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Roberto Martinez discussion

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MACCA75 said:
The tempo is painful to watch. I'd give Atsu a start now, Ross can't play wide, and McGeady has delivered very little. Atsu and Mirallas out wide should give us some pace going forward at least.
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I disagree with you about McGeady because I think he has done well in most of his games this season but I make you spot on about Atsu.

One thing he has shown in his brief time on the pitch for us has been scorching pace and we are so slow these days a boy like that is worth playing again, IMO
 
Brennan said:
We didn't lose 3-0 against a side with ten men. When that happens i agree, he should be a bit more annoyed.
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How does the severity of something matter? If you're going to call a spade a spade, you call it regardless.

The very least I can say about Martinez is that he's consistent, but I really want to like the guy as he goes about football the right way, but chatting crap is a big black mark against him for me.
 
Grfirestorm said:
"You know that if you do some mistakes you are punished for that. It was not good enough and we have to realise that," he said.

That is what Koeman said after Southampton's defeat, that is what I'd like to hear Martinez say more, every game he's always positive but sometimes it would be good if he just put his hands up and said we were crap. He's done some good things but he could do with kicking them up the arse, especially for stupid mistakes, might not hurt pointing it out rather saying everything is great.
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Spot on.
 
davek said:
Some of these decisions are easy to make right now though. Look at Coleman (again) as an example. If you play him with Naismith/Barkley ahead of him his game is not there to be seen. He didn't refuse to go forward today first half, he was miles away from Barkley who was drifting in (AKA Naismith disease) and to do so would have meant carrying the ball 2/3rds of the way up the line each time. But Martinez has it in his hands to play bone fide wide players that can balance us out in that respect: we had four to choose from today - he started with only one though...and then subbed him and drafted in another on the other flank!

It's just crazy. If Rodgers was making decisions like that he'd rightly be pilloried.

Overall, we really are playing poorly this season. I dont know about first loss after 8 unbeaten, but we've just been very unimpressive for the vast majority of this campaign.
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Coleman doesn't always rely on a wide player sticking on the wing. In fact it seems like he is adapt at what other players do. Coleman is suffering from an injury and is not at full pace as someone else pointed out, at the moment, in the first half he may hold back but in the second goes a bit more forward. It doesn't matter whether Barkley or Naismith move inside, a fully fit Coleman can compensate/ or it is a deliberate tactic for them to pull inside to give Coleman more space out wide. But Coleman has the ability to adjust. Today Spurs condensed the pitch and we were too slow in our build up with too many wanting too many touches.

Séamus Coleman ● Everton Right Back ● Skills, Goals, Assists 2014 HD
 

davek said:
Some of these decisions are easy to make right now though. Look at Coleman (again) as an example. If you play him with Naismith/Barkley ahead of him his game is not there to be seen. He didn't refuse to go forward today first half, he was miles away from Barkley who was drifting in (AKA Naismith disease) and to do so would have meant carrying the ball 2/3rds of the way up the line each time. But Martinez has it in his hands to play bone fide wide players that can balance us out in that respect: we had four to choose from today - he started with only one though...and then subbed him and drafted in another on the other flank!

It's just crazy. If Rodgers was making decisions like that he'd rightly be pilloried.

Overall, we really are playing poorly this season. I dont know about first loss after 8 unbeaten, but we've just been very unimpressive for the vast majority of this campaign.
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I agree that we should have played two wingers since we for once appeared to have more than one healthy one.

Would have preferred McGeady but noticed he was pale and wiping his brow a lot when on the bench prior to the game -didn't he have a bug earlier on in the week that he picked up when away with Ireland that meant he was out the squad for West Ham? He played the full game against Wolfsburg but perhaps he is not fully over it.

But don't think the player in front of him is accounting for the first half caution from Coleman, he's done it the past two games since his injury and he's had McGeady and Mirallas ahead of him those times.
 
