U23s beat Derby County at Goodison Park

Link

Still 0-0 10-15 minutes in.

Sprinklers on a half-time? What happened to Storm Dennis? We see pictures of floods in Wales on TV?

Hope the butler is keeping you well lubricated.

Well played to both Mampala and Simms on their goals as both missed good chances from similar positions.

Derby is one of the stronger teams in the PL2 this season. They were leading it until very recently, but have just started to stutter, so a good result and performance from our boys.

None of the lads today are young, only Astley and Simms are impressive and teenagers.

The boy Iversen is not bad but I don't think that much of him and he's closer to 19. I did mention Astley and Simms were teenagers and impressive. The rest of the side is unlikely to make it.

Dobbin has played a lot of football lately, playing and scoring in a few England U17 games plus playing for our U18 last Saturday, so maybe he was being rested. But, for me, an opportunity missed by not bringing him on alongside Simms to run at a tiring defence with his pace.

I expect an even younger side next season.

Besides, it's never, ever a good thing when they win.

Goose-pimple time!

I hope we, Sheffield Utd and Wolves finish above them.

Hopefully Chelsea, Wolves, Man Utd, Sheffield Utd, even Arsenal will do everything in their power to allow us to forge ahead and get that European spot.

The end of next season will show if Ancelotti is our man and not a failure.

I've been clicking back in every day for the past week just to enjoy the view.

(The table, not the poster.)

I hate those fuckers.

In an ideal world, it would be us challenging for the title in years to come but sadly we lack ambition. Richarlison will the next to be sold, then we have no quality players left whatsoever!

The big picture tonight is this: only corrupt officials and corrupt referees and their 'decisions' have stopped us being 4th right now!

Incidentally, for our US viewers, there's a wonderful feature on Speedo Mick right now on The Men In Blazers Show.

I am not going to disagree with you, our play this season has been frequently crap and you do not need to get me started on Marco Silva!

That said, it is Everton all over that he kept his job as long as he did. The club accepts and tolerates mediocrity and crap, as do many of the supporters; it has to stop! We have been robbed of points through the season, though, and 'decisions' have stopped us now being in that 4th position. I am not happy with it!

Things are slowly turning around and, although there's only a dozen games to go, they could still snatch a European place, which would be nothing short of miraculous given the form under Silva.

The Man Utd result at Chelsea was good for Everton so it remains for the Blues to keep picking up points.

One thing I have to bring up again is: Why many of these so-called professional coaches today do not put defenders on each post when defending corners? It happened again today, as it does in so many games, and goals are conceded when many could be prevented. No excuses for this at all.

Miracles are few and far between in life and football, if Everton make it this season, it will in my book be a miracle, bearing in mind the disastrous first 4½ months of this season.

It will be amazing to push for a Champions League or Europa League spot and brings far more excitement to the season than we dared hope for when Dunc took over with us languishing in the bottom three. Carlo has definitely targeted Europa League – but a failure if we don't achieve it this season? Come off it.

Just 1 or 2 key signings in the summer with exits of some of our higher-paid players, will go a long way in stabilising the club's finances, and put us on a firm footing for challenging the top teams for honours. Hopefully, players like Baningime, Gordon and Simms get a few minutes on the pitch, at least for a few of the remaining games.

The claim was, if we failed from the HERE and NOW, it would be deemed failure. The teams above us have failed to get away and cement their places and that makes them vulnerable to a late surge... What's so hard to understand about that?

There is of course history of people on here throwing in the towel for whole blocks of matches long before they are played, and they will of course readily accept non-qualification due to what happened when Silva was manager.

There are no prizes for not being Marco Silva. The prizes will go to those who dare and belief. If we fail, we fail as a collective, but those who want to make it entirely about Ancelotti will certainly get their wish. At this point, many are expecting... and, if we don't qualify from THIS position, there will be many who will consider it failure.

I believe people are making our task mountainous because they want to proclaim qualification as some sort of miracle. It won't be. It will just be Everton doing (for once) what should be considered the bare minimum.

Nobody is expecting Everton to come from another postcode AT THIS STAGE, but only FIVE points and a handful of inconsistent teams stand between us and Champions League qualification right now. Everyone of them have a more demanding run-in than us. There is simply no point in talking about the situation before Chrimbo and using it as a lame excuse. That situation has changed.

Champions League qualification is what we should be aiming at from here on in. It would be a great achievement if we could manage it (but not a miracle). We need to keep winning and believing. If we don't believe qualification for the Europa League is the bare minimum under these circumstances, then when do we believe it?

Tomorrow? Heard it.

We have gained decent results since Ferguson took over, though, which should bring a lot of confidence, but if it wouldn't be a miracle if Everton qualified for the Champions League now. I cast my mind back to the FA Cup tie at Anfield, and hopefully this is something the players also constantly do, because qualifying for the Champions League would be unbelievable, both for themselves and us very loyal supporters, and it's most definitely achievable now!

