Injured duo out of cup semi-final at the Etihad

, 24 January, 34comments  |  Jump to most recent
Muhamed Besic and Kevin Mirallas have both been ruled out of the trip to Manchester City on Wednesday after coming off injured inside the first half of today's defeat to Swansea.

Besic failed to last 10 minutes for the second time this season, pulling up with a hamstring strain before being replaced by Tom Cleverley and he was followed down the tunnel shortly afterwards by Mirallas.

The Belgian appeared to be concerned with an injury to his leg after about a quarter of an hour and was eventually withdrawn with what Roberto Martinez suggested was a tendon problem.

Both players had only just won back their places in the first team and would have been important for the Capital One Cup tie in midweek but must now await the result of scans by the club's medical staff to determine the extent of their injuries.  



Reader Comments (34)

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer


John Parker
1 Posted 24/01/2016 at 16:26:30
Besic a big loss, but Mirallas was having his usual ineffective game.
Roger Helm
2 Posted 24/01/2016 at 16:30:34
For two attackers to be substituted so soon (and was Oviedo injured too?) indicates that Martinez and the medical staff don't know what they are doing.
James Stewart
3 Posted 24/01/2016 at 16:39:14
Besic is massive blow, he was a big factor in the first leg and I think we will get overrun without him. I can only see one outcome on Wednesday even with calamity Howard benched.
Craig Mills
4 Posted 24/01/2016 at 16:55:10
The news just keeps getting better today - that will that be Barry and Cleverley in the middle. What a disaster of a day
Jim Bennings
5 Posted 24/01/2016 at 17:05:15
Waste of time even turning up on Wednesday, there's no way we will hold them again at the Etihad!

So much for learning lessons eh Roberto?
Another game, another self destruct goal.

We snubbed 38 million for a guy who just walks the ball about or does Cruyff turns in his own box.
If Stones wants to learn how to defend he could do worse than watch the performance of Swansea captain Ashley Williams, always vocal and organizing his team.

The least said about Barkley the better, simply in 12 months time we'll be talking about his career heading the same way of Jack Rodwell.

Martinez is a comedy, a naive comedy joke.

We will get smashed on Wednesday, scrape past Carlisle and probably draw at home to Newcastle a week on Wednesday, if we are lucky!

What's the point?.

Colin Glassar
6 Posted 24/01/2016 at 17:30:09
Was Mirallas playing today?
Jos Rowland
7 Posted 24/01/2016 at 17:33:07
Thank you, Jim, for your point about Barkley. I think he’s so over-rated and I too already often compare him to Rodwell – both lazy both slow play down and for some unknown reason both so popular with fans no matter how bad a game they have.

I really did wish that Barkley would've turned out to be our version of S Gerrard but unfortunately he doesn’t have that desire to control games, be dominant from box to box, or have that passion that a local young lad should have.

He doesn’t defend, costs us a corners ball watching, and doesn’t track his man; he’s only interested if we are in an open game with space for him to run into and look good so, 9 times out of 10, he’s completely ineffective.

Jim Bennings
8 Posted 24/01/2016 at 17:37:08
Barry was the best player today Craig

At least he doesn't go hiding and isn't scored of putting his foot in which is more than you can say of a few of these so-called fantastic young talents we have.

Glen Garrett
9 Posted 24/01/2016 at 17:55:37
What a big disappointment again... Martinez has to go now, I can't take anymore of this – it's too depressing. Everton will get mashed up against Man City on Wednesday and it's going to be another painful embarrassing game.

What were John Stones & Howard playing at?!!! They were both fucking useless again.

Martinez really has turned Everton into the old Wigan. Everton are going nowhere under Martinez,

David Connor
10 Posted 24/01/2016 at 18:09:51
What a shame that theses two are injured. But unfortunately they are a pair of crocks. Pick up injury after injury... fact!

Things are not looking good for us this season; we are fading fast...

Ian Jones
11 Posted 24/01/2016 at 18:15:51
It was unfortunate that the original game plan had to be scrapped after Besic went off. He had started well, got a shot off that hit the post. Barkley further up the pitch was also working reasonably well, then it all just fizzled out, through the enforced changes. Lukaku seemed a bit slow to react to Deulofeu's decent crosses.

