Roberto Martinez discussion

[ianefc]

Name your stake and charity

£20 to cancer research and i'll give you 2/1

 

[sageyefc]

£20 to cancer research and i'll give you 2/1

Sound, ill take that bet


Do you pay it online?

 

[Khalekan]

We shall see how it goes but should we lose on sunday which I would consider to be likely, it will be our worst start for almost a decade with what most fans were saying that this is our best squad in the premier league era.

There are lies and there are damned lies.

Then there are statistics.

And the statistic you are using hasn't even came to pass yet, such is your defeatism.

How is it "likely" we will lose on Sunday?

They are all over the place......Leicester put five past them.

Hammers should have got a draw last week.

No reason why we can't at least take a point.

There is a heck of a difference between the way the team plays now and how it was ten years ago, when if memory serves, we went on a run and scraped about six 1-0 wins in a row with Marcus Bent leading the line and the team boring us to death at Goodison every other week.

Now we have Romelu Lukaku and Samuel Eto'o vying for that spot up front.

And who did we play over those first six games?

Did it include Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool?

In short, comparing our squad today with that of a decade ago is like comparing apples with oranges.

He organised a terrible pre-season when last year it was in place for him, a lot of people told me during those pre-season games that it didnt matter, well it did and now we are stuggling for it, 6 points from 7 league games will be a disgraceful start (should it happen).

Ah, this tired old mantra again.

"Things would have been great if only we had have had a good pre-season".

It is now October for crying out loud......we are only four points off fourth place which is the promised land we so crave.

And as had been well rehearsed on here already, it was madcap individual errors which cost us goals against, in particular, Chelsea and Palace.....nowt to do with a poor "pre season" .

The results of pre season friendlies don't matter a fig.....those people who "told" you that were spot on.

If they did matter and were any barometer as to his the season was going to start, United and the RS would be fighting it out for top spot right now.

They were brilliant in "pre season"....,,especially when it came to laying wreaths.

Plus our squad has been decimated by injuries since before the season even started.

One by one our best players are being struck down.

So, to sum up.....we are within striking distance of the top four and sit proudly on top of our EL group table.

Not too shabby given the injuries to key players and the fact others have been out of form.

In fact, the more you think of it, the wonder is not that we have had a sluggish start, it is that it hadn't been worse.

Ol' Bobby is still looking good in my eyes.

 

[ianefc]

Sound, ill take that bet


Do you pay it online?

when it comes down to it, I'll put a pic of me donating it to my local cancer research charity shop or at least some sort of reciept, for on my part £40 and I will take no joy in asking you to prove you paid £20 how ever you find a way to donate it to Cancer research but I will, not because its a case of 'I told you so' but more because of the fact it is one hell of a good cause and now becuase of that I cant lose as should we be in the top 7 I will be happy and should we not I know you have made a donation to a great charity

 

[roydo]

Avatar bets are much more fun.

 

[ianefc]

There are lies and there are damed lies.


They are all over the place......Leicester put five past them.

Hammers should have got a draw last week.

All you are doing by saying that is putting us up on a pedastle against the 2 teams mentioned so now if we do lose , I'm sure you'll be like 'yeah europe took its toll' when 2 days prior to the game you were mentioning how 2 supposed lesser teams did well against them. so should we lose does that mean we are worse than west ham and leicester? of course the anser is NO so your point is a total nonsense that has excuses set up all over it

 

[Khalekan]

All you are doing by saying that is putting us up on a pedastle against the 2 teams mentioned so now if we do lose , I'm sure you'll be like 'yeah europe took its toll' whe 2 days prior to the game you were mentioning how 2 supposed lesser teams did well against us. so should we lose does that mean we are worse than west ham and leicester? of course the anser is NO so you point is a total nonsense that has excuses set up all over it

I'll not be anything......so stop acting the wise guy and trying to deflect after your defeatism was hung round your neck.

I am confident about Sunday.

But then again I take enjoyment out of my beloved football club....I am not always looking for things to carp about.

