Everton Lack Extra Dimension Against Pellegrini's Machine

Take the injury to Galloway as a starting point. He claims credit for giving young Browning a chance. What for? – to prove he's totally out of position and his depth at this level?

Against quality opposition like the Mancs, the obvious move was Barry to left-back and Besic into midfield. Then he dallies over the substitutions and finally replaces Kone with Naismith. I fecking ask you... Naismith!?! When the game was screaming out for a game-changer like Mirallas.

And don't start me on the useless Deulofeu, who as I remarked last night, now looks like a poor man's Atsu! A disaster in his own country, he seems incapable of getting himself into the shape needed for the greater challenge of the Premier League.

Last season, the team only got its arse into gear when Lennon appeared so he was the obvious early signing we craved. But no, it's Deulofeu on whom he blows what little he's given. Watch out for further disasters in the next few days!

There, I've given my views and you will see they haven't changed one bit. We are going to hell in a handcart with this guy, I'm just glad they've had none of my money towards the fare!

However, at 0-1 down with 25 mins to go, and Deulofeu and Mirallas sitting on the bench, I was still hopeful that we could change tack and really cause them problems. Barkley and Cleverley had shown that there was space to run at the Man City defence and cause them problems, so the two players most able to do that should have been brought on. Unfortunately, Martinez seems to be developing that 'favourite player' mentality that Moyes was often accused of. He likes Naismith, so Naismith it was who came on. I like Naismith, but Martinez was probably the only man in the stadium who thought he was the right person to bring on at that point.

We played some good football at times. I found myself screaming at players to clear it occasionally, but then we worked a lovely passing move forwards and I calmed down a bit. McCarthy can really frustrate though, as sometimes he receives the ball in midfield and has space to turn and take the team forwards, but he doesn't even look round and goes backwards or sideways anyway. Cleverley and Barkley are excellent to watch in this regard, as they take the ball instinctively half-turned, and are always looking to move the side forwards.

So overall some promising signs, including the excellent Coleman. The sooner Oviedo gets up to speed and offers similar incisive running down the left the better. Galloway looks a player, and has a future, but he's never going to replicate Baines's attacking threat out wide. Unfortunately we have only one week left in the transfer window, are about to sign two players who won't improve our first XI, and are left desperately hoping to pull off a transfer coup that is hanging hugely in the balance. Even without Yarmolenko or someone similar, we're in a strong position to do quite well in the league, but we absolutely need one more special player to give the whole place a lift and inspire fans and players alike to believe that something special is possible.

First of all, he pays to much attention and respect to other sides instead of building up our own. Opponents should be worried about us and we should play our game. We have very talented players to play football, still he clearly set us up to defend.

Arouna Kone was great against Watford, playing as a striker and very useful against Southampton in the first half, again playing very close to Lukaku. Same can be said for Lukaku, for the same time, when Kone was on the pitch. In the second half at St Mary's, Kone was moved to the left side and from then on he didn't exist. That role was unfortunately given to him again yesterday and I was thinking all night, What can be in your mind, to make decision like that? He is not left-footed, he can hardly do anything there or cross from there. At the same time, you are leaving Lukaku totally isolated with two extremely hard defenders on his back.

If that was not a poor enough decision, substitution – when we are a goal down, without any creativity, and with Mirallas and Deulofeu on the bench – to bring on Naismith to play left wing is absolute madness. That must be one of the worst substitutions in recent history. How can you for one second believe that something positive is going to come up from that? For 70 minutes system is not working, we are losing, jet you are sticking with the same system plus you are putting strikers to play on the left when they clearly are not good in that????

We are all here refreshing pages in order to find out have we signed some talented players, or have we kept Stones, but in general if we keep McCarthy - Barry combination, we will be extremely limited side regardless of who we sign.

One shot on target at home... say no more.

The substitutions, both timing and personnel were mystifying. It was obvious Kone and Lukaku wasn't happening. I thought Mirallas for Kone at half-time would have been on the cards.

If Oviedo is only – supposedly – not playing because of shortage of match practise, why wasn't he either on the bench to come on if needed, or at least why hasn't he been turning out for the U21s?

