From My Seat: Chelsea (H)

The great thing now is that the players on the bench know that they have to play out of their skins to get into the team - Mirallas, Deulofeu, Cleverly, McGeady, even Baines, Pienaar, Besic, Gibson need to grab whatever opportunity they get. No one can take their place for granted.

Well done to Martinez for his brave substitutions and tactics. No-one would have dreamed that we would be on 8 points after having played Southampton, Spurs, Man City and Chelsea, but that is where we are. Long may it continue.

We may never ever touch or speak to each other yet these royal blue shirted lads are as much a part of us as we are of them. How they fare in this wonderful game can have us soaring on the wings of Eagles or plummeting like a stone.

Evertonians in isolated parts of the world are, like me, smiling and gloating with pride at our teams efforts.

"Then the odious Costa was pulled up for one of his sly fouls and he was roundly booed and called some unmentionable names." I'm hearing you Ken.

Agree with you about Funes Mori. He looks like a proper centre half to me. It's amazing how things can turn around in football. Jagielka, Stones, Galloway, Funes Mori, Browning, Baines, Coleman. When they are all fit the manager will be spoilt for choice.

One thing I picked up on was the way Stones hugged Naismith when he got his third. I think there a strong bond may have developed between these two. If so it augers well for the future.

Dick, Everton is a love affair. When the blues are doing well it helps us through whatever else is going on in our lives.

To coin a phrase of the illustrious Ken Buckley.

UP THE BLUES!!!!

And another gem!

And so, between games, back to debates about balance sheets.

I also said that Galloway's only shortcoming is that he doesn't pose much of an attacking threat at left back, about 5 seconds before he floated over a peach of a cross for Naismith's first goal.

Not one of my better analytical days.

A couple more displays like that and I'm coming home early!

Great unbiased summary and a telling observation of five centre backs on the field. Martinez did get the team selection wrong, though, didn't he?

Best ever display from Naismith in a blue shirt. I hope he can kick on and get 20 goals this season.

There was a Stones dummy (on Falcao, I think) where he stepped over the ball to allow Tim to gather... majestic defending.

I agree with your quick assessment on Funes Mori, although time will tell. Apart from his surging run, he appears to leap like a salmon, something that will come in handy in both boxes in the future.

Ah, got it now. Thanks for that; so here is my belated 'boo'.

Many on various threads remarked on the atmosphere, with all the usual adjectives in play.

But on my Foxtel feed you could just hear the Chelsea mob until the first goal went in, but other than that, I think restrained covered it...they obviously turned down the Mics. around the ground. Can't be frightening / Impressing the world wide fans of the sky darlings, they might start thinking that there's more to football than brands, prawn sandwiches and labeled shirts and that some of their emperors are bollocko.

Also; was Bill in his usual seat? Did we play a certain Beatles song?

I was a couple of days before Christmas in 1969, 8 years old and chuffed to bits to be going to the match with my dad. I can't really remember much about the game but I remember it being absolutely packed, but it was the singing that fascinated me. The concept of singing different words to popular tunes was not something I could quite understand.

John Lennon's Give Peace A Chance had been released earlier in the year and the Goodison faithful had adapted it to "All we are saying, is give us a goal!' and Alan Whittle duly obliged and we beat Man City 1-0.

By the way, How much did I love listeneing to 'My Sporting Life' on TalkSport last Sunday night? The subject was Mike Summerbee and he was asked a series of quickfire questions with the first one being: His favourite sporting venue? Quick as a flash, "Goodison Park" came the reply. Danny Kelly asked him to expand on why GP and he said that he just loved the banter with the crowd and how they used to sing songs like "He'd walk a million miles to see the end of his nose, O Suuuumerbee!!"

I am sure that the broadcast will still be available, well worth a listen particularly to those of us of a certain age who can reflect on how things used to be.

Summerbee enjoying the banter extended as far as dropping his shorts to the Street end on one famous occasion.

Back to the game and what a wonderful performance and full credit to Roberto who proved that professionals see things that we amateurs can't. So good to see the whipping boys like Nais and Kone play so well; Kone looks class and Nais is inspirational with his workrate and attitude. Ross was superb and controlled midfield for much of the game and his confidence is back.

Final word though goes to another whipping boy: Gareth Barry was quite magnificent yesterday helped by McCarthy running his socks off closing down space.
What a fab performance by everyone including the crowd!

Like you when I saw Besic's inclusion was to follow Hazard to the toilet, in fact I called for his inclusion v Man City to do the same job on Silva; okay, you play with 10 men, but so do they.

But substitutions changes games, usually not as dramatically as yesterday. Hopefully it will silence the Nais knockers, as I've always thought he is undervalued; he reminds me of Beardsley, OK nowhere near as good, but in the way he plays between the lines, and that managers don't know the best way to utilise them. Witness his movement for the 1st & 3rd goals-Championship quality player? GTF!

