Roberto Martinez discussion

[Woolly Blue]

When does his tag come off?

Most tags are put on the ankle. Chico's is on his neck and getting it up and over his head may be tricky.

Anyway, on- topic, if Martinez can learn, long term, that it's not just about attacking and you need to setup to defend as well ( which we did today very well ), then he'll have a long term future at at the top end of the game. Early days yet though.

 

[The Esk]

Most tags are put on the ankle. Chico's is on his neck and getting it up and over his head may be tricky.

Anyway, on- topic, if Martinez can learn, long term, that it's not just about attacking and you need to setup to defend as well ( which we did today very well ), then he'll have a long term future at at the top end of the game. Early days yet though.

Really solid set up today. We looked like a team that knew what we were doing, and knew how to defend as a unit - that's not happened too often under Martinez has it ? That plus the quality and pace of Barkley, Lennon and Lukaku when we countered made us look a really good side.

It's all there, we just have to do it match in match out for 90 minutes, every game.

 

[SPOTTER]

Our wide players need to be able to defend otherwise martinez's attacking tactics leaves us vulnerable.Lennon and clev defend best and have good engines.mirrallas and del are more of an attacking threat but don't work as well as they are not good enough to defend and be an attacking threat so leave us vulnerable.great to have on the bench though.hope niasse defends as well as they say cos he could fit in perfectly and prove to be an improvement on clev.that's my opinion.ha

 

[chicoazul]

Sore point with Chico.
Restraining order *taps nose

When does his tag come off?

Most tags are put on the ankle. Chico's is on his neck and getting it up and over his head may be tricky.

Anyway, on- topic, if Martinez can learn, long term, that it's not just about attacking and you need to setup to defend as well ( which we did today very well ), then he'll have a long term future at at the top end of the game. Early days yet though.

Wow.

Everton thread lads.

 

[LAToffee]

Good change by benching Stones then.

By the way, is this still on?

https://www.grandoldteam.com/forum/threads/john-stones-transfer-saga.77642/page-746#post-3803977

Wish GOT would host an "end of the season" awards thread. This would be up there as "vault of the year." Still thinks @davek's recent rope-a-dope would pip it.

 

[kithnou]

Most tags are put on the ankle. Chico's is on his neck and getting it up and over his head may be tricky.

Anyway, on- topic, if Martinez can learn, long term, that it's not just about attacking and you need to setup to defend as well ( which we did today very well ), then he'll have a long term future at at the top end of the game. Early days yet though.

Brilliant. GOT gold right there....

 

[bluewally]

Not biting mate just disappointing that after the last week of nine goals scored conceded none - we have an element of our support disappointed. Negative even the pundits are excelling in their praise, sad we can't really.

And the defensive improvements are mainly down to the fact that the managers hand was forced into making changes which were obvious to everyone else. He's had all season to drop Howard based on form and stones has had a dip in form and needed a break.

If he had dropped them I'd give him credit

If he puts them on the bench when fit I will credit him for learning. If they go straight back in after 3 clean sheets it's madness.

Time will tell.

And so you know I was delighted with today's result and hope Bobby has learned something and we continue to win.

 

[BlueToff]

For all this talk of Martinez not 'wanting' to defend, it's nonsense really. Since that Stoke game in December which seemed to be a turning point, we've played Spurs, City, Chelsea, Swansea, Newcastle and Stoke in the league.

From those six games, we've lost one, and conceded a total of 6 goals. So, 1 goal per-game.

We've scored 11.

I said this time last week that despite our troubles against City in the cup we had definitely shown an improvement in our defending since the turn of the year. A lot of that has to do with Jagielka being back - though even he is liable to quite a few mistakes, and now we look to have the confidence with a goalkeeper who is talking to his defence and commanding his area.

Hopefully we can keep this up. We've gone from 12th to 8th in the space of 4 days. Massive game for us next week to keep up this run, and then we can re-assess our 'targets', so to speak, after the 5th round of the FA Cup - something which I think Martinez has pointed out.

We were great yesterday, but ultimately we can't play like that in every game, especially at home, where we have to show a completely different style as teams normally sit back against us.

I think the last two games have shown that Martinez is more than capable of switching up his style, and that the team are more than capable of switching their style, to match the requirements of the game.

I also think, as good as players such as Deulofeu and, yes, Stones are, that the starting XI that have played in the last two games allows us to be a bit more flexible in our system. A perfect example would be Lennon, who has come in and given our team a new dynamic in terms of both attacking and defending, as well as Cleverley slotting in perfectly on the left.

 

[hullefc]

For all this talk of Martinez not 'wanting' to defend, it's nonsense really. Since that Stoke game in December which seemed to be a turning point, we've played Spurs, City, Chelsea, Swansea, Newcastle and Stoke in the league.

