Thinking about Jags. He'll never fit in our current style. Wonder if he'll still be here this time next season.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24603253

I cannot remember any player, ever, scoring with his very first touch of the season. Extraordinary.

I think they were all jaded after the internationals and still adapting

I think the problem with short passing for them has been apparent elsewhere as teams are beginning to close down the defenders. Man Utd got themselves in a twist many times against Southampton and Liverpool had similar problems of late so it's not confined to us.

What is needed is variety. When sides are closing our defenders down quickly, surely a switch to longer balls or throws out from the goalkeeper would put the problems on to the opposing defences who would be short handed. Man City defenders, especially Lescott, give the ball to Toure or Fernandez as soon as possible and let the midfielders do the more incisive passing.

Jagielka and Distin are top class defenders and do their job very well. Midfielders are supposedly the creative players who are the playmakers of the team. I'm really happy that Pienaar is back as he works his socks off covering back as well as working in tandem with Baines. He could be the outlet for Distin who normally covers Baines when he go's on his forays up front. Barry should then be the player to receive from Jagielka to enable Coleman to provide similar support to Mirallas on the right.

Sure, Sylvain can still match opponents in the air but that extra yard on the ground cannot be covered up. Jags also has been a great buy and still has it in my book but the partnership itself is not very watertight this season and needs a serious rethink by RM.

Unfortunately the options RM has are not ready yet and may not be for a while unless Alcaraz is fit soon. I would think Everton's first priority in the transfer window will be fixing this problem if it continues to be so.

Coleman, Jagielka, Distin and Baines have been by far our best defenders. It's only when Heitinga played that we suffered defensively as he could not cope against strong, big strikers.

This season we have struggled a bit more than usual as a lot of teams are pressing further up the pitch to counteract sides who play out from the back. I already suggested variety in play to stop us being stereotyped.