Martinez expects Funes Mori to more than justify his big price tag

The most likely future lineup would have to be Stones and Funes Mori, which means Jagielka’s time may be reaching its peak.

Encouraging though Ramiro’s few touches were, it is both premature and unfair to make predictions and pile expectations upon him right now.

His "Row Z" clearance had me and my mates clenching our fists and chuckling at the expediency; his Tim Cahill leap for his first header drew further nods of approval; his charge through the middle in possession was a cherry on his first cupcake at Goodison. Good start lad.

But it was a good start and most importantly must have been both timely and reassuring for him as a new arrival in comfortably beating last season's EPL winners.

TBH the price tag is ultimately meaningless; his performance is what will make him valued or dismissed by us Evertonians.

I won’t fully judge him until this time next year, crippling him with the weight of expectation is a touch too much (I feel) after only 13 minutes plus injury time so far.

As to where John Stones, Brendan Galloway or whoever will be in 1, 3, 5 or 10 years time, that information is as solid as calling the forthcoming Euromillions numbers based upon scorers shirt numbers, score or substitution times.

What is more certain is that giving oily, pompous, classless Chelsea the "Not For Sale means... NOT FOR SALE!!" message, is the kind of stance that will make Everton FC the kind of club that fans will want to watch, players want to play for, and winners want to stick with. No guarantees, but if you roll over to have your belly tickled, then don’t cry when even weeds kick you in the nuts.

Did Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano not come straight to England from South America??

I will judge the man at the end of the season providing he's played a suitable number of matches.

I sometimes question what some of the people on here want? If we buy a youngster, it's "Why no first team players"? We buy a first team player for a low value, "Fishing for bargains again". We splash out, "We've over-spent on him..."

Hope he does well and I imagine he is the replacement for Stones and Jags will revert back to his normal right hand side.

However, I think Funes Mori has been signed to play left side of a 3 man back line. Maybe the intention here is for Stones to play the Gareth Barry role? (Defend without the ball and move more into midfield when we have the ball/striding out of defence?)

ps: For my sins, I was also (a poor excuse for a) left-footed, left-sided CB. I never felt comfortable on the other side. If players are going to try and take you on for pace, it will almost certainly be on the ’outside’. Being left-foot dominant, I always felt more confident showing them that side.

Just on the point above, has anyone ever noticed that Stones occasionally likes to throw in a ’’non-textbook’’ wrong-foot tackle? He seems to prefer leading with his left which, IMHO, would have made him the better choice to have been "played out of position" at left CB.

Perhaps, against minor rivals, Martinez could set up a 3-defender line (Stones, Jags and Funes Mori) and line up more wingers on the offensive?

I will never comprehend that.

Phil, it makes every difference having a left-footed, left-sided CB. It means that attacking players can be pushed away from goal to be shepherded or tackled on the CB’s stronger side. It also means that the ball can be played out from the back over a greater range of angles, more quickly, without changing feet or body shape. Quite simply it gives balance.

Tony, since it was in his contract with his former club he’d have got the money wherever he went.

Thomas, one of the worst for tackling off his wrong foot was Bryan Robson. His injury record backed that up. Not a good idea.

I disagree. Most of the great defensive partnerships over the years have been two right-footers. Look at Pallister - Bruce, Ferdinand - Vidic, Adams - Keown, Terry - Cahill... too many to mention.

It’s not a big issue at all.

Top end football is about margins, and maybe saving a couple of goals a year could be the difference between winning or losing a cup tie, or finishing higher in the league. But who knows?

The most important thing for us is Funes Mori turning into a solid Premier League defender to follow in a line of successful recent CBs (Lescott, Jagielka, Distin etc).

"Just on the point above, has anyone ever noticed that Stones occasionally likes to throw in a ’’non-textbook’’ wrong-foot tackle?"

I am glad you have said that as I thought exactly the same myself and think this is the one weakness in his game. When attacked down his left side, he attempts to block with the outside of his left foot rather than the inside of his natural right foot; this often leaves him on his backside. Take a look at Watford's second goal.

At the back, he seems adept at carrying the ball forwards, out of defence, as he did against Chelsea; perhaps one of the reasons Roberto liked what he saw. He has got a good footballing pedigree, so let’s give the lad a fair crack of the whip and hopefully he’ll show us just what he can do in the coming months.

I’m not wishing Jags bad fortune, but it is expedient to have a replacement already in place. Nobody goes on forever.

Behind our three first-choice centre-backs, we have three very promising youngsters coming through. Whatever happens with Stones in the future, this particular position is looking well covered.

I’d rather have two quality right-footed centre-backs than just getting in a left-footer for the sake of ’balance’. Ninety percent of our forward play is short passing routed to the midfield through Barry anyway.

Not having a go at Funes Mori’s signing here at all, by the way. I know nothing about the guy so I really can’t comment on him yet.

For the Capital One Cup, I would start with Pennington on the right and bring Browning on for Stones if we’re two up. I really want to see what Browning is like in Stones’s position.

There is also some inference that Jags is on his way out. I couldn’t disagree more! Did you see that way he got back to get McCarthy our of jail last Saturday?

He doesn’t seem to have lost any pace to me. He could beat most PL centre backs over 50 yards I’m sure.I think he came back from 2014 World Cup jaded, and it showed in the first 3 months of last year, but toward the end of last term, plus the start of this, whilst all the plaudits have gone to Stones, I think Jags has been as good as he’s ever been.

It was really classy the way he went over to Funes Mori and shook his hand when he came on last Saturday: "Welcome to Everton, mate", is what that said. The mark of a great captain and great leader and he has loads of years left in my view. Just stay away from the 50-yard passes, Jags; not your strength!

With regards to the Row Z clearance: we all love to see our defenders playing the ball out, but sometimes it just has to go. This was one of them. Chelsea were sniffing for a way back in, but our new boy wasn't ready to offer them one.

Dave Abrahams: me neither!