Pienaar strike lifts Everton over Fulham

Some unbelievable misses today! How did Fellaini miss that, FFS! We should have got our goal difference up today, we won't get as many chances against the RS. But, as the saying goes, "A win's a win"!

Mirallas and Pienaar top class, however, our forward line, of Jelavic and Anichebe was as desperate as usual — actually they were pathetic.

What does Oviedo have to do to get a game, or even half a game?

Sounds strange to say this about a guy with absolutely nowhere near the worries I have, but I feel sorry for Jelly. From a star to an absolute no hoper in under a year. It's horrible to watch. When he went clean through in the first half you could see he just didn't know what to do. Cross? Shoot? Ended up doing something in the middle - a shot that went out for a throw!

He must be playing absolute shite to passed over by Anichebe and Jelavic!

The lads played some great football at times, should have been out of sight before the nervous last 10 minutes though.

One positive for me was the amount of men we got in and around their area in the last 20, trying to score the 2nd goal. Certainly no sitting back today. Jelavic of last season playing today he gets himself a couple at least.

Second half, naturally dropped back because we didn't get that second goal, a bit too much if you ask me. Nervy stuff.

At least we got the win, and gained points on Spurs. Hopefully we can gain some on Arsenal and Chelsea tomorrow too.

No qualms, three points, move onto the next game.

Just brilliant.

Its the hope that kills you.

Is Osman's clock finally running down?

Let's get really up for next week, and put the RS away.

Not nice however to hear that Jelavic still can't get it together — I guess at some point we'll have to admit he may never get it back again. I really thought he would a have grabbed one today and be up for the derby next weekend...

With Spurs drawing, the dreamers will still keep dreaming about Europe. Not to put a dampener on things and spare you some misery, remember Spurs still have Southampton and Sunderland at home... Chelsea have two games and 3 points in hand! Still mathematically possible but would likely need at least 7 points from our last 3 games, if not nine!

Let's start with 3 at Anfield next week.

We have no chance over turning the RS through carrying so many players

Fair doos to Pienaar though, he played great today and Mirallas in the last 30 minutes took them apart on his own, so you never know....

I'm starting to feel a bit sorry for Jelly. He is so far off-form he's worse than a passenger. We need to drop him and have a rethink about the forward line.

I agree that we need to get all points from what's left, but definitely three next week. Got a good feeling about Chelski too.

As Ross said above, the goal was worthy of Barca, the move in the 36th minute was outstanding, as was the second-half move when Mirallas tricked his way in the box. Sorry, nearly forgot the Barkley move, that one run alone convinced me, we may have a special talent.

I did not see it as complacent, they went for it right to the end.

Lovely afternoon, the only cloud, Spurs.

We can only afford to play one out-and-out forward next week, and it pains me to say that an average Anichebe shades an abject Jelavic in this regard.

Barkley certainly offers the X-Factor, along with Mirallas, so I see no shame in playing five across the middle next time out.

A quick word too on Jags and Distin. Their understanding is excellent, both individually and as a pair, they are undeniably the best combo we have in the centre of defence.

Finally, I thought both Seamus and Baines were excellent both going forward and defending today. Today we were solid if not unspectacular, and deserved a couple more.

I fear this could be the last season for a while in which we finish above them....

Looking at the games they have and we have left, am I the only one who thinks we will have to get something next week or they will finish above us?

They have got QPR, Fulham and us.

On what do you base that opinion? Hell's teeth — they're playing Newcastle!!!

Do me a favour!!

ps: Are you actually watching it?

Our final ball was poor and Osman was desperately slack at times. I like the guy and I'm happy to see him play most games, but after 60 minutes he is completely shattered. That challenge he made for his yellow card was horrible and totally down to him being physically unable to track back.

As for Jelavic - I don't think he was quite as bad as people are making out. His cross come shot was fucking hopeless but his touch looked a little better than it has. He did fall over an inordinate number of times though. Victor was practically vertical by comparison.

Jags and Distin were solid as always. They do scare me when they try pass it about at the back - but I thank them for not just hoofing it.

Baines and Pienaar looked as good as ever. Coleman and Mirallas again impressed. Although I did fill my trousers when Mirallas started taking players on inside his own area! He certainly has confidence.

Vital 3 points anyway and well played. On to the derby! COYB

I think we'll probably park the bus after their demolition of the Magpies, I never saw that coming, that goal by rat-face last week may still be of importance, unfortunately. If we fail to win next week, they'll probably finish above us.

I was quite looking forward to the derby at the final whistle as they wouldn't have Hannibal Lecter and we could potentially be 7 or 8 points ahead of them. It clearly seems that they don't miss him and if we lose we could be in serious danger of finishing behind them.

