this is just as much speculation as your scenario, but is more probable.

Wrong thread for the above comment but see your point Andy!

It may well be Nick, but as neither of us holds any evidence, I suppose it's both unhelpful blather.

The man is a millionnaire and doesn't have to work any more if he doesn't want to. He may think 10 years is enough, I could do with a breather and do a Curnishley and stay out of managing.

In my opinion Man U won't take him on, unless as an assistant manager with a big named cup winner taking the hot seat.

I don't believe he will leave us. As I said, just putting it out there as a reason for his perceived change of character.

Tony #043 I agree that Man U won't go for him, but also we need to think of EFC as a multi-million pound business (it is honestly!) and if a key member of the management team of that business is not willing to commit, then the board would be remiss not to consider succession planning and be sourcing for a new manager. Of course football clubs largely don't operate like that, as we've seen recently with some clubs sacking a manager, publicly courting several names, getting knocked back and appointing a caretaker/unknown.

Careful, Tony. If we extend your reasoning then you've summed up ToffeeWeb as a whole!

Your Curbishley angle is just as much blather as the first. He's biding his time for Utd, now he's wanting a breather? Anything to pull the rug under the 'impressive' start to the season is it?

It could be he has the best team he's ever had and hopefully one that will match his ambition to be where he wants the club to be. So long as we remain in the hunt for 4th (and AF... no S from me... remains at Utd) then its status quo.

But it is a defining season. One where he will decide on his future. And that to me is why Heitinga hasn't signed up yet. He wants to wait and see what Moyes is going to do.

Well I have no idea where David Moyes will end up if he leaves us, but I think if AVB can get 2 goes at a top job and Rodgers gets Liverpool then I don't think it unrealistic for Moyes to get Man Utd job.

Hopefully this board will find the investment that will keep David Moyes for another 10 years. But if he does go another added problem for Everton will be there will be no compensation as he is out of contract. Then to replace him you will either have to pay another club to release their manager unless he is out of contract.

Nick, I have never once said he was biding his time for Man U.

Blather it may be but holds just as much weight as your "best team" scenario.

You obviously don't know me or my posting then, as I am apparently a Moysephile/Apologist etc etc and I certainly am not trying to pull any rug.

I like the fact Moyes is being honest: its true - Suarez SHOULD have been sent off for a blatent and deliberate foul on Distin

Actually he should have had a yellow for what he did to Mirrallas and then the Distin challenge would have been a 2nd yellow

Did teh official REALLLY think Osman's challenge was more worthy of a yellow card than what Suarez did to Distin?

This is the inepet bias we're ALWAYS up against when we play that lot

Moyes is human and no different from other managers such as Fergie and Wenger — except he hasn't won anything!

He has probably the best chance of doing that this season with the squad he has albeit a difficult task if he gets injuries to key players and so he should lay off wasting time getting involved in slanging matches about referees, the Football League and players like Ratboy.

It's all been said and to be honest all managers worth their salt will defend their own players no matter what.

Let's get on with the matter in hand and start winning matches.

Sorry Tony, had merged your opinion in with someone else's. My mistake.

The only people who don't think they post blather on here are those who quote their Aunt's Cousin's dog as gospel, but in fact have more blather than the rest of us put together.

Blather shall be the word of the day. Blather blather blather.

I like to try and second guess the goings on at Goodison, but I honestly can't call one way or another whether Moyes will still be here next season. I do wonder whether he is waiting to see if he will get a shot at Champion's League football next year with us before signing up.

It appears that the only way for us to improve our lot as a club, without a change of management, is success on the field first, improved income follows. I think Moyes will wait until the end of the season before deciding whether to stay or go and European competition the deciding factor.

But that's just my take, based on nothing more than what he's said in the past and what we all know to be our current situation. I for one am concerned at what will become of Everton without Moyes.

We should ALL be concerned Richard.

I don't care what people say and I've been hard on Moyes in the past but my opinion now is that we would be fucked without him.

I think the days of Kroldrup, Van Der Meyde, Simon Davies and other crappy signings are behind us and the Jelavics' and Mirallas' of this world are in front of us

The club is not one man but credit where credit is due, Moyes has raised the bar on standards. I am not bothered if Moyes goes, I think he is United bound anyway and he is trying to prove to them that the negative football of last season wasn't due to him but due to lack of funds. Moyes is very good at promoting Moyes and his behaviour now is selling the Moyes brand so he gets the best all round deal. What I am bothered about is the standard of his replacement and thought process involved in deciding on that person. A Phil Neville is not the answer and I don't envy the person who has to make that decision.

It's pretty obvious that DM has decided after what will be 11 seasons to move on. It's not like he will be short of a bob or two and could well have a year off to do something else. Media pundit maybe... and then if a decent job comes up to put his hand up for it.

It's all speculative and maybe we will get in to the top four. It's a hard ask with both Spurs and Arsenal vying for that spot. I think the top 3 spots are a shoe-in unless they get crippled with injuries and suspensions; however, they have the luxury of deep pockets whereas we are skint.

We will do well to finish 7th again and that for DM will be failure. We will need 3 quality additions come the January window to give us a chance but how we pay for them is another matter. Could be that Fellaini is sold and we get three or four in. As much as I like the big fella, what could DM do with say £24M?

Moyes was never going to slate Nolan when a Cahill could have done the same thing the following week. The diving comment proves that.