tadpole
Player Valuation: £15m
There has been improvement in some areas. Our defence has been much meaner since the New Year, which makes Howard's blunders all the more frustrating. We're a pretty tough team to beat, and we're seldom fading in the second half the way we were doing during our losing run. We should allow Martinez some credit for helping to turn these things around.
But let's say it clearly : three wins at Goodison in the league all season is an absolute disgrace. Average teams are coming to Goodison and we're not even giving them a hard time. We're shuffling the ball around without creating chances. We keep trying to play through the middle where there's a bank of well drilled defenders because we're lacking in width. We've got great attacking players on the pitch who aren't getting the chance to express themselves. Second season syndrome ? Don't give that rubbish, I'm not buying it. There's nothing inevitable about our poor league form. Martinez should be held accountable for his tactics and decisions, just like any coach at any other football club. I accept there's probably no possibility of him leaving us before the end of the season. But I've absolutely no problem with blues fans developing a bit of backbone and demanding better than what we're seeing now.
