Kevin Mirallas

[WA Toffee]

Look at it from another angle:
Deulofeu
McGeady
Lennon
Kone
Cleverley

All Martinez signings...Mirallas isnt. Seems to me for whatever reason he isnt seen as an option for the side or else why sign 3 wingers and play 2 players out of position ahead of him.

Don't think that's an issue. Robles is a Martinez signing but he still keeps picking Howard

 

[Caolam]

It is very strange, Martinez pulls off a master stroke in convincing him to stay at the end of last season and then doesn't give him a chance to prove himself this season.
It is strange.

 

[Jags..class]

It is very strange, Martinez pulls off a master stroke in convincing him to stay at the end of last season and then doesn't give him a chance to prove himself this season.
It is strange.

That is down to the form of delboy

 

[Caolam]

That is down to the form of delboy

That is certainly true of late but, having went out of his way to keep him you would have thought that Martinez would have been looking to play him, it just didn't seem to happen.
I'm not complaining, if he is not worthy of a place, for whatever reason then that is that. Manager picks the team he thinks will deliver.

 

[Zatara]

He had chances

It is very strange, Martinez pulls off a master stroke in convincing him to stay at the end of last season and then doesn't give him a chance to prove himself this season.
It is strange.

 

[Chang Elephant]

It is very strange, Martinez pulls off a master stroke in convincing him to stay at the end of last season and then doesn't give him a chance to prove himself this season.
It is strange.

Was weird seeing Osman on one wing the other night showing utter invisibility while Kev was on the bench

 

[mlyons]

That is certainly true of late but, having went out of his way to keep him you would have thought that Martinez would have been looking to play him, it just didn't seem to happen.
I'm not complaining, if he is not worthy of a place, for whatever reason then that is that. Manager picks the team he thinks will deliver.

He was looking to play him early on in the season, but the ankle injury and the red card made that difficult.

 

[LocalNative]

He had chances

Has he had chances though? Started just one league game all season - the opening day. I wouldn't exactly say he's been given many chances.

 

[4737carlin]

It is very strange, Martinez pulls off a master stroke in convincing him to stay at the end of last season and then doesn't give him a chance to prove himself this season.
It is strange.

He had chances but didn't take them, own fault, Martinez has done the right thing by Everton. Was easier for Kev when the bench was none existent in terms of quality and he was always going to get a game, but things have changed now. Other players are ahead of him and should be ahead of him, they proved themselves in terms of there own ability and in Kone's case what they bring to the side.

 

[LinekersLegs]

Has he had chances though? Started just one league game all season - the opening day. I wouldn't exactly say he's been given many chances.

Wondered this myself so had a look with my conclusions below - where would you have chosen him ahead of others?

Since that post we've had Villa, Bournemouth and Boro, thought he had a good sub appearance vs Villa so would probably have started him vs Boro rather than Deulofeu to give him a bit of a rest.

Mirallas started our first game for Watford but got a nasty ankle injury - sufficiently bad he tweeted about how bad a tackle it was.

Given his history last season of struggling with an ankle injury understandable that he was rested for the next match, S'ton, which Kone and Cleverley started and both performed well which probably accounted for them both starting the Man City game with Mirallas on the bench. When he knew he was no longer going to be used as a sub, Kev headed down the tunnel which isn't a great thing to do - many managers would discipline him just for that. However Kev was a starter for our next game against Barnsley, where he scored a goal but so did Naismith and the game only really changed when Deulofeu came on.

Against Spurs Cleverley and Kone were again the starters. However Mirallas replaced the injured Cleverley but we played significantly worse when that sub was made, we only started to pick up again when Naismith came on for Lukaku. Against Chelsea Besic and Kone started but after Besic's injury Naismith was first sub and promptly scored a hatrick, with iirc Kev flouncing off again after he was unused -

Against Swansea Kone and Naismith were starters, Deulofeu earning first sub and Mirallas a late sub but he made a petulant tackle and got himself a red card. The games covering his suspension were Reading, West Brom and Liverpool with Deulofeu again influential in all three games and Kone scoring against West Brom.

