From My Seat: Cardiff City (A)

My only other concerns are the same team starting every game, despite certain individuals being poor; the other concern is the Moyesesque timing for substitutions, it has been fairly obvious, that in all the games to date, something different was required around the hour mark. Instead, it has been left till the dying minutes, to inject some variance.

Still hopeful, for the future.

OK I thought you were a softie. Guess not, you are just another mug who will throw a powerless manager under the bus while the BK disaster rolls on. Last time I read your reviews, mate.

Teething troubles, the manager has to be given time.

Something desperately wrong if Kopites are making us look like completely tits with more patience and support of their new manager.

Remember they actually won a trophy the season pre BR, he actually had something to be beaten over the head with!

Present day Evertonians really are a different breed from what they used to be..... if this is true.

If Chelsea come to Goodison and beat us out of sight, then RM may become the shortest serving manager in the history of the club. I don't remember us winning the PL and the CL last season but we are beginning to sound and act like fans of a big four club, it's very very strange.

Why is obvious, we haven't taken our chances when we've bossed the games. Our build up play is sometimes too slow, at other times we're just as creative as last season but our goal drought continues.

I'm watching the highlights and it's all us, how Mirallas missed those headers is beyond me, haircut or not I expect a forward to bury those chances.

Including pre season plus our recent dismal run I reckon that another three months is time enough to see if RMs methods are suitable.
To start the new year in the bottom half would bring a demand for wholesale change and its no use closing our eyes to it.

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to see that 4-5-1 fails to win games, particularly against lower ranking opposition. Can we please finish a game with at least more than one striker on the pitch. Can we please bloody train on hitting the ball on target.

Everyone's a genius after the event. "Why is Fellaini playing as a midfielder when he's so much better up front?" Can you imagine the gasps from the assembled journo's if Martinez had announced he was going to play Fellaini as a midfielder.

"Why are we taking shite from wigan, like kone". Again can you imagine the horror from the everton fans if Martinez announced that he was going to spend £6M on a striker who'd scored more goals than any everton player last season? People been lambasting Kone, yet the guy has barely had any pitch time and has looked better than Jelavic(whom DM spent £5M on) when he has played.

People have short fucking memories, too. Remember the last time a rich team came sniffing around one of our players for an extended period? We lost our first home game 6-1 and were then beaten by the mighty fucking burnley and fulham.

Well guess what. Now everyones favourite "Moyesiah" has spent the last 2 months solidly undermining RM and our club by making derisory bids not for 1 good player like in 2009, but for our two standout best players. Our top scorer and main midfield lynchpin AND our main creator. But yes, the complete reason why our team is failing to fire on all cylinders is obviously due to the incompetent manager who's had all of 2 months to get the team up to speed with his systems, while fighting off speculation around our two best players from OFM and having the mighty sum total of £8M to strengthen. Not to mention the fact that he's blooding our younger players.

We were told by the same seers that we'd be shipping goals due to Martinez wish to pass from the back. Well you were all fucking spot on there. Not sure how I'm gonna forget the 4-1 loss to WBA and the 5-0 drubbing by norwich.

Go take some fucking prozac or get a grip and get behind our manager and whichever players remain ours on tuesday.

3 draws one win and zero losses and its the end of the world....

Possibly the only change significant change under Martinez has been the removal of the direct ball up to Fellaini, who has played a much more withdrawn role. Come to think of it, I'm not sure exactly what position Fellaini is playing these days! So if he's not going to make much of a contribution, I'd let him go to United. Can't see how he's going to play there either!

That said I do worry about the players named as replacements for our best two. Surely a striker?

If I made a £6 million mistake at work I would be held accountable not just given more funds to try again.

Make all the excuses you want, its a Top 6 side with only Phil Neville missing from last year.

Martinez has already added 4 players to the Top 6 side so in theory it should be better.

These draws against the likes of Norwich, West Brom and Cardiff are very poor results for a Top 6 side.

Martinez needs to understand that at a Top 6 tippy tappy football should play second to results. Results are all that matter.

£6 million is a lot of money to spend on a striker if the manager knows what he's doing.

Paul Lambert found Christian Benteke for just £7 million.

Martinez hasn't been in charge 11 weeks. We are unbeaten and in the next round of the Cup.

Strange how some fans had so much patience with Moyes but Roberto must get things sorted soon. Double standards?

As for "we came 6th last season, so we should do so again" I believe is stupid argument. We did rerasonably well in the1st half of last season and rather less well inthe 2nd half. Jelavic had foundit difficult to score last season, yet opm did not think it necessary to get a striker during the January window, or the club had no money, yet again! I think we were lucky to come 6th and we achieved it mainy because Liverpool made such a poor showing untl late in the season.

