Stirring stalemate at The Emirates

This is certainly the most attack-minded side Moyes could put on the pitch.

Marsh, was it you?!?

Not much point in me watching now, we finish 6th on 63 points

(three points ahead of Liverpool)

4-5-1 converting to 4-3-3 when we attack.

Moyes has gone mad, but I like it. What a vote in confidence for Ross. Moyes has got balls!

I hope Fellaini is playing deeper with Mirallas and Barkley supporting Anichebe...

Wait, see, hope...

Oviado on at 94 mins……… shrewdly timed change. should have happened an hour earlier.

Had to hold on a bit(!) in the second half but credit to the manager and all the players for going for it at the Emirates.

Baffling substitutions. No real threat up front. Oviedo must wonder what's going on. Still no win for Moyes at the home of the old Sky 4 teams. It's another season of failure when it could've been so different. We lack big game mentality when our balls are on the chopping block. Good effort tonight but earlier season games have done us in. Maybe next year, eh, Boys?

We bossed the first half but hung on in the second.

What is the general feeling in why Davey Moyes looks so positive at the moment? He seems to have got his energy / passion back.

Not a perfect performance from young Ross but certainly good enough to show he has what it takes to excel in his profession. A foot away from a classic goal as well.

Oviedo came on far too late as Pienaar was struggling from the kick-off.

Looking at remaining fixtures and whilst (unless there is massive investment) we will be embarrassed in Champions League, it still is not out of reach. We've just got to beat the Shite at their place, which Mr Moyes has failed to do......

We did get forced backwards quite a bit in the 2nd half but, based on previous performances at Arsenal, this has to rank as one of the best.

Just a pity we have drawn too many games against the lesser teams. Top 4 is going to be tough now, but still a chance.... Well done for having a go.....at last.....

Beat Sunderland, Fulham, West Ham, draw with Liverpool should be enough to see a final day chance with Chelsea.

Early doors, it seemed Arsenal were getting the benefit of a few dubious decisions but don't think the officials were all that bad tonight. In the end the ref contributed pretty well to keeping the game flowing.

Sky have said that Wenger "is not well enough" to speak. He was not well enough to moan repeatedly at the 4th official wasn't he?

Looks like even europa could be out the window for us now

At last I see what the talk about Barkley is - real footballer in there.

Has to be said Ossie, Hibbo are now squad players and it really has been a major mistake having Phil Nev in this year.

Genuine top 4 side there.

Well can't ask anymore from the team. 1st XI and formation were spot on(ish); finally we had a midfield of Gibson and Fellaini in the middle which screened the back four well and broke up most of the Arsenal attacks.

The boys gave it a huge effort today, but alas it just wasn't to be. If Pienaar's shot had been lower, Barkley's curler a foot to the other side... ifs and buts, ifs and buts. Credit to the Ginger One this time, he went for it and on another day it may have come off.

Any negative marks... well just wouldn't be right if there wasn't any would it. Anichebe – sorry but WTF was up with him tonight? He 'put himself about a bit, but other than missing a decentish chance, falling over blades of grass a couple of times, and generally doing a hell of a lot of nothing, I really cannot remember any other contributions. Real hit and miss this kid. NAS – need another striker!

A point on the day was deserved; will it be enough? Doubtful... but I guess it's still mathematically possible. Onto the 'Special One Mk II' – any chance of Moyes doing a knee slider celebration on the weekend?

Would just luv it.......

MotM — many contenders but I'll give it to the skipper for a few 'body on the line' blocks although Kev M was a close second.

6 points above the RS now so something positive to take home...

I'm a Barkley's banker!

He made a couple of bad choices in retaining the ball when he would have been better off-loading it quickly, but it looked to me that he made the necessary adjustment himself on the pitch, which indicates class to me.

Mirallas playing the hardman that was worth the Sky subscription alone!

Sure you need game time to pick up the speed of the Prem but not with the run in with CL at steak... stake... stayque... Ossie first for me.

