From My Seat: Swansea City (A)

Deulofeu made me laugh. I coach soccer here and the star kid on another team does twenty step-overs before making a move. I told my kids he'd do that so just ignore him and nick the ball. It worked for my team and it worked for Swansea too. He's got to figure out a way to become a better team player. Until then I'd stick with Lennon as he's more solid.

I was disappointed with the result but very impressed at how we played.

I thought Browning did well as can be expected but still feel if Coleman had been playing he would have made the difference.

I was also impressed with Del boy. He is a changed player. Far less selfish, creating chances for others and getting back to help defend.

I don't agree about the Mirallas sub. I think RM was hoping for that one last chance to nick a goal.

What was very pleasing was the development of our younger players. I saw the 'Babes' several times and they exuded self-confidence and a work ethic. Galloway and Browning have those attributes in abundance; I would love to be around to see them blossom.

Happy with both a point and the performance. Ross seems to be growing with each game, it was also nice to see him having a go at the ref.

Luksku is disappointing; far from a world class striker. We played to his strengths and he played to his weaknesses. Still, he can only get better.

It's great to see the defensive side of our game has improved. The team look more confident and will be upset that they didn't get all 3 points.

So Mirallas has took himself out of the equation for the next 3 games. Stupid challenge. But overall, I am more optimistic about the future, Martinez just might win me back over.

Reading between the lines it seems to me you are seeing signs that something good might be happening.

Before the season started, I was concerned about our defence... not now. It seems we have an abundance of good young men, have made a sound acquisition in Funes Mori, and Jags is not only playing well but has stepped up to the plate as captain.

Young Ross Barkley appears to be growing in stature with his new found responsibilities and we have Deulofeu waiting in the wings.

Let's hope our young striker can find form; if he does, we could be in for a cracker of a season.

Dick (#4), I am bit concerned about your last paragraph; I hope all is well with you.

It's always nice to hear opposing fans being complimentary about our players, and I heard much praise from the Swansea supporters for Barkley and Stones.

The prospect of having two young centre backs occupying the full back positions was a bit worrying. However, Galloway was excellent, and although Browning struggled occasionally he stuck to his task and came out of the match with credit.

It was disappointing not to get the win our 2nd half performance deserved, but on the day Naismith, Kone and Lukaku were not up to the same standard as the rest of the team.

Kone did okay but you never feel there is a goal poacher in him; he holds the ball up okay, better than Lukaku.

Naismith wasn't at it yesterday and well Rom just leaves me scratching my head, the guys has all the attributes to get 20 league goals, but he just flits in and out of matches and in some games his finishing and overall play is no better than Victor Anichebe's was but then he'll put in a performance like at Southampton and it frustrates you.

Yes, he is still learning but he's got to start doing it in more games than he is at present. I try to think back, did the likes of Rooney or Gerrard have so many "off games" at the age of 21?... I doubt it.

This is a big season for Rom, if we are to get back to challenging top teams we need a striker to score near 18-20 league goals and he's the most likely candidate so he needs to rise to the challenge himself.

Because whilst it was a decent point yesterday, it's games like that we will look back on throughout the season and think we should really have converted a draw to a win. The same can't be allowed to happen at West Brom a week on Monday.

Also a number of times he was the obvious pass in a potential triangle and if Coleman was there, that's where the ball would've gone and Stones (usually) seemed to think, "Too risky; what's my 2nd best option?"

Maybe it's too early to tell, but for me, Galloway looks a FB / CH in the Lescott mould, at the moment Browning does not.

Lukaku often doesn't rise to the occasion so therein the problem lies. Until the goalscoring is spread more evenly amongst the whole team, we will struggle to rise above mediocrity.

Who knows... during the course of the season it may come; I, like most, think we desperately needed an extra striker during the summer, but it didn't happen. Still, we have improved from last season without a doubt.

I agree with you fully and your right 100% about the problem with Lukaku not rising to the occasion enough.

I agree with the opinion of Ronnie Goodlass, I'd love to see Lukaku play the game with more cunning and nastiness, not to the level of being horrible like Costa but when I watch even a guy like Jamie Vardy, the fella plays the game like an enthusiastic fella that plays in the Sunday league but guess what?... A little bit of passion goes a long way and you can't fault him.

I know it's just Romelu Lukaku, he is not that type of fella that's going to really be over enthusiastic and play the game that way but sometimes you need a guy up top like a Charlie Austin or Vardy that will want it that bit more than the defender he's up against; that could have been the difference yesterday.

