Naismith 3 year extention

[Little Ralphy]

I agree completely. When you think of Martinez in his two previous jobs you think of the fluidity of movement and passing. At times last season you could see it taking hold with us. But this season has been a mess. No pace or precision, and the personnel fielded and formations he puts them in has aided and abetted that. Injuries have played a part, I suppose. But I do think we are at a crossroads now with this squad. Martinez needs to swing the axe in the summer and get the players in he feels can play the type of football he has overseen in the past. In short: he has to make this his squad now and not his adaptation and reconfiguration of Moyes' squad. That should have started last summer. He's delayed this unforgivably by 12 months.

100% agree. It's almost like Martinez took the Summer off, the players didn't look fit enough until recently and pre-season was just a shambles.

I wonder if the issue last Summer was that Martinez was either waiting on Lukaku before he could do anything, or he didn't want to swing the axe as he felt they were so close and could maybe go one step further this time out.

Moyes' squad of players under-achieved at this club, they've had their chance, move them on and get players betters suited to the manager's style of play.

He's made some great signings in Lukaku and Besic, but the likes of Barry (perm), Kone and Alcaraz haven't worked out. He needs to be careful with Lennon as well. If a club doesn't generate masses of cash to spend on tfrs then you need to buy young, so that you retain some investment and can sell for more tfr funds. If he goes down the Lennon, Kone route then he'll end up with no money and no value in the playing staff.

I hope he uses the Summer to build a good young side around the like of Stones, Barkley, Besic, McCarthy and Lukaku. There is no tournament this year, and we've not over-achieved in the league, so there shouldn't be any excuses.

 

[davek]

Naismith is a squad player but the way we have been playing we needed to dig deep and work hard, something Naismith offers and he does move into space - a good attribute to get the attacks going. His limitations poor passing, looses control of the ball have hindered our attacking play. It is a doubled edge sword. Does some good things then let down by losing possession. This has got worse lately and feel he needs to be benched. I feel it was needs must with Naismith and would keep him next season in the squad to be used as a sub and the occasional start. A filler-in.

This is a fair summary, IMO. He does need to be benched now, but to be reasonable about it it has to be said we've needed his aggression at times this season. He and a couple of others in the team showed fight and determination just after the new year when we looked in free fall. There's a few in that Everton team who failed to react to that, but he wasn't one of them.

Hopefully next season we're in a position to use him as a very decent squad player. Whether he'd be happy with that or push for a move I dont know, but that's the situation we need to be headed for: a team playing so slick that there's really no room for a player like Naismith as a starter anymore.

 

[Little Ralphy]

Whether he'd be happy with that or push for a move I dont know

Surely we should encourage a move. If the manager stays which is most likely then Naismith isn't the answer for his style of play. We could probably get 5-6m for him, Besic only cost 4m so there are better suited and younger options out there if they look hard enough.

Everton need to move away from the 'stay here for life' mentality they've had with older players on longer contracts and move to build a younger side. Now is the time to do it when the tv money is coming in, before prices and wages really go insane. Still can't get my head around Barry being here for 2 more seasons on good money!

 

[davek]

100% agree. It's almost like Martinez took the Summer off, the players didn't look fit enough until recently and pre-season was just a shambles.
I wonder if the issue last Summer was that Martinez was either waiting on Lukaku before he could do anything, or he didn't want to swing the axe as he felt they were so close and could maybe go one step further this time out.

Moyes' squad of players under-achieved at this club, they've had their chance, move them on and get players betters suited to the manager's style of play.

He's made some great signings in Lukaku and Besic, but the likes of Barry (perm), Kone and Alcaraz haven't worked out. He needs to be careful with Lennon as well. If a club doesn't generate masses of cash to spend on tfrs then you need to buy young, so that you retain some investment and can sell for more tfr funds. If he goes down the Lennon, Kone route then he'll end up with no money and no value in the playing staff.

I hope he uses the Summer to build a good young side around the like of Stones, Barkley, Besic, McCarthy and Lukaku. There is no tournament this year, and we've not over-achieved in the league, so there shouldn't be any excuses.

For me that bears a large part of the responsibility of this season being so poor. I do like Lukaku and think he's our best striker for years. It wasn't a mistake bringing him in on a footballing note. But I sometimes think it might have been best for Martinez to have walked away from that deal very early on and to use the cash more strategically strengthening elsewhere: No.10; CB; winger.

Martinez made the mistake of thinking we'd be ok not really addressing those areas (that he could continue to adapt existing staff) and that Lukaku was crucial to retain what we had.


Of course, in reality that's more of an argument to say he should have had more cash to throw at the squad, but this is Everton and he needed to cut his cloth accordingly.