I know some may say it's his job as CF - but it is a thankless task on your own with no support.

Jagielka really needs to cut the hoofing out while there is no pressure on the ball. We would get taught a lesson playing like this in Europe.

It might be a thankless task but he still lost every header and by Arteta on 3 occasions.

If I had to name one or two, who shone, then Jags & Seamus with Fellaini never let the side down. We need more of the same at Sunderland on Saturday; I would like to think that Ross did enough to keep his place, but we need a bit more cutting edge up front.

Ok, so we never got the 3pts, let's hope Saturday brings that reward.

Just did the results predictor on BBC, with no bias at all we come 4th by a point. Heard it here first.

Barkley got into the game and I'm positive for his future with us, he learned as he went on.

Ross really improved in the second half and I thought I was going to watch more of the usual I've seen when he's played early in the first half. Tries to do to much but not quick enough. Second half he really got into the game and a couple of inches ruined his Rooney moment. Looks good to me.

All the back 4 and Felli were superb with Coleman getting better and better. Jagielka, Fellaini and Distin put in tackle after tackle with Jagielka getting my Motm.

Shitty behaviour from Arsenal. Wilshere and Arteta being the worst of the lot.

While watching Sky, I saw the stat "Everton 55% possession, 45% Arsenal", I thought ey?! What's Moyes up to?

You know why, because Fellaini dropped further back, and Barkley, a genuine ball player played further forward. I'm not trying to credit Barkley too much, as Osman could do just as good as there too, but Fellaini further back was a good move, we dominated the midfield bar the last 20 mins with Gibson and Fellaini in there. it was a great balance.

Now if we sold Fellaini in the summer, that would be the way to go. Buy a genuine ball, massively tall, strong midfield player (Fer) and buy a good, creative player in the whole. Makes better football.

Defence was magnificent. Coleman was awesome, and was actually my motm, closely followed by Jagielka, who showed why Arsenal should have bought him. Baines isn't his usual self, but thats not his fault, its because opposition teams realise how much of a threat he is now. There is always a winger on him.

Downside, and the only dissappointing player, was Anichebe. I know he didnt get much service, but he has been really good at bullying defenders recently. He tried to be fair, but Koscielny and Mertesacker always got the better of him, which I found dissappointing.

But fair play for Moyes picking the right team, having a go, he could have easily picked Neville or Heitinga over Barkley in midfield, and I know that would have pissed off the haters a lot. Still a little chance of 4th, so let's have a go!!

I said he showed why he hasn't been picked, i.e. behind Osman.

Coleman — what a game! Outstanding from start to finish. MotM!

I thought Barkley was looking to play the through ball a lot more than Ossie does, Ossie is capable of doing it but looks to go wide instead. We really do need to try playing the ball behind defenders more often instead of nearly all attacks coming from the flanks. I would like to see Mirallas up front with that type of service.

I did think that Moyes could have brought on Oviedo (for Pienaar) with about 15 or 20 to go. The guy looks tidy to me and I think Pienaar needs a bit of a kick up the arse.

Ossie is an accomplished player but I think that Ross Barkley has the edge on him physically even now.

It is a very close call, in my opinion, over who should get the most game time from here on in. I would prefer Ossie to start and Ross to be the understudy (with plenty of time coming off the bench) but would not be too worried if Ossie was unavailable and the lad had to take a more prominent role.

I think this may have been a coming of age game for Barkley who showed a lot of good things although he drifted out of the game for short spells. Unfortunately he will probably miss the Sunderland game but Ossie will be back and he normally has a decent game against the likes of the Black Cats.

Still, we are 6 points ahead of RS and the prospect of whacking them in a couple of weeks. Moyes may have one more chance of beating a top club away with the Blues when they go to Chelski at the end of the season — assuming Moyes is moving on!

Are you being serious? I bet the 2 Arsenal centre backs were thinking that was the easiest game they've had all season. It didn't matter if it was in the air or on the floor they got to the ball first, every time with ease. By the second half they had realised this and had stopped getting a strong head on the ball and were able to head the ball down to a team mate while Anichebe let them.

