Match Thread Arsenal @ home 12:45 Sat.

[bcblue1878]

Deleted without hesitation.

Absolutely the right thing to do, it was miserable to watch!

 

[orchard]

Haha, the 'Drifters', how ironic...

 

[Pootsy]

What frustrates me is every shout i heard at the match was blaming RM. Yes he's been to blame for the majority of the season, but the players AGAIN are getting off lightly.

They were nothing short of a disgrace on Sat. Didn't look interested, didn't have any passion or commitment. 2-0 down, you usually start seeing a few naughty tackles and frustration kicking in. We didn't get any yellows, because they didn't seem bothered enough to be angry or frustrated.

Nothing short of a disgrace for 90mins.

Drifters were alright.

I thought they played like they were conserving their energy for the Semi-Final. Certainly no-one risked injury from the effort put in.

 

[Furey1878]

Seriously considering only showing up to the cup games these days.

That's what Everton have been doing all season.

 

[after 8]

dunno about everyone else here,but after months of lurking on this site,i decided to join to get some stuff off my chest
1.why is cleverly even 2nd choice in this squad? never mind an automatic starter!...he adds very little to the team and most games is almost anonymous from him.
2.why do we play with 3 holding midfielders and expect to score goals? barry,mccarthy and lets face it clev is used as another in a completely lopsided formation
3.lennon is playing great for us at the moment,but no way he should get the nod over delofeu..our supply line to rom has dried up since gerri been consigned to the bench
4.stones at right back? no thanks
5.why does martinez turn into a frightened cabbage with the team selection sheet everytime we play anyone of any merit? that hammering we took in the uefa cup against dynamo kiev still sticks in the brain...alcaraz...yikes!
cheers...rant over.

 

[AdelaideToffee]

dunno about everyone else here,but after months of lurking on this site,i decided to join to get some stuff off my chest
1.why is cleverly even 2nd choice in this squad? never mind an automatic starter!...he adds very little to the team and most games is almost anonymous from him.
2.why do we play with 3 holding midfielders and expect to score goals? barry,mccarthy and lets face it clev is used as another in a completely lopsided formation
3.lennon is playing great for us at the moment,but no way he should get the nod over delofeu..our supply line to rom has dried up since gerri been consigned to the bench
4.stones at right back? no thanks
5.why does martinez turn into a frightened cabbage with the team selection sheet everytime we play anyone of any merit? that hammering we took in the uefa cup against dynamo kiev still sticks in the brain...alcaraz...yikes!
cheers...rant over.

Some good questions and I think people have been asking those throughout the whole season. For me, it comes down to inconsistency.
1 & 2: one of our major flaws has been defensive frailty. Martinez is well noted to play an attacking style. But instead of changing his style to improve defensively, he's tried to change personnel. I think he sees Cleverly as more defensively minded than Mirallas or Deulofeu. It's only in the last few games has he even looked at changing structure (3 at the back).
3: on top of the last point, Lennon has the energy and endeavor to uphold his defensive responsibilities too. However, I agree and would love to see Lennon switch to the left and Deulofeu play RW... Lennon has shown he's capable on both sides (while Gerry is more right sided).
4: I see Martinez's dilemma here; Jags is reliable and Funes Mori has exceeded expectation... while Stones' form has dropped off this season, his potential is great and he needs game time. I think Martinez is torn between leaving him on the bench to achieve consistency and giving the time for Stones to develop... sometimes there isn't enough room at CB to do both.
5: He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. Change the team and win, he's a genius. Change the team and lose, he's messing with form. Keep the team the same and win, he's rewarding form and encouraging consistency. Keep the team and lose, he's unimaginative.

 

[kithnou]

Scathing...



"Leicester City have 34 points away from home... Everton sit on 38 points" - Baz

End of story...

 

[after 8]

Some good questions and I think people have been asking those throughout the whole season. For me, it comes down to inconsistency.
1 & 2: one of our major flaws has been defensive frailty. Martinez is well noted to play an attacking style. But instead of changing his style to improve defensively, he's tried to change personnel. I think he sees Cleverly as more defensively minded than Mirallas or Deulofeu. It's only in the last few games has he even looked at changing structure (3 at the back).
3: on top of the last point, Lennon has the energy and endeavor to uphold his defensive responsibilities too. However, I agree and would love to see Lennon switch to the left and Deulofeu play RW... Lennon has shown he's capable on both sides (while Gerry is more right sided).
4: I see Martinez's dilemma here; Jags is reliable and Funes Mori has exceeded expectation... while Stones' form has dropped off this season, his potential is great and he needs game time. I think Martinez is torn between leaving him on the bench to achieve consistency and giving the time for Stones to develop... sometimes there isn't enough room at CB to do both.
5: He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. Change the team and win, he's a genius. Change the team and lose, he's messing with form. Keep the team the same and win, he's rewarding form and encouraging consistency. Keep the team and lose, he's unimaginative.

thanks for the reply,
i understand he expects more defensively from our wingers but for me 4 defenders and 2 holding midfielders is enough for any side.at the moment we have no threat whatsoever down our left flank,all oppostion teams have to worry about is putting a man marker on ross and keeping his back to goal...fantastic player that he is,hes still not the finished article,keeping pressure on him before he can turn and run and you pretty much negate the threat there.all we got then is lennon who can be a bit like navas for man city.very threatening looking but mostly poor delivery,but at least lennons got a goal in him now and then.what we,re left with then is the shambles of saturday..the hopeful punt upfield to the increasingly isolated lukaku...to blame it on the absence of gareth barry is embarrasing.im not on here just to slate off the manager,ive been firmly behind him all along until this season,but im fed up of sitting down to watch the game,wherever that may be,and seeing the team sheet and starting the game fed up and expecting a defeat