Ant1979

I know....it just winds me up.
 
Twice I've posted on here in great detail (and in previous years) how European progress has done no harm whatsoever to our league form so there's no reason why it should again and every f'king year people come on with shite about it only earning us £2.50 and "look what it did to Swansea/whoever".
 
European nights at Goodison are superb and I'm sure the foreign trips are even better.....what the fuck do people who support Everton want? I was thirty yards from Eusabio a few years back; and the noise from the Portuguese fans was incredible. Lost the game but I'll never forget the night!

Jesus Christ there is some shit in this thread.

This thread makes me angry!
 
3 points better off than last season. If we played Crystal Palace and won we would have been 6 points better off with the same amount of games played than last season.
 
Lukaku 9 goals 5 assists isn't a bad return and he has been injured for 3 weeks now. If he played in those matches then who knows he MIGHT of got more assists and goals. Traore - Monaco paid 15 million for him on the 4th January. (I know they have a lot of money anyway but lets see how the lad does first before having a go at not having a proven goal scorer).
 
You complain that we don't have a Sturridge, Suarez or Adebayor (I do not know why you put Adebayor in the equation, great talent but boy is he one lazy footballer). I would rather Lukaku than Adebayor. Lukaku always gives it his all when I see him play.
 
It has been one season with Martinez in charge and so far he got Barry on loan. (GREAT move). Gerard Deulofeu loan. (Has the potential to be a brilliant player). Lukaku when he first come in was scoring for fun, he has hit a spell where he hasn't been scoring but come on, Suarez has scored 1 in 6 games but has got assists. Lukaku got 2 assists in 2 games before getting injured in the Liverpool match. Ok one of them just bounced off his head but still.
 
Yes - we lost against Spurs but we didn't deserve it to be honest. We had our chances but never took them, we played well in my opinion and Spurs know that they were lucky to win.
We are never going to attract brilliant players like Suarez, Aguero, RvP. We have had a few minor slip ups but the season isn't over yet!.
Liverpool didn't strengthen in January, either did Spurs. Yet they can bang 3 goals against Fulham and 4 against Newcastle. Martinez strengthened in the areas he thought we needed, RM (McGeady), ST (Traore). Defense is good enough till the end of the season and Traore hasn't even kicked a ball yet.
 
So come on, lets see how we do come the end of the season before judging. If we finish 6th and get into the Europa league in his first season I would say that was a positive result. Obviously I would want to be in the champions league but if we get into the Europa that is a job well done too. Stop being so negative!
 
Liverpool were top at Christmas and have dropped down the table and now they are only 4 points behind Chelsea. Every team has a patch where they slip up. COYB

he does have an x factor about him...never seen a player dribble at such pace with such quick feet...and that shot against arsenal..ridiculous technique

The injury may have been a blessing in disguise in one way. He was really starting to show his class, based on that Barca may have thought - "we have a game changer to keep on the bench for the last 20 mins".
 
If we have him next season - with a full pre season behind him I expect massive things.

I do.

It's only a five point gap because our game was postponed.....that's what's so absurd about this whole thread. If we'd have picked up three points last night everybody would be positive; we'd have picked up two points on Chelsea & Arsenal and pulled a further two away from United and everything would be back on track, hot on the heels of Spurs.....we'd have a points total after twenty six games that we equalled only once under Moyes (04/05).
 
Some people are panic stricken because it got windy last night ffs.....get a grip!

There's no denying it will be difficult to get regular champions league qualification, there are at least 6 teams with bigger revenues. But IMO the only way to do it is to live within our means and not spend more than we have. Revenues need to be grown in all areas, but this is already underway perhaps with sponsorship deals up for renewal. Even a thing like Barkley exploding onto the world stage in Brazil could dramatically increase the profile of the club in places like China, etc, with shirt sales and possible pre-season tours in the Far East. Without a sugar daddy things like this are the only way for the club to grow IMO. A new stadium would help too, with all the associated extra revenue  
But short term, I do think Roberto can get us top 4, if not this year then hopefully next Here's hoping for a great run of form! Big games coming up away to Chelsea and Newcastle. At least Newcastle haven't scored in 4 games, imagine how their fans are feeling

The incentives to finish 5th rather than 6th, are:
 
TV money from Europa League, gate receipts from EL, potential prize money from EL, raising the club's profile, attracting players with the promise of European football, the chance to blood some youngsters in the 'lesser' EL group games, plus do we get more money from the PL for finishing a place higher, not sure?
 
Having said all that, of course I would prefer 4th. But 5th is better than 6th, so there's the incentive in finishing above Spurs (and whoever else we can).

would love it to be true...him next season after a full year here would be an excellent asset towards a top 4 push

Great news IF true. He needs another season IMO and he'll hopefully get better whilst he is still adjusting.
 
A lot of credit to him for embracing Everton, even when chances (through injury and adaption) have been limited. His twitter is littered with images of Everton and him. Good lad!

think last season it was close to a million a place

If we achieve Top 4 in Martinez first season it will be the biggest managerial achievement the prem league has seen IMO. The fact that we are still in the running with a new improved brand of football shows me the potential this manager has. Enjoy this transition folks.