I think it was Spartak Moscow in the 70's where the manager made all the players learn chess and then integrated it into their training. Maybe Barkley would benefit from studying art history. The whole 'further thought' outlook would give him such an edge.

I felt Peanuts chance early doors was the one, but the reply shows it bobbles just before he strikes it, I think he needed to be cuter and try the little dink over the keeper.

Draw fair result though. Barkley impressive. With the fixtures to come we're not out of it yet! COYB!

Jags, Fellaini, Gibson, Barkley, Coleman all superb... yet still complaints from people who know nothing about football and have obviously never played the game.

I thought Vic did alright, although I'd like ti see Mirallas through the middle on his own at some point ala Ronaldo. Special mention to Jags and Coleman, both were rocks.

The 'g' should be capitalised.

I am not expecting striking abilities à la Ronaldo (1st one) or Drogba, but to be playing at this level you would expect 110% commitment and less rolling on the grass and waving arms about.

Players like Kevin Davies and Grant Holt don't have that much skill but they make the most of what they have and regularly provide the goods for their team. Anyway, just my opinion of Big Vic. Let's go back to the general team effort and be proud of the overall performance, even though we didn't get the 3 points.

Paul was only having a joke around.

Ignore the comment, feel free to joke about it.

The problem with playing Felli deeper was that it seemed to take an age for the midfield to get up the pitch although I do think he makes our midfield play better when he stays in what is his natural position. How much is it going to cost us to find a new striker in the summer as, to all intents and purposes, it looks like Jelly won't be here at the start of next season.

Anichebe tries hard but he rarely looks like getting a goal even from set-pieces especially away from home. I read somewhere today that out of our last 53 away games we have only managed 13 wins, I haven't checked on it, but that is something we have to work on if we really want to challenge at the top end of the league that and a fully functioning striker of course.

I wonder could we afford Andy Carroll? Don't all shout at once it's only a thought.

Although I wouldn't complain if we went out and spent £30-40 million. Or even if we went to pay a club a £20m for a player and then at the last minute pulled out of the deal and released the following statement: 'Everton football club was about to buy a player from an unnamed club for £20m but have decided to spend that money on supplying drinking water to millions of poor people who have been ignored by their own country and the international world police.'

Wouldn't that make a nice change.

It’s a massive step up from U21 to top flight football, and at times he looked like a player that was used to playing at a level where he gets given a lot more space and time on the ball.

I don’t think it will take him too long to get up to speed with the pace of the Premier League if he starts getting more regular game time.

There’s no doubt that he is a massive talent and one that I think will blossom if given the opportunity to play and allow his confidence to grow.

I don't know how the commentators reacted to the various ploys of gamesmanship but I got fed up watching the replays of anything that may be construed as a foul. Also KM was onside in the first half when a goalscoring chance may have arisen for him only to be flagged by a linesman on that side of the pitch, it must be full of vociferous Arsenal fans on that side of the ground. Why doesn't it work for us at Goodison? as the Linesmen on the Bullens road side seem to give us nothing.

Talking of Linesmen how or why was it decided that the Linesmen take up the same positions at every ground e.g. one on the Bullens road side running the line towards the St. End and the other running the line on the Goodison Rd. side towards the Park End? Has this always been the case?

Coleman's has run his blood to water in recent weeks and appears to be (before our eyes) growing into a role many (like me) doubted he would.

Barkley showed enough tonight imo to be given an extended run. It will do him and the team no harm and to pick on him for giving the ball away a couple of times - plain daft (not to mention INCREDIBLY selective).

We put in a real shift tonight and at times played some good stuff but (again) far too often we treat the ball like a drunken sailor in a brothel treats his money.

There were SO many times when a square ball would have done, instead it was hoofed down the throat of their centre-half or keeper and was coming back at us a couple of seconds later.

Can't complain (a lot) with a point away to Arsenal though.

