Roberto's Transfer Improvements?

The title should be... Roberto's Transfer Hard Luck.

What concerns me is that this summer we will have the smallest squad we have had in sometime when Barry, Lukaku, Deulofeu and Traore leave. Added to that we will have the likes of Pienaar, Howard, Distin and Osman a year older and the likes of Gibson, Kone and Oviedo returning from serious long term injury. With only one youngster Stones having been brought through this season that means a lot of first squad places with question marks over them. Hopefully Bobby and Bill have a solid plan for the Summer transfer wise.

Man for man the players in are at least the equall to what they have replaced center mid is defo stronger and we look better with the ball at our feet. That said we will still need to gradually replace the likes of Distin and Osman etc as time goes by but that will be a gradual thing the big problem is goals and if the talk from Goodison is to be believed then that is what Bobby has been saving his pocket money for.

Less than a season on lets try and be a bit patient and give the man a chance.

Let's give give some players as much patience and time as we gave the likes of Anichebe and the manager as long as 11 months at least a compared to Moyes's (none of that OFM crap for me) 11 years of mainly disappointment and negativity.

Up The Blues.

Martinez hasn't been great in the permanent transfer market. We have been over reliant on Lukaku and selling Jelavic has proven to be a mistake.

Martinez probably thought that the Alcaraz would be better than Distin and Jags but they have adapted well to the new system so he will be warming the bench for a while yet. I am not sure about a 5-year contract though.

Kone is the older brother of Victor and needs to be moved on asap. Robles is the new Mucha and will eventually be replaced by some other no-mark sub 'keeper. I have haven't seen enough of McGeady but he hasn't made a bad first impression.

We are still punching above our weight in terms of what we spend on players so I am not sure what people's expectations are after having them lowered for the previous 11 years. I am just glad that we have a manager who treats every game as winnable and as the latest song goes.... When Moyes got off, all the pundits said The Toffees would drop, but we went off to Wigan FC and took their Bobby. Bobbies brown shoes, babe.

COYB

I think Roberto would have used Deulofeu a lot more but for his unfortunate injury in December.

Fingers crossed that Lukaku will return all guns blazing and smash the 17-goal total he scored for the Baggies last season. Three very winnable home games coming up. Onwards and upwards.

Overtly pessimistic, yes but certainly not the worst by a long shot.

I think his transfers have been good, apart from Traore, unlucky with injuries, apart from Traore, who was crocked when we loaned him and clearly susceptible to further injury at the time.

Too early to really judge Martinez, next season will be the important one.

Next season is the catalyst, he needs some financial backing from the board which for some reason I think he will get.He will know how the club works and where he needs to strengthen.

As for Traore? I would pack him in a cardboard box wrapped in cotton wool and send him back from where he came with 'Fragile' stamped all over it.

The reality is that we are shopping in Netto not Waitrose and you get what you pay for in life. Not necessarilly Roberto's fault as he can only spend what he is given.

Dick, while I agree with the worry that RM is not looking long term (as you mentioned in Barry), that would how we operate given our budget. Also, I noticed a lot of movements in the youth setup. Not a case for long term?

I am bemused at the doom and gloom some have, though not entirely unexpected, with out recent defeats. Last I checked, we lost 3 away games at the homes of UCL and title contenders, who, other than spuds who caught us napping, all have very impressive home records all season. I still believe we must win at home and if possible draw or win away to be challenging for top 4 if not the title. But like some of the more optimistic folks here, I can wait for that time to come should it not be this year.

None of those were Martinez signings. We've just had a shitty season with injuries to all of our players.

I have far less concerns about Martinez's transfer dealings than most. He's built up a large amount of cash to spend in the summer, brought in a couple of decent permanent signings(McGeady, McCarthy). Got rid of several players that weren't performing for great fee's.

People complain about the loans, but we're now signing players of the calibre of Lukaku instead of McFadden or Straq. I couldn't be happier on that level.

Next season he'll have cash early and a great idea of who is staying or needs replacing because they're not good enough or cannot adapt to his style of play.

I've no worries about our small squad either. Who've we got rid of that was really any good? Fellaini? He didn't want to be here. All the mid-table deadwood is gone. Barry is likely to sign a permanent deal, Deulofeu is a decent bet to have a second season. McGeady should have a good pre-season and be available fresh too.

