Blues grind out another vital win

I just had a look at the table. We're 6 points off 2nd place. If we stay in form and Man City has another couple draws or losses, 2nd, 3rd and 4th are all up for grabs between about 6 teams.

Ugly, scrappy win today but it'll do so long as we are up at the top.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

BTW our league record for 2012 is P40 W17 D17 L6 Pts 68 so a good year overall, asnd even better if we finish on a high next sunday

Hitz is a filler and no more. I thought that the subs were strange but Moyes was trying to shore up the right side where they were having some joy. However, I think he took the wrong striker off because at least the ball was sticking with Big Vic.

Onwards and upwards though because we've played much better on other days and drawn.

Biggest negative today is if Gibson is out for a long stretch. No coincidence that our picking up points again has exactly co-incided with his return to fitness.

I'd have also given the penalty on Maloney.

A good result but a poor match.

We really need someone one the right. Hopefully Mirallas isn't out to long and Coleman is back for the Chelsea game.

Only 3 shots on target today, I guess 2-1 is an acceptable result considering.

But yeah, they are pretty horrific, Spurs apparently had 15 corners in the first half. Bringing in so many untried youngsters from the lower leagues was a massive massive risk.

All we ask as fans is for refs to get on top of this shit. Then when it looks like they do (and I'm sure it's only because it's a Sky favourite), we whinge because the RS are the beneficiaries?

Personally I'm more worried about the edict that's gone round for Fellaini. He was a yellow-a-game merchant when he first started, and some of them should've been reds. No matter what the provocation, his rash act at Stoke may still cost us, despite us being 6 points from 2 games in his absence.

Of course it was a penalty, as was all the shirt pulling and hugging that was done on Fellaini and Jelavic!!! That's my point. We don't get the calls, our player gets suspended after losing his head from dealing with it all match, then they get the benefit of the call instantly. Damn right we're pissed when we don't get the calls for much worse but then they benefit from it a week later.

Regarding the officiating, the one referee on the pitch has to go. 2 minimum, 3 preferable. Most of the diving, holding, missed fouls, etc would go away.

The game is waaaaaay too fast for one ref.

Reagarding Stoke, 2 weeks ago, I hated them. Now I'm a fan.

Just seen the goofy one get away with another studs up tackle and then feign injury. I don't know why he keeps getting away with it.

The attention he was given by an excellent Stam was not welcome and he was definitely not at his best. In fact I would go so far as to say he met his match and was petulant and his attempted kick at a departing Stam could have seen him get a card.

All-round performance was not pretty - but it was three points.

Bright side of an otherwise dull match were Hitz piece and piledriver and funnily enough Baines's low drive which, if it had gone in, would have burst the net!.

At half time, I was glad that was over. We did improve over the second period, but boy was it painful to watch.

Over here, hockey's NHL and basketball's NBA have 3 refs in an extremely confined space. In a game, baseball, where everyone stands and watches a continuous 1-on-1 competition, there's 4 umpires. I don't even know how many NFL officials on on the field. Plus a team up in a reviewing booth.

This ancient relic of soccer, one ref on the pitch, has to go. The "shenanigan" level will drop off by orders of magnitude once players realize a referee is standing right on top of them throughout the game. For me, 3 refs ideal. But 2 will do for a start.

Howard couldn't do anything - Distin, Baines, and to an extent Jags, should have done more to stop that ball getting through.

On Jags, I was happy for him getting that goal, and thought his celebration (or lack thereof) was fitting a player that has really gotten back to his best and doesn't score very often.

Osman's celebration on the other hand sickened me, as it was similar to Cantona's after "that goal". It was a lucky goal, and should be changed to an own goal if there's any sense left in the world. Apart from his goal, it was business as usual for the contentious little bloke, as he dribbled his way to obscurity on plenty of occasions, passing the ball to Habsi where most players would have hit it past the 'keeper.

Neville - he's the best right back we have, and offered a lot more than Hibbo, and better composure than Coleman.

Jelavic - what did everyone expect from a striker after one year of working with Moyes?

Anichebe - has shown a few signs last week and this week that he can hold the ball up, but this bloke is nearly 25 and has scored 15 league goals in his whole career. Can we please stop with the "he's young and showing signs of improvement" chants? He's a player that would probably score 20+ goals a season in the Champo, but the Prem is not for him. Why not play a 20 year old striker who has actually shown signs of linking well with our talisman, and doesn't fall over every time he gets touched?

Gibson - did anyone else think that maybe he got subbed because he was showing some bad signs in the first half of another booking/send off? I for one thought he was very lucky to not at least have yellow very early.

