Kant

I agree that his touch isn't good enough. I've said that multiple times as well. I just don't think he deserves the amount of abuse he's been getting on here. Today as well he's been vital in redirecting all of those long balls into the path of Naismith and Mirallas. Not a glamorous job, but he's done a great job of it and again people are only shitting on him.

Pienaar was missed tonight! First time I've said it since injury. His little tikka taka on the edge of the box opens that type of defence

It's not over but that loss has been coming. We definately got it completely wrong in team selection. I've finally realised the importance of McCarthy. When he came on we looked a difference side and Barry was absolutely lost without him. I think Sundays game will be the telling. On that performance we'll get snotted.
 
Let's go back to the solid core. Leave Mcgeady ( who I thought did ok) and Deulofeu as impact subs!

Shocking. Drop Barry put Barkley next to McCarthy... McCarthy is the key midfielder.

Do you not think defenders think this? The defenders will practise all week in training what to do if they are going to be facing our players, the staff will watch loads of clips of all the players and tell each of their own team what to do to counter it. This show's how good he is, his pace and feet speed is incredible, as people have said here once he works on his final ball or shooting he will be an unreal player.
 
Yeah he is one footed but look how one footed Robben is and he's not a bad player like.

Big game this Wednesday, home match and we need the 3 points to keep our champs league push. I'm hoping for a strong lineup since palace has been doing so well lately. They will do the pulis park the bus so we need to attack relentlessly.
 
Howard
Coleman Stones Distin Baines
McCarthy Barry
Mirallas Barkley McGeady
Lukaku

They know 3 more points will definitely secure their safety so this is going to be incredibly hard for us. I'd take another scrappy 1-0 win.

At the end of the season, let's just see how far behind the Man Cities, Chelseas' etc we are! If we finish 12 points or more behind all the teams with big wallets, then maybe the only way forward is the multi-billionair route.
 
Lverpool have way more money than us, we've finished above them the last two seasons and but for Saurez would undoubtebly finish above them again, United, Newcastle and Southampton all have plenty of money, but I can see us finishing above them.
 
Let's hope for the sake of football, that Everton can prove that with an excellent manager, good youth structure, talented players willing to loan to us and passsion and pride, that we can finish above these £200,000 a week glory hunters.
 
Personally, I want players to come to Everton because we are a special club, not because we pay £200,000 a week.For me if Kenwright/Martinez and co can win the prem, then that would be an achievement.......if Man City win it, then to be honest they will have bought it.
 
Sorry but I don't want to see Everton buy a title, I want to see us win it.

For me Fellaini lacks one key attribute to play in Martinez style of play - Passing. Anything more than a 15 yard ball becomes a risk for him. Compare him to Barry or McCarthy.
 
His speed is the other issue, McCarthy demonstrates the ideal mobility for a DM, he eats up the ground, can accelerate and change direction better. Fellaini one vs one isn't good enough, he has more successful dribble attempts on him than anayone else.
 
His physicality and ability to bring a long ball down is a good attribute, but we don't play in such a way that it would be a big asset to the team. Under Moyes - yes.
 
Not being fickle, for a certain team he could be a very influential player - not ours.

Don't really want him back. I was a proponent of selling him in the summer and I'm glad we did. His first (non-chest) touch isn't good enough, his tactical awareness and positioning isn't good enough and he's often undisciplined on the pitch, especially if things don't go his way. IMO there's no way he can build up play as a holding midfielder if the opposition press high.
 
His aerial ability (up front or in front of the back four) is something we don't really have now, but its something I'm willing to give up in favour of what we do have now. Obviously we do need another midfielder in the summer, but not Fellaini for me.

Oliver Kay in the Times:
 

not saying he is world class, just that he deserves credit for his performances. Which to be fair he is getting, it's just it's funny that people are try to play it down still.
 
And to be fair to me..... i have always had his corner. Never thought he is a world class player. I just think i recognise the job he does. He is a lot better than most people make out. His touch is better than most of our team and he has always had a decent accuracy on his passing and shooting.
While he is prone to the occasional embarrasing moment ... tripping himself up twice and giving away a throwing.... he can also be credited for lovely bits of skill....Real madrid match anyone.
 
He's a good guy and a good footballer and deserves credit for that.

He will probably sit next to Dennis Lawrence and Joel Robles

He would be an asset to most clubs however would I pick him over McCarthy, Barry or Barkley??? The answer is no.
 
It's not bitterness, it's a case of understanding his attributes versus the model that Martinez has built.
 
For me he lacks the mobility, passing range and discipline to be a part of the new look Everton. At times under Moyes he looked a £50m player, but that was because we set up to his strengths.

He'd still fit in but I'm glad we sold him when we did. 27M for him was good business and probably at this point in time the most we would have gotten for him and we have more than adequately replaced him in McCarthy and Barry.

He was probably the one player who optimised the old regime, after Cahill left anyway.
I loved him when he was here, but McCarthy looks twice the player in this system.

He'd be a huge asset to the squad without a doubt......not necessarily a guaranteed starting XI place any more given our current group (I've been listening to Roberto ), but then nobody in a team pushing at the top of the table should be guaranteed a start.

As a personal opinion, for me there are five greatest players (widely recognised): Maradona, Pelé, Di Stefano, Cruyff, Zidane. Soon to be joined by Messi. Definition: Once in a decade.
 
Then, world class. Definition: The best players of the decade, you can argue with your mates if he would be in the starting XI or not, but you would not be regarded as a fool.
Example (last 15 years): Casillas, Buffon, Neuer, Schmeichel, Sergio Ramos, Thiago Silva, Nesta, Puyol, Ferdinand, Lahm, Roberto Carlos, Maicon, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Zidane, Fabregas, Vieira, Scholes, Roy Keane, Yaya Touré, Ribery, Ronaldo, Messi, Ibrahimovic, Rooney, Giggs, Totti, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Henry, Raúl, Aguero, Van Persie, Suarez, etc.
 
