Martinez on injuries ahead of Villa match

Lady luck shines on us again!

RM explained over the summer that our squad is big enough and good enough to compete in the Prem and in Europe. I agree.

The problem is that Oviedo, and Gibson are only now getting anywhere near match fitness while Kone is still miles off. Injuries to Coleman and Barkley have affected our play massively!

Mirallas a big blow, add McCarthy, Lukaku not 100% and now Stones it really has been a nightmare start to the season. It can only get better!

Yeah right, Roberto.

Surely Coleman and McCarthy should be back by the end of the month?

However, this is Everton and if they fail to get 3 points I think it will shape our season (badly).

I don't see how the manager refusing to succumb to self pity, or resorting to using a lengthy injury list as a ready made excuse to roll over and write the season off already, is a sign of weakness or delusion.

How would people rather he react in public? It would be more pleasing or palatable if he takes on a pessimistic persona instead?

...........

'Before I start this press conference I just need to warn all Evertonians that they may want to sit down first and have an empty carrier bag handy--for taking deep breaths into or wrapping over their own head. Either option would be perfectly understandable right now.

I myself have a loaded gun...here...a little snub nose strapped to my ankle...and, I must say, the catastrophic news about John Stones has seen it pressed against my cranium and contemplating ending not only the season but my entire existence.

John is injured ladies and gentleman. HE'S INJURED!! Another one to add to the list. Another setback that sees us facing insurmountable odds. Seriously, why do we even bother?

If I were a stronger man, I might put it aside and attempt to struggle on, make the best of what remains and show sufficient resolve in an attempt to steady the ship and stay the course.

Alas, I've come to realise that attitude is incredibly annoying and winds some people right up, so what I want to say instead..and I would ask all Evertonians to say it along with me....is 'FUCK MY LIFE!'.

There. That's better. Now we all know where we stand.

I'll see you all at Goodison for the Villa game. Well, those who can stomach it because, I warn you now, we don't stand a chance. May as well forfeit the game and fuck off to an afternoon session at the Bingo instead.More chance of witnessing a win that way.

[Sigh, followed by a rueful shake of the head]

Players I thought I could rely on have suddenly turned to humanoid shit creatures with shit for brains, shiny shit bodies and solidified shit boots.
Others have seen themselves struck down, their shitty bodies cracked and crumbled like that dry white kind of dog shit you used to see curdling on the curb as a kid.

Christ. I can't even say to you 'just hold out until January and pray for reinforcements' because, if the first few months of the season are anything to go by, the entire football club will have been colonised by big intergalactic bug creatures, like those bastards in Starship Troopers, by then.

So, the wisest course of action open to me is, obviously, to opine our misfortune at every opportunity and warn all Evertonians to 'Be afraid. Be very afraid'...because, basically, a bloody big arsed bluebottle called 'bad luck' has leapt into our teleportation pod and the teams cock and balls have fallen off and are currently being kept in a cockle jar in the bathroom cabinet.

There's no way we can fuck Villa or anyone else over ever again. Ever. We are cockless. Sans schlong. We have no weapon whatsoever. We're the Everton Eunuch's.

Fuck our lives'.

............

The old cliche of 'it never rains but it pours' certainly seems apt at the moment, but I can't see what other choice the manager has but to put his faith in those players left standing and hope they repay him by rediscovering some form.

If Martinez does start to lose his ever present positivity then that's when the problems will really become insurmountable. If the manager were to stop believing that results, performances and personnel will improve, then he may as well pack his bags there and then because...why bother?

http://www.excelsiorgroup.co.uk/blog/preventing-hamstring-injuries-do-you-need-do-another-warm

Thanks

No he didn’t!!!!! He said we needed 6-8 new players, then he dropped it to 4-6 then he said about 4 and we had plenty of youngsters to bring in.

He has signed 3 players, 2 of which were already in our squad from last season, and "blooded" one youngster!! He is full of shit or doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing, personally I actually think both !

And Distin played a lot of games pre-season!!!! Is he for real!!! Everton didn’t play many games pre-season and certainly none of any note when you compare it to our rivals!

Every time this cretin opens his mouth, he makes more of a fool of himself and shows how totally out of his depth he is. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry!!

I think there is quite a difference to being optimistic and being in total denial at how much you have fucked up in such an extraordinary way. If just reminds me of his interviews when at Wigan when he would arrogantly proclaim that they would continue to play football "his way". Well that worked out well for them, didn’t it!

