Blues' leaders summon Goodison's 12th man

I always think even for the big games at Goodison these days the atmosphere is rather flat.

10 years ago or so before a Merseyside Derby the ground would be full to the rafters 20 minutes before kick-off with a wall of noise, when do we get that now? It’s like everyone is just content to waltz to their seat a minute before kick-off.

I honestly believe we need to start taking a few lessons from other stadiums in the league, sadly Goodison has to be one of the quietest.

Well tonight, forget how cack the team has been at home all season and make this place a lion’s den for Manchester City.

This could be our last really big match that means something for years, don’t let it pass in the usual damp squib!

Pick an unbalanced team as in the first sixty minutes and you will get the library crowd biting their nails and waiting for the inevitable mistakes which we got away with on Sunday... So we all await your team selection with interest, it’s in your hands, Robbie.

I'm sure blue voices will be primed. The game dictates the atmosphere though.

Mr Bobby Brown, get Mirallas, Barkley and Deulofeu to start behind Rom and see how Goodison sends shivers down the spine of every Man Shitty player.

Even Cleverly on the left will do the trick, if Mo partners Barry.

COYB!

As for Martinez, I wish he would just shut the fuck up. A constant stream of excuses just doesn't do it for me. "The performances have been very consistent" No they haven't, they have been very inconsistent. Blah blah can't listen to him.

Looking forward to tonight with a touch of trepidation. I would call on the fans to make it as noisy as it has been for years and hopefully the players will respond. COYB

I mean if any of them need to be motivated for a Semi Final at Goodison Park under the lights then I'd seriously question whether they should really be playing football.

GET INTO THEM!!!

Mind you it aint all bad. I am enjoying a beer on an sun setting beach waiting to watch the match later on a big screen TV so perhaps we are being too cynical.

Mind you I have just watched a rare soundbite of Roberto on BBC Sports (after yet more non event broadcast crap regarding the Redshites)where he gives a double "phenomenal, phenomenal" reference to the atmosphere to be created. . . . Oh dear, he's not getting any better. COYB

And what Dave @2 said.

I have been lucky enough to be at a number of special nights at Goodison over the last 55 years and hope we can achieve something for the long suffering younger toffees.

Come on Blues make us proud.

On the one hand, the players / management ask the fans to be the 12th man to help them raise their game;

On the other hand, the fans expect the players to give them a reason to cheer them on.

While I understand the fans who pay a hefty sum want the players on the field, who are supposedly professionals who are paid millions.

I think the arguments can go both ways till the cows come home. But it misses the big picture, that both fans and players want to win.

So, rather than quibble on who is entitled to do what, why can’t we decide that the more important thing is to help the 11 (or more if you include the squad and the coaches) to deliver on the field to deliver.

If I may ask – if my putting aside of what I am entitled to, and it that cheering relentlessly will guarantee wins, would I do it, even though the team didn’t give me a reason to?

I think the answer is "yes" ie if cheering like a mad person no matter what, for 90 mins guarantee a win every time, I am happy to do so, and not be calculative about who should be the ones who should take the first step.

I’d love us to play two wingers and have a real go tonight, but if it backfires and we get caught out on the break, then we will be out of the tie. We need to go there still in the game.

Also, would anyone trust us to go there to defend, say a 2-1 lead? Kiev, and all that. If we can win 3-0, then great, otherwise a draw will do me!

I agree totally!

Without going into deep fine detail, this is no ordinary match at Goodison, it is a Semi Final against Manchester City and for a club like ourselves who have been completely starved of genuine big matches for 20 year's, the fans, like the players should need no motivation tonight, it should be a natural given.

Don't get me wrong I could understand a flat atmosphere at the usual mundane league game against some middle rank side but tonight, under the floodlights, at such a massive occasion that could decide the shape of our season, please please be "up" for it!!

I think back to the two obvious ones of Manchester United and Fiorentina or the Dan Gosling FA Cup derby in 2009, maybe the visit of Chelsea on a Monday night before Christmas 2008, another that sticks out in the memory of the Gwladys Street trying to suck the ball into the net.

Even in Martinez’s first season when we were chasing the Champions League, we were at home to Crystal Palace on a midweek night on a 7 match winning streak, it was strangely subdued prior to kick-off.

We need to get the stadium rocking once again, it’s been too long!

All I know is the team is asking too much of these fans. In a recent Guardian article about Lukaku I remember a comment from a Mancunian who wrote about how much flak Lukaku caught from EFC fans last year and wrote that the "Toffees are hard to please." So True.

I look at this season this way. This team is not even in its second year. Sure Barkley, Lukaku, Jagielka, Coleman, Barry, McCarthy and Barry have played together for two and a half years but Stones, Funes Mori, Deulofeu (away from team last year), Galloway, Cleverley, Kone (finally healthy), are playing together and with the others for the first time. Even Barkley and Baines are almost newish to this team as they were not 100% healthy last year. This team is talented but very young and needs time to gel. It also needs a couple more very good players.

I hope it can stay together one more year.

Finally don't lecture US about OUR support levels you overpaid pricks-get a few tackles in, cross the ball , have some shots and get the crowd on their feet!

Cheer them on, give them everything (irrespective of which 11 takes the field for us) make the Mancs shite themselves. We can do this, Everton. COYB!

If it takes events on the pitch to get the crowd interested, how about starting the game from the kick off by smashing the ball high in to the corner of the ground rugby union style and having our lads chase it down at full pelt then smashing whatever opposition player is unlucky enough to be near it in a blood curdling 50/50.

Just like the Neville v Ronaldo tackle, that would get the crowd off their feet from the off. It could be our thing. Come to Goodison and you’re going to get smashed right from the off.

Alternatively, if the kick off isn’t ours, every player harries the ball at full tempo until possession is retrieved, a foul is committed or the ball goes out of play – again the crowd would be electric and up for it from the start.

Bit of a gimmick but it would get the crowd up for it and baying for blood from the start.