On Joel, could it be that after 6-7 years of OFM's coaching staff, he's finally being professionally coached and trained by Lodwewijks?

Knew nothing about the guy, other than he came with Koeman. But Robles looks so much more improved; commanding even. Yes, it's up to any player to improve, Joel no different. I'm thinking that being around a professional coaching staff has a part in it.

On Funes Mori, perhaps his rough edges are being coached off. Third year in the league, for sure now a regular starter, it looks like he's growing into a fine defender.

James. Robles was a Martinez signing.

Maybe the soft Everton of a few weeks back kick that ball out, but with Rons new blue men (not blue boys), maybe this is another sign that we are getting the mentality he's after.

I could see us doing it, kicking the ball out and moaning at the ref as there player rolls around, our keeper being the closest player to him pushing his toes back to get him up, waiting for him to jog back into position.

This Everton side almost all had a kick while the Palace crowd all screamed for the ball yo be put out, none of them did it, none of them bat an eye!

We deserved to win, but you don't always get what you deserve in this league, but today we had the bottle to take what we deserved.

One of the things I liked was that we had the bottle to stick it out, we continued to keep playing the same way, we didn't change the formation as it was clear it was working, we just needed a little bit of luck.

13 points from the last 15 available, we can go places with a record like that, long may it continue.

Apologies for the misinterpretation James, I'm in the middle of a night shift and the old brains gone to mush...

And Coleman wasn't offside, having had the benefit of watching it in stop/go and freeze frame on MotD it's clear to see the furthest away defender was playing him on.

It is a position/artform which Guardiola does not appreciate, hence their league position, but one so necessary to a successful team. Well played, Joel.

He was cheating, pure and simple and when the ref ignored his cheating, he sat there with a titty lip, holding his toe.

He was 100% wrong

And Sam's response?

To slag the ref.

Desperate stuff from a fat narked wool with a head like an Easter Island statue.

Up the Toffees!

You are correct sir! Well done.

Officials aren't though. He's put a (illegitimate) chip down so in the next game he can use it to build on Palace being wronged and maybe - just maybe - once all those chips have been built up at a crucial moment with two games to go an official might think 'let it go, I'm not going to get called out on MOTD for that and besides it was borderline - if that '

Allaydyce works on percentages, strategies and formulas - and this is just part of the process. He will have completely forgotten us - he's got 16 more games with the officials.

Palace 0 Everton 1

Above all, though, we look for the first time in a long while like an emergent force. 2013-14 was very good but this side is starting to look a proper one. 12 months from now will be interesting.

The test though is to keep going week in, week out, again and again and again until we win something; and then to start all over, year after year after year. That's what we have to aim to establish: the hard habit of winning.

And in other news; Well done Agent Rooney, job done. Come on loan until the end of the season while we get a sponsor sorted to pay you.

I think your right,an emerging force is taking shape with this group of players & coaching staff. I was in no doubt today that we would eventually win, this 11 has a certain nounce about it,the weakness Martinez instilled may have finally been drained out of most of the squad,thank god.

Anyone who was willing to listen to me in the past two weeks, friends, workmates, family etc was that the Leicester game was the "watershed moment". Koeman drew a line in the sand & challenged every board member to match his ambitions or he will get to fuck at the end of the season, or the end of January.

With a summer transfer window bringing more investment into the squad, I believe we can challenge Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs & Man Utd next season.

We are only 5 points behind Man Utd now after a major transitional season!

Onwards & upwards Blue boys.

Kids and veterans are blending into a pretty good side.

Bring on Stoke!

Knew that but typed three anyway. Whoops.

Davies has added a level of energy and released Barkley from some of the defensive duties with exciting results.

Really pleased and feeling for a change a tad optimistic.

Davies and Holgate have a few errors in their game, (I guess a reflection of their slight over-confidence) but they certainly add an attacking dimension that you don't get from say McCarthy. Love to see Davies running straight at the other side's defense - they have less chance to double on Barkley.

Both Schneiderlin and Gueye shouldn't expect to walk into the team. It may take some time to find the best combination from Gueye, Schneiderlin, Davies, Barry, and even McCarthy.

