Everton v Crystal Palace. 21st Sep at 16.00.

Result?

  • Everton

    Votes: 286 83.9%

  • Palace

    Votes: 32 9.4%

  • Draw

    Votes: 23 6.7%
  • Total voters
    341
  • Poll closed .
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Not open for further replies.
samZ said:
Why doesn't Besic get more of an opportunity to play. Ok he made an error against Chelsea. But he is a technically sound player with plenty of ability with the ball and also he looks good at reading the game when the opposition are in possession.
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Well if, as the Martinez apologists claim, it's down to 'individual errors' then he'd be the last person you'd want on the pitch.
 
nsno-chris said:
Its much bigger than today, thats the point. From day 1 something doesn't look the same, theres far to much space being allowed.

3 shots on goal all game, really; i can remember one hitting the bar as well. But its nothing to do with how many chances they had, its how easy they found space and the damage that can be caused if world class players are allowed so much room, time and freedom. This all stemed from Palace starting to defend on the halfway line rather than the edge of their box; they put are players under pressure, forced mistakes and picked up the ball. They were then allowed to run with the ball or pick a pass with little or no pressure from our attacking unit, or midifled unit.

And this goes back to my entire argument; last year we defended from the front. We were a tight unit, closing space down in packs and from the front. This year seens different, less urgency, balls finding the way to the back four and putting them under unecessary pressure when in most cases in should have been dealt with further up the pitch.

Take the Atsu incident for example, looses the ball and the player (Bolassie i think) was allowed to travel 40-50 yards and straight onto Stones. Last year would have seen McCarthy or Barry over there in a flash, or even Stones pushing up and Jags covering behind with one of the 2 midfielders filling in at the CB position.
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Why does something major have to be different, or be the cause?

It's football. You have bad patches and players have poor form.

Hell we might even have one whole poor season and still might not ultimately mean Martinez tenure is a poor one.
 

harris78 said:
i agree the goals were individual errors but anytime Palace had any gumption of going forward tell me whether you felt confident with the two of them at Centre back, i certainly don't, not at the minute. Defensively in two home games we have conceded 9 goals, that's not all down to individual error, there is something fundamentally wrong with our back four, and for me Jags and Distin together are a big part of that. Dont get me wrong, they have both been brilliant in previous seasons, but football is not a game for sentimentality and at the moment they are a liability together.
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No - I don't feel confident with them. Stones and Jags is a better combination. Distin has looked like Bambi on ice all season.
 
Do we need some sort of psychological hardiness embedding to stop us panicking at the slightest pressure? We were on 82% and looking at steamrolling them after 20 minutes.

A few attacks, a silly penalty and we looked suicidal.

Our confidence was shot, we rushed passes, we snatched at long balls, clearances went to them 8 times out of 10 and we were so scared of making a mistake that we perpetuated our own demise.
 
EFC Si said:
Howard to blame yes, but how many times did we give the ball away! Absolutely shocking.

How many times are year do we go through this? A chance to gain some ground on those above us and we bottle it EVERY SINGLE TIME.
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And that's what's pissing me off most. RM's arrival, for all its benefits, has not given us the sea change we need in respect of taking gift opportunities to really make an imprint when others have cocked up. A perfect w/e to do so -- MU,RS, Spurs all lose; a chance to go top 7 (in advance of a derby as well!).

Howard was the major culprit today -- absolutely awful couple of mistakes. But RM himself bears the major blame for me. He already had to make two changes once Cleman was ruled out -- it was always going to be disruptive to then make another 3 by choice. So, in 5 positions on the park today, RM knew he was playing inferior players to what is his best side -- and that's far too risky. When will we ever learn?

The funny thing is that some on here are saying that the result is proof we need rotation, just because it came after a midweek EL game. Where's the logic in that line of thinking? The fact is that our full strength team would have taken all the points today. Little doubt about that. RM blew them 3 points away by playing a weakened side. Not good enough Roberto I'm afraid. It was not the 36th game in our season. It was our 6th. No need for leaving any first choices out. None at all.
 

Not sure if it was microphone placement or what , but you could really hear the Palace fans singing for most of the match. Everton fans picked up when we got our second.
 
mrb85 said:
And that's what's pissing me off most. RM's arrival, for all its benefits, has not given us the sea change we need in respect of taking gift opportunities to really make an imprint when others have cocked up. A perfect w/e to do so -- MU,RS, Spurs all lose; a chance to go top 7 (in advance of a derby as well!).

Howard was the major culprit today -- absolutely awful couple of mistakes. But RM himself bears the major blame for me. He already had to make two changes once Cleman was ruled out -- it was always going to be disruptive to then make another 3 by choice. So, in 5 positions on the park today, RM knew he was playing inferior players to what is his best side -- and that's far too risky. When will we ever learn?

The funny thing is that some on here are saying that the result is proof we need rotation, just because it came after a midweek EL game. Where's the logic in that line of thinking? The fact is that our full strength team would have taken all the points today. Little doubt about that. RM blew them 3 points away by playing a weakened side. Not good enough Roberto I'm afraid. It was not the 36th game in our season. It was our 6th. No need for leaving any first choices out. None at all.
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Except thats opinion not fact.

We could have played 10 Maradonas outfield and it still might not have stopped Howards errors killing our chances.
 
Donald Twain said:
and missed an absolute sitter
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I get it: Osman didn't have a great game, but the scapegoating on here is over the top in my opinion. Could just as easily say that Howard cost us two goals. Plenty of blame to go around. Including Martinez. Love Roberto, but I think two of his subs today were poor (and that includes NOT taking Osman off). The subs were bad in themselves and, as others have noted, can't have done much for Besic's confidence. Very bad day at office, but I'm not panicking about the season or even the derby (any more than normal). Strange game and typical hangover from a big game on Thursday.
 

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