Alius Falsus Matutinus

The alarm bells are ringing loudly enough now. Even his biggest supporters are expressing concern and angst. Hence the game against Stoke is a watershed.

My hope is still that Martinez will wake up and fire up the side to put in a performance. We need to see work rate, high pressing, and a greater exploitation of the flanks. This probably needs a change to 4-4-2 and a quicker delivery into the box for Kone and Eto'o (time to bench Lukaku).

All this would have been anathema to the man a few weeks ago. If however he is pragmatic enough to acknowledge that the style has to change (atleast until the side regains confidence and a platform from which to build his preferred style of play) then we may still find ourselves recovering in the second half of the season.

If however he fails to change his approach in the next game then an immediate change is necessary as the man will be putting our PL position at risk.

The fear I have is that our Chairman lacks the guts to make such a change. Whelan at Wigan had the same problem and look where they are now.

Lukaku is totally out of sorts and although heÂ’s not getting any good service his all round play is dire. Kone should at least been given this chance to offer something different.

Why he plays EtoÂ’o and Naismith in the same team is beyond me and playing Barkley out wide is just a joke. Two fullbacks now nullified by everyone and two holding midfielders creating nothing we lack any guile going forward.

I hope Stones, McCarthy and Mirallas are not too far away from fitness and, with Ross playing central, Kone up top, improvement surely canÂ’t be too far away.

A 3-0 defeat against an injury ravaged Saints side on a poor run is hopefully the wake up call this season has demanded. No subs used yesterday, wtf is that all about.

A Europa league win will of course be celebrated come May, but you just can't see this side being anywhere strong enough to defend when it matters. All roads run to Wigan...

That's not an excuse by the way. They were on a dreadful run of form, confidence should've been on the floor, but maybe facing Everton these days is what these teams look to as the opportunity to snap out of it, same with players. Pelle hadn't scored for a while after his prolific start. And that goal to put them 2-0 up was their first shot on target...

Fact is our play is laboured, and if we don't have the players to play his system, nor the funds to bring players in who can, then the system has to change. It won't, he's as stubborn as his predecessor.

With games coming thick and fast, and a game in the FA Cup we're more than capable of throwing away, I can see it getting quite testy down Goodison. For me the question is why wasn't it like this when DM was boring us to tears at various points of his tenure?

I genuinely like Roberto. I pray he he can turn things around, but as Amit points out, I really hope BK’s on top of this and can pull the trigger if needs be.

Chelsea
Man City
Man United
Arsenal
West Ham
Spurs or
Southampton

What drives me crazy at the present time is the complete lack of balance in the team. We have what I consider 4 right sided players at the club:

Coleman
Hibbo
McGeady
Mirallas, two from the above 4 should start!

We have have left sided players:

Baines
Oviedo
Grabutt
Pienaar, two from the above should start!

We have three number 10's

Barkley
Naismith
Eto

One of the three should start!

and we have two players who play up top

Lukaku and
Kone

One of the two should start!

Unfortunately we need a new number one and this should be dealt with in the next two windows.

The problem is he is so stubborn, and unwilling to admit publicly any shortcomings.

This leaves us fans scratching our heads, because if he doesn't indicate that he needs to sort out some roblems, then he is either a fool or deceiving us. Either way he is losing our blind faith.

Most people realise that his selections lack balance, and he is playing good players in the wrong places.
We can forgive this in the midst of a real injury crisis, but not when he has other options.
I'm sick of it ,and hope he gets a grip and turns it round but doubt that he will.

A tough time ahead, mid-table at best, with a big reality check in the Europa to come. We have ridden our luck so far, but we are not as good as our results, and a clever team will hammer us.

Although I do like Barkley in the deeper role

I'm dreading the Stoke game. The first couple of errors and the crowd will be on the players' backs. I can hear the boos now, in the early minutes, and all that will follow - the fear of the crowd, the fear of the manager, the fear of Stoke, the blame game amongst the players.

