Full backs playing like wingers. Outnumber them in central midfield 3 to 2

Looks like a side that will beat City to me.

Gutted by the OT result today. Makes our win seem even less special

And Ryan Ledson - crikey, he is only 17 in August. That makes him 2nd youngest ever, if he gets on the pitch.

Our team have performed well and we should applaud them as for the other lot it is up to them where they finish!

Got to say Hodgson must have been loving see Barkley play the way he did, the guy was awesome.

BTW I never heard my dad cheer a goal so much when we scored (he’s a Liverpool fan) and I’ve never been so quiet! Let’s hope this season never happens again.

Today however has made my mind up on 2 players.

Alcaraz is useless, his defending is terrible and his passing is not much better.

Lukaku is worth no more than £10 million, his first touch is and always will be terrible; also, for such a big guy, he doesn’t win enough balls in the air against defenders.

However, he is a good finisher and will get you about 12-15 goals a season but his poor link-up play will mean whoever plays alongside him will struggle to get 10 goals a season.

I would take him on loan again; if not, as I said, no more than £10 million

It was nothing short of slanderous.

A few bets have gone down today.

Alcaraz hopefully will go over the summer – I would hope RM will trust in youth rather than him next year.

Think today, as on many other occasions since his injury, we missed Bryan Oviedo – I think he’d have been the better bet as deep midfielder instead of Ossie. I think the last month has just shown how shallow our squad is with all the injuries we’ve got. Can’t see us doing much more than mid-table next year if there aren’t additions to the squad with us being in the Europa.

Great game of football though! And WHAT A GOAL.....

If you think Tyler was having a moan ... Imagine the others ...Jamie Redknapp, Hansen and Thompson etc ... Can’t wait to hear them ... Now let’s turn Hull over to end on a high.

A good result as far as I'm concerned. What's even better is the news I'm hearing about all the whinging Kopites and Mancs on the commentary teams. That is scandalous if some of what I've heard is true.

Supporters were great today as well.

Regardless of the contrasting views, I'm sure everyone wants to best for EFC, albeit the desired outcomes differed widely. I'm glad I didn't lower myself to insulting the opposing Blue view or to whoring my principles and betting / advocating us betting on the RS winning the Prem for potential personal gain.

Personally I think this has been a half-decent day for us with us now finishing 5th. Looking down on mega-bucks Man Utd and Spurs is highly satisfying.

Fantastic first season for Roberto Martinez. It does feel a little like 1983 with a foundation built for better times ahead. I might start saving up for the European tour now.

Onwards and upwards.

When it left Barkley's boot I was off the pub stool in celebration. When it went in the net I sat back down in fear.

Saw a guy in City colours urging them on and at half-time I told him my mixed emotions. Turns out he was a Man Utd fan from Denmark and was supporting Man City because he knew what shit he was in for by a Danish colleague if Liverpool were to win the title.

His colours were actually that of Brondby away, and told me stories of Gravesen pinning young Denmark players to the floor in World Cups gone by and then pissing all over them.

Bizarrely, he then pulled out a West Ham scarf because he also follows them. Three teams for him!

Great effort by Everton, though didn't need Kenwright playing to the cameras.

nb: The fans were brilliant, the silence at 1-1 was deafening. If we'd needed it, we'd have pissed it!!
Oh and what was the Stevie Me chant? It didn't carry on the box...

Too often. we played possession stuff up to their area and were crowded out time and again, Lukaku was largely ineffective despite scoring and was caught offside on a regular basis, yet again our passing was terrible. I thought Man City were the better team tactically and just about shaded it but my best mate Tommy, a diehard Red, was naturally gutted, but, like us, even though we're only in the Mickey Mouse version of Europe, he'll have plenty to shout about next season.

Well Done, The Lads

Barkley scored a wonderful goal and no doubt Man City will be considering a massive bid for him next season now, oh well...