The defending of corners is now the big issue, and, after everything that has conspired in the last month or so, how did Mason not give us (Anichebe) something during those five consecutive corners?

He has limited ability in some situations, but if Anichebe had his attitude and committment to the cause he would be some player. Osman is one of those players who won't be valued until he has stopped playing for Everton. I'm all for constructive criticism but the constant bric-bracs that Osman receives are bordering on ridiculous.

Sometimes I wonder what a section of our support requires from players.

And Roman...can't believe how negative your post is...were you actually under the misconception that Jelavic would continue to score at the rate he did after he joined? that the guy we picked up from 5million for Scotland, with a good record in Scotland, and less so in the rest of his career, was going to continue to score at a rate of 2 in every 3 premiership matches, putting him up there with the likes of Rooney and Aguero? Jelavic is a good striker...and a superb finisher..but even the best strikers suffer from bad form, and he has played too much football over the past year. It has nothing to do with Moyes. If he plays 35 games this season, he will score 13-17 goals, and that will be good going. And similarly, your criticism of Osman is bizzare...he has been a superb performer for us this season, and his performance at West Ham was one of the best from any of our players this season. The criticism of Osman because of a 'weak shot' is misplaced...there are plenty of great midfielders who don't blast 10 goals in a season. I wonder if some of the toffeeweb critics watched Barcelona every season, whether they'd criticise the power of Iniesta's shot?

Anichebe was back to his old ways, garbage as usual, I would rather see Vellios given a chance as Victor has had chance after chance and never truly grasped the opportunity for more than one game in a blue moon.

I have been delighted by the proactive substitutions of Moyes, normally Moyes will stick with the same team if we are winning – even when it is clear to see the opposition are getting back into the game.

What every someone is asking him to do they should stop. Leave him in the 18-yard box and he will deliver, asking him to play around our penalty area and he won't.

His confidence is gone, he is now trying too hard. Change the approach and he will be back to where he should be.

It is the one BIG and continuing problem over the years, we see strikers knocking them in when they first come them??? One size does not fit all.

You have no understanding of our game at all — and don't MacSoccer us, okay? Don't bring your multi-layered ref in black and white stripes over to us okay? This is our game and you are a Jimmy-Come-Lately.

Hell, let's have 5 or 6 refs, 7, 8? BS. Your footie is a pale shadow of ours and your sports with their hold-ups and ad breaks are the most boring things to watch. Sadly, living in Chicago, and I witness this at first hand but then get to see my game. Don't mess with it. Your country might willy nilly go around invading this small country and that one, but leave the home of football alone.

I'm wondering what game you were watching.

Gibson was subbed because he injured himself scuffing a freekick in the first half.

Osman knew he had a massive slice of luck so didn't wheel away to the fans. He put his hands up and smiled away.

Jesus Christ! The things our players get slagged off for. Unbelievable.

A well-fought-for win but can we have our football back now, please? — and let's find it for Chelsea.

Andy – there is 'an anti-Moyes camp who are finding things desperate' simply because there are people on here who can't stand him and won't ever change their point of view. Someone called them Moyesogenists the other day and that is bang on. 4 defeats in 38 league games now and still there are those who come on here and say that he doesn't know what he's doing, he is a PE teacher, he only plays his pets like Osman and Neville who are liabilities, etc, etc.

The Chelsea game doesn't look like it's come at the right time and we may well have to lower our expectations and hope rather than expect to get something out of the game.

David Moyes has got to try and persuade whoever holds the purse strings to release some funds (it looks like PL football next season) and add a couple of bodies to the squad even just short-term loans may help.

But we definately need an injection of something to spark us into life again.

I think we probably have the correct amount of points for our perfomances over the first half of the season and just hope we can get ourselves going again for the second-half of the season.

Another proper striker would take the pressure off Jelavic (Carlton Cole anyone? or Clint Dempsey?) but they cost big money. But we'll probably have to soldier on with what we've got.

I also think the Goodison faithful could play a major part in the coming weeks and months, if they forget about who is and isn't playing and get behind the players who are in the team and give them the kind of support their efforts fully deserve.

Vic impressed again for me. Tough conditions and up against a real piece of shit in Caldwell but always lively and looked dangerous.

Osman showed in about 10-15 minutes why he shouldn't be out wide. Everything he did on that spell after half time oozed class (well except his shooting).

I thought Hitz was poor. Wasn't offering up for passes. Looks like he just wants to drift around and pick up cheap touches. Give him a chance by all means but I'd rather see almost anyone else take that role against Chelsea.

