We need to get over mental road block

Southampton were under-estimated, not by the players or manager, but by the fans who see things through blue-tinted specs and just expect these games to be formalities. There are no gimmies in the Premier League and, unless a club has a top class squad so that injuries do not cause major problems, then it will struggle.

We have had a tremendous season and the team have entertained much more than in past seasons. We are still half a dozen players short of having a squad that can compete for the title. We do not need the likes of Rodwell back either. We need players who can really contribute and the sooner we offload Vellios, Gueye and Junior from the payroll the better.

If everyone was fully fit, we would not be faltering but some of the younger players have been inconsistent at best and Barry needs to be rotated. We don’t have alternatives to the players who are being used. It is certainly NOT a mental thing.

I totally understand your sense of frustration Denis and share it. Everton expect the best so we shouldn't be satisfied with 5th or even 2nd but you've got to take things one day at a time when you're trying to reverse 20 years of failure. When we beat Arsenal we were in control of 4th but in order to maintain that we'd have had to end the season with a run of 12 or 13 consecutive wins. How many teams ever put together a run like that especially in this crazy season. I would say Martinez has done a good job overall but he's made some mistakes (Alcaraz, the Palace line up etc) so as we move forward he can resolve those kind of issues and push us on to where we want to be -- champions of the league.

For all you say, Denis, Everton has no God-given right to win every game, or even the 25 or so required 'to really trouble the judges'. That achievement is determined by talent and the depth of player resources available.

The fact that at certain times during the season we have looked 'possibles' to achieve CL qualification is as irrelevant as a marathon runner getting into fourth spot two miles from home.

That we fail to make it does not illustrate lack of will and determination but only that we lack the ability that others have in abundance. The same thing can be said about the money that goes towards providing it, I think.

I simply don't agree with your conclusions. We have won the big games this season, which we used to lose under OFM. We have gained our highest ever points total in premier league years and to me we are begining to look more like the team of the 80's. It took a while then, as now, but I believe that for a first year in charge, Bobby has done well.

Some bad luck has been our undoing this season, nothing more than that. Take yesterday. Two unfortunate own goals. We played really poorly, yet were denied two nailed on penalties. Had they been given, who knows how many we might have put passed Soton. These fine margins are finer now than they have been for years. We just need that rub of the green that the team at the top have had so consistently this season.

I think that the next transfer window will leave us with a majority of the players that Bobby wants and the youth set up will begin to bear some fruit. We need some patience until the manager gets his philosophy up and running. Swansea saw a huge upturn in their fortunes because of his foundations, even allowing the manager across the park to benefit from his blueprint. Just remember it was Roberto Martinez who had the vision that carried Swansea on for the five years since he left. WE just need to wait a little while. He is the chosen one in these parts!!

Yesterday was a major disappointment for me. Not just the defeat but the manner of it and the (lack of) style of football. However, the most interesting point for me over recent weeks has been the sense of fear at the possibility of getting 4th. I have felt this from the fans even before some games and have sensed it from the players but not the Manager.

This is our (fans and players) major issue during the summer. In the pub before the Palace game, many, in fact most fans were seriously worried. Someone said to me, "They’ve won 3 on the run". When I said we’d won 7 they looked at me strangely. Didn’t feel or hear anything so negative before the Arsenal game or the Man Utd game. Yet again, the negativity on Saturday was obvious and clear.

I have suggested that we have over the past 11 years been brainwashed to accepting our underdog and "nearly team" tags and should be grateful, almost humble, to even finish in the top 10. I cannot stand that Uriah Heepish concept.

We have to break out of that mindset. It’s like The Mancurian Candidate — we get near 4th or winning a trophy and we panic. I wonder if at Palace especially that fear was felt by the players?

I feel the same about Liverpool The City sometimes — "de greatest city in de weerld" and yet, when we gained Capital of Culture status, we just bought in. We didn’t trust ourselves. Same with the "Giants" crap. Anyone explain the link with giant puppets and WW1?

