Lack of Firepower? Afraid so!

Yet a large percentage of them couldn't see the Dark Side losing too many matches � Are they really playing that well? I wouldn't know personally as I have only seen them at Goodison and refuse to listen/watch/read about their exploits Come on Roberto get a team together and shut those lot up and for at the same time give some of our fans a much needed boost to their belief in the Blues' � who seem to fear them to the point of distraction.

But I look at the table and guess what we are only a point behind them, not a great gap is it? As for the slow start we have taken 41 points and that equates to having won all our home games and drawn 8 away from home. not exactly too far off the pace.

However, I do think that the injury to Barks is a huge blow to our chances and if we don't buy anyone really useful we could suffer � as to the other lot we don't care do we?

I think Arsenal will finish third after Chelsea and Man City with the 4th spot from us, Liverpool and United. Our injuries are mounting up and if we get a cup run it is going to stretch the first team

Having said that I do beleive that Barry and Disitn have a portrait of Dorian Gray in their attics.

Even when Barkley and Deloufe are back we still need either a goal scorer or midfielders that can add to the goal tallys of the rest of the team

I predict that Mirallis is going to surprise us all in the second half of the season and score goals!

Nothing less will do.

Are you trying to guild the lilly? They were more than just a little fortunate. I still believe that if the first had not gone in, Stoke would have kept it tight and the shite would have struggled.

You can see in an open game that they will score plenty, but when the shackles are on, they get uber annoyed and thats where teams will punish them in the second half of the season.

I hate them. I really do.

Here are 4th place points totals for the past 10 seasons, starting with last season ;

73
69
68
70
72
76
68
67
61
60

If we want 4th, we will need mid-seventies probably.

If you want to look on the bright side, we are 1 point behind Liverpool, who unfortunately have the most prolific striker in world football at the moment.

So we're not doing too badly! The derby could be the deciding fixture for a C.L. spot.

We are seeing the squad really stretched at the moment as Gueye's appearance on the bench on Saturday demonstrates. If we have the money I hope Martinez uses it to bring in another striker. I would also like to see him bring in either on loan or permanent something along the lines of what Harry Redknapp did when he brought in Van der Vaart. I don't know if we have the money for something like that but someone who was maybe 32 and looking to just come on as an impact sub but someone with real quality. I think that would give the squad a real lift take a little pressure of Barkley and Lukaku. I have no idea who these players are like I will leave that to Roberto.

Even if god forbid we slip up in our next two away fixtures there would still be ample time to recover and we have been a lot further behind the top teams and closed the gap in previous years - why shouldn't we be able to do the same this season.

Injuries, loss of form, nerves will all play a part in the rest of the season, let's hope Roberto manages to convince his team that they are more than capable and that they prove him right - if we miss out so be it but now is not the time to panic although some do feel that it's never too early to do so.

Looking at the stats for top 4 finish over last couple of seasons, at 21 games in, between 37 & 40 points has done it. Granted this season there are more in the race, but what it boils down to is how many of the games we gain points from those not in direct competition.

There are 17 games left, of which we play the direct competition 3 at home (MU, ARS, MC) and 3 away (RS, TH, CH). Now forgive my optimism here, but the 11 other games should all be winnable. Of course they won't be, but with the football played this season would it be too optimistic to hope for 23 points ?? ( 5 x home wins & a couple of aways with a draw and surprise loss thrown in). You would hope that we could be in the region of 63/64 points without having played any of the 6 pointers.

So what you have is the stats that show RS winning and scoring goals freely,We now have 6 games, home and away, 18 points to play for against direct rivals with them all having to play each other.

I think RM said somewhere 70 points was the target. RS Draw, TH Win, CH Draw, MU win, Arse,win, MC Draw - Why not?

