When David Moyes took over at Everton he instituted a simple but brilliant rule. If you play well you will stay in the team. This rule has galvanized Everton over Moyes’ reign as boss, players are rewarded with playing time if they succeed, and are driven on even further by other squad members who are kicking their heels in the periphery. If Joseph Yobo hadn’t succumbed to injury then there is no doubt that Moyes would have fielded an unchanged side for the third game in a row, as it was Valente came in and Stubbs and Lescott paired up at the back. New signings Pienaar and Baines were...

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Tottenham 1-3 Everton IKEA is a strange place, some furniture is cheap and other items are extortionate; it is often very hard to tell which is which. As husbands sleepwalk through this male tundra, cajoled by eager wives, hopping around, picking up purchases like a bird building a nest. Whilst I was trudging through my Swedish hell, my blue boys were winning at the Lane, a place that before last season was utterly barren to Everton; we had failed to win there for 21 years. As I was held up in IKEA I instructed my dad and sister to text me with any updates. It wasn’t long before my...

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The first game of the season is often a worrying one, with occasional thrashings dispensed, and jittery defeats a definite possibility, but this was in the end a relatively comfortable win, with Wigan only flirting with a fightback for a few minutes.In the days approaching this game all thoughts were away from Goodison, to possible sites for a new stadium (Kirkby and the mythical “Loop site”), to the prolific Nigerian from the Riverside Stadium with the Barry Bonds physique, and to the “continent” – in search of a skillful partner to share some of the creative burden with Arteta in midfield. Before the game peoples eyes went to the...

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