Roberto Martinez Discussion - Including Live Poll (Poll Reset 1st May)

[davek]

It's not though Dave.

Winning less than 5 home games in a season is ridiculously bad.

If that was all that was going on this season it'd be something to focus on. It isn't though. We have great away form and we've done more than very well in the cups.

That's the story of the season. That's the balance that anyone who wasn't irrational would seek to strike.

 

[Tubey]

If that was all that was going on this season it'd be something to focus on. It isn't though. We have great away form and we've done more than very well in the cups.

That's the story of the season. That's the balance that anyone who wasn't irrational would seek to strike.

We don't. We have acceptable away form - indeed, we have the 7th place trophy away form.

There's absolutely nothing "great" about the league campaign at all.

 

[blue61]

I'd rather have the FA Cup

Is that better than 5th to 12th? @davek has me all confused.

 

[Whistlin' Dixie]

This obsession with the home league stat has to stop. It's just nonsense.

Almost as ridiculous as this, innit? A fair bit more relevant, though.

 

[Khalekan]

Why would Gordon Lee make you boo mate? The seasons we finished 3rd and 4th were very entertaining.

As has been said on here before, Gordon is a much maligned figure in Everton history.

I think this has now been revised and most of us look back on the Gordon Lee era with great affection.

Gordon had two top four finishes in his four full seasons......both of them meaningful top four finishes insofar as we pushed for the title right up until near the end.

Title challenges mounted on foot of some sparkling football spearheaded by Big Bob feeding off've Dave Thomas's superb crosses.

And but for catching a Tartar at home on the opening day of the 1977/78 season we probably would have finished champions that year (for those who weren't around, a newly promoted team were our opponents that day.....it was only Cloughie's nascent dual European champions and they turned us over )

He guided us to two cup semi finals......one of which we "won" only to be denied by Clive Thomas.

Gordon Lee.....them wuz the days

 

[Thomasc]

We don't. We have acceptable away form - indeed, we have the 7th place trophy away form.

There's absolutely nothing "great" about the league campaign at all.

Bet you that bit gets completely ignored lol

 

[Ashtonian]

...ditto. If we win (and maybe we can) then it's gonna prove difficult to get shut of him unless, of course, the MOSH has his own blueprint for going forward without RM, which may well be the case. My concern is we do win it (which would be brilliant BTW), he stays and literally NOTHING changes next year. I'm not overly sure I trust him with a big pot of dough, I think we'll struggle to hold on to ROM and, as he proves time after time after time, he fails to adapt and boss games as he should....he never has, his record tells us this...

I also find I'm looking at NIASSE at the moment and thinking 'we've paid 13 mil for you and I don't know what you are...'.

So I'd be curious to see what he'd target transfer wise too given he deemed CLEVERLY the 'missing piece'.

Genuinely, hand on heart, I just don't think he has the sass for the job...

The Naisse thing is looking a little odd at the minute. I would understand integrating him in slowly but right now he is barely playing any minutes and the one game he did the ball was just bypassing him. He is an attacker who doesn't seem to be preferred over bringing john stones on in any given situation currently, and there has been a fair few games to give him more time in. A small part of me worries that Martinez has impulse bought him and doesn't know what to do now he is here, i know he has a long contract and im not forgetting that, but for 13 million for a club like ours, we really need to be playing them by now, could well be 3 months without a start or more than 10 minutes a game!

 

[Whistlin' Dixie]

We don't. We have acceptable away form - indeed, we have the 7th place trophy away form.

There's absolutely nothing "great" about the league campaign at all.

But why isn't @davek allowed to include the away from in the cups? No fair, Tubey...

 

[davek]

Hate to say it but as RM has failed to live up to my expectations from a tactical and technical perspective then my wish would be to move him upstairs into a position where he is responsible for scouting, identifying and sourcing players - there is little doubt he has an eye for a good player - but keep him away from the actual footballing side by bringing in a coach/manager who can actually implement the on field activities. He also has good media savvy (bull*******), has bought into the club's history and I am sure would make a great ambassador for developing Everton's prospective global links which Moshiri will surely wish to develop.

I disagree with that. But I would say this: on reflection looking back at Martinez's interviews last week it could be suggested that structural changes are being mooted at the club.

Specifically: RM's talk about how he is part of a tradition in English football management that likes to keep all elements of running a football squad in his own hands. I just wonder whether that was a message he was making in response to any mooted changes to his role in the club - i.e. that perhaps the new ownership would like to take away squad acquisition and first team squad appointments out of his hands and tell him to focus only on coaching. If that were the case it'd put Martinez in the situation Monk faced recently and possible constructive dismissal territory.

I'm guessing, of course. And I dont think it'll come to it. But I think that scenario would be more realistic than any acceptance by Martinez of being kicked upstairs as a DoF himself.

 

[Sentinel]

Gordon Lee.....them wuz the days

If only he'd signed a decent keeper.

 

[Ashtonian]

This obsession with the home league stat has to stop. It's just nonsense.

when you can't even make your home ground a place for teams to fear then it raises serious questions about how well your doing mate.

Normally teams are meant to hate playing away, currently everyone turning up this year are relishing it as a good chance of 3 points.

 

[davek]

Yes, curse them, they're meaningless, and they don't impact on anything at all.

Whereas the 72 point tally, well, the benefits of that were immense eh...

It's not meaningless, but what can be gained by obsessing about it? Why not focus on the fact that away from is as good as it's been in recent memory and that we're at Wembley and two games short of winning a trophy for the first time in 21 years?

 

[BlueToff]

If that was all that was going on this season it'd be something to focus on. It isn't though. We have great away form and we've done more than very well in the cups.

That's the story of the season. That's the balance that anyone who wasn't irrational would seek to strike.

Our away form has been good, and our run in the cups as well yes.

As a balance though, we continue to make the same mistakes over and over.

If Martinez can show that those mistakes can be lessened in the coming weeks, and we get to the final/win the thing, he deserves to stay on. But he's on thin ice with a lot of fans and, tbh, if the recent form of three consecutive league defeats (at home) continues, he may be on thin ice with Moshiri.

 

[ianefc]

This obsession with the home league stat has to stop. It's just nonsense.

I agree.

We should concentrate on 21 wins in 67 league outings....

 

[davek]

when you can't even make your home ground a place for teams to fear then it raises serious questions about how well your doing mate.

Normally teams are meant to hate playing away, currently everyone turning up this year are relishing it as a good chance of 3 points.

...and yet when the atmosphere is upbeat - as against Chelsea - you see what happens.

There's more than one side to this home form issue.

In any case. Put it to one side and emphasise away form and a realistic cup success. Isn't that something better to obsess about?