And not just for Koeman. Lots of talk of £140 million but it was very little in net terms and would have been practically nothing if Barkley had gone to Chelsea.

We'd known Lukaku was leaving well before the end of last season and no-one came in. Was Giroud our only real option?

And the lack of pace! All top teams have pace to burn. Without Coutinho, it's all the Shite have, but it can be devastating. If our game plan against the top teams is principally to contain, how can you get any respite if you have no pace on the counter?

Two big games coming up and it's difficult to see us getting anything at Old Trafford.

We actually have a decent defence when pitted against the sides who finished below us, but age and a real lack of pace at the back is absolutely exploited by the top managers in the land time after time. The side Koeman inherited needed a huge overhaul and we shouldn't forget that. Some of his comments thus far seem to suggest that he was probably promised more than has been delivered in this respect.

Would he have spread the signings more evenly throughout the team if he'd known or should he have known by now so is himself culpable, who knows. This is Everton after all and nothing is ever as it seems.

There's been lots of talk about breaking the top 4/6 and transfer war chests and stadiums. Think we're probably all a bit more realistic this morning. If the project exists it is to develop youth so I expect we'll need a bit of patience.

No width, no pace, all 5 midfielders are of 2 sorts: destructive, holding, defensive players with limited creativity, or slow No 10s who need space and time to create, and in this team are rarely afforded either.

Due to the formation, Gylfi is pushed out wide, which for me is the main reason why he failed at Spurs. He's a Number 10!

I understand using Holgate (a centre-back) at right back if we are going with a more defensive approach but surely if we are looking at using the full-backs as an attacking outlet, Kenny is a better option for numerous reasons than Martina?

I hope there is a plan that our very well paid, vastly experienced manager is developing, and that, as just a fan with no football qualifications, I just can't see it.

We have been brought up on disappointment and I'm afraid we are witnessing another David Moyes scenario but a lot earlier in Koeman's tenure than even I thought possible. Koeman is a dead man walking. Well, he would be at another club.

We are terrible. Koeman's signings and tactics are shocking. It's so painful to watch.

SOS Big Sam is all we can do right now to stave off a relegation scrap. Seriously, that's how serious this is.

Far away hills are green! Koeman needs to mend the bridges with Barkley & McCarthy & get them fit & back into the side. We have a soft "underbelly" in midfield which needs to be addressed.

Hopefully when Seamus returns, he will be appointed Captain & provide much-needed leadership, drive & pride in the jersey. What I hope doesn't happen is Koeman continuing to play his new signings, trying to justify his decision-making & leaving better players out as a consequence.

Williams and Martina should be nowhere near the first team. Sandro and Klaassen need to spend the next six months getting up to speed with the U23s, although I really can't see either making the grade in England.

Schneiderlin doesn't appear to know what his role is within the team. Poor Keane, his performances have got poorer with each successive game but playing alongside Williams can't help. Gueye and Davies are all energy but no end product.

To start the season without a top class striker is such a huge mistake but what is particularly worrying is the lack of goal-scoring opportunities.

Lukaku was always leaving but mistakenly Barry was sold, Barkley alienated by the manager and their replacements are simply not good enough.

I don't think Koeman has the skills necessary to turn things around.

Koeman has to shoulder the blame for this, his tactics and starting eleven were very wrong. Why be so stubborn? Players who were woeful against Chelsea started again.

Martina – Good going forward but zero positional sense. Doesn't have the basic defending skills a fullback should have. Surely Holgate or Kenny are better options until Coleman is fit?

Williams – Is he 32/33 or 50? No pace, caught out a lot by Spurs forwards, and for most of the second half resorted to holding on to players or pushing them in the back.

Sandro – Maybe a little out of his depth but trying to use him as a target man doesn't work. He didn't win one ball that he went up for.

No width in the team. Most balls were played through the middle where we've got 3 players in Sigurdsson, Rooney and Klaassen all doing the same job. Totally bereft of ideas when we got near their box, which wasn't often.

Overstating the obvious but not signing a forward has cost us a lot. How can we be in a position of selling one of the league's best forwards and bringing Niasse back into it?

I do not blame Martina as there was absolutely no cover for him. Where was the midfield? Over on the other side running into each other!

Besides atrocious tactics,the thing that struck me was how lightweight we were compared to Spurs. They seem to win every physical battle and we seem to have a team of Osmans.

Long season ahead.

I'm assuming the FA is preparing a charge against Schneiderlin of bringing the game into disrepute.

Barkley looks a different class to any of the mid-fielders he's bought, but as he's injured and alienated, that's irrelevant. How good he'll be at Spurs with their forward movement is a mouth-watering prospect, but not for us.

Schneiderlin is a breaker up, as is Gueye, as is Besic, their creative abilities are restricted. Davies, like Kenny and Barkley, is local and therefore does not fit into Koeman's plans.

Keane and Pickford look good buys, especially Keane. Vlasic has not played enough to know if he'll cut it in the Premier League. I had hoped for 6th or 7th, but that may be a tad optimistic.