If we do, I will start to believe. Meanwhile I will wait. Palace were shocking, Stoke will be a different challenge.

One more addition between now and the close of the window would be nice and we probably need to consider moving on a central midfielder, most likely McCarthy or Besic.

So what does Gueye do ? I really like him and have no doubt he would work hard - especially on his passing and shooting. So when it is his time again, he is better and we improve again..

Whilst I am chuntering on, yesterday, just after he came on, Schneiderlin tried a through ball between their centre halves. It didn't go out wide but in his mind it was a chance to go straight through their back line. Cannot remember who it was to and it didn't quite work but it really pleased me. A defensive midfielder with an eye for attack and opportunity.

So he can do that. Davies can do that. McCarthy was even showing signs of looking forward before injury. And Ross can run straight at a defence.

Maybe, just maybe, we can stop talking about defensive midfielders" soon and talk about our midfield. A midfield that can defend and attack by playing it out wide or through the middle.

Now then it gets really exciting.

I'm especially pleased that all those calling for Koeman to be sacked just a few weeks ago can go back in their boxes. We may go on a shite run sometime in the future which would justify a sacking but how anyone can call for a manager to be sacked after less than half a season and one transfer window is beyond me, especially when we were 7th!

He needed/needs time to get his message across and more importantly to bring in quality players and get rid of the numerous crap buys Martinez left us with. We have a world renowned name as manager (first time in decades) and this kudos will bring in bigger names.

Times are looking up (finally) after the decade of Moyes and debacle of Martinez. Better players, tactics and a new stadium on the horizon - what's not to like.

I really think we've got a chance of top 6, if not better. Take out Zlatan, de Gea and Pogba and manu are a very very average side. City can't defend (still pissing myself they paid £47.5m for Stones. I remember a lot of people here thought that was cheap!). We won't finish ahead of Chelsea, Arsenal and probably spurs. RS is a lottery as they blow hot and cold and Klopp is a class manager. I think we'll finish above one of city, manu or the RS.

(We'll just have to ignore the dodgy Russian money. If you can't beat'em, join'em.)

I am pro Koeman but everybody on this site is entitled to an opinion and that's what makes ToffeeWeb and Everton unique.

Please don't take this as criticism. I think we all know how frustrating Everton can be.

On Allardyce, the ref played to the rules; why do people still insist it's right to kick the ball out just because a player is down? That went seasons ago. Also they tried to con the ref so we're effectively cheating. Check out the pictures on BBC; the player was off the pitch initially so out of play. Looks like they moved him on the pitch to stop the game. Honourable Sam, just honourable.

For me, the trick is to be cautiously optimistic when there's evidence to be so. The last two games have, finally, revealed effective organisation and tactics, which has (IMO) enabled the 'pressing' game (that Koeman wants) to be apparent. And of course finally giving the younger players their chance to shine enables their energy to contribute to the pressing game.

So long as momentum is maintained, then there will be increasing confidence that Koeman is getting it right, that we can compete consistently at a decent level.

What has he done of late to justify this tag?

He finished 7th in his last season with Dortmund and 8th last season with the shite. He has lost the last 5 finals he has managed in.

I can't stand the way that he is eulogised as some sort of genius and everyone fauns around over his theatrics on the sidelines. I could tell that the shite needed to sort out their defence but he has done nothing about it.

I believe our squad has at least as much quality as Liverpool's, in fact more in my view. I always held the view that WE DO have an unusually talented squad when you look over the last two or so decades, and could never take seriously the 'ship them out, we need a complete overhaul' mantra. Finally, it looks, with the evidence of the last two games, that Koeman is managing to get good stuff from a decent squad made stronger with his signings.

So I have every reason to think that getting a top-4 position is readily achievable, so long as we take one game at a time, and aim to win every game, never to draw, always to win. We have the talent, just need to sustain the organisation of it, plus the commitment and belief that we can beat anybody.

