European Semi-Finals: 2nd Leg

Former Everton player Ademola Lookman.

Show us yer heels, lad!

Or is this going to be another exhibition of walking football?

Arsenal won. Who gives a fk!

See that there seems to be a lot of interest in this !

Personally, I am pleased a British club has reached the final. It's good for football in Britain. Obviously my thoughts might be different if it were a another club in the final. However, winning it will not be easy for Arsenal. And their fans will be a nightmare if they win it...

I watched the second half — did Lookman play or was he taken off?

Not being funny... I like Lookman and wish he was playing for us now.

I've just put the television on getting ready to hopefully watch a game that lives up to expectation and it has just shown the penalty that Bournemouth got on Saturday against Palace.

It's beyond a joke, they are making it up as they go along. Hopefully controversy isn't involved in deciding who gets to play Arsenal in the final in a few weeks time.

Fantastic start from PSG.

Just carrying on from last week!

Incredibly obvious penalty against PSG -- not given.

Bayern are rightly gonna go nuts here.

BBC 5 Live, they say if the ball is played by a defender onto the hand of a teammate, it cannot be a penalty? So only if it was played by an attacker onto the defender's hand, then it would be a penalty???

One for Mr Mike Gaynes, methinks?

I'm glad it wasn't given, Michael, because a clearance that is going away from the goal definitely isn't a penalty.

I could watch PSG play all night but they have put that much energy into the first 30 minutes, can they keep running all night? I think the next goal is crucial for both teams.

Tony,

A clearance that is going away from the goal definitely isn't a penalty.

You're just making shit up now, Tony.

I don't think Kvaratskhelia ever runs out of energy. Something about him is reminiscent of Kanchelskis at his very best.

The game wasn't as good as last week -- how could it be? But it was still a very open end-to-end game.

I couldn't believe the intensity of both teams right through to those riveting seconds after the German team had pulled a goal back on the aggregate score. I still wouldn't have been surprised if the game had gone to extra time.

Can the all-round game of the French team be too much for the spoiling, cheating and embarrassing tactics of the Arsenal squad? Or will the London team hold out and edge it on penalties?

I think it's VAR, that makes up the most shite, Michael, but you're not bad at it yourself sometimes mate.

I hope Arsenal win the final but for only one reason, our bitter cousins from across the park hate, well actually despise another English side winning the big one.

Other than that, I honestly think Arsenal won't lay a glove on them; they've got too much pace going forward and defensively, but as Dave said, they'll probably hold on defensively and play for penalties.

My view is: How can anyone deny this special PSG side another big one? Unless you support Liverpool because they hate everyone.

Hope PSG beat Arsenal.

A victory for football.

With you, John. Just had an Arsenal fan visit. First I've seen him since the Arsenal fade.

He was rather grateful for our effort vs City. I didn't have the nerve to tell him "do one".

Hope he at least bought you a beer, Dale.

I have had the privilege of watching both games of PSG and Bayern.

Bayern are a great team but that PSG are something else. They play football football!

Tony (6), that penalty decision was a travesty with the Bournemouth player being in no way, shape, or form disadvantaged by the goalkeeper brushing his foot. It wasn't even as if he were realistically in contention for the ball.

I agree with you on the feeling that, if a defender blasts a clearance away from goal that happens to strike a team-mate's hand / arm (in any position) the ‘handball' should be treated as accidental with no advantage gained and therefore not penalisable.

There always has to be room for common sense decisions.

Once you lose common-sense, you lose everything Si, and football has probably always been a reflection of the sign of the times.

"He had a right to go down" surely also means he could have stayed on his feet if he wanted or needed to and this is why watching football isn't as enjoyable as it used to be for me.

Stop cheating -- Moyes had a great chance to totally embarrass the linesman the other night because if it wasn't incompetence that he was showing when he put his flag up, then the alternative was downright corruption.

To those fans who say they don't want European footy next season because we're not ready, lighten up.

How exciting would it be if we're in this Europa League semi-final tonight? These are the sort of games you live for.

Mike, Arsenal fans talk, they don't buy.

I think he wanted me to compliment them. I could not get my mouth to form the words.

Go Palace!

Things getting interesting now with a great goal from Villa to make it 1-1.

Some excellent ball control from Buendia -- channeling his inner Ndiaye!

These are the sort of games we should aspire to play in. Fans sitting there, hand-wringing, worrying about squad size and the likes.

A huge opportunity could be missed this season to qualify for Europe.

Villa get a penalty for a shirt tug.

But we can't get a penalty when our player is chucked to the ground.

That's a penalty!

Villa have been way too aggressive for Forest all over the pitch and always look a much more fluent team without Onana.

You can see why Moyes wanted McGinn, because he has helped set the aggressive tone in a game which has looked like men against boys so far.