I'm so bleeding depressed with yesterday and future prospects.

Moyes was far from perfect but at least his teams could apply pressure when they needed to. IÂ’m genuinely worried now...

I posted last night that even in our dark times under Moyes, you always felt that he could muster the fight, desire and organisation within the squad to retain our premiership survival.

Sadly, I'm not sure Martinez is capable of change. There appears no 'back to basics' pragmatic football in his locker.

I'm reminded of Wigan's crucial home game against Swansea, a must win, that they lead early in the 2nd half. Could they grind out the win and hold on by playing percentage must win football. No, they invited trouble by pissing around at the back and conceded. And a couple of weeks later threw away their premiership place.

Of course it's not just down to one game but that game frustrated the hell out of me watching them throw it away against a team with nothing to play for and reminds me of our current predicament. Yesterday was an embarrassment and his post match comments were delusional.

Will we go down, I think not, but can anyone with any confidence say that they believe Martinez is capable of resuscitating this squad and club. If his patronising post match interviews and recent past are anything to go by then I think not.

I hope I'm just being a dramatic pessimist and he can change - or listen to his staff and senior players who should be encouraging him to try something different, starting with 3 points on Boxing day in front of a packed Goodison closely followed by a win at Newcastle. Which will hopefully have us wondering what all the fuss was about.

My fear is that we play the same way and scrape a win against Stoke, with that being seen by Roberto as vindication of his approach and a no-change mentality still.

However what we need is an all action high energy game against Stoke, both to counter their approach and also to get the crowd and the team going.

Lukaku is not about work rate. He will not put himself about in the rest of the pitch. It's best to use him as an impact sub until the team regains confidence and can once again start playing to his strengths.

Don't change a winning team
If someone misses a game due to injury or suspension and their replacement comes in and does a good job then keep them in the team.
Play people in their best position.
If something isn't working then change it ASAP in a positive manner - we've got 6 outfield players on the bench, use them!
Play at a high tempo

Last season Martinez was pretty much doing that, for some reason this season he's stopped doing pretty much all of them! I'm hoping that last season was the true Martinez but time will tell.

All the same posts that were aimed at Moyes.

Especially that one about bringing EVERYONE back for corners !!

That's my 'pet hate'.

I think it's a combination of
1) Injuries. Which every team gets so we can't complain too much. It's just 'football'.
2) Second Season Syndrome. Novelty has gone , teams adapting to us , etc.
3) Europa League. Massive drain on thesquad. Which we eexpected but didn't have the funds to avoid.

Despite all this I'm still quietly confident in Bobby. I almost expected this season to be very 'up n down'. It's gonna take time for the players and manager to learn how to balance all this.

I'm not making excuses for him because I get just add frustrated as the rest of you butv I'm willing to give him until the end of his third season in charge before I start talking about replacing him.

I wouldn't worry about relegation , I could keep this team in the Premier League. We aren't Wigan , we have much better players.

Time for him to show what heÂ’s made of because if he canÂ’t turn this around then he will not be in the job next season. Some posters donÂ’t think BK will do anything but bear in mind that for the club to progress, to have a chance of selling it, we have to get a new ground and that will never happen with a poor team. Some may think it wonÂ’t ever happen anyway but relegation would be fatal to any such hopes and if we get too close the board will take action.

We have the players who can turn it around and we are still 10th but Roberto has to grasp the problems – poor motivation, elderly players with no energy, ponderous football and poor gutless defending – and pick the younger and hungrier players in their true positions before this gets to real crisis point.

The facts are that after three transfer windows only one of Roberto’s signings feature in our top players list. Barkley (academy) Stones (Moyes) Naismith (Moyes) Coleman (Moyes) Mirallas (Moyes). Lukaku could join that list but he’s bang out of form and at his price tag cannot yet be concluded a good signing (although I think he would come good if we played to his strengths). Besic is another one who I believe will be a good player. Worst of all he’s still trading on Moyes’ back five that even Moyes himself knew needed replacing (signings of Oviedo and Stones).

