Elston Gunnn

I think when Deulofeu has the ball at his feet, Lukaku is likely to be in the box. Ross is unlikely to be in the box much of anytime, unless he's trying to dribble the ball into the net. But definitely, when Deulofeu has it, we need 2-3 players in the box.

Yes, you're probably right. So replace Kone with Lennon in my starting lineup. Move Lennon to RW for Deulofeu at 60 minutes, bring on Niasse or Kone to play behind Lukaku. My weird lineup has no chance to be the starters. I am simply taking Roberto at his word. But he was probably simply blathering again, and will not actually make real changes to challenge his players. Osman, maybe.

Two comments from Roberto's post-Arsenal reaction interest me, as they relate to our next match. (1) “Unless you can show you are a player to drive Everton forward, it will be difficult to see how you can stay in the side." (2) “The competition for places is as good as it’s ever been." Now, admittedly, there may be little reason to take anything he says seriously. But just in case he was actually angry, what to make of these 2 statements? The first seems a warning that several, even many, of the usual starters may not start v. ManU. And the second seems to say he has solid options at many/most positions, so no one is guaranteed to start. Taken together, these statements suggest we might see changes to the starting lineup in the next match. For me, McCarthy, Funes Mori, and Barkley should be dropped. Maybe these 3 will produce sparkling performances over the international break, but even then I'd prefer Roberto back up his threat. Do we really have vigorous "competition for places"? Ok, well, let's see if a few new faces will produce more actual, relentless effort in the next match. Robles Coleman Jagielka Somebody?? Baines/Oviedo Stones Gibson Deulofeu Kone Mirallas Lukaku Lennon for Deulofeu at 55-50 minutes. Cleverley on when Gibson runs out of gas. McCarthy or Besic on late if by some miracle we're winning. Strange? Yes. Weaker than our usual starters? I don't know. Is there or is there not real "competition for places"? For all his mediocre play, isn't Kone in fact more likely than Barkley to be in the box for one of Deulofeu's crosses? Surely Mirallas should start. Can't Gibson "pick a pass"? Somebody to pair with Jagielka? Galloway? You're right, that's crazy, so make it Holgate or Pennington. Or Funes Mori, if he scores 2 or 3 headers against Chile and Bolivia. Roberto will probably make only 1 change from Arsenal, bringing Osman in, because the usual suspects will undoubtedly have shown in international competition that they are the players to "drive Everton forward" and because "the competition for places is as good as it's ever been," i.e., not so good.

Barry is suspended. http://www.evertonfc.com/news/2016/03/12/two-match-ban-for-barry

Some scenarios -- 1. Optimal -- Win the FA Cup and finish 8th in league. Roberto (probably ......) should stay, and will stay. 2. Plausible -- Win Cup and finish 10th. 50/50 whether he should stay, but probably would stay, as he gets Cup and Europe. 3. Unsettling -- win Cup, finish 14-15th. Should be fired, but probably retains job because of Cup and Europe. 4. Abysmal -- get to Cup final, lose, finish 14-15th. Should be fired. 50/50 that he stays/goes. 5. Failure -- lose badly in Cup semifinal, 0-3, another lackluster, wtf effort, finish 14-15th. Fired. I have followed Everton since late 1990s, but because I got to see their matches so infrequently until last 5 seasons, I still don't have a full sense of what it feels like, right now, this season, today, to be a Toffee. But even from afar, it seems clear that for many/most local Everton fans, Roberto has to both win the Cup and finish at least 9th-10th. But absent overwhelming fan dissatisfaction, I suspect the bosses will give him another year, except for scenario #5. Good heavens, would he be retained even then?

Or Wigan? Truth is, I've no idea how Wigan played, how badly they defended. But several of you have said that Wigan was a warning.

The Roberto Doctrine.

Wait, Deulofeu on! 20 minutes too late

Roberto is still cleverly hiding Deulofeu from Barca's prying eyes. If he's not good enough to sub in from Everton's bench today, he must really not be much good.

I see Roberto's no-more-subs strategy now. He's willing to lose 2-0, even 3-0, to protect our goal difference, in case of a tie for 11th or 12th at season's end.

Can't wait until 80th minute to make more changes, Roberto. Deulofeu, now, for either Cleverley or McCarthy.

Get Deulofeu on the pitch. Get the ball to him, over and over and over. Get 3 players in the box, over and over and over.

This is desperate, but we have nothing to lose. Change it to: Robles Stones Jagielka Funes Mori Cleverley (or McCarthy) Coleman Baines Deulofeu Barkley Lennon Lukaku Press high with 4-6 going forward, Cleverley/McCarthy staying back. Barkley and Lennon constantly in the box with Lukaku when Deulofeu has the ball. Get it to Deulofeu over and over and over. Our "regulars" can't pass today anyway, so totally change the approach. Totally, for this half. Coleman and Baines should be totally exhausted by end of match. If Lennon is ineffective on left or in box, Kone. As I said, desperate.

Ref is Clattenburg. Is that bad news, good news, no news?

Still out from his red card in WHam match.

Our match is Sunday, April 24, 3:00. http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/fa-cup/fixtures

Don't like the sound of this. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/mar/13/everton-roberto-martinez-romelu-lukaku-chelsea-guus-hiddink-diego-costa Interestingly, just when Roberto needs to answer with some of his usual, misleading, vacuous gasbaggery, he comes out with an honest assessment.

Their match with us next Saturday will be their 7th in 21 days, 3d in 7 days. They're down. The vibes favor us, but obviously no guarantee. Will we play with energy?

Anything could happen. Jagielka a second yellow, Barkley wakes us, Lukaku stays onside. Diego Costa banned for rest of season. Lennon our most impressive. Baines and Coleman pretty active. Honestly haven't seen McCarthy much. Barkley has to attack, attack, shoot, not try to dribble it into the net.

The U-21s are also being trained not to practice defending corners. First 2 corners for Sunderland U-21s yesterday, 2 goals. Two minutes apart. Galloway disastrous on the second. Our guys played attacking football, several looked promising for long-term future. But defending corners, no.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/these-football-times/2016/mar/07/roberto-martinez-brendan-rodgers-pep-guardiola-everton-liverpool

We found several ways not to score a couple more. Lukaku's silly weak pen, miss later. And Ross, with his powerful foot/feet, decided twice to try to dribble the ball into the net.

Well, Roberto takes Stones out, so at least Roberto isn't fannying about.

If Oviedo has a slight knock from midweek, he's come back with great energy. Some good passes, and the pass that led up to Lukaku's goal wasn't even his best. Plenty of movement up and down the left with Oviedo and Lennon. Coleman and Stones on right -- not so solid first half. Stones sometimes looks the definition of fannying about. We look as likely to score as WHam. Maybe 2-1.

For viewers in US, our WHam match on Saturday is televised by USA Network, 10 ET. But also, big surprise, our U-21s match away to Sunderland U-21s is being televised on Monday by NBCSN, 2:30 ET. Also want to add, I was surprised to learn USA Network chose to show our match this Sat, as opposed to Chelsea's match. Usually NBCSN and USA (on Saturdays) always, always show ManU, City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs, this season Leicester -- all of those before Everton. I don't know what it means that our match takes precedence over Chelsea this Saturday. Do they think Howard is on his way to Colorado, and maybe he'll be in goal? Anyway, there's a minor story here, no great significance probably. Maybe they think -- correctly -- that Everton simply play more attractive football than Chelsea.