Why Can We Never Capitalise?

When I watch him, it's the basic centre-forward skills that are absent. The control, the passing, the vision, the savvy, the movement. Roberto must see this too, right? He can't be pleased either, right?

We can't afford to keep picking a striker that centre-backs enjoy playing against. He needs a lesson in 'How to scare the bejesus out of defenders' from Master Scholar Duncan Ferguson.

At the moment, we must be easy to play against as when the opposition have the ball we don't seem to want to tackle. Then, when we have the ball, everything is played in front of teams and we never have anybody running past the strikers to stretch the game.

The last two games have been very winnable but we've hardly created a chance in either. This brings me to the conclusion that were playing safety first football rather than the attacking football of the last three months of last season.

Don't get me wrong, I never want a return to the bad old days of Moyes but the difference in emotions for me at least are miles apart.

Under Moyes, I used to get angry and frustrated to the point where I could've committed murder. Under Martinez, I find myself watching the game with a calm, ambivalent, "don't give a shit" attitude.

My lad said to me during the Swansea game. "Dad, you look bored off your head."

Sad, I know... but that's the way I feel: pointless passing across the back with little or no penetration and no end product for the most part.

Our problem isn't that we 'just pass' the ball around; our problem is that we don't do it quick enough at times, so the opposition get men behind the ball, massed around their box and we're not cute enough to pass through them.

We play the right way, we just don't always do it properly or effectively. Martinez needs to learn to mix it up a bit more, and we need to learn to be better without the ball – letting teams play a bit more can make us a more effective outfit both on the break, and in possession by them being further up the field.

The problem is that we play the ball around too slowly, and lack the pace or injection to burst through teams in the way say, Barcelona used to, or the great passing teams Arsenal have had.

Lukaku and Eto'o together just doesn't seem to work either – we need Naismith to play in the hole, it's clear for all to see and we need Ross bursting through the middle, not playing out on the left.

I can see why Martinez is trying to mix the team up and keep players fresh but, when it makes us impotent as an attacking force, you have to question the validity of his thinking.

McGeady was blazing past the full back then either passing to no-one or putting it to the opposition. He did look the player most likely though.... at the expense of Coleman's forward play.

It was no surprise that, when McGeady went off, Coleman was bombing forward again and won us the penalty. (How Wickham stayed on that pitch, I will never know... along with Gomez, Mason looked liked he was going to brandish a card but then crapped out.)

I don't accept the Europa League excuse as a reason for poor performances on a Sunday. It's not as if we travelled half-way around Europe for Thursday's game.

The chemistry up front is not right for some reason. Against Swansea, Eto'o and Naismith were either both out of the box or both in the box in each other's space.

McGeady is doing better but he seems disconnected from the team and has to improve his shooting and crossing. Lukaku is misfiring. Ross Barkley is searching for some movement in front of him.

I would want Naismith starting every game of importance, he has the best mentality of them all and is the bravest in terms of getting on the end of things. We could also do with a bit of luck on the injury front.

We need a striker who gets in the box much more to capitalise on the likes of McGeady's crosses; we need more pace when we attack, we need to stop pissing about with the ball at the back. That's fine if we are being patient while we wait for an opportunity to break out but we are slow and predictable when we do.

How many times have we gone from an attacking situation or a corner/free kick and ended up passing it all the way back to Howard who then puts it in the stands?

Do we ever do any shooting practice? How many times are we within 20-25 yards of goal and pass it sideways? Take responsibility and have a shot on goal. Only Barkley seems to do this and his efforts were poor yesterday.

Unfortunately Lukaku has yet again come up short yet again. I have always been of the opinion that there is a player in there somewhere; if you go by the stats alone, he must be quite a player with his goals-to-game ratio. But where is he? Where is the player who terrorised defences last season?

He looked better against Lille but was so poor yesterday. I hope we kept the receipt...

Neither ourselves, Spurs or Liverpool have been able to maintain a consistent season. When you consider that Man Utd have been very poor both last season and this season, it makes it even more frustrating.