It was obvious last season we are pretty incapable of dictating a game with the slow methodical Martinez style of play and are better on the counterattack. Counterattack worked last week but failed yesterday due to the slow play when initially getting the ball after a City breakdown.

The Martinez methods are still ingrained in our play and we sadly lack pace, Mirallas was there but unused, Deulofeu was there but needs games so get him playing every U21 game.

Cleverley put in a great shift out on the right and the Kolarov - Sterling Cleverly Coleman dual was the highlight of the game for me as it was the one area of the pitch that we matched City; Coleman was by far our best player.

Also I was trying to be positive here but for the manager to leave Mirallas on the bench and bring on Naismith is ridiculous. He is not going to come on and change a game and the part that really pisses me off is that he takes off a player (Kone) who is playing out of position and then brings on a player (Naismith) to change the game from the left wing, again out of position.

If I was Mirallas, I would fuck off. He' s Prob our most dangerous attacker behind Rom and the manger doesn't bother bringing him on. Its really is 2 steps forward after last week and 2 steps back again this week with Martinez.

Now look, don't get me wrong: we played a superb team yesterday and TBH I'm not sure we were good enough to win, but FFS will you just play the players you have in their best positions and give us the best chance we have with the tools at your disposal to win the game, Roberto.

Otherwise, I can only echo what others have said: Barry should have gone to LB as putting Browning there was an invitation for City to attack him. I felt sorry for him and as a young lad he should never have been put in that situation; that really was bad management, Roberto, and I am one of your supporters!

Kev should have been on as soon as the first goal went in and with Barry at LB we would have been stronger down that flank to allow Kev to play.

I have spent a lot of time talking to managers, ex-managers and ex-players and am constantly amazed at how differently they see things to us fans and you soon realise that actually they DO know a lot more about the game than we do but, that said, I think Roberto got it badly wrong with his tactics and subs yesterday.

Tim Howard played well but Kolarov wouldn't have beaten my mum in goal on the near post from there.

I have a bad feeling about Deulofeu. He had some good moments in his first spell but the game that sums him up for me was the League Cup exit to Fulham. First half, excellent. Second half, couldn't trap a mattress.

Some tough fixtures coming up though. We need some new faces and fast.

I'm with Phil Walling on two counts:

(1) Martinez is tactically inept, naive, useless, you choose the adjective... but you get the sense. McCarthy should have been deputed to stand a yard from Silva throughout the game and make sure the ball didn't reach him.

(2) When Galloway was injured, it should have been Besic into midfield, another player whose non-use amazes me, and Barry back to left back.

Not much commented on here or in the match reports is that both Mangala and Ferhandho got yellow cards first half when Tom Cleverley and Ross Barkley ran at them. I'd have thought bringing on tricky, pacy Kev to test Mangala was a good idea.

Galloway and Browning did okay for me, although neither would claim to be class left-backs. Is it only Everton that could go from having too many class left backs (Baines, Garbutt, Oviedo) to having none available for the start of the season?!

Although Deulofeu had a few poor touches, I thought he showed for the ball (confidence) and did make a useful burst into the box right at the end (I think). It would have been better to get him more time on the pitch to change the game dynamics.

Both their goals looked "easy" – as did the 2 we conceded against Watford. We have to work so hard for ours and make them beautiful, but then concede too easily. Keown was interesting on MotD: Howard at fault for both and Jags playing them onside for the first.

Second half we gave away the ball a lot, easily (started first goal), seemed to be trying too hard to make something happen.

I agree with all the comments on the subs and the strange imbalance in the side, which was there from the off with Kone out of position, but got worse when Galloway went off. Moving Barry to left back to bring on Besic or Mirallas was not just an obvious move – it was the sensible one. Crazy not to have a proper left sided player.

Deulofeu is clearly not the fresh faced boy wonder promoted when he first arrived a couple of years ago, but he is still a very promising young player who merits our support; he's certainly far more use than Atsu (now on Bournemouth's bench) and probably McGeady. In any event, he arrived too late yesterday to have a real impact.

My only disagreement with the subs was that Naissnith for Kone was a bit like for like and I would have preferred Mirallas on instead to try and take the game to them.

Oviedo plays LB or LW, we already had 4 options on the bench for LW.

In hindsight (as easy as it is), I think Martinez had too many similar options on the bench and Nais should of made way for Oviedo.

