Michael Ball: Everton have become too predictable

It's not the squad, players or luck – the problem is clearly the manager and his tactics. Last season we were predictably crap in the league, we were easy to beat, not fit, we had a semi-fit striker for half the season and our league form suffered an obvious fate.

This season, we are far more gung-ho, we attack with numbers, purpose and pace, but we clearly commit too much, making it far too easy for teams to pick us off at will. Add to that our complete inability to defend a cross into the box – ahhh so frustrating......

Most Blues see what's going wrong at our club, its clear as can be.

How can our brain dead manager change a game by making like for like changes ever time he makes a sub?

3-1 down to top of the league, there defence is a little bit jaded, Martinez has two attacking wide men stripped, so what does he do?

He takes off his other two wide men and carries on regardless.

The man is clueless and needs to get out of our club soon, before our young talented squad is broken up.

Come on Bill, ffs, enough is enough.

Let's hope the board are also taking note and take appropriate action.

The spirit of our squad is disappearing at a rate of knots and our general tempo is disappearing with it. Get Besic, Lennon and McCarthy and Mirallas on the pitch, tell Stones to show a bit of urgency and let's start doing the business. Anyone who can't go the pace, get them off. We're not a rest home for old folk.

We are not winning enough games:

5 wins from 18 this season.

12 wins from 38 last season.

We have kept just 1 clean sheet at Goodison all season.

It's just not been good enough and I'd suggest if this kind of form and erratic defending goes on into January, with the run of fixtures we have then we could easily be firmly entrenched in the bottom 5.

It's all well and good saying we are scoring goals but how many are we actually outscoring the opposition in?

We couldn't outscore Bournemouth, Norwich, Palace, Leicester and when the goals run out (Rom ain't going to score every game), then what?

Even the Sunderland game, they could have scored 6 on another day, they had the same amount of chances as us.

Do we look really capable of winning a game that looks more than a bit tricky at present?

Does anyone think our defence looks capable of holding on to any slim lead we have?

Do I really fancy us to beat Newcastle or Stoke or Spurs?

Not really at the minute no, certainly not with any confidence.

Bobby needs to make the big decisions now. Trouble is he listens to himself and is the only one buying it.

He is not good enough, end of story.

In each of our league victories this season we have scored 3 or more goals. The team needs to learn quickly how to pick up the single goal wins which ultimately determine league positions.

In 1969-70 although we scored plenty of goals and played great football at times we also picked up plenty of scruffy 1-0 and 2-1 wins without playing great football.

We need more winners in our team along the lines of an Alan Ball or even a Tim Cahill who will dig in when games are on a knife edge. Too many of our current players are passive when the going gets tough failing to impose themselves on the opposition. In short they are a soft touch leaving opposing teams to believe that if they dig in they will ultimately get a result against us.

The same applies to our present manager whose lack of proactivity in using substitutes is in marked contrast to how he performed in his first season. Last season it could be argued that he did not have credible replacements available but that is not the case this season when the bench has been filled with international players.

"Teams need to be fearing giving away set pieces against us but they're not. They're doing it because they know we can't score from them"

Very, very telling!

Interesting though how this "Everton are too predictable" theme makes a complete mockery of our manager's comments a few weeks ago where he claimed opposition managers do not know who will be playing or how we will be set up.

I am really at a loss as to how this clown from a relegated club came to be the manager of Everton FC?

I notice the Beeb are saying Steve Sidwell is fed-up at Stoke, could he be the narky so-and-so to add some much-needed spite to our nice midfield?

Howard and Kone should be dropped; Barry's legs are gone after 60 mins; we're being roasted on the break because Coleman and Baines have no-one tracking back to help... and we have Mirallas, Besic and Lennon left on the bench – and what does Martinez do?? Fuck all.

I mean does his backroom staff not say or think what we are saying and seeing? And if not, maybe there should be an even bigger clear out than just RM.

Does anybody think if he (RM), was to come in to a bundle of cash that we would see success under him?

I do hate to go THERE with the comparisons but if the RS can sack Rodgers less than two full years after he had them, literally, a SLIP away from their first EPL title, then we should seriously be getting to the point of chopping block time for Bobby. We've had some good times, but man have we had some BAD times too, Roberto. And the worst of it is that he just does not seem to get it.

Oy vey, Merry Christmas!