I used to defend Moyes a lot in the early days because what he was working with was genuinely rubbish. In the later days when he did have some quality then he deserved the criticism that came his way for underusing it. This side Martinez has, however, has more quality than any side Moyes possessed. Stones Barkley and Lukaku are three potential world class talents that have been added to this team (ok Moyes was rightly criticised for not using Barkley but he was a lot younger) Coleman has become world class, Mirallas is in his top form. Yet the end result looks like we’re going to finish lower than some of the teams Moyes had with a midfield of Osman Neville and Cahill. Simply not good enough. Lots of the commentators away from the usual Sky RS mob who are loving it, have pointed out that on paper our squad and first 11 is miles behind where it should be. Given United’s poor start and Arsenal and Liverpool spluttering we should be easily up in the top 4 or at least around it.

The three Number 10s clearly doesn't work. I blame him for that.

I'm disappointed too but I honestly was almost expecting this. Last season was too 'smooth' a transition , there were bound to be some bumps in the road eventually.

Let's just give him so more time before we panic about losing players and relegation.

Lots to play for yet.

But I wish he'd fuck off with bringing EVERYONE back for corners !!

A new keeper in January is essential. I'm confident things will improve with better ball players at the back in Stones and Alcaraz. We have a strong squad and I do believe that Martinez passing style will prove successful in the long run as opposed to Moyes direct hoof ball style.

I'm just looking for a crumb of positivity and getting to 40 points as quickly as possible is now a must.

Whilst this maybe papering over the cracks, it will hopefully reduce the pressure allowing his style to come to the fore.

Trevor #22 "How does Alcaraz make the bench while Oviedo does not?"

I wonder if there's something up with Oviedo that they are keeping quiet about.

Brent, are you in the front section of the upper Bullens roughly in line with the Gwladys St penalty area edge. If so, yes, that's the bloke you can hear.

I too have bought in to Roberto's vision but I have to say, I'm having doubts at the mo. There have been some really long term injuries to what is an already small squad and it will be great to see everyone fit and ready to play Especially if we can bring Stones and Oviedo back in and Miralles too.

I agree that our two centre backs and our goalkeeper need replacing and it doesn't look to me that Barry is anywhetre near as good as he was last season. Even then, though, he was getting caught out but generally he used his brain to cover his lack of pace.

Now, I have my doubts whether Roberto can, or rather, will do anything about changing our defence by dropping Jagielka and Distin. I don't think he can drop Tim Howard, as I don't believ Robles is the answer but I do think we should be looking very urgently for a replacement.

I think we have to remember too, that Mr Kenwright might not have the cash to spend out on anyone. Maybe when the Summer window comes, he can.

Until then, it looks like we only have the players we have now but I do hope he will consider changes when everyone is fit. Otherwise we are going to see more of the same and even the better players losing the confidence.

I'd hate to see Goodison ring to howls of anger rather than cheers but, if the rot isan't stopped soon I can see it happening.

However, near the end of the segment Robbie Savage said something quite critical of Martinez which rankled some of the local staff.

He mentioned that he didn’t subscribe to the growing reputation that Martinez is a great manager. He mentioned that year on year Wigan always struggle and he’s not been able to move them to mid table security and that puzzled him.

That season they were relegated.

As a man I like Martinez he’s a genuinely decent bloke. But I think he’s too nice. Mourinho, Van Gaal et al are all ruthless bastards and I think Martinez needs to find his mean streak. Players look like they are on a pre season stroll this year.

What genuinely worries me is that Martinez relegated Wigan by sticking to his principals of playing passing football with players who ultimately weren’t up to the task. He’s a stubborn arrogant bastard who likes to hammer his square pegs into round holes as he has his "principles".

