Martinez OUT. There i said it. (end of the season of course).

[Shagster]

My priorities would be;

Leicester home
Young Boys home
Stoke away

So I'd like strong sides in these games. The squad players would come in for the other games.

If we play squad players in Bern, the home leg will be a dead rubber mate.

 

[Aar_the_Toffees]

First of all, Napoli just lost 3-1 to some gay Italian team. Then again we lost to Hull. All being said though, we were on our worst run of form in a decade, and the only teams i see posing a challenge to us in the EL are RS, Spurs, Ajax, Inter, Sevilla, Monchengladbach, Wolfsburg, Napoli, Olympiacos, Roma, PSV, Zenit. That's twelve teams. However some of these teams face each other:

I predict the first round to go as follows:

Torino -1 Athletic Bilbao-3
Young Boys - 0 Everton 3
PSV-3 Zenit-2
Roma-4 Feyernoord-0
Dnipro-0 Olympiacos-3
Trabzonapor-0 Napoli-2
Aab-2 Club Brugge-2
Wolfsburg 5 Sporting 1
Villareal-3 Salzburg-1
Guingamp-1 Dinamo Kyiv-2
Sevilla-2 Monchengladbach-3
Ajax-4 Legia-0
Anderlecht-3 Dinamo Moskow-2
Celtic-1 Inter-3
Spurs-4 Fiorentina-2
Liverpool-2 Bestikas-3

All scores are aggregate only, not first game. Yes i predict us to breeze through, and i'm probably not the only one who thinks Bestikas will beat Liverpool, as they beat Spurs 2-1 on agregate and held Arsenal to only a 1-0 win at the Emirates

So teams left are:
Bilbao vs Everton
PSV vs Roma
Olympiacos vs Napoli
Club Brugge vs Wolfsburg
Villareal vs Dinamo Kyiv
Monchengladbach vs Ajax
Anderlecht vs Inter
Spurs vs Bestikas

 

[Stanley Parker]

If we play squad players in Bern, the home leg will be a dead rubber mate.

And if you play the first eleven in Bern, then you put a home win against Leicester at risk.

That's the dilemma.

 

[Goat]

First of all, Napoli just lost 3-1 to some gay Italian team. Then again we lost to Hull. All being said though, we were on our worst run of form in a decade, and the only teams i see posing a challenge to us in the EL are RS, Spurs, Ajax, Inter, Sevilla, Monchengladbach, Wolfsburg, Napoli, Olympiacos, Roma, PSV, Zenit. That's twelve teams. However some of these teams face each other:

I predict the first round to go as follows:

Torino -1 Athletic Bilbao-3
Young Boys - 0 Everton 3
PSV-3 Zenit-2
Roma-4 Feyernoord-0
Dnipro-0 Olympiacos-3
Trabzonapor-0 Napoli-2
Aab-2 Club Brugge-2
Wolfsburg 5 Sporting 1
Villareal-3 Salzburg-1
Guingamp-1 Dinamo Kyiv-2
Sevilla-2 Monchengladbach-3
Ajax-4 Legia-0
Anderlecht-3 Dinamo Moskow-2
Celtic-1 Inter-3
Spurs-4 Fiorentina-2
Liverpool-2 Bestikas-3

All scores are aggregate only, not first game. Yes i predict us to breeze through, and i'm probably not the only one who thinks Bestikas will beat Liverpool, as they beat Spurs 2-1 on agregate and held Arsenal to only a 1-0 win at the Emirates

So teams left are:
Bilbao vs Everton
PSV vs Roma
Olympiacos vs Napoli
Club Brugge vs Wolfsburg
Villareal vs Dinamo Kyiv
Monchengladbach vs Ajax
Anderlecht vs Inter
Spurs vs Bestikas

LOL at us beating Young Boys 3-0 and the vermin getting Demba Baaaaaaaa'd.

 

[Del]

First of all, Napoli just lost 3-1 to some gay Italian team. Then again we lost to Hull. All being said though, we were on our worst run of form in a decade, and the only teams i see posing a challenge to us in the EL are RS, Spurs, Ajax, Inter, Sevilla, Monchengladbach, Wolfsburg, Napoli, Olympiacos, Roma, PSV, Zenit. That's twelve teams. However some of these teams face each other:

I predict the first round to go as follows:

Torino -1 Athletic Bilbao-3
Young Boys - 0 Everton 3
PSV-3 Zenit-2
Roma-4 Feyernoord-0
Dnipro-0 Olympiacos-3
Trabzonapor-0 Napoli-2
Aab-2 Club Brugge-2
Wolfsburg 5 Sporting 1
Villareal-3 Salzburg-1
Guingamp-1 Dinamo Kyiv-2
Sevilla-2 Monchengladbach-3
Ajax-4 Legia-0
Anderlecht-3 Dinamo Moskow-2
Celtic-1 Inter-3
Spurs-4 Fiorentina-2
Liverpool-2 Bestikas-3

All scores are aggregate only, not first game. Yes i predict us to breeze through, and i'm probably not the only one who thinks Bestikas will beat Liverpool, as they beat Spurs 2-1 on agregate and held Arsenal to only a 1-0 win at the Emirates

So teams left are:
Bilbao vs Everton
PSV vs Roma
Olympiacos vs Napoli
Club Brugge vs Wolfsburg
Villareal vs Dinamo Kyiv
Monchengladbach vs Ajax
Anderlecht vs Inter
Spurs vs Bestikas

 

[Toffeelover]

Just about the worst thing one can do is predict scores. To me it is like tempting fate.

 

[mrb85]

And if you play the first eleven in Bern, then you put a home win against Leicester at risk.