Interesting (or not) stat

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Personally I am happy to finish 17th and have a decent run in Europa rather than chug along in mid-table year after year (known as Newcastle disease). Even without injuries (and apart from Utd and maybe Arsenal we've been bombarded with more injuries than anyone else this year) we have to be bloody lucky to get a top 4 squad with our wage budget and team size. Spurs have more money than us, more players, and (on paper) more star power and they can't do it.

We lost last year away to Spurs, and tbh I was more annoyed then. We bossed that game. Spurs played the best I've seen them play all year. Harry Kane defo did a line of coke in the dressing room beforehand.

However we are crying out for a winger. We can't play Eto'o and Barkley in the same team right now because they both want the same place. Eto'o is better at holding up and picking at a tired defence, Barkley drags 4 or 5 people away from each other with their pace. They both drift inside which means Baines and Coleman are limited.

Also last year Barry and McCarthy went the whole season almost uninjured (McCarthy was out against Palace at home...) We've not had that luxury. Oviedo stepped in for Baines and was boss. He's still recovering. Mirallas and Barkley went the whole season uninjured and had great link-up play with Lukaku. They've been injured for 4 months between them already this season. Howard is doing his best crazy redneck impression. We were an unknown quantity last year and had the luxury of most of the table below us having an awful run at one point. Now they've strengthened and someo f them (Garry Monk, Poyet) have figured us out.

Martinez has already shown signs of adaptaion and our run in the last 8 games is testament to that. It's a shame that two silly errors lost us it but I just hope we push on. Really want a win at Hull; have already written City off.
 
streeky said:
The world is not collapsing ,but he is not learning from his mistakes. His team selection today was appalling for an away game against a good side.
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No it wasn't. Before the game I was made up with that side.

I'd have been fuming far more if he'd started McGeady or Osman.
 
It's all a bit arse about face with Martinez so far. This season is the one I thought we'd have last season: struggling to come to terms with what player goes where, up and down results and trying to get a decent tempo in place for a system he wanted to have as second nature and drilled for season two; and this season would have looked like season one: high tempo passing game, settled unit, defence nice and solid.

Maybe we ran before we could walk and we're struggling to find an encore. Yes, the EL is a factor now, but I'd still expect us to be able to go into a mode of playing that kept the method in play. When you look at Swansea (beside a couple of yard dog performances Monk has had them doing) they dont deviate. Given that we have the man who created the mould there I'm shocked by how easily we've been blown off course.
 

I don't think City are unbeatable by any stretch. They've been very average this season plus at least they will actually open up against us and allow us to play on the counter.

I just hope Martinez picks the right team.
 
hullefc said:
Coleman doesn't always rely on a wide player sticking on the wing. In fact it seems like he is adapt at what other players do. Coleman is suffering from an injury and is not at full pace as someone else pointed out, at the moment, in the first half he may hold back but in the second goes a bit more forward. It doesn't matter whether Barkley or Naismith move inside, a fully fit Coleman can compensate/ or it is a deliberate tactic for them to pull inside to give Coleman more space out wide. But Coleman has the ability to adjust. Today Spurs condensed the pitch and we were too slow in our build up with too many wanting too many touches.

Séamus Coleman ● Everton Right Back ● Skills, Goals, Assists 2014 HD
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A telling point in the first half: Coleman with a Spurs defender in front of him and another one within striking distance of him if he tried to take him on - Coleman waving the Everton player on the ball away and not fancying it. You just cant expect to do that without a teammate drawing the opposition away. Coleman second half with McGeady ahead was back in the game and further up the pitch. That was no coincidence.
 
Injuries have absolutely dry bummed us and stopped us getting any kind of momentum and cohesion this season. It's been a pretty turd season so far apart from the EL with a couple of quality performances. I think that's a major positive of today is that no hamstring snapped or ligament damage as seems to be the case every bloody game. Every cloud has a silver lining and all that!
 

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