From My Seat: Stoke City (H)

The game did start well but we were undone by two things; Lee Mason and the wreckless tackling of Stoke. Mason made a huge mistake when Baines was taken down and was clearly the past the last man. This was then compounded when Bojan was given the penalty for nothing more than the same contact that was made on Mirallas at the other end. Who would have believed that we would end the game without Mirallas and Jagielka as a result of some wreckless tackles and my greatest concern was the way that Stones tried to rebound from his injury, with many moments when I thought he should have been taken off the field.

Disappointment doesn't cover properly my thoughts on the match. My concern is who will be ready for the game against Newcastle. We need Baines and Coleman to be more willing to bomb forward as they did last year. Today, our threat came when that happened. I agree Ken that Baines was the MotM. Also, it has to be time to give Lukaku a rest and Kone his chance.

We need to get behind our team and know that we do have a team that is not a twelfth placed team....COYB

If Martinez can't sort this mess out in the coming weeks, we are going to have to start blooding some of the younger players who will show a bit of fight. We can write this season off and start digging in for the 40 points we need. Is Kone fit to play as I was mystified with the Eto'o sub????

After typing the first para.I've sat for 10 mins. trying to think of a positive point in our favour. Added to this there are the inevitable rumours of internal bickering, dummy spitting and general pissed off'dness between players and management and between players.

Given our disarray, they may even be in the ' no smoke without fire ' category...which does not bode well for the goodship EFC, seemingly rudderless and drifting into the Mike Walker doldrums.

After trying to think of positives I did...We started with a bit of urgency, not much but a bit more. Baines popping up in the old inside left spec ( more than once ) for the red card that never was incident. Lukaku's first touch and little layoffs, were, for the first half showing improvement...and Stones, well for just being Stones.That's it...Oh and the fact/hope that it can't get any worse, but this is Everton, so I won't hold my breath on that.

This usually means there is a bad egg (or apple or somebody). This shouldn't be too hard to resolve. Find out/admit who it is and tell him to go.

There is an I in teAm and it's in the A hole.

Problem is, though, I can't see us beating West Ham, particularly as I anticipate a half empty Goodison on a Tuesday night. I'm not bothering paying extra money to watch more of this rubbish.

The walk back to the car in the biggest, wettest and coldest of snowflakes was more fun than watching the second half.

I've heard people say it was our best 11. But Barkley being played on the left isn't right, Lukaku provides nothing up front and to solve this problem Lukaku needs to be rested so both Barkley and Naismith can play down the middle. Despite what some say Pienaar will be fine with games and we need him to link up with Baines again.

Injuries aside, the manager needs to scrap his ridiculous rotation theory and play a balanced settled team. Finally, the manager needs to tell all the players to work as hard as McCarthy. Unfortunately my confidence in him to do this is almost nil.

I remember writing some months ago that we were hovering dangerously above the relegation zone before we won a couple of games to head into mid table safety. We're now back in a position just above the relegation scrappers. I don't fancy a squad combining too many underperforming 30+s, too many players of rich promise and too few at their career peak if the going gets tough and we get sucked into a fight I'd be very surprised if the side did go down but we need to pick up points and the last two home games should have yielded six points. I'd be amazed if this side challenged for a top four spot via the league. It seems fantastical to even suggest this.

The transfer window opens in a few days and we need a decent left sided centre half - Williams from Swansea, a goalkeeper to both challenge and deputise for Howard and a pacy winger (assuming we accept McGeady doesn't have enough impact). We also seem to bring back players when they're not fully fit - further evidence of a threadbare squad. Worrying times.

Confidence is the key now, the players are better than the way they are performing, we just need the breaks to go our way.

I want Martinez to succeed, like most Blues but he is making it hard for himself by his unwillingness to change his style of play.

And yes, while there is no 'I' in team except as you say in the 'A' for arsehole, there most definitely IS an 'I' in WIN ( also in shite )

This will get worse before it gets better and will all end in tears, with everybody bickering with each other, here on TW on the pitch, in the dugout and in the boardroom.

Not giving them our full support at home isn't going to help either, the players need our support more than ever, + influencing the ref.

One saving grace is that the teams on the whole below us are also getting beat too.

Now that's severe!