We have an ageing set of players, tied into contracts by Moyes presumably because he knew there was no money to replace them. During the 18 months that Brendon Rogers has been manager, he has been able to buy in god knows how many international players and more coming Southampton and Norwich have bought players who I'd have been pleased as punch if we'd have got them and othr clubshave als spent much more than us, so far.

One of the last acts Moyes did as our manager was to tie in Osman io another contract Personally, although I admire the service he has given, I think he needs replacing but, until we sell someone, it doesn't look like the funds are available. Whether I think he's good enough or not, is not the point. The point is that the funds available to Martinez were that much less.

Martinez has a set of players who he's stuckwith, except for a couple who I guess he'd dearly want to keep but may well be sold today. Then we might have funds ailable to buy replacements.

I thought when we we got Martinez as manager, wewould do well to finish around 8th and I still believe this. For those who say hoof it up field, we are still stuck with the same forward who patenty couldn't score with that tactic and we are not likely to have Fellaini to hit it to.

I went to the friendy against Real Betis and the West Brom games and I agree that we seemed to take ages to come forward with the passing game. But I looked at Osman and Jagielka. One doesn't know how to bring the ball out and the other doesn't have the engine to do so. So I think we are bound to be slow. We might get quicker as the less able players get accustomed to the passing game but to criticise (I think unfairly) Martinez for trying to bring in a more expansive game, without seeing who he is able to bring in, is a bit premature.

He is going to need time to get Everton playing and as long as he gets us to mid table or above, I think that will be a reasonable first year. If we are in the bottom 3 at the end of the year, then yes, that is time to fundamentally review what is happening and for the Chairman to make a decision.

It used to be a regular view that a manager would need three years in a job to get a squad together that would be relatively succesful. There are some who appear to expect him to do it in three games

This is a team that is Moyes's and one that was his when he knew he was probably about to leave. So was he making great decisions on contracts etc ? Seems not.

Mid table at best this year and then let's see what new boss can do.

But I am also inclined to think we have a poor, unimaginative Board and there lies the problem long term.

How we can damn a manager after 3 games (and some have done damned him before he managed one) is unfair. Let's seewhathe get's in te way of funds and who he brings in. Then at least we'll have some idea where he believes we are weakest.

Strikers have been Everton's problem for years now with millions wasted on Beattie, Johnson, Yakubu (1 good season), Jelavic and now Kone.

Think of it this way Jelavic and Kone cost a combined £12 million. And £12 million is what Liverpool paid for Daniel Sturridge.

Who would you rather have Jelavic/Kone or Sturridge? I'd gladly swap both Jelavic and Kone for Sturridge.

I think also we're at a disadvantage when a player decides where he wants to go. Unfortunately, we haven't got the magic that a lot of players think Liverpool have; we don't have the money to pay over the odds. While we're on the outside looking in, we aren't a top attraction.

As for RM, of course he should be given some time. The showing so far has been poor but not disastrous. That is especially so given some previously dependable players (Mirallas, Osman, Pienaar, arguably Coleman) are playing pretty crap. The two obvious pluses are Barkley and Delboy. When all is said and done, I'd have been surprised if RM (or anyone else) beat Moyes' record here. I appreciate he is now a figure of hate and many disliked his playing style and team selection, but we over achieved results wise, given the absurd lack of investment. I think we'll discover that in the coming years.

As for the new signings, I'd be willing to give Kone a chance. He has shown some promise. The Ramadan/fitness bit was absurd but he has more pace than Jelly and a lot more technical abilicity than Vic (not hard).

The key now is how much of the Fella/Baines money gets spend and on who. RM has got some credit in the banks for signing up Delboy, but that will be lost if we end up with another Wigan player for a grossly inflated fee.

In my view, Kenwright has most to lose over this transfer window. If we raise £40m, but again end up shopping at Lidl rather than Harrods, there are going to be a lot of angry people out there.

This board with Kenright in charge cant decide what socks to put on in the morning.

Ive said it before a majority of the supporters are willing to support the manager .The people who do not seem to be aware of the teams problems (The Board) do not seem willing to follow up on their promises to fully support the manager with funds available to improve the team.

The major problem at this time is Kenwright is not going to refuse an offer for our 2 better players and with just 2 days left there will be no time to replace them plus a midfielder and a striker.

As most supporters have seen what we have in our reserve squad do not seem good enough even though they may have to be given a chance through lack of investment.

