Martinez Rediscovers His Mojo

I would be very careful suggesting that RM has his mojo back. I tend to think that the senior players decided some months back that his style didn't suit and changed their game which has resulted in the upturn of results.

Certainly the inane passing at the back has greatly diminished, we have stopped playing two holding defensive midfield players for a more attacking 4-1-4-1 system. Now some may say that the change is down to RM but I don't buy it; he said some months back that he wouldn't change his style – but the team has changed its style.

It was a result I did not expect but boy did I enjoy it. Let's do Villa in next week (a team I have always disliked since they beat us in the replay in Manchester to win the League Cup) to keep the run going. Come on, you Blues!!!!

You may be right... it may have been player power that caused the change in style. But it's hard for Martinez to defend himself. His public comments are (1) he has not changed his philosophy and (2) he cannot discuss tactics publicly.

Either way Martinez has allowed the change of style to take place and I think he is unlikely to fully revert to full-on tikka tacca, at least until he has players that can execute it better.

A few wins does not make him a hero anymore than the bumpy season makes him a villain. However, I am hopeful he will come out of this season wiser and one step closer to building a trophy-winning side. Maybe we can scramble our way up to 8th... reminds me of 1984 when we were around the relegation zone at Christmas, held firm, did not sack Kendall, and eventually finished 9th. And the following season moved up a further 9 places.

I am not blind to the fact he has made many many mistakes, but I really want him to succeed at Everton. It seems many do not. It seems to me that the prevailing attitude amongst some, is that any perceived failing in the team is the sole fault and responsibility of Roberto Martinez; however, any success is ’player power’ and achieved completely in spite of the manager.

It’s been so frustrating watching individual mistakes cost us all season; Howard and the defence have now found some form and, hey presto, we start to look like a proper outfit again. Stones and Jagielka will form one of the best defensive pairings in the division, so we can look forward to those two being our bedrock next season – still not sure Howard can carry on, however.

I have never seen a player track back and help his team as much as Lennon, we must make sure he becomes a permanent part of this Everton side – £6m is an absolute steal.

Unable to work today, hangover from hell but well worth the pain! Best game of the season.

He was so stubborn for 6 months, if he’d have adapted to these tactics earlier rather than waiting until a totally meaningless run-in, we’d probably be well inside the top 8 and challenging for the European spots. Instead, it looks like we’ll just about scrape 9th place, which considering where we were a couple of weeks ago, is fine, hardly going to be sniffed at.

His Wigan teams always put a run together at the end of a season. Look at the 2011-12 season: 7 wins in the last 9 matches despite being abysmal all season. If his team back then could do that in the last 9 games, beating Liverpool at Anfield, Arsenal at the Emirates, United at home, what stopped them doing that earlier?

It’s the same for us. Why have we been forced to wait until late March/April to put a run of form together? We saw yesterday what we can do, why couldn’t we have done that earlier?

Well, the stock answer we’ve been given is "Oh, he’s learnt, he’s changed tactics." OK, why didn’t he ’learn’ and ’adapt’ earlier? Nothing was exactly stopping him. He still continually made the same errors for months.

Let’s not suddenly erase the last 30 games off the back of a good run of form, which we’ve had to wait nearly 7 months for incidentally. It’s too late, far too late. On our day we can beat anyone, and after yesterday RM has no excuses. There’s no World Cup, so there is no more excuses for tiredness or a shambolic pre-season, and there’s no Europa League football, so by rights he has no more excuse to fall back on.

Just on the Europa, I hate the excuse being used. It’s just a convenient excuse for failure and the continuous tactical errors we’ve seen made this season. People now saying we’re doing well because of our exit from the EL but, if that is the case, why between November and February did we win 2 in 12 Premier League games and go out of the FA Cup at the earliest opportunity?

Don’t get me wrong – it was a great win and Martinez set us up well, but let’s not exaggerate please or start with the smug ’Where’s the Martinez out brigade now?’ crap because fans like that are the worst kind. I’m not referring to anyone on here, but the kind of fans who are now proclaiming that they were right to maintain faith in RM, ignoring any arguments against him and ignoring that for a period this season, there was a genuine concern over being involved in any relegation battle.

