Barry to miss visit of Swansea

Koeman is clueless. What is our style? Our attacking play isn't great.

A midfield of Barry, Barkley and Cleverley is a Championship set- up. Give some of the kids a chance or even Niasse can run and press for 90 minutes.

Niasse and Gueye have energy to close the ball down, that would be at least a start (working hard off the ball). Barry and Barkley run round the pitch looking like they have diving boots on, ffs!

It may force Koeman to play just one holding midfielder (Gueye) with a back four, and play with a more forward-thinking central midfielder (Tom Davies, anyone?) to be the link between defence and attack.

thank goodness for an international break next week. I can't remember the last time I've said that.

Let us, each and every one, steady ourselves accordingly.

Please name me what team in the top 10 would have Barry in the team? He looked all his 35 years today and watched the game go by and yet every blue thinks he's absolutely mustard.

Well, I don't... and the quicker he is benched and gives Tom Davies an opportunity, the better!

If this season really is just about surviving and getting to know which footballers are worthy of staying, then it must be time to give the youth a chance.

In saying that, we do need a new young and hungry spine to the team; the squad needs a complete overhaul. We've gone from a solid team under Moyes with a strong core with consistent performers to a mish-mash of over-the-hill decent pros and nearly men with talent but no backbone!

I hope and have a feeling there are big changes ahead; I'm just not sure if Ronald MacDonald is the man to do it!

I was sitting near the halfway line and watched Davies carefully, even when he didn't have the ball. He tried to assert himself and be positive, but no way is he a better option than Barry. Not yet. He isn't particularly quick and doesn't have Barry's reading of the game (how could he at such a young age?).

There were many problems yesterday. Barry was no worse than anyone else.

Something the team need to resolve with people wanting the ball and on their toes to receive it, if the pass isn't on keep moving for each other.

Easier said than done but as a team of 'internationals' you would think achieveable.

COYB onwards!!

However, it is true that a centre-midfielder of Barry's calibre but 8-10 years younger is a priority.

It's not Koeman's fault, he's inherited a spineless lot. No real quality keeper. An ageing defence. No Peter Reid in midfield who can grip the game. He has one quality striker in Lukaku. That's it really.

We need to keep faith with him but we're some way off and Schweinsteiger just shows you how Koeman is thinking. Keep the faith boys

The whole midfield has been pedestrian at best with only Gueye looking anything like a top six player. No movement, no pace, and no guile. As someone has already commented, Barry wouldn't get in any other top side, so why would/should he get in ours?

Yesterday's fiasco showed just how much work Koeman has got to do.

The axis of our team in recent months has been Barry & Gueye. I simply fail to understand why any manager (and all their assistants) who was paying attention would NOT take Barry off as soon as we went 4-0 down (if not even 3-0?)!

The game was well and truly lost and attention should be be turned to the next match. Especially when Barry is a niggly regular fouler who attracts a lot of cards anyway and especially when he's missing his partner and feels even more need to tackle hard.

So now we have yet another game to play without this key partnership. To be honest that's the sort of thing that Roberto did. Wake up, Everton bench!!!

The time has come for only one defensive midfielder especially at home. Young Davies deserves a run as a box to box player! Maybe in a 4-1-4-1 formation.

It seems that everyone is calling for Barry's head and Koeman's defensive tactics. It didn't work yesterday admittedly, but this is work in progress. If Koeman could offload the players not cutting it, the exit door would be revolving for some time to come. A lot are on borrowed time.

We are not a top 4 side and probably a couple of seasons away from even thinking of being one. Are we a top 6 side? not this season. Next season hopefully. However, the team that gets us into the top 6 are not currently regulars in the team.

A lot of changes to come in order to progress.

I am not picking on Cleverley but I don't know what kind of player he is; he isn't what I would call a defensive midfielder, he isn't a creative midfielder, not a great passer, not a great tackler, no pace or physicality to his game.

He has made a name for himself by being a youngster who came through at Man Utd and not by virtue of his abilities. It wasn't down to him yesterday but replacing Gana with him put a huge burden on Barry and at his age there was no way he was going to cope against Chelsea.

Another player who I don't understand is Kevin Mirallas. When he joined us, he was a wide striker who could also play through the middle. He had a goal threat and could go past a couple of players with some ease. Now he runs around a bit, looking like he is making an effort, but he doesn't tackle, doesn't attack defenders, his passing is largely inaccurate (the odd decent through ball aside), he doesn't get close enough to Lukaku to help him and doesn't get back enough to be of use to the full back.

Yesterday was disorganised chaos with players running around after the opposition and therefore allowing them to play around us. Why didn't we drop back off them a bit more rather than continually commit and be moved out of position? I accept they were bloody good and far better than us but surely if the team is set up properly, it is possible to contain them a bit more than we did... and not to have a proper shot in a game is disgraceful.