And a win at Villa... well, call me a pessimist, but conceding an average of 2.3 goals a game would make a win unlikely.

What's the best we can hope for over the next month?

Fingers crossed for at least two or three good wins from Villa, Burnley, Swansea and Sunderland plus making certain of qualification in the Europa League... and let's throw in some much-needed good performances.

I don't know about anybody else here but I really want us to get past this Europa League group, and have a good little run or at least get a tie like Inter Milan or a Champions League drop-out after Christmas. It could possibly be our last European adventure for some time and I fully intend on enjoying it.

Think of it another way. Get through the Euro group and into the latter stages and all our players that we miss now, our most creative players, will be fit and raring to go for a full-on tilt at a trophy come the New Year! Barkley, Coleman and Mirallas firing on all cylinders with Lukaku in the middle in Europe is something that no team will want to come up against.

Look on the bright side people, things could be worse, we could have Ricky Fucking Lambert sat on our bench!

I have maintained that the strength of any squad is illustrated by who is sitting on the bench and ours does not measure up to our competitors. We did not add to our previous seasons squad. We just replaced players that left. Two of our signings were already with us on loan so they did not add the numbers required.

Now we have a long list of injuries and every international break is watched with dismay in case yet another player picks up a knock. Coleman went off with a slight concussion but now it seems he picked up some other injury. McCarthy is another and Pienaar looks like he is hobbling.

Hibbert is back in defence along with Jags, Baines and possibly a returning Distin or Alcaraz. Barry will probably be partnered by Besic in defensive midfield. Hopefully Oviedo will get a run in place of Pienaar alongside Naismith and McGeady or Atsu, with Rom up front.

Lets hope that Kone and Barkley make the bench alongside Osman and EtoÂ’o as it is about time we had something to cheer us all up.

It would be nice to get through with a game to spare and play Browning and a couple others so we can have a good look at Â’em.

Of course it's a manager's job to publicly support his players, no matter how bad things may get. However, as I believe he is equally culpable for much that is not working right at the moment (IMO), I almost find it patronizing when he gets out in front of the camera, farting rainbows and bubble gum.

I admire his faith and confidence and I truly hope it all comes together and we get through this bad spell soon. In the meantime, I would prefer he just rolled up his sleeves and got to work sorting it out.

Let's face it, there's an awful lot of dross around the club at present and each new signing seems more crap than the one before! Seems he ought to be looking to change his scouts as well...

I quite like the man... however, I like Everton being in the Premier League better. If we start lingering in the bottom 4 or 5 of the league, I would not have faith in him getting us out of the shit, come squeaky-bum time.

"Sylvain needed a bit of a rest, obviously he played a lot of football, in the preseason too. He is someone I needed to manage his amount of games, and his input. He is fully fit, has trained really well and is now making sure we see him fighting for his place in the team.

"With the amount of games that we have, and the amount of competitions we have, we wanted to make sure we treat the individuals with different needs, making sure that everyone gets refreshed and regenerated throughout the season so everyone can play a big part every time they are on the pitch.

"In Sylvain's case in the last couple of weeks, he needed to refresh and work on certain aspects and now he is back and ready to fight for his place on the team."

We most definitely need a win on Saturday to give us the best reason possible for glossing over Roberto's increasingly annoying utterances!

What with the saga of Lukaku's toe and Atsu's head it's beginning to sound more like Jackanory everyday.

If you get sprinters to do lots of stamina work and long distance stuff they lose pace, and interestingly it also results in an increase of hamstring injuries.

"You will always get rumours but the reality was that he picked up a knock after the Swansea game and obviously at that period I considered it was right for him to have a bit of break and rejuvenate," said Marti­nez. "Sometimes he is such a professional he works too hard. He is someone who is not just happy with what he does with the team, he has his individual programmes and he works too much.

"I felt that he needed a bit of a break but now he has come back refreshed and ready to fight for his place. He could have played the last game against Manchester United and maybe Krasnodar, but the little knock that he had stopped him from being available for Liverpool and from that point on it was just making sure he could recover. Sylvain is training well and is fully refreshed and is ready to fight for his place."

I would like to see Besic and McCarthy, if fit, start in midfield. I thought this was quite a good article as to why...

http://www.therussianlinesman.com/blog/compelling-introduction-muhamed-besic-played-way-Evertons-first-choice-xi/