Bailey

I think that harsh on Osman and McGeady. Im no fan of the latter but Atsu has shown very little so far. He got an opportunity to show what he could do against Krasnodar and despite getting in good positions, he cocked it up time and time again. He just seems like an idiot in footballing terms. Has ability but no brain to go with it. That might be harsh because I have only seen a glimpse of him and hopefully he will prove me wrong if he plays during the week.

Maybe... I just hate seeing it when players work so hard in the Championship to get promoted to the Premier League and then never get to kick a ball because they have bought a bunch of mercenaries or unknown foreigners on much higher wages just because they can afford it. Trust the players that brought you up and buy players in gradually, Strengthen your weakest areas but keep the same team dynamic.

Thanks for the input... You have convinced me with such a compelling argument.

Go fuck yourself! I disagree and there have been games where if he wasnt involved we would have been conceding far more chances, especially when he has been covering for Baines allowing him to get further forward. He obviously doesnt have the legs of McCarthy but he knows the right place to be. I dont agree with his passing either and a quick check on Squawka and his passing this year is 1% better and the average pass distance is the same. His chance creation is well down though.

It explains a lot!

He really is an idiot. I quite like Burnley and hope they stay up. They are actually a team that play like a team and havent rinsed the finances and wrung the changes since they were promoted. They lack pretty much any actual Premier League quality but a good team can overcome that and I think they might.

The whole team has been below that level though but his individual performances have been good IMO. I would only say he was crap against Liverpool and Chelsea before his injury (I have mentioned before that Im not as keen on him in the bigger games - he just seems startled for some reason) but he is at the same level. Compared to last season he is probably the only player who has been at that same level or close to it.

As long as we are at home I don't really care who we play! We can beat anyone when we want to.

I agree with you a lot of the time Romey but that's bollocks. He hasn't been as good since he came back from injury but he has been on of the best and most consistent players this season. That doesn't say a great deal this year but he is really important and there are no problems with his contract length. He was excellent last year as well for us and vitally important. Even against City there are times that he is playing passes that Besic and McCarthy don't pick out and two of his passes resulting in us splitting City's midfield and lead to chances. Even when he was legless at the end, his positioning was very good, he was just turning over possession too easily. Deacs makes a good point, he cant be rushed back from injury. He wont play now until the QPR match which should be ok and whilst I wouldn't want him playing twice a week, he does strike me as a player that will be best playing regularly enough (ie once a week).

He would be one of the first names on my team sheet, especially in the open games. Against teams that park the bus I would be tempted to bring Etoo in but there isn't a better player through the centre in the transition phase.

But we would still have Mirallas/McGeady, Barkley and Lukaku which is enough pace. Pienaar is a clever player and whilst he isnt in the greatest form, no doubt due to injuries, I wouldnt sell him on. Its not like we will get much for him anyway!

West Ham at home... not the greatest but at least we are at home!

Spot on Paddock. Players cant have a couple of average games in a row these days without them being shit and having their head called for!

Its almost like we regressed 2 years with that performance. 2 right backs, aimless long balls and an aging and jaded midfielder starting. Add that to barely any pressure on the ball and no pace in attack and it was like ground hog day. There were many highlights to the game, at least not until the Barkley substitution. The penalty was never a penalty and its embarrassing for football that such a decision was given. It was made even worse by both players only being booked for terrible high challenges, especially Mangala's. City had the best chances but nothing concrete in the first half and it was still only really the Pozo chance that was concrete in the second. They had enough half chances to be worth winners at that point but we were better in the last half hour but didnt deserve to get back into it. I dont agree with a lot of the comments on here about Besic. I thought he was very frustrating and almost had to be forced into his best moments. Barry was getting swarmed as soon as he touched the ball but Besic didnt help him out and a lot of the time he wasnt helping. Unneccessary 5 yard passes when there was already someone picking up Barry and space elsewhere, not pressing in the right areas (at one point Jags was going nuts at him) and also not covering the right space. At one point Milner was running into space from 40 yards out to our box and Besic just ran back in a straight line instead of getting across to cover. Milner got a crap shot off in the end and Besic was covering no-one. He did some good stuff too but a lot of the time it was a bit late and instead of anticipating the danger he was reacting to it and having to slide in to get there. He picked some nice passes too though and that's what I find more frustrating because he has it in his locker, same with his defensive work. It wasnt a bad performance by any stretch and he was better than Barry but in terms of contribution going forward Barry was playing the intricate passes, like the one that led to Lukaku's chance. He was giving the ball away left right and centre too though! That substitution woke us up though and Barkley again shows he can be trusted deeper and I dont know why he isnt given more opportunity in game where we are looking for the breakthrough. I still have no idea why Coleman was used as a winger. I hate it at the best of times but to then stick with it all game is ridiculous. I just didnt get it at all. Hibbert has done well at RB but he doesnt have half of the scope to change a game like Coleman has. In terms of performances, Jags was good again, along with Baines, Lukaku probably had one of his best all round game and his personal performance deserved a goal which he was unlucky not to get. Etoo came into the game late on, he was a bit frustrating early on but as the game opened up a little more he came to life. Mirallas tried but just couldn't quite break through. We have to start taking the attitude we had in the last 30 minutes into the whole of the game. The transition from defence to attack was much quicker and we seemed a little hungrier to win the ball back despite tiring. We must get 3 points in our next game.

Yeh spot on. I think we have seen occasions where he has stepped up when it has been needed, much the way McCarthy does too. He has all the attributes to be a very good player and Im sure we will start seeing a lot more of him in the second half of the season.

