Just when things were looking up

By the way, McGeady was more than noticeable... he was brilliant. Skated through the middle of Arsenal's defense with a Maradona turn and delivered a surgical through ball for Preston's goal. Then minutes later had a brilliant interception and another perfect through ball for what coulda/shoulda been a second goal and perhaps a memorable upset.

Not advocating his return but he certainly has added to his transfer value with his Preston performances, especially this one.

He, like Naismith (yes, he tries) are both at their level – not in the Premier League.

22 years of failure on and off the pitch with one or two spells of "punching above our weight" under Moyes and Martinez (first season) raising false expectations in his first season.

This is basically a third season of mediocrity and so-called 'star players' (best squads in 30 years, my arse) who continue to underperform.

The manger has been far from blameless but you do need to now start questioning the hunger of the players and if we have any players there anymore who are actually hurt when we lose.

Too many times we've failed and the worst mistakes you can make are when you never learn from previous mistakes.

Something drastically is wrong with this club when it comes to making signings, they can never be done quickly, always for some reason protracted. We have money now so pay the bleeding £3 or 4 million extra for Schneiderlin and stop being penny pinchers.

The one thing I hope for when Moshiri takes full control of the club is that he appoints a proper board. Kenwright should become an ambassador of the club, just like Aston Villa did with Doug Ellis, and Elstone should be given his P45.

Agree with your comments about Deulofeu. To continue the Germanic theme, Hitler is reported to have said that the only thing reliable about the Italians was their unreliability.

I am increasingly uneasy about our manager's inability to get the best out of what he has got. I feel that energy could be put into other areas, rather than criticising others and demanding that money is spent.

I'm not convinced by any area of the team and feel its going to take years and £250 million minimum to build a squad capable of challenging for the top 4.

Look it up on Wikipedia and you'll see McGeady and Ribery mentioned as the game's most prominent practitioners today. Of course Ribery has a few other things going for him, which McGeady doesn't.

Danny (#10), the question is "Who is going to bring us an extra 4-5 million in transfer fees who wasn't worth bottle caps a few months ago?"

I saw the PNE game on TV also and thought McGeady was brilliant a couple of times and mostly anonymous the rest. That was an excellent game with PNE very disciplined and pretty creative all at the same time.

I was very much impressed with the midfielder, Pearson, the young lad up front who seemed to be twins, since he was everywhere, the GK, and that giant striker they brought in at the end, who could actually move pretty well and had a few tricks.

Still don't want McGeady back though, but I can see what others have seen in him. That game is why I love the FA Cup, and then there is Everton's game....

That run by McGeady, setting up the goal though, WOW!

Transfers take time. January is difficult. Now that our season is over, I'd personally rather use the rest of the season to plan who we want to sell and get everything sorted for the summer.

£4m is a lot of money – it could probably pay two first team players wages for a season, could get you half an "Idrissa Gueye" so not to be sniffed at.

Also, we have put ourselves in an awful negotiating position (ironically the people who will probably benefit most are the players on the books who have put us in it as it'll be more difficult to replace them) and if we are seen to be throwing money at the situation every other club will want their premiums too, especially in January.

So, as much as I'm desperate to see lots of new faces NOW I think your view, Paul, is the sensible one, probably the only realistic one and perhaps the one which in the long term will bear the most fruit.

On the other side of the coin, I'm with Kunal – in today's world if there's a player you really want, who you've worked with before so you know what you're getting, is available in January to buy and wants to come to you, don't spoil the ship for a ha'penny of tar, cough up the 20% "tax" and get it done before you miss the boat.

I think its a case of mixing it up a bit – plan meticulously for the long term but, when opportunity knocks, you've got to strike while the irons hot – even if it does carry a bit of a sting with it.

Koeman basically wants to throw money at the problem. Dennis Stevens on another thread wonders if Koeman is preparing the ground for his departure and I think he's got a valid point.

If Koeman can claim he wasn't supported in his ambition, then he can quickly claim the problems at Everton were endemic and not his fault. He has never seemed happy to be the manager of our club. He was seduced by a big salary and perhaps promises of a much larger transfer kitty than he actually has.

He has never seemed willing to work with the players he has and to tailor the game plan to those players he has, rather than the players he wishes he had.