The so-called expert pundits who kept telling us before the match how our fans support wouldn't be affected by the prospect of the result potentially handing the title to the RS, were clearly thrown by the atmosphere and demonstrably shown to be totally wrong. It made them look fools, hence the defence to be critical of us. It's not their ignorance you know, it's our fault... yea right.

I've made myself feel better by looking at the top of the table a lot and remembering we're 5th with a game to spare, and above Utd & Spurs.

Similar views to here regarding biased media, particularly Tyler and Redknapp.

Congratulations are in order for reaching a European competition even if some people think it may be detrimental to our league performances; you cant pick and choose your league positions and have to get as many points as possible and do the best you can. wherever you end up.

Watched today's game with the sound off after 20 mins that showed how biased some so-called experts can be, who are supposed to be neutral. As far as I am concerned, Everton can be proud of their performance today and can stick their fingers up to these pathetic critics who say their performance was not good enough.

Looking foreward to next season and what players are going to be brought in.As has been said before (over to you Mr Chairman )

Mike, I would agree in full about being able to look down on Spurs and Utd. It's especially satisfying with respect to Spurs. Yet another season of them splashing the cash and having nothing for it at the end of it.

I'll be listening for any media bias from face-like-a-slapped-arse rs pundits (pick any combination from about 15).

It's a great season that we fell short of 4th but there is another target to fight for that is 70 points. Win at Hull and close this season with a bang!

We didn't stop fighting for an equaliser after Rommy scored and, all in all, I was satisfied that we had tried to match them and at times we had them panicking. So all in all, it's been a cracking season for us and I'm sure that Robbie boy will bring in more exciting talent in the close season.

The bonus today is twofold. We are ahead of Spurs and Man Utd and, with any luck, thats fucked up the forces of darkness for the title...not counting any chickens though!

Great season lads, proud to be a blue!!!

Let's hope that Roberto gets enough funding to bring in some players who can improve the squad and excite the fans. COYB

I did worry about fans who wanted us to win and those who wanted us to get beat clashing, and it did happen in the Street End after the first Man City goal.

The players gave their all and just come up short. It was a weird formation I thought.

One guilty pleasure I've just had is having a look at one of the Shite's forums. Apparently our players didn't try a jot and us fans didn't give them any backing. We are basically being accused of 'throwing' the game and 'cheating' their club.

Do these fucking knobheads not remember 1995 when they wanted their side to lose to Blackburn to stop United winning the Prem? Or in 2010 when they were happy to lose their last home of the season to Chelsea to again stop the Mancs from lifting the title?

They are the biggest hypocrites in football. Utter two-faced twats.

Well we have clinched a place in Europe, finished above Man Utd and big spending Tottenham, and the RS look to have had the title snatched off them. Not a bad day overall.

Yes, once the game kicked off, I wanted us to win despite my earlier misgivings about handing title to 'them'. Don't ever want to be put in that position again though.

Pride in seeing our players giving their all as professionals but clearly affected by the at times funereal atmosphere inside the ground. Disgusted by the behaviour of some of my so-called fellow Evertonians who cheered Man City's goals and abused others who were trying to get behind the team when we went behind.

I've had the pleasure of seeing some great times as a supporter of one of England's most respected teams but tonight I feel a bit down. This was a game which we could have won had the fans got behind the team – City were there for the taking and whilst 4th place was still possible we should have given our all on and off the field.

I don't give a flying fuck about Liverpool and what they do. Too many fuckin drama queens on here moaning about RS fans gloating if they won the league and how awful it would be. Of course they'd gloat, wouldn't we if we won the PL?

Get over yourselves. We didn't die after they won the CL in Istanbul, it was hard to stomach but life goes on and we should be pleased that our club is making progress under a vibrant young manager. I got fed up of the plucky little Everton shit peddled by Moyes and his knives to a gunfight bollocks. Under Roberto, we at least give it a go and don't fear anybody.

