Martinez needs to shoulder some heavy criticism right now. It's only fair to hail him as a revolutionary successor to Moyes. I expected better from Martinez, more bravery in his selections. Instead he handed the keys to the kingdom back to the old guard; understandable if not preferrable to transition subtlely in the first season. Lose the seniormost players, risk losing the dressing room. But this season the only names on the teamsheet should be through merit, not seniority or status. His rehabilitation of Naismith gave me hope he was brave in this regard, but disssapointingly he has turned out not to be.
They shiouldn't have survived the Arsernal game, certainly not the Chelsea one, but to move Stones to rightback to accomodate Sylvain Maldini Distin was shocking. Here is John Stones the ultimate in assured footballing talent from the back being shifted aside so that Jags and Distin could play hot potato with the ball. It was a chore just to get them to cease the unnecessary clearances - you always got the feeling Jags loved nothing more than a smashed clearance into the Top Balcony. I remember him doing them under no pressure whatsoever and seemingly pleased with what he'd done. Having grudgingly accepted the demands that he play out from the back, it's as if he's rebelling by putting the minimum amount of effort in, still clearly of the mould that defenders are there to defend and he shouldn't be expected to do much else. He lumbers out of defence then plays a shoddy, slow, backwards-moving trickler to Distin. If he should heaven forbid be unfortunate enough to receive it back, his favourite ball is back to Howard. Who promply boots it up and away and we lose the ball anyway. So many times there is no need to go back to Howard, it's not a dangerous situation, if anything we don't gain, we lose from it because Howard's kicking, even by goalkeeping standards, is abject. Again, job done for Phil. He's done his bit, he even passsed it as askled, what more can you ask?
Compare that to John Stones who only considers his job done when we've got possession back: and you can see why he's so admired. Right in front of me near the Gwladys Street end of Main Stand he slid in but contorted himself at this arcing angle so that he not only won the ball but scooped it round and instead of it going out for a throw, he stood up and we were on the counter. There was one time Bolasie beat him but then a) he's not a fullback and b) this is the player who last year made Coleman look ordinary. Obviously loves Goodison. But other than that he was the most solid of the defence. Which made the decision to withdraw him and move McCarthy to rightback an almost indefensible deference to the status quo. And, though yes Osman was caught in possession on the edge of our box, when it finally came in it was through a gaping hold at rightback. Both he and Distin are desperately reliant on the shield in front of them, especially Barry. Today not even he could help, and I felt sorry for Barry as he was outstanding.
But their reliance on others to do their jobs for them is nothing compared to Howard, whose abysmal ability to command his area and marshall the back four is right down there with the worst of them. The three of them have never seemed clear on who deals with what. How many times did bouncing balls, half-clearances or low balls into the six yard box result in goals over the last few years? Howard, really, should know better than to rush out when it was 50/50 as to whether it was even necessary, never mind would he get there. And the second goal was simply pathetic. Far blow the required standard
But the biggest issue of all is Lukaku. The pricetag looms large like the inevitable albatross around the neck that it is. I never would have gone over £18m and as soon as discussions hit that figure, I would walk away. He never sufficiently impressed last season. For long periods he was anonymous or lumbering in the touch and movement. £28m is a farcical amount, whichever way you look at it. To a club of our financial limitations, I can only ask - what the hell was Martinez thinking? He has saddled the club with an unprecedented investment on the playing field, like nothing before, surely on the promise - his seemingly genuine belief - that Lukaku will be one of the best in Europe. But to me, especially given the evidence, that looks like fantastical conjecture on his part, the kind of gamble we are in no position to take. I texted my mate on the way home from Wolfsburg - 'What I wouldn't give to have spent that money on a top class goalkeeper and a top class centre half to pair Stones'. And really, it seems like that should've been the way forward. We look more than capable of scoring goals, play with a verve and intelligence that makes it easy to avoid rigid systems. We never needed to be tied down to a traditional #9, especially when his contributions have been minimal.
Can't think of any individual examples, aside from pipe dream of Petr Cech, but it surely couldn't be too hard to find brilliance in both positions for £28m