I don't like the way Koeman blames his players as though the players he bought and trains are nothing to do with him. His motivational skills are obviously on a par with his tactical acumen and his man-management ability.

Admittedly, he wasn't alone – his partner in crime, Gueye, was in my view equally as bad and many of us have been saying for a while now, the two of them in the same side doesn't work. Of course, there's not a prayer Koeman will change it; no chance... and he'll still persist with his "square peg, round holes" routine.

Just a thought but, if we'd have signed Giroud, the target man he was screaming for, who would have supplied him? Because, the last time I looked, we haven't got a winger. Well, we have if you count Bolasie and obviously everyone knows what's wrong there.

Sorry but I'm afraid it's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better...

I think you could do a better job as manager.

The beginning of the transfer window was so positive but the end a total anti-climax and that's the way it feels around Goodison Park right now. Very negative. We are like a lottery winner who believes he can buy everything he wants only to find the arse has fallen out of the pound and he no longer can.

The mood music needs to change and change quickly. So over to you, Mr Koeman, can you rustle up an uplifting concerto or have you lost the will having lost your first violinist and not had him replaced as you and the faithful had expected.

Look at the 3rd goal; WTF was Schneiderlin doing? Surely he's supposed to be the player that protects the back 4. But the system needs to be changed, because we haven't got Seamus and a 28-year-old Baines to provide the width needed in the final 3rd a la Trippier & Davies.

And like everyone else, I'm asking what is Koeman's 'vision thing'? He appears to want us to play like Spurs, and if that's the case we're a long, long way from it – it's the difference between a Nike top and a Nike top from Taiwan.

The fact that there was no attempt to keep Lukaku, although he still had 2 years left on his contract, suggests that either Koeman didn't fancy him or they had a gentlemen's agreement; no Champions League, you can go. Either way that means that the club had at least a years notice that we would need a new centre-forward and decided to strengthen in other areas.

But if we couldn't find a replacement for Lukaku, why keep playing like he's still there? The RedShite and Man City don't play with a big target man and Leicester won the league without one.

But we are where we are, which let's be honest isn't a very nice place. The Chelsea and Spurs games we've had one shot on target and conceded 5, and it should've been in double figures. And BTW, before people start pining for Lukaku, the lack of chances created is a worrying trend that goes back to the latter end of last season.

Koeman's got his work cut out to make this talented but unbalanced squad into a cohesive unit. Why is it so hard to be an Evertonian? Personally, I blame my dad.

It was great. I enjoyed every minute.

During one of the breaks, I finally got a phone signal and got onto the Live Forum, Everton were 3-0 down and clearly "playing" very poorly. I was a bit disappointed (but not very), but not in the least surprised. This team is so poor, and its manager so clueless that I may well just give up for this season. I don't usually do this until November.

We have occasionally seen teams implode when the manager proves so clueless that the players effectively just throw in the towel. I think Koeman has achieved this in record time.

To follow Lyndon's lead:

Moyes had no money but a talent for getting inferior players very fit and winning (and drawing) enough matches to survive. Martinez had a real talent for spotting good players and getting them to Goodison and in his first season lit the place up with exciting, aggressive play; sadly he didn't have a clue about defending or fitness and a Plan B for when Plan A had been rumbled.

Koeman has had money, time and the forbearance of the crowd for an entire season. If he were to leave today he would be remembered for:

- Pissing off the dressing room

- Playing slow, expensive, old, journeyman players instead of talented local lads

- Playing a team consisting of a 50% useless back line, a midfield consisting of 3 or 4 identical players (slow moving players who occasionally get in the way of opposition attacks), and 4 or 5 "No 10s" (defined as players who move about slowly 2/3rds of the way up the pitch – actually I remember No 10s as being really cheap and horrible cigarettes smoked by people who couldn't afford No 6s)

- Managing to
a) insult one part of the team directly – Niasse, Mirallas, Barkley, Funes Mori, Robles;
b) alienate another entire group – Jonjoe Kenny, Aaron Lennon, Ademola Lookman, Mason Holgate, Dominic Calvert-Lewin plus all the young lads on loan;
c) bring in dross that couldn't get a game elsewhere but pay huge prices – Stekelenburg, Klaassen, Martina, Schneiderlin and, as far as I can see, Sigurdsson.

Koeman is starting to look like our version of Roy Hodgson across the park.

As others have pointed out, we shouldn't be playing with two defensive midfielders, not if we have top 6 aspirations. Gueye or "Sideways" Schneiderlin, but not both at the same time.

And on the issue of the French crab, why did we sign him at all? Man Utd got rid of him because he wasn't good enough for their ambitions, so why is he good enough for ours if, as we are being told, the aims for the club are maximum?

The harsh comments directed at the other flops are valid, but particularly so for Williams. He shouldn't be playing for us at all.

And Pickford, while looking like a true gem, needs to lose some weight. Am I the only one who sees this?

A good manager would be able to get the best out of this squad, but he obviously cannot, and he doesn't look like a good manager. Unless he turns things around soon, he should be shown the door.