Our current squad either don’t get what he’s trying to do or they simply don’t have the ability to do what he asks. They look genuinely miffed and fed up. It almost as if he’s staring to lose the dressing room. His "captain Ahab" approach to his style of football wont send us to the top 4 but it will send us to mid table obscurity with the current squad.

He sacked Smith & appointed Moyes.

Last season's balanced side that defended well and kept the ball with assurance has been transformed into a complete rudderless mess.

Every Everton manager in my lifetime (Catterick onwards) has hit a bad patch. I've not seen a bad patch like this with this quality of player.

I supported and defended Martinez on here last season because I could see what he was doing and he was getting results while changing the style of play. Right now I can't see what he's doing. The way they are playing and the body language of the players suggests to me that it's not a happy camp and whatever Martinez is saying isn't getting through to the players.

Of course we've been here before, many a season under the last regime started like this and we ended with a flourish. That may well happen again, but whoever mentioned the Walker years struck a chord with me.

The last thing we should do is go running to another percentage merchant like Pulls. If I was Kenwright I'd be telling Martinez he's got till the end of the season to show he can get the best out of a good squad.

Barry should be kept away from the central defensive midfield role, age really seems to have caught up with him and his performances are going further into decline as the season progresses. I would like to see him play in a back 3 along with Jags and Stones in a 3-5-2 formation. Playing this formation would get the best out of the players we have in my opinion... Stones and Barry are comfortable bringing the ball out of defence and it will eradicate all the pissing about with the ball in our own half that we've seen from Distin and Jags. The formation will also get the best out of Coleman and Baines/Garbutt. Lukaku would also benfit from having a strike partner like Kone who can hold the ball up and supply him with ammunition to score. Its definitely something Bobby should consider.

I just hope Martinez has learned from his mistakes and doesn't play players out of position; Barkley and Naismith are not wingers. Playing Naismith out wide nearly ruined his career here.

Martinez needs to show he can be flexible and take a different approach depending on the opposition we are playing, all good managers are able to adapt. I remember Mourinho having his Chelsea side well drilled last season at Anfield... you could tell they'd spent hours on the training field coming up with a game plan to come away victorious. Is Martinez capable of doing the same or is he just a one trick pony?

So many unanswered questions, but we should have a better idea by the end of this season. The honeymoon is over and the jury is out.

John (39), I'm not into praying but, you never know, I might be trying it soon.

My view on our centre backs is that they lose us goals that we shouldn't be letting in (Distin in particular.) I'd much rather see Stones (when fit) and Jagielka (though I don't think he's much use at distributing the ball) can give the ball to Stones to distribute. My view is that Distin or Jagielka should drop down but, as he's Captain, Jagielka is likely to stay in the side.I don't think we can drop Howard, as Robles doesn't look any better. If we keep him I thinkl we should at least go for Ruddy as competition (I'd love Peter Cech but we couldn't afford him)

As for Barry, when McCarthy is in the team, Barry's lack of pace is covered to a large degree; when not, Barry's lack of pace is really blatantly obvious. I thought that last season we won quite a few games but rode our luck in doing so, as the back four looked at sixes and sevens on quite a number of occasions.

I don't agree that Martinez is useless but time will tell. He has to replace quite a few players who have reached their sell by date and he can't do it all at once. He's bought McCarthy Besic and Lukaku, all young players and the first two mentioned are both top class. I think and hope that Lukaku will be the same, although his strength is goalscoring, and I don't think we're playing to that strength.

I think this season we, do well to stay around, perhaps above, mid table and I hope Martinez will use the time between now and the end of the season to see what showing, Barkley, Besic, Stones, Oviedo and Garbutt can make with more regular appearances.

Both players have shown quality in abundance and the skills sets to be able to hugely influence games. Yet both are being wasted.

Having Eto'o, Naismith, Lukaku and Barkley all on the pitch and in the offensive roles is clearing not working and is not suiting any of the players involved. Yet Martinez is persisting with it.