Sorry for being so negative, especially after we won, but if they win it just brings me right back down. I'll try to end on a positive note: COYB please don't bottle this one!

Personally, I think we will get a draw at the weekend, and I think we will beat West Ham, and that will be that with respect to securing our current position. I also fancy Liverpool to drop points against Fulham.

I fully expect to beat Liverpool and especially Chelsea. The RS haven't put two good displays together all season. Benitez wants the Uefa Cup. Let's win the last three and stuff the lot of them!!!

Thank you, Goodnight!

Next weekends game is a must win. If we win it we are guaranteed 6th or above and can put some of he ghosts of last seasons debacle to bed. The chances......? Hhhhmmmm....

COYB. Well done for doing he necessary today by the way.

Hope Gibbo is being wrapped in cotton wool, and that we start next week with something radical.

I'd go 4-2-3-1 with Mirallas up front and a fluid 3 behind him
TH (LB, SD, PJ, SC) (DG, MF) (BO, RB_SP) KM

Their grock centre-backs eat long balls all day; and they have big, strong fullbacks, but they aren't set up to deal with carpet football through the centre, and that's how we'll beat them. Not by hoofing it, which we will inevitably do if we play a big forward.

Its a great chance to burst their bubble and run them ragged, not to sit back and wait for them to do that to us.

I like the look of that team. Let's give it a go. What the hell have we got to lose?

COYB!!

More points on the board, more goals & (thus far!) significantly fewer defeats.

Last term we won 15, drew 11 & lost 12.

This season, 15 wins, 14 draws and only 6 losses.

Solid effort today & Barkley again showed some flashes.

I can't believe your suggesting playing Anichebe on the wing, he's been dreadful every time playing that position. Mirallas might be worth a shout playing down the middle, but I think Oviedo should be the man to play out wide. Can't see it happening though because Moyes doesn't seem to fancy him for some unknown reason

If anyone watched the first half, him and Pienaar were at the heart of it. He faded in the second half, just like the rest of the team, but who can we put on to replace him in centre mid?

Mirallas and Pienaar are our two best creative midfielders by an absolute mile, yet you want Oviedo to have a wing spot?

I think you underestimate Oviedo, he caused the RS plenty of problems in his brief cameo at Goodison earlier this season

Something is rotten in Denmark.

Bollocks.

I'm the first one to moan about his lack of pace and lack of stamina, but Osman is worthy of 45 minutes at least. He does create chances - as shown by the goal we scored today.

He certainly has his failings and I'm not opposed to him being replaced by Barkley...but he's not useless, as you are asserting.

Today was like so many other home games this season: totally dominating the play and only winning by one goal. Coleman was excellent again today has to first choice even if Hibbert is nearing full fitness.

He has a good length on his contract, so hanging on until Jan, or even next June is no big deal.

There is also the matter of who will be in charge next season, New man could equal a) big moves both out AND in...and / or; b) clean slates all round and extra effort by all and sundry, Jelly won't be the first to 'up it ' for a new coach.

You get different things from Osman and Barkley, both in the plus and minus columns and played in the more advanced MF role there is nothing to choose, overall...but Moyes will always go with Ossie for experience and Barkley won't get experience ithout playing...the Moyes Paradox in a nutshell.

Starting with the derby. COYB!

BTW where are all the usual posters tonight, it's like a ghost town, is there some end of season party that some of us weren't invited to?

If Osman is in the starting 11 v shite I fear that we will not get what we need. He has been awful for too many games on the trot. Wouldn't bat an eyelid if he left in the summer, but he won't. Bottles it in the big matches and he was nowhere today - esp. in the 2nd half - against a pile of shite.

2) But not to worry, many, many times I have seen teams who score a bagful one week have a drought the next

3) Can't score Vs won't score....got nil-nil all over it

That's not suggesting Vic or Jelly would be great in another setup, but that fixing the position isn't so easy given the setup ingrained in our club. The best bet might just be to hope for 10 a season out of Vic (or a new signing) and rely on goals from midfield.

COYB

Jelavic is just a tragedy. What happened to him?

Moyes out.

If I was Moyes, Id want to leave because some people expect amazing performances and 3-0 wins all the time! Pathetic.

And who cares about the shite? 6-0 wins or not, look at the table! Would you rather be in their position?

It's amazing how there can be so much moaning after a win, get a grip!

I said yesterday "When Pienaar plays well, we do." Let's hope he's on fire next week, we don't have to worry about Jagielka, Distin, Coleman, Fellaini & Baines, it's Mirallas and Pienaar who need to turn up.