Liverpool on the other hand play reactively. Their game is based around scoring first defending and then utilising the space on the break. They do it very well. Their midfield is almost so poor on the ball that they allow lesser teams to come out and play even at Anfield. That’s why you see ridiculous things in their games like Norwich and Stoke trying to pass it around. They then have carthorses like Henderson to get it back quickly and get Suarez in onto a one on one quickly as possible. The problem comes when you meet better sides. Even with a goal advantage against us City and Chelsea they couldn’t win one of them. When you give up control of the ball like they do you rely on the opposition and the top teams punish you for that. When Arsenal scored first Liverpool literally had no clue how to get back into the game. The issue for them becomes how do they improve? We have a system wherein we could add top attacking or midfield talent and get better. They already have one if the best strikers in top form for them and they’re only a point ahead. If they buy better midfielders who want to get on the ball then their counterattacking game plan goes to pot and they don’t get so many goals on the break. They never use to win at stoke because they’d hoof it to stoke and pulis’ team would hoof it straight back. Stoke made the mistake this time of trying to play football and were punished for it.

In the long run we will be better served with Martinez’s philosophy. If we want to win stiff then you have to win bug games and Rodgers doesn’t win many of them at all. There aren’t many good teams who go far without playing on the front foot in control of the ball. The revs will do their best to get them into fourth but I would rather play how we are regardless of the goal difference than how they are. That is not the school of Science and it is not how the good Liverpool sides of the past played. Brendan goes on about tiki taka pass and move but really it’s just good old kick and rush with one wotkd class player.

I also agree that a new striker would be most welcome but there is another part of me which would prefer any spare funds to be spent on a quality DM to cover for Barry/McCarthy (or even push McCarthy further forward a la Alan Ball and play the new potential recruit alongside Barry). I say this because I can see Mirallas playing through the middle and in some ways given the style of play we are now enjoying - dare I say it - be a little more productive than Lukaku. (That is NOT a negative shot at Lukaku because this guy does so much work off the ball, it is often not appreciated.)

However, Mike, unless you have forwards such as those at Man City; Suarez (spit); RVP and/or Rooney, sharing the goals around rather than relying on a single forward is far more enjoyable and long may Coleman; Oviedo; Baines; Barry; Mirallas continue to find the onion bag.

A lack of goals are caused by erratic shooting. The times I have watched matches this season when players have managed to shoot high and wide when easier to put the ball on goal when in sight when in good positions.

In the last match, Osman managed to put the ball high and wide when in front of goal when just outside the penalty area, when it was easier to hit straight at goal, as I closed my eyes in disbelief and wondered, how is it possible to miss so far.

The answer to shooting problems is a lack of composure and not being able to see where the goal actually is as a shot is just about to be taken. To correct this, eyes before a shot is taken should be fixed on the goal when just about to shoot instead of relying on instinct for the feet to know where the goal actually is.

Barry showed in the last match with his eyes fixed on the goal, was able to hit the ball in the right place on goal well away from where the goal keeper was standing ; as was the same with the free kick of Mirallas.

As for corners, how many times this season has a corner been taken when the ball is hopefully floated into the penalty box as defenders normally head or kick the ball away from the danger areas? When corners are more dangerous when swung in with pace, giving defenders less time to know how to deal with them, so, providing more opportunity to score from a corner kick.

We have a very strong team when our best 11 is available and can be a match for them if they are not at their best, but it will always have taken a slice of luck to finish in any of the first 4 positions over the course of 38 games.

What we've been doing well this season is beating teams we would've lost to in previous seasons, and we've kept doing that even with half the team out injured. On those occasions when we can't break them down, we generally get a point which keeps us in the hunt.

It's as tight as I've ever known at the top and I think injuries will be key. We've got McGeady in to provide a bit of pace and a more useful substitute than Naismith. If Martinez can buy a good replacement for Jelavic and we start getting the injured players back then we should be well set for the run in.

Unlike the clubs who've spent heavily and have key players demanding CL football, as a club there is no pressure to finish in the top 4 spots. As a fan there is no expectation that we need to do it, either. I think Roberto is the perfect manager in terms of keeping the stress levels in the team down and this will also be important when it comes to the last 5 or 10 games.

As Patrick mentions, the derby game - as well as the matches against all our peers - will have added significance. If we can get a point or 3 then we will be giving our own chances a massive boost.

At this point a lot of supporters are pleased at the clubs position and can see that we have a good chance to qualify for Europe either in the C.L. or the Europe cup.

The problem that I can see at the moment is the injuries and the players being transfered out leaves us short on coverage. For the first time in years Everton do not have a centre foreward under contract only a loan player.The 2 players who were backup Jelevic and Anichebe have been sold and changing the shape of the team if Lukaku gets injured may cause problems.You can only paper over cracks for so long.