By the way, was it just me or did Victor look like he'd put on 2 stone since the weekend?

Shame that Mirrallas had a heavy touch towards the end as that was a great chance to seal it.

Likely out of CL but enhanced our bid for europa as Spurs have some tough fixtures.

I think the hoofs down field were a by product of being pushed back, the midfield were protecting the back four so much in the second half that it effected their dynamism and movement going forward.

Shit ,forgot about Duffy. If Moyes sees the light with him, and, much as I championed Seamus, I believe Duffy is the better prospect, I make consider becoming an apologist. Terrific performance from the players and the coach.

I think the plan was to press high, win ball, and play in the last third. But if no route through presented then hit Vic and try to feed off him. We had some success first half but Vic got more and more isolated as the game wore on. Tough job for him tonight, though I thought he worked hard.

Man of the Match - JAGS. Fantastic, Captains performance.

And young Ross was never 3 seconds behind anything. Bily was alway 3 seconds behind. He couldn't help it. The kid Ross was tossed into the cauldron at 19 and held his own. Please Moyes, play him on the weekend. Sunderland isn't Arsenal away. Not close.

And, again, Coleman!

We're still in the hunt for Top 4.

Dreams are free, hey.

The moment's silence, having been born in Boston, was exquisite. It was greatly appreciated by myself and I'm sure any other Evertonians living in the Greater Boston area. Well done.

Even the NY Yankees will be singing "Sweet Caroline" tonight and put signs out front of Yankee Stadium - "United We Stand". James Flynn - sing it loudly please as I would for you and I know you and all Yankees fans will do for the tragedy in Boston.

Absolutely gutted and repulsed a small minority on our live forum thought the moment's silence for Bostonians was a waste of time.

Un-fahkin-beliavable.

Great class (dripping with sarcasm there) shown by the one or two on the live forum that simply had to say the "why bother with it" or "how bout the fact the US killed XX number of people yesterday..."

Heartless, gormless jack-wagons.

Seriously, show some class.

Spent it better hurling curses at my TV, watching what happened.

There's some low-rent cocksuckers amongst us. Hate when they're mis-described as terrorists. Hate that. Low-rent cocksuckers best describes them. They've earned no description better. None.

Hope you didn't lose anyone.

There's a moron or 2 in every discussion. Toffeeweb's not exempt.

Leave it at that.

Apologies.

For all those screaming for Barkley to get a start all season (me included) You were right!! Never has the phrase "Like a new signing" been so apt. And I consider that his first proper appearance... Welcome Ross!

Seamus was excellent (as he has been in recent times). He's had the proverbial "balls" since day one but he's blossoming into the real deal & turning out to be an absolute bargain with a sound attitude.

Having something on both wings is feeling quite luxurious. Most of the entertainment was on the right though tonight, with the Baines / Pienaar combo feeling a bit stale of late. Mirallas & his moments of magic has almost erased Arteta's (who was a twat BTW) silky skills from memory.

Overall I'm proud to support that team! I'm not going to praise DM because that's the team we've been begging for all season & we've squandered points & results whilst he's dithered with his character selections as opposed to quality.

I think everyone has been praised who deserves it. Some great performances out there.

Baines was very average. Pienaar's run of bad form goes on. His middle range passing has always been woeful in my opinion - but lately he's even giving away 5 yard balls. I can allow those two an awful lot though, they carried the team for months and everyone is allowed a dip in form.

Victor didn't look interested all game. Doesn't help when you're getting 60 yard balls drilled at your head all night - but he didn't put the effort in. I do wish we had Vellios or McAleny on the bench. It would just give us some different kind of options to change the game.

Apologies for a negative post. I thought we did really well, but you've got to have a few little gripes.

On to Sunderland and three more points please.