How many of Stoke's 1st team would get in to our team... 2 maybe 3 at a push. On paper and past performance our players are more than capable of challenging the top 6 and giving us a sniff at top 4 (we all need hope).

This team is a shadow of last season epitomised in the way Seamus Coleman has transformed from a worldly attacking wing back, taking the piss out of Arsenal last season, to a 60 grand Irish league full back.

The manager and his staff are to blame for this transition from top 6 to bottom 6.

Despite his stubbornness and inane patronising post match ramblings I still, for the time being, want him to succeed, as the promise of Sin Miedo (albeit the polar opposite at present) dynamic passing football is a lingering hope.

The big questions for me are:
Where is the next win coming from?
Will Bill be having a word and finding out how his manager intends to arrest this slide?
Will Bill have Tony Pulls on speed dial if we lose the next 2?
Will someone step up and please please please send the players out fired up for a second half?

Right, that's my Martinez esque ramble over with.

The couple of good chances that were there for the taking, Barrys effort was pathetic, and I could have scored Mirallas's chance.
Is the manager responsible for those incompetent attempts or the players.

On top of that the ref gave them the win, we cant even get good decisions at home now.

The problem is the 'philosophy' of not attacking, but passing the ball around pointlessly instead, and of refusing to utilise set pieces as an attacking threat. This all comes from the manager.

The form and confidence have evaporated at the moment, but Martinez could literally click his fingers, suddenly make the right decision and most of our problems would go away within a week of decent training.

Happy new year to you and all the family and all fellow Blues seeing as we haven't had a very Merry Xmas.

I thought we started with intent yesterday but have 2 concerns.

Martinez team selection which I have been going on about all season and the way the players heads drop as soon as anything goes against us. I also have to add that Martinez Half time Pep talk seemed to have the opposite effect of what we needed.

It is clear that the Team spirit and bonding that Moyes built up is rapidly evaporating under this Fella and together with the Bizarre team selections ( too many forwards and not enough MF players) and amateur pre season I have had it with him.

I was always concerned that a top 6 side would appoint a manager who has just got his side relegated with record goals against but was pleasantly surprised by last season.

But as you rightly say it's about the here and now and never has a manager appeared to have lost the plot as this guy.

He looks more overwhelmed than the players and that is a major concern.

I honestly could not believe how isolated they both were in possession at times yesterday. At least if we played them as wing backs, we would have two strikers on the pitch for them to hit. Because at the minute they haven't even got anyone to play a one-two with, never mind going round the outside on an overlap!

I started to support Everton in 1956 and attended most home and away games until 1976 when I moved to Canada. Since then, we normally have been returning back on average every 2 years and always during the football season.

This season, it started off with that normal feeling of excitement before the game on TV and the yelling when we scored and the belief we will win when we went a goal down. This last 2 months, a strange couple of things have happened (a) if we score, I don't get excited – I just say we have to get another couple of goals before I think we will win; and (b) if the opposition scores first, I switch the TV off and go out with the feeling we will not win.

I will never stop supporting Everton and will still go to the games when I come back either home or away but I can honestly say that Martinez, despite all his comments, is the only manager I have no confidence in to move Everton back to the top 6 where we belong.

Pre-season was more like Sunday School than the "School of Science" and there are too many signs that this guy is out of his depth.

Sorry that's what I meant what I said no links at all, they have no one to construct passes , they are totally isolated

The slump in form of Coleman and others is worrying - I just hope and pray Martinez can get them to rediscover what we know they are capable of, otherwise It'll be harder to keep the wolves from the door.

The team are in a dogfight at the bottom and unless we invest in players that have experienced this, then we are in trouble. There are teams without the quality we have, but they have the fight and a "nothing to lose" mentality. Too many players are out of form and with this comes lack of energy.

The fans feel this more than under Moyes because we started slow but still looked solid in defence. The defence looks over-worked due to the passing from back to front. Our strikers are not working hard to press the opposition, forcing them into mistakes and getting the ball.

The term "putting in a shift" has gone from our game. The fear factor for teams coming to Goodison Park has gone due to our style of going nowhere with the ball and giving it back. Teams have worked it out! The manager has this football style similar to big Spanish clubs, give us Messi and it might help!

I want honesty from our manager; don’t pretend all is well. I don’t know how it will work out but I know it’s not right!

All the best to all!