Eto'o levels after sloppy goal given up

Good to see Gibson starting and it would be good if Oviedo got a game – when we’re 3-0 up from an Eto’o hat-trick.

However, these are a bit of an unknown quantity and a tough game wouldn’t surprise me.

I can also see Browning coming on with 30 mins to go as well as Naismith for Ossie (the latter being better as a late-ish sub these days in Prem games but OK to start here).

They should have retired gracefully last season.

Passing too slow, no end product and basically we look set for a long hard slog of a season.

In my opinion we created the better chances and McGeady looks well up for it. Their keeper is the best player so far.

And I’m sorry I don’t want to beat a dead horse but thanks for the memories, Leon, time to retire. Gibson, is he actually playing?

On the plus side, despite the balls up at the end, John Stones is going to be world class. Enjoy him while we can — he’s going to be Everton’s next big pay day.

Gibson, Eto’o and Osman are awful. Write this season off. For fuck’s sake.

As I type we equalise but still a pathetic display again! Fuckin sort it out!

What’s happened to our performances this season? It’s easy to blame injuries to some key players but the tempo has died to our play.

We went there, did a job: 4 points. Favourites to go through.

Why all the whingeing?

John Stones was immense. How good will this kid be in a year or two?

We look so much better when we move the ball forward rather than sideways; if he is brave enough to play Eto’o and Lukaku from the start on Sunday, I fancy us to get something.

Was gonna have a moan about the lack of urgency and pace but I can't be arsed.

Hibbo man of the match and McGeady looked our most dangerous player even though he usually wastes a lot. I thought he kept the ball well tonight.

We miss Coleman so much.

We were very poor first half, but improved as the match went on. Eto’o was class, McGeady looked good and seemed our best source of goals.

Ossie struggled, Gibson poor, but I think Hibbo had a good game and made some crucial blocks/tackles.

All in all one point in what’s likely to be our most difficult away group game in Europa is a decent return. Performance not great but we got the result which was the bare minimum.

Something unusual these days for pundits but I agree with his assessment on Atsu not being up to it yet and Gibson and Barry being too alike, not enough variety in the central midfield.

Going to an unknown quantity, in Russia, on Crimea's doorstep, and playing a team who knocked out Racing Santander in the qualifiers, was never going to be a guaranteed 3 points. We have 4 points and are in the driving seat for the group.

On the plus side, Besic, McCarthy, Naismith and hopefully Pienaar and Coleman should be rested and ready to go Sunday.

I'm not sure the Gibson - Barry partnership is the best one... I would like to have seen Besic again with Barry.

I thought Barry, McGeady, Eto'o and obviously Stones had good games...

It was poor from Martinez to not give Browning any game time as well after his display last week. Made no sense at all.

The only positive really was Stones again.

He is too easily knocked off the ball, caught in possesion more and more frequently. He didn't have a good game tonight.

Happy with result; overall positive with lots of key players missing.

Bainsey has played every minute this season including games for England.

Doesn't this prove that the lads who are supposedly tired are just not fit enough.

For me, McCarthy has been a shadow of last season since Man Utd showed an interest.

As other posters have said, we had no midfield to speak of with Ossie, Gibbo and Atsu on the pitch.

What happened to giving Besic and Naismith some game time ahead of Sunday?

I’m made up with the point and I thought, the longer the game went, the stronger we got. That is a very good point, against a half-decent team, IMO, and I think the squad will take a lot of confidence from that result. Very few teams go to Russia and have it easy and the most pleasing thing to me is we are starting to look a lot fitter.

How many sub-standard players do we have now? Atsu is the new McGeady, can't believe a professional footballer can fail to pick out a team-mate with such regularity. A talent, of sorts.

What a waste of time that was to watch. Since the players clearly aren't arsed I'm struggling to think of reasons why I should be. My heart goes out to those fans that travelled.

Hibbert did okay but looked like he could be done for pace I would have liked to have seen Browning given a game instead. I thought the midfield would have looked better balanced with Besic in for Gibson and Naismith in for Osman. Atsu didn't play well at all and doesn't look like a patch on Del boy as a loanee.

The reasons he didn't play so well in other parts of the game were the reasons Krasnodar were good. They outnumbered our midfield and pressed our back four and midfield so that our passing game went to pot. He wasn't the only one to be crowded out and if our players are forced to pass backwards then nobody up front will have very much time on the ball.

However his job is to make the forwards play IF he gets the ball and that really did not happen for most of the match until the period I mentioned when he did really well. If we want to play well for the whole match make sure he gets on the ball a lot more.

We went to Russia with a depleted squad for a midweek game sandwiched between the RS and United and came away with a result.

The boys were poor in the first half admittedly, but their resilience to fight back in the second half was impressive. Eto'o and Stones showed they are both absolute class.

A great result when you consider the location and the managers squad limitations.

We really miss Barkley more than I thought we ever would.

Keep the faith.