So Martinez has to buy some players in the summer but he also, in my opinion, has to do a mind job on any of the old guard. I simply cannot explain such a drop in form from last week to yesterday. Not just one or two players but people like Baines and Coleman and McCarthy and Barry. I normally do not call players names and will not here but Lukaku hasn’t kicked a ball in any positive way in any game since Arsenal.

Still, though, got my 2014-15 Season Ticket and will spend the summer meditating and developing my already very posso waves.

Up The Blues.

And I’m afraid to disagree with a few of you guys but yea, we do bottle it against teams we are "supposed" to walk over; heads dropped against Southampton after the early own goal! But against Palace we were pants!

After Arsenal we should have hammered Palace but, as Dennis has already stated, we bottled it: simple as that .

Some on here will no doubt dismiss such things as complete bollocks, but they have the same guy who worked with the GB cycling team that has been an unstoppable juggernaut for the last few years.

Take a look at both Micheal's and Lyndon's after-match reports. Posters have been lining up to point the finger.

Kenwright gets it, Alcaraz gets it, Osman gets it, Our 20-year-olds, Lukaku, Deulofeu, Barkley and Stones get it, The older guys Barry and Baines get it. Our small squad is to blame, lack of funds is to blame, Even the manager who left us last season is to blame.

When are people going to recognise the part our current manager has played in squandering this fantastic opportunity? Instead of describing Palace as "lucky" and claiming yesterday's dismal defeat was "just a bad day at the office"... why not talk about the way he played straight into the hands of Pochettino and Tony fucking Pulis?

I really thought Martinez had learned his lesson after walking onto sucker punches at Spurs and Chelsea and Liverpool... but his tactics against Palace and Southampton bordered on suicidal.

First, he surrenders territory, possession and ultimately the match, against Palace by starting with Deulofeu, Barkley, Mirallas, McGeady AND Lukaku... then, he repeats the error by going to St Mary's with four more players who offer little or nothing when the opposition have the ball. Did he not expect Southampton to have a lot of the ball?

Sorry, I can't agree with a single word of the OP. I think it's the manager who is suffering at this altitude. Unlike most of the players, he is operating at a level he's never been at... and it's beginning to tell.

These kind of fuck-all-to-lose tactics may work when you need maximum points from your remaining few games to avoid relegation. They may even work in a cup final when nobody gives you an earthly... but we were trying to consolodate a CL place, ffs.

I can't feel good about the way things have gone. For me, there is no "relative success"; there's only success and failure.

If we miss out on 4th place, we will have pushed it as far as we can. To expect more is unrealistic.

We've beaten some top sides this season. wasn't the recent victory against Man Utd a 'must win'? Wasn't the victory against Arsenal a 'must win'? We can't keep using this 'bottling big games' melarky when it suits us.

Man City lost an all-important game to Sunderland recently - are Man City just a bunch of big game bottlers? Same goes for Chelsea, they've dropped points at a vital late stage. You win some you lose some. Shit happens!

I was abroad for the CP game so wasn't there or subsequently seen any of the coverage. It is true that we have to do better against teams of this ilk, hence the draws early on in the season, but it seems a tactical, rather than mental weakness to me.

"Playing against Arsenal or City, United or Liverpool is one thing and another thing is to play Palace or West Bromwich or Stoke away. Clearly, during the season, we have players up and down in relation to the profile of the match. It's personality qualities. They should be able [to play anywhere], but they are not."

Direct quote from Mr Mourinho after Chelsea's recent loss to Palace.

Stones has now played about 10 games and has not yet played against the full variety of strikers he will need to be able to cope with during a full season. Jags and old Distin have played against EVERY different type of striker in the Premier League. Experience is needed especially in key positions.

I do not know what level of football the 'blue tinted brigade' have played at but I have learned over the years not to gloat or over-anticipate. This has been a wonderful season compared to most others in this Premier League. The fans have been given entertainment and optimism, but now they need to accept REALISM.

