Looking at our performances compared to last year, you have to say Martinez out. We are not performing anywhere near the heights of last season, many will put it down to 'being found out' or 'second season syndrome' - but whatever the reason is it's very worrying because not once this season have we looked as defensively solid last year, or as much of an attacking-imposing threat.
Too often this year we are having to rely on the brilliance of an individual to turn a game for us or to create a goal, i'm looking at you super Kev for this here example, instead of having the confidence as a team to produce. Amongst this we've also over-hyped a lot of our younger players, or the media have, creating a seemingly hostile environment for them at the moment because of how much most Everton fans expect of them, and probably had a detrimental effect on some of our players.
This ultimately has been a benefactor that has led to our poor results, which are very poor results. With saying all this, last night I took pride in how we played, just like I did against West Ham in the first game and against Man City on the weekend, however reflecting on it - we've just been knocked out of the cup when we were in a strong position to win the game despite our earlier shenanigans. This is somewhat of a let down, and whilst we are improving, I in particular am finding it hard to see our next victory. Something needs to change.