We have the squad of players. They are as good as the Spurs or Liverpool squads.

Yet again, we 'won' the game on possession stats – and he loves that – but, when that possession is not translated into goals, it becomes frustrating and pointless.

Yes, Lukaku had one of his 'games to forget', Barkley was wasted out on the wing, and one or two others would be pleasantly surprised at Paul's ratings of them above. But we are not functioning as a team anywhere near consistently enough to make more than a mid-table finish reality.

Europe's best players can – and do – regularly manage 60 games a season, so god knows where the perceived inability of our lads to play well twice in a week comes from. Needless to say, I'm looking in the direction of a certain well-paid Spanish football philosopher for an answer!

It was telling watching the pundits after the game on Thursday how Strachan was saying that all of the players would be up for Sunday now after a good win... What does Bobby do? Drops the only player who is making defenders lives hell in Naismith and puts in Barkley... on the wing???

Stop changing teams to appease players, it didn't work last season against Palace and I thought he had learned his lesson but he did the exact same this season against the same team and lost and he's doing it again after Europa League games, of which we have only won one after a Thursday game.

Will the real Lukaku please stand up.

I also spent most of those 5 years wishing OFM would just let the team play: now I find myself wishing Martinez would let them play slightly less... especially across our own box... and back again... and then back again, etc.

Alternatively, we are doing fine, but we are very inconsistent – 4 points off a Champions League spot and top of our Europa League group.

I know what I want to focus on, but that may be down to me believing we can only get better. I don't think we have strung two good performances together yet.

Also injuries have hit us in the worst places so far.

I just wish that posters would stop mentioning the 㿈m price tag for Lukaku. he didn't negotiate that amount and just because you pay 㿈m doesn't mean that you will get a 㿈m player....ermm, if you known what I mean!

We are not happy with the situation but it has been seen previously and some of the 'outrage' shown by some people is a little over the top. It's becoming clear that the fans don't like the style of play at the moment but many disliked the more adventurous football in the opening weeks as it resulted in too many goals conceded. Somebody has to find the right blend to be adventurous and stingy simultaneously but that I suppose is what every club in the world is looking for.

I don't think people are having a go at Lukaku re the price tag. More to the fact that Martinez paid that price for him.

No way on this planet is he worth that amount of money. He just doesn't have what it takes to be a world class forward; his attitude and work rate are atrocious at times.

If that's the case, then 㿀M seems fair to me, considering his potential. He also nearly scored a cracker yesterday, which hit the outside of the post. He'll come good, along with Barkley.

Look at the results after Europe for all the teams (except Chelsea), they have all suffered European hangovers.

Man City 2-2 with QPR, seriously??
Spurs getting beat... again
Arsenal get beat by Swansea
We draw with Sunderland and the Redshite get beat by Chelski, the only team who played midweek to win.

The bottom line is consistency all over the park which is still lacking despite pockets of brilliance from several players. A prime example was Baines chasing a player across the middle and giving away the free-kick in a perfect position. That was foolhardy.

Lukaku's ball control continually lets him down and is a concern because, under the RM system of 4-2-3-1, if he doesn't hold the ball up, then the attack breaks down. Having said that maybe RM should abandon that formation and attack more with that second line of three instead of that long ball to Lukaku.

Against two second rate central defenders I was amazed Everton couldn't create more chances. Maybe the return of Mirallas and the introduction of Oviedo will help as what we have seen against Swansea and Sunderland is very poor.

Using the columns headline – Why? Why did the manager leave out our leading goalscorer (Naismith) whose energy will not allow the defenders to settle on the ball?

Why was Barkley played out of position on the left wing?

Why was Eto'o played behind the attack as a midfielder when his major asset is in and around the box?

And this may be perceived as hindsight: Why was Barry not rested after limping off with an ankle injury on Thursday? I think he has played in every game this season.

It's no coincidence that all the teams who played midweek had off days against what would be considered lesser teams.

