First post of this thread mate - all you need right there.
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First post of this thread mate - all you need right there.
The Esk
Player Valuation: £70m
This whole episode is symptomatic of a crisis of confidence and a huge amount of uncertainty that exists within the club at every level.
The Board, the management team, the manager, the playing staff all present many questions unanswered and becoming increasingly a burden on the whole season.
Just consider the unanswered questions.
Off the pitch:
Our Chairman (I accept why unanswered but unanswered nevertheless), the role of the Board, the potential change of ownership, the commercial performance and lack of leadership from our executive officers, the status of the stadium, our ability to compete financially in the Premier League?
On the pitch:
2.5 years in to "project Martinez" - how further along are we than 18 months ago?
The disconnect between a team capable of playing some of the best football in 30 years and our results.
Our ability to retain our young talent, our "core"
Individual errors, tactical naivety, inconsistency etc etc
The point is whilSt all these issues exist we have the potential certainly within the playing squad to at least bring a modicum of success to the club, be it a Cup or qualification for Europe as a minimum.
However until we find leadership among the resources available to us as it stands or there's a change of ownership I suspect we're going to do no better on or off the pitch.
The Board, the management team, the manager, the playing staff all present many questions unanswered and becoming increasingly a burden on the whole season.
Just consider the unanswered questions.
Off the pitch:
Our Chairman (I accept why unanswered but unanswered nevertheless), the role of the Board, the potential change of ownership, the commercial performance and lack of leadership from our executive officers, the status of the stadium, our ability to compete financially in the Premier League?
On the pitch:
2.5 years in to "project Martinez" - how further along are we than 18 months ago?
The disconnect between a team capable of playing some of the best football in 30 years and our results.
Our ability to retain our young talent, our "core"
Individual errors, tactical naivety, inconsistency etc etc
The point is whilSt all these issues exist we have the potential certainly within the playing squad to at least bring a modicum of success to the club, be it a Cup or qualification for Europe as a minimum.
However until we find leadership among the resources available to us as it stands or there's a change of ownership I suspect we're going to do no better on or off the pitch.
Of course that's the main thing but he's addressing the fans at this point and why not mention it if it makes a difference. Do people really think he doesn't want to win? We can all argue about different methods on the pitch or whether he's good enough in the long term but how can people argue that our players being nervous at our ground is not a worry
And get criticized for that, too.
They're the ones getting paid to 'entertain' aren't they? So 'kin entertain the fans. Get wins. Touch the ball at least once in the first 2-3 minutes.
'kin ada.
I dunno Dixie. Whatever manager or squad we have there will always bad patches. Some will be for a short period others much longer. I don´t think we should assume the team will be boss and then moan when they aren´t. Support in the bad times and the good, and definitely during the 90 mins and with a team full of youngsters.
Okay. So this isn't really a serious discussion then.
I don't buy this. Not much, if anything, has changed since Martinez's first season, when we set a Premier League points record. We had the same board, same stadium issues. We've already shown there's nothing fundamentally broken that stops us doing well on the pitch - that would only make sense if we'd been proper Randy Lerner'd, sold our assets and done a Villa.
What it boils down to is fans seeing crap on the field of play due to a lack of pragmatism from a manager, and then correctly identifying it as crap and reacting as such. There's nothing deeper with it - if the team started playing with a bit of spark, the fans would be on side immediately; they wouldn't be umming and arring because of the board situation when Barry throws a tackle, Deulofeu breaks at speed and puts one on the fod of Lukaku.
The Esk
Player Valuation: £70m
Ok mate, show me any organisation that performs well with the leadership issues we currently have?
What are you on about? I've already explained why it is what it is. He wouldn't use the words "doubt and fear" in relation to Everton's home performance and talk about "making it comfortable" for the squad unless he meant the fans - there's no other way of logically interpreting it. If not the fans, what at home are they "scared" of? There's no other factor he could possibly be referring to.
What do you want me to quote exactly? The whole thing is in the OP - read it at your own leisure.
Woolly Blue
Player Valuation: £80m
I agree with everything you say, but when things aren't going well, the crowd will normally react positively to a bit of intensity in the play, especially when we don't have the ball.
In the first half, there was precious little of that, which was partly due to enforced changes due to injuries and partly due to tactics or the players not following instructions, so I can see why there was booing at half time.
Second half, we were a lot better in terms of effort put in, and the booing was probably more for the result than anything.
Generally supporters will put up with a poor performance when they see the effort being put in. That doesn't mean we need to do a Dogs of War impersonation, but you do sometimes have to be seen to graft a bit on the pitch, even more so when you're not playing very well.
CahillsCornerFlag
Player Valuation: £70m
Whilst I find myself agreeing with you virtually 99% of the time Esk, I'm not sure how any of our boardroom leadership issues correlates with our uncanny ability to gift goals to the opposition time and time again.
How am I meant to do that? First of all, it's a football club - it's different to a bricklayers or whatever.
Second, we did perform well two years ago with the same set up. The exact same in fact - same board, same CEO, same everything. The only thing different is we now have arguably an even better squad to do it with.
I take your point about stability being needed, but in essence we have that stability - same manager, funds being invested on playing staff regularly, no backroom changes of staff and so on.
Whistlin' Dixie
Player Valuation: £50m
Royal Mail delivery rates* were at a high when I worked there (1998-2001) - despite the organisation haemorraging money because of management balls-ups & Govt apathy.
*I reckon it was down to me personally - feckin size of the round I had
And I still got booed by the customers!!
mkrudden
Player Valuation: £40m
Because football clubs are entities which arent made up of people?
In my opinion, no manager should ever say his team has a complex to playing at home.
There's no benefit to saying that. It wasn't an off the cuff reactive remark, it was a calm and considered statement, said over multiple interviews.
You can defend the manager and say he wasn't having a dig at fans, but that defence for me, is more condemning.
If he wasn't saying it was the crowd that was causing fear and doubt, then what exactly is the complex?
For me, his narrative has changed considerably in recent weeks. He's now blaming external factors, and referees, now the stadium.
Maybe he is feeling the pressure.
There's no benefit to saying that. It wasn't an off the cuff reactive remark, it was a calm and considered statement, said over multiple interviews.
You can defend the manager and say he wasn't having a dig at fans, but that defence for me, is more condemning.
If he wasn't saying it was the crowd that was causing fear and doubt, then what exactly is the complex?
For me, his narrative has changed considerably in recent weeks. He's now blaming external factors, and referees, now the stadium.
Maybe he is feeling the pressure.
The Esk
Player Valuation: £70m
I think it is very different from 2 years ago with respect. Expectations much higher, a better qualified and experienced team on the pitch and off the pitch, well just about everything you would not wish for in a corporate organisation is happening currently, it's bound to have an effect.
Professional sport like the peak of any industry is all about fine margins, at the moment those margins are not in our favour and it is manifesting itself with the uncertainties around us.
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