Finally a Bit of Fight

I just cannot see him keeping many clean sheets if any, we’ve failed to keep one since his return after three on the trot, he also refuses to allow defenders on the post for corners as they get in his way! Maybe if they did, they’d prevent one of the numerous goals we concede from corners.

Secondly, James McCarthy... I actually used the words "he’s magic that boy" to my better half. When we were as awful as usual in the first half he made about 5 brilliant tackles in as many minutes around the halfway line that gave us and the crowd impetus to get at Kiev. He was my man of the match, as good as Lukaku was, it was McCarthy that changed the game in my eyes.

I’d also like to point out that Baines on ITV when pressed about would the players stand up to Roberto and request to play a bit longer responded something along the lines of "we’ve looked most threatening when we have been direct" and "the boss wants to stick to his philosophy and that won’t change but I’d like to think the players will do what we can see works on the pitch".

It wasn’t directly confrontational but it was a fairly thinly veiled criticism from what I heard.

Anyway, much much better. The crowd are so important to this team playing well. They just need to give us something to go berserk about!

All season long, I sit in the Park End near the away crowd so whenever I see Baines, Garbutt or whoever is left back picking up the ball, I get a great view of the space he could pass to in front of him, only we donÂ’t play anyone in front of him. ThereÂ’s nothing to aim for so time and again they cut back inside and pass back to our centre halves and then the crab passing begins, itÂ’s shocking and it was a big part of the crowds frustration again in the first half. IÂ’ve argued blue in the face for our manager up until Xmas, I now realise heÂ’s dangerous.

As for Mirallas - anybody who needs to flaunt his wealth with a gold Bentley just doesn’t get what being an Evertonians really means. He doesn’t fit the bill on or off the pitch. He simply doesn’t care so would never be in my team regardless of the rare flashes of brilliance. I would personally get shot of both in the summer.

To get the high tempo we desperately need everyone needs to press and that starts up top. Mirallas and Barkley can’t or won’t – so let’s give Atsu and Lennon a chance and give them a clear brief – press, press, press until you are knackered and then replace them with new legs when they have run their hearts out.

For Martinez, I think it is a case of crisis management. He has had bad luck with injuries, and sometimes has not had the right balance in the side partly due to injuries to key players, but also due to his own favouritism, and the reluctance to strengthen the side in the summer or in January. If we stay up, it will be despite the manager.

Paul T, I thought that Barkley showed real passion and, when things were going wrong in the first half, the lad put in a couple of big tackles and gave the crowd a lift.

I can’t believe the improvement in Rom’s first touch and his receiving with back to goal. He looked the complete centre forward. I pray for more of the same on Sunday.

Incidentally, I just read on BBC Sport’s Lawro’s predictions v Dermot O’Leary, that they are both going for a 2-1 Everton win on Sunday, but the funny thing is that Dermot said that Martinez is a "great manager" and he wants him to take over at Arsenal when Wenger retires! Hurry up, Arsene!

My main point in posting is about Barkley. Believe me, I want Barkley to do well but I’ve posted elsewhere my frustration with our wonder boy. When I think of the way Rooney played at 16 and we still hear the same old apologists saying Barkley is young... blah, blah blah.

The cold reality of the situation is that he has been picked to represent our first team and consequently, to retain his place, he has to perform at that level. His contribution can at best be described as that of a passenger or worst as someone actually hiding from responsibility and too frightened to take the stage.

For his sake, but more importantly, for our teams’s sake, we cannot afford to carry anyone in the league given our current plight and he needs to be taken out of the spotlight. Someone needs to work with him at Finch Farm on how to read games; how to position himself to deny others space and how to move into positions to help teammates create space; how to use his physical strength more aggressively and more positively in winning and then using the ball and in driving forward to create danger.

First of all, I believe that most Everton fans have been extra loyal to Ross because of his youth and because we all believed he had great promise and could become a world-beater. No one wants him to fail and no satisfaction is taken from having to admit that his performances have been woeful and embarrassing. Where I sit there have been some groans but only in recent weeks and nothing that could be called barracking. The reality, Ryan, is that his failure this season has nothing to do with the fans.