Next seasons transfer dealings are probably the ones we should be paying far more attention to than the players he's bought in his first window when he only had the cash at the 11th hour and didn't really know the squad, or in January when the right players are not available.

Dick. You're being a bit harsh with Alcaraz. It was his 3rd match in eight days after a long absence and he was nowhere near the worst player on the pitch. Apart from one moment when he was outpaced by the little flying machine he did ok. The area of exploitation throughout the whole match was the Jags/Stones channel which was wide enough for a double decker bus to cruise through untouched. A few of the other lads didn't turn up either.

I'm not too bothered at the loan signings as they served a purpose overall, with the exception of the flag pole. It's the first signings that were not good enough. Vic was effectively replaced by Kone. Not so sure that was an upgrade.

A lot of posts were praising Roberto for the good value achieved by the sales of players this season, not sure he had any role in the negotiation with the other clubs in the sale, it's not his job after all.

Next season will give a better indication of what Roberto can do in the market, but I am not so optimistic based on the evidence so far.

I'm more hopeful for next season providing he gets the backing of the board.

Roberto came from a club that didn't spend big, maybe Big Dunc will help guide him away from older players with a history of injury.

Everton do not have the financial means to carry a lot of injured players as our squad is small

"We missed our strikers for most of last season. That was a major factor and that has only been evident this season by the way we have started our play. "The most important aspect of this season is keeping them fit and the other players fit because if we start to build up a number of injuries then our squad could struggle."

Not Roberto nor David Moyes but good old Walter Smith quotes following a 2-0 win over Boro at Goodison in August 2001 - Ironic as it would be at Boro later that season that Walter would lose his job.

So 13 or so years later we are facing similar problems with regards to injuries - I just can't seem to think of what the common denominator is in all - I wonder!!!

Martinez in barely half a season has improved our first team a HUGE amount.

We have a solid central midfield in Barry and McCarthy - compare that to Neville and Heitinga from before! Lukaku, even having gone off the boil, is a far better striker than the likes of Jelavic and Naismith. And Deulofeu is one of the most exciting players we've had in the last decade. The latter two don't belong to us but at least for a season (maybe two in Deulofeu's case) they are wearing the blue. McGeady's only been with us a few weeks, the guy boosts our squad and can only get better once he's fully fit - he also did not cost much.

Kone could have been a great signing, unfortunately he got injured and Alcaraz whilst being injury prone was signed on a free so its not like he cost us multiple millions. Robles was always going to be back up for Howard in the short term and we needed a back up 'keeper as we didn't have one after Mucha left.

On the outgoings; Fellaini, Jelavic, Anichebe and Heitinga all shipped out for about £42M and a massive amount off the wage bill. That there is nothing short of a minor miracle. 3 out of the 4 were considered deadwood by virtually everyone and Fellaini has shown at Man Utd that most of the hype around him was just..... hype. He doesn't fit the new passing style anyway.

Oviedo and Barkley have both briefly shown that they will be class acts for the club. These two were not bought by Roberto but he's the one who's actually given them chance of an extended run in the first team. Oviedo's injury was a real blow when it happened and having now seen him play I cannot imagine why Moyes never made proper use of him – whilst still moaning about how small his squad was!

Our main issue this season has been injuries - nothing more. As already mentioned above, there is absolutely no way you can blame the manager for the injuries to Oviedo, Baines, Deulofeu, Gibson, Kone, Barkley, Jagielka and Lukaku, to name just a few – we've just had really really bad luck and the ones to Delofeu and Oviedo came just when we were on a really good run.

The injuries have caused us huge problems as our squad was never the largest. We have a light squad which Martinez is slowly trying to increase, however he needed to clear some of the deadwood first. Including the loanees, Martinez has brought in 8 players this season, which is not a small number, and all of them have arguably improved the squad. Under Moyes we barely had a decent first XI once you got past the back 5, now at least we have a decent first 14-15 and most importantly, most of the time have players playing in their proper positions – i.e. NOT Neville in midfield!

Over the summer we will sign more players and have got 3 long term injuries to come back. Rome was not built in a day, I see we go on a slightly poor run due to injuries and the fickle fans all suddenly start throwing toys out of the prams.

The one thing I personally would have a go at is not signing at least one more striker, especially as Lukaku got injured before January was over. However, Lukaku is now back and he may have gone off the boil as he had no real break before his injury – hopefully he'll be raring to go now, especially with the cup game coming up.