Many on here would have loved it if we had brought him in as manager and a lot, myself included, were gutted he went to the other side. I'm pretty sure had he joined any other club in the UK, there would not be the same level of animosity shown by some here. Just because he's the Liverpool manager doesn't mean he's not a good manager.

All opinions but his medals speak for themselves.

Koeman deserves a lot of praise for this, because for so long it looked as if Barkley's talent was available only on the drip, but with Davies linking with him, so effectively, the tap has been opened, not quite to perfection, just yet, but boy does it have promise.

Of course as Evertonians, we won't get too carried away after years of endless disappointments, we know better, but there is a wave of optimism washing over us, so let's enjoy every minute of it.

I can't stand the media love-in with him where they deify him as a super-coach when he isn't. It is linked to the same media love-in of Liverpool and the insistence that they are still a top club when again they aren't.

So, maybe if he wasn't at Liverpool, I'd have more time for him but the two things are inter-linked. However, I go back to my point that I can see that their defence needs over-hauling, why can't he?

The second half against Sevilla was a prime example. They took the ball and ran circles around them. A game the media has conveniently forgotten.

I also can't stand the cameramans obsession with this clown and his touch line antics. They spend more time focussing on him than the game.

That aside,what a great start to 2017 for the Blues. I can't help thinking there's bigger things on the way. For the first time in decades, there is a real buzz around.
COYB!

I totally agree with both assessments of Klopp. Me & our kid call it the "wankfest" he receives on a daily basis off the media.

The bias shown to both club & manager is quite toe curling, especially from BT sport were they happen to be live on a weekly basis.

I don't mind the bloke at all but the way he is portrayed by the media & RS fans as some kind of messiah,makes me want to throw up!

I thought Robles was excellent in both City and Palace games, and I think Stek would be very fortunate to dislodge Robles now.

Robles only weakness this season has been that his distribution is a bit suspect at times. He deserves his chance now, and I'd rather see us ensure that we have another attacking option in midfield and critically another top level centre-back (or two).

After many years of great service, Jags is done at Everton as a starter, and Funes Mori, although improved against Palace - mainly by not trying to be a playmaker! - still gives me the jitters and I still haven't forgotten that embarrassing / horrific tackle against the RS; we don't need that at Everton, ultimately it loses games and titles. Maybe FM can fix his adventurous spirit and his suspect temperament. Williams is a good two-year solution, then he will need to be replaced / become a sub.

We also need a long-term solution to replace Baines, not just yet mind, but preferably by next season. Maybe some of the young guns can fill these roles and save us some money, and we'd all love to see some of Galloway, Browning, Pennington and Kenny or even Garbutt or others TBD start to play an important role.

On Sunday, I ended up going (unplanned) to the Chelsea vs. Hull game, with a mate who is a 30+ year season ticket holder who's cousin could not go. I wanted to see what a modern title challenger looks like; frankly we're only a couple of players short of team to challenge for top four and if we can get there, we'll need to kick on again from there to think about winning important things.

Chelsea's little spaniard was fantastic when he came on, we could use someone like that as an alternative / complement to Barkley. Having said that, Barkley was the most influential I have seen him against Palace, and I hope he can continue what appears to be strong development lately under Koeman.

In contrast, Niasse was pretty bad when he came on for Chelsea, and one shot was truly embarrassing for any professional footballer, never mind a striker. I would add the that the left sided #5 Maguire was excellent for Hull - he really caught the eye of me and my Chelsea mates; if Maguire could do that every week he might be worth sniffing around if Hull get relegated (or even if they don't). He's almost 24.

I return to the states on Friday, happy with what I saw and yet a little sad to not be able to keep going to the match: back to 6.30am & 9.00am kick offs - better than for our fans in Oz , I know - and trying not to wake the wife and kids WHEN we score. The future is bright, the future is blue (not orange ...). Maybe I should do a Kickstarter for me to keep coming over for the games more often ;-)

Julian Wait (#57): "Niasse was pretty bad when he came on for Chelsea, and one shot was truly embarrassing for any professional footballer, never mind a striker."

Conte sees something in Niasse. Add him to the embarrasingly long list of ones we let go away.