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Roberto Martinez discussion

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bluemangroup said:
He is going to be some player, but he needs backing up from the rest of the team so we have threats all over the pitch and he can't be marked out of a game. I don't think we've had a game this season where everyone has been on song.
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I don't think we have either. We've really deserved to thump someone 6-0.
 
Martinez' vision is for us to one day play like Barcelona. It's a vision, and it won't happen overnight. Give it another year or two and I expect some seriously boss football being played by everton. The future is very exciting, just be patient.
 
bluemangroup said:
He's better without CM responsibilities, but he seems to have stopped picking the ball up from deep and driving with it at defences. That's where his real talent lies. Teams have either figured us out and sit deep or the lad has lost a little confidence since his injury and/or when Delph pinched the ball off of him.
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Furey1878 said:
ACM... I can only assume you play footy manager?

But yeeah mostly in agreement. I'd say Barkley is box to box but can fit into the attacking mid role well as he's good at running at defenders. But seriously, I think Barkley can be the playmaker, just not from up top. Look at every game in which he's been dropped deeper (Goodison derby and Saints spring to mind), he's put some good balls though to Lukaku which is something we desperately need to see more of.

So yeeah, I hope we get to see more of a Barkley-McCarthy midfield.
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The success we had from the point Lukaku came in this season was built on the Barkley/Mirallas/Lukaku triangle upfront. I dont know why that went off the boil but I suspect Mirallas feeling he had to hug the ball/shoot from distance at a certain stage was instrumental in undermining what was a potent combination. On Barkley: I think the last big performance was Swansea away. He needs to find that half a yard extra pace to burn off opponents he had before. I think he's still carrying that knock, tbh.
 

davek said:
I think we need him deeper as a starter, tbh. It's surely his game? Ideally, Barry and McCarthy would be competing for the slot alongside him, and we get a playmaker in to take up Barkley's ACM role as he now plays.

Those players (ACMs) can cost, but it'd open up a world of possiblities for us as a team.
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I think some underestimate Barkley's effectivness in his ACM role due to him not scoring like lampard did and not threading the desisive final ball like say a modric/Rooney does but the way he runs with ball from deep is truly world class and the options that opens up can't be sniffed at, something that not many in world football can do!

I mean seriously, if he was banging them in and threading the thru balls consistently he'd be among the top 5 players in world football currently at only 20yrs old!

He will improve also, it's actually frightening how good this kid could end up. So to write him off as a No.10 due to not perfecting these couple of things yet is very premature.

And for some reason his shooting opurtunities keep falling on his left foot!!
 
Christiffa25 said:
I think some underestimate Barkley's effectivness in his ACM role due to him not scoring like lampard did and not threading the desisive final ball like say a modric/Rooney does but the way he runs with ball from deep is truly world class and the options that opens up can't be sniffed at, something that not many in world football can do!

I mean seriously, if he was banging them in and threading the thru balls consistently he'd be among the top 5 players in world football currently at only 20yrs old!

He will improve also, it's actually frightening how good this kid could end up. So to write him off as a No.10 due to not perfecting these couple of things yet is very premature.

And for some reason his shooting opurtunities keep falling on his left foot!!
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Pretty much key qualities missing from a midfielder playing where Barkley does, tbf! If we had a true playmaker in there Lukaku would have been on about 15/16 goals by now.

As you imply, he's got the physical capability to be a box-to-box cm. I can see Martinez wanting to have the option of turning away at times from his two more defensive minded cm pairing and have the option to sacrifice one in order to add some punch to the attack.

Replacing Barkley further up the pitch I'd go for Michu if fit. He's well capable of playing that acm role and actually prefers it. Obvioulsy he gets a lot of goals too so he'd be an extra option as a lone striker if required.
 

What I liked about today was our ability to be resolute, good that we've retained that. I didn't think it was a brilliant performance but we dug in and gave Chelsea a real game.

The problem Martinez has is that the position we're weakest in requires spending a massive amount of money to address it. Little moments like when Pienaar had the chance to shoot but in the end did nothing are what we need to improve upon. A £15/20m player scores that and you probably win the game.
 
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moosed said:
we now have less points than this time last season with a far bigger gap to 4th, correct ?
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OH FFS.

images


I dont know which 1 to wear anymore.
 

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