RM has kept a top 6 side up. Well done to him. But the fact that we were even mentioning the word ’relegation’ after the season we had last year, that is why he should have been sacked months ago, I’m afraid. We’ve seen what we are capable of, and with that squad we shouldn’t have been even talking about relegation or mid table.

Enjoy the win, but RM still has a long way to go before faith is fully restored in him.

It's great picking up points but, as is the crazy world of football, it has coincided with some of our worst performances of the season.

I hope he’s found his mojo because the guy is aging quick just like Moyes had done in his final couple of seasons.

Yes, he does mistakes, some of the football was tedious, but the majority of teams that played against us just sit back. How do we expect fast counter-attacking football when teams play against us so deep? And how can we stick to this high tempo all game? It’s just not possible when the opposition just stay compact in their own half.

Then we look at the players. Is it Martinez’s fault that Distin suddenly declined when he was so good last season? Although he’s playing really well now, the dismal early form of Tim Howard? The players simply weren’t good enough for the majority of the season.

It’s like what John Carver said two days ago,

"They expect me to put the ball in the net, stop the headers going in, stop the opposition from scoring,"

He’s referring to the Newcastle fans there and that’s what some of us expect from Martinez, he can’t be blamed for stupid defensive mistakes or bad performances, he doesn’t control them!!

I’m not saying he hasn’t done mistakes, but it’s a number of things, Europa league included, that has accounted for this poor season. He deserves another season to prove himself, because his first season was so good.

Man Utd attacked us from the off, and their two central midfielders, Blind and Herrera were absolutely appalling. Without Carrick, Man Utd are a shadow of the outfit they can be. Their midfield was wide open when they lost the ball, which left Barkley, Lukaku and Lennon with acres of space to run into and exploit – not exactly a management masterstroke, more a failing of the two midfield players from Man Utd.

Yes we played with more intensity than usual, but to lay this at the door of the manager seems rather short-sighted if you ask me.

Our form is much better in recent weeks, and that’s down to the players, not the manager – what has the manager done differently? Nothing as far as I can tell – it’s the players who should shoulder a huge amount of the blame for the shit we’ve been served up this season, not just the manager.

We’ve all laid into RM this season, but hardly anyone has pointed the finger at the people on the pitch, which I for one find strange.

Why haven’t we been able to produce the level of performance that we saw yesterday at any time during the season?

Why have not just one but several individuals – Howard, Barry, Barkley – had terrible seasons but look like different players now when it no longer matters very much?

Stones’s goal yesterday underlines the poor return this season from corners and set pieces – why is that ? Why have we crumbled so often this season in the second half of matches ?

I don’t want to hear any easy answers – "It’s because of Europe", "It’s down to the players". There are some real problems here that Martinez needs to put right. In the last month he’s made a good start. By Christmas, we should know whether he’s fit to finish the job.

I think the summer will be make or break for him. There will be a big turnover of players both out and in and he needs to get the majority right. Something you can’t really say about his signings to date.

Lennon gives me hope though. I think he has been our saviour this season and Martinez’s best signing. Yesterday was a great performance. And it's vital we keep hold of Stones. He is going to be world class. Barkley I’m not so sure about; I thought he had a poor game. His decision-making and passing is atrocious at times.

I said from my last comment there’s a mixture of reasons for the poor start, Martinez’s tactics being one of them, but poor form of players, injuries and tiredness of the Europa League. They’re all accountable.

He still deserves another season.

I for one will be very disappointed if he doesn’t come to the Blues permanently next season.

Having all full first-choice players out on Saturday certainly helps matters; despite Martinez’s obvious tactical errors and the team's lack of fitness, his selections have been hampered by the loss of some of his best players.

There has been some unhappiness in the squad, but he now seems to have weeded-out his problems (rightly or wrongly). We must not let the good win cloud our judgement though.
Barkley did some good things, and showed a good attitude, but his decision-making is poor, and some of his passing was wayward.

