Roberto Martinez discussion

[quasi modo]

Disagree on today's subs, I thought they were spot on.

Naismith had a quiet game and though McGeady looked lively in the first half putting Pienaar on made a lot of sense. Before he made the subs I said to the lads next to me it was crying out for Lukaku and Pienaar to replace Naismith and McGeady. In so much that we didn't score, it didn't work, but that doesn't mean it was wrong.

I'm not saying they were the wrong players to come on, I think they were spot on, it was the timing of them, you could see from the first half we had no threat up top as Eto'o kept drifting away from the penalty area so we needed someone to be the focal point up top.

 

[EverBlue86]

Wow many posters are a better manager than Martinez now

If people lived by this mantra no one would ever criticise or question figures in roles of power and history tells us that never works out well.

Face it martinez has been sub standard this season, he has time to change and improve but needs to grow a set and make tough choices such as dropping Naismith and eto'o to the bench and getting back to the lukaku and Barkley partnership which was so effective last season rather than the Jarg team selections that's currently going on

 

[blulouie]

Disagree on today's subs, I thought they were spot on.

Naismith had a quiet game and though McGeady looked lively in the first half putting Pienaar on made a lot of sense. Before he made the subs I said to the lads next to me it was crying out for Lukaku and Pienaar to replace Naismith and McGeady. In so much that we didn't score, it didn't work, but that doesn't mean it was wrong.

Just about sums It up that....spot on.

 

[Eggs]

...he has a challenge in either trying to accommodate all of his best players or picking the team shape he prefers without square pegs in round holes.

 

[Kev The Rat]

Acting like ranieri with all his tinkering

 

[blulouie]

If people lived by this mantra no one would ever criticise or question figures in roles of power and history tells us that never works out well.

Face it martinez has been sub standard this season, he has time to change and improve but needs to grow a set and make tough choices such as dropping Naismith and eto'o to the bench and getting back to the lukaku and Barkley partnership which was so effective last season rather than the Jarg team selections that's currently going on

Really sensible that .
Drop Etoo & Naismith ! Did you accually think about that before you wrote it
Incase you didnt notice Barkley is being weaned back from injury & Lukaku hasnt been pulling up many trees.

 

[TheFinnFan]

do i hear somekind of strange mur-mur's from the back seats?

 

[matty1878]

Acting like ranieri with all his tinkering

Ha ha Martinez keeps the spine of his team and only alternates a few players not the whole team

 

[Woolly Blue]

I'm not saying they were the wrong players to come on, I think they were spot on, it was the timing of them, you could see from the first half we had no threat up top as Eto'o kept drifting away from the penalty area so we needed someone to be the focal point up top.

Fair point. His hands were tied a bit with the injury to Alcaraz otherwise I suspect you're right and he might have changed things on 60 minutes

Would have taken Barkley and Naismith off and kept McGeady on with Eto'o as the number 10. Not sure it would have worked mind, we aren't great at breaking down teams.

Was a problem Chelsea had last year - do you think they would be open to a loan of Fabregas?

We needed a bit of magic today. McGeady looked like he might provide that first half but faded second half. Barkley always has a bit of magic in his locker and, with a change in the position he was playing, I wouldn't have argued with the decision to leave him on. Equally, if he'd taken him off and gone with Piennar and McGeady wide, I wouldn't have argued with that either.

End of the day, if Piennar's shot isn't deflected or Rom knocks it in near the end then Martinez's subs are brilliant. Didn't happen so, well, you know how it is.

 

[EverBlue86]

Really sensible that .
Drop Etoo & Naismith ! Did you accually think about that before you wrote it
Incase you didnt notice Barkley is being weaned back from injury & Lukaku hasnt been pulling up many trees.

Haha deary me people were laughing when Chelsea were firing blanks with eto'o and torres last season whilst they loaned us rom.

You mean the same rom who has scored about 4 goals in his last 6? The games we have played eto'o up top without lukaku this season:

Swansea
Lille
Krasnador

Want to tell me how many of those matches we won? 0

Lukaku offers more up top and I'm sorry barkley was our star man against villa he offers more in the CAM role than Naismith does hence why Naismith was often played in front of rom whilst ross was out it was Naismith scoring not creating.