From those six games, we've lost one, and conceded a total of 6 goals. So, 1 goal per-game.

We've scored 11.

I said this time last week that despite our troubles against City in the cup we had definitely shown an improvement in our defending since the turn of the year. A lot of that has to do with Jagielka being back - though even he is liable to quite a few mistakes, and now we look to have the confidence with a goalkeeper who is talking to his defence and commanding his area.

Hopefully we can keep this up. We've gone from 12th to 8th in the space of 4 days. Massive game for us next week to keep up this run, and then we can re-assess our 'targets', so to speak, after the 5th round of the FA Cup - something which I think Martinez has pointed out.

We were great yesterday, but ultimately we can't play like that in every game, especially at home, where we have to show a completely different style as teams normally sit back against us.

I think the last two games have shown that Martinez is more than capable of switching up his style, and that the team are more than capable of switching their style, to match the requirements of the game.

I also think, as good as players such as Deulofeu and, yes, Stones are, that the starting XI that have played in the last two games allows us to be a bit more flexible in our system. A perfect example would be Lennon, who has come in and given our team a new dynamic in terms of both attacking and defending, as well as Cleverley slotting in perfectly on the left.

That is the test, and has been for most of the season, as our away form is not too bad - even though we have drawn too many - due to a variety of reasons, bad individual mistakes defensively, not taking our chances and poor officiating. At home we need to be mindful of the counter attack which can often come about by us losing the ball. In other words we have to be more clinical up top and also take our chances.

Have we turned the proverbial corner? The last week has certainly shut a good few people up in the media.

 

[BlueToff]

That is the test, and has been for most of the season, as our away form is not too bad - even though we have drawn too many - due to a variety of reasons, bad individual mistakes defensively, not taking our chances and poor officiating. At home we need to be mindful of the counter attack which can often come about by us losing the ball. In other words we have to be more clinical up top and also take our chances.

Have we turned the proverbial corner? The last week has certainly shut a good few people up in the media.

Shut quite a lot of our knee-jerk fans up as well mate!

We can only take everything game by game at this point.

 

[hullefc]

Shut quite a lot of our knee-jerk fans up as well mate!

We can only take everything game by game at this point.

The 'knee-jerks' are always going to be here just waiting. But the last week has put the cat amongst the Martinez out pigeons. Taking it game by game is at this time the thing to do and just enjoy and purr at the way we play. We have some excellent footballers at our club who during all the hullabaloo have not been given credit for what they are doing.

 

[moyes cardy]

For all this talk of Martinez not 'wanting' to defend, it's nonsense really. Since that Stoke game in December which seemed to be a turning point, we've played Spurs, City, Chelsea, Swansea, Newcastle and Stoke in the league.

From those six games, we've lost one, and conceded a total of 6 goals. So, 1 goal per-game.

We've scored 11.

I said this time last week that despite our troubles against City in the cup we had definitely shown an improvement in our defending since the turn of the year. A lot of that has to do with Jagielka being back - though even he is liable to quite a few mistakes, and now we look to have the confidence with a goalkeeper who is talking to his defence and commanding his area.

Hopefully we can keep this up. We've gone from 12th to 8th in the space of 4 days. Massive game for us next week to keep up this run, and then we can re-assess our 'targets', so to speak, after the 5th round of the FA Cup - something which I think Martinez has pointed out.

We were great yesterday, but ultimately we can't play like that in every game, especially at home, where we have to show a completely different style as teams normally sit back against us.

I think the last two games have shown that Martinez is more than capable of switching up his style, and that the team are more than capable of switching their style, to match the requirements of the game.

I also think, as good as players such as Deulofeu and, yes, Stones are, that the starting XI that have played in the last two games allows us to be a bit more flexible in our system. A perfect example would be Lennon, who has come in and given our team a new dynamic in terms of both attacking and defending, as well as Cleverley slotting in perfectly on the left.

Spot on!! But we careful the plotters will be after you for talking sense.

 

[Caolam]

We have to take it game by game for this season. If we continue in the fashion of the last couple of weeks then it just might be that Bobby knows what he is doing, it has just taken him a while to get there. Our next five games are very winnable. 12 league points and progress in the cup is not beyond us.

 

[Stanley Parker]

We have to take it game by game for this season. If we continue in the fashion of the last couple of weeks then it just might be that Bobby knows what he is doing, it has just taken him a while to get there. Our next five games are very winnable. 12 league points and progress in the cup is not beyond us.

12 points from the next 5 games means 4 wins. Well, we might win more, we might win less.

We don't need to set fixed targets - we just need to continue our improved results.

Let's see how Bournemouth get on this afternoon.

 

[Lowste]

Shut quite a lot of our knee-jerk fans up as well mate!

We can only take everything game by game at this point.

Any sniff of failure they will be back mate