However, it's not helped when your manager drops players and then puts other players in wrong positions.

It seems that the more things change the more they stay the same.

I read last week that SAF had said that players would not think they were tired if you didn't tell them that all the time and that they would have plenty of energy if you kept telling them how fit they were.

Modern players should be able to manage playing midweek and at the weekend, and they generally prefer to play than train. The only problem is trips to the far side of Europe and then playing early Sunday like we had to do, otherwise....

Also, that was then and this is now, and the namby pamby players nowadays are so pampered that they struggle after European ties.

I think that's one of the major problems with today's football the players are picked firstly for their fitness levels and their abilities on the ball are secondary. I'm not sure why Everton seem to buy players who have difficulty staying fit and controlling the ball to a decent level.

I'm also not fond of all this statistical nonsense that has crept in to the coaching side of the game; a good athlete is not the same thing as a good footballer. Perhaps it is this aspect of the PL that makes most PL games more than a tad boring to watch and it's only the special players like Aguero et al that lift the spirits of the watching public.

Other teams sometimes have to play an injured player who passes a fitness test but may not yet be ready to start a complete game.

Maybe Barry should have been on the bench against Sunderland? Barry has been playing well but Everton have Besic and Gibson who could have started.

I know everything is great in hindsight but RM gets a fat paycheck to figure these things out and in my honest opinion I think he is still somewhat lacking as a PL manager.

Look at the teams mentioned who played in Europe.
Man City lost and have been playing off form for their last few matches. Arsenal have been criticized for their poor defence that was shown up in their game. Chelsea won.

Liverpool 0 look at team selection and have struggled the last couple of weeks. Tottenham nearly gave it away and are struggling to find form in the League.

Everton played outstanding. There were 48 teams that played on Thursday night and I am sure quite a few won. So that is why I will not accept the excuse that playing on Thursday will ruin your performance on the weekend.

If any TWer's are going to this "audience with Roberto" on Thursday evening, maybe you could ask him?

Only Everton suffer the physical demands of playing two games in four days and, in any case, we've had worse starts than this and managed to finish seventhish.

So what's to worry about? We've got the most philosophical manager in the land and we're nailed on for a 10th place finish. And there's always the FA Cup if we don't opt out by playing the ressies!

Brighten up, wilyus!

I said in the Summer that I preferred other strikers as I didn't think that this lad has the skill-set to lead the line and because of the way that RM sets his team out, that is what we needed – someone to lead the line. Now we have him we have little alternative but to support him and he could well turn everything around and become the player we would all like him to be.

The problem being it may take another 12 months or more for him to reach the level of consistency that we need. I still think if you are going to spend a good deal of the budget on a single player then you have to build the team around him and supply him the ball in his favoured positions.

I wish I could get Roberto Martinez and Phil Walling in the same room to discuss football, it would be an interesting debate!!

Near the end the big sub Buckley was tearing us apart. We needed someone to keep him quiet so we brought on Ossie.

I agree with the comments above about the passing game that RM wants is the only way that the modern game can be played. You can't dribble or pass forward through modern defensive lines only lose the ball which is really dangerous against teams that counter attack like most do against Everton. Patience and possession are everything. The game has changed massively even in recent seasons and we have to change with it or die.

Midfield play in soccer now is more and more like the breakdown area in Rugby Union, it's ugly and you have to have players who can make very quick decisions under chaotic conditions and with limited opportunities and a very high risk of bookings. McCarthy is magnificent in this area as was Barry at his best when we couldn't afford him.

We have a resource problem still but we are playing great football at times and I'm more excited about our prospects than I have been for ages but we have injuries and we will for sure find RMs decisions at times frustrating but it's a good time to be an Evertonian. We are as good as the Liverpools who outspend us and we're Sergio Aguera away from Citeh that is all.

Keep the faith everybody, things are at last beginning to look up. I believe that we have a great set up from Board down to players all with Blue in their hearts. I'll reserve judgement on Lukaku but I believe that RM sees him 2 years from now not the rough diamond that he is now.