I have seen people wearing blue shirts in pubs hugging each other tonight because we lost. I shake my head at how fuckin ridiculous people can be. How small time & bitter we must look, glorying in another team's potential 'failure'. Man City will probably go on to win the league but we will all look like tits if they slip up against Aston Villa or West Ham and let Liverpool back in!

"Take that, you Red Shite twats" was shouted by a few near me in the Gwladys Street after their third goal. Some twat patted me on the back coming out and said what a great result! I'm afraid I asked him if he was an Evertonian......

I'm pleased to see us in the Europa League next season but I won't forget tonight's game in a hurry. Felt like being in a civil war. Very uncomfortable. Never want to see such division and spite again.

Ste #51 - if we mention 1995 or 2010 to RS, we all know we'll simply be called "bitter".

If the rs don't win it, I'll enjoy the silence and the World Cup knowing that it'll be "all our fault" (well, it's never their fault, is it?)

Oh, and I almost forgot – sorry RS, how sad, never mind (teh, heh).

5th in transition season! Wow! Flipping wow!

We are a good team but failure to improve yet again and back Martinez help him move this promising team to the next level would be criminal from our board.

Ross Barkley was superb today absolutely great but for me Stones wad rather poor at right back unless I was watching a different game. He was very much at fault for the third goal and I am still working out how we allowed Dzecko to score that header when we had THREE centre halves in the team.

Lukaku does have a poor touch granted but whenever he gets an early ball in to the box he will usually deliver the goods. As I say we face some dilemma burning the summer because we are going to lose our top scorer with 15 goals for no fee,, we lose him for nothing so we are going to need to splash out the cash to replace him this year. We just won't get so lucky to get a 15-goal striker on loan again.

When you think about Lukaku, he didn't make his debut until September 21, then was out injured for a month but still scored 15 goals, it's not bad going really for a lad who is still young.

All in all a very satisfying first season under Bobby Dazzler, getting us back in Europe was a decent achievement. A good season that could nearly have even been a great one but for late blips and a lack of real serious investment in January.

Great first season under Roberto and with a few good additions to the squad we will be better again next term.

Alcaraz - sorry I was wrong about him we need two new centre-halves to complement Jags and Stones. I think the fact that United and Spurs both lost took some of the edge off the game but if I had been a City fan I would have had no nails left. Hopefully there will be no more twists in the rest of the season but I have a nagging doubt about City's mental strength and they could still blow it.

As for Everton, they have played some really good football this season and only City out of the top seven have left Goodison with maximum points but we need a lot of investment if we are going to improve on fifth place next season.

Well done Roberto and well done to the players, they always give maximum effort and if any pundits out there doubt it then they don't know much about the game.

They are calling us classless and cheats. One even stated that Barks proved he was a Liverpool fan due to his performance and that he should move to them to further his career.

We're classless!!!!

When a few cheered when Man City equalized, a group of blues stood up and told them to get the fuck out of the stadium if you were going to cheer opposition goals which annoyed the ones happy to see City score and heated rows and finger pointing ensured. The Police then got involved and it did calm down.

One beaut in a grey tracksuit near me in the central block of the Street End was jumping around deliriously after every City goal which was way over the top and pissed a number of people off.

"Everton went off at half time 2-1 down to the tune of Oasis song The Masterplan"

Hahaha!

I know this doesn't excuse that type of behaviour but if the boot was on the other foot, do you think the redshite would have acted any differently???

Think that Bucharest banner proves my point. They deserve all they got after that.

I just told him to fuck himself and blame his captain gobshite for their epic fail.

Everton, under Martinez, are back. Next season we will challenge for the title, mark my words.

It would have better playing Stones in Barry's place, because Stones is very good at marking players and then taking the ball forward towards Man City's defense.

Also, playing Osman in a role he is not suitable alongside McCarthy, like last season with Neviille, was sure to fail. He is not strong enough to keep up with midfield runners, and Osman was embarrassingly left behind quite easily by Milner in the second half, who is not the fastest player around.