Osman just confuses me – maybe Oviedo or Barkley should start and I think Anichebe can be a weapon (holding it up and turning). As for Jelavic – be great if he scored the winner but, on recent form, it's more likely to be our midfield that does the damage... therein lies the problem.

Nervous already – should be a cracking game. COYB

I don't want 3-0 wins ALL of the time; I just want 3-0 wins SOME of the time - I was at the game yesterday and as so often was worried as we went into the last ten minutes holding a one goal lead.

Says alot about how much Moyes has changed our expectations in the last decade when people are moaning because we only won by one goal!! I seem to remember when he arrived we also beat Fulham by one goal and that was considered a pretty epic result!

We dominated yesterday and if we had even a semi prolific striker would have won by a very healthy margin. As it was Fella missed a tap in, Swarzcher made some good saves and Jelavic looks like he'd be lucky to get a game for Aldershot at the moment.

OK, OK, you've convinced me. I'm just off to the bookies to put some money on a full time score of Chelsea 153, Swansea 0...

I also think it is interesting that there are only 78 comments after an Everton win...and many of those relate in some way to Liverpool. I wonder how many there would be if we had drawn or lost?

Now you're saying that "money won't always equal goals". Hmm [frowns in confusion] that's more complicated. I'll have to go away and think about it...

We should start to line up a striker ASAP, maybe we can pick someone up cheaply from one of the relegated teams, or consider a bid for Rhodes of Blackburn.

Hopefully the dark side scoring 6 won't affect our game plan next week, and we let them worry about us for a change.

I really hope Newcastle go down after Pardew's comments last season.

Can't understand why Moyes continues giving chances to this player, while Vellios has disappeared into the ether. Has Vellios upset Moyes in some way?

Osman should have been subbed at half-time and Anichebe at best was very average.

I think we already have a striker. We should play Mirallas up front, he can't be any worse than Jelavic or Anichebe. I do feel sorry for Jelavic though, he tries to do the right thing but his touch and confidence are badly letting him down.

Had a couple of more minutes injury time been played, then I think they could have easily conceded another four goals.

I'm not conceding that one..........

I'm only putting a fiver on it, so if it doesn't happen I haven't lost much. Given the long odds, though, If it does happen then I will be quids in.

I don't think that Jordan Rhodes would be the answer as you will get the same issues you get with Jelavic. We need someone with a genuine physical quality, be that power or pace; mixed in with guile to play up front on his own in this league. For me it would be Negredo.

On a smaller budget, I would not rule out Kone of Wigan either. Fortune does favour the brave and if you look at Countinho and Sturridge at Liverpool you can see them recovering to a top six position next year whilst we missed out on really pushing this year.

He upset me never mind Moyes.

It's outrageous, and an absolute disgrace.

I'd rather a tactic change... maybe play a more fluid 4-3-3 system. That's what Olympiakos played and Mirallas was playing on the left in that front 3.

But at the moment, Anichebe's our best option.

Someone like Loic Remy would be a good buy in the summer; I agree our strikers are certainly not top 6 standard at the moment.

But still, the level of moaning for a win is ridiculous. As a poster has said previously, if we lost or drew, the amount of comments on here would at least double. Just suggests what ToffeeWebbers prefer commenting on.

The recent poll on TW – which was up for two or three weeks, as I recall – saw a significant variation in the number of people wanting DM to stay next season according to what our results were, game by game. I found that oddly disturbing. Are we really that short sighted? Win a game and everything is rosy, lose and everything is wrong? We need to be a wider perspective than that.

We were good against Spurs but only drew. I only caught about 20 mins of yesterday's game, but from what I saw and what I've read, we were so-so yesterday but won (against a team we've beaten 20 times on the trot at Goodison). It's not all about the results – at least not isolated results. If DM were to consistently get results over the season, so we won something or qualified for the Champions League, then that would be different.

I guess we could put Coleman at RM but not sure if the derby is a game you'd bring a long-injured Hibbert back in. I certainly would not put Naismith or anichebe at RM....

Personally, I think the team that Moyes will play is pretty obvious. If Gibson is fit, then the only decision will be whether Anichebe or Jelavic plays up top with Osman, Gibson & Fellaini in the middle of a midfield five behind. I cannot see him starting Barkley from the off.

We are in trouble if we let Captain Marvellous and Co run at Osman and Gibson.

I understand the need to look at the wider perspective, I'm not finding it difficult at all. But your point is flawed by the majority who comment on the performance only when it's negative. The bigger picture isn't really looked at then, when we have a home draw or whatever, it's just how crap the performance is, Moyes needs to go etc, and then people defend him, then its the same old debate every week.