And back tho this thread - Jags does tne dto hoof too much, but in games like last night it was too dangerous to mess around at the back - but if he has time then yes he should (as defenders in teh 21st Century) should be doing is playing a pass forward - no idea why we tend to face Tim Howard for so many passes and are afraid to move fwd. instead of back, back back.
And yes, we did go in hard last night, ref. allowed a certain amount to get through and should have stepped in earlier - although tthat's the commitment I want to see from our lads, we need to be more careful this time of year in such games. Luck lad Gibbo. No excuse however for begging for a card for others. We'd never do that at EFC !!

Re Vic and the two stone.He was back to his old self last night after a few good displays in the last weeks.
He would be better if he could grow two stones.Too much of the complaining for me.

To reach 4th or better we need to win against Liverpool away and Chelsea away, I think these two are the best bet if we are going to win away.

Chelsea can be beaten for sure, but Liverpool always mans up when they play us just like Arsenal did yesterday. I think we must win at Chelsea, there is no way around it.

I am worried about Moyes picking Jelavic when he can use both Vellios who actually can score or McAleny who has done great for the U-21 and deserves to play a lot more then Jelavic does!!!

The rest of the lads put in a great shift, especially Coleman and Distin.

I think if we had a Van Persie,Suarez,Rooney,Aguero or Torres( his Liverpool form) we would easily qualify for Champions league. Problem is that all these players cost in excess of £20 million money we don't have. Defensively we look as good as any of the top teams in the Prem, and can hold our own with most in midfield.

This summer will be the most important time for the club in the past 20 years, I think we have never been better placed to reach top 4 but we need to supply the manager with the funds that makes him stay and allows him to compete for the top 4.

The edge that the top teams have by virtue of having world class cover in key positions, particulalry attacking, is frustrating. As you say defensively we are as good as most - Distin chasing down Walcott was great to see last night, but we don't have the attacking prowess or the speed of thought which comes with top players, and the money isn't there to change this position.

Credit to the team last night. I don't believe we could ask any more of them for effort but also trying to work the ball through Arsenal.

Ok, one fair concession would be that playing the lone striker in that game was rough.

“EFC approaching a quarter of a century without a truly top class sticker”

Yelavich is surely out of form, but he is better than Vic. He should have been put on at half time, and what the fuck does Oviedo have to do to get a proper chance.

And a little harsh on Vic. He is not, and is never going to be world class, and he was up against two very good cb's yesterday, without much service at all. We will need to invest in another striker, from assumed Fellaini money I think...

Barkley is a bit slow in possession and gives the ball away too much..but I think he showed his potential and, away at the Emirates, came extremely close to scoring a screamer, and played in Anichebe superbly. Hopefully next season we will see increasingly more of him.

As for Jelavic I have no idea what has been said to him but he seems to be avoiding the box like the plague.

Regardless of the type of ball Anichebe received, do you think its acceptable for a 6ft2 striker thats built like a boxer to lose every single header? Theres something else that I don't think gets mentioned as much as it should and thats his shite ability at attacking crosses.

We send in more crosses a game than most teams yet Anichebe rarely gets on the end of them ( mostly because he was deeper earlier in the move and played a simple 5 yard ball wide and believes he's done enough and doesn't have to bust a gut to get into the area, honestly watch our recent attacks and how many times theres 2 or 3 players ahead of Anichebe). Only twice in the last two games did he attack (or try to) a cross. Against Q.P.R he had a free header from a great cross and appeared to wait till it had passed him before making a half arsed attempt at a jump. Last night he had another good chance, fair enough the area was packed but he should be able to direct his header towards goal not just be pleased to get his head on it and send it miles over the bar.

And what Anichebe performance would be complete without his made up injuries. Yet again he stopped playing while he stroked his leg after a nothing challage. We had the ball while this was going on and had to stop an attack because Anichebe had decided to rule himself out for 3 minutes.

Seminal moment for me first time I've felt a smattering of hope in years. If Arsenal had fluked a win I wouldn't have moaned we looked a genuinely good side with a great blend of youth, toughness and skill. Please, please don't retreat now Mr Moyes - we'll win more than we lose with this side and ethos - might even win at you know where!!!