Instead of capitalising on Barkley's magnificent strike, who was Man of the Match, Howard was caught out by his near post for a soft goal, while Alcaraz should have been much closer to Aguero before he had time to shoot and score.

The next 2 City goals were a result of errors by the Everton central defenders, who allowed Dzeko all the time in the world to head his first and City's second goal, with the same player scoring in front of goal for his second and City's third, while Jags and Alacraz for some reason left him alone, unmarked.

Without McCarthy and Barkley playing oh so well, some Everton players did not turn and play really well considering this is the last home game of the season. Too many corners, free crosses and free kicks always failed to find the right Everton man, one wonders what the players are doing all week in training if crossing the ball is so difficult in a match.

We should have beaten them, the crowd could have made a real difference today, not least to the ref, who seemed happy to give City every 50-50 as they were the only club who truly wanted to win.

Small-minded, bitter, petty losers. If you cheered a goal against Everton you deserve any stick you're going to get, but worse than that, every Evertonian is going to get stick they don't deserve because of you.

As for us, well it was hardly our finest hour. Still, on balance it's been a great season, and perhaps it's not surprising we had an off day, with the match being something of a dead rubber with a makeshift defence.

We need to toughen up a bit if we're going to win a trophy, or make the top four, as I thought we made it too easy for City, and I imagine RM will be thinking about that when he buys in the Summer. Barkleys goal was fit to win any game, it's just a pity that the defence weren't as sharp.

Brilliant effort from our lads, sensational results all round today and 5th in Bobby's first year and the Europa league when winning it gets CL will make the whole experience more interesting.

Glad today's over, just really hoping we can sing the Gerrard song next season!

The game certainly reflected the atmosphere in the ground at times. I thought Evertonians were better than that.

We could and maybe should have got the equalizer, as Man City were certainly not playing that well.

Hopefully we won't have to go through that scenario again...

However, I'd never have cheered an opposition goal at GP. Not because of the stick we might get (it's coming our way regardless but who cares?). But because, as stated above, it is a bit classless - a bit like "Blues" betting on the rs to win the league.

There was more atmosphere at that game than most of our other home games this year, the reason the roar wasn't there was because we blew it against Palace and Southampton... plus Spurs and Man Utd both got beat earlier on.

I walked away from that game really happy at the performance we put in and the season we've had. We've witnessed some great games and great wins, got a positive forward-thinking manager, some cracking young players and we're in Europe!

Well done, Roberto; well done, Billy Bullshit; well done, EFC!

Allez, Allez, Allez Ohhhhhhhh!!

I think Roberto, knowing we are 5th, used today's game as an experiment. And we weren't far off winning. Now, that would have been crazy.

It would also make it harder for Everton to secure future funding at a very sensitive time when a new ground is on the cards, it's not attractive for potential investors to put their money in to us if the local neighbours are the new champions and getting all the PR and fan base growth.

We are in competition with Liverpool and anything which prevents them getting any stronger will help us get stronger.

Believe me, I wasn't crying after we'd lost but I did go through a roller coaster of emotions during the match. I would however have been sobbing at today's result if we had beaten Palace and drawn against Southampton. We didn't so here we are.

So, we will finish 5th rather 4th because we lost games and the shite may well finish 2nd rather than 1st not because of today's results but because of their own failings last week against Chelsea. We messed up our chase for 4th because of our own failings and the Shite have (hopefully) messed up because of theirs.

Poor poor defending. Everytime we have tried a back 3, it has been god awful.

If we had really had any chance of 4th today it would have been a completely different story. Our fans recognise what's in our interests and what isn't and that showed today.

City did the double over us and the RS failed to beat us at Goodison, in fact they were lucky to get a point. There's the difference for me.

Don't care if Liverpool win the title or not. Ee're too big a club for such trivialities.

