Martinez Sentiment Poll: In or Out

[4737carlin]

The last few weeks have been great but i still think i am in the out camp. Don't get me wrong, once the season is over i wont be pressing f5 on the office site waiting for a newsflash that he has gone, but if he did go in the summer i dont think i would be worried about Evertons future.
Lets be honest we all know he wont be going in the summer and has at least until Christmas, next season we are just as likely to repeat the last 12 months as we are too revert back to his first season.

 

[steken1]

Lads he's got 4 years, not til. Xmas. Bill only drops the hammer if you put his chums PL money at risk.

That won't happen

 

[banno]

I have and always will be in the 'in' camp. I believe in RM. He is not a play safe manager which can bite him on the arse sometimes. Mitigating circumstances this season with players bang out of form and more than usual injuries. Howard, Coleman, Jags have had horrid periods of poor form. We have found Distin and Alcarez wanting. Barkley has been half the player of last season, McCarthy injury prone this season, Barry has not had enough rest and has been way below form until now. Mirallas great player but a bit player this season. No matter what way you paint it they are certainly mitigating circumstances. Last season we had majority of players on form and much less injuries so I am inclined to judge more from that season than this. We are not a Man City, Chelsea, Man Utd etc who have squads full of class. Injuries effect us and hurt us more than the likes of the richer clubs.

We have a core of very good or potentially good players such as Lukaku, Stones, Barkley, McCarthy, Besic who I see as only getting better and hopefully Garbutt signs up. Coleman has still got years in the tank.

I like Martinez and his way of thinking and enjoy that he will go into a game looking how to win rather than not lose. Finishing 6th or 10th doesn't bother me too much as its neither here or there. Martinez has targeted top 4 and that ambition is a big thumbs up for me. He doesn't have a defeatist attitude or a inferiority complex when lining up against the richer teams. He might play a bit more cagey against these teams but refreshingly he is still looking to beat them. Should be given time to build a structure at Everton

 

[Blue Cheese]

I just hope that we have learned a lesson this season that tactical flexibility is crucial in the top flight. A good pre-season needed and let's see how next season starts. Just want too see some good togger not passing it around the back four, it's infuriating.

 

[davek]

I just hope that we have learned a lesson this season that tactical flexibility is crucial in the top flight. A good pre-season needed and let's see how next season starts. Just want too see some good togger not passing it around the back four, it's infuriating.

I dont think there was tactical inflexibility so much as a lack of energy to play a more sustained pressing and counter attacking game when we needed it. That was down to poor preparation for the season and the energy sapping programme we had.

I'm convinced we lapsed into a more ponderous style of play, in mid-season especially, to conserve ourselves. It's easier to keep the ball than press and chase it down and I reckon Martinez fell into that trap. I think there was some mention about Martinez saying/intimating that the pre-season was gently scheduled to make sure we didn't run out of gas in a season we had extra responsibilities in, which would fit into that analysis.

That's why I'm sure next season will move significantly in the direction of season one form rather than season two under RM. We'll have a decent pre-season and the schedule of one game per week is going to allow us to bring a lot more pace to our game than this season.

 

[Ihaters]

all the money but the 4m on besic was used on players already in last years sqaud, turning rom and barry into perm signings. we didnt really add to the squad much

Which meant they knew how they should be playing and there was room to replace the previous decent loans with new decent loans.
Keeping a team together should not mean they suddenly don't know how to play together, should be the opposite should it not?

We spent a lot of money on an already decent squad, to keep it together and still improve it further and we went massively backwards for a sustained period.

 

[Goat]

Just sack him for Gods sake.

 

[Ihaters]

I dont think there was tactical inflexibility so much as a lack of energy to play a more sustained pressing and counter attacking game when we needed it. That was down to poor preparation for the season and the energy sapping programme we had.

I'm convinced we lapsed into a more ponderous style of play, in mid-season especially, to conserve ourselves. It's easier to keep the ball than press and chase it down and I reckon Martinez fell into that trap. I think there was some mention about Martinez saying/intimating that the pre-season was gently scheduled to make sure we didn't run out of gas in a season we had extra responsibilities in, which would fit into that analysis.

That's why I'm sure next season will move significantly in the direction of season one form rather than season two under RM. We'll have a decent pre-season and the schedule of one game per week is going to allow us to bring a lot more pace to our game than this season.

Agree with all of that.

 

[USABlue]

Which meant they knew how they should be playing and there was room to replace the previous decent loans with new decent loans.
Keeping a team together should not mean they suddenly don't know how to play together, should be the opposite should it not?

We spent a lot of money on an already decent squad, to keep it together and still improve it further and we went massively backwards for a sustained period.

Not sure how we improved it further, obviously we shouldn't have been down in 14th with the squad we have but that's why you play the whole season. My point is on the pitch we only added besic and atsu(deluofleu's loan spot) while Howard Distin Barry etc all got older which as brought down their form.

 

[catcherintherye]

I dont think there was tactical inflexibility so much as a lack of energy to play a more sustained pressing and counter attacking game when we needed it. That was down to poor preparation for the season and the energy sapping programme we had.