Secondly, his poor form has everything to do with the manager and mistakes made in selection, balance of the team and most significantly his bloody philosophy of possession football. Ross has been played out of position, as have others, but what worries me is that he appears unwilling to take on responsibilities within the team and currently offers nothing. In fact, I would go as far as to say he is currently a liability and we cannot afford to carry any players, young or not!

Can Ross recover and can he become the player we all wanted? I would sincerely hope so but HE has to grow up; he has to understand the role of the modern midfield player; and he has to have the appetite and determination to impose his talents. If he cannot overcome a few groans he certainly will not be a top player. He should be dropped for his own sake, possibly to the bench but a more constructive option would be to play regularly at U21 level to learn game management and thereby find his game. Maybe then, he can return a stronger player and become the hero we all crave.

Ross should be taking the ball on the half-turn, driving forward and seeing what he can create, not maintaining possession and ’control of the game’ by passing backwards and sideways to players under pressure. Yes, he’ll lose the ball, but do you know what? We’ll win it back, especially from tired opponents who’ve had to work hard and track back to cover because of the threat we can pose. Every backwards and sideways pass helps the opposition rest and get organised, every forward move hurts them.

The Goodison crowd knows this, and desperately tried to get it across to the players last night. I think the players know it too, it was very interesting watching Baines try his best to be boring in the studio last night. There seems to be only one man in the world who doesn’t know it.

Roberto, if you want to ’control the game’ take the fucking lead, and put the opposition on the back foot. Make them scared to make forward runs because we can hit them on the break, and put their defence under constant pressure so that they’ll finally crack when their legs and concentration go, don’t make it easy for them to watch us pass the ball around pointless for five minutes.

Unlike you I am still far from convinced that he possesses the mental agility to be a top midfielder he looks a bit vacant at times. Usually this is instinctive in the best players and isn’t something that can be coached into a player. As an example look at our past great midfielders: Sheedy, Steven, Ried, Bracewell. He doesn’t compare at the moment IMO.

Perhaps last night was some sort of watershed, and maybe the penny has dropped with the team that they all have to pitch in to show the fans they are sweating blood for that blue shirt? The reality is that very few of us know what goes on behind the scenes at Everton, so we are left to speculate that it was maybe the crowd who lit the blue touchpaper and not the manager unshackling the players.

All I know is that nothing less than the commitment shown in the last hour of last night’s game is the standard that the team should aspire to for 90 minutes of every remaining game. If that happens, I am sure they will start to enjoy their football as the mood of the supporters lifts?

Rom would still be my MotM. And on that performance if he’d a bagged a second goal could we actually award the ever-elusive "10" to him?

He was a beast. His touch was fantastic. He put forth an effort that was "Naismith-esque". He was just superb.

There should finally be one 10 awarded - to the fans. They literally lifted that team to victory. Although watching on TV in America, you could just sense it and definitely hear it. 30,000 plus saying, "Oh no boys, not today. Today is not the day you give up. Today is not the day we will stand for anything less than 100%."

The fans were just beautiful. That fan reaction / atmosphere, along with (off the top of my head) the Hull 5-3 game (Saha hattrick?), Neville’s tackle on Ronaldo, Fiorentina in a losing effort but great game, Oviedo’s goal over Man Utd at Old Trafford, the FA Cup final (bad result but so great to be there), the FA Cup shootout victory, and the Arsenal game last year...

One of my favorite viewing experiences was THAT crowd on Thursday in my 8½ years of "Blueness".

Awesome. If you were there, pat yourself on the back. You deserve it. It was just freaking great to see.

Jeff Hughes and Mike Allison: spot-on, I think, about Ross Barkley. He was really poor last night but I believe that persevering with him is a huge investment in our future.

For me, Big Dunc (as heÂ’s so affectionately known amongst Evertonians) wasnÂ’t really that good a player (in my opinion); his goal-scoring record wasnÂ’t that good, and his attitude to the game was shocking at times... witness his disciplinary record.

And yet some people on here seem to think he’ll be the answer to all our ills. I hate to break this to you, Paul, but heÂ’s been on our bench all season... and look where we are. Good job, Big Dunc!