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After all the build-up, hype and optimism surrounding Everton's potential success this season, we should have known that there was only ever going to be one result on Saturday, this is Everton after all.

The performance against Sam Allardyce's well drilled Blackburn side took us all by surprise, as Everton, playing in the new pink away kit which is simply ghastly, produced an attacking performance devoid of any quality or cutting edge and were easily nullified out by the resolute Rovers defence.

Of course it is only the first game of the season and the Blues have plenty of time to recover from this early setback, but this was a chance to make a real statement about our intentions for this campaign, and visits to places like Ewood Park will have to be converted into three points if we are to genuinely compete for a Champions League place this season.

Everton finally secured the most important deal of the summer on Saturday 7th August, with Mikel Arteta agreeing a new five year contract that has effectively seen the Best Little Spaniard commit the rest of his career to the Blues.

David Moyes made the retaining of his current stars the number one priority in the close season at Goodison Park, and after the likes of Tim Cahill, Leighton Baines, Jack Rodwell and Seamus Coleman all committed themselves to long term deals, Arteta has also been persuaded that there is no better place to be right now than at Everton

Phil Jagielka is the latest member of Everton's squad to be linked with a big money move away from Goodison Park this summer, with the club confirming they have turned down an enquiry from Arsenal regarding Jags' availability.

Jagielka is a key figure in the Everton defence and was sorely missed during his ten month absence with a cruciate knee ligament injury last season. His return to the Everton line up, along with Mikel Arteta's, was crucial in Everton's excellent end of season form and it would be a devastating blow to lose him.

For Evertonians the situation will undoubtedly draw parallels with Joleon Lescott's move to Manchester City almost exactly 12 months ago, however there are some key differences that will hopefully result in Jagielka staying at Goodison.

David Moyes may face one of the most difficult decisions he has had to make as Everton Manager this season, actually getting to pick his starting eleven from a fully fit squad.

When the squad returns to Finch Farm and is reacquainted with the payers involved at the World Cup in South Africa, it is becoming increasingly difficult for anyone to predict who will be in the line-up that takes to the field against Blackburn on the 14th August.

The player that is perhaps providing Moyes with the greatest selection dilemma is Jack Rodwell.

As Spain clinched football's ultimate prize in South Africa the inquests will begin into the performance of the players on show during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

With seven members of the Everton first team squad representing their countries in South Africa, here's how I thought they got on....

With the news on the Dan Gosling contract fiasco hitting the headlines (or lowlines) it is appropriate to weigh up just how much Everton will be effected by his apparent imminent departure, my view....not that much.

Gosling is reported to have agreed a verbal contract with Everton that would have more than doubled his current salary, but the club's inability to put the offer in writing has seen the Premier League side with Gosling and deemed him to be a free agent, with Newcastle lurking as potential suitors.

This decision is not likely to have gone down well with the Goodison hierarchy, and in particular, David Moyes. Moyes has shown a lot of faith on Gosling by signing him from Plymouth Argyle and then by involving him in some of the first team's most high profile games.

Gosling has undoubtedly shown signs of promise in his brief Everton career, more often than not making cameo appearances as a substitute and has influenced some games by scoring crucial goals against Liverpool, Manchester United and West Ham United.

However I do not feel that Evertonians should worry too much about Gosling leaving. He is currently injured with a cruciate knee ligament injury he sustained against Wolves at the end of last season and is not likely to be fit for another 4 months.

But it has also been reported that Gosling sighted his belief that he should have started more first team games and in his preferred central midfield role as the reasons for him wanting to leave Goodison.

If Gosling truly believes this then he is yet another example of a deluded young footballer who has got an over inflated opinion of himself, and of his ability.

Does he really believe that he deserves to start in central midfield ahead of Mikel Arteta, Tim Cahill, Marouanne Fellaini or Johnny Heitinga? Not to mention the likes of Leon Osman and Phil Neville, who have also played in that position, and who are all established Premier League performers.

Not a chance.

If appears to me that Gosling may have also recognised the above list of players, plus the emerging talents of Jack Rodwell and realised that he was a long way down the pecking order at Goodison, and decided to leave the club on his own terms with a free transfer.

Not that this it much consolation for Everton as Gosling could have fetched £3 - £5 million in today's transfer market, and this is perhaps the most frustrating thing about this whole fiasco.

Therefore the frustration felt amongst Evertonian's by Gosling's departure should not be with actually losing the player, but with Everton's incompetence, that has seen the club lose a sellable asset that could have commanded a transfer fee which in turn could have been reinvested in the first team squad.

Another year. Another transfer window. Another scattergun approach from the media.

Desperate to break the story first the press have obviously decided to throw enough transfer tittle tattle onto their back pages with the hope that one will stick, so when the player does make the move they can look all smug.

But even though I know most of these stories are fabricated, it doesn't stop me from feeling anxious when most of them involve Everton players leaving rather than coming in.

Mikel Arteta's agent has stated that the player intends to remain at Everton. 'He has a wife and child and is happy in the city.' Let us first assume that this statement is not a bid to raise his purchase price.

That being the case, then this latest position is illuminating and inspiring, irrespective of which club you support. Why? Because here is a man who views the wellbeing of his family as consisting of more than adding extra zeroes to his salary. Not only that, he is prepared to forgo the guaranteed increased exposure that would come through playing for a team in the Champion's League - exposure that might well hasten his ambition of inclusion in his national team. To really spell it out, because it is not something we see frequently, he is putting others above himself. He is displaying loyalty. This is nobility in action.

IT'S A sign of how many players have returned from injury at Everton that David Moyes is now allowing some of his youngsters to go out on loan.

James Vaughan made his debut on loan to Leicester City at the weekend in his latest bid to get his career back on track, and there is talk of right-back Seamus Coleman having a spell at Blackpool in order to get some first-team experience.

There's been a bit of a clamour from supporters to see more of Coleman since a couple of barnstorming cameos as substitute that turned awkward games against Tottenham and Carlisle United in the Blues' favour.

Having finally seen the back of the so-called "month of hell" that is February, Everton took on Hull City at Goodison, without key men in Fellaini and Cahill but welcoming back another key man in Phil Jagielka. It also, after the first 10 minutes in which he took to settle, showed Mikel Arteta passing the Tigers off the park and show why Everton have missed him for so long.

After a long hard month Donovan was given a rest and when it was set up for him to retake his right side of midfield for the last 20 minutes he didn't disappoint with a goal to banish the previous week's memory and an assist to Rodwell to finish the rout.

Since the start (and as written about here) Donovan's shown he's a quality player and his attitude has meant he's extremely popular with the blues, as evidenced by the reception he's been given by the supporters and other team mates. His respect and attitude's mirrored the respect he's held in, which in little more than two months says something.