I have totally lost confidence in Koeman. Bereft of ideas and tactical awareness, no sense of adventure or spirit to play to win, a totally defensive-minded fraud.

We are paying £6m a year for this idiot to lead us into the possible mire of a relegation fight, which is the only direction I can see us going under his insipid leadership.

Not saying with any certainty that Niasse would have scored yesterday but unless he's given a chance, we're never going to know just what he might be capable of.

I wonder if Koeman can find another ex-Southampton reject who can play in the No 10 position, and another defensive midfielder who can get out of the way of opposition attacks.

Mirallas and Lookman are the only two attacking wide players we have (sorry but imo Lennon is crap and shouldn't be in the side). However, neither of them gets a look in and we have no less than 5 central midfielders starting, all of whom have no pace!

Koeman cannot be a footballing idiot to not see this so I can't understand why we start with 2 central defensive midfielders along with 3 No 10s.

I still don't understand why we signed Rooney if we were going to pull out all the stops to sign Sigurdsson. Rooney playing in the middle means Sigurdsson, our record signing!, is forced to play wide, WTF?

The manager needs to choose a system that suits the players we have rather than the other way round. We were truly hopeless against Spurs and it really could have been 6-0 or 7-0.

Whilst I can't see the Dutchman achieving anything with Everton, I'm positive no manager will ever make it whilst The Entertainer wields any influence over the Club's affairs – let alone clings to the chair!

I was talking to someone today who left the ground early yesterday and he'd seen Lookman getting into his car. He shouted to him "What's up, kid?" Lookman said back to him "The cunt didn't even put me in the squad" and with that drove off like Starksy and Hutch (younger readers, ask your dads).

So it looks like he's alienated another member of the squad. Not saying he would have made a blind bit of difference but he does possess a bit of pace – something we are sorely lacking. Seems strange that we paid a lot of money for a kid but are reluctant to use him.

The whole atmosphere at the club seems rotten at the minute and it seems to me there's only one man to blame. Is he purposely going out of his way to upset players because it seems like it... We've had Niasse, Barkley, Mirallas, and now supposedly Lookman Wonder who's next? Over to you, Ronnie boy.

Eddie Howe said on "Match of the Day", that it was his responsibility that Bournemouth had started the season so badly. No one else was to blame.

Koeman had signed ten of the starting eleven yesterday, he is responsible for training them, for motivating them and for the tactics. Yet he blames the players and does not see or admit that he has any responsibility for what is happening on the pitch.

What are we paying him £6 million a year for if everything that happens is not his fault?

It really is very strange how we've ended up with such an unbalanced squad. The whole summer, we were told a striker and a left sided defender were the priority, yet we sign neither. I know its hard to attract the very best but surely there must be dozens of decent players we could tempt over on £60k-80k/week – which is much more than most players in the European top flights earn.

The look out for a Baines back up/replacement should have started at least 6 months ago and the club knew Lukaku would be off a year ago! Likewise a right-back. Coleman's injury meant we'd be into 2018 before he would be back so we should have looked to sign a proper RB to provide cover and competition. Not singling out Martina but we could have done much better given the amount of time we had to look.

As it is, it looks like we're having to play the players that came with hefty transfer fees, even if this means the team is totally unbalanced.

Really not looking forward to Atalanta.

More notably, they looked a team with purpose who were playing for their manager today, a manager who has had 4 games in charge – not 14 months like Koeman.

I'm actually not hugely concerned about the defence taken in isolation. With the glaring exception of Martina (can cross okay, can't defend at all), they're all decent players.

But when the team has no width, and no attacking focal point, the ball... as Lyndon pointed out... just keeps coming straight back, and there's no cover out wide.

I really don't understand our signings. One of Sigurdsson, Klaassen or Rooney might have made sense, as a "behind the striker(s)" purchase. Buying three of them and attempting to force them all in the team makes no sense.

Sandro might be a very promising player, but he clearly isn't one designed to plow a lone furrow up front. And with a static midfield there's simply no outlet. The number of times Pickford searched for an option and then had to boot it up front for Sandro to lose a challenge was really sad.

I just don't see what the plan is.

Farcical really for Koeman to have to hook two of his summer signings at half-time 'cause they were ineffective.

It looked like it was set up to contain but they went through and around us with ease. You wonder what the tactics for transition and attack were.

I thought Rooney might play like he had something to prove but no, he didn't look up to it.

Worrying.

Klaassen looks like he couldn't press a grape. Sigurdsson playing wide left, surely he wasn't bought to play there? And Sandro playing target man... absolute joke.

He needs to sort this and quick, because it ain't working.

Koeman came in and looked at us as a stepping stone, not the pinnacle. So did Lukaku and that is why he fluffed his lines in the big games. People like that see "plucky little Everton" and not the 4th most successful club in English football and the team to have played more top flight games than anyone else.

As long as we have people in charge with the "knife to a gunfight" attitude, we will never kick on. We have to shed the inferiority complex and to do that, we have to shed Koeman. The sooner the better for me.

Unsworth, Ferguson, Stubbs – any of those will make me happy. And give them time. Screw reputation and standing in the game.