Brian @54, I'm just glad we are learning from experience and knocking Goodison down!

If the end result looks anything like the video, mate, it'll be amazing, honestly!

I think if we achieved Champions League qualification from here with this squad, it would be very impressive indeed. We are fighting a bunch of richer teams with better squads and easier run-ins. Not a miracle perhaps but extremely challenging.

If we were to come 6th, for example, and achieve Europe, I would still see that as a success but I guess it's a personal thing.

Carlo has only just joined us, early days etc, but I hope he's keeping an eye on lads like this (Beni included).

Man Utd were a well-run club, but seem to be struggling now, on and off the pitch. You are right about Ferguson; yes, he helped me to continue to like them well, driving red supporters up the wall, those who go to the game and the legions of armchair Sky hangers-on.

Last night though, they were exceedingly fortunate with many decisions going their way and Chelsea were the better team and deserved better, beaten by VAR more than anything United did.

This will help to increase pressure for team selection and also encourage those who have seen Anthony Gordon elevated to first team consideration, to believe they can emulate him by turning in consistent displays.

We have a decent youth set-up, and when you consider that Fraser Hornby, Lewis Gordon, Morgan Feeney, Calum Connolly and Anthony Evans have moved out on loan apart from Anthony who has gone to SC Paderborn.

Long may it continue, I do enjoy watching the U-23s playing especially at Goodison, to monitor their progress. By the way, the Women's Team is doing well too in the Cup, but need to get higher in the League Table, all encouraging signs, auguring well for the future.

Perhaps my glasses are too blue but all the teams there or thereabouts are inconsistent and it would be a brave man who'd put a few bob on 4th; Wolves? Sheff Utd? Us? Why not???

Yes, the next 4 games will be tough, but trips to Arsenal and Chelsea don't have the terror factor they once did, well not for me anyway, and ffs we've got to beat Liverpool some day.

So, for the first time in a long, long time, I'm feeling optimistic about the future, while still expecting to be doused in the warm piss of reality lurking somewhere in the back of my mind.

I have just looked at the fixtures for all the teams competing for 4th place, and looking at the fixtures, I don't think we have the easiest run-in. I have looked at how many times they play against other teams currently in the top 10.

Chelsea 4; Man Utd 5; Spurs 7; Arsenal 5; Wolves 5; Sheffield Utd 5; Everton 8.

But why not believe we can get 4th place? On our day, we can match most of the other teams competing for the 4th place, but it's a big ask given our run of fixtures compared to the others.

What might help is most of the others are still playing European ties, which does take its toll, so maybe, just maybe we can do it.

“Onyango threads a superb ball through the defence, Simms is on to it in a flash, outpacing the defenders and sliding the ball past the goalkeeper.”

A long, long way to go for both those players... but it's nice to dream!

Beni again showed well last night. Unsie said this week he's only just back to 100% fitness after so long.

Time and again such clean forceful challenges turned over the ball in our favour and set us on the front foot.

Echo Phil @ 83. Onyango played a beaut of a through ball for Simms to score the late winner. Overall, I thought Markelo was the best midfielder on show for us last night, which isn't always the case.

Bloody hell yes, Jay, there really were some tackles going in. Colin Harvey would have been proud. I wonder if the ref was marked down by the official observer for being too lenient?

11/10 from me (the ref, not your post!).

We most definitely do have the easiest run in.

Man United have to play at least three games more than us. That number is very likely to increase. They may not be playing too many top teams but they will be up against about five teams fighting for their premiership lives.

Arsenal have to play at least three games more than us. That number is also likely to increase. Their league fixtures include games against us Wolves Leicester, Liverpool and Us

Chelsea have to play at Least three more games more than us. They face Bayern and Liverpool in the cups. They have to play Us, Tottenham, Liverpool, City Sheffield United and Wolves

Wolves have to play at least two more games than us. There league fixtures include Tottenham, Sheffield United and Us.

Spurs have to play at least three more games than us. Their league fixtures include Chelsea, Wolves, Man U, Sheff U, Arsenal and Leicester.

Sheffield United are the only one of that group who only have league games like us and they have Man U, Tottenham, Wolves, Chelsea, Leicester and us. They have a tiny squad. They are on the bones of their arses for premier standard players.

We cant keep talking up the size of our task. Especially when you consider we are entering the business end of the season and the teams around us are likely to go deeper into the cup competitions and have far greater mountains to climb.

None of our rivals for European football is anything to write home about. They will take points from each other. We should be looking to our games against them as opportunities to land knock out blows. Not trembling at the sight of our fixture list and talking about miracles.

That's a positive for me. It's in our hands. There's no-one to fear in this league. Win the next game, the next game, the next game and get some momentum.

I don't care if the media ignore us. Let's go under the radar, let's get the points and qualify.

Carlo isn't here to 'wait until we're ready'. So let's stop farting about, qualify for Europe and deal with it. Let's act on the basis we're the big club we are, rather than the cautious club we've become.