That's the dilemma.

No more a risk than any time you've got to play twice in 4 days. In the back 4 we have riches at LB enough to be able to have different players there Thursday and Sunday without really weakening the side. The other 3 pick themselves for both matches and shouldn't be changed anyway.

As the lone striker the choice is straightforward, Kone or Lukaku. Neither convince me any, so giving each one game would not constitute a weakening.

It's the MF where the issues arise. We've got up to 5 positions to be filled in both games. And we've got Barkley, McCarthy, Besic, Barry, Naismith, Mirallas and McGeady to fill them. For me only 2 of these (Besic and McCarthy) need to play both games in order to give us our best chance of getting good results in both. None of the other 5 have been sufficiently good and consistent for us to be worried that chopping and changing them would automatically weaken us in any way.

 

[Stanley Parker]

No more a risk than any time you've got to play twice in 4 days.

I think you've got to look a little further ahead - it's actually a run of 5 games in 14 days. And with away games to come at Arsenal and Stoke, we'll be under great pressure if we don't win at home to Leicester. And each of our PL opponents will have longer to recover and train than we do.

You're happy to rotate players in the first 2 games, with 5 players playing in both. The second leg against Young Boys is likely to be important whatever the result of the first leg. So would you rest some of the 5 important players in the game at Arsenal?

And will it be important to get something from the game at Stoke? Should we rest some players before that game too?

It's asking too much for players to play in all 5 games and be competitive against fresher players in the 3 league matches. Our selections need a little thought before we play the first game in Bern.

 

[Stanley Parker]

I predict the first round to go as follows:

The PL goes on regardless. What are your predictions for;

Everton v Leicester
Arsenal v Everton
Stoke v Everton?

 

[Shagster]

And if you play the first eleven in Bern, then you put a home win against Leicester at risk.

That's the dilemma.

That may be true but I was merely pointing out that the second leg of the Europa was a game that you had suggested we prioritise - which is a non issue if we get walloped in the first leg.

 

[Shagster]

I think you've got to look a little further ahead - it's actually a run of 5 games in 14 days. And with away games to come at Arsenal and Stoke, we'll be under great pressure if we don't win at home to Leicester. And each of our PL opponents will have longer to recover and train than we do.

You're happy to rotate players in the first 2 games, with 5 players playing in both. The second leg against Young Boys is likely to be important whatever the result of the first leg. So would you rest some of the 5 important players in the game at Arsenal?

And will it be important to get something from the game at Stoke? Should we rest some players before that game too?

It's asking too much for players to play in all 5 games and be competitive against fresher players in the 3 league matches. Our selections need a little thought before we play the first game in Bern.

Moyes was one to sit down at the start of a season, review the fixture list and pick out the 3 pointers and the games where we would more likely come away with nothing - we all know he set teams up not to go for wins away at the sky 4.

Just to put this into context and thinking hypothetically, in this current position I would expect Moyes to pick out those matches of the remaining EPL fixtures where we would realistically (at least) secure the 13 points needed for safety. IMO Moyes in this current position, would have made it clear that prem safety was priority over the Europa, and planned these next 5 games accordingly....but we have a different manager now.

 

[cjuk87]

The problem i have with all these people who come out and say "he was like this at Wigan" is...you weren't shouting it out last season.

I've got Wigan friends and this season i'm sick of being told...see he can't manage a defence, you'll leak goals, you'll get relegated..we did. Told you thats what he's like and so on...

I didn't have any of these fans say this last season, so which is it? Is he the Wigan manager or is he the recent history high points tally positive everton manager?

He can't be both.

A lot of football fans are fickle, myself included. Take this season for example:

Kone is crap...comes back does well now he should be starting ahead of Rom
Lukaku is boss..scored all them goals to get us europe..now he's crap and not worth a penny, he's lazy and rubbish
Barry should be picked for England, solid midfielder for us...now he's crap and should never play again Besic is the best player EVERRRRR
Joel is the worst keeper alive we're doomed...joel plays well and now fans are livid he's not our number one
Howard, Jags, Baines, Coleman, have all had similar rash treatment from our "fans"

Maybe, just maybe Martinez hasn't turned us into Wigan, maybe there's quite a few contributing factors into why we're playing so bad.

 

[Stanley Parker]

If we play squad players in Bern, the home leg will be a dead rubber mate.

And if you play the first eleven in Bern, then you put a home win against Leicester at risk. That's the dilemma.

That may be true but I was merely pointing out that the second leg of the Europa was a game that you had suggested we prioritise - which is a non issue if we get walloped in the first leg.

We don't have the resources of Chelsea, Manchester City or Arsenal. We aren't going to win the next five games - we need to use our resources to to get the best results we can. I think that a satisfactory outcome would be to win the tie, get 3 points against Leicester and 1 against Stoke. Anything less than 3 points from the 3 PL games would be very damaging.

I would make my priority a home win against Leicester. So I would rest 3 or 4 players against Young Boys, playing to contain them in Bern.

If we avoid a heavy defeat - as we should - against Young Boys, I would play to win the home leg.

I would rest more players for the away match at Arsenal. Yes, I know this sounds horribly reminiscent of DM. I would then send out the strongest team available to play at Stoke.

Injuries, suspensions and a big win or defeat in Bern may cause the plan to change. Incidentally, if we were still in the FA Cup, we would have faced an even heavier programme - 9 matches in 28 days with the possibility of replays too.

 

[Chimpy Glassman]

First of all, Napoli just lost 3-1 to some gay Italian team.

Are you 9?

 

[ijjysmith]

What we would do is a bit irrelevant really.

Martinez will do what Martinez does.