I agree, the goals need spreading more but outside Lukaku and Naismith there's only Mirallas or Barkley that you'd think will score maybe 8 goals.

Deulofeu plays the game as an out-and-out winger so won't get that many playing too wide, he's a goal maker rather than taker.

Lennon? Maybe 4 or 5 goals?

Kone just doesn't look to really have too many in him and, of course, how many will he play over the entirety of the season?

To be fair, as you say, Browning was taking on the in-form winger yesterday, but it's also worth noting that Galloway had little defending to do in comparison and this allowed him to get forward much more. Browning would be getting pelted on here if he'd gone forward and allowed Montero a run at goal.

Very good performance over all, but woeful up front again.

I'm glad Martinez makes the effort to build the confidence of the youngsters, they'll probably get slaughtered for an off-game by just about everybody else!

I'm especially happy for Barkley, Galloway, Stones, Jagielka and Howard for managing to find some consistency again.

Was Mirallas being competitive or did he fancy 3 games off? I hope it's the former anyway. Luckily, with Lennon and Deulofeu we aren't exactly struggling for wingers.

I agree that, minus the injuries, it seems like a strong squad. It would be great to be able to put Aguero and Silva on, but, you know.

Thanks for the report, Ken. As a Saturday worker now, I missed the game and for some reason NBC didn't offer it in its replay list. I watched the Stoke - Leicester match on replay. Still cursing myself for not taking Vardy for my fantasy team.

Lukaku is one of the most frustrating players to watch: he can't be working on his close control, I doubt if he'll ever improve that. Should he have been replaced rather than Kone say?

Oh for another striker... maybe the lad from Uruguay has got the poacher's instinct in him and can produce the goals to win matches, starting on Tuesday at Reading.

Mirallas is Everton's best player? By that logic (if you were serious) any player that feels he should be starting needs to be given... how much time exactly.? Or else, he will do something stupid out of frustration?

I just got to see the 2nd half, and I agree that Ross was 'The Boss'. I am really glad that we didn't get a 'No 10' — that would have stunted his development. Having said that, maybe Yarmolenko would be a step-up from Kone.

Kone is a good trier, but things are not going his way. Last week's goal-bound effort which produced a world class save from Begovic and yesterday Barkley's peach of a cross which got his legs entangled.

I agreed with the commentator: so many of Swansea's players had off-days: Shelvey, Ayew, Sigurdsson... because Everton's midfield did not allow them to play. Three clean sheets out of six is quite good and the Stones - Jagielka pairing had a big part to play in that. On the other hand, it is also three games out of six that we have failed to score!

I thought RM's nod to Ashley Williams in the post match interview (although he didn't mention him by name) particularly interesting. I wonder if he is going to be on his shopping list come January.

It became apparent at that time that he was not alone, Chelsea also thought he needed to improve and found a willing buyer (who said mug) in the guise of Eventon FC.

Whether that time spent studying his idols will eventually pay off and he matures into something worthwhile, or whether he should now get his head out of all those books and videos and start getting his arse into gear, remains to be seen.

I for one would like to see him emulate something in the Andy Gray mode and get stuck in; otherwise, cash in.

Well, I have to say that, after going into the season very pessimistic, I am now starting to see seeds of optimism coming out of me. It appears that Martinez has learned a few lessons and got the defence into a good functioning unit and the attack seems to be more cohesive with a cutting edge.

We followed up the good Chelsea result with a good performance and were unlucky not to come away with the win. Whilst it is disappointing not to win, the fact that we had great chances and should have won augers well for the weeks ahead.

Reading then West Brom shouldn't hold any fears for us so long as we put in the same effort and performances as the last couple of weeks and then we can go into the derby on a high.

Hope springs eternal, COYB

We seem to think we can walk the ball into the net at times with few of our shots on goal coming from outside the area. If Barkley can find a space, few goalies could stop one of his blockbusters from distance; let's hope we get it together on Tuesday.

Just a note to the powers that be at Goodison: we have a kid here at Toronto FC who is a goalscoring machine as well as a little genius on the ball; his name is Sebastian Geovinco and he has already scored 19 goals including 3 hat-tricks in the much shorter MLS season so far. Well worth a look/trial.

Besides, he's not a kid. Been playing in Italy for years.

Damn fun to watch, though.

19 goals and 14 assists, so far.

There was not much uproar at the foul by Mirallas, and a general air of surprise at the red card. Surely that says something?