Who should play against Hull ?

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Besic and McCarthy HAVE to be our dm against this lot, we need energy and pressing in front of the back four
 
I'm glad Quinn is banned. Just the type of in your face pain in the arse player that can really put the skids under our bottlers...and they dont need much excuse to buckle at the moment.
 

I think the two key questions for selections really are 1) how can we get Barkley into the middle of midfield to influence the game and 2) how do we sure up defensively?

Make no bones about it there is a lot wrong with us. Shakey defensively, limp going forward, poor positioning etc. Trying to "solve" what is wrong is going to take time. I do think we have to start at the back and begin to work forwards though. (this is the justification for point 2).

Re point 1, Baines, Coleman, Lukaku and to an extent Mirallas + McGeedy are not flying this season. Sides have sussed out we use Baines and Coleman as attacking full backs and are doubling up on them. I think we need to get the best out of Barkley to begin to change our fortunes. Like the QPR game he can be the difference.
Currently I don't think Martinez trusts him to play central midfield in games we come under pressure. For good reason, with full backs playing like wingers, we require our central midfielders to fill in holes in the back 4. This is not Barkley's strength and he is a bit of a liability at it.

So fortunately the two points are combined. When you are struggling I think it is best to get back to basics. Defenders defending, wide midfield players job to get up and down and put crosses in, central midfield players to play in midfield and not be operating as de facto centre halves due to holes in the defence. When teams are playing well you can have flexibility but we need basics.

Personally I would sure the defence up. Aim to get the full backs playing much closer to the centre halves and leave less gaps. I would play Garbutt on one side and Browning (or Hibbert) on the other. They are all ok going forward. Ahead of them I would play Coleman and Baines. They will provide good protection and if they have a bit more license offensively may be harder to cope with. If all else fails we may at least see them (Baines in particular) putting some crosses in.

I would then play Barkley alongside McCarthy. Front two well you can select any from two really. I would probably go for Mirallas and Naismith if he's fit.

This is quite a departure from how we have been playing. But in the short term we really need to get back to basics.
 
Seems with stuck with Robbles in nets. Think I'll go for a very long NY Day walk.

Reminds me of when we had Mimms in for Nev - only a lot worse.
 

My team now is still the one I was advocating a month or so ago, once it became clear things were going pear-shaped. It starts from acknowledging that our back line, both individually and collectively has been defensively weak. And that this has been so even when we've had Barry and McCarthy playing together and playing decently. The conclusion - we need Besic in there as well (not in place of Barry). Them three together would have most opposition attacks by the balls and stop what has been happening all season ie opposition being given all the freedom of the park to run at the back 4 (best illustrated in the home game v Wolfsburg when we could have conceded a bag full in the second half).

Having them three standing not too far removed from the back four would not only afford maximum protection and stop the opposition getting in between the back line and the midfield but would also give several options for the defenders to play the ball out from the back (and so preserve Roberto's insistence on playing football all over the park).

In front of them we could then have any two from Mirallas, Naismith, and Barkley making up the midfield. They would be supplying the vigour, the energy and the invention to make things happen, and so get the best out of the lone out and out striker, be it Lukaku or Kone (or Naismith).

So we'd be playing a very solid, but inventive, 4-3-2-1

I know it's easy on paper to devise tactics and strategies but when it's clear that current line ups are far too loose and unconnected something else has to be tried.
 
P W D L GF GA GD Pts Form
Hull 6 1 1 4 3 5 -2 4 WLLDLL
Everton 6 1 1 4 7 11 -4 4 WDLLLL

Hull last 6 home Everton last 6 away both won 1, drawn 1, lost 4

I think it will be away win for Everton 2-1 (Kone & Lukaku)

Robles
Coleman Alcaraz Distin Garbutt
Besic Baines
Mirallas Barkley Kone
Lukaku


 
Come on Roberto let's do it!!!

Robles​

Browning - Alcaraz - Distin​
Coleman ------------------------------------------ Baines
McCarthy

Barkley​
Mirallas ---------------------------------------- McGeady
Lukaku

​
 
RadioFriendlyUnitShifter said:
Kone is quite comfortable playing wide. I'd like to see him playing as somewhat of a left forward, giving Lukaku some support.

Unlike Eto'o and Naismith he is very quick and can beat a man. Obviously it's not ideal and I hope we sign another winger next month, but I think Kone has more to offer than McGeady, even slightly out of position.


http://theexecutionersbong.wordpress.com/2013/07/05/is-kone-the-right-man-for-everton/

From before we signed him: "His style, principally to receive in wide areas, get the ball quickly out of his feet and drive at defenders inside, is distinctive and he made the 4th most dribbles of any forward in the league in 12/13. His ability to beat his man is better statistically than any of our current crop, and even better than our top dribbler Mirallas; the Ivorian made more take on’s than KM and boasted a higher success rate to the tune of 51% v 44%."
Click to expand...

I see your point, and its a good one. You've probably been a supporter much longer than me (only my 4th year), so you've suffered much more than i have- this is really my first "bad time" as an Evertonian. Therefore, i was just saying that we shouldn't keep playing strikers on the wing- it may work out well, and in these times, any new change would work.
 
442 please bobby.kone looks like he could get the best out of lukaku and we could replace him with naismith when he tires.besic surely must replace Barry but its the centre backs that worry me. Distin looked like he knew he was 4th choice the other day and just played half hearted
 

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