 

[micknick]

Naismith is a squad player but the way we have been playing we needed to dig deep and work hard, something Naismith offers and he does move into space - a good attribute to get the attacks going. His limitations poor passing, looses control of the ball have hindered our attacking play. It is a doubled edge sword. Does some good things then let down by losing possession. This has got worse lately and feel he needs to be benched. I feel it was needs must with Naismith and would keep him next season in the squad to be used as a sub and the occasional start. A filler-in.

I'd go along with this.

The one thing you need to say about him is his work rate and passion is pretty much second to none- whenever there is an altercation on the pitch he is there backing up his team mates, he fights for every ball, wins most of his headers and when he gets a clear chance he finishes it.

I actually think he would have made a good second striker playing off a big man back in the day but the game has moved on and the position he plays in within a so called passing team his limitations are shown up.

Imagine if he had McCarthys passing and Mirallas's speed with the same fight and desire- Oooosh

 

[davek]

Surely we should encourage a move. If the manager stays which is most likely then Naismith isn't the answer for his style of play. We could probably get 5-6m for him, Besic only cost 4m so there are better suited and younger options out there if they look hard enough.

Everton need to move away from the 'stay here for life' mentality they've had with older players on longer contracts and move to build a younger side. Now is the time to do it when the tv money is coming in, before prices and wages really go insane. Still can't get my head around Barry being here for 2 more seasons on good money!

Naismith would do well at a club like Hull where Bruce likes to use one up and one off.

For us (ideally) he'd be a player we used as a plan B when all else fails.

 

[MikeH72]

I agree that Naismith is a second striker and that he has some qualities.

But surely there is no disagreement that his lack of pace, poor passing and low level of technical ability should deny him access. And has been pointed out his presence crowds out Barkley and leaves Lukaku abandoned. The team is lopsided. Two defensive midfielders plus the Pale Messi is too much ballast for the good ship, EFC.

Imagine if we had a half-decent no10. Think Ings let alone an even better upgrade. Pace, ingenuity and an outlet for a pass.

Pretty sure Ings is a centre forward mate

 

[MACCA75]

The feller's been notorious since he got here for giving the ball away. That ESPN comment fails to recognise that his appalling levels of incompetency in the last couple of games - 26 out of 35 unsuccessful passes against Liverpool; 27 out of 36 passes unsuccessful against Chelsea - are par for the course with Naismith and are something we've known for a long time. He always produces passing stats of 1 in 4 going to the opposition or out of play.

For a manager who cherishes retaining possession, he's a strange choice for Martinez as an automatic starter.

Pretty sure you just make up your stats like. From what I have seen Naismith had a 75% pass completion rate against Chelsea - which is his average over the season. Not the 25% you claim.

 

[Haston]

Surely we should encourage a move. If the manager stays which is most likely then Naismith isn't the answer for his style of play. We could probably get 5-6m for him, Besic only cost 4m so there are better suited and younger options out there if they look hard enough.

Everton need to move away from the 'stay here for life' mentality they've had with older players on longer contracts and move to build a younger side. Now is the time to do it when the tv money is coming in, before prices and wages really go insane. Still can't get my head around Barry being here for 2 more seasons on good money!

I would definitely keep Naismith, I can't see him going anywhere given that he's just signed a new contract!

If he was sold to another PL club who played him as a 2nd striker I reckon that would come back to haunt us!

 

[davids]

Horses for courses.Right now while we still need to grind out results,he needs to start,in the future who knows

 

[davek]

Pretty sure you just make up your stats like. From what I have seen Naismith had a 75% pass completion rate against Chelsea - which is his average over the season. Not the 25% you claim.

lol

Do you want to go back and read my post again?

We said the same thing in a different way.

EDIT.

Ha Ha. It's me that needs to read it again.

Sorry, my mistake. It should have been 'successful passes' not 'unsuccessful'.

Oh dear.

 

[Haston]

lol

Do you want to go back and read my post again?

We said the same thing in a different way.

EDIT.

Ha Ha. It's me that needs to read it again.

Sorry, my mistake. It should have been 'successful passes' not 'unsuccessful'.

Oh dear.

Haha, a passing success rate of 25% would be a serious cause for concern!

 

[davek]

Haha, a passing success rate of 25% would be a serious cause for concern!

I swear it looks that way sometimes though!!

 

[royvernon39]

Of course 100% of his 75% passing accuracy is backwards.

Forwards it works out as 0%.

Are you going to believe your own eyes or what I tell you? (Groucho Marx)

 

[maccavennie]

Started poorly but got an assist and was superb when we went down to 10 men, very disciplined and showed how he could play a different role.