All those players are known worldwide by most football fans, they perform at the highest level every year and they do well for both club and country. Even though most of the above mentioned players do not play in the Premier League, you know all of them, and if your country or club has to face them in a tie you'd be worried about them. Some of them are now old (past it) or retired, but my idea was to explain the concept, not to make a list of the current world class players.
 
For example, let's pick one guy of the list: Sergio Ramos. He has never played in England but you all know who he is, he's won lots of trophies (almost everything: World Cup, Eurocups, La Liga, etc.), he's the club captain and he's been doing that for the last 10 years, for both Spain and Real Madrid. Another one: Henry. Same situation. Another one: Lahm.
 
I know that players who fail to deliver for their country are usually frustrating for their own fans, but as long as they are in the starting XI that is what I consider enough...since there are only 4/5 major tournaments in the 10 year bracket and it largely depends on the rest of the squad. Maybe Messi or Ronaldo do not win a single trophy with their country, but nobody really cares except the national fans.

As a personal opinion, for me there are five greatest players (widely recognised): Maradona, Pelé, Di Stefano, Cruyff, Zidane. Soon to be joined by Messi. Definition: Once in a decade.
 
Then, world class. Definition: The best players of the decade, you can argue with your mates if he would be in the starting XI or not, but you would not be regarded as a fool.
Example (last 15 years): Casillas, Buffon, Neuer, Schmeichel, Sergio Ramos, Thiago Silva, Nesta, Puyol, Ferdinand, Lahm, Roberto Carlos, Maicon, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Zidane, Fabregas, Vieira, Scholes, Roy Keane, Yaya Touré, Ribery, Ronaldo, Messi, Ibrahimovic, Rooney, Giggs, Totti, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Henry, Raúl, Aguero, Van Persie, Suarez, etc.
 
All those players are known worldwide by most football fans, they perform at the highest level every year and they do well for both club and country. Even though most of the above mentioned players do not play in the Premier League, you know all of them, and if your country or club has to face them in a tie you'd be worried about them. Some of them are now old (past it) or retired, but my idea was to explain the concept, not to make a list of the current world class players.
 
For example, let's pick one guy of the list: Sergio Ramos. He has never played in England but you all know who he is, he's won lots of trophies (almost everything: World Cup, Eurocups, La Liga, etc.), he's the club captain and he's been doing that for the last 10 years, for both Spain and Real Madrid. Another one: Henry. Same situation. Another one: Lahm.
 
I know that players who fail to deliver for their country are usually frustrating for their own fans, but as long as they are in the starting XI that is what I consider enough...since there are only 4/5 major tournaments in the 10 year bracket and it largely depends on the rest of the squad. Maybe Messi or Ronaldo do not win a single trophy with their country, but nobody really cares except the national fans.

The Sunderland game is a great opportunity to pile the pressure on Arsenal. With the way our next two fixtures are placed we can open up a little gap.
 
Having two home games against United and City will also help with the home support. Goodison will be rocking for those two games.
 
What an opportunity the boys have created.

RM clearly wants to win the game bringing in the subs in the 2nd half, and he's using Osman and Naismith to run and defend in the 1st half.
Let's hope it works, it's far from the best XI IMO.

To a lesser extent, the 4-2-3-1 is a very "Spanish" formula, two deep lying midfielders who offer extra protection and allow the front four to roam forward. I know you will not like the reference, but see Liverpool under Benitez. Mascherano and Alonso played the same role, allowing the rest of the team to evolve around them.
 
With this system, you'll need two intelligent CM and one extra AMC that has the power, skill and offensive ability to play a "free role" behind the striker. I feel that is Barkley's best position, he still is figuring it out, but he will improve. Also, our fullbacks are perfectly suited for it, Baines and Coleman bomb forward often creating danger.
 
So far I don't see reasons to change and there are not many CM that can play the role RM demands from them well. But for those games when the opposition does not want the ball and try to finish 0-0, the team can get more adventurous and play 4-1-4-1, just one CM and two AMC. I'd go then with Pienaar and Barkley.

On the whole, I thought we did pretty well. We sat back really annoyingly and it will be the death of me Im sure but when we came out at half time we went back to the basics and scored another good goal. Then we bloody sat back again but other than one chance where they really should have scored I didnt think they posed THAT much of a threat. They took plenty of shots but they werent really that troubling for Howard and we were value for our win.
 
Plenty of good performances with the back four excelling (Stones did really well all things considered) and McCarthy at his terrior like best. The attacking players drifted in and out, all showing signs of brilliance but also being a little too sloppy at the same time. Osman was excellent and he set the tone for the team. Composure in attacking and clever pressing in defence.
 
I hope Martinez can get us playing the 90mins on the front foot because we are a class act when we do. As soon as we sit back, we look like a completely different team.

Hi guys, a Spanish fan following Roberto Martínez here since his Wigan early days. Last time I logged into a forum like this, I was following Juande Ramos, so I hope luck changes this time... even though EFC has already 3 points and THFC had 2 in 8 games when Juande was fired!

Everton just needs to develop the Academy into something real. I believe a club with a strong academy, and fielding an almost homegrown XI, can hold on their talents and improve its luck. Of course, signings are important but this team with the likes of Rooney and Rodwell would be an instant top-4 challenger. Let's hope that a) Barkley develops as (the way I see it "the next-gen Gerrard") and he stays his whole career.