We are Everton – those that don't understand, don't matter!

What's happened to the pressing he banged on about last season? Klaassen, Rooney and Sigurdsson in the same team is a disaster. Rooney shouldn't have been in the squad on the weekend – out on the piss and no one bats an eyelid.

Klaassen, Schneiderlin and Rooney need to be benched for the United game. Let's get Vlasic, Calvert-Lewin and Sandro as the front three, Sigurdsson as the number 10 and Gueye and Davies sat behind. We desperately need some pace and energy in this team.

What competition are you in?

We've given him time, but there is insufficient improvement on the pitch, he is intransigent, and is inept at dealing with players. He's had enough time. Now it's time to dispense with his 'services'.

I've had enough of indifference and want, it pains me to say, the passion that Klopp or Conte display. Promote internally and give passion for the club a chance.

For me I believe it's simple. Pickford in goal, Kenny and Baines as full backs, Keane and Jagielka as centre backs. The midfield is more tricky die to the number of centre midfielders. I'd have Gueye and Schneiderlin still as defensive midfielders as Davies has looked lost.

I'd have Lookman and Sandro on the wings for pace and Sigurdsson or Rooney as the Number 10 playing behind Calvert-Lewin. It's not ideal but its a formation where everyone is playing in their best position.

Then there's Klaassen, Rooney or Sigurdsson, Davies or Besic, Niasse, Williams, Mirallas if he's in the right mindset, Martina or Holgate and a keeper on the bench. We're short in a lot of areas still and I'm left wondering how we've strengthened!!

As a unit they seem to lack fluency and cohesion – I would love to know exactly what goes on from a coaching point of view – they look a collection of lost individuals.

And so to Koeman. I must admit that the period of last season, between October to December, made me fear for his future. We were awful. Crap clueless football. If things hadn't picked up in January, I think Koeman may well have been on his bike. Fair enough, things got better. The emergence of Tom Davies and improved form of Barkley may have got Koeman out of a hole.

So what happens now? We so badly needed a physical presence upfront that, in the end, I would have settled for anyone? Our football is so dire and lacking in imagination that, when the inevitable lump upfield occurs, we needed someone to have the physique to get on the end of it and hold the ball while our ponderous reinforcements arrived – even if that focal point was a journeyman, seen better days, lower league forward, it would have done me as a stop gap solution. Much as I think Calvert-Lewin has potential, he is not quite ready yet.

Truly hope I'm wrong. Maybe with the influx of players and those already here, we will suddenly click and become a creative, freescoring, buccaneering side to be reckoned with... and maybe Kim Jong Un will abandon his nuclear programme, start wearing a kaftan and stick flowers in his hair??? We shall just have to wait and see.

Koeman has no ideas, no awareness and should be sacked immediately before we become even worse. He is gradually alienating the players. The earlier comment relating to Lookman is pretty damning, if true.

This season is already turning into a disaster and the only person to blame is Koeman; he is totally out of his depth at a club like Everton. I'm sick of him saying 'Everton this' or 'Everton that' when he should be saying "we" or "us". It just proves he has no connection to the club whatsoever and should be got rid of post haste.

In my mind, Barkley first and foremost. He is not ideal, but offers so much of what we lack — speed, creativity, directness, and a willingness to at least try something. Many bemoan his decision making. Fine. But who wouldn't want to see him running with the ball, maybe with some chaos, but at least drawing players and maybe creating chances and space. In other words: doing something!

The early wins and ties allowed us to not look and see how dull, slow, and basically bad this team was playing. The thought was, "we just needed time to gel." Good Lord, we are abysmal right now.

To echo many, losing to top clubs isn't the primary issue, it's how bad and disinterested and overmatched we look in doing so — and that lands at the managers feet.

I am also not sure what Kenny has done wrong, as I personally think he is better than Holgate and attacks with much more zest – maybe when Seamus comes back we will get that.

Mirallas may have a strop – but in a game crying out for someone to take a chance and actually shoot – he is a good bet. Lennon, a proven player – pace and ability, which is missing completely.

With Atalanta this week, and Man Utd on Sunday – could be a tougher week to come.

Koeman has got to come up with a system to get best out of players, and without more pace in midfield, not sure he will succeed

I would let Sigurdsson play this role giving him the same job he had at Swansea. Then fit a balanced team around him with some pace up front (Calvert-Lewin or Niasse) and a winger (Lennon or Lookman or if necessary Mirallas). If this means leaving some big names out of the team, then do it.

Players not in form should be benched (we might need a very long bench after recent displays).

David Unsworth

He could really inspire the players and fans alike.

Davy Klaassen looks to be the next Stefan Rehn or Tobias Linderoth and I thought he'd be a goal-getting midfielder. Sandro isn't as good as Jermaine Beckford. Ashley Williams is a yard dog. We're all hoping Bolasie can come back and offer some pace but he wasn't great before the injury. We never learn though do we?

We're mocking the RS over summer and making comments of "top 4" or "winning the Europa League" because we start spending the cash. They buy players with pace and ability whilst we buy pedestrian journeymen.