@14 Joe is also right. Far too often our play is obsessed with striving for the perfect goal. Admirable at times but sometimes you just have to get the ball and bodies in the box fast without the opposition all getting back behind the ball. We created absolutely nothing for Lukaku after he had a strong start to the game and I don't blame him for getting frustrated.

Mirallas should have come on as soon as they started with the tactical fouling and being carded.

Martinez is so blinkered with one track mindedness the obvious seems to blissfully pass him by. I thought Moyes's subs were bad but Martinez's take the piss.

It is more fruitful to look for common denominators so you can work on them and stop conceding unnecessary goals. Sadly, one such common denominator this season is the failure of 3 players - 1 in particular - and not one of them is Tim Howard. And before any one leaps in, that is not totally absolving Tim from any blame.

The 3 are the 2 centre backs and McCarthy. The 1st goal v. Watford, both CBs failed to cut out a meat and spuds cross, but McCarthy was also culpable ambling back on the edge of the area as the eventual goal scorer runs past him to score.

The 2nd v. Watford, a player had acres of space running through McCarthy's midfield domain unchallenged (Barry had moved to left back by then), then the 2 CBs were both left on their backsides as they scored.

Yesterday, credit to Kolarov for his 90 yard dash that presented him with his scoring op, but if Jags had held a more correct advanced position the City player would have been caught offside. But McCarthy was also at fault, neither being alert or fast enough to cover Kolarov's charge. Indeed, he fatally expended time and energy raising his arm calling for offside rather than tracking his man.

For the 2nd goal, the CBs and McCarthy in particular were again exposed and failed to track the runner and scorer, Nasri.

I recall under Moyes how he introduced the 'the spread armed touching hands' in the defence when defending dead ball situations. Just one measure to ensure the defensive line was a compact unit. As Keown demonstrated on MOTD yesterday, our defensive line continues to look fragmented at times, as it did last season.

Two things here for me. Firstly, I don't think there is a better drilled back line than City in recent seasons and how frequently and effectively they move forward when under siege to catch the opposition offside. See Romelu's disallowed goal yesterday. We take the lead and it's a different ball game in the bear pit GP can be. We would do well to imitate City in this skill.

Secondly, I like McCarthy, but I don't think he has started the season well. He is our firefighter, the player charged with stamping out the threat before it catches fire. I'm afraid he has failed in his primary duty this season and has been culpable in the 4 goals conceded thus far.

That might explain it but it's a tactic that's hardly likely to unlock a defence as composed as Man City's. Being addicted to a system is stupid if it's proving not to be effective on the day – whoever you send on to operate it!

To be fair, I thought he got things right at Southampton but by half-time Sunday, it was clear it wasn't working against a very much more talented side. And throwing on a novice to play out of position was nothing short of nonsensical and totally lacking in good judgement in respect of the team and the lad concerned.

We will continue to ship goals due to his general decline. We don't just need a striker, defender and ball player, we desperately need a quality goalkeeper.

And as for Yarmalenko, more smoke and mirrors from a bunch of jokers in charge of OUR club. It will be Lennon on deadline day as has always been the plan, although it gives them too much credit calling it a plan.

Under this manager we consistently stand off the opposition and give them too much room to play in.

But for me yesterday was a classic case of the team not being set up properly.

There was no shape or discipline just a few cavaliering efforts from Coleman and Barkley.

I told myself I should be more patient with Martinez seeing as it looks as if we are stuck with him for the foreseeable future but there are already some worrying signs and I hate to say it but he does not sign the quality of player required to make a difference.

The fans pushing the case for Galloway and Browning to be included in the first team squad can see now that if a young player is thrown in the deep end it can ruin his confidence and career.

All this 'Golden Generation' bullshit reminds me of one of my mentors in business who constantly reminded all of our managers that without a good short term there won't be a long term. Remember that well, Roberto, because the dawn is on the horizon again.

Martinez just got his subs wrong, and needs to up his game. His reliance on the Barry/Macca twosome is depriving the team of any width. I thought that McCarthy was poor yesterday, and as Toure was nursing a groin injury, we should have done better in midfield.

Those yellow cards should have prompted Roberto to put some twinkle-toed speedster up against them, but going for the workmanlike Naismith, and sticking him on the left, was simply daft.