As many have said already, this is clearly the most talented squad of players we have had in years. But, we cannot play them all at the same time. Martinez must learn how to manage these players and explain that they will be dropped/rotated as each game requires.

We have a better team than we did that season but I have my doubts if we have a manager willing to change his philosophy to grind out the necessary results. Unless there us genuine danger of us going down like in 02 then Kenwright will not do a thing. Short of the sort of performance against Arsenal last season there could be a hostile atmosphere on Friday. I hope the likes of Mirallas and McCarthy are fit.

Who's in the studio today providing commentary TH. wish they make him an offer he can't resist.

I am starting to wonder why he was hired as the only thing he achieved during his time at Wigan was to win the FA Cup and beat Everton in the quarter final and that was the only premier team they played up to the final.

Everton have always stood by their manager but we are now in a different era that is strictly result and financially motivated and loyalty has gone out the window.

Stoke is more than just 3 pts it is to see what the managers reaction will be from the Southampton game and if it is negative what kind of chairman we have; one with balls or one with no backbone.

The kind of Chairman we've got is the one that's happy all day long with, is Cheshire cat grin on the big screen, fondly relating stories of his days in the boys pen and generally being his cheesy, sickly egotistical self. Him saying that Roberto is more than a manager "He's my fwend!"

Of course, when we're losin, he (just like the Cheshire cat) disappears up his own er... Merry Christmas!

Is it just me who thinks that no body outside of Everton fans gives a flying feck if we go down or how bad we play. I have just been listening to 5 live and they did a show in Liverpool just on how bad the shite are, we are worse at the moment.

It has nothing to do with us, other than we don’t beat the drum all the time and we don’t think we have a divine right to win the league every year. We’re still seen as also-rans (which in truth we are) so expectation among the media is low.

The league doesn’t lie and I believe last season was a fluke on our part. We were always going to struggle this season, especially being in Europe and the media knew it, we knew it, and now we really do know it.

Us finishing in the top 10 this season will be no surprise to anyone.

Your thread was spot on mate, Roberto needs to sort this out & quickly.

The broadcast, print and online media are obsessed with Liverpool because they have legions of clueless, armchair gobshites following them – and God knows how many ex-players as pundits. The Telegraph, a national newspaper, even has its own Liverpool FC Facebook page.

Anyway, I do also agree our problems lie WAY deeper than being in Europe. See my countless other posts about Martinez!!

Bainaar has disappeared and in the last season of Moyes, Coleman and Mirallas were on their way to over taking the left flank. Without this emphasis of attacking play Baines has gone from world class (Bayern Munich sniffing around?) to just very good and Coleman too has had his price tag cut by 50% it would seem.

Both flanks gave pace and trickery. Moyes could mix the styles more than people give credit for, even if that included a direct down the middle approach, but mixing it up is not part of the RM 'philosophy' .

As the flanks are not his priority, I'd like to see what Belgium did in the WC when Lukaku was getting marked out the games. They put Mirallas up front and they were transformed. Pace, movement and skill.

Trouble for us fans is that Martinez is every bit as stubborn as Moyes was. I've never thought we would do well this season; in the league at least. We have a manager and some players who are definitely suffering second season syndrome. You can't say he's lost them as too many have clearly bought in to his philosophy; I think that collectively they have lost their way and need to get back to basics.

First thing , start playing a settled side with form players in it. Drop Howard as a statement that their are no sacred cows. Get Stones in for Distin as soon as he is fit. Give Barry the bench to sit on for a few weeks and let Besic and Barkley try and form a partnership. Above all stop trying to shoe horn three forwards into the frontline; they get in each other's way and it weakens the midfield.

I think they will continue to frustrate this season although I still fancy us in Europe.

Although we are playing 3 strikers does that actually mean that in reality we are playing a more attacking side? For example we are playing 2 and arguably even 3 defensive midfielders in some games. The balance of the side is all wrong and players seem to be uncomfortable playing out of position and playing in a style that they are not suited to.