The RS will be licking their lips at the prospect of a derby fast approaching and we must get this sorted quickly or Christmas will be ruined!!

Something else: we are lumping the ball aimlessly forward from the back to an isolated Lukaku.

Things that are currently wrong in terms of playing and tactics:

Lennon, Oviedo, Mirallas, Gibson – injuries
Jagielka and Barry – age against speed
The Striker that could not score for West Ham.
Stekelenburg.
Koeman's tactics and coloured pens.
Bolasie's foot on top of the ball.
Deulofeu's hair cut and his feeling of being fantastic to look good on the ball.
Barkley slow at distribution, looking to be elegant with every pass.
Baines injuries and no decent replacement.
Passion.

This list could go on ...

I agree Davies should start, but Koeman for some reason loves Cleverley. What does he offer?

No doubt, caused by the mental and physical exertions of those 5 draining and combative years. Yet, today's modern midfield players appear to be going through the motions, so last longer into their 30s.

Unless the midfield is about defensive and offensive playing together as a single unit, there is no midfield, but a tactical blunder. Barry plays in front of the back 4, admirably, Gueye positions himself somewhere in the middle, closing the opposition down by himself, and Barkley goes foraging forward on his own. That was ripped apart by Chelsea yesterday, even though Gueye was not playing.

I do believe we need our own midfield 'magician' – the last one we had was Arteta – never replaced by Moyes, Martinez or Koeman strangely. Someone like: Mahrez, Mata, Coutinho, Ozil, Sanchez, Payet, Eriksen, Hazard, Silva – who can control the tempo of the game and orchestrate the play. We have been missing this player for far too long.

I was at the game, but didn't spot that.

Yesterday might well do us some good. At the very least it should stop all the bellends who, as soon as Koeman arrived and Moshiri bought into the club, started banging on about a top four finish. And the crap about the "best squad since the 1980s" has been seen to be way off the mark. A total clear out and rebuild is required and that won't happen overnight.

Barry may well have played well with Gana but he gets caught out for pace too often, hence the record number of yellow cards. He was way out of his depth yesterday, just so slow.

I think he has a lot to offer still this season but Koeman should be looking for a more athletic replacement, either from within or outside the club, if we are to move forward in the long term.

Howie eventually went to Birmingham, Stoke and then Blackburn and was the mainstay of all three midfields despite their lower status. We even re-signed him as a player from Rovers and should never have let him go in the first place.

Colin's career was terminated by injury but he and Howie were never able to recreate the magic of the Holy Trinity without Bally. Who could, given that the genius was "replaced" by Henry Newton and then Dave Clements?

Stekelenburg;
Coleman, Williams, Funes Mori, Baines (c);
Gueye, Davies;
Deulofeu, Barkley, Bolasie;
Lukaku.

Subs: Robles, Jagielka, Holgate, Cleverley, Lennon, Mirallas, Valencia.

Alternatively, we could do 3-4-2-1:

I personally feel this is our best team lin- up & formation with the players we have at the moment.

Stekelenburg;
Holgate, Williams, Funes Mori;
Coleman, Gueye, Davies, Baines (c);
Bolasie, Barkley;
Lukaku.

Subs: Robles, Jagielka, Cleverley, Lennon, Deulofeu, Mirallas, Valencia.

Holgate and Funes Mori are very well suited to 3 at the back, mobile, good on the ball, quick, etc. (unlike Jagielka).

This formation also allows Coleman & Baines (who is hopefully fit – I think we should definitely get a back up soon... Jordan Lukaku anyone?!?!) to bomb on down the wing & provide crosses. They are also very good defenders for fullbacks, which we have lacked in Oviedo.

The formation also allows Bolasie & Barkley freedom of the attacking third. They are able to move around, and be more like attacking, with slightly less defensive ability, in terms of tracking back.

Lukaku will have more support (from Barkley & Bolasie) and more opportunities (from Baines & Coleman working down the flanks).

And lastly, the great thing about this formation, is that it can be changed into a 4-2-3-1 with one substitute (Holgate off for Mirallas, for example).

Conclusion – he plays in the 75% but against top clubs we need to groom a replacement – hopefully Tom Davies will come to fulfil his undoubted potential – but we need to be patient.

I could never understand why he was sold, his form recovering at Arsenal. So we could have maintained the best midfield in the world at the time (even accounting for Brazil's), and in all likelihood prevented what was the effective end of an Everton era.

Don@37: Clements came in when Kendall was injured, and he was very good initially, filling in for Kendall surprisingly well, a tall order. Newton was also good initially, but his form ebbed off.