Finally Naismith. How tall is he? Because he wins everything in the air. His limitations on the ball are there for all to see but he defends well, competes well, and works his socks off to get in the box. Useful squad player for me and he did well.

Deserved win, with a bit of luck on the penalty appeal. We're basically top 4 at the turn of the year. Let's push on from here. COYB!

I'm not criticising the team but it would be daft to think that we could carry on with mediocre performances and expect to win too many games. In simple terms we will win more over a season if we play our high tempo passing game. The problem is to do this well we need pretty much our first choice eleven on the field.

Wigan pressured the left side all day long knowing full well we didn't have enough in the middle or on the right to take the pressure off. Baines surely had his work cut out for him in poor conditions and probably did the right thing by saving himself a bit.

Jelly's work rate was ridiculously high. I thought he did himself proud.

Every striker that I can remember in the past 10 or 15 years has rescinded Imo...

10 years on and I'm still at a loss why our strikers expend so much energy tackling and running the blind gulleys for some shitty Neville "line" Ball into a corner... Keep in the fucking box and score - however, whenever...that's all. How can we not see the way this always goes... Jelli soon will get pissed, have a shout with Moyes and then be on his shit list.

But that's not necessarily true that is it? We've played that style in most of the games before West Ham and Wigan and we've won just over a third of those matches. We revert to a duller style and we grind out a couple of back-to-back wins.

As you point out, we need our full first team to play the high tempo game and that's not going to happen. Therefore, we are going to have take winning whichever way we can.

The lad works hard and he always has. He is still getting chances and could quite easily have bagged four in the last two games. Let's not get too desperate, he did put one away just a few games ago.

Anyway, I'm the absolute opposite to some of you. If my striker isn't scoring then I want him working hard and benefitting the team in other ways. Look at the stick Victor gets when he plods about up top. Jelavić will rediscover his form, I don't doubt that.

My one major disappointment yesterday was that Barkley didn't get on. If we can't bring the lad on with 15 minutes to go against Wigan, 2-0 up, then when is he ever going to set foot on a pitch?

Hitzlsperger was poor first half because he was played out of position. He wants to play where Gibbo does and 2nd half, when he sat in, he looked quite good. He likes a bit of time on the ball and he sprayed around a few good passes and THAT shot.

Tim Howard. How is it possible for an experienced keeper to still take kicks like he does. When he kicks it out of his hands he is absolutely hopeless. Hammering balls into orbit and expecting someone to bring it down or flick it on. Maybe it's not a big deal... it's just I've never seen another keeper do it so often. Everyone else kicks it flatter so a flick-on is more achievable.

Anyway, 3 points for a poor game. You've got to take that. Just wish Barkley had got on.

What we need is to see one of Jelly's early games versus similar opposition and see how, if at all, his style has changed. That'll settle it.

The Yak had similar (though for different reasons) second-season problems (yes, I know: he seemed to have them every second season) and all the time his supporters said just leave him in the box to do what he does best.

The best of both worlds would be just a little chasing back as and when required, without affecting the core business of the striker.

But I don't think Moyes can do 'a little chasing back' — just like you can't be slightly dead or a little pregnant.

Osman's celebration didn't seem like counting his luck to me. I may have been overreacting as I heard the commentators heaping so much praise on him in the first half, and I just cannot see what is good about him as a player. Yes he played well against West Ham last week. Well, get the bloke a statue and retire the 21!!! I have never questioned his attitude and his commitment. Just his ability and athletic quality. I think I could run faster than him and I play front row in country rugby.

My call about Jelavic going stale under Moyes was in fact a wind up, as I am actually happy with most of Moyes' work this year - just needs to sort his subbing out in a few games and maybe take a pay cut on the next contract.

I know now that Gibson copped a knock, but I honestly thought he cut it pretty fine in the first half, and thought Moyes would have been wise to sub him anyway - getting booked or sent off the day before appealing a red card cannot be a good look.

Was my criticism of Anichebe too harsh? This guy is taking the piss, and signed a contract a couple of years ago that makes this lump of shit earn more in a week than most of you earn in a year. I would have rathered we keep hold of Beattie, Straq, Beckford, Bent, fuck, even Vaughan might have done better. Either way, he is no longer a "young player" and people need to stop defending him for this reason.

So that is it is it? He's not a good player because he's no athlete?

He's got the best ball control at the club. When him Pienaar and Baines combine they put on some of the best football I've seen. His shooting is poor and he lacks pace that doesn't make him shite.