 

[banno]

If people lived by this mantra no one would ever criticise or question figures in roles of power and history tells us that never works out well.

Face it martinez has been sub standard this season, he has time to change and improve but needs to grow a set and make tough choices such as dropping Naismith and eto'o to the bench and getting back to the lukaku and Barkley partnership which was so effective last season rather than the Jarg team selections that's currently going on

The thing is that we have injuries and unfit players plus players that are off form. RM is having to juggle with team selection due to these problems and also to prevent tiredness. He did say we are going to be more reliant on the squad because of the amount of games. It would be easy to select his favoured best team week in week out but that wouldn't be sensible as more injuries and through tiredness would happen. He has to rotate to a certain extent which means he will not be playing what he would consider his best team all the time. Its a juggling act and sometimes he will drop a ball but that would only be in hindsight. The Lukaku and Barkley partnership will take a little while to come to fruition because of injury and fitness issues they have had this season and that is a problem for RM

 

[Dithering Dougie]

If people lived by this mantra no one would ever criticise or question figures in roles of power and history tells us that never works out well.

Face it martinez has been sub standard this season, he has time to change and improve but needs to grow a set and make tough choices such as dropping Naismith and eto'o to the bench and getting back to the lukaku and Barkley partnership which was so effective last season rather than the Jarg team selections that's currently going on

Drop Eto'o to the bench?

 

[EverBlue86]

Drop Eto'o to the bench?

Yes or are you telling me he is a better player than lukaku?

Mourinho was slated last season for loaning us Rom whilst they couldn't score im a brothel with eto'o and torres. Classic GOT revisionism, eto'o is a classy player but up top on his own he doesn't offer enough again:

Swansea
Lille
Krasnador

All games eto'o has started up top on his own and we havent won 1 of those and consequently we looked better in both EL games once lukaku came on to provide support for him.

I actually wonder do people watch our games or just check the BBC page "oh look eto'o has 2 goals there, Naisy has 5 this season they can't be dropped" it's this reason we have an imbalanced side and can't scrape together more than 1/2 wins without dropping points.

We went on a 8/9 game winning streak last season with Rom and Ross and played fantastic with the pienaar/baines combo on the left and coleman and kev on the right. I'll rather go back to that than what we currently have with barkley, naismith, lukaku and eto'o shoved any which way week in week out

 

[Dithering Dougie]

Yes or are you telling me he is a better player than lukaku?

Mourinho was slated last season for loaning us Rom whilst they couldn't score im a brothel with eto'o and torres. Classic GOT revisionism, eto'o is a classy player but up top on his own he doesn't offer enough again:

Swansea
Lille
Krasnador

All games eto'o has started up top on his own and ww never won 1 and consequently we looked better in both EL games once lukaku came on to provide support for him.

I actually wonder do people watch our games or just check the BBC page "oh look eto'o has 2 goals there, Naisy has 5 this season they can't be dropped" it's this reason we have an imbalanced side and can't scrape together more than 1/2 wins without dropping points.

We went on a 8/9 game winning streak last season with Rom and Ross and played fantastic with the pienaar/baines combo on the left and coleman and kev on the right. I'll rather go back to that than what we currently have with barkley, naismith, lukaku and eto'o shoved any which way week in week out

Why not play both of them?

 

[EverBlue86]

Why not play both of them?

If we did it means either dropping barkley and Naismith both to the bench or again martinez has to shove one or both out on the wings and again the sides made unbalanced.

He's making things too complicated for himself. He Could easily play lukaku and Barkley in the league then eto'o and Naismith in the EL or lukaku and eto'o etc. But he can't seem to realise it's a squad game imagine if we got a city style takeover and had lukaku, remy, dzeko and bony as our strike force what would he do play all 4 and have no midfield?

He's got to keep a balanced side I feel he's literally "rewarding" players who are simply doing their job ie scoring by forcing them in the team the next week. It's eto'o job to score goals but Lukaku should still be the main man same way Naismith has done a good job whilst ross is out but that's it the main man is back same as oviedo with baines etc.