COYB

The man is not learning.

Just why do we luck so slow and ponderous moving the ball forward?

Why don't we press the opposition when they have possession?

Why are we making so many mistakes at the back?

Why is there no plan B? Our game plan is too predictable.

Anyone got any answers please send them to Roberto.

Bilic is in the capital tonight, I would love to see him at Everton. Although Tottenham are beating Besiktas at the moment.

Diabolical.

I do wonder what planet some of you are on. That was a great result. I don't see Wolfsburg or Lille going there and doing much better. Hibbo did a great job and John Stones was outstanding. Coleman and McCarthy back on Sunday.......all good.

Lille and Wolfsburg drew tonight so we are looking good in top spot.

It's been a poor season so far but when Coleman, Barkley and Mirallas are back hopefully we'll get back to the football of last season.

Long , long way to go yet.

For those over-reacting think Mirallas, Barkley, Pienaar, McCarthy, Besic, Coleman and that is why we didn't play well.

We do need to replace the 30-plus brigade and with so many of them playing today it explains a lack of pace and energy.

He did not play any of the 90+ minutes at Swansea City.

We were a trifle lucky tonight, like at Anfield.

Let's hope we can build on it.

One downer though, Atsu looks truly awfull, can't pass for toffee.

We need to win this group. We will receive a much easier draw in the round of 32.

A point in Russia is never a bad point. Win at Lille and we are definitely in the drivers seat in the group. A win with a Wolfsburg - Kr draw would see us on top of the group by 4 points halfway through the group stages with 2 of the 3 remaining games at Goodison.

Didn’t see the match, but sounds poor. The bigger picture with our group - a very difficult one - is much more rosy.

I said at the outset of this tournament we need to do everything in our power to win the damn thing. It’s a back door to CL, and we need to take it. Despite playing poorly we are doing what we must to get through and draw one of the lesser teams in the first knock-out round.

Osman had a strange game. The pace of the game seemed to completely bypass him for an hour yet after that he started getting on the ball and was a big part of us establishing some pressure. Usually at 60 minutes it's time for him to get off the pitch.

McGeady was nice and lively - I think we have to live with his bad points at the moment for the sake of some attacking threat. That said he did a decent defensive job too.

Eto'o oozed quality in the first half but the second showed what Lukaku brings. Doesn't always look pretty but he does provide an attacking focal point. Their defence didn't fancy him at all.

What can you say about Stones? England have never produced a John Stones before. His development is going to be so good to watch.

No fluency, no cohesion, players played out of position again and looked lost. Osman in his prime was never good enough yet he is still getting games when he is past it. He couldn’t run to begin with but it is just getting painful now. I couldn’t believe it when one of the opposing players skinned him twice in the one dribble. Only Stones come out with any credit.

Martinez Out!

Krasnodar were better than I thought but we will progress!

Osman should not start a match, any match ! he's not got it in him any more, he's a sub at best.

Why didn't Browning play ? On the Derby showing he's in better form than Hibbert and this would have been the ideal match to gain further first team experience.

When he came on against Arsenal I marvelled at how tiny Atsu is, the ball seemd to touch his knee and toe simultaneously, sadly it seems like little in ability and contribution he makes to the team.

Can we out the School of Science chants on the backburner for a while ? the dross being served up is not the School of Science.

Hibbert put in some great challenges and at one point was rampaging into their box looking for a goal after we equalised.

How the Fuck can you say that Browning is in better form after just half an hour of footy?

its not about performances at this stage. its about staying in the boat.This is a great result.

"Osman and Hibbert finished" ? says who? If we can get through the group whilst preserving energy levels of other players then they are doing their job. We're not in a position to be putting experienced players out to grass.

Remember our fantastic ECWC victory? How many of us remember the early stages of that ? we came out of the traps backwards?

Todays game is more demanding,, its all about "energy levels" If we are to make any sort of progress this season, every member of the squad needs to do his bit.

Martinez made the mistake playing him from the start alongside his other dad's army midfield duo.

Aside Besic and Naismith there must have been a (fit) hungry energetic, run for 70 minutes player on the books who could have done a job, then bring the guile and experience of Osman on.

As for John Stones - love this kid, and alongside Coleman we've got the makings of a fantastic football playing defence.

Can we get Moyesy back on loan, to scout us a few more gems....

Agree, but it's close. I laughed at some of Atsu's football, no not the happy laugh but the hand over your eyes, giggling like a fool laugh. Actually, fuck it, he really was bad.

I had to agree with the studio panel last night. Ratters quite rightly labelling our defending atrocious and Sherwood highlighting that everyone is aware how RM sets up his teams and how to play against him.

I am a bit worried about the direction this team is given.

Pros: Stones. Lukaku learning to hold onto a ball, enthusiasm and skill of Mcgeady, Eto having that strikers knack. We drew with key players out or rested.

