Roberto's timing and use of subs were a bit too Moyes-like. Both of them see something in Osman that baffles me.

In the second half, Newcastle were easily dominating in the midfield and with a smidgen of luck could have won. At the 60-minute stage, Leon loses his edge and that's when he should be subbed. Alternatively, that is when he could be used as a super sub.

I think to strike a balance, you should watch some footage of the Walter Smith era whilst sticking pins in your eyes so you get an idea of what we've been through.

Unbeaten in the league since you started following the mighty blues.though fella, so please don't stop watching. You are obviously a lucky charm!

So how refreshing to see us go out and try to add to the score sheet after half time, although still an anxious end to the game, especially with all the mistakes we made.

Thinking forward to Saturday, if Gibson is fit he'll slip nicely into the Barry Role, as Barry did himself to the Gibson role.

Finally, we have a real squad to choose from, one that has genuine starters and competition for places rather than those sitting on the bench, never a hope of getting a game.

Just to go off topic, we've gone from 20/1 at the start of the season, to 7/1 now, to finish in the top 4, some change that!
I was joking with Kevin Tully pre season that we had no chance of a top 4 finish, its still a tall order but its looking like its a possibility!

We were 22/1 for top 4 before the Chelsea game, then 12/1 last night, now as you say they've lopped us down to 7/1.

A top 6 finish has come in to 9/4 from 6/1.

Afraid not - imagine this, if you will, lining up against the red shite.

Steve Simonsen;
Mirch Ward, Carl Tiler, Marc Hottiger, Earl Barrett;
Claus Thomsen, Nicolas Alexandersson, Danny Williamson, John Oster;
Ibrahim Bakayoko, Michael Branch.

I'm just glad internet streams were not available back in the day, it was painful enough watching teletext reload every 2 minutes.

Branch's nickname was jigsaw because he went to pieces in the box, maybe we should pass that moniker onto Jelavic.

Bakayoko I have a soft spot for, as whenever I played league manager, on playstation, someone always came in and paid millions for him allowing me to rebuild.

Allow me to add Brett Angell to the subs bench please.

I think it was Stuart Barlow who first earned the sobriquet 'Jigsaw'.

As for Earl Barrett, we never saw the best of him at Everton. Bought by Joe Royle who had managed him previously at Oldham, he suffered a re-occurring knee injury which he played with for most of the time with us.

In his prime at Villa and Oldham he was a decent full back, strong and combative. Good enough in fact to earn three England caps.

When he played for us coincided with both my children being born and being a Chef meant long weekends working at that time. I even had tickets for the 1995 FA Cup Final and couldn't get time off. Sold them to a southern Manc — he had a great time with us!!!

Osman finally came back to life in this game, he had his best game so far this season.

Lukaku is our king, noone gets close to what he gives us.

I hope that at least Kone can find some form during the season, as Jelavic is a total mess.
I would pinpoint one negative thing, we seem to have less match fitness throughout the squad then when Moyes was here.

So it will take a bit longer for players such as Gibson, Kone, Pienaar and Mirallas to hit peak.

I can see a big difference in the lack of top fitness in this squad compared to Moyes era.

However, it is the results that matter, and if we can come away from Ethiad with at least a point I will be very happy.

I fear we will be crushed at Ethiad, citing the lack of 100% fit first team players.
The defence still shows rustyness despite being six games into the season.

I think we looked tired in the second half, and I think we will get punished against City, but I hope Lukaku can save us at east a point.

Too many soft goals conceded this far, I just think the whole squad needs at least 2-3 games before we can say they are properly top fit to handle a long season with very tough games.

As Barry is not able to play I fear Gibson will take his place, but as we all saw he is so far from match fit as can be.

As they say, now comes the acid test against Manchester City.

Earl the "Pearl" Barrett. Very quick. Could tackle like Tony Hibbert but could only dream of being able to pass and control the ball half as well as Tony. The fact that he had 3 England caps in the early 90s gives the lie to the foreigners in the Premier League being the cause of lack of decent English players. The cause is much deeper than that.

But you are right - a shocking team - no wonder we struggled to win a game back then,

Started off seeing plenty of the ball and made a few neat and tidy passes but none of them really damaging. Around the 30-mins mark, Osman was involved in some neat and tidy build-up play, none of it damaging; he got caught out and left his defender exposed at times as he got drawn more central. On the whole, a decent (but nothing special) 45 minutes.

Second half... erm, Ozzie, where are you, mate? Leon was absolutely goosed by 50 minutes and never did a thing apart from go too far forward and leave gaps. Around the 60-65-minute mark, you know Osman is totally shot when he keeps falling over or getting brushed easily off the ball. By 70 minutes, he totally faded and you would think he had gone home. Watch the replay and tell me I am wrong.

In my book, if a player stays on the pitch for the full 90 mins, he must perform for the full 90 mins to have had a good game. PLEASE stop defending Osman as he is a liability and has been for years. He went walkies on Monday night and he can no way last for a full shift – any more now than he could do in that disastrous FA Cup Final in 2009. Osman hasn't got any better or stronger with age, believe me.