Townsend set for long road to recovery

That first 15 minutes against Crystal Palace was pure madness. Everton running about as if the game was going to last one half. Well it did last one half with Everton pooped for the second half. Having an aged player like Townsend rush in for the ball like that was always going to run the risk of injury.

Townsend was necessary support for the season, but now he looks as if it will be after Xmas before he comes back. No wonder it is reported that Frank is looking for three midfielders.

I wonder what his mum would say, lol?

Sadly, I suspect we may have seen the last of him if that is the case. He was one of the few positives in the first half of last season. If he won't recover until the end of this year, realistically, I can't see he could be expected to contribute much next season so any summer signing will have to be able to replace him.

Good luck to him. He and Demarai were stand-out players in the first half of the season – without them replacing the goals and assists of James and Gylfi, then we definitely would have been relegated.

£1.7M for both was an absolute steal.

Hopefully half a dozen cameos toward the end, with a top corner rocket taking us into Europe and giving him a fitting end to a solid career……

Jerome @1

I suspect the frantic 15 minutes will be par for the course for a lot of teams this year. The 5 subs will allow teams to take off those who run themselves into the ground. If we can't find a way to play football round the press, we need to recruit some absolute units who can run to the last.

Does anyone know if injured players' insurance covers Everton's costs, ie, salary, or does its only cover a "sales value" should they not make a recovery?