This brings us to the January window that so far has got us a player who I think the position that he plays in we allready had coverage for, and a lot of rumors. Everton are going to need a proven striker to (a) replace Lukaku if he gets injured and to lead the line next year and (b)a top class midfielder to replace some of our aging midfielders who struggle over 90mins.

This is the time the club need the manager to be given funds to buy these type of players so once again regaldless of comments made in the media it is up to, one of the most unreliable persons in Evertons history B.Kenwright to put up or shut up.

One player who is mentioned today Batshuayi unless the manager can see in him more than what I read about him at the price quoted it seems he will just be a backup and not the future #9 we require.

We have a plus 15 goal difference which makes a pleasant change as for many seasons we had a negative goal difference for large portions of a season.

I can't remember when I said it this season or last season, but we really need a talisman similar to Ferguson, Cahill or Rooney not necessarily a striker but someone of that type of personality who the crowd can get behind. But we do have 41 points from 21 games which I believe to be our best tally at this stage of the season in the PL era. But as always we seek perfection and it can be a long hard road.

And will he be there next season?

We aren't in a minority regarding a cutting-edge striker either. 17 of the Premier League clubs are after one too. The reality is that finding those strikers of that immense quality and consistency is very difficult, and the top 4 have been through countless hundreds of millions trying to find them (and failed in some cases).

The odds are against us finding one in our price bracket � everyone is trying to bag a 20-a-season man for <�15 million. Rather than trying to find one "Suarez", I'd rather just have another "Lukaku". Two good 15-20 a season strikers is better than one great one.

You have just stumbled onto RM plan. We need an injection of luck, which as the saying goes, "the luck of the Irish". So Bobby your plan is in the open!!!

As it is we have only Lukaku, a loan striker who most likely wont be here next season and a long term injury to Kone.
We do need too try our best and find a striker this month to improve our chances of top four qualification.

I was a little worried by what I read from Martinez regarding the signing of McGeady, it went something like 'signing Aiden will mean less pressure on us having to find a replacement striker for Jela leaving'.
Now I am not too sure I know how McGeady coming in, means we don't need an out and out striker to come in and pressure a mis-firing Lukaku, let alone replace Jela.
McGeady is unlikely to even figure before at least early February if reports are to be believed, due to a lack of fitness ect:

The target has to be 10 more wins,we have won some massive games so far, Chelsea, United away, Swansea away but we have failed in many winnable games at Palace, Cardiff, home to West Brom, home to Sunderland.
If we are proper serious then we must go to the Hawthorns next Monday and take all three points, they have won just three matches all season and basically we have better players than them but its the exact kind of game where all too often we have slipped up and drawn.
Then we welcome what needs to be done in the Liverpool match.

All we can do is take it one game at a time and if we put enough wins on the board we'll be there or thereabouts come the end of the season. At the end of the day, whether you win 1-0 or 5-0, you'll still only get 3 points. And at least we're not nearly so reliant on one player.

They have the 2nd best attack in the league and 9th best defence. We have the 2nd best defence and 6th best attack - so not actually that much in it.

Points are the only thing that matter and we're only one behind at the moment.

So 4th for us is not the same as 4th for them.

Colina is cleaning his boots as we speak!!!

Mr Martinez,s comments on differant players providing coverage makes me think that if the type of player he wants is not available during January he will not be upset about it.The problem is with injuries and selling of players it is starting to stretch the squad to far.

And yes Bill, a lot of supporters are pleased at the club's position, but more than that, we appreciate the seismic shift in philosophy, attitude and positivity that arrived in the summer. The expectation is understandable but with it must come a sense of reality: Roberto hasn't been at the club long and to 'expect' CL qualification is both unfair and delusional. The squad he inherited was weak in numbers and structure, and for him to impose his long term football strategy on a club that had been playing a totally different concept of the beautiful game, and introduce some new and young faces, takes time. I personally think we'll see the benefits of his regime in the next couple of years - but a cup final win would be nice! (Well I am a fan too)

We will never have money or a new owner due to the dump that is Goodison, and if he is here long enough I think it may take Roberto some 3 - 4 years, until we have shaken off the Moyes years of... well nothing.
Somethings won't change � Sadly the global appeal of Liverpool is always going to give them extra revenue, Christ they can even afford to pay human-flesh-eating Ratboy over �200k a week. They will always get at least 15 penalties a season, and the media is always going to be full of ex-Reds.

