Fellaini handed three-match ban

A headbutt, elbow and a slap. Probably thinks it was well worth it.

As the MOTD commentator said it was almost as if he was looking to be sent-off against Stoke, with Benitez in charge at Chelsea and them losing a defensive midfielder to a long-term injury it does look likely he will end up at Stamford Bridge.

If Moyes gets most of the money - it had better be nearer to 30m rather than the 20m that is being touted - then maybe he can add quality to the squad which is what we badly need.

There is no excuse for not once, not twice, but three times assaulting Shawcross. Felli is supposed to be a professional so it's somewhat pathetic to hear him whining about being provoked. I don't head butt people when provoked. And never mind the utter thuggery, what about the utter fucking peanut-brain stupidity of three times assaulting Shawcross in front of a crowd, other players, 5 officials, retrospective inspection by media and authorities, not to mention live audiences (in the US at any rate) and all those millions who saw highlights of the game? Three fucking times... He was crap in the game, loves to give it out but can't take it, and still, when push comes to shove and his cage gets rattled, unreliable and a liability.

Fellaini on his day is top drawer and he has been our Autumn gold. But I don't want to see violence like that from someone in a blue shirt.

So someone on another thread called me self-righteous for saying things along these lines. Self-righteous? Fuck me. And so is the large line of people queuing up to slam Felli for his thuggery also a large line of self-righteous gloaters, including Moyes? Ridiculous.

I for one will not be unhappy to see Felli go in this or the next window. If we can pick up three or more well sussed buys in keeping with the last two windows, I'll be chuffed. He won't go this window, needless to say, after that horror show and his self-imposed three-game exile.

He has let everyone down so badly, let's hope the fool has the humility and self-awareness to spend a good part of his Crimbo Holiday taking a long and hard look at himself. I have my doubts.

Fella got what he deserved. Let's hope the refs finally see the other side of this and begin to stamp down on bear hugs.

Looking at our options got me thinking about our youth policy at the club, and the academy players who have actually held down a first team place.

Any club could have brought Rooney on, and Rodwell was in & out of the first team ( thanks City ) but I am struggling to think of another?

I'm not sure whether this improves his chances of leaving in January or not. I always thought he would stay for the full year as long as we were competing for Champions League. I still think that's the case.

Felli's absence will make way for the talent we have just sitting on the sidelines though. Bring on young Ross and Oviedo! I wouldn't mind Der Hammer getting a few more looks at goal with that shot of his as well (though we've yet to see it and hitting the mark).

Good on Moysie for meeting it head on, however, not that I'd expect anything else.

After the derby he condemned Neville( rightly so) and said nothing about ratboy.
After Saturday he condemned Fellaini ( rightly so) and nothing about the constant fouling or the shit arse performance of the referee.

Sort yourself Davey Boy!

We're too nicey, nicey to ever win fuck-all. We desperately need to get street wise to push on for the top places in the league.

Kieran, yes it's good to have standards like we do, but it never gets us anywhere does it? All we do is make ourselves easy targets for the refs to screw us over with crappy decisions because there is no backlash.

The FA and the Premier League have had long enough to sort out the cheating and the referee intimidation that many teams take part in, and have done precisely nothing about it, so why bother to continually screw ourselves over? Is there a naive gullible tit prize up for grabs that I missed?

I would have liked him to have made a big deal out of Stokes constant fouling and dirty tactics. Halsey obviously forgot his cards on Saturday and let far too much go in my opinion. They need to be a lot more consistent with their decisions, not just let foul after foul go unpunished because "it's Stoke".

I definitely don't want to see Osman moved forward and a defensive midfielder like Hitzlsperger or Heitinga brought in. That would undo all of the good rhythm we have in midfield. This suspension could be the making of this team and particularly one of Barkley/Naismith/Oviedo if they're given the chance. We always moan about Moyes having favourites, never making tactical changes, and refusing to drop players.Fellaini was surely in this category, no matter who we were playing, how good or bad he was playing he was never dropped or even subbed off for a tactical change. We only ever play one way and once managers are allowed to reorganise at half time they usually come out with a way to score an equaliser. It wasonly really Martinez at Wigan who set out a team that matched us in the first half then we adapted. Every other game this seaosn has been us battering teams for 45 minutes before playing poorly in the second half once we're sussed out.

The one thing I will say though, I read various comments in the media after the derby game. Moyes got praised for the way he spoke to the media after the game about Neville, Rodgers and Liverpool got hammered for not doing the same about ratboy. I think that by speaking out about Felliani on Saturday, he has put the same onus on Pulis to speak up in the same vain. Instead, Pulis comes on and whinges about how nobody likes poor Stoke. This honest style by Moyes, for me, does have the value of making the opposition look very small and petty by comparison to us.

If I see Hitzlsperger or Heitinga on the team sheet I will scream.

It's Oviedo or Barkley to come in. Or even both and lose Naismith.

Against West Ham I feel Moyes may fancy Barkley due to his decent aerial ability. Losing Fellaini is a blow in a defensive sense as much as anything.

Howard GK
Coleman RB
Jagielka CB
Distin CB
Oviedo LB
Gibson CM
Hitzelsperger CM
Pienaar RM
Osman ACM
Baines LM
Jelavic FW

I'd like to see Oveido (who is a winger as well as a full back) and Barkley cone in for Naismith and Fellaini. Barkley didn't look out of place Saturday. Maybe this is the kick start he needs.