If they get a top goalkeeper and centre-half, then they'll be contenders – we're further away from them and the other big boys that I can remember. It's bloody depressing being an Evertonian!

Not sure how many times I have to keep pointing this out.

Moshiri has 49.9% while Kenwright has 12.2% of shares.

So is Koeman our Villas-Boas or our Pochettino? Right now, it looks very much like the former.

Yes, some of the buys have been baffling – all those number 10's? – and not spending to replace the top scorer is the most baffling thing.

But a good manager making a reasoned analysis of the players we have and developing a simple tactical plan to make the most of the players assets could still make something of this squad. I have seen nothing this season that convinces me that the manager has a plan to set the team up to get the most out of what we have.

Very worrying days to be a blue.

The selection of the formations for Atalanta and Man Utd, based on the last 2 games, could be an indicator of whether the squad is felling and the managers tactical nous!

Based on this season and at least a quarter of last season, we were dire and arguably worse now than then.

No balance, no game plan, and bar a miracle, it's nailed on we'll get whacked big style against Man Utd and scrape a draw in Bergamo.

The U23s had more guile, spirit and belief in their first goal, yesterday, than all the PL games the first team has played this season.

Time to change the tea bags and Finch Farm training routines? I want success and style but hand on heart, I don't see it this season.

Koeman will blame Walsh on failing to get a proven thoroughbred centre-forward, but now it's time to play Niasse and try and save what's left of his reputation.

I just hope by the time we play Liverpool, Kenny, Calvert-Lewin and Niasse are playing as at least they play with guile and spirit.

When Joe tasted what Feeney had made, he (Joe) said it was the worst tea he'd ever tasted. And Feeney (the youngest on board, mind) said "I did that so you wouldn't ask me again!!" Pay that one!! Now there's a leader?

Say what you like about Kim Jong Un, at least he's got a couple of shots off in recent weeks.

Maybe because it's too uncomfortable to think Moshiri could be a fucking charlatan too. Still acting like clowns, blow-arsing about this and that, then delivering fuck-all.

With the way it goes in life and EFC, we always expect the unexpected on good day. The hype has gone flat on the ground and the only yard stick is the first team is playing crap, and consistently, so It raises issues about any investors in the ground.

Priority now is a squad and a team that plays for EFC, and with style and manner befitting. The manager can't keep making excuses, about not putting in effort on the pitch. Saturday was the double pits after Chelsea.

The RS are bad, but we have zero threat now so I believe as it is we are allergic to shooting outside the box and scoring.

I hope I'm proven wrong the next couple of games.

And so stop the building and so we'd get the Games?! Brilliant! About 10 years ago the building of a new university campus on the banks of the Usk in Newport was halted as they found "nesting" otters!

I might be overreacting here, but I actually used to watch the Valencia games and it was same dross as this.

He stands there like a buffoon when things are going wrong. Being Atletico supporter as well, when I see Simeone and Koeman they are poles aparts during the game.

Before Simeone arrival,we sacked some coaches before the right one came in and delivered trophies. The football was not that great to watch but he got us results and trophies against likes of Real and Barca with a squad assembled with players from likes of Deportivo, Zaragoza etc, none of whom at that point would have got into Real or Barca reserve squad.

But the most important thing is the way players fought on the pitch like a war, is simply a treat to watch along with Simeone as their 12th man.

I am not asking for Simeone, but someone who can show attributes similar to him, who can make them hard to beat,who respond strongly when behind and who can fight for the players, rather than fight with them.

I want Koeman to succeed but he is learning nothing and looks clueless and that mentality will get us 7th at most, considering others have weaker squads than us, and I for one am not going to be satisfied, unlike the others who are defending him.

The way this is going it looks like a same cycle being repeated since Moyes days,poor start and then some decent run to 7th and then in the end nothing to play for and players don't give a shit in the final games, next season starts, best player leaves, no top player wants to join as we are not in Champions league and it continues. Very similar to Arsenal except that they always finish higher than us.

At the moment we need a manager and I don't mind if Unsworth takes over. At the most Koeman should be given only a month and if we are not in top 5, he should leave.

In this team of ex-captains of other clubs, the one thing we don't have is a captain who talks to the other players and gets them sorted out and motivated. (It'd help if we had a manager who did some of that from the technical area too.)

With Jags sitting on the bench (and when on the pitch, being too much of the nice guy from what I can see), I can understand why Koeman went with senior pro Leighton Baines. He was probably our best player on Saturday but I had to think long and hard and check all over the site before I was confident that he had captained us (after all, it was Wayne, as ever, who was doing most of the talking to the ref).

Any other views on captaincy here (although I realise that it is Tuesday and I'm late in commenting on this post)?

My first choice would be absentee Seamus Coleman and, of course, Wayne Rooney who is not doing a lot to earn the armband just now, certainly in the example he is setting, so no time soon will that happen.

In the meantime, we will continue to see the 'senior' figures tasked with the job – Jags or Baines. What goes on in the dressing room we cannot know but one has to agree that a more vocal presence is needed on the pitch and, at this moment in time, besides those mentioned we do not really have those personalities, so expect to see more of the same.