I say relax and enjoy the next few games, which are a lot easier than Chelsea and Spurs away – hopefully we'll start with 3 points at home to West Ham tomorrow.

Our next 4 games are all against sides below us and the next 3 games are at home – if we take 10-12 points from these, everyone will start raving about 4th place potential again....... long way still to go this season.

So the squad has improved but has the quality improved with the new additions??

in which case only McCarthy and Robles(needs more game time like most goalies) stand out for me as they are young and have a good future but jury is still out on the rest..

Kone missed an open goal from 2 yards which is probably how he injured his cartilage and £5 million on a 31-year-old is bad business!!

In the short term loan players have helped though but I can't sing and shout about them as they're not our players as everyone keeps on reminding me!!!

Jelavic may have been crap but don't sell him until you find a good FIT replacement and he screwed up there big time and said we would be stronger at the end of the window and clearly we aren't...

A couple of points, Alcaraz and Kone have been unlucky with injuries, which is a real shame because they understand Roberto's philosophy, which might have moved us on quicker had they stayed fit. I think Kone will offer us something different to the type of forward play we've seen this season.

I too was very unsure about Robles after his first couple of outings but I thought he did very well when called on to replace Howard, apart from letting that 25 yard screamer in. He showed more composure and confidence which gives me hope he'll come on to be a decent keeper.

As for our loan policy, if you've not had the pleasure of listening to Roberto talk about his squad policy then I suggest you spare an hour and have a listen to this. https://soundcloud.com/followtonians/Roberto-Martinez-meets-the

I think McGeady has the potential to be a great buy but like all good players they need decent players to play with which is where Roberto's loan policy has worked so well.

If Del Boy had stayed fit then it's more than likely he would have developed into a better player. To have witness Del Boy in the flesh is something I won't forget, he's brilliant to watch and I hope we keep him for next year.

Traore, that's a special achievement award that one.

I agree with you we have an aging squad of first team players, what teams don't? If you listen to the link, Roberto states he expects two academy players each season to make to the first team squad starting in two season time.

With Martinez in charge I'm looking forward not back. I like lots about our new style of play, interestingly the annoying aspects of our play haven't changed with a new manager. However, if the transformation of our play is only step one then I would like think once we're on steps three and four we'll be playing even better football and scoring more goals.

I'm confident of an exciting display by a lot of these players on Saturday. I hope you will be straight on here to eat humble pie if that's the case!!!

I've seen a lot of your comments on the live forum, you're always slagging Roberto off and praising Moyes. It's pathetic to be honest.

Let's nail the Hammers and make Dick eat his pie! COYB.

And the injuries are purely luck.

Buying players that get into the first team and never perform – that is a bad signing. Not sure any of Martinez's players are in that category yet – far from it. Robles perhaps is a work in progress but he's young for a keeper and a good enough back up.

This summer has to be a really successful one as far as Bobby Brown Shoes is concerned and I hope he can pull some surprises out the hat as he was well known for at Wigan. The board should be awash with money due to the extra TV revenue and the big profit we made on transfers last summer, whether they decide to back our manager (this would be a new development) or secretly stash it away for a rumoured new stadium (ha ha ha ha) remains to be seen.

However, judging by the evidence of Roberto's transfers so far, there seemed to be a quick fix strategy this season... maybe down to getting players in he knew could do a job, or maybe get some loans on board to give him a year to decide where he needed to strengthen permanently. Only he knows though, in his defence, we are bloody good to watch nowadays and, if he can just find that pacey prolific striker, we could be onto something special.

But fair-dos, we dominate possession and are pretty to watch. Seems that's all most Evertonians demand these days.

So all's well!

We are not doing too bad though, even with your perceived 'bad' signings.

Wasn't Alcaraz signed on a free? Could the manager really have accurately predicted he would be out for so long?

A lot of people seem to think £13 million for McCarthy has already been justified. Personally I think he has done well but there is a lot more still to come from the lad.

The jury has to still be out on McGeady, but if he delivers when established then he won't fall in the expensive bracket.

£6 million for a striker with Kone's previous record in the Premier League is perfectly reasonable as well.

That is four players who could still prove their worth to the club that you have flippantly dismissed as costing 'far too much money'.