Collymore: Martinez is letting down his young stars

Looks like the meeja is also beginning to realise it's all a bit 'emperors new clothes' at Goodison Park.

Good OP as well. I think we may have a change sooner than later...

He views us like he does his first love, Villa – i.e. as an under-achieving old-fashioned big club – and knows both should be doing better. I can do without his non-football rants on Twitter and his refusal to use the proper "@" reply etiquette so that everyone has to read his responses to individuals but I've got a lot of time for his views as a fan of football as ordinary fans see it.

Martinez's inability to do anything about our obvious problems which include young stars being allowed to do the same thing week in week out is killing this club. His refusal to see our defence making the same mistake every week for two years now is why he needs to go and go now before it's too late.

what also worries me is that Martinez has all of our youth teams playing in the same way so our young players, despite their promise, are being taught the exact same things as the first team squad. We have some good young defenders throughout the club at many levels but what chance do they have of becoming good defenders with this Catalan clown in charge?

And Patrick and Steve, Ray and Denis.

I hope this very public criticism by people in the media really starts to make an impression on Martinez. The stats are there for all to see and they make for very grim reading. The only way Roberto will start showing some pragmatism is if his employers start to ask some difficult questions but, will they?

If he can combine our attacking play with a solid defence (it's not that hard) then he will have a winning formula but he seems to be blind to this. Like many I'd like to see him bring in a defensive coach e,g. Unsy or David Weir to sort out our talented but clueless defenders.

This article is bang on the money.

The players are being pandered too and held up on pedestals like some love sick pillock and they need to be worked bloody hard if they want to become the best and earn the stupid money they're on.

No more softly softly, they need a kick up the backside and told to look at Jeffers, Rodwell et all to see where it can quickly go if they're not careful...

As for Barkley, there's no end product. He just trots around producing mediocre performances, and gets absolutely lauded to the high heavens by his manager for doing so. He should be playing a lot closer to Lukaku. He shouldn't be content to play one-twos on the half way line. Lukaku was on his own up front all 2nd half yesterday, and we were chasing a goal. We should be using Barkley like Spurs are using Delle Alli. And if he is playing crap, don't sugar coat it – sub him, or drop him. That is part of learning also.

Collymore has this spot on. We keep on being told that everything we have been through is part of a learning process. Yet we don't seem to have learnt a lot.

Whilst Stones has undoubted ability, there is a time and a place for him to play his fancy football. Should he move this summer, his new manager will soon get this turning back into his own penalty area out of his system.

Just get rid, John. Attack is after all, the best form of defence.

He is a forward not a midfield player yet I hear he watches dvds of Zidanne. He will never be effective in that role push him 20 yards further forward and let him link up with Lukaku and Deulofeu. Tell him when we are attacking get close to Lukaku also gamble that Lukaku will win the heading duel so be looking to get on the end of any flick ons.

Also when Lukaku comes deep then you fill his position up top.

I could well imagine if Stones played for SAF what he would have said had Stones attempted a Cruyff turn in his own box. It wouldn't be "oh John keep on playing that way" more like you do that again and you will never play for me again. Its called coaching, and teaching young players the right and wrong things to do.

1) The keeper is garbage. I am coming to the point of hoping we concede a cricket score, to force a decision on the manager or the board;
2) We have no cover at right back;
3) The Bryan Oviedo experiment at right back has to stop now – endless checking inside is even more frustrating than watching Ross checking towards our goal;
4) No cover for Lukaku;
5) The endless injuries;
6) The first half showed that without Besic and McCarthy, no one will close anything down;
7) The side lacks height and gets repeatedly done at set-pieces as Roberto, from an ideological point of view, disagrees with the percentage pass or working on any set-pieces.

I haven't touched the problems with Stones and Barkley, but Collymore is bang on.

His most exciting moments with us in 2013-14 were actually when he was running brilliantly and incisively from deep ( Arsenal, Swansea, Newcastle away, Man City at home) using his power, pace and ability to shoot with both feet. It was that form that had everyone buzzing and hailing him as a potential great. I am not convinced by him as a number 10.

He needs direction, as Collymore says, but that direction should be to do what he was doing two years ago, with some fine tuning. He'll be all right will Ross, though I am sure a change of regime would bring him on quicker.

For me they are reasonable criticisms but the problems are far more systemic than that.