Whilst I am not a fan of Martinez and some of his decisions and tactics, the players have to take responsibility for the way they play as well.

Alex Moore
12 Posted 24/01/2016 at 18:24:51
Well, Besic will probably be out a few weeks (if we don’t rush him back too quickly) and who knows what’s wrong with Mirallas.

Also, I don’t know what to make of all the Stones bashing. Yes, he’s not playing well at all right now, but did anyone really expect him not to have some downs as he continues to develop? He was better at the beginning of the season with his quick decisive passing out of the back, allowing us to spring deadly counters.

As his confidence has grown he’s allowed himself to begin holding the ball longer and acting more nonchalant. I’m confident he’ll find his way back into a good rhythm. That said, I do wish he would position himself better off the ball. (I could say this about a lot of our guys when we’re playing defense.)

Kunal Desai
13 Posted 24/01/2016 at 18:37:31
Besic is a huge loss just when he was finding a bit of form. I'll be surprised if we don't concede a couple of Wednesday night. Cleverley (probably still not 100% fit) alongside Barry.
John Raftery
14 Posted 24/01/2016 at 18:45:50
Certainly these two injuries raise questions about what we have been doing at Finch Farm in a week free of any fixtures. For a player in his early twenties to pick up a hamstring injury so early in a game suggests something is amiss in the way players are prepared for a match.

Never mind, Jagielka, Kone and Lennon might be in the team on Wednesday. Although Kone takes a lot of flak he does help Lukaku to be a more effective player. With Seamus also returning the side should have a more solid look.

Eliminating the defensive howlers should be easy if players are given clear instructions to clear the ball up the field or out of play. It is not complicated.

Jim Bennings
15 Posted 24/01/2016 at 18:46:55
Ian

The players play the way Martinez instructs them to play, hence the pissfarting around in defence rather than knowing when to clear your lines and this is one of the reasons we were hearing on the grapevine why Distin had run-ins with him last season.

I agree that the players do have to take responsibility to some point though, we are clearly a team sorely, woefully lacking in big characters, big vocal men who are willing to be leaders and stand up and take some responsibility. I look at the the likes of Barkley and Stones, two of these much lauded younger players, and I question, do we really see enough fire in their belly, do we see two guys that want to put their bodies on the line, do either of them want to stand up and be a leader?

Rooney was a leader, a vocal man at 17-years old, by the time Gerrard was 22 so was he, same for the likes of Frank Lampard, David Beckham.

Do I see enough desire in our young players? Who looks hurt when we concede a goal? If they are hurt then show emotion, shout, bark orders, finger point, but I never see a man in outbreak wanting to take this mantle on.

Every week it’s just the same old goals conceded followed by the same old excuses from Martinez followed by more over the top superlatives.

Wednesday night will be the same, have we gotten bottle to reach the Final, we deep down all know the answer to that.

Its predictable.

Patrick Murphy
16 Posted 24/01/2016 at 18:47:17
Kunai (12),

With our best or strongest team at The Etihad there is and was always a good chance that we’d concede a couple but my hope was that we could grab one or two goals of our own to ease our way through, after today I’m not at all confident of it happening – ah well there’s always the FA Cup and Premier League survival to look forward to.

Jim Bennings
17 Posted 24/01/2016 at 18:57:52
Let’s be brutally honest and get straight to the point!

Even if we went to Man City on Wednesday night with our strongest line up, we could score THREE goals on the night and still lose the tie.

We could concede 5 or 6 the way we just gift chances to our opponents, even a few minutes into that second half today Swansea find themselves one on one with Howard to make it 3-1, but Howard smothered it.
As it was, that turned out to be the clearest chance of the second period for either team.

We are just an accident waiting to happen.

Ray Robinson
18 Posted 24/01/2016 at 19:06:42
Jim, I take it you didn't stay to the end then?
Brent Stephens
19 Posted 24/01/2016 at 19:07:25
Patrick (15) et al - it's Kunal not Kunai.

I'm so pissed of with today that I'm now getting pissed off with errors in speeling.