Also, I thought that Lukaku had a poor game, his first touch let him down again. He didn’t have a single shot on goal and he mistimed his jump with the centre-half on at least three occasions. He doesn’t seem able to head the ball. At corners, he is never a threat, which is surprising for his size. I honestly thought that Kone was an improvement when he came on!

It was a great win, like some of the counter-attacking stuff we played in Europe, but it isn’t going to apply in most games. We will need 6 new faces to give us cover in key positions this summer, or similar failings will reoccur.

Injuries and the size of the squad caused us all the early season problems and we should have provided more funds for strengthening the squad numbers before this campaign began. When a side is doing well, the club with ambition should strengthen and not just tread water. We failed to do that!

Unfortunately this doesn’t equate on the left side where Baines is playing deeper and Osman does little to substantiate his inclusion in a starting role which could easily have been Everton’s undoing early in this game. Martinez still hasn’t got the message regarding Osman but somehow other players saved the day.

There is still a lot of ’’Spring cleaning’’ to be done at the end of the season in order to cause optimism for next season.

In retrospect, the headline probably sounds more definitive than intended. It’s obviously too soon to see if he has his "mojo" back for good and he could lose again just as quickly but, if you’re looking for positive signs for next season and evidence that Martinez is adapting, then we’ve seen them.

Time will, of course, tell but to say that the manager doesn’t deserve a share of the credit is a little myopic. They were his tactics and instructions that were carried out yesterday. As I said above, it’s up to him to resolve the problems his team has with the lesser, more defensive teams.

Lennon, as you quite rightly say, has made an enormous difference. He’s doing what McGeady couldn’t manage. Also, as Leighton Baines pointed out, he has forced people to look at their own game and up their energy levels.

Our right hand side of Stones, Coleman. McCarthy and Lennon would seem to be as strong as anything in the league. I hope we can keep them together.

A truly glorious Sunday.

What I meant of course to say was that he is clearly a tactical genius perfectly capable of outwitting CL managers and must immediately be given an extended contract with a pay rise.

Thank you.

Surely he can recruit players better than his ex-Wigan prodigies during the summer?

It was not just the Evertonians who witnessed the Goodison faithful urge the players to ditch this brainless aimless fucking about at the back, it was on national television, the whole of the football community witnessed it. The demands of the faithful were clearly of far grater importance to the players than the manager's instructions.

Then we were told that the players went to the manager and told him they were not happy with his tactics and, despite his pathetic claims that nothing will change, the players in front of our eyes decided to ditch the manager's possession obsession – as clearly demonstrated yesterday when they were content to surrender possession in return for the rope-a-dope tactics which sank the Mancs.

Then one of our senior players admits that our group of players were embarrassed by the fitness, energy and commitment shown by a guy who is contracted to another club, this has shamed them into overcoming the manager's shameful failure to have them where they needed to be. All these things have resulted in an upturn in form and results.

Has Robbie got his Mojo back? Na, the only thing that's been well managed at Goodison these past few weeks has been the manager himself.

How we played against Man Utd is how we often played last season. I’ve no doubt that the players held meetings with Martinez to discuss what was going wrong, and made several suggestions to him – that’s perfectly reasonable management practice.

Where earlier in the season Martinez seemed stubborn to the point of excess, even as we struggled, that appears to have somewhat changed. Whether it’ll stick is another matter – but I don’t see anything particularly incompatible with maintaining a philosophy of how the game should be played, and making changes to tactics and approach within the context of that philosophy.

I hope – and it’s still hope, rather than expectation – that a season like this might see Martinez learn from his mistakes and approach the close season and next year a more flexible and effective manager.

Darren,

Everton played exactly the same yesterday as they had done in the corresponding fixture last year. Despite being portrayed as a one trick pony, Martinez has actually pulled out the ’let them have the ball and hit them on the counter’ card on a couple of occasions since he’s been here. It’s when other teams put that same plan into operation that he’s looked totally flummoxed and been unable to find a solution.

