Koeman: We deserved the points

£60-70 million?

I sit in the directors box and spoke to someone close to big Dunc.

Apparently Ferguson was banned from dressing room by Martinez for tearing into the players. And during the cup semi-final, at half-time, Jagielka told Martinez that they weren't going to play his way in second half.

Top of the table tonight – Chelsea, Man Utd, The Mighty Blues, and Man City.

The big boys up there again – same old, same old.

I don't want to get ahead of myself but the next 3 league games are Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Bournemouth. I can sniff another 9 points if we can keep that going.

I once remember watching an episode of The Dragon's Den and this guy came on to ask if the dragons wanted to invest in a piece of plastic that you put at the end of your cucumber to stop it drying up. The dragon's were crying with hysterics that this man completely missed the point. He had over thought this problem and invented something that really didn't need inventing. They not only advised him that a cucumber was so cheap that we didn't mind chopping the dried edge to get to the better cucumber, and further advised him that all he had invented was a condom for a cucumber... ha ha.

Roberto Martinez is not only that inventor, over complicating something which in fact is best played in its simplest form, but he is also that cucumber condom too, badly covering up a team who's confidence was clearing eroded.

I used to laugh at Holgate's hair (like all youngsters that still have hair... :P), but he made it easy to cheer today! Easily my MotM along with Gueye/Gana. (What are we supposed to call him???)

Holgate – Who needs John Stones?
Barry – At his age, he was always going to fade, but class in the first half;
Gueye – Should we call him Kante... what a revelation, what a signing!
Stekelenburg – Who needs a new keeper?

And last but not least Koeman; like everyone else, I'm so impressed with his tactics and honest assessments. What I really like is the fact he's got players like Mirallas, who has been coasting for too long, working hard for the team.

On a final note about the Churchill quotes. If I remember my history correctly, the 'end of the beginning' speech was given in 1942 around the time the Allies finally began to fight back against the Nazis with the armaments that Churchill alludes to. In the spirit of that speech, maybe with Gueye, Williams, Bolasie, Stekelenburg and Koeman, we are at that same pivotal part of history where we can begin to fight back.

With a more contemporary ending:

The future is bright, the future is Royal Blue!

I had a season ticket in the Gwladys Street for many years... Row F173, when we had 60,000 regularly and watched Ball, Harvey, Kendall and my personal favourite, John Morrissey, for years.

Loved the penalty at Old Trafford when Jacky 'giraffe' Charlton had handled (sent us to Wembley). I just missed Roy Vernon, the deadly penalty king, but witnessed The Golden Vision, Alex Young in his final years.

Then Howard's Era needs no describing on here!!

I think I have seen it all from 22 ct gold to scrap iron – Gordon Lee.... only highlight was Andy King, a true blue. What happened to Mick Lyons??

Anyway the feelings are coming back. I'm 64 this year and let's all get behind Ronald. This man will bring back the golden days, I'd be confident.

He cleared everything in the box, got rid of the danger. No nonsense!

I'm pleased with the way we played and think Koeman is on the right track with our style and tempo but we still need to find a way to put these games away. It wasn't a million miles away from some of our performances at the start of last season. In fact, it was about 2 inches away.

It's great going to Goodison with no empty seats and enjoying the game which had faded under Martinez.

I can't see Goodison being a nice friendly place to come and knock the ball around this season. The lad from Villa is looking like a top signing for peanuts with every passing game. Still early and there's lots of improvements we can make but seven points without being close to our best is a nice start.

I would still go and get Hart tho... and Bony.

Successful teams don't rely on the run of the ball and refereeing decisions, even though we may have benefited from them yesterday in the penalty incident and Stoke hitting the bar. Even Mark (Happy) Hughes can't deny that the game stats backed up a deserving Everton victory.

The two incidents I mention would have less prominence in the write-ups if our forward play was more thoughtful and turned the ball in the box time into goals. I am even boring myself now by repeating that the best example of turning possession and potential chances into goals can be seen in the Germany 7 Brazil 1 game in the World Cup. There was not the gulf that the scoreline suggests, but German players passed to team mates in a better position and got the rewards. Brazilian players went for the tight angle shots when they had players in better positions.

If Jon Walters had been a bit more awake for Arnautovich's pass, then we would have been lamenting a game that slipped away. If Lukaku, Barkley and Kone had the same philosophy as Arnautovich and the Germans in 2014, then I believe that the Walters chance, Stoke hitting the bar, and the penalty arguments would not have been such big talking points. They need to change their thinking from personal glory to team success.

We're functioning increasingly like a team should, such that, even if someone like Lukaku doesn't score as much as he did in the past, it becomes less important if his overall contribution (touches on the ball, work off the ball, creating space for others because he's heavily marked) means the team as a whole scores more. That's the overall impression I'm getting, and the players seem happier for this new increasing cohesion. It certainly makes me happier.

Some people seem to prefer that approach.

Ernie, 24. In that parallel universe, the normally 8'15" Peter Crouch would only be 8'13", and therefore unable to acrobatically overhead kick the ball off his own line. Ryan Shawcross would be standing 2" more to the left, and couldn't clear Romlaks shot off the line. Given would have stubby fingers (approx. 2" shorter), and wouldn't have tipped Super Kev's fizzer over the bar, or kept Ross's left foot shot out. Two inches makes all the difference.

Sometimes you make your own luck, and RK is beating this team into the shape of a lucky team. Because the harder you train, the luckier you become.

Me, I'm excited about the future for us Blues. We're building our dreams on bricks and mortar, not quicksand. Enjoy the ride, despite an odd blip that will occur.