Hopefully he will continue to improve and prove me wrong. Also the manager may have learnt that if he gives a youngster a decent and uninterrupted run in the team, the improvement and confidence will follow. ie play Barkley from the start for the remainder of the season. Ossie will need to sit on the bench which solves the usual Toffeeweb moans of a Neville/Osman centre mid once and for all!!!!!

Of course, when most of the ball directed towards you are way off or punted towards Mertesacker you know you are in for a tough night.
He got plenty of bruises I am sure, he gave a few away as well. Average game at the best for Anichebe, but can`t fault him for trying.

If there was one player who didn`t have his best day yesterday it was Pienaar.. As always full of energy, but the amount of awful passes from easy positions made it a night not to remember for him. Mirallas also wasn`t fantastic, but he put in a decent shift nevertheless.

Overall a good performance, no-one lacked trying.

Coleman and Barkley were both lauded in the tv-studio here in Norway after the game, well deserved on both of them

He has no injury so I think it is an attitude problem, maybe a fallout with Moyes. I can not see Barkley being a PL player unless he addresses those things. Frankly it makes me angry to see a youngster being so slow on the ball, even Neville is faster than Barkley when on the ball.

Barkley has mental things to work on, he is overrated right now and needs to get real.

What Gibson lacks in pace he makes up with nouse and craft. He is the only player we have who understands that in order to launch a counter-attack you must play the ball for players to run onto, rather than to feet.

Football - even the PL - isn't all about pace. Gibson is a vital cog in our team.

I'll admit that I always look for the worst in Anichebe and might sometimes go over the top with my comments but I totally agree with you, in those situations its height thats the main advantage but you have to agree that only winning 3 out of about 30 headers he went for is still poor, I mean if Anichebe isn't a target man then what is he? Plus all the headers weren't against the centre backs, as I said last night he lost out to Arteta 3 times who he has a significant height and weight advantage over.

I've read people say that the ball needed to be played to his chest so he can bring it down and this happened twice I think and if my memory serves me right both times the ball bounced about 5 yards of his chest so the defender still took it off him cos his chest control was so bad.

Most balls were played in the air to him but not all and I don't remember him getting his body in the way and shielding the ball, the defenders were getting in front of him and taking it off his toe.

As for his work rate I thought he put a decent shift in for 70 odd minutes but spent the last 10/15 minutes walking around not interested.

Defensively I thought we were superb and gave them few chances with Coleman and Jags the pick of the bunch for me. We really need to win on Saturday now to keep a little bit of pressure on those above us.

Well done to Everton for persevering to a draw despite the corrupt odds stacked against them yet again against the supposed "top 4 club" we drew DESPITE them! I often wondered how Arsenal managed to get their pitch nice and flat throughout the season! They outdid themselves last night as the human lawnmowers didn't miss a glade of grass!

But then, they know the decision will go towards them 9.99 times out of 10 so you cant blame them really.... or can you? They have the bigger fan base therefore UEFA will want them to qualify for champions league 4th spot!

It's the very same reason why we got kicked out last time, it's that corrupt! And for those who think I'm on some "Napoleonic complex rant" FFS do the Math!!!

My beef is that, with such limitations, why is he preferred to Vellios? Maybe because Vic is willing to run like an idiot for 90 minutes which is more to the liking of Moyes.

WHOOOO-AWRIIIIITE. USA,USA,USA!!!

Way t'go the EverTON blue-toffees WHOOOOO!!!!!

Oh shit sorry, I saw in Douglas's post (435) 'do the math' and assumed it was let's pretend to be Americans day or...something.

Tony..re. Barkley, im guessing Moyes' decision to start him away at the Emirates' in one of the biggest matches of our season, signifies his belief in Barkley's potential. However, Barkley suffers from the lapses in concentration, and passing mistakes, which have affected his first team football, and mean he has to play in a more advanced role, which Fellaini has occupied very effectively this season. He has potential...but he is no Wilshere or Rooney (At least not yet anyway). I'm hoping next season he will come on, and with experience, iron out the mistakes. I think it's easy to forget he is only 19 and missed a whole year of his development through injury...