It’s a bit churlish (and purely speculative) to suggest yesterday’s game plan and the points picked up of late, are solely down to some sort of mutiny that has seen the managers last vestiges of authority flushed down the shitter in favour of all out player power. The playing squad and coaching staff have been equally culpable for the season of calamity we’ve all had to suffer through in my book. To pin the blame for every bad result on Martinez’s instructions, whilst portraying any positive as being due to the players having some belated epiphany and bypassing the man entirely, is a rigged game. There’s no way he can win. Even if he wins, he didn’t win. His players did... in pure defiance of the dickhead: "Did you see the score Sylvain lad? The gaffer couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Us, surrendering possession and not making stupid individual mistakes? That’ll show him! Keeping him in a job will teach that useless cunt a lesson he’ll never forget".

If it truly was as simple as being a ’him and them’ situation then he’d be long gone by now given the dross that’s been served up this season.

He’s managed the team to 4 victories recently and they’ve gradually increased in confidence. And it shouldn’t be forgotten that the Lennon loan was his doing.

The re-introduction of Stones and the return of Howard to some sort of form have made a big difference too.

He wasn’t going to be sacked anyway – at least now there is a glimmer of hope that we can compete.

I don’t particularly want to see McGeady or Alcaraz there next season, they’ve had their chance – will he be ruthless enough to get rid? Distin is nailed on to leave and I assume some of the older young lads.

Instead, we’re scrapping with West Ham and Stoke for 9th having spent most of the season looking over our shoulder in lower mid-table. We had to wait until April to see us play like that yesterday. Why not earlier?

That’s the fault of RM and his stubbornness.

Make no doubt about it, Martinez is a very strong boss and they all know it. Ask Distin, ask Mirallas, ask Besic, ask Naismith, ask Lukaku. It’s his squad and he does things his way.

Of course he has learnt things and changed things. Faced with all kinds of problems, most of them unknown to us, he has had to adapt whilst feeding the media stories of perpetual happiness. Not always great for the fans but, for him, it’s the way to do it.

From the back to the front, every player tries to perform the role he has awarded them. Coleman suddenly stops trying to dribble every defender, McCarthy joins the attack but gets back to help Barry protect the CBs, Barkley sticks to his designated area. Everyone fights for the team.

Bringing in Lennon was his master-stroke. The lightning fast, hard-working right-winger he has sought since he took over the reins. Sometimes the lad will stay wide, sometimes he comes inside. Sometimes he will race forward with the bench yelling "Drive, drive,drive." Wonderful stuff.

I believe we are still some way from where he wants us to be but he knows what he needs and I expect the board to back him.

If, as seems likely, he’s learning from his tactical mistakes, as highlighted in Sunday’s MotD and is varying his tactics to suit the opposition, we’ll find out in the remaining games of this season and the beginning of next season's games.

Winning breeds confidence in the manager and the players. Any attempt to return to playing that awful possession football, will IMO immediately be reflected in a loss of form and points, and also pressure for the manager to be removed again.

I’m mindful that our manager’s career, both as a player and manager, has been that of the underdog. There have been scary moments caused by stubbornness in his team selection and tactics of one size fits all. Because of this, Man Utd, the bookies and the media were united in expecting us to be thrashed.

As with Wigan, so now with Everton. I would prefer a more intelligent and flexible motivating manager. Rather than the self-satisfied image he postures.

Games where Ossie has played 45 minutes or more this season – 7 wins 2 draws 1 defeat. The other 24 games – 4 wins 9 draws 11 defeats.

It is clearly you who doesn’t get the message about Ossie. What a ridiculous comment!

It’s the quaint little notion that CL-challenging players would blindly follow instructions of a man whose tactics have already taken one team down and were beginning to threaten their own Premier League status – even their careers.

It's the cozy little notion that unwillingness to prepare for corner kicks wouldn't cost you everything you have worked for. It's the blind loyalty that will defend a man whose players' fitness and commitment level was so clearly exposed by the arrival of an outsider.

