Match Thread Everton v West Brom. 13th Feb at 1500.

The Mighty Quint · February 14, 2016

BernieWright13 said:
Yeah and absolutely no way soft lad or any other manager could have expected Pullis to adopt such tactics.

If he'd made the right subs I could have taken the defeat regardless, West Brom wouldn't leave their 18 yard box, sometimes there's not a lot you can do against it, they had their fair share of luck as well, we had none.

Simon baker · February 14, 2016

The Mighty Quint said:
If he'd made the right subs I could have taken the defeat regardless, West Brom wouldn't leave their 18 yard box, sometimes there's not a lot you can do against it, they had their fair share of luck as well, we had none.

Agree he has played Robles for whatever reason & we have looked more solid defensively so we are left with poor substitutions as my only real complaint. I think ultimately we will be able to add lack of a plan to recover possession once different personnel start but currently my complaint is poor subs.

Simon baker · February 14, 2016

Simon baker said:
Agree he has played Robles for whatever reason & we have looked more solid defensively so we are left with poor substitutions as my only real complaint. I think ultimately we will be able to add lack of a plan to recover possession once different personnel start but currently my complaint is poor subs.

Oh & 2 defensive midfielders at home against teams like west brom but that's a mute point yesterday as the starting line up was correct

PhilM · February 14, 2016

The Mighty Quint said:
If he'd made the right subs I could have taken the defeat regardless, West Brom wouldn't leave their 18 yard box, sometimes there's not a lot you can do against it, they had their fair share of luck as well, we had none.

I feel the same. I don't think we played particularly poorly yesterday and in fact we played pretty well for substantial swathes of the first half.

West Brom simply played the standard Pulis style of dogged, organised defence which meant their overall poor performance was negated.

Luck simply wasn't on our side in the first half. The substitutions however didn't help the situation at all; in fact they just reduced our threat.

zirc · February 14, 2016

I don't blame Martinez for this loss, although the subs could have been better. A Pulis side is capable of beating anyone in the league if they nick an early goal.

Joey66 · February 14, 2016

Just watched the Arsenal Leicester game - the time added on the bookings nothing like we got yesterday WBA wasted time from after they scored 14 mins in what was added on ????? nothing two booked what a joke to compare those two games chalk and cheese Leicester with ten men played it fair got punished and Pulis got away with murder!

Klinker · February 14, 2016

zirc said:
I don't blame Martinez for this loss, although the subs could have been better. A Pulis side is capable of beating anyone in the league if they nick an early goal.

I agree. While the subs did not work out there is logic in each one. Lennon was fantastic during the match and proved he could beat his man whenever, but when the box is packed you need to have a great crosser and I'd only put Gerry behind De Bruyne and Ozil as far as crossing. I know the fans are back to wanting to never see Kone on the pitch but Martinez wanted to get another aerial threat in the box and someone to help out Lukaku. Unfortunately Kone's position was all over the place and even the things he typically does well (hold up the ball) he was poor on. Osman was one final hope that he would be able to play that final ball in a tight space. Knowing he wouldn't have to run much, this is a job that Osman should be suited for.

It was a frustrating match because we dropped points again and Pulis' tactics made it a very ugly match. The fact is this type of match really is the one that plays against Barkley and Lukaku's strengths.

royalblue66 · February 14, 2016

They are going for some warm weather training to Qatar sounds far enough away at this moment in time.

Caso01 · February 14, 2016

Toffee-nerd said:
Frustrating game. I don't agree with Martinez taking Lennon off who I thought was our best player. Lot of fans around were I was sat have completely lost patience with Martinez. His subs were bizarre, 1-0 down at home and he took off our most threatening player for del (agree with Del coming on) but also brought on Kone to play out of position again. I don't get why we can't just have two of mirallas Del and Lennon on at the same time. 1-0 down at home with 30 minutes left is crying out for it.

Lennon was getting beyond their fullback every time he got the ball, if we'd had the same threat on the left we'd have made more chances to score. Simple.

Rather than play any 2 of the 3, I would have went one step further and played all 3 with 20 to go and trailing.
You don't need both Barry and McCarthy in that situation so Lennon right, mirallas left, del in the 10 role, drop Barkley deeper and take one of the defensive mids off, sorted.

riddick · February 14, 2016

Looking back at te last few matches, Oviedo on corners is the best we have had in damn near a decade.

BlueToff · February 14, 2016

Klinker said:
I agree. While the subs did not work out there is logic in each one. Lennon was fantastic during the match and proved he could beat his man whenever, but when the box is packed you need to have a great crosser and I'd only put Gerry behind De Bruyne and Ozil as far as crossing. I know the fans are back to wanting to never see Kone on the pitch but Martinez wanted to get another aerial threat in the box and someone to help out Lukaku. Unfortunately Kone's position was all over the place and even the things he typically does well (hold up the ball) he was poor on. Osman was one final hope that he would be able to play that final ball in a tight space. Knowing he wouldn't have to run much, this is a job that Osman should be suited for.

It was a frustrating match because we dropped points again and Pulis' tactics made it a very ugly match. The fact is this type of match really is the one that plays against Barkley and Lukaku's strengths.

Great post. Well-reasoned and well balanced.

One of those days. Bad weekend for us but we have to just re-group and start again against Bournemouth next week.

beautifulthing · February 14, 2016

It's 'one of those days' every two or three weeks. Not good enough by a long chalk.

streeky · February 14, 2016

spurs and arsenal both making subs which win them the games, we put on players that make us worse. everton that.

rochdaleblue · February 14, 2016

streeky said:
spurs and arsenal both making subs which win them the games, we put on players that make us worse. everton that.

And it wasn't for the fact we were short of talent on the bench. Martinez is so stubborn with Kone. He offers nothing seems all over the place and yet is still brought on in most games and don't get me started with osman! We are a goal down and we bring on issue, what is he going to give us? Starting 11 picked itself due to our recent wins, our finishing 11 was poor by Martinez. It can be argued we created less following his substitutions than before them.

daz4matty · February 14, 2016

rochdaleblue said:
And it wasn't for the fact we were short of talent on the bench. Martinez is so stubborn with Kone. He offers nothing seems all over the place and yet is still brought on in most games and don't get me started with osman! We are a goal down and we bring on issue, what is he going to give us? Starting 11 picked itself due to our recent wins, our finishing 11 was poor by Martinez. It can be argued we created less following his substitutions than before them.

I think any other club in the prem would have ossie grazing in a field.
I feel for him when he plays cos he looks like he is playing in one of them veterens matches yet coco puts him on before kev