But this is what people wanted and asked for, they wanted a manager with a more "attacking philosophy" a manager who would have his players play it out from the back and play tici-taca football like the template set by Barcelona. People didn’t seem to take into account that we don’t have Barcelona type players.

For me its not so much the tactics and the team selection and the use of substitutions and the poor signings its all that and the bullshit false positivity. Martinez certainly talks a good game.

I can accept getting beat by a good side, and I can take getting beat by a side that we have had the better of but the luck and the decisions have gone the other way. But to get beat by a side that has sold all its best players and is suffering from an injury crisis and lacking in confidence after a run of bad results is difficult to take or accept.

Player for player we are better than them all over the pitch, even players on our bench were better than some of their first team. That points purely to poor management, there is no excuse to get beat 3-0 by such a shite Southampton side.

Luke Garbutt was the MotM match in his last game and he hasn’t played since! Where is the incentive to improve and fight for your place? Where is the incentive to sign a new contract? I would be off if I was in his shoes. We are short of a skillful quick winger who can cross a ball and yet Garbutt was left on the bench. Give the guy half an hour on the left wing and see how he gets on, he has all the attributes a good winger needs in the same way Bale did when being played as a left back.

Martinez out, Laudrup in.

Not really, Nick. Mirallas was injured half of the season in Moyes's last season and we had to make do with the dreadful (so we thought at the time) Naismith out on the right. I think Baines and Coleman have been given more freedom to get forward under Martinez and it worked very well for us last season. The Bianaar combination hasn't worked as well since the Moyes days because Pienaar has been on the decline and injury has often interupted his progress.

Also there were quite a few occasions when Moyes shifted Mirallas to the left and Pienaar to the right which didn't seem to work.

It will be interesting to what, if any, response Robbie makes to the run of games. Not only the results but the stuttering, perhaps turgid displays.

I hope that he will be decisive and take immediate action. I just wonder whether he is willing to take on establish players and tell them they are not performing. Whatever way, we'll soon see because apart from McCarthy and perhaps Brian Oviedo everyone is now just about fit.

Make McCarthy the skipper, and make the change now.

A few arses need kicking in our side, and some 'un-droppables' need dropping.

Howard, Barry and especially Distin need to look at themselves. Beyond them, I believe it is Martinez's set-up of the team that causing the problems. No tempo, no movement up front and hence no service, no logic to his midfield selections. Poor defending of set-pieces, and very poor use of corner kicks, which we apparently do not practise. All down to the manager.

These players need replacing asap. Robles, Alcaraz, Pienaar, McGeady, and Howard, where's the money coming from maybe shouldn't have wasted all that money on Lukaku.

Pace is key in today,s football Miralas aside we don't have any

I don't see any way out of this huge crisis as long as that dickhead starfish stays in goal and the Dad's Army players stay in the side. I have said all along that Naismith is an average SPL player. He is totally useless at everything but gets away with it because he slots a decent goal now and again.

Barry, Pienaar, Osman, Distin, Howard and Hibbert are all finished and all still getting game time.Some of these lads are 5 years past there sell by date. Every goal conceded yesterday was a joke. Our so called keeper was at fault on all three.Never comes and clears corsses any more. Useless bearded buffoon.

Southampton on a 5 game losing streak one of which was to a 3rd division side took the piss out of us.Its was embarrassing and almost a carbon copy of the Moyes years

Clueless and tactically a mess. Why not chuck the kids in because there is no way they can be as bad as this Geriatric bunch of losers... Chrimbo is officially cancelled.

The problem was the changes the manager made to play him. Like the majority of supporters when the team was selected yesterday I was a little more than supprised to see Lukaku, Barkley and Eto'o picked in a foreward attack as in previous games when this formation was used it never worked.

Now I am sure that the majority of Everton supporters have in one way or another been involved with football as either a player in amateur,semi professional or full professional and even some may have coaching badges so if they are aware that this formation did not work why is it that a manager who is supposed to have all the qualifications not see this and was so unaware of what was happening yesterday fail to change it.