Final point , listening to MotD, TalkShite, Everton didn't play well it was Chelsea that played badly wot done it, and if they would've come to Goodison with their 'A' game, well we would've been thrashed. And the papers are full of Man Utd's new boy, with Naismith's perfect hattrick second billing... The media, don'tcha just luv 'em

Naismith to me has always embodied what it means to be a footballer -- hard working, committed and a decent person off the field too. I was thrilled to see him do well. He seemed sad during the interview though. This win has really lifted my spirits and like Dick and others have said on here... all of us who support Everton know how much a win or a loss can affect our lives. Stones, Barry, Jagielka and Galloway had great games and Barkley has been a new player this year.

I hope we can build on this and keep winning on all fronts. I'm sure there will be hiccups in the near future but till then... I will walk around with my feet just off the ground and I will be scoring imaginary goals as I walk around...COYB

We looked good yesterday. The trick now is to keep that form going. What happened in that first game against Watford? We need to break down and beat these type of teams.

Just as well that Naismith had his shooting boots on yesterday. Because Lukaku was never going to score. I actually like Lukaku, but for the good of the team, we need a Plan B up front. I also like Kone. But I look at him as more of a hold-up player, bringing others into the game. All-in-all, we seem to have goals in this team, this season. Another striker on board would be perfect. Options,options, options.

Just a word on Galloway. I don't need to see our LBs galloping down the wing. Only a few special players can do that. First and formost, I want a solid defender in place. Galloway looked assured yesterday. That is good enough for me. In fact the whole defence looked good. They held the line well. Have they been practising?

Also the midfield looked balanced. I called them, wingless wonders. They went narrow yesterday. And it worked. Some of our wingers are a nice luxury to have on the bench. That win yesterday was about teamwork. I just hope we carry that on into the Swansea and Reading games. Well played.

Forever Everton.

If anyone says they agreed with Naismith coming on as a substitute, I'd say they were telling porkies. A great game, atmosphere and result, hope we can continue with this form and Goodison can continue to rock like yesterday, there's no ground like it when we roar and sing like that.

Chelsea wants the kind of things that money just can't buy. I don't care to much for money money can't buy you Stones.

Where do I send the funds for the next protest plane? Got to have one against the Shites.

The most pleasing thing for me was how pleased John Stones looked. I would like to believe he really feels at home now.

I was l also really pleased for the regularly abused Naismith and Barry who both put in MotM performances.

Let's hope this gives the club the boost it needs.

Naisy was hanging around between their midfield and defence and it looked like they didn't know who should mark him. Play him centrally and he thrives in those pockets of space, out wide he is wasted. Three fantastic goals from the lad, not to mention credit for the assists from Galloway and Barkley.

An all round great team performance, Stones showing great maturity after the nonsense from those classless chavs, not to mention Funes Mori coming on and looking the part with some neat football and terrific leaping headers.

We just need to keep this momentum going, Swansea away will be difficult, especially after their result this weekend. Hopefully Besic, and in particular Coleman, will be fit before long.

Can't understand why people were surprised when Naismith replaced Besic. All week Martinez had coached the lads to take on Chelsea without specialist wingers so why would he change his plan after 10 minutes? Besic was there to attack and tackle and Naismith was the natural replacement. In fact, judging by his general attitude, I suspect Nessie was not happy with his place on the bench.

Even more unhappy was Mirallis. When the 2nd goal went in Kev looked like a lovesick man who had just been dumped.

I don't normally join in with abuse but must admit I succumbed yesterday!

I'm really trying not to be smart after the event, and it was a fantastic afternoon at Goodison, but I still have a nagging feeling that the unfortunate injury to Besic worked in our favour. Fair play, Roberto selected the right substitute, but did he pick the right team?

But the change was made. And the rest is history. Give me a lucky manager over one who over complicates everything. And Martinez did over complicate most things last season. Looks like he has learnt from last season. Let's get the basics right this season. Lets hope that we get the rub of the green (referees) and, with a run of luck, we might just have a good season.

I am actually very pleasantly surprised and very pleased with our start. But a return to last seasons rubbish would spoil everything very quickly. 4-4-2 for now seems to be working. Use our wide players when needed. COYBs.

Naismith's entrance, in my opinion, didn't prevent us from losing. It didn't suddenly get our defence to shut Chelsea out and switch everyone on to top form. It just produced a different set of circumstances. To think otherwise is unkind to the manager and unkind to a fine young Bosnian International who will probably be a future star for Everton.

Nevertheless, yesterday was Naismith's day and I was thrilled to bits for him, the club and the fans. A 100% trier, he helped make it a day to remember.

In hindsight, I think he was trying to replace Cleverley as best he could. Still ,all's well that ends well.

Harold, I'm sure you posted earlier that Roberto was practicing something all week?? Ah, post #33 above "All week Martinez had coached the lads to take on Chelsea without specialist wingers so why would he change his plan after 10 minutes?"

The score might have been different but we were always going to win this one.

The manager, the players and supporters need to ensure we carry this momentum and feelgood factor into forthcoming games.

What a feeling if we could similarly embarrass the RS.

I watched the game in a bar in Dubai and the presenters including Andy Gray, were arguing about should Naisy even have been on the pitch after his touchline kick, or wasn't Coleman a disgrace rolling over after a slight 'flick in the face...' Unbelievable anti-Everton bias! Why is that? Who's hat did we shit in before TV was invented?