Mykolenko and Ukraine take big step towards World Cup

Amid war and upheaval, Ukraine is on an improbable World Cup quest

First they will have to beat Scotland on Wednesday.

It's unfortunate they must go through Scotland (my mother's homeland) who haven't been to the World Cup since 1998. This is one where I can't actively root against either side but for very different reasons…

And well in to the partisan Scottish fans, applauding the Ukrainians and some of them singing along with their anthem.

Too bad our lad Patterson is out injured. He and Mykolenko would have been having a helluva duel out there on the far touchline. As they no doubt have many times in training.

Ukraine dominating. 0-1 at HT.

Should make it into a good contest – unless the Scots have agreed to 'fix' this one...

Vitalii Mykolenko could help Everton make major summer signing

If he wants regular football, it's a Yes from me.

He's also on a very friendly contract -- two more years to run on a salary of only £20k/month -- but would a Premier League Champion transfer this far down the table at age 25?

Talking about young players, when Patterson is fit along with Mykolenko, we could end up with the 2 best young backs in the league.

Bad play from the keeper gives Scotland a goal.

Rich drama, and no match-fixing, Ukraine were superb. Scotland were crap.

The better team won.

I know this is awful to say, but I want Wales to beat Ukraine. I do not want the USA having to play Ukraine in the group stages. Ukraine will be a beast if they make it in as they'll be pumped with such emotion.

I don't want Ukraine in America's group, fairy tale / cosmic justice be damned.

Zinchenko was brilliant tonight, he'd be perfect for us. Won't happen of course, but you can dream.

I'd be surprised if Zinchenko joined us – very pleased as he is a proper footballer who can play in several positions – but certainly surprised as I expect he would have quite a few Champions League teams interested.

On the other hand, he's not ‘first pick' at Man City so maybe Frank has asked Mykolenko to have a word?

Wonder what his transfer fee would be?

But my god, their goalie was like Daffy Duck, flapping at everything. Even some of his short kicks to his defenders were ending up at the feet of a Scottish player.

Big big miss by John McGinn which, had he scored, would have given Scotland a lot more time in their search for an equaliser.

Cymru am Byth.

At the end of the Champions League final, the Real Madrid team and coaches made two lines and the Shite players walked between on their way to get their loser's medals. One person from their squad approached Ancelotti and congratulated him. It was Andrew Robertson.

Remember the name – I think he's going straight to the top quickly!

On form they should, but Wales may run them closer than Scotland.

We all know who has the sympathy vote - and rightly so.

Isn't there enough mention of these utter shysters all over the sports pages wherever else you look on the internet already? Why do you have to sully our pristine kopite-free corner of t'interweb with this shit???

If you really hate them as much as you claim, why keep talking about them? That's the bit I don't get...

That has put me in a really foul mood this lovely Jubbly morning. Thanks.

I understand how much the Ukrainian people are suffering at the hands of Russia and so the sympathy vote but you can't get that sort of vote in sport or there is no point in having the competitions, just give them the cups and the medals and leave the rest of the participants to applaud them.

Michael, I believe it is a symptom of the conditioning in the media.

Some avoid the non-Everton related media, some don't. Those who don't, have them lot rammed down their throat in most articles. It's an infectious Disease.

Talking of annoyances. Our own blue histrionics covering past glories from the 60's and 80's push my buttons. I don't find them relevant at all. I find them boring and a little bit Kenwrightesque. Weeping about how we were once great.

I get the nostalgia and the hope for a return, but it won't happen and if it does it'll be different next time around as it will be against greater odds than in the past.

Anyway, thanks for a cracking site. It's helped in the past through a fair few physical and mental health situations and is a great form of escape (into a different kind of misery).

Thank you!

And I empathise somewhat with you, Winston, when it comes to overly dwelling on the nostalgia for past glories. It's understandable but, if I've read it once, I've read it a hundred times on here. Still, not something I would dream of asking people to stop doing – heck, it's the only thing keeping some of our elderly folk going!

I don't include articles with a historical theme or content in that broad category of 'nostalgia' – they are often of the highest quality and very informative.

That's something else that irks me... repetition. But I may have said that before.

As long as you don't live in the past. Respect history but don't live in it. Continue to make history. That's what our Evertonian forefathers done that gives us the memories we cling to and want to repeat for the next generations.

I'm proud of what our 80s side done and was fortunate to witness it first hand. I will talk about Kevin Sheedy all day to anyone willing to listen, just as my dad's generation did about the Angel Gabriel, Brian Labone, Alex Young and the Holy Trinity.

But I always look forward. That's why next season we move on from this one and look to Wembley and European qualification.

Pleased for Mykolenko. A tough start for him and some prejudged him after a game or two. I thought he really settled in and looks a good solid, traditional full back for those who prefer that. And still very young so still room for development.

I agree, the nostalgia threads are a great read. It's the relevance of looking back where it usually falls down for me.

Danny,

I don't recommend censoring people, and I have no problem at all with the reference to former players when relevant.

It's more when a nice current topic thread escalates into a trip down memory lane. I constantly question the relevance and how it applies to today.

For example, when talking about possible signings and Reid, Gray etc are mentioned about signings pushing us into being contenders again. It's not relevant in my eyes, as if those players were signed today, they'd be too slow and not have enough endurance and stamina. Times have moved on..

On a literal level, it is patently ridiculous. These players are old, retired or dead. Why even think they could do anything?

The idea of them boosting the current side "when in their prime" also fails as a meaningful suggestion. They are not, even by some astounding miracle, going to magically reappear as they were – it's just not a meaningful scenario.

That leaves us with a wistful memory, an invocation of past glories and deeply felt emotions that could somehow embolden the current side... sorry but how does that even work?

No, as Danny says, the past is the past, it's never coming back, no matter how much we pine for it. It's gone and as a football club, we must always be looking forward because that is what we can influence, what we can change – by choosing new players who are their own individual personalities and skillsets that are more than complementary to the construction of a better team that can challenge for future honours.

Of course they would be exactly as you describe them, but if the words, "Players like Peter Reid and Andy Gray" were inserted, it would make perfect sense, because they would be today's players with the necessary levels of pace and stamina. You are correct in saying that times have moved on, and I have no doubt that the same words will be spoken, when Ronaldo and Messi are no longer playing.

Move on, get past it. Look forward. And show some respect to the new individual talents and personalities of the players we do have, or will have in the future, rather than indulging in this ridiculous comparative substitution lark that has no place in the game going forward.

There's far far too much of this backwards-looking nonsense with this club and it gets us absolutely nothing and absolutely nowhere.

The United States of America.

No disrespect to some of the Welsh folk here, but under the circumstances I'd MUCH rather play Wales.

In this sense, when we consider past players like Peter Reid, or Alan Ball, we do so in terms of the attributes they showed in their time, and project such attributes onto the present and future, whilst being aware that the requirements on such players in terms of training today would be different from the requirements in terms of training then.

Rather than ‘living in the past', such an exercise augments our experience of living in the present and our anticipations of what might lie in the future. It is a natural process that is both unavoidable and useful.

Those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat its mistakes, first as tragedy and then as farce. Surely football is one game where the past is a very good reference for the present and the future?

Am I right in assuming that I am not alone?