Oviedo and Kone to make long-awaited returns

Looking forward to seeing them both in action again come tomorrow, although doubt either will start.

Re Bolasie Robert. He pushed for a move from Bristol to Palace because he wanted to live in London.

I canÂ’t wait to have Oviedo back and playing left wing. What a boss player he was proving to be.

Of course I could be wrong and hope to be. However, a contributing member of our team and "second striker" that cost us so much and is on 40k a week (I’m speculating) could potentially have been the difference between 4th and 5th. Just saying.

Losing becomes a bad habit.

Regardless of where people view the League Cup there is no getting away from the fact that we need a positive result tonight.

Play a changed but not necessarily weakened team is my advice.

Start with a midfield of McGeady, Besic, Gibson, Atsu and play Naismith behind either Eto'o or Kone(if fit)

Bring on Lukaku if needed later on.

At the back give Hibbert the start with Distin partnering Stones and one of Garbutt or Oviedo left back, again depending on fitness or if he wants to be really brave, Leighton Baines.

What's up with Pienaar by the way??

We are Everton not Real Madrid, we can't afford to pick and choose which competitions we would like to win mate.

What's the point in throwing it tonight just to lose at Anfield anyway on Saturday?

This fucking team needs to start producing the goods, we have spent money and a whole summer bigging up our so-called "international performers" so let's see some action.

We froze when we had that one chance as favourites to get 4th in Arpril and the chances are we won't even get a sniff of it this season so games like tonight and the Europa League for that matter should NOT be brushed under the carpet.

Whoever gets selected tonight should be under firm pressure to perform.

Shows you what he thinks of this Cup.

If he does that, we can surely make six or seven changes (Make Osman, Stones & Howard play as punishment) and still have a decent chance of getting through.

Need them all fresh for the game on Saturday, especially as Sturridge will most probably make his return against us.

It's a competition that we have never won, one more year won't make that much of a difference

That's up to Swansea and Gary Monk.

If I was a Swansea fan I'd be pretty pissed off because I will bet when they won that Cup last year it was the best day most of them had ever witnessed.

I am only interested in Everton winning games and trying to win some bloody long overdue silverware.

Ok everyone would prefer the FA Cup but this League Cup competition is more do-able.

We need to get wins and start making some sense of this ridiculous defensive frailty.

I don't see how losing tonight and shipping more goals will help in the long run.

I'm not panicking just yet but my arse is developing a curious twitch, the EL should be nothing more than a side show as it's a joke of a competition we have no hope of winning.

He should go for broke in the PL and domestic comps if you ask me.

And this year, there is a CL spot up for grabs. In my view that is by far our most realistic chance of achieving that particular holy grail, far more chance than coming 4th this year.

The League Cup, however, should be for squad players otherwise what is the point of having them? That would even go for the FA Cup, to an extent, if we are still in the EL at that point.

Bayern Munich was probably the best game I ever saw Everton win, but for a fifteen year old boy, Rotterdam was and still is my favourite ever night as An Evertonian.

Everton Football Club, have not won a trophy for 20 years and people want us to play our reserves tonight.

I want my kids to see Everton win a cup, not come fifth or sixth in The Premier League!

The amount of games we have to play will take it's toll and we don't have the squad to cope end of, i'm being a realist here and he will have to prioritise one or the other, the EL is NOT! priority over the PL and never should be IMO.

What on earth has Stones done to deserve being treated in the same way as an inept goalie who cost us the game and the geezer who made the other great mistake of the weekend and was quite frankly utterly awful in the 2nd half and should have been subbed around Â’60?

So, what has Stones done to line up in your Â’unholy trinityÂ’? Being moved out of position by the gaffer in one of his increasingly incomprehensible decisions as the game dragged on?

I think most of us would settle for one season finishing mid-table in the PL, getting knocked out early on in the FA cup and league Cup if we went on and won the EL and thus qualified for the Champions league, plus the huge bonus of our first trophy in ages.

Trouble is, if all the above happen and we get beaten in just say a semi final of the Europa League, the season will be viewed as a disappointing one.

The Capital One cup is, as we all know, a Mickey Mouse thing... so the team selections will usually be made up of benchwarmers etc. Ergo, the results of these games really mean nothing in the grand scheme of things and the bigger clubs (Everton?) donÂ’t get serious until the semi-finals if they are still around.

Having said that, it is an opportunity for the managers to bring in players who have been injured and also blood some youngsters for the experience. It is, as we all agree, more important to have an injury free squad to pick from for the Premier League game ahead.

Still, I would like to see them win and progress rather than limp out – as so often has happened in this competition.

Anyway, there are favourites who need to be replaced and these cup games may unearth a hidden gem. We'll see. Surely Howard is not our future.

He was trying to be clever and hold off a player instead of clearing the ball, hence fuckwit Howard having to come across and do his fuckwit impression and give away a penalty.

Stones did exactly the same just before half time, where again he was brushed aside easily and the player got the ball.

It also looked like Howard shouted for the ball but was just late getting there.

IMO most referees wouldnt have given a pen for that as Howrd collected the ball and the CP player went over him but Michael Oliver has never been a good referee withus.

Let Howard play to try to regain some confidence, as for the rest - as someone above has said - give those on the fringe a chance to get match fit.

I don't care if Howard called, Stones knew where the Palace player was and wasn't strong enough to hold him off so should have put his laces through it and made sure.

That to me is basic defending.

We'll get the third placed teams from the groups and even that is not certain as we might avoid them in R32.

I don't think that will include anyone massively better than for example Wolfsburg, and we beat them handily.

Granted there will be a fair few better than Palace but if we play like that, not only will we not get out the EL group, we'll also be in the Championship next year.

Priority number 1 is to stay in the Premiership. I think top 4 is out the question now. I would much much sooner win the EL and come 16th than get nowhere in the EL, but finish 6th or 7th.

In other words I think the EL is important enough to ensure it is part of balanced priorities. Not because the EL is important in itself but because the real prize of CL is.

The other two competitions are for the squad players, certainly till the later stages.

We could well end up with Arsenal, Benfica, Liverpool, Athletico to name but a few.

I honestly feel that people who think we have a genuine chance of winning it are deluded but trust me, if we do I will eat more humble pie than anyone on here and will enjoy every single mouthful.

As a poster above said, who knows what to expect tonight?