Man United saw nobody, starter (Naismith/Lennon) or sub (Deulofeu/Kone), perform well so the following match at Arsenal was perhaps the best chance Mirallas had of re-establishing his position when he came on with 20 minutes to go but he didn't do any better than Lennon and Deulofeu got yet another assist. Kev did however get a start against Norwich and assisted Osman's goal which probably jumped him up the pecking order about Naismith in the "what have you done for me lately" stakes which is probably why he was the first attacking sub against Sunderland. However in that game Deulofeu had 2 assists/1 goal and Kone a hattrick which made them both logical choices for starting the West Ham game.

Looking at the above list of 15 games where would you have started Kev and who would you have dropped in his place?

For me he has just suffered a perfect storm of being injured/suspended at times when other players have done well. He hasn't particularly helped himself with attitudes like walking off from the subs bench or the stupid red card - he's 28 and he should have better emotional control than Deulofeu who has channeled his desire for game time into making the most of his early substitute appearances.

On his day I think on his day Kev is one of the few match winners in our squad - he just needs to knuckle down and win a spot back by showing his talent rather than assuming he earns it by right.

 

[LocalNative]

Wondered this myself so had a look with my conclusions below - where would you have chosen him ahead of others?

Since that post we've had Villa, Bournemouth and Boro, thought he had a good sub appearance vs Villa so would probably have started him vs Boro rather than Deulofeu to give him a bit of a rest.

I think that's the problem though. In the games he's started (Watford, Barnsley, Norwich) he has done well. He's only been given more than 25mins on 1 occasion too. He's a confidence player our Kev, for me he should be starting against Palace in place of Kone who has gone off the boil slightly in previous few games.

 

[LinekersLegs]

I think that's the problem though. In the games he's started (Watford, Barnsley, Norwich) he has done well. He's only been given more than 25mins on 1 occasion too. He's a confidence player our Kev, for me he should be starting against Palace in place of Kone who has gone off the boil slightly in previous few games.

Almost all our players seem to be confidence players though - if you drop one who is performing just to coax Kev what will that do to the dropped player's morale?

Personally believe Kone isn't as effective away from home, more a function of the way the two teams tend to set up rather than Arouna himself, so would still keep Kone on the left for Palace and use Kev as first sub with the plan on starting him away vs Norwich.

Guess we'll see!

 

[Furey1878]

Have we ever played two direct traditional wingers for a long period with success?

I remember an interview with Baines last season (cba finding it) in which he was talking about how we tried to start last season by going all out to put goals past teams and one of the things he mentioned was playing with two out and out wingers (McGeady and Mirallas at the time) and how it backfired. Clearly it's something that's stuck in collective thinking of the squad, not just the manager. After say November-ish of last year, we've only ever played 2 wingers when injuries or suspensions have demanded it.

People seem to forget that for pretty much most of 13/14 we also never played with 2 wingers, it was mostly Pienaar or Osman with the other wingers being used as impact subs.

 

[LocalNative]

Almost all our players seem to be confidence players though - if you drop one who is performing just to coax Kev what will that do to the dropped player's morale?

Personally believe Kone isn't as effective away from home, more a function of the way the two teams tend to set up rather than Arouna himself, so would still keep Kone on the left for Palace and use Kev as first sub with the plan on starting him away vs Norwich.

Guess we'll see!

I guess, but having a player of that quality sulking on the bench does nobody any favours. Hands down, on his days one of the most talented players at the club. His attitude may suck, but Martinez has got to find a way of managing it and him.

 

[Zatara]

I'd go with Cleverley and if either of the DMs are out then start Besic.

Almost all our players seem to be confidence players though - if you drop one who is performing just to coax Kev what will that do to the dropped player's morale?

Personally believe Kone isn't as effective away from home, more a function of the way the two teams tend to set up rather than Arouna himself, so would still keep Kone on the left for Palace and use Kev as first sub with the plan on starting him away vs Norwich.

Guess we'll see!