The squad is too small and cannot cope with injuries. Some positions are better covered than others but we cannot afford rotation in defensive midfield or at full back. We have ONE young striker who is on loan without a fit replacement. If these facts go over your heads then it's too bad!

If you had been told that we would record our highest points total in the Premier League, have a team that has made Goodison Park into a fortress, won away at Manchester United, was producing some wonderful attacking football, being only outclassed once all season, matched our so-called superiors in every game both home and away, stood up to Man Utd in the transfer market, and overall raised our expectations to Champions League football… you would have taken it like a shot.

Remember those rumblings of potential implosion, of no longer being plucky enough to punch over our weight?

We have a team to be proud of and I know we have had a couple of low spots but how many more were we expecting?

Now for that difficult "second season syndrome"…

And I hope I can bite my other arm off … [Thinks of Monty Python's Black Knight].

I agree with Trevor Lynes' analysis. Roberto is quoted as saying that we want another 6 or seven players. Whether we get in Europe or not this year, I'm not too bothered.

Next season (if that the Board back him and thats a bloody big IF) I think we will mount a strong challenge on the Champions League.

I'd just point out Patrick, that the other well known club, spent megabucks on an already expensive outfit.

For me, Martinez has driven any fears and negativity away. I fear no-one and seriously expect us to win every game and feel that we can going into them.

I seriously believe we can develop next season and am already looking forward to it.

I have real concerns over Jags as this is twice this season he has been out for a considerable time with the same injury. The players would not be human if the pressure did not get to them as it did with Liverpool against Chelsea. I think the main issue for Roberto is to make the team realise that they need different tactics to win against the "parking the bus" lot.

I can't believe elsewhere that people want the team to lose Saturday. There is no quandry: we need to get as much as we can from the last two games don't go out on a damp squid. Don't write Chelsea off!

Roberto made a crucial error and it cost us, he saw what was happening at Anfield and made no attempt to change anything and it cost us. I know this is a learning season for him too and hopefully the experiences will be positive in the long term but we shouldn't put the blame on the same players each time things go sour.

Yes, we were expected to beat Crystal Palace, but hang – on weren't Man City and Chelsea expected to beat Sunderland recently? And that was when the "experts" thought that Sunderland were as good as relegated.

I watched the match on TV at a mates on Saturday – yes, we didn't play well... but I think that some Evertonians are becoming like the TV pundits. I think that the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal would struggle if they had as many players out injured as we have.

Poldolski is a well established German International, without checking I think that he has got around 80 caps, yet he is not a regular starter for Arsenal. I bet Roberto wishes he could have such experience coming on from the bench.

Given the number of injuries that we have had, I think Martinez has done a brilliant job keeping us in contention for a Champions League place. Yes, it looks beyond us now, but when was the last time we could talk about challenging for 4th?

I mentioned pundits – my mate was telling me the other week that Hoddle was on and was saying that we had been lucky with injuries this season!!! Sorry but I expect better from some of these experts, if he had spent half-an-hour doing some research, he would have found that the opposite was the case.

Yes, the result and the performance were not what we wanted and needed, but that shouldn't be allowed to overshadow what has been a very good season. I don't watch BT on a regular basis, but my mate was telling me that David James had predicted Everton to finish 17th this season, and Neville Southall was quoted as saying that Martinez as choice of manager showed a lack of ambition by the club. Perhaps James and Southall could team up as the next "Chuckle Brothers"!

We have done very well this season - more points than for a long time and we've had some big victories.Would most of us have settled for that back in August? I think if we were honest we would. Now lets hope RM gets given some resources in the summer to add to the squad .

If the transfer deadline was before the season started, we could have had those players in place, and easily an extra four points - if not six. Enough for fourth. That is where it has been lost and I hope they change the rules to get signings done before the season starts. It's insane the way it currently is.