When has a club making excuse for the shite behaviour of its players ever reflected well upon them? The frustration of Fellaini is justified, the violence is not.

He's got his faults but on this one Moyes stance represents the club that I support.

Hitzlsperger in for Osman?

What are you on?

I don't think anyone can condone fellaini's actions, and he may well be a prick for reacting like he did, but he's our prick and while that's the case we should be fighting his corner as much as possible. We shouldn't disown our own and leave them to the media and FA.

Gibson said, on this site before the game, 'We can be as physical as them, all day long, if need be'.

DM probably told Fellaini – "Use your head when Shawcross gets to grips with you, 'cos that's what he does. Forewarned is forearmed."... Bit of a translation issue is all.

Barkley needs a proper run. For his confidence. Three games on the trot, then make an evaluation. He knows whats expected of him. This is his time. Occasionally coming on as a replacement substitute for Naismith is not the way to make a realistic evaluation. Naismith has shown us what he can do. A second rate squad player.

Don't we expect more from Barkley? Recall him from playing regular first team football, to warm the bench?

Make a positive from a negative. Everton expects. From one of our own.

As we say Baines ripping teams apart in flashes when he comes forward, if he was forward all the time, I think he's be devastating.

With Oviedo on board now, I'd like us to try it for a game or two.

Anyway, I've moved on from this whole issue now, what's done is done and we can cope without Fellaini if we get the balance right.

It's quite blindingly obvious that Barkley has to start against West Ham, when he came on last week his performance gave me renewed optimism that he could be a pivotal player for us and clearly looks like a better player since coming back from loan, stronger and better feet.
I think Moyes would be daft not to play him and could grab a goal, but it's also whether he will play Naismith also.

I would like to see Gibson and Hitzlsperger in the middle, Osman on the right and Barkley behind Jelavic (whether he could do a job there I'm not sure about though.)
That surely is good enough to beat West Ham, I just hope Moyes has got the balls to put Barkley in there somewhere.

I thought the one thing we categorically knew was that Osman is not a wide player.

Fortunately for me, I can't see Moyes moving him further forward.

I can't see the logic either in moving Osman to the right. He's had a great season so far in the middle, resulting in international recognition. Why move him back to a position he's been less effective in beforehand.

Square pegs in square holes I say.

Phil, i'm not on anything only fresh air and it is as clear as day that Osman is not doing enough to keep his place in the side. I would rather see Hitz or Barkley have a go, if they don't do enough fair enough but we wont know if we continue to persist with Osman and his pea roller shooting. Barkley and Hitz will at least be able to test the goal keeper.

I think Moyes will pick a team with Naismith behind Jelavic. Maybe Barkley on the right or Pienaar swapping wings with Oviedo coming in on the left.

Down to sixth = pear-shaped?! What planet are you on where 6th is pear-shaped? With our paper thin squad and finances, 6th would be highly respectable... of course we want more and I'm still optimistic it's achievable, especially considering we've been mugged out of at least 6 points this season.

Does anyone else do doom and gloom like us Toffees?

As for the vexed Stoke issue, the manhandling at set pieces (which we are also guilty of) will not stop until referees take action, although how one person is able to watch what is usually 4 separate wrestling bouts I don't know... perhaps if penalties started being given across the board, we might see a reduction in the amateur Royal Rumbles.

This no-talent would be just another guy over here in MLS. But he egged on Fella knowing Fella's short fuse and gets away with murder. So we lose our best guy for 3 games and Shawcross will be on the pitch for Stoke's next game.

I know how this hurts us, Fella's suspension, but have no problem he did what he did, given what Stoke was allowed to do.

Marouaine, the next time MLS level players are permitted to put Rugby/NFL tackles on you, head-butt the "Shawcrosses" even harder. That a wonderful talent like you is suspended and a complete nobody like Shawcross will be on the pitch in a few days ............

Any one of you present a coherent argument Fella is bounced for 3 games and this fucking nobody actor Shawcross will be in the starting line-up for Stoke next game.

I'm all ears.

People ave likened them to our own "Dogs of war" But the difference was we ran and played hard but didn't cheat.

Pulls has turned Stoke into a team of cheats, do anything to get away with what they can.

Fellaini head butted an opponent, regardless of how much he was man handled. He was in the wrong and it was violent conduct.

Please drop the Koppite style of blinkered bikes and biased blindness.

It doesn't suit us!

Jags, Distin, Heitinga et all do it too, it's just that Shawcross took it to the next level against Fellaini, who wasn't professional enough (or sneaky enough) to handle it. Standing on Shawcross' toes, elbow in the ribs etc would have been better than a very visible attempted head but.

3 match ban = justice for a stupid act by Fellaini.
Media exposure = justice for the WWF tactics from Shawcross but we all know this will come back and bite us in the arse when the ref awards a penalty against Coleman for having his arms around Nolan....it's so much of a knapp, I think I will have a bet on it.

COYB.

Fellami was player of the month and deemed unplayable by some experts when Messi gets treated like that normally a penalty is given.

When Fellaini does a slight tug on Dzeko, a penatly is awarded against him even as Kompany pushes someone out of the way and Lescott grabs Jagielka before the ball reaches Dzeko. Rubbish referees?

Does anyone remember the loss to Stoke and the holding in the box last season.