"We are going to the big teams to win"

[Specimen]

I was thinking about this quote after the Chelsea game yesterday, and I went through our results against the 'big teams' at their grounds this season. Here our the results:

Man City 3 - 1 Everton
Man Utd 0 - 1 Everton
Arsenal 1 - 1 Everton
Liverpool 4 - 0 Everton
Spurs 1 - 0 Everton
Chelsea 1 - 0 Everton

I think its fair to say we dominated the majority of these games possession wise (Bar Liverpool) however I find it alarming that we have only scored 3 goals against the big teams at their grounds.

Now yes, it clear we are in need of some better quality attacking players and someone to really create chances. However for me its clear that this whole "We are going to win" concept isn't strictly true. Is keeping the ball for the majority of the game and doing nothing with it really "Going to games to win" ?

 

[flibbyflob]

At least apart from the derby we haven't gone to these games and rolled over for our tummy to be tickled like previous years. You can't expect to go away to the big sides and get results all the time especially with a new style of play and a squad the manager will want to change a bit in the summer anyway.

 

[griffla]

The Spurs & Chelsea results were harsh. For a team thats never going to spend £100m on a few new players, we need to find another way to be able to compete with the best. In Martinez 1st season we've shown it's possible.

 

[Brennan]

We don't set out to just have possession but not do anything with it though, do we ? You said yourself in the OP that we've suffered because of a lack of attacking quality, so i'm not sure if there's any debate to really be had.

We won at Old Trafford for the first time in about twenty years. We're clearly going to these places to win.

 

[toffeeben15]

Since the arsenal game we haven't showed the fight the we need. Our tempo is far to slow agaisnt the big sides. The game like Chelsea at home is how we should set up quick counter attacks

 

[LinekersLegs]

We are going to win, in that we are fielding attacking lineups and using our good possession to try and probe weaknesses in their defense. It is just we don't have many players who are very clinical in taking their chances.

Bit like taking a gun rather than a knife to the fight but only having a limited number of bullets

 

[Titus Bramble]

I think Martinez needs at least 2/3 seasons in the job before we start questioning his away record at the 'top' teams. He's already bettered Moyes in terms of wins anyway.

Edit: winning at the 'big 4'

 

[MACCA75]

At least apart from the derby we haven't gone to these games and rolled over for our tummy to be tickled like previous years. You can't
expect to go away to the big sides and
get results all the time especially with
a new style of play and a squad the
manager will want to change a bit in
the summer anyway.

Has there been a change though? Really? We have a great away record at City, have had several draws at Stamford Bridge, and last season drew away at Spurs and Arsenal. I don't see a significant change in all honesty.

 

[ANDYEFC95]

Martinez sends us out to do are thing where ever we go no matter who we play which means the other teams have to find a way to beat us like when we went to Liverpool they decided to go with long balls over the top instead of playing on the floor which worked for them we dominated arsenal Chelsea Tottenham man u we played well against city we had the chances to win them but we didn't take them

 

[balggy]

Lukaku was a bit stale before he got injured. However, he does give opposition defences something to worry about.

We failed to score against Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea. Lukaku was injured and we had only Naismith fit. That's why we need a couple of strikers in the summer. We are the most toothless team in the race for the top 4.

 

[ANDYEFC95]

in the end we are learning and with each passing game we will improve after each mistake we will learn and improve after each loss we will learn an sort it out for next time and how many teams go away to the top 4 go there to win dominate 3 of them an created enough to win them just didnt take are chances we will come good in the end with a few additions and a bit more experience trust me we will be fine

 

[ANDYEFC95]

in the end we are learning and with each passing game we will improve after each mistake we will learn and improve after each loss we will learn an sort it out for next time and how many teams go away to the top 4 go there to win dominate 3 of them an created enough to win them just didnt take are chances we will come good in the end with a few additions and a bit more experience trust me we will be fine

 

[sageyefc]

Has there been a change though? Really? We have a great away record at City, have had several draws at Stamford Bridge, and last season drew away at Spurs and Arsenal. I don't see a significant change in all honesty.

Of course theres been a change, we no longer go to these places and park the bus and hope to nick one from a set piece, ok there was the odd one off were we would score a couple and almost get something but on the hole it was embarrasing watching everton roll over at the so called big grounds

 

[efcfanwirral]

Of course theres been a change, we no longer go to these places and park the bus and hope to nick one from a set piece, ok there was the odd one off were we would score a couple and almost get something but on the hole it was embarrasing watching everton roll over at the so called big grounds

That's it. It's all well and good going and playing for draws but that's like saying we will never finish higher than 7th as you need to win more to improve. If we had better players in the final third then we'd have won more of these games with the possession we had - even lukaku on form at spurs or yesterday (obviously wasn't an option but hypothetically) and I think we'd have got it. Maybe even if traore had played and improved his first touch from last week we'd have been more confident driving forward - the amount of times Naismith was picking it up on the wing really concerned me

 

[dannyboy]

Over the course of Martinez's reign I'll bet victories at these grounds are going to be rarities, purely because we're up against better teams.

Moyes should have won a couple considering how long he was here but I wouldn't have expected much more than that.