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Still think Rodwell will to be honest, feel he could have thrived under Martinez.

I'm happy with the Martinez signings so far as they strenghten the squad - we needed numbers and he's got them in quickly. It'll be interesting now to see if he can add those players to improve the 1st team and take us to the 'next level'. Moyes' signings cannot be disputed - overall he was incredible at finding players and getting the best out of them - that's why we have so many excellent players currently... not many better in the current game at that, probably why he is now the manager of arguably the biggest club in the world. Sadly Moyes didn't have the money at times where it looked obvious to all that we were only one or two players short and of course others around us strengthened but we stayed competitive. Now Martinez may have a bit more money, we know he wants to use youth more and we expect him to be bolder tactically - if he can do half as well as Moyes with bringing in quality then we're onto a good thing!

Andy Hinchcliffe needs a special mention in this thread. His corners/crossing were top notch!

Seems expensive to me! Not Premiership class, should do well in the Championship. He had his 5 minutes when he 1st came onto the scene but in my opinion he's looked a really limited player since.

A lot has got to do with annual wage expenditure and of course the initial boost of £££ as a team comes into the EPL. Cardiff's annual wage will be at least £10m less than ours I would imagine - teams like Stoke spent big on their arrival to the EPL but now you see they're having to be a bit tighter as their wages are growing.
 
Yes it is sickening to see teams go out and spend this and some do with even a higher wage expenditure than us but all in all we do spend a lot of money but a lot of it is on players we already have.

Hopefully jet lag played it's part today and our players were off the pace due to tiredness... am I clutching at straws for positives?!
 
To be fair Betis looked very bright and they would be a really strong team if they could add a natural goal scorer. Overall a really exciting and testing pre-season with the positives outweighing the negatives. I do feel we need at least 2 more players and that's before Fellaini goes (which I think is looking almost enevitable) but I'm optimistic enough and am looking forward to the big kick off... COYB!!!

Hopefully jet lag played it's part today and our players were off the pace due to tiredness... am I clutching at straws for positives?!
 
To be fair Betis looked very bright and they would be a really strong team if they could add a natural goal scorer. Overall a really exciting and testing pre-season with the positives outweighing the negatives. I do feel we need at least 2 more players and that's before Fellaini goes (which I think is looking almost enevitable) but I'm optimistic enough and am looking forward to the big kick off... COYB!!!

Hopefully jet lag played it's part today and our players were off the pace due to tiredness... am I clutching at straws for positives?!
 
To be fair Betis looked very bright and they would be a really strong team if they could add a natural goal scorer. Overall a really exciting and testing pre-season with the positives outweighing the negatives. I do feel we need at least 2 more players and that's before Fellaini goes (which I think is looking almost enevitable) but I'm optimistic enough and am looking forward to the big kick off... COYB!!!

That was a horrible half of football and if our players don't get used to this new system quick then it'll be a slow start! All Betis need to do is press our possession and we'll give it back to them. I'm all for keeping possession and wearing teams down but there certainly needs some tweaking or reinvesting in clientele. Thankfully this is a friendly but still with the EPL kick off 6 days away this is worrying.

That was a horrible half of football and if our players don't get used to this new system quick then it'll be a slow start! All Betis need to do is press our possession and we'll give it back to them. I'm all for keeping possession and wearing teams down but there certainly needs some tweaking or reinvesting in clientele. Thankfully this is a friendly but still with the EPL kick off 6 days away this is worrying.

That was a horrible half of football and if our players don't get used to this new system quick then it'll be a slow start! All Betis need to do is press our possession and we'll give it back to them. I'm all for keeping possession and wearing teams down but there certainly needs some tweaking or reinvesting in clientele. Thankfully this is a friendly but still with the EPL kick off 6 days away this is worrying.

Carrick and Fellaini playing behind Kagawa could be an excellent central midfield.
 
I don't understand the stick Carrick gets, very steady in the deeper mid role - excellent in possession.

Carrick and Fellaini playing behind Kagawa could be an excellent central midfield.
 
I don't understand the stick Carrick gets, very steady in the deeper mid role - excellent in possession.

For free in Jan then I still think this is a no brainer - rather him than Naismith any day of the week!

I hadn't heard of him up until yesterday! Ten seems to be the resident foreign talent expert, he may know something?

We've been in for him a few times in the past but he's decided to chase the money e.g Newcastle - maybe he should have come begging earlier if he wanted to play for us so much.

He needs a social media ban too!

Dortmund will do them 4-2 I reckon.

Dortmund will do them 4-2 I reckon.

Love and appreciate all Moyes has done for us but am really excited and encouraged by Martinez's vision but as others have said how can this be judged before any competitive football?!
 
I hope Martinez can build on what Moyes has done. Lets not forget the solid foundations that Roberto will hopefully be building on have been laid by Moyes.

I'm sure I read somewhere that Watford was a loan option for him too. I'd like to send him to Wigan personally - Coyle played a vital part in Wilshire's development whilst at Bolton.

You can watch the whole game on evertonTV on the iPad without paying (well you could last night). We looked very impressive in possession but as said Blackburn sadly didn't look too good. Oviedo played very well, Gibson looks comfortable dropping in to get the ball from the cb's, Barkley looked lively, Pienaar and Mirrallas were always a threat, Distin looks solid still, Coleman is just top notch and Stones looks very comfortable in possession. I was very happy for Jelavic too. I think Martinez only wants players who are really comfortable with the ball at their feet so could actually see Anichebe being sacrificed and it makes me wonder are there actually players better suited than Fellaini - looking at how we set up maybe taking say £24m and buying 3 players with that money may be the way forward.
 
Overall I'm feeling optimistic, I'm not going to get carried away though.

I'm happy with the Martinez signings so far as they strenghten the squad - we needed numbers and he's got them in quickly. It'll be interesting now to see if he can add those players to improve the 1st team and take us to the 'next level'. Moyes' signings cannot be disputed - overall he was incredible at finding players and getting the best out of them - that's why we have so many excellent players currently... not many better in the current game at that, probably why he is now the manager of arguably the biggest club in the world. Sadly Moyes didn't have the money at times where it looked obvious to all that we were only one or two players short and of course others around us strengthened but we stayed competitive. Now Martinez may have a bit more money, we know he wants to use youth more and we expect him to be bolder tactically - if he can do half as well as Moyes with bringing in quality then we're onto a good thing!

For free in Jan then I still think this is a no brainer - rather him than Naismith any day of the week!

For free in Jan then I still think this is a no brainer - rather him than Naismith any day of the week!