It's proper "fantasy football" to believe a man who was so bereft of answers or solutions when his tactics were being questioned to the point of ridicule by TV pundits and his own clubs fans, shouldn’t give way to the views of players who had spent their entire careers operating at a higher level than he had.

You all saw the fans force a change of tactics. You know what Baines said about Lennon. You read the players' quotes about going to the manager to put a stop to his suicidal tactics. You know that good players were looking like bad ones because they were being played out of position.

You know that the football you are now watching is nothing like the purposeless dross we were forced to endure for most of the season, that the drive you now witnessing from our midfielders and the "clear your lines" approach we have seen our defenders adopt is a million miles from the stupid possession obsession Martinez preaches.

The notion that Martinez has done this complete volte-face of his own volition, does indeed belong in "Fantasy Football". Players, who have far more experience than him of operating at the right end of the table, have offered him a lifeline and he has grabbed it with both hands.

One thing that would help though would be not following-up a poor result with nonsensical blatherings that make little sense. We don’t know what had gone on behind the scenes, but it is apparent that Martinez has a ruthless streak, as it seems he is willing to drop most of the team (except Howard, Jagielka & Barry) in his pursuit of his goal.

McCarthy’s blossoming over the last few games has happened whilst Naismith has sat on the bench, and the midfield has been less congested with players in each other’s way. Lennon has also given width to the right and helped to open up the inside track for McCarthy to exploit. This has taken our opponents by surprise, but it won’t be long before they notice and try to nullify it.

In fairness to the manager, he is there to make decisions... and, despite his mistakes, you have to let him manage. The next few games will be interesting, but the start of next season will be more important.

Whatever the opinions of the coaching/managerial ability of Martinez – opinions that seem to range from "HE’S SHIIIITE!" to ’I’d give him more time’ (I don’t actually think I’ve seen one this season saying ’he’s great’), I think one thing most would agree on is that his pre-/post-match blatherings make little sense and after a loss, have a ’salt in the wound’ effect on supporters.

However, it’s worth keeping in mind that we’re certainly not alone, re ’our manager talks bollocks’. Louis ’Spongebob Squarehead’ Van Gaal’s truly, truly odd after-match comments must have had Utd supporters fuming.

Imagine us losing 3-0 and RM saying... "I had the feeling; the warm-up was not so good. In the last minutes before the game you hope you can recover and stimulate your players but then it is too late. You have to prepare the match already two or three days before and our opponents have done that and they have won because of that."

TW would melt. Still, Van Gaal and Martinez have always got the ’I don’t speak the lingo good’ get-out.

Brendan ’Phil O’Siffah’ Rodgers (responsible for the ludicrous shite below) doesn’t.

Seriously, imagine having to swallow any of this shite on a regular basis:

"I’ve always said that you can live without water for many days, but you can’t live for a second without hope."

"My biggest mentor is myself because I’ve had to study, so that’s been my biggest influence."

"I started coaching for one reason and that was to make a difference for people, not just as footballers but as human beings."

"You train dogs, I like to educate players."

"I use a quote with the players: ’Per aspera ad astra’ which is Latin for through adversity to the stars."

"When you’ve got the ball 65-70% of the time, it’s a football death for the other team. We’re not at that stage yet, but that’s what we will get to. It’s death by football. You just suck the life out of them."

"I always say a squad is like a good meal – I’m not a great cook but a good meal takes a wee bit of time, but also to offer a good meal you need good ingredients."

"I believe a young player will run through a barbed wire fence for you. An older player looks for a hole in the fence."

"The problem with being a manager is it’s like trying to build an aircraft while it is flying."

"We play with 11 men, other teams play with 10 men and a goalkeeper>"

Etc, etc, blah, waffle, wank.

Listening to that level of shite would do my head in if were winning titles, so I imagine listening to it after a 0-0 at home to Hull or Sunderland.

Favourite bit on Sunday, Big Dunc’s reactions to the goals.

Let there be no doubt however that the catalyst for this change-around, regardless of Martinez' rumblings, was the shown displeasure of the supporters with the shite we were playing, the players' response to the supporters and the fact that Martinez's intractability had put us in a place we should never be in!