David Kelly

If their other options are so much better then why haven't they scored more than him this season? How many assists have they got? Why is their star striker playing in the MLS? Keane has scored the same amount as Best in 4 games (and has an assist and is the country's leading ever scorer) and Walters has also scored the same amount. Doyle has scored less so far this season but is proven in the premiership over a number of years. I don't see why any of this makes Best look like a better option? Doyle is overrated. Without looking, i'd say his goal ratio is awful. Walters is Stokes penalty taker may I add. Average footballer. I'd rather have Best thah him. I've always liked the look of Doyle tbh and I think in a team that creates chances he could do well. Not seen much of Walters but he hasn't impressed me either. I suppose if Ireland's options are so bad then perhaps Best should be given a chance with them. Either way it sounds pretty depressing for the Irish.

This would be surprisingly good news if true.

If their other options are so much better then why haven't they scored more than him this season? How many assists have they got? Why is their star striker playing in the MLS? Keane has scored the same amount as Best in 4 games (and has an assist and is the country's leading ever scorer) and Walters has also scored the same amount. Doyle has scored less so far this season but is proven in the premiership over a number of years. I don't see why any of this makes Best look like a better option?

We used to have international class strikers (shearer, Bellamy, Ferdinand, cole etc). Best isn't fit to lace their boots unfortunately and he never will be. that won't sit easy with him mate.. "living in the past" etc etc Is he not fit to lace the boots of Kitson, Dalglish, Guivarch, Rush, Tomasson, Gallacher, Robinson or Cort either then? IMO the two in bold were considerably better players in their time here than Best will ever be and obviously Rush and Tomasson in their prime were miles better. More importantly though. during the time of all of those players we had one or more of Pedro, Ferdinand, Shearer or Tino and those players (with the exception of Guivach who was just a mistake of a signing who was very quickly moved on) were either youngsters who we took a punt on (JDT, Kitson, Dagleish, Robinson, Cort) or old heads who were brought in to cover us when we were short (Rush and Gallagher). None of them were ever meant to be our main striker and most of them were moved on pretty quickly. Oh and most of them got a load of stick (would have been more if message boards like this had been so common at the time ) so I'm not sure what your point is?

We used to have international class strikers (shearer, Bellamy, Ferdinand, cole etc). Best isn't fit to lace their boots unfortunately and he never will be. Failing to see your point here. Who said he was international class? Anyone who wants to see him play for an international team surely?

We used to have international class strikers (shearer, Bellamy, Ferdinand, cole etc). Best isn't fit to lace their boots unfortunately and he never will be.

Tbf Best's still shite so I can't see why anyone would want him in the team. Ireland may not be one of the top teams in the world but sure they're still better than him? Still I can't understand Trap having a go at his workrate as it's about his only attribute. Maybe it's more aimed at his lack of ability to make decent attacking movement and not giving his defenders/midfielders any options?

None of the results in themselves have been particularly (if at all) surprising but the fact that we haven't lost any of these games certainly is staggering. You could quite easily have predicted each of these results in isolation but not even the most optimistic would have expected such a run of results. It does go to show that outside the very best the league is very mediocre and with some good organisation, a goal threat and a bit of luck you can easily pick up some good results.

I really wish they'd stop brining up the Madrid and Milan thing. It serves absolutely no purpose now and just puts more pressure on the kid. It's also extremely lazy journalism but there's no surprise there!

Bang on.

Poor form on his part. Not impressed. It won't do him any favours but it could just be that he was homesick and uncomfortable there. Not everyone's cut out for moving away from home. Doesn't necessarily mean he's a trouble maker or anything.

Sorry mate but he'll never be as good as Leon Osman... Ossie is a good little player and would walk in to most mid table and below teams, Gosling is a very limited player and I dont know any Everton fans who were upset he left (other than because of the way he did)... In fact most fans were angry Moyes kept playing him over other players who had far more potential. I haven't seen anywhere near enough of him to make that judgement. You might be right, I have no way of knowing having seen next to nothing of him. I've seen other Everton (on Newcastle and Everton forums) fans agree with what you're saying and others disagreeing. I'm not arguing we have a good player or agreeing that we don't. I'm just saying we have to actually see him before making a judgement.

She said no Titus!

I really don't see how people can have much of an opinion at all about him yet. Other than friendlies and reserve games (in which it seems hes done well) he's managed two league cup games and about ten minutes in the league against the makems in about two years after suffering an absolutely horrendous injury. Admittedly he was poor against Scunthorpe but he certainly wasn't the only one (Ba for one looked like the game of football was comepletely new to him), and only people who were at Forrest (I'm yet to hear from a single person who was) saw what he was like there. But even if he was shite in both the cup games it's far too early to form a judgement yet alone suggest he'll never more than a Guthrie. There are it seems a few Everton fans that are saying that they never thought he was premiership standard when he was there but there are others who said the complete opposite and were guuted to lose him and not just because of how he left. A more balanced opinion of him I've seen more often than not is that he'll never make it as top class but will be a very useful squad member similar in quality to Leon Osman (personally I'd be more than happy with that). I would say that he faces a massive uphill battle to get in the team like. Tiote and Caybaye are pretty much untouchable at the minute and Jonas, Squidward and Marvaux are much more natural wingers. But let's give the lad a chance eh?

Very surprised at this news like. He's a frustrating twat at times but I still welcome this. I'd rather this had been Colo but hopefully this might indicate that there is still a possibility of a new deal for him too (doubt it like).

I thought Norwich's players looked weaker than the makems (which is a fair achievement given how bad the likes of Gardner and Elmohamady looked) but as a team they were different class. They had a purpose and were first to every ball. The scum did fuck all with the ball at all. I wouldn't take any of their team ahead of Best at the moment!

Can't imagine there was many of our lot watching it or could be arsed to vote for something like that. Most likely it was the Norwich fans.

Canny stuff today. We made them look shite (although I think that's just what they are). Another good shift from Catbaye and Tiotes getting back to his best. Great to see Ba get his first goals (his first was a cracker) and Ben Arfa back. The only downside is again both fullbacks look weak links and Squidwards not showing enough bottle when going at his man.

I think I've made it clear I don't rate him and I think he missed some very scorable chances, but credit where credits due, his movement for the first goal was first rate providing Colo with a good option before finding Ba with a decent ball. More of that is what we need as it will give the midfielders options (that they are more than capable of finding) and allow us to play from the back.

Needs to show more bottle when he gets the ball. Not sure at this stage whether he's just short on confidence or if he lacks heart (hopefully it's the former) but he'll get nowhere without it.

Exactly. At first look I thought he was at fault but when I saw the replay I don't think he did anything wrong at all and he may even slipped (as well as the ball falling kindly to Agbonlahor). He gets my vote because he's looked quality in every game so far just as he has done for the past two seasons. There may be an agrument that Taylor has possibly looked even better next to him so far but past experience suggests he will have more dips in form over the season (obviously I hope he keeps going and finally fulfills his potential). The only thing that goes against Colo is the strong (imo) chance that he'll be sold come January as we all know there's no chance of us offering him and new contract on anything like his current terms.

Aye, same for me. Although I'm coming round to the idea of Best too

Colo

Just going off the three goals we conceeded Perch seemed poor for all of them (although the way the ball was deflected into Derbyshire's patch for the second goal seemed a bit of a fluke) and Elliot didn't exactly suggest he should be in ahead of Krul or Harper.

You could only play one striker with them three on. Given the quality of our strikers that's not necessarily a bad thing though.