We have scored the 3rd most goals in the league or something along those lines. We create a lot of good chances and opportunities every game. Other teams may create more half chances like Wolsburg did against us but we can really cut teams open, maybe not as often as we should, but when we do cut them open it tends to be a very good chance. I dont think he is, I think a lot of it has to do with injuries. Osman doesnt start if we have an injury free squad and in the last few games its not like Osman is playing badly, he just hasnt got the legs for 90 minutes. Pretty much all of our players have been rotated, the two that has stayed more or less constant are Howard and Jags. Jags is captain so its unlikely he will be swapped and Howard's position depends on how capable you think Robles is. He seems to be wary of giving Besic too much game time which I'm not sure why and likewise Garbutt (given Baines' niggles) but other than that we must have one of the most used squads in the League/Europa. You show me a manager that does! I remember Steve_E mentioning McGeady on the right and Mirallas on the left at the end of last season and this pre-season and he was spot on. Mirallas has stepped up to the plate under Martinez and now he just needs to stay fit. The problem comes when he is out of the side because you have 3 or 4 wide players (or players who can do a job there like Barkley) who aren't at the peak of their powers or best form right now. A decent, dependable winger is a must in Jan and if possible a tricky/classy winger too.

Pressing high up the pitch will rumble most teams... In fact I would go as far to say all teams in the Premier League. Its something I have banged on about for a long time and at times it was something we used to do very well under for a few games here or there under Moyes especially against the likes of City. We havent been 'found' out. If managers didnt realise what Martinez would do when he even came to Everton then they didnt deserve the job they were in. Like Mike has said, its far too simplistic and ignores so many factors. The reason why we might be doing better in Europe is because they simply dont play with the same intensity as we do over here. Krasnodar came flying out of the blocks and Wolfsburg werent too much different to many English teams in the way they played but we still picked them off. This is the point as far as I am concerned. We are passing for the sake of passing because we dont have any better options. Why dont we have any better options? Its because we arent playing at the same intensity as last year on or off the ball. We play our best football on the front foot, when we dictate to the opposition. Dictating isnt having 70% possession its dominating the pattern of play so we may only have 40% of the ball but if we are in control of where they have the ball and break with pace then we will cause problems, I guess like we did at Wolfsburg. Just look across the park and look at their problems too. Ok losing Suarez hasnt helped but they dont have the same drive and commitment as last year. They havent become a bad team but they dont have the same pace to their play and they dont defend as aggressively. Our problems are the same. Instead of the forcing the opposition into mistakes, winning the ball back high up the pitch and hitting them on the counter which helps quicker, free flowing football, we are sat deeper, slower to the tackle and then when we win the ball we are deep in our own half or clearing the ball long from general clearance or goal kicks.We also end up putting ourselves under more pressure this way, which I dont like to see. I cant remember which game it was but we were either losing or drawing and were chasing a goal. Stones was so good at stopping attacks and also playing the ball around quickly from the back it was unreal and he ended up putting in a huge challenge to the win the ball back in the opposition half which led to a goal. That spell in that game epitomised everything we should be. We need to play with that intensity for 70-80 minutes a game not the 10-15 we have at the moment. Its fairly safe to assume we are attempting to execute that type of game plan and move the ball quickly but for some reason we just dont have that spark. We have had a lot of creativity get injured this season so that hasnt helped but we should be doing better against the lower clubs. That said, we have created enough chances to see off games but fuck ups at the back have cost us far too much this season.

Big game this... We desperately need the 3 points today! COYB's!

Maybe we just didnt think it was funny ha

Neither did I until I saw this thread

But thats hindsight for you... If he hadnt of got injured so early on we dont know how good (or bad) he might have been. Yes the money has been wasted in hindsight but at the time it was a solid buy.

I agree with that. Back four werent great (although I thought the RB was alright) but sometimes the midfield was non existant and when Sunderland broke they were almost straight onto our back 4 in loads of space.

I thought the midfield and defence were pretty bad in defence. Back four too deep and the midfield got caught trying to cover too much ground. Browning especially was worrying, he didnt read the play at all well. He was clumsy and slow to react. I was expecting to see him boss it. The RB looked solid enough, two assists (ish) and defensively he looked sound (albeit I only watched the 2nd half). I didnt like the look of the Williams guy in midfield. He was tidy enough but he looked a bit of a headless chicken. Ledson was more organised and looked in control and played some nice passes but could have done with some help. On the wings, Dowd looked quite handy considering he has only just turned 17. It will be interesting to see how he develops. The 3 older players in McAlaney, Kone and Oviedo did well, and you could see they had that extra bit of class about them. Generally when the ball came to them it stuck a lot better than it did with some of the younger lads. Oviedo did what you expect from him in a LW role. Nothing special but did his job. Kone showed there is still a player there. Nice movement, some of his touches were excellent and it was a very nice finish too. He didnt put a huge shift in but he needs to build up his fitness. McAlaney did quite well too and looked to have bulked up a little. I dont know if it was just because he was up against younger players but there was a bit more to him compared to when I saw him last. His generally hold up play was decent enough, movement good and his finish was excellent at the end as well. After the game Ossie said that he is a very clinical finisher, especially in training, so it will be interesting to see whether he gets used at any point in the first team this season, maybe against Krasnodar.

Haha brilliant!

Its a clever ploy by them. They get rid of the excess branded stock they are trying to shift and then fill the shelves with lower quality & higher profit margined alternatives like these polaroid TV's for the mugs who think they are getting a deal because they cost less than a branded TV. There are deals to be had but these scenes are ridiculous, especially as the deal will probably still be there on the run up to Christmas!