The incentives to finish 5th rather than 6th, are:
 
TV money from Europa League, gate receipts from EL, potential prize money from EL, raising the club's profile, attracting players with the promise of European football, the chance to blood some youngsters in the 'lesser' EL group games, plus do we get more money from the PL for finishing a place higher, not sure?
 
Having said all that, of course I would prefer 4th. But 5th is better than 6th, so there's the incentive in finishing above Spurs (and whoever else we can).

Because, in the January window, you can get only discards, the unwanted, and the way over-priced. It would be sheer stupidity to blow money in such a way.
 
We don't lack strikers. We lack squad depth, which means that injuries affect us more than most. It's pie in the sky to think that Everton could bring on board a striker costing £20m+. I'd be very surprised if it happens. Just look who we do have today: Barkley, for example, is touted as a £50m player, but we didn't pay that much for him. This is reality.
 
Frankly, I wouldn't want a £20m+ striker. Their egos alone often ruin a team. Of far more value is a well-oiled machine of a team that plays as a unit and where the team value is greater than the sum of its parts.
 
"How do I get rich, Mr. Rockefeller?" The answer he gave is very relevant: "Slowly." It takes vision and persistence and an ability to overcome temporary setbacks.

Lol so Im probably wasting my time saying that Didier Deschamps was spot on when he said every good team needs a water carrier
 
If your looking at him to spray 40 yard passes and beat 10 men then you are going to be dissapointed but thats not his game, he breaks things up and then gives it to the more technically gifted players to do their thing. He also gives them the confidence to try things knowing that he can bail them out if it goes wrong
 
The lad never stops running and he is playing alongside the best mentor he could possibly have in the game, one things for certain if he moves from Everton this side of his 30th birthday I bet we make a tidy profit on him

Strange thread title to be honest, did we play tonight and lose or something?
 
Maybe it should be titled, "4th looks a challenge now, let's moan about it"
 
Ffs we are still in the hunt, Martinez like many managers know that the type of striker we need isn't going to be available in January, unless other teams want to sell their goal threats half way through the season? In other words they don't unless you stick an extra £10m to the price.
 
Unsurprisingly Dunc uses this as an opportunity to further try and dilute the impact Martinez has had and compare it to some form of "just the same as Moyes but pass it round the back".... Let it go Dunc, your ex idol is being shown fir the limited manager he is.
 
Did anyone watch Man United tonight? Embarrassing yet again, arsenal lack lustre and they still settle for the draw.
 
I don't give a crap what anyone says, this season has been the first in a long long time where I have been given hope that we may return to a club with pride in how we play the game.

At the start of the season I'd have snapped your arm off if you offered me 6th under a new manager (who's experience to date was being relegation fodder with Wigan). United & Moyes have shown how hard it can be to make a change so if you think that coming 6th is 'same old Everton' you need to find another team.
 
We are doing exceptionally well and it's laughable to think that the race for 4th is over. We are 8 points behind Liverpool (admittedly that's quite a gap) but are only 5 points behind Spurs with a game in hand. If they lose one and we win (which is likely given how shaky Sherwood is) then we're right back in it.
 
Truly baffled as to how anyone can moan at this season's performance.
 
Edit: James McCarthy has probably been player of the season for me.

Or Leeds.
 
Also, look what fighting for the title and getting into Champions League in the early 2000s did to Newcastle.
 
We can't settle for being a mid-table team either. Look what that did to Charlton Athletic.
 
Basically, Everton are doomed no matter what they do. Let's just fold the team to preserve our dignity.

Or the league if you look at where Blackburn are now.

We better not try to win the FA Cup. Look what it did to Wigan!

What? What have they got to do with us getting into the Europe??!!!!
 
Laudrup was sacked, as Swanseas well respected chairman Huw Jenkins has said, because the board felt that the club was loosing its fabric, its feelin, the culture that had been carefully and successfully built up over time with Martinez, De Sousa, Rodgers. They also couldnt carry on with the constant feeling that Laudrup was looking else where. This alone was causing issues.
 
Europe will be a challenge...but no club or its fans should steer clear just because it might be a bit tiring!!!

As I've said before, we've had two relatively successful runs in it and it's not got us relegated (5th & 7th I think were our two league finishes) so who gives a stuff what's happened to Swansea and Laudrup? We're not Swansea.

Chelsea earned 10.7mill euro prize money when they won it.
 
It is a hard slog for teams, but I would never turn my nose up at getting there.
 
Its not just the prize money...its getting the club back on the euro map, raising the profile etc (not to mention extra gate receipts, merchandise and hot dog sales).

I personally think that at the very least the Europa League would serve as a good way of getting some game time into our promising younger players (eg.: McAleny, Lundstram, Duffy), as well as for the likes of Oviedo, Gibson and Kone to help return to full fitness before being thrown back into the Premier League next season. Obviously if Martinez sees fit to give the comp a really go if we can qualify for it next season, than that could be great too.