With regards to the striker situation. I don't really know about playing Mirallas down the middle. He may do well there but I ask myself if he does play well down the middle why has he never been used there in nearly 2 years since joining us?
I would feel more at ease with a striker coming in and deep down I reckon Martinez would feel that way too, whether there is anybody available for the money or on loan who knows.

I did have a thought that maybe we could have borrowed Robbie Keane on a similar Donovan type loan until March.
Past his best but still knows where the net is, and has good experience...Oh and he is Irish.

Glad someone else spotted that.

I agree its likely between us, liverpool and man u for 4th...Id take our defensive players over either of theirs and I feel its our defense that may see us make it to 4th.

Liverpool did ok during the Suarez ban..just sayig

Oh and Ryan Gauld...please God ..........( I know hes hyped, but as an investment there is no doubt he will gain in value massively)

As for the OP, it would be great to have a 20 goal a season man, but I actually think it is a great advantage to have so many different scorers. I see it as a testament to the way Martinez has set up to play, we make opportunities all over the shop.

It would be hard for him to bully Premier League centre halves and I am not sure he would be the key to our striker problems really.
Its a bit different scoring goals for fun in a poor standard which the Greek league is in all honesty.

The trouble we seem to have is we have Deulofue, Pienaar and Mirallas who in my opinion all seem to thrive more on the left wing, out of the three I think Delboy takes to the right side the best.

It will be interesting to see what McGeady brings to the table, another tricky customer who likes to get the ball and run so at the minute we look fine for wide players.

It is at this time that the strength of a team's squad is the difference between success and a near miss. I can easily see us in the top 6 or 7 but gaining a spot in the top 4 is going to be really difficult. None of the top sides are losing and we are in the position of needing to win almost every game to stay in touch. If we don't strengthen the squad as promised during this window, it would be a shame if we missed out through injuries.

Can we have Jelavic back, please?

Second, I don't think we kicked into Barca mode until right around the Arsenal game, so we're not sure how they can handle that.

Third, our season should not be defined by the derby. Yes, it can be a huge diff if we won or lose both but both have to play 18 other teams...And they suck, even when they scored 5, it looked like football gods and refs gave them 4 of their goals! Agree with Sean, didn't they get schooled by Arsenal? We schooled Arsenal! AWAY!

Fourth, transfer for an elite striker aside, not scoring on so many chances is normal for a possession team. Barca was like that before Eto'o and Villa. Spain, well, we know they are the Armada before 2008, sinking under pressure. I trust RM to handle it well even without quality strikers.

Fifth, I like Jelavic, but how many goals did he score in the last 365 days? He's not going to add or substract that much from us. Of course, I had hoped he play Norwich so I can see if he righted his own ship but its done. Jelavic's gone. And I'm ok with it.

IMWT!

Kettle on. I need a cup of tea and a fag.

On a side note, isn't Holtby on his way out? Maybe we can get him by getting him unsettled! Play the MU card while we can! :)

Drew, kinda agree but those will cost half our club...

John Terry says he is the best header of a ball in the Premier League but you're right Patrick. It does seen a retrograde step.

There was a time, many years ago, when I would have been very happy for the club to be interested in Kenwyne Jones. He has never kicked on though has he, seemingly content to become the back-up to some fairly mediocre strikers (apologies if his problem has been terrible luck with injuries). Whatever the reason, he seems like yesterday's man, but maybe the manager thinks he could be a cheap and low risk squad player who can still produce the goods often enough.

I haven't seen enough of any of the players we have been linked with by the press, or those that others on this site have suggested, to have strong opinions one way or the other. I will be irked if the likes of Stoke bring in a gem for the sort of money the manager should be able to get at the drop of a hat, but I understand that we are still not in a position to squander large chunks of what funds we have on long-shots.

Are we not allowed, or is it not possible, to have a prolific striker and lots of goals spread between another half dozen players as well? Surely the best teams have as much firepower as possible.