I'm convinced we lapsed into a more ponderous style of play, in mid-season especially, to conserve ourselves. It's easier to keep the ball than press and chase it down and I reckon Martinez fell into that trap. I think there was some mention about Martinez saying/intimating that the pre-season was gently scheduled to make sure we didn't run out of gas in a season we had extra responsibilities in, which would fit into that analysis.

That's why I'm sure next season will move significantly in the direction of season one form rather than season two under RM. We'll have a decent pre-season and the schedule of one game per week is going to allow us to bring a lot more pace to our game than this season.

I really think we were hit from the catch 22 of the Europa league as well. It doesn't surprise me that once that headache has gone and the need to rest and rotate accordingly has gone we have picked up. It obviously presents us with difficulties longer term if we want to be in Europe but in the short term we will benefit from no Europe next season. We need to get our best team out, and settled in the first 2-3 months of the season.

In reality I think Martinez tried to change subtle things at the start of the season. Players like Barkley were played in a wide position to try and emulate Osman (not his natural role). For a few players it led to a loss of form and confidence. It took us a little while to break out of that. I had said all along what we needed to do with win ugly a couple of times (QPR away) and the results and performance would return. It's a shame it didn't happen in December really.

I think all parties will benefit from a break and Martinez will learn from this. A Pre season with every back fit, no waiting for people to return from the world Cup will be ideal. Honestly, I can see us finishing above Spurs (where would they be without Kane) Southampton and Liverpool next season.

 

[davek]

I really think we were hit from the catch 22 of the Europa league as well. It doesn't surprise me that once that headache has gone and the need to rest and rotate accordingly has gone we have picked up. It obviously presents us with difficulties longer term if we want to be in Europe but in the short term we will benefit from no Europe next season. We need to get our best team out, and settled in the first 2-3 months of the season.

In reality I think Martinez tried to change subtle things at the start of the season. Players like Barkley were played in a wide position to try and emulate Osman (not his natural role). For a few players it led to a loss of form and confidence. It took us a little while to break out of that. I had said all along what we needed to do with win ugly a couple of times (QPR away) and the results and performance would return. It's a shame it didn't happen in December really.

I think all parties will benefit from a break and Martinez will learn from this. A Pre season with every back fit, no waiting for people to return from the world Cup will be ideal. Honestly, I can see us finishing above Spurs (where would they be without Kane) Southampton and Liverpool next season.

I thought (and said so at the time around late September and early October) that Martinez was not dosing our effort and prioritising well with the Euro/domestic programme. For me (and this goes some way to answering your point about difficulties long term) we should have attempted to coast through the group stages of the EL (rotating for it using a lot of fringe players) and put everything into the PL. Instead of going full pelt for the group win and then ease up when that was secured, we needed the opposite attitude of qualifying in good time. If we didn't make the KO stages, then so be it. I think we had a strongish group but may have gotten through in any case. Moyes used the UEFA Cup/EL stages in that vein and I think he was right to.

On the positional issue: he was unfortunate with the Barkley injury and delay in him returning at the start of the season. By then he had a quandary to deal with: Naismith and his goals. That was the source of all the strange line ups he went with. Again, as with the absence of EL footy these past few weeks, when that's resolved we are a football team again. But Martinez failed to grasp the nettle on that.

That Naismith affair and the penalty taking situation does have me wondering a bit about RM.

 

[Toffeelover]

Time will tell Dave. Lets see what new faces turn up in the summer to see if those positions we have talked of as being weak are addressed.

 

[Prevenger17]

Where's @nsno-chris these days?

 

[Prevenger17]

That Naismith affair and the penalty taking situation does have me wondering a bit about RM.

He seems to have resolved the Naismith problem. Managers rarely drop a player the minute it becomes apparent that they might be taking away more than they are giving. Naismith scored some important goals and it's not hard to see the conundrum. Play the guy with a lot of work ethic and a knack for popping up in the right place, or the guy who has buckets of talent but the inconsistency of youth. I hope Ross is the starter next season, with a decent bit of rotation against smaller teams, but Naismith still has plenty to contribute. The penalty situation surely has to be a matter of the bottom falling out of Baines as soon as he missed one penalty? No way Martinez called that imo.

 

[davek]

He seems to have resolved the Naismith problem. Managers rarely drop a player the minute it becomes apparent that they might be taking away more than they are giving. Naismith scored some important goals and it's not hard to see the conundrum. Play the guy with a lot of work ethic and a knack for popping up in the right place, or the guy who has buckets of talent but the inconsistency of youth. I hope Ross is the starter next season, with a decent bit of rotation against smaller teams, but Naismith still has plenty to contribute. The penalty situation surely has to be a matter of the bottom falling out of Baines as soon as he missed one penalty? No way Martinez called that imo.

Naismith off the bench I have no problem with. I think he'll be way down the pecking order after this summer if we get a playmaker in.

The penalties, tbf, seemed to take care of itself when Lukaku stepped in. I do find his post match explanations on the subject strange though. He makes it sound like a lottery when it should be "Ross was the next designated pen taker when Lukaku is off the pitch".

Just a bit of an explanation that underlines it's all under control.

In this game now you become a hostage to mischief makers if you dont address daft stuff like that, so I suppose it's his naivety in that respect I'm driving at.