On that note, I was also very happy to see Barkley progressing. It would have been great if he could have converted his chance yesterday, but nevertheless he looks like he is getting closer to becoming a regular starter. Pienaar and Fellaini were both back on form yesterday, but against an admittedly very poor Fulham side.

I think we have fallen short for Europe, which is very frustrating as it's going to be around 3-6 points that would have made the difference. As already pointed out many times, the difference with our side is chance conversion, which IS something that comes down to money. The most consistent goal scorers are obviously those with the highest price tags. I think there might be some mileage in asking Mirallas to play up top, perhaps off Big Vic.

I also know what you mean about the same old debate, seemingly going round in circles. I tend to take little refresher breaks from TW. Otherwise I would go mental. (I mean, more mental than I already am.)

I'm afraid this will continue until Mr Moyes departs. Come to think of it, why isn't this ever talked about in the media at large? Headline: Everton need a new manager in order to refresh the debate on ToffeeWeb! It's something Lineker & Co never mention on MOTD, the divs.

Amongst the Top 10 Premier League goalscorers this season.

Michu £2 million
Ba £7 million
Benteke £7 million
Lambert £1 million
Lukaku £10 million

Lambert worked his way up and fair enough Michu was a bargain, which there are out there but will be interesting to see if his goal return is as high next season. Or will he suffer Jelavic syndrome?

Meanwhile you will notice that top of the scoring charts are two strikers who both cost £20M+.

I know it won't happen ( especially with the twatting owners we have) but if we got £25m for Fellaini, I would love to see Rooney back at Goodison.

He is reportedly worth £51m, so he doesn't exactly need the cash!

you both moved the goalposts to suit your arguments there.

The point I am trying to make is also involves another member of the Board, Jon Woods.

The club has to go cap in hand for bridging loans, at very high interest, and we are charged IRO £1.5m arrangement fees for the pleasure. Meanwhile two owners are worth approx £400m between them. They may as well be taking millions out of the club in wages, because they are standing by while we are pouring money down the drain.

It raises the question, why don't they underwrite these loans from mainstream lenders?

Yesterday's title was "Complacency after early Pienaar goal" which certainly described the malaise that set in for most of the half-hour after Pienaar scored, and things didn't really get that much better in the second half in which we again huffed and puffed to no real avail.

So now we have "Pienaar strike lifts Everton over Fulham"... Pretty facile and lacking in invention, if you ask me...

In fact, in a sense, it's the opposite of what happened during the game. Pienaar stuck...yes... and then Everton — far from 'lifting" themselves "over" anything — fell flat as a pancake for most of the first half and couldn't really raise their game after the break, despite some nicely constructed but ultimately ineffective forward play.

And I'm so confused over what's what these days with the international nature of t'Interweb... but isn't this "lift... over" business an Americanism? I don't think I've ever heard anyone use that expression in England.

As things stand, the sense is that we were lifted above Fulham by virtue of the goal, which is a rather cumbersome way of saying that we won. Lastly, I would never say "lift over" unless I was talking about an obstacle; I would say "lift above".

"Pienaar strike edges Blues win"

or

"Pienaar strike downs cozy Cottagers"

or

"Pienaar strike ices three precious points"

or

"Soporific Blues rely on Pienaar goal"

Maybe we need a poll after each game to find the most acceptable match thread title. Or the most Americanized. What think you, Dr Johnson? [See what I did there?]

Debatably....

Dan, 'the cap in hand, comment applies to the fact that the club were turned down by Barclays and Investec, so we had to look elsewhere. It doesn't take much working out that if we were turned down for credit at two banks, we were going to have to pay through the nose for this facility. The interest rates were never disclosed on the Vibrac loan, but the general consensus is we will be paying a rate of around 10%, plus the arrangement fee on top.

If Earl or Woods were prepared to act as guarantor, we would clearly have been granted credit from mainstream lenders, at more favourable rates.

This club tried to stop this article being published as you can see, now ask yourselves why they would want to stop this information being in the public domain?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/sep/19/everton-broadcast-income-mortgage

I'm equally disappointed to see it here.

He was pivotal in our goal and when someone needed to show leadership in the middle of the park, in the second half, it was Osman, not Felli, who stepped up.

Ok, he misssed a few tackles and misplaced a few passes but there is a fundamental misunderstanding of his qualities here. He is not Iniesta or Messi. If you want someone like that you have to be able to pay.

We should support our players and what they do, particularly our home grown lads, rather than moaning about who they aren't and what they can't do.