Paul Andrews
20 Posted 24/01/2016 at 19:09:43
Robles

Coleman
Jagielka
Funes Mori
Baines

Stones
Barry

Lennon
Barkley
Cleverley

Lukaku

Marlan Govender
22 Posted 24/01/2016 at 19:14:38
Close but the away goal will count for City. Martinez will pull a surprise or two now... Oviedo on the left side of midfield to stop De Bruyne.
Brent Stephens
23 Posted 24/01/2016 at 19:19:24
Patrick, I think it’s something about Kunal’s name when read on the page because it’s a mistake I used to make and others still do.

Look, this is just an excuse for me talk about anything other than today’s game. As I’m back on the game, missed Macca today – I thought the game passed by Cleverley quite a lot.

Shane Corcoran
24 Posted 24/01/2016 at 19:26:59
Brent, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and presume you intentionally spelled "spelling" incorrectly.
Brent Stephens
25 Posted 24/01/2016 at 19:41:55
Always do, Shane. Irony.
Colin Glassar
26 Posted 24/01/2016 at 19:46:46
I always call him Kunai but that's my autocorrect (sorry, Kunal). Anyway, who named you the resident TW spelling fascist, Brent?
Brent Stephens
27 Posted 24/01/2016 at 19:56:19
You want to be my number 2, Colin? Shit, today hurt more than even Chelsea, just in a different way.
Phil Smith
28 Posted 24/01/2016 at 20:14:53
That’s 2 points Stones has cost us recently (should have been 3 at Man City) with his over-confidence. Has to be Jags and Funes Mori for the League Cup game with Lukaku on his own.

A disaster today but Pienaar looked to be getting back to his best. I thought he, Barry and Deulofeu were the only positives from today...

Chris Gould
29 Posted 24/01/2016 at 22:10:59
Paul#20, I think that team would have half a chance of scraping a draw. Pretty much parking the bus. I think that could be the way to go.
Colin Gee
30 Posted 24/01/2016 at 00:00:14
Phil (#27), I totally agree, a good manager would pull Stones out of the firing line for a couple of games. The crowd have started to turn on Stones, time to give the lad a break, he needs to go back to being able to defend and sometimes that means putting it in Row Z if need be.

Funes Mori has done well enough to have earnt a starting place alongside Jags.

Pete Edwards
34 Posted 25/01/2016 at 13:30:20
Roger, what are you going on about! Players pick up injuries all the time, you can’t predict when!!

Jim, do you really think Martinez tells Stones to play out of every situation even when he has no time or space? Come on, honestly!!

Shane Corcoran
35 Posted 25/01/2016 at 14:57:42
So, with these injuries in mind, what will the starting eleven be? I’m going to guess:

Robles
Coleman
Jagielka
Funes Mori
Baines
Barry
McCarthy
Cleverley
Barkley
Lennon
Lukaku

I can’t see him starting Deulofeu. If McCarthy’s not fit then one of Osman or Kone will play ahead of Barry with Cleverley dropping back deeper.

Which two centre-backs to pick is what RM gets paid for. I honestly don’t know what I’d do.

David Williams
36 Posted 25/01/2016 at 15:43:38
No-one has so far mentioned Darron Gibson as a replacement for the injured Besic. He appears to be injury-free at the moment and on his day is a more than capable performer. Who can forget his match-winning goal against Man City at Goodison almost exactly 3 years ago?
George McCormick
37 Posted 25/01/2016 at 21:28:08
If anyone has a spare for the game even if it's late on I'll have it please call 07508893727, really desperate blues any help would be greatly appreciated!
David Williams
38 Posted 26/01/2016 at 10:23:55
Correction to my previous post.

The Darron Gibson goal against Man City was 4 years ago. Since his debut on 14 January 2012, he has made a total of 48 full appearances, with 15 as substitute and scored 2 goals. Obviously the main factor in his sporadic appearance record is the number of injuries he has endured.

Apparently, the manager was hoping to get him a loan move during this January, but with the injuries to McCarthy and Besic, this may be his chance to remind us of what he was/is capable of.



Add Your Comments

In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.

» Log in now

Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site.


About these ads

© ToffeeWeb