And at the end of the day, when the teams have the same number of points, the one that has the greater goal difference will be the higher placed in the league.

I'd rather we didn't lose out on CL to the RS on goal difference, that's why I've previously said our chances are not dependent on how well we do against our peers but on how well we put away the bottom teams, which we haven't been.

Sean #172, the above applies to your post also.

I do agree we need to find a way of playing him more central but has he got the strength and dynamism to play the Barkley role or the presence needed to be a loan striker in the prem. Probably the latter but will RM trust experimentation at this crucial stage of the season?? .. I'd like to see him give it a go in next 2 games will Lukaku ready to come off the bench if needed

In all seriousness every team could obviously use a clinical striker who converts and creates chances for themselves but they cost a shed load of money. We will surely be buying someone in the next fortnight to help out lukaku but chances are it will either be a young, developing striker or an experienced striker who can help out.

But the six pointers are more important because this is where you get your 3 points and inflict damage on your competitors - especially, in our case against Spurs, Liverpool and Utd who are our real competition.

And that's what could bite us in the bum at the end of the day when we're tied with them on points. Remember 2 seasons ago when United lost the league to City on goal difference?

As you and a number of other supporters are saying the manager is laying a solid foundation for the future of the club and as the saying goes (let's learn to walk before we start to run).

OF ALL THINGS YOU PICKED, you picked the one that can be interpreted either way and be such a jerk about it. WELL DONE!

One interesting stat not shown here is that our top scorer this season is Lukaku with 9 goals, 4 assists, 49% shots on target. Compare this to the Arse, where Giroud is top scorer with 9 goals, 5 assists, 30% shots on target. Now compare both to Negredo who has 9 goals 3 assist, 43% shots on target. Based on the assertion that Negredo is a super quality forward, then it would appear as though EFC does (at long last) have a super quality forward in Lukaku. Rat boy in current form is in absolutely phenomenal goal scoring mode, yet his presence does not relate to EFC losing out on CL to the shite (lots of stats on our overall team performance supports this).

A stat which might actually relate to our potential loss of a CL place is the difference in number of assists between us and the rest of the CL chasing pack with Barkley leading in the wrong direction with 3 goals and 0 assists. Ironically Kev, the anointed selfish one has 3 goals and 4 assists.

He will beat two or three opposing players, surge forward and feed the guy who makes the assist. He is praised on Match of the Day and Sky but the stats give him nothing. He is brought down for free kicks from which we score. The stats give him nothing. With so many Directors of Football using stats when buying players, it's no surprise that many turn out to be duds. They can be very misleading.

I'm constantly told by my Evertonian mates that the club have a lot of outgoings and can't compete with the so-called big boys. But I've seen the club sell players for a substantial profit for a number of years now and buy relatively cheaply. Everton have been in the Premier League for 20 years and, with the amount of TV money that's come in during that time, I want to know why the club seems to be always trying to get Champions League football on the cheap.

With all of this and no stadium improvements or high salaries paid, it seems to indicate a board similar to the Glazers at Man Utd. The Everton debt is not exactly huge but it does sound like someone or some people are taking money out of the club. Right now, Everton are a point from 4th, with serious investment, tehy could make it. A similar thing happened last season if I recall correctly: opportunities passed up in January.

Does the Everton Board of multi-millionaire Directors really want Champions League football? Or are they happy producing quality players like Barkley and Coleman (just to name two) and selling them on at a massive profit???

I seriously want to know why Everton are still in this situation. I honestly don't believe it's solely down to not selling the club to a sugar daddy-type.

We tend to be getting carried away because we have seen a lot of high scoring games this season but you still only get three points regardless of how many goals you score. If you win all your games 1-0 you will win the league.

The one time Everton actually finished in the top 4 Marcus Bent was our striker. Hardly the most prolific scorer in the history of Everton, That season we managed to win a lot of games 1-0.

So it would seem to me if you don't score a lot of goals then make sure you don't concede a lot of goals either. A win is a win. 1-0 is as good as 10-0, So lets not fret about how much firepower we have. As long as it's enough to knock in a goal or two and our defense is strong enough to keep out the opposition we should be OK.