OTF

That may be true, but it's difficult to foresee a massive swing in the players belief in the manager next season, even with the addition of three or so players. Therefore hanging on to him could foreseeably risk relegation, the one thing that could provide motivation for Ashley.

Pardew: "We was doing well out there until the refs decisions went against us, mostly his decision to start the match"

Could teach Pards a thing or two about getting away with a headbutt.

A time machine, a bullet and several hundred million pounds.

I'll go out on a limb here and admit I think against us he's looked quite adequate on more than one occasion. Haven't seen much more of him that that, so there's a fair chance that he stepped up for the derbies. As for him signing, given the current state of the clubs footballing endeavours I couldn't give a toss.

How naive can you be? Let nobody kid themselves - the only reason for his move here was his overall poor demeanour. Taking him on was accepting the challenge, the current situation is the culmination of failing dismally at it.

I think the closest they will get will be as with Dark Knight Returns, though I doubt it will be done as well.

If he was a better manager/man he would have been on the sideline, so he has no one to blame on that front except himself (assuming he did actually say that).

If he does get the chop it will be because Ashley finally realises that Pardew's erosion of players is in direct opposition to the business plan to bring in players and then on-sell them for a profit. If there's 50,000 there after the worst year thus far in the clubs premier league history, with no goals scored at home for something like 6 hours and on a streak of losses then there is no motivation from that for Ashley to make any sort of move either wih players or management.

Not going to be a happy evening for Pardew.

Good run Gosling. Shortly after Gouffran gets assaulted and they get away scot free.

What a terrible game of football so far. Still, it sucks to concede with just moments to go in the half.

Surely that's Steven Taylor at RB?

Without a doubt they are not immune to selling players. As you know the majority of that was for Fellaini who incidentally doesn't really for with their style of play under Martinez. The price they got for Anichebe was outrageous, and despite his flame burning brightly for a while they saw the writing on the wall wih Jelavic and cashed out with good timing at a premium above his ability as a player. All this said they really needed to make these sales as their wage bill is very high for their limited turnover so the sustainability for them is still somewhat questionable. Having the opportunity to bring in such quality on loan is a season on season proposition that is unlikely to be repeatable with this level of success.

Everton spend the money on retaining quality players vs bringing in new ones. As a result they've rarely been stuck with poor players on big wages, unlike us. Wage wise they're effectively paying the same as us, perhaps this season they will go past us in total wage, and they do so without paying players like Obertan 40k a week, M'Biwa, Marveaux and Ben Arfa 60k. At Everton players on that sort of coin are the top contributors and are main stays in the side. The financial controls are operated in unison with the chemistry of the team and guidance of the manager not in opposition to it.

One or two players per year coming in. On average we have more than that going out. That was a by the numbers piece, with some irritating self defeating talk - noting that we have the third highest attendances and then shortly after saying that we can't compete with the likes of Everton for commercial revenue. Nothing will change. Surely with top ten being incentivised like it has been it is in the clubs fiscally responsible interest for us to finish in 11th?

After the second half of his season surely we now won't be able to even pretend that we have any ambition to potential targets. The only players we'll be able to sign will be outcasts and mercenaries. I can't wait.

Saw Captain America 2 last night. Think it's my favourite of the Marvel films, which is surprising as there's not a lot of attraction to the character. Much better than the first which kind of fell apart in the second half, some unnecessary commitments they made in that were thankfully only minor distractions here.

Bet it looks fantastic as well. Doesn't open down under for a little while yet unfortunately.

It's telling that I don't even care anymore.

Should be renamed the Washington Generals after that performance. It's like we were there simply to help Southampton populate a highlights reel.

"This new red kit is working wonders eh Mike?" And it's 4, should be more.

Dummet great cross that appeared to ricochet off some posts in slightly off coloured Brazil kits that they oddly set up in the area.

15/16. We've got at least one more season at the top to savour these stunning performances.

There's two good things about this game from our perspective; Elliot's put in a good showing; and it's one game closer to the offseason where my weekends won't be bothered by such embarrassing performances.