Whether Koeman looks to Seamus on his return is, quite frankly, anyone's guess remembering, of course, he is not one of Ronnie's boys.

On the other side of the coin we've had Rooney continually in the referees face, in nearly every game, and he is doing too much: very early in the Spurs game he had a rant at the referee for a foul, the referee waved him away, a few minutes later Rooney went down in what I thought was a foul, the referee let the game flow.

Rooney banged the floor, the ref just looked at him and to me it looked like he was saying to Wayne 'I'm refereeing this game not you'. You are allowed to moan, there is a time and a place, don't do it all the time you will just turn the ref against you.

I don't care how he 'looks' on the touchline. That's superficial for me. Give simple, clear instructions, play them in their best positions, let them get on with it.

This whole things a fucking mess. If Koeman's too stupid to put out a team that can compete, he doesn't deserve his job. I've seen various projected line-outs, on numerous threads – any fucking one of them would do better than the teams he's lining out, and theses are fans projecting these line-outs! FFS!

Take your head out of your ass Ron , and take a fucking gamble on the likes of Kenny, Lookman, Calvert-Lewin etc..., Calvert-Lewin has been one of our better performers FFS. I know, well I don't know, I suspect, you didn't get all the players you had hoped you'd get. Play the fucking hand your dealt. I thought at the start of the transfer window that Sandro was going to play off Lukaku, didn't work out too well for me, did it?

Trust me, I want you to succeed. When we brought you in as manager, I thought we meant business. Great player, had done well with Southampton as a manager, sweet. But these fucking bizarre line ups have me second guessing you. WTF is going through your head?

Start playing to your strengths instead of lining up slow, shit teams with absolutely no threat. Sure, the guys I mentioned mightn't set the league on fire, but what the fuck have you to lose?

Do your fucking job, or take the remainder of your £18 million and fuck off.

ps: You will never, ever,manage Barcelona. Unless they turn into the Everton of Spain, of course

Matthew, are you talking about that useless, lazy, couldn't trap a bag of cement, Lukaku? He wasn't well liked by a very vocal group on here, remember?

"Play the fucking hand your dealt". Indeed, couldn't agree more, just play any hand than the one he did Saturday.

Seems he's reverted back to his Valencia days of managing (if links posted on this sight are anything to go bye – interesting read by the way), it scares me a lot.

I do think it's a case of justifying his buys, probably mentioned on a few threads on here but that's how it comes across to me, why shoehorn ninety twelve #10s into a team? Why not play Sigurdsson in the middle? Why play the 'Welsh' fella when Jags seems better?

Why drop Calvert-Lewin when he's got a quality double-barrelled surname? oh, and he come of age against Man City imho only to then be put out wide against FC Hadjuk (Smash Your Face In Until It) Splits. (Took me ages coming up with that last one).

Ronkoe? Is that what we call him these days, I much prefer 'clueless twat' by the way, makes so much more sense. He needs a footballing epiphany before the next match, one can only pray, and hope and pray some more, or start a mass uprising of biblical proportions!

I'm a bit tired, so for anyone who heeds my 'advice', let me know how you get on and maybe I'll click the 'like' button if I read about it on the news.

CYOB

We appear to be approaching the darkest days of the Martinez tenure with a team not wanting to play, or not knowing what system we should be playing. There also appears signs that Koeman is starting to loose parts of he dressing room with what is a very unbalanced team with a duplication of players whom he now has to try and accommodate. How we ended up with four No 10s is beyond me with no striker or creative attacking midfielders capable of replacing Lukaku's goals.

No width, no pace and no creativity and a manager with no tactical nous could well be the death knell to this season. If things don't turn around very quickly let's get Unsworth in to do a temporary role and see what happens from there.

Why Premier League teams appoint managers on such long-term contracts when 75% of them fail I don't know. If a manager does a good job on a two- or three-year contract he is most likely to want to finish things off and resign.

It's quite obvious to us all that things are not right on the field system-wise and spirit-wise. Koeman is responsible for that without any doubt. Offensively they are as toothless as any team in the league at present and the question is whether Koeman has the ability to change this.

We will find out tomorrow and Sunday if they can snap out of this malaise as these games will really test their mettle. Everton have a deep squad and can give other players a chance to start like Niasse, Lennon, Calvert-Lewin and Besic but will Koeman change things up?

I thought Koeman got it so wrong against Spurs. 2 of the back 4 were wrong. Okay, there is not much between Jags and Williams, and I will buck the trend and say I do like and rate Williams. But this was a game for Jags.

First off, Williams had just played 2 internationals, whilst Jags had his feet up. Secondly, Jags is still faster than Williams at 35. Thirdly, Keane and Jags seem to have fashioned a partnership. For me it makes sense to play Jags, rest Williams and then switch them for tonight's game.

Now we come on to right back. Let's park our / my hatred of all things Martina. Martina is more attacking player than Holgate, and Holgate is a more defensive player than Martina. Few would argue that Martina is better in terms of pure defensive qualities of a right full back (as in right back in 4).