We could blame almost every player at the club for individual errors costing us points. But that gives you the same logical question as last season... Do we really believe that a group of players who performed so well two seasons ago could ALL regress to being poor now?

The game isn't about individuals. Yet Martinez sets us up in a way that allows the opposition to pick us apart, isolate and attack individuals. And disappointingly we do the same as fans.

Last week it was Jags making mistakes. He was on the halfway line with no one but Costa anywhere near him! Not much margin for error there!

Stones on Sunday. Hang on where's his right back? Where is his defensive partner? Yes it's a mistake but there are two Swansea players in support and no blues!

The constant Howard 'blunders'. Yeah he's not great but the guy is left exposed by his defence every week.

Every player makes mistakes. John Stones does the same thing and gets us on the attack and we all applaud. In a team game you're supposed to have cover.

That's why Stones won't look like such a liability when he eventually moves clubs. He'll get away with it like other defenders do because he'll be playing in a team.

At the start of the season I was massively impressed by Ross, he played much nearer to Rom which bagged him goals and assists.

Since Cleverley has returned to the side Martinez has moved Ross further back into a role suited to Pirlo or Gerrard at the tail end of his career, picking up the ball in front of his defence.

Put Ross further forward and he will kill teams, put him in front of the defence and he's wasted.

Now more than ever the club is in need of a change because Martinez isn't up to this job.

Stats do not lie – 6 wins in the league, 23 played, with THAT squad is criminal .

One of the worst things for me is what is happening to John Stones. When he broke into the first team, I tipped that he would captain Everton and England one day. I can remember responding to one of my fellow ToffeeWebers who questioned this assertion – "You can see it in his eyes". I believed that.

Watching the replay of the game on Saturday the cameraman did a close up of Stones and all I saw in his eyes was sadness. It made me feel awful.

I still had plenty of mistakes to make when I was 22. I had the privilege of watching the Everton Legend Brian Labone in his pomp – a very, very good centre half. During that period there were a couple of centre halves who I particularly disliked – Ron Yeats and Jack Charlton. Three very different types of players but all top internationals who were major cogs in 3 very successful teams of the era.

I wish I could put John Stones with Jack Charlton for a months personal coaching – we would see him flourish. I have come to realise that centre halves aren't meant to be popular –– there is a reason for that - they have a particular job to do.

Here is a link to an interview with Jack Charlton. About 5:30 minutes in he talks about an argument he had with Don Revie about how he should be performing his role as centre half in the team. I was surprised to hear Don Revie's response to Charlton. I could never imagine our manager responding in the same way. If you have 7 or 8 minutes to spare it's worth a listen. Interestingly it talks about a move to Man Utd that didn't come off. Link

A month with Bobby Charlton wouldn't do young Ross any harm either.

Ask yourself: Where would your head be on the morning of the Swansea game, you woke up to read Barca, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Man City where in a four-way battle for your signature-?

He still a very young man and will not reach his peak for 5-6 years

I've just read Leighton Baines's latest interview in which he talks about the top 4 yet again. I blame Martinez for drilling such nonsense into our players' heads at this stage of the season. The plain facts show we are 13 points adrift of the top 4 and only 8 points clear of the bottom 3. Perhaps a reality check is in order, but either way I really don't believe Martinez is the man for the job. He clearly couldn't organise the proverbial piss-up in a brewery, never mind our defence. Get rid, now!

Over-indulging players with no attempt to rectify mistakes hardly teaches them anything does it?

By constantly over extolling their (undoubted) talents, he creates an environment where players believe their own publicity and that it's okay to carry on committing the same mistakes. Learning is only possible as long as there is guidance.

It would do them good to watch Colin Harvey at his best, he could tackle, run through traffic, move the ball around and threaten the opposition goal with a sophisticated intensity that these overpaid modern footballers could only dream about.

Going on memory I think he scored very few league goals, Although he did score the all-important winner in the semi-final versus Man Utd in 1963.

Link

Listen to the commentator – loved Man Utd to bits – nothing's changed.

I loved Colin Harvey, naturally gifted but a very hard grafter too. Oh to see his like now.

Can someone hammer that into Martinez's head please!!

This is all Martinez. RM is very likeable but he is doing our boys a massive disservice. I honestly believe we have the players to be challenging at the top. And felt we had to keep the likes of Stones for the sake of the club.

Not so sure anymore. What's the point of having these guys with Martinez's massive blind spots hampering his and our success.