It makes me wonder that even if we pick up some new talent in the next week, will Martinez actually give them any game time?

You come with complaints about he should have been substituted for X etc; are you on speaking terms with the players? Do you have privy to how fit some of these players are?

Mirallas is a waste of space when it comes to any semblance of defence, sure he poses a bigger threat in attack, but I seem remember Naismith has poached some vital goals in his time.

Man City were all over us when he brought Naismith on, he does help out defence wise unlike Mirallas. Oviedo was not ready to play yet, he's not match fit according to the manager, so you can forget that one.

Baines and Garbutt are both crocked, now Galloway looks like he will be out for a few weeks, it looks like Martinez will be forced to pick Oviedo next match fit or not.

Surprise, surprise; we got beat by a team that cost fortunes and are on top form at the moment, I actually thought we played a decent game but we're man for man just not good enough, no disgrace in that.

Martinez should have brought in a better goalkeeper than Howard. A top goalkeeper would have stopped both of those goals yesterday. He's 36 now and is only going to get worse, still we have no mention that he is targeting a goalkeeper. In my opinion his priorities for this summer's transfer window are wrong.

I don't think we all should or could be managers but surely some things are quite obvious. We are 1-0 down with no pace in the team we need a goal surely Mirallas is obvious. He's not being asked to play 90 minutes.

You mention Oviedo not being match fit; well, I would ask why? He had almost a full preseason. I watched him play in the Hearts match and he looked as good as anyone. Why has he not played in the 2 U21 matches to get him fitter.

Yes, we got beat by a better, bigger, fitter team but some things can change a game but unfortunately we are a one trick pony team managed by a one trick pony

We may not have the full SP on Oviedo, so perhaps he has a more serious problem that we are not aware of, but it does appear that Roberto only trusts his "favourites", and the likes of Mirallas, will wonder whether staying here was the right choice.

You are right in that it was no disgrace, but I wonder what Lukaku is thinking, after toiling away against two big lumps with no wingers till the last 4 mins?

One shot on target. Nuff said?

Let's take the case for Mirallas: he wanted to leave us months ago; he indicated this in more than one interview and is only with us because no club came in with a realistic offer. So who is he to trot alongside the pitch shaking his head in disapproval? Maybe the coaching team see something here. Talent? Yes; commitment? Er.........?

Moreover, the anti-Martinez Bandwagon has started to roll — 3 games into the season. Banners over Goodison soon?

Yesterday's game was enthralling with Everton not too far behind the favourites to win the Premier League. The reaction of the fans showed this.

Wide players leave Lukaku very isolated but Mirallis will always make some sort of impact. We know he can't defend but his presence prevents the opposition fullback from venturing forward. Pity he wasn't used.

Like it or not, Martinez is not building a team for Toffee Webbers. He probably has a plan in mind and is building HIS team to play HIS way. We can moan day and night. He won't take the slightest bit of notice.

The way I see it, we have nine players who will not be moved to the bench. Ten when Baines returns.

This leaves one vacancy. The "Kone, Osman, Pienaar" position. Three players who can link well and keep possession in the final third but no longer have the legs to win the ball or present a goal threat. This is our missing link. A fully alert semi-striker with skill, intelligence, energy and attitude.

Watch this space.

If Mirallas had come on, leaving gaps at the back and we ended up shipping goals, would you have praised Martinez's courage, or would you have accused him of kamikaze football?

I wanted him on, but I can see why he left him on the bench.

The missing dimension was the playmaker we all crave. The current team will win plenty of games this season. We need that playmaker to push on.

If we had gone out with a more expansive set up from kick off, we would have been played off the park. These teams look like they have an extra player. They brought on 㿙m worth of substitutes!

My only criticism on Sunday was that after they scored on an hour, I'd have chucked Kevin Mirallas on then, rather than wait another 20 minutes, by which time a number of the players had simply run out of energy. Instead RM sent on a lad with no match practice whatsoever, and it showed.

I recognise it's easy in hindsight, but in the main, I think RM got it right, and the team just fell a bit short on the day.

Silva and Erickson are playmakers, classic #10s. They work from a forward central spot and dictate the pace of play. They are there to unlock defences.