You may argue that Holgate is a better right wing back than Martina, but there's no doubt that Martina is better at crossing. This was Spurs, a top side from last season, who utilise the fullbacks and create overloads (extra man) in attack. How do you combat that? You play a defensive right back. You play Holgate. You tell Holgate and Baines that they defend as a back four and stay back.

Now, I would combat Spurs' tactics with a high defensive line, and so we would be relying on Holgate's pace if the offside trap was breached. The high defensive line would condense the play and flood the midfield.

Lyndon was scathing about the midfield defensive shield. I think Lyndon and a few others on here are wrong when they say that Gueye and Schneiderlin do the same job, they do very different jobs. Gueye is the one to press and he goes forward far more. People mistake this for him playing better. But it is not the case.

Koeman handcuffs Schneiderlin to the two central defenders and Schneiderlin does exactly what the manager wants. He's always done this, which is why I query time and again, why play a back 3? Schneiderlin plays like an extra centre-back. Schneiderlin's basic function is to pass the ball. It is actually Gueye who wins the ball, and Schneiderlin who passes it. Schneiderlin is the one who is meant to turn defence into attack.

Defensively, he was isolated, outnumbered, and he was overwhelmed. In attack there was poor movement ahead of him, he was isolated, he was outnumbered, and he was overwhelmed. He did not have a good game, but this was because Koeman got his tactics wrong.

People want to play with just one defensive midfielder. The reason we cannot is if Gueye is playing the "Carsley role" in a 4-5-1, then he cannot press the opposition. If he presses the opposition, we suddenly have no defensive shield. Schneiderlin rarely presses, unless Gueye is in position and can sit. The pair work in tandem. Schneiderlin goes left, Gueye goes right, but Gueye goes forwards, and Schneiderlin rarely does.

Even Chelsea did this last season. Kante was Gueye and Matic was Schneiderlin. One sits and passes. The other presses all over the pitch. This is how the double pivot works. If you play a single pivot, then you turn the attacking players ahead into defensive players because then they have to press instead.

Also the defensive single pivot needs to then be a great all round footballer who has an awesome engine, great tackling, and a superb range of passing. These players cost a fortune and play for the very best teams.

Klaassen got yanked off at half-time and he is fast becoming a massive flop. There is major grumblings from people around me who doubt his effectiveness and ability. I have said it many times and I will keep saying it: Klaassen's game is about moving the ball quickly, it is about fast one touch passing. He cannot play his game if no one else is on his wave-length.

He reminds me of Gravesen under Walter Smith. Our bulldog defensive midfielder who ran around like a headless chicken kicking people and making bad tackles as the ball was consistently hoofed over his head. Then Moyes came, realised he was a terrible defensive midfielder and was actually a brilliant attacking midfielder and got people on his wavelength and we finished 4th.

Klaassen is a brilliant player. We have the players around him to play wonderful one touch football, namely Wayne Rooney, Glyfi Sigurdsson, Morgan Schneiderlin, and Ross Barkley. The current failings are down to the manager's tactics.

Gylfi Sigurdsson was anonymous as Lyndon said. I did not want to buy him. However, I do think he is a fantastic player, and I suspect all the doubters would agree with me on that. I think I speak for all of the doubters in that we did not object to the signing, or even the cost, we objected to the signing at the expense of a centre forward, and especially when we already have a number of players who can play his position.

What I do not get is his utilisation. Why purchase the much requested No 10 and then play him on the left wing? Why have him so isolated and away from the ball and away from Klaassen? When we had a spell in the first half when the game was still on, he was involved, as was Klaassen and I thought there were some positive signs between the two.

Toby Alderweireld might just be the closest thing the Premier League has to Koeman himself. he's an excellent attacking centre-half with a superb long pass on him. All game long he hit a 70-yard pass to the left wing for Davies to run on to. Martina was often caught out or out paced and Toby just kept hitting these bombs non-stop. Now this was no surprise.

Everyone knows how good this guy is. He's asking for a fortune in wages because of it. Toby cannot get the ball and hit these passes if you mark him. If we played Dominic Calvert-Lewin, then he had the speed to get about the Spurs back-line and in particular single out Toby and give him no time on the ball to hit these passes.

As good as Sanchez and Jan Vertonghen are they are not capable of those perfect long balls that Alderweireld plays. Calvert-Lewin could have stopped these easily.

Spurs were missing Wanyama and Dembele and Son was on the bench. Sissoko played. We could have got at that midfield. Instead they outpowered us, outnumbered us and overwhelmed us. The game was always going to be won or lost in midfield. Koeman picked the wrong team, selected the wrong tactics and did not take advantage of an under-strength Tottenham side.

I understand that he probably selected Martina to try to pin Davies back, that he probably thought him the weak link in the side, being a young lad and all. He should have played a flat back 4. He should have selected Holgate. He should have pushed the defence high and squeezed the play. He should have had Schneiderlin and Gueye sitting. Then he should have checked Klaassen's fitness. If he was not 100% he should have started Davies.