He's a quality player. It winds me up that some don't appreciate him.

The thing that really grinds my gears though, is that some people, on this thread and others, equate criticising or whining about EFC players like Osman as "unbelievable thing to say for an Evertonian". The way I see it, I love this club - maybe not as much as some of the older supporters that have been around for longer, but I love it a lot - so I'm not going to sit here and bag out a player just for the sake of it. I'll shoot the shit with my little Spurs-loving cousin and tell him that, without any knowledge, that Bale, Dawson, etc are all scumbags who are overrated - it means nothing to me and I know it probably isn't true. But seriously, why would I, or anyone else who sees it the same way as me, talk shit about one of our own players if we didn't believe it?

They're wrong! He no Iniesta and nobody has implied that. He just has a similar style. Yes, some of his runs end in trickling shots...some end in lucky goals, some end in goals for others...and occasionally he hits a decent shot.

What I would say is he's just about the only player we've had (in recent years) who has the ability to beat a man with his footwork and carry the ball into the box. Sure, Pienaar can beat a man but he's not as direct as Ossie.

If we'd bought Ossie from a Brazilian club for £8 million and his name was Osmaninho, everyone would rave about him. He's a class act and only gets abuse because he's a local lad. And for some that is all he will ever be. For me he is one of our best players and getting better with age.

"Yes he played well against West Ham last week. Well, get the bloke a statue and retire the 21!!!"

Is that it? One game against West Ham. Hasn't he played well most of the season?

You're also quite within your rights to criticise and whine about any of our players but don't start moaning when someone pulls you up for saying one of our players sickens you because he celebrates a goal a certain way. It's a pathetic comment as well as unbelievable.

When you say Everton fans genuinely think he's shit, can you give me a gauge? My only real indicator these days is Toffeeweb, and it seems to be about 60-40 in favour of him being a decent player. What is it actually like at ground level?

I've argued this before, and it really gets people's backs up. I genuinely believe it comes down to having a better understanding of the game. Those who understand football will understand what Osman brings to the game and why he is so valuable. The way his first touch gives him an extra senond on the ball. The way he effortlessly switches the ball from foot to foot. The way he follows the ball, always offering his team a short pass.

No he isn't going to fly down the wing and outmuscle centre-halves. He does what he does and Everton are a much better team with him in it, and in his favoured position.

I'm not Scouse but I have a special affinity for those players who's blood is as blue as mine. Be that Ossie and Hibbo or adopted Blues like Cahill. I'm not blind to their faults but these lads are the heart of the club.

A really odd thing to say that his celebration sickens you Roman. I don't think I've ever heard that sort of thing from a fan before. Particularly worrying as he just put his hands into the air and smiled.

The bottom line here is that Osman is quite simply a good player.

I don't even know what you're on about now.

Have a good day, Blues.

I have said this before in another Osman thread but statistically he has the most impact on the team. For the last two seasons when Osman doesn't play we simply don't win as many games, and its not just a small difference its a massive one. 2011/12 - 46% with, 20% without, 2010/11 - 50% with, 17% without.

The biggest frustration for me is Moyes willingness to simply shunt him off to the right to accommodate other players. We have seen that in the last couple of games before he has eventually moved into the centre. Leave him in the middle and fit other people around him. He seems to have a very good partnership with Gibson which is why his injury is a blow. But he has also played well with Neville in the middle.

Why shouldn't he celebrate his goal? he had a shot and it went in, you don't shoot you don't score. Should he not celebrate?

Agree some type of technology should be employed, especially on goals. More than anything, the ancient relics running the game need to go.

He's scored 6 goals, but people are acting like he's sitting on zero. It's not a good enough return, he would admit that. But it hasn't been for lack of opportunities or because he's defending on corners. He's just missed a ton of chances that last season he seemed to put away every time. He's a striker, their goal return goes up and down.

I hope the people knocking Moyes for coaching the striker out of Jelavic will be giving Moyes some praise when he starts to bang them in again.

By the way, Kevin Hudson, I had forgotten about the high horse chants of last season. Made me piss myself mate, regardless that it was aimed at me, I loved it.

That's exactly the chance I was thinking about against Wigan. It seemed to clearly be a lack of confidence that made him decide not to just blast it past the keeper. But he keeps getting in those positions, he keeps working hard, what more can you ask for (other than the chances to be converted of course). I'm surprised that the story line here isn't praising him for keeping his work rate so high while struggling to get the goals he's capable of.

After Brian Labone.

Most footballing decisions can be assessed really quickly so wouldn't slow down games.