Stoke v Everton. 4th March at 19.45.

[donalmclean]

The trouble is, it's hard to tell whether the Martinez of last season is the one to put your faith in, or was he a one season wonder. We certainly played more fluent and attacking football and if this has been a one off bad season I'd like to find out.

Good managers don't grow on trees and I think it would be risky to sack him now, on the off chance that a caretaker would turn things
around.

If we were two or three points from the drop in mid April I'd be really worried, but I think we'll be OK.

Let's judge him on what happens in the rest of the season.

he relegated a team before and he's more than capable of doing it again.

 

[davmaher]

Last night was just the same old same old. Teams aren't bothered whether we see a lot of the ball. They know we will create very little as long as they sit back, hold their shape and hit on the break. We even had more possession at Arsenal on Sunday, which must be a rarity at their place. Stoke did the same last night. At the Arsenal game the 2 lads next to me were saying during the second half that they would wait until Arsenal got their second and then probably leave. This was at a time when we were seeing a lot of the ball but there was almost no confidence that we would score. It was pretty much the same last night. This system is not working. Everyone can see that apart from the manager, apparently. I've been to seven away games this season and the only one we've won has been Palace, which was the only one where they had more possession than us. The difference between last season and this is that teams have simply sussed us out and know how to nullify Martinez's only system. In Europe so far teams have pressed us and we are able to hit them on the break to great effect. In the league this does not happen. Once we come up against a European team who play in the same way as league teams do we will struggle there too.

 

[sexualchocolate]

for those who were there or saw the match, which way did we line up formation wise when osman and kone came on, was it 4312?????

did we look any better(foramtion wise) when the change was made???

 

[D410]

No question he has lost the players whatever was holding them up for a few games has given way again. I think the players will go out and play for the fans and themselves in the Europa Cup as they have been doing for some time IMHO.

 

[Jacob]

No question he has lost the players whatever was holding them up for a few games has given way again. I think the players will go out and play for the fans and themselves in the Europa Cup as they have been doing for some time IMHO.

If you say hes lost the players then why should they differentiate between the Europa and the League regarding Martinez ? Theyre gutless at the moment on the pitch....the fact that they can rise to the occasion in Europe as good as that is, makes their league performances all the worse.

 

[D410]

If you say hes lost the players then why should they differentiate between the Europa and the League regarding Martinez ? Theyre gutless at the moment on the pitch....the fact that they can rise to the occasion in Europe as good as that is, makes their league performances all the worse.

Who,s to say he had already lost the players some time ago and the players decided to prioritize a competition. It seems brutal to suggest that but I would,nt past the footballers these days if they decided to show up a manager in one competition whilst looking out for themselves and others in another. All speculation mind but looking at the players and manger coming off the pitch last night and Jags comments today in the paper about the dressing room after the game last night...well the boat is slipping below the water line.

 

[Jeff Jones]

he relegated a team before and he's more than capable of doing it again.

I was going to add that I don't think we should judge him on his time at Wigan.

Not so much comparing apples with oranges, but perhaps grapes with gooseberries.

Managing Wigan is a bit different from managing Everton.

 

[Jacob]

Who,s to say he had already lost the players some time ago and the players decided to prioritize a competition. It seems brutal to suggest that but I would,nt past the footballers these days if they decided to show up a manager in one competition whilst looking out for themselves and others in another. All speculation mind but looking at the players and manger coming off the pitch last night and Jags comments today in the paper about the dressing room after the game last night...well the boat is slipping below the water line.

Jagielka said to Sky .....
"The fans were great (against Stoke). It has been a difficult season to watch us because the performances have not been as good as last season," he said.
"They are going to vent their frustrations, it is normally the manager that gets it as he is head of the food chain.
"But we as players know we need to buck our ideas up, start performing better and take pressure off him, pressure off ourselves and start getting some more points."
Everton have performed much better in the Europa League this season – they face Dynamo Kiev in the last 16 – but Jagielka concedes their focus now has to be moving clear of the Premier League's basement battle.
"We know we need to concentrate on our league form," he added. "We have 10 games left now and need to pull our finger out and start picking up points."

I think him saying in the Echo "Theres a bad mood in the changing room" refers to at Stoke with the loss when he gave the quote and not implying a dressing room rift with Martinez. However, I should bloody well hope there is a bad mood too.

 

[Connor]

Start the turn around with dropping Howard for Joel on Thursday night. Give Lukaku support by playing 2 wingers, Mirallas and McGeady. Naismith hasn't been good enough for weeks, drop him.

Something like: Joel, Baines, Stones, Jagielka, Coleman, Gibson, McCarthy, Barkley, Mirallas, McGeady and Lukaku. Watch us turn it around with a team like that. It has everything. Work, Skill and Balance.

 

[Jason Allen]

Start the turn around with dropping Howard for Joel on Thursday night. Give Lukaku support by playing 2 wingers, Mirallas and McGeady. Naismith hasn't been good enough for weeks, drop him.

Something like: Joel, Baines, Stones, Jagielka, Coleman, Gibson, McCarthy, Barkley, Mirallas, McGeady and Lukaku. Watch us turn it around with a team like that. It has everything. Work, Skill and Balance.

Couldn't agree more - Just wish that he would change it up. Just realise that it's clearly not working! Surely we can't get much worse????

 

[Ronnie lee]

Bet we can Jason......

 

[craigw]

We got exactly what I thought we would last night. Just hopeless. Get to the end of the season. We will not get well and truly sucked in. Then we can get rid of this manager. All his staff. Then we can go back to acting like a PL Club again. When we play average teams like Stoke away, Us fans should be expecting at least a point.

 

[leelead]

Best part of last night's match was Stones bringing the ball from our box to the half way like and then playing the ball into Lukaku where he was asking for it into his path to get a shot away.

That's what lukaku is best at running past the last man bearing down on goal. Or getting early crosses in from quick play down the wings.
We have played this way last season worked very well! We have played in Europe the same way. But fuk knows what's happening in the league.

I/every evertonian think we need to put Gibson McCarthy in the middle get mirallas and Lennon on the wings get lukaku and kone(someone to hold ye ball up) and go attack teams with intention to score bring the tempo up a notch or 5 and get at teams.
We need 3/4 wins which is on paper no problem but we have to go do it !!
I know it's very hard to get behind the team but at the end of the day we need to roar for the royal blue shirt. We are slipping into a relegation battle and need to stop the rot NOW!! 6 home games we need 3 wins at least and the next 3 home games would be the right time to do it.

So we need goodison roaring get behind the team
ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK!!!

 

[penev10]

That's what lukaku is best at running past the last man bearing down on goal. Or getting early crosses in from quick play down the wings.
We have played this way last season worked very well! We have played in Europe the same way. But fuk knows what's happening in the league.

I/every evertonian think we need to put Gibson McCarthy in the middle get mirallas and Lennon on the wings get lukaku and kone(someone to hold ye ball up) and go attack teams with intention to score bring the tempo up a notch or 5 and get at teams.
We need 3/4 wins which is on paper no problem but we have to go do it !!
I know it's very hard to get behind the team but at the end of the day we need to roar for the royal blue shirt. We are slipping into a relegation battle and need to stop the rot NOW!! 6 home games we need 3 wins at least and the next 3 home games would be the right time to do it.

So we need goodison roaring get behind the team
ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK!!!

4-4-2 with 2 wingers with our defence? We'd be exposed all over the place

 

[Jags..class]

We won't win 2 games, we are in trouble