You should try enjoying it too.

Everton FC is supposed to bring a bit of joy into our lives.

 

[ianefc]

I'll not be anything......so stop acting the wise guy and trying to deflect after your defeatism was hung round your neck.

I am confident about Sunday.

But then again I take enjoyment out of my beloved football club....I am not always looking for things to caro about.

You should try enjoying it too.

Everton FC is supposed to bring a bit of joy into our lives.

It should but not thus far this season and that is where my 'defeatism' comes from with regards this weekends game

 

[davek]

I disagree David.

We did have a plan b for Barkley, we played Naismith there, scoring goals isnt an issue, only Chelsea have scored more goals than us in the league.

He was always gonna need a few CB in the next window, Distin wont be offered a new contract and neither will Alcaatrazazaz, he thought, rightly, based on the showing last season, that we were fine in the CB spot, hes not to know that Jags and Distin would forget how to play football, its not feasible to buy players just in case players suddenly turn rubbish overnight.

Hibbert honestly hasnt been that bad, he got ripped apart at Swansea, but nodody comes out of that game with any praise.

The squad building IMO has been perfect, the players are currently letting us down badly, all over the pitch, I mean Lukaku has been utter dirge so far, but most people prefer to focus on Hibbert and the defense and ignore the fact that Lukaku has infact so far controlled a grand total of 2 passes all season.

Barkley: he gives us so much more than a couple of goals that Naismith has given us (Naismith has a free role and I'd expect anyone up front...because thats where he plays...to get those three league goals given the liberty he has to focus on getting in the box). Barkley gives us shape: he's the pivot...THE transition player from defence to attack and vice versa. We miss him badly (and someone able to approximate his effort was essential if we were to not be derailed in his absence).

As for Distin and Jags: sorry mate - they defo weren't 'fine' last season. They were far from being fine and looked as rocky last season on set pieces as they do now. Besides that, Martinez knows that players into their 30s can go pop all of a sudden and suffer huge losses in form. He should have been building for that. The only thing he did in terms of CB was to add Besic (who he's not even tried to utilise in that role)...oh, and let go of another CB. He screwed up in the summer.

Lukaku: he's out of sorts because he's not top dog in the strikers stakes these days and he's not serviced with decent balls playing off the shoulder of defenders. He's having to shift wide right and skivvy for Naismith a lot of the time. The shape we have up front is a mess. I swear to God Martinez has no idea whatsoever which players will be playing on the flanks from game to game.

We'll be sorted when/if Martinez brings in a tried and tested PL standard CB and we get Barkley back. I honestly dont see us turning this around until after the New Year.

 

[ianbearnson]

VAN GAAL IS WEARING THE MASK

 

[slimspek]

If Martinez can sort out his issues with the defensive aspect of the game then I have no doubt in my mind he will be a world class manager. I for one really hopes he reaches those heights with us. I want to see what he does in the next two transfer windows, if he can sort out CB issues and bring in a Pienaar and Barkley backup.

 

[Goat]

We are currently 2 points off top 7, anybody that takes that bet needs their head feeling.

 

[sageyefc]

If Martinez can sort out his issues with the defensive aspect of the game then I have no doubt in my mind he will be a world class manager. I for one really hopes he reaches those heights with us. I want to see what he does in the next two transfer windows, if he can sort out CB issues and bring in a Pienaar and Barkley backup.

Said this all along. He never had the money to do it all in one go, it has to be done over a few windows, next up im sure he'll be looking at creativity and defenders.


Not to mention theres alot of youth coming through and who hes bought in who he actually gives a chance to, in there natural positions

 

[Goat]

Galloway and Stones will be our defenders next season.

VAULT ME

 

[Jags..class]

We need to get proper Cover for RB or play Hibbert BUT PLEASE keep Stones at Centre back. Martinez weakness at Wigan was the defence, but I always believed that this was down to the lack of money and Wigan is not exactly a big club, their highest wages was around 25k a week. His next budget must go on a two new defenders, a right back and a centre back.