The facts are we are unbeaten in 3 games, 2 of which were away. We've kept 2 clean sheets as opposed to the views expressed on here we would let in shitloads.

The problem with our great club lies with our dud of a chairman and the board.

Many people on here need to remember the bold predictions they have been making over the summer, though. There were going to be loads more goals, less draws, different players being used, strikers were going to thrive, youth players would be in the team, we'd have tons of excitement etc etc. Fact is, none of that has happened yet and so it's no wonder many people are disappointed. Personally I wasn't expecting all those things so i'm not too concerned, but we all know that was many people's expectation.

For what it's worth, I don't think we've been playing well and unlucky not to win. I think Norwich was a decent performance but the last 3 have been poor. It's not like we've missed bucket loads of sitters, a lot of the shots that are counted would be from outside the box or poor angles. I can't recall any of the keepers in the last 3 games having to make a save that you wouldn't expect them to.

I also don't know why some people seem surprised that some of the players mentioned aren't playing well as it seems quite clear that they're struggling with their role/style of play. Mirallas, for example, is a very a direct player, not really suited to quick passing. He's much better picking the ball up when we're attacking quickly and he has space to run. The slow build up is meaning he is often getting the ball with a man to beat from a standing start rather than being able to use his pace and skill to drive at people. The same applies to Coleman, obviously from deeper. Fellaini too, is much better when he's driving forward from that deeper role, rather than just passing the ball 5 yards constantly.

Those are observations rather than criticisms though, and Martinez has my support for as long as he is the Everton manager, I hope that's a very long time.

We are just the width of a post or a stone-wall penalty decision away from turning one point into three.

If we can get a striker hitting form or a few decisions going our way things would start looking pretty good for us.

This posession-based football should, in theory, make us a much stronger unit and much more difficult to play against than we used to be.

I too am surprised by Ken's suggestion that RM only gets a few months to get this right.

We are unbeaten and dominating games. Hardly at crisis point yet surely ffs?!

I think your articles give a fair reflection of the game. I enjoy reading them and feel exactly as you do.

Current emotions are that optimism is turning to a degree of concern. Didn't expect miracles but thought the transition would be more gradual and in line with incoming personnel changes (hence VERY gradual at EFC). The obsession with raiding former club is also a bit alarming as I'd hoped he'd have a decent European network and could unearth a few bargain gems.

Still, let's give the man a chance as you say......

The real decision the board should be making in January (if not today), is to throw more than pathetic sums of loose change at the squad that this fine young manager is trying to build.

No surprise that we are finding it hard to score goals when the last major investment in our forward line was The Yak more than 6 years ago!

If the fans turn on Martinez before we turn on his employers then I would see that as a sign that collectively, we are an unbelievably mis-guided bunch!

As long as we don't get relegated (we won't) RM will be our manager for at least 3 years.

I am a bit frustrated by the inability to beat teams we are outplaying - but at least we are outplaying them. I have seen us nick wins when we were pretty awful. In the long run I prefer watching games where we have over 60% of possession and I think results will follow.

I can say with 90% certainty we will finish somewhere between 10th and 6th this year. My money is on 8th.

I’ve seen all 3 draws and what we have lacked in those 3 games was a cutting edge and a bit of luck.

I’m prepared to give Martinez time to instil his ethos in to those players who have been drilled in a different style for many years previously. I agree that we have been ponderous in possession and playing one up front hasn’t helped things but I’m staggered that match going Evertonians are so quick to judge.

Consider what he’s had to deal with: An 11 year legacy of a despot manager and an impotent Chairman who has done nothing to support and protect him during the bedding in period particularly from the sniping of our former manager. If you believe what is said, Kenwright and Moyes have continued to talk over the summer and in to the new season so the least I’d have expected from the Chairman was a put up or shut regarding Baines and Fellaini. Constantly defending something that’s out of your control is massively distracting and disruptive.

It’s clear that this transition will take time and the closure of the transfer window can’t come quickly enough, it’s not helped by the international break or the calibre of our next opponents but Martinez needs to find a win quickly to settle everyone down.

Over the next half dozen games I expect to see the players grow in to the new style and inject more pace in to their build up play. It would also certainly help if a few other players took Ross Barkley’s lead and started to take a bit of responsibility in front of goal. I lost count the amount of times we could have got a shot away on Saturday and instead passed the buck. Oh and if I could see us grind out a scruffy 1-0 that would also tell us a lot about Martinez and the players.

The pressing of the premature panic button by some on this thread does us no credit whatsoever.