I've just eaten some lovely salt & pepper chicken pieces.

Are you really feeling bad? Ferry?

For the record, Drury and Beglan were sickening on Sky. Only good thing about us losing was seeing those two shut the fuck up for the rest of the game. They certainly implied Everton were throwing. Arseholes!

When one has lived through decades of blowing, crowing, goading, self-righteousness, double standards (think Heysel v Hillsborough), hatred for the mother club (Everton), preferential refereeing and media love-ins, one becomes defined as much for the love of Everton as for distaste for so much that pertains to LFC. So you go and be disgusted with me and my kind all you like; the feeling is mutual.

They did do that somewhat with the Manure and Gunners results coupled with a decent performance today despite the unavailability of Barry which had a big effect in my book.

Osman just isn't Barry which helped City a lot.
On the flip side they had some great moments and the Barkley goal was tremendous but City had the deeper squad and the bigger incentive in the end.

All credit to RM and the Blues for an excellent season, achieving far more than we could have hoped and with some style.

I don't think Lukaku is consistent enough; although he scored, he misses a lot too. It won't be up to us if he stays anyway. I would like to see us relying on our "own" players instead of borrowed, maybe the Fortress Sports Fund will help!!!

He's made some good saves but also some monumental fuck-ups! I'm sure he could have stopped Coleman's OG last week?!? It went right near to him, I'm know he wasn't expecting it but surely instinct should have taken over?

Maybe we could pick off a relegated keeper? They must have been busy all season! Roll on Thursday nights – I can watch in a comfy chair instead of a computer one!

Baines was lost, he didn't know whether to stick or twist, go forward or stay back. City played him just right- leave him in space all on his own, yes he will put in crosses but crosses are defendable.

Baines is at his best playing one-twos and the return three-fours etc.

They closed Coleman down as soon as he got the ball, doubled up sometimes when needed.

Ageuro gave notice once or twice before he actually scored... not a blue shirt hear him.

Some Blues not wanting us to win today because of the stick they might get from their mates/ work colleagues? Someone else cited a banner that was shown by the RS as their reason.

I just can't comprehend that way of thinking. Some of our fans have made most of us look like narrow minded dickheads.

Everton losing but not affecting our chances of playing in Europe and possibly deny Liverpool the PL title is a perfect result for me. Sorry, but I despise them.

To be honest some of the indignation on these pages about fans "not being proper Evertonians" was embarrassing. I try to follow the simple rule of never posting anything on here to a poster you wouldn't be willing to say to them in a pub before/after a match.

At the end of the day, as everyone with half a brain knew, Everton tried but were ultimately beaten by a team that cost multiples of ours, who weren't at their best, and from what I've seen paid tribute to the Everton team for giving them a hard game. The twattish commentary by Tyler and Neville just proved how Sky has their favourites. The twattish commentary on these pages however is just another indicator of why so many former regular contributors now just read, post infrequently, or have left the site altogether.

Anyone know what went on in the St End (lower, kind of central) after City scored?

Looked initially like a City fan had celebrated a goal and was being berated.

Stewards/police were called and the feller seemed to be on his way, but he continued a discussion with those around him (including some blonde one who appeared to be giving him down the banks).

Next thing there's handshakes, pats on the back and..he was sitting down again.

As for Dzeko's carry-on, the whole incident was one of the most ludicrous things I've seen.

What a gaper!

"Ah well, shit happens."

Might be one of the best posts I've seen on TW. Hilarious.

Stones and Barkley should both be in Brazil for England.

Alcaraz was very, very poor.

Dzeko - that mangina is a disgrace to sport. I found his pathetically embarrassing faux injury to be vomit inducing. Can you image what an NHL player would have done to him? He'd be missing teeth. Faking pussy!

The second strange incident in our end, following the harmonious "Steve Gerrard Gerrard, he slipped on his fucking arse..." chant, sung jointly, by the City and Everton fans.