Well if we were in for McGinn there's no chance getting him now!

What a cool finish that was!

Unbelievable!

Two almost identical goals from McGinn inside 3 minutes.

McGinn would have been fucking awesome in our midfield, nasty hard old school midfielder and has a good eye for a goal.

Looks like two more English clubs are putting a European trophy on the table this season anyway.

Will Everton ever join the party, one wonders... Or will we every season just be happy to make baby steps and be thankful we've not been in a relegation battle?

We're in a perpetual cycle of 3-year transitional rebuilds for the last 40 years.

"McGinn, a Moyes type"...high praise indeed!

I remember when Villa came back up and they played Liverpool at Anfield. I spoke to a few different Villa fans that day and none of them gave a flying fuck for Liverpool, right down to cursing the atmosphere as nothing but a myth.

"We are Aston Villa, we are as good as anyone" -- that seemed to be their theme to me, so I'm absolutely delighted for those Villa fans tonight.

This was not long after they had been in the Championship, and look at them now, getting ready for a European Final.

If we keep demanding stability, then who knows... we might even get to a Conference League Final in the next few years.

If we begin to realise we have come through the darkest period in our history and come out the other side in a fantastic new stadium on the banks of the Royal Blue Mersey, and start demanding a lot more…. then who knows... we might even become the club we have been before?

Palace potentially having three trophies in 12 months.

Nuts!

Tony @32,

I've certainly accepted I'll never see us win the league again, but 1995 was so long ago, I now wonder if we will actually win any trophy again.

It looks like the Europa Conference League is our best bet, seeing as Spurs and West Ham have won it. Possibly Palace as well.

I will never stop believing, Joe, because history has shown that Everton can be as good as any other team in this country.

But sometimes I feel like I'm in, at best, a 15/20% minority.

Wish I had your faith, Tony.

At the moment, I'd settle for an attacking team that scores goals. If that happens, then things will look brighter.

Jim @31 - Totally agree.

Look at where Villa were 10 years ago, relegated to the Championship under Randy Lerner.

New owners came in and set the bar high. Gerrard came in and was out on his ear quick time. They went big with Emery and never looked back.

Will TFG do the same?? Not sure but the next appointment will tell us where their ambitions for this club lie.

If Villa win the Europa and finish 5th in the Premier League, then the team that finishes 6th goes into the Champions League!!!

Missed opportunity perhaps?

Kunal #39

Not sure Villa went "big" with Emery

He had been sacked by Arsenal...so his stock wasn't particularly high.

Everton also went "big" with Carlo... didn't work out so well.

Brendan, I take your point. However, the difference is Aston Villa had a plan with Emery and put together a side that could challenge.

Everton had no plan, DoF, the chairman, the owner all buying players. There was no plan or vision. A case of hit and hope.
Also Carlo managed players at the highest level pretty much everywhere he went, Emery won the Europa league with Villareal, so not really a comparison when it comes to players. To add, he wasn't given a fair chance at Arsenal either.

Edward @40. Absolutely.

I just wish Dyche had dragged us to safety and seen out the end of his contract in June 2025. Then, Moyes would never have been in contention for the new season and possibly have had a more progressive manager in the new stadium. But things did not turn out that way and Moyes came in as a fire-fighter and did enough to douse the flames and earn himself 2 more years as manager of Everton. But, it is unlikely that we will win anything under him, and then when the new manager comes in the summer of 2027, the 'rebuild' will start once again. I think this summer is a great opportunity for TFG to start the rebuild with possibly a high number of quality managers being available - Iraola (unlikely to join us), Glasner (possible), Eddie Howe (possible) and Thomas Frank even - (he did not become a bad manager overnight). I am becoming increasingly concerned about the deafening silence from the owners - they seem to be just happy to be in the PL and make up the numbers.

Those fans who want McGinn now are way behind the times, Alan Stubbs told those in charge of Everton at the time to sign the lad, when he playing Scotland, and could have been bought for around £3M, too late now when he would cost £20M but not that long left as a top class player.

Tony if we can improve on four more positions whilst keeping Ndiaye, KDH, Garner, Pickford, Branthwaite and O’Neil I think we can certainly push on and challenge for trophies and top 6.
That’s a big IF though.
Soucek and Stones, as examples, don’t move us forwards in my opinion

I'm not sure we could do both the way our current manager operates, Mark, but I'd love to be proved wrong.

My own belief is that, for a club like Everton, who are going through the most barren spell in our history, then any cup is worth a lot more than coming 6th.

There is obviously a lot more money to be made coming 6th rather than coming 12fth and winning either the League Cup or FA Cup. It would give us a little bit of glory, and stopping those dirty horrible kopites singing that most embarrassing of songs would surely be more important for 999 out of every 1,000 Evertonians than coming 6th?