Their role should have been to harry Dier and Sissoko and to press them and win the ball. Calvert-Lewin leading the line and pressing the back 3 of Spurs and stopping Alderweireld getting on the ball. We then should have had Sigurdsson and Rooney much more central with one helping get at the Spurs defensive midfielders and the other being the spare man ready to get the ball and go at Spurs.

All three of Sigurdsson, Klaassen / Davies, and Rooney like to press and win the ball, and all of them are capable of immediately going on the attack. Spurs do not like it when they are pressed back and they make mistakes. Remember Sissoko is a big joke, we made him look like the player we wanted to spend £30m on.

Close Dier down and he makes mistakes, the lad is a defender, not a midfielder, and he lacks skills on the ball and composure. By playing a back 3 they had less in midfielder and with more energy we could have overwhelmed them.

It was such a disappointing game and it all came down to Koeman getting his selection and his team very wrong.

I would just add, re Martina, that I thought in terms of his defensive role we just allowed too much space to Spurs to overload our right flank and left Martina trying to decide which of 2 or even 3 players to move towards.

So, Martina the wrong man for the role on the day, and then not provided with the cover he needed?

But imagine if TW became thought out and considered? Toffeebore would be new name.

But I really agree with you assessment.

Unfortunately, there was neither and all of us suffered for it. Even a neutral would say we were piss poor. As for Ronald Koeman well he seems to think that ignoring the oppositions tactics is his only mistake.

Time to bring back the cushions in the Top Balcony..

Other than that, plenty of teams, particularly Arsenal in the 1980s were able to play a flat back four without all of the defenders being fast. Steve Bould for example. What about our great defence of 1985? Stevens and Ratcliffe on the right side were like the proverbial off a shovel, but Van Den Hauwe and Mountfield were not fast in anyone's book. Ratcliffe used his speed to sweep up behind Mountfield, and Southall was happy to come off his line. We played a very high line in 1985, as can be evidenced by the goals we conceded when the offside trap was breached.

Keane is quick, but Im not saying he's anywhere near as fast as Ratcliffe was. But it is possible to play a flat back four against spurs, because the one you need to watch is Alli. Kane and Eriksen are no faster than Jags or Baines.

Yours could be from a tactical viewpoint which would be an interesting dimension.

Cheers Ian, but I can't get to every game because of work commitments and enough on here do a good job.

Very profound. You're over-thinking it, Tony!

Steve, go on! That's a really good call. I enjoy the reviews of the others mentioned above, always read them. A tactical analysis per game would be really good. And (or at least) a post before each game setting out your preferred team selection, tactics and reasons.

You never know the slow ponderous approach might well suit the Europa League. Here's hoping.

Perhaps that's what Ronald's up to – it's not that he doesn't give a fuck or has no idea – he's just waiting to catch the flow.

So true, Tony. A time for analysis, a time for instinct. The trick is knowing when and where!

I don't think Lyndon is wrong about Gana and Schneiderlin. I think you are.

I don't know where you watch the game from Steve but if its from the side you will see the Everton formation. When the opposition get the ball, we immediately withdraw into two banks. Nothing unusual there, but our formation is so rigid, it looks like we practice it with the aid of a geometry set. Our first line is absolutely straight. you could not get a cigarette paper between our defensive midfielders. they play an identical line. I accept Gana is more likely to break ranks and go hunting, but they do patrol the same area and although they are slightly different in style, they do exactly the same job.

Spurs did not overpower us in midfield. They didn't even have to engage us in midfield, our territorial surrender enabled Eriksen to abandon he usual number 10 role and go and play as a second striker with Kane. Spurs midfield were given the freedom of the park and were even able to get down both flanks doubling up with wingbacks to expose our full backs.

When Sissoko, Kane and Erikson were strolling through unchallenged they were running passed our defensive midfielders. Schneiderlin and Gana were not being overpowered , they simply were not staying with their men. They didn't know which of them had responsibility for what. they were in deed doing the same job.

Before the game, you made a lot about Demebele being the guy we needed to shackle, but his non selection proved he was not the problem. The problem we have is of our own creation. Tactics aside; you need to match the efforts of the opposition, especially one as mobile as Tottenham. We simply didn't do that, time and again people were more concentrated in holding the formation than tracking movement. Fatal.

Having said all that Steve. I enjoyed your post. You make some very valid and shrewd observations. I too would like you to do an after-match report form a tactical point of view – when you are able to see the games.

I'm trying to gage how old you are Steve, You are clearly interested In the tactical side of the game. Have you done coaching courses?
If you haven't, I strongly recommend it. It will not make you an expert (they don't exist) but they are hugely enjoyable and you will gain a completely different perspective. Got a feeling they may be expensive these days though.

I wouldn't set to much stall by "Tactics Explained" YouTube clips either. They're often the thoughts of people who don't understand the game as well as you do yourself.

I have noticed there are quite a few people on here who have done courses or who are interested by detailed tactics. You are clear in what you want to say and I hope you reconsider and give some thought to doing the occasional report.