And Kevin Moran!

Got back to Portsmouth, where I was studying, on the Thursday evening. One sleep, then to London for Cup Final weekend. A great week!

We were in the hotel bar till 3am, singing our heads off.

Yep, one of three ESCLA buses. The morning after that great night.

Post you in another country.

Back row standing, five from the left. Longer hair in those days!

Good luck with that one!

You can propose him all you like. A no from me, and I'm sure a no ftom him too.

Ancelotti would have been great with these owners' deep pockets. Plenty of 'progressive' coaches have recently floundered and been sacked in this league. Only Iraola & Glasner could be regarded as successful.

We've lacked nous and recruited haphazardly. The owners initial job was to save & stabilise the business, which they're doing. The question is how quickly can the business invest well enough in new manager/staff/players. I hope they're speaking with Iraola. I suspect he'll be heading back to Spain.

How do we know we're not pursuing him? And would he want to come?

Like.......?

Yes, I'd start him cutting in from the wing. Only one way to find out how good he is.

Barry has the look of a man who knows it's not going to happen for him at Everton.

I think you're right, John. Three big (for us) money buys that aren't starting games is either puzzling and/or an indictment of our recruitment.

I'd start him and give him 45/60 mins. Why Rohl has been disappeared after that Villa game puzzles me.

We looked tired. Barry & George were anonymous. Nothing was stcking up top. Could Rohl & Alcaraz provided more energy? Possibly. We'll never know. I'd gove Graham a try cutting in from the flank. At last he wants to be an Everton player.

Well on top for 30 mins. The missed chances, disallowed goal and their goal deflated us. Got back in the game and the two attacking subs were dreadfully anonymous. Not down to him today.

Not this time.

I'd say that could be the end of Barry after that. Moyes is determined not to try anything different up front.

Fair points. They looked very ordinary. We ran out of gas and had two forward subs who were shamefully anonymous. And they nicked it from a cotbet.

Because their vastly more expensive team was slightly less mediocre than ours

I'm not sure the players could have done much more, other than being better than they actually are. While we have a midtable squad, players often look 'better' until they end up on the pitch.

We looked knackered and Barry & George were anonymous, possibly indicating Moyes sticking to the same eleven and his reluctance to switch things?

🙂🙂🙂🙂

Is that upper tier behind the left hand goal closed off for some reason?

Exactly. A midtable squad missing quality in key areas. That shows itself in the bigger games. The better players are more consistent. The better-run clubs have deeper squads.

Apart from Barry & George, the attitude was fine. I thought we'd run out of gas, knew we had nothing upfront and were playing out for the draw. Then Tarky lost VVD for the goal.

We ran out of gas, ended with nothing up front. Barry & George were anonymous. Poor defending for the corner.

Sad but true.