Then again I did watch every single match and it is now one big glorious blur.

IMHO we are going through a torrid time and what I will criticise Martinez for is that when the free flowing football stops, then win or draw ugly because what we badly need is clean sheets, and we ainÂ’t gonna get them with defending like yesterday. As a former RB/CB (admittedly not a high level) the basics went out of the window yesterday; attack the ball, track the runners, anticipate where the ball is going to drop, that led to the goals that youÂ’d bollock an U10Â’s team.

ItÂ’s fast becoming a cliche that weÂ’ve been Â’sussedÂ’ and that everyone sets out their team to negate us; pardon me but isnÂ’t that the idea? But I know how Chelsea play and so does the world and his wife and that hasnÂ’t exactly stopped them winning has it?

IMHO, MartinezÂ’s 2nd season has been hampered by a collective loss of form, and that the wide players have either been injured (Mirallas) or inconsistent (McGeady& Atsu) hence the square pegs of EtoÂ’o/Barkley/Naismith. This is a dilemma that Martinez needs to solve ASAP, either by changing to a 4-3-3 or even 4-5-1 squeeze-the-life-out-of-the-opposition a la Moyes.

Reinforcements are urgently needed next month, top priority is a keeper and spend what is needed to get one, and according to the Daily Star (yeah right) Del Boy is on his way back. IÂ’ve watched Everton for many years and IÂ’ve seen some shite sides, but this isnÂ’t it one of them. Keep the faith.

I don't give a shit about his post match interviews, we all know he won't criticise his players publicly, what I expect him to do is have all his players at Finch Farm today examining yesterday's debacle and working on fixing it.

Players are supposed to be professionals and should not require a cattle prod to perform. The manager needs to recognize what does and does not work with the players at his disposal and adjust his tactics accordingly. Something must change here as status quo will most certainly drag us into a relegation battle.

At the end of the day, professional football is a results driven business. There is little room for unrelenting tactical idealism. Bobby, time for you to stop talking crap and start leading this team into battle. For this is what we are now in.

I honestly thought we would go down that season but as we all know, Everton don't do relegation.

I really thought he would bring pace into the team at least, but I was always worried by a lack of aggression and steel. Every player, apart from Besic, is 'nice', they're all quiet and soft, and if it doesn't change, we're in big trouble.

When that clown Whelan said he'd take Evertonians to places they couldn't even imagine, I was thinking champions league, now lots of us are worried it might be the unimaginable.

You only had to look at MoTD over the weekend to see some of the goals scored by mediocre teams in the league to know we've got our work cut out over the coming weeks. Some of the passion and commitment shown by other teams also concerns me. We've lost a shed load of passion and urgency over the past few weeks and the players look lost.

We all know that Martinez has probably the safest managerial position in the league and won't be going anywhere soon, but he has now been massively found out in the big world of Prem football.

Let's face it his tactics overall have been shite all season, he has lost it when it comes to player vs positioning (Barkley FFS), our once best in class wing backs are shot of confidence and vision, his signings have proved to be fucking awful (Robles + others), his field strategy has almost destroyed a once potentially world class striker and there are no positives in sight.

Just to finish off we've got the worst goalkeeper in the Prem who is stinking the place out with nothing in depth to challenge him.

Really worried Everton fan.....................!

The problems this season have been all too obvious.

The worst preseason preparation by a Premiership club for as long as I can remember.

Tactics and team structure that have been bordering on grossly negligent.

We did not have injuries apart from Barkley at the start of the season and all players including the youngsters looked totally lethargic.

Hence we picked up injuries from players being unfit and confidence and team spirit have taken a huge knock.

Fortunately there are some bad teams this year otherwise we would be in a much more precarious position.

However things do not look good for the manager who took Wigan to relegation with record goals against..

Cue big Joe taking back over and dogs of war to keep us up.