Cons: the main one that is ever present. That is if a team presses and plays high up pitch, our defence panics. Avery defensive central midfield (though that may have been sensible). Ossie.

Final point - I think some of the criticism of Martinez as bordering on the hysterical.

The main problem is that we simply haven't got enough players of the right quality to allow sensible rotation to challenge on more than one front.

The likes of Robles and Atsu will never be top level performers whilst Gibson, Osman, Hibbert, Distin, Alcaraz and Kone appear to have 'their futures behind them.'

That's no less than eight players who, whilst they might cover the odd crack, cannot be relied upon to do more than just that. Given that the demands of the modern game – or is it the delicacy of it's exponents? – sees injuries taking longer than ever to mend, the squad is clearly inadequate.

All of which calls into question the wisdom of such an apparently financially challenged club blowing a staggering £28 million on one player – a less than stellar striker!

But we are where we are. We can only hope – rather than expect – Roberto's Way to see us through. One thing is for certain, and that's if we don't come through, there will be no lack of philosophy to explain it all away.

The assessment of how Everton played cannot be made in isolation of how the opposition perform. The Russians or their international brigade played well, pacy, closing down, lots of short passes and defended well. Sure we did not tear them apart, but we stopped a decent side winning 2000 miles from home with a team about 50% strength.

Not bad really, is it.

Ponderous and pedestrian are two words to describe our passing and general play along with predictable as you state, the slow passing forward and the very obvious triangles normally with the ball ending up back with Jags/Stones/Barry infuriates me beyond belief but it's rolled out again and again to the point now where I feel our back line and midfielders have all been possessed by the ghost of Barry 'The Crab' Horne.

We miss a player in the centre with drive and the sooner Barkley is back the better but until then please give Besic more playing time as he seems the only player in our whole midfield who has any drive at all.

As for a Plan B, there isn't one and he doesn't have one cos he seems to only know one way of playing and very rarely will he deviate from this, if at all. This has to change as that word 'predictable' is becoming all too familiar.

Pressing the opposition for me should be a given each and every game. Not doing this has cost us so many goals this season with the Chelsea game the standout game for me of what happens when you allow your opponent 5 yards space to pick another teammate out. When you watch the top teams lose the ball, they go hunting in packs to retrieve and, for the want of a better word, go again. Chelsea do this better than any other team and I would love to see us do this even in spurts rather than just sting back and watching the play go by.

As for our individual mistakes, each and every week at the back they seem to end up in a goal with Jag's awful attempt at clearing the ball last night just another example to add to a huge list of calamities this season.

I would love to be able to put my finger on how we can go from the 3rd best defensive team in the EPL to what we are currently witnessing. I am seriously lost as to why or how this can be sorted other than the obvious which IMO should've been done prior to the window closing and that's purchasing a top centre half to go with Stones (fingers crossed for January 2015 window).

One point that I haven't seen mentioned yet re last night's game was the amount of times I saw Barry found wanting and more importantly the amount of times his passes went wayward. He seems to have played a lot of games when I thought Besic would've been drafted in for games like last night's. RM please rest GB and soon as his is increasingly becoming a passenger in our midfield.

Speaking of passengers, I would like to say a few words on Ossie... but I won't as I like the lad, and it's all been said before.

Also on the point of Krasnodar being a decent team – did we not make them look better than what they are? How good is the Russian League, what do any of their sides do in European competition?

Absolutely right in your comments there. If other sides go away and get that result it us hailed as a professional job done.

University College Dublin were on the verge of eliminating us in 94. We got the result and rested players, that will do me.

How can anybody be optimistic after that game? On that evidence, we have no squad depth at all. The minimum you'd expect of a professional player is that he can pass to a team-mate when both are not under pressure but so many of our players can't even do that. Atsu is the chief culprit, what a terrible footballer.

Are some of you thinking all is well because we scored a goal against a pretty shite Russian team? And yes, they are shite. They could have walked the ball into our net several times last night and somehow cocked it up.

I'd love to have some of what you lot are on because all I am seeing is the same rancid performances from the same players dating back to the shambles that was pre-season.

I think the holes you refer to have become more evident this season. Jags looks laboured, Distin a shadow of himself, Barry has carried on from where he left off (he splits opinion, but for me was poor to average) from Feb 2013 onwards....

But there are positives!

Howard was the hero in the first game and did his work well yesterday but shutting down in the middle third has been abysmal with little or no effective marking or tackling. Atsu looks like a waste of space and Gibson seems well off the pace. Looks like his injuries have taken their toll. McGeady looks lively but not top class and Barry also is looking his age.

Sunday looks like a no-hoper unless there is a drastic improvement which I have said after every game so far but they have been dodging bullets. Missing the likes of Coleman, McCarthy, Mirallas and Barkley could be used as an excuse but I don’t think so.

After the Jagielka heroics on Saturday, he was woefully inept in the build up to their goal yesterday and he is making mistakes he never did before. i can’t see things improving anytime soon.