I suspect Koeman was frustrated by the faffing about in the last window but kept his counsel at least publicly. You couldn't hold Walsh responsible for that stuff, but the usual suspects did their usual amateurish job and we ended up with what we ended up with.

He is now seeing history repeating itself so he is getting his views out there now. Not one Evertonian who understands anything will be surprised at what is currently (not) happening. It is hard wired into our low expectations now.

I don't think his problem is with Walsh, it is a case of the new brooms being frustrated by the old crappy way of going about things.

What is very surprising is that a man who gives every impression of being astute and professional is tolerating the likes of Kenwright and Elstone and seemingly being influenced by them.

If there is to be some sort of crisis, it will be triggered by what goes on this month and I, for one, hope it leads to cleaning out the stables once and for all.

I don't want the coaching team wasting their time working with a player that will not be here next season. Get the deals done asap, get the new faces in, and get the message through to the whole lot of them. If we delay till summer, after they have all had their hols the onus will be on getting them all match fit, never mind bedding-in new players.

Pre-Moshiri, we arguably needed to haggle over a couple of million. Now, every bugger knows we have a bit more money (just like when you sell a big player) we will have to expect it.

For all of the big talk, new stadium carrot dangling, we still only spent what we got in for Stones. So although Kenwright, Woods and Co are significantly better off courtesy of Moshiri, we have only seen a young lad from Charlton walk through the door.

Perhaps Koeman should give Jim White a ring.

What tangible proof could there be of Koeman's commitment???

We look a reasonable bet in January to finish 7th as opposed to 11th under Martinez with many of the same players. Isn't that some sort of improvement? Tangible even?

Not saying everything in the garden is rosy, unlike Martinez!

It is common knowledge that he sees his role purely as a coach, he does his prescribed hours and nothing more.

David Moyes, for all his faults, lived and breathed Everton. He regularly attended matches either scouting or watching future opposition teams.

Where is the passion. As a leader you either lead by example or you inspire others, Koeman does neither. He was the wrong appointment.

As for hours at the office or on the training ground, have you heard of quality versus quantity?

I'm not saying all is perfect, but it is far from a disaster.

I read on here that it was Martinez's idea and that it meant the players could take a nap between morning and afternoon training sessions or come direct to Finch Farm from JLA after marauding through Europe without having to drive to Altrincham or wherever they live and would be more rested.
Stop laughing, Dick, it's true I tell you.

Please remind me of one good performance since the Norwich game. Please give me one reason to be optimistic.

I don't believe we have poor players but we have an awful team and Koeman must shoulder some responsibility for that and not blame everyone else. If he accepted a job where he didn't have the final say on transfers the he was a fool.

I have no wish to think in that way, but I am increasingly of the view that his words after the game were the result of deliberation and not merely annoyance in the heat of the moment.

It disturbs me that players have a ready made excuse to be less than motivated when the boss wants other players. What happened to proving the boss wrong? What happened to having the "I'll prove that bastard wrong, and having a bit of professional pride. Problem we have is that the players are just not very good or not consistent. He has tried arm round the shoulder, tough love and it just doesn't work with this lot. I'm not surprised that he's looking for other players. Your comments on Deulofeu are spot on. Seeing the best and worst of him. Great run to set up the goal then he spoils it by thinking his job is done and showboats for the rest of the afternoon. What the fuck is it with all those stepovers? It fools absolutely no one least of all defenders.

I think Koeman is quite justified having a go at the board. We are well into the window and all we have to show for it is one long term prospect. Get the players in as soon as, sooner they are here the sooner they can bed in. It's an inflated market, there are very few bargains so just pay it. Walsh needs to do his job and identify unknowns. If he has why haven't we gone in for them?

I just hope this is not going to be a false dawn yet again with transfers and how much money we have. Alas I fear it is. Saturdays game just typifies why we need new blood. It was a game we should have cruised and we ended up plucking defeat from the jaws of victory. Not sure what Koeman could have done to see that last 20 minutes coming. Pathetic from the players really. Just caved in at the first sign of trouble from the opposition. Not good enough from players who have shown over the last 3 years they are not good enough.

At least now, it is hoped, something will be done about it, but not all in January alone.