Right, I'm going to try some positives about the evening first
- Having never sat in the Upper Gwladys before, I really liked it. The wooden floor and the way the seats are arranged is ust right for me. There were times when the players got far away that it felt like I was playing Sensible Soccer, but I still enjoyed it overall
-Delicioustofu, Barkley and Stones looked promising at different points in the match. Promising enough that I feel reasonably optimistic each one developing into a potent performer
-Artetafan being the fine gentleman he is and texting me updates on the Celtic game (Complete with "witty" and "humorous" comments about how rubbish Celtic are/were)
- Fellaini coming on and turning the game
-I had a Crabbies before kick off and it was lovely
Now, the negatives. Before the Martinez Brigade leap all over me, can I just stress that these are my opinions and I am entitled to them. I pay for my season ticket and I paid to go and watch the match last night. If you have a counter argument you'd like to throw at me, by all means do so, but be secure in the knowledge that if you say "You can't comment after Martinez having only 3 games", you lose the argument automatically and I win by an immediate 3-0
Right, here we go
- Kone was turgid and missed a sitter that was so much of a sitter Jabba The Hut could have waddled on and converted it
- Osman was terrible. I mean really terrible. I mean, so terrible that I wanted to rip my seat out of the ground and chuck it at him
- Naismith worked his arse off but sadly has no end product to back any of his hard work up
- Playing a poor man's version of Tikki-Takka isn't good to watch or effective on the pitch. It fluctuates between boring and infuriating at the drop of a hat
- We looked like Wigan and retained all of their defensive frailties. We'd pass it 20 times and get nowhere and then Stevenage would make 2-3 passes and cut us up like raw cabbage.
- Due to a travel snafu, I wasn't in bed till 1AM and had to be up at 7AM for work. Bad times at any point, but after watching that awful game of football it left a particularly sour taste in the mouth this time.
I'm not saying we need to sack Martinez or anything like that. And yes, I know it will take time to adapt to a new managers techniques, but last night just wasn't good enough. If we play that team against Fulham and employ those tactics, we're going to get slapped all over Craven Cottage.
I know we did a bit too much long ball last season for a lot of people's liking but the fact remains that we played Leyton Orient this time last year, with a weaker side on the field, and thrashed them. It took extra time and a lot of luck to beat Stevenage. These tactics aren't working. I'm not saying we play hoof ball, but we need to mix it up a little bit. This Tikki-Takka Crap doesn't work unless the opposition chases you to get the ball back and until the 2nd half of extra time, Stevenage were just sitting there, almost daring us to do something because they knew we wouldn't. When it was clear that it wasn't working it became equally clear that we didn't have a Plan B
Cardiff on Saturday is not going to be an easy game. They just beat City and they've got a rowdy crowd who will be piling the pressure on. I'm genuinely worried that we'll be their next scalp
Under Moyes you could argue we were a little too direct at times. Under Martinez we haven't been direct enough. All I'm saying is, surely there is some kind of middle ground?
At the end of the day, I'm a little bit peeved that I'm going to have to watch this team every week at the moment, because I would never pay to watch a team like this normally. As it's Everton and I've got my season ticket, my hands are kind of tied and I will be honest and say I have seen Everton do worse in my days as a supporter. That being said, I really hope some improvements can be made, otherwise this season is going to be a slog
Cheers
Let the flame war commence!
Mikey