And Douglas...get real man.

More often than not their wide midfielders were doubling up with their fullbacks. I don't think I've ever seen Walcott play as deep in a game at The Emirates. However what was impressive was his work rate and commitment to the team. There was a lot of speculation about how he would react to Moyes public comments last week. I think we saw the answer last night.

He also still managed to produce the two most sublime bits of skill in the whole game. A lovely little chip pass along the line and then a drag back that sold Sagna so far he nearly had to pay to get back in.

I think we are going to see the best of him next year, fitness permitting.

I would love another superstar, but let's have him at David Moyes's pace breaking through and not the media's and Sky telling everyone he is to good for Everton.

Well done to David Moyes for bringing him on this way. You would've thought he would've got his game time against QPR and not Arsenal and not the other way round.

Interesting point to everyone who thinks he should've started every game lately. Last six games: won four, drawn two and the two draws are the two that Ross started. I wouldn't mind him starting at Sunderland though.

Hard to complain too much about getting a point there - more importantly, we went toe-to-toe with Arsenal and proved we can match that standard; there was no lucky escaping with a point, and we played a positive game.

I think that we would have won this one a while back, as we did look quite tired and a long way from our best - we continually gave away possession and misplaced passed in a way that they didn't. Baines and Pienaar (and, crucially their partnership) weren't firing at all, and Mirallas struggled to make too much of an impact (apart from with his water bottle). Anichebe was back to his bad old self - falling over whenever he looked like not winning a ball; what had happened to him since his superb turn in north London just over a week ago? But Jags and Coleman were great; Barkley rough round the edges but very promising; Howard really needs to shout more and not leave his centre-halfs in the dark in the way he does. Really pleased to see Fellaini in the middle, as I had a horrible feeling he was going to be played behind the striker. And Moyes showed a fair bit of positivity in bringing on Jelavic, even if he looked utterly woeful.

I don't think I ever realistically expected a top 4 finish, and I can't believe we've been spoken of as contenders for such a large part of the season. The Europa League spot (5th?) will take some doing as we'll still have to overtake one of Arsenal, Tottenham or Chelsea, but I think that'd be a fine achievement and a good level of competition for us to have a decent run in next season.

I love an excuse to have a go at Anichebe so i'll answer that. Anichebe ran his socks off and bullied their defence but the problem is he only does this when he feels like and that not often. Last night was a more of an example of a typical Anichebe display not the City game.

But even if Anichebe played every game like he did against City I wonder how long it would take for his fans to say " you can't fault his effort but where the quality" because if you watch the City game again without the emotions of the time you will see he did nothing of quality.

I do wonder what Anichebe has done to deserve people to defend him all the time. When you consider Jelavic is only 2 Everton goals behind what Anichebe has managed his whole career. It really didn't take long for peoples opinion of Jelavic to go from 'best since Lineker' to now get slammed for 'works hard but has no end product' and 'works hard but has no end product' is Anichebe at his best.

You had me choking on my cornflakes (and it's 11pm) with this...

"I just cannot bring myself to comment on Naismith. His continual selection from the bench is one of the great mysteries of the 21st century."

"Granted, Everton are no mugs, the best side Arsenal have faced since Bayern Munich at home in February"

the moaning about their little princesses being tackled kicked in again:

"They were certainly assisted by a very lenient referee in Kevin Friend who should have dismissed Darren Gibson and also let Fellaini off with two obvious yellow card offences, at least to the naked eye. I have not seen any TV coverage as yet to confirm. The official certainly allowed Everton to demonstrate the physical side of their game with Jack Wilshere a particular target."

I was at the match and all their fans did was winge and moan at the ref. They need a serious reality check!
Also the author blamed their failure to beat us on "lack of investment"....hmmmmmmm perspective is an amazing thing!

http://onlinegooner.com/article.php?section=editorial&id=426#.UXARhKKzddw