Martinez happy with display against Lille

Also Naismith and McCarthy were outstanding; we need a point in Germany and weÂ’ll top the group.

Thats more like it Robbie lad, brush aside these silly journos and let your players do the talking on the pitch.

BTW Congratulation on a job well . . VERY well done

Very good performance from the lads though. Great to see Jags back to his best, and a much improved game from Rom.

Martin (1) a draw with Wolfsburg and a win against Krasnodar will guarantee we top the group. If we draw in Germany and drop points v the Russians; Wolfsburg could sneak ahead into top spot.

Anyways; weÂ’re pretty much through into the final 32 at the moment which is the important thing.

COYB

I was impressed with the defence even if it was against a slightly blunt attack, Jagielka looks back to his best now thankfully, Distin was generally solid, had a few hairy moments but was in the main good.

Lukaku was better than he has been so far, much more of a threat and looked more mobile.

Special mentions though for as per usual McCarthy and Naismith.

How much ground does McCarthy cover eh?
Is he even human?..

Naismith just does what he does so well and it's a great shame when he gets taken out of his favourite position to accommodate Barkley, it'sa nice dilemma to have for Martinez though.

The task then being, to stay there or get as near to Chelsea as possible. I do hope leaving Seamus out last night was precautionary, and not a sign of something more sinister. I can't see Sunderland posing that much of a threat, given their recent form and showing, however as always they must be treated with respect.

Don't take Sunderland too lightly either though mate.

We are Everton and we rarely make anything look easy.

Sunderland will pose a totally different threat than Lille, they will be more physical and the crowd will be behind them so the last thing we need to do is start slowly or sluggishly.

On paper we should beat them yes but it's all about attitude and making it happen on the day, we should have beat Palace and Leicester but didn't.

I'd take a scrappy hard fought win.

I agree with the point about Lukaku trying that first-time layoff one time too many, sometimes I know this sounds weird but I wish he'd do a bit more what Anichebe used to do, back in to the defender and shield the ball more.

It used to looked a bit lumbering and ungainly when Anichebe performed it but it yielded some results like the odd penalty here and there when defenders would try to wrestle him down.

Sometimes Lukaku needs to learn when to just get that ball, take it into his body and make himself the human shield his physique suggests he can be. That said, he will learn; he was better last night and hopefully he goes on to improve more – he needs to do it week-in & week-out now.

Good to see Gibbo and Atsu getting some gametime but can't ever see them in a starting line-up. Gibbo is a good player who can read the game and see a pass but the knee injury will force him to avoid tackles. Many folk can't take to Atsu but, after a nervy start, I thought he did okay and can see him featuring later on.

Watching Besic on the bench reminded me of Delboy. Eyes glued on the match, mentally kicking and heading every ball and roaring with delight when we score. In front of him sits Ross. Gloomy as a dark wet night with not a trace of excitement or enthusiasm. We know he's a blue but I wish he'd show it.

All-in-all, a job well done and on to Sunderland who upped their form the other day with Fletcher scoring two great goals. Rotation will mean a different line-up with probably a bit less fluidity than last night but the squad is looking pretty strong. I hope we do enough to win.

Harold Matthews @14,

Re: Besic and Barkley.

What a load of rubbish. If you are seriously trying to suggest that Everton and their results mean more to Deulofeu and Besic than they do to Barkley then you are so far off the mark it is untrue. Just like the statement itself.

Only one of those three would feel more than a blow to their professional pride when witnessing (or even playing in) an Everton loss.

How would you actually know the emotions they run through on the bench throughout a match anyway? Where would you even be able to witness these goings on for more than the few brief moments the subs bench is shown on TV?

Genuine question. From your seat in front of the TV, how did you manage to monitor the bench throughout the entire game?

Ross looked miserable, for one moment, when the TV camera was on him? So what? Who gives a damn if he looked a bit down at not playing? Maybe he was just desperate to be out there on the pitch. Maybe for the 88 minutes that the TV cameras didn't focus on the bench and were pointed at the pitch, he looked happy as a pig in shit?

A very strange statement to make and attempt to portray as fact rather than your own opinion when it is based on so very little evidence.

Naismith is getting praised but some posters are still having little digs at Osman.

From what I saw, I would say that Naismith lost the ball as least as much, if not more than Osman but nothing is being said about it.

This isn't a Naismith bashing, he played well last night and like Ossie is a very intelligent player but it's just funny how some players can get away with things and others get immediately pounced upon when a little thing goes wrong.

I do agree with Harold though, Ossie was goosed after about 65 mins

If you are posting your thoughts on an online forum then you have to be prepared for people to comment on them.

If it is no one else's business and you just want people to ignore what you say, then that leads to the obvious question of why bother?

Keep that up Roberto and you might just make it into my Top Five Best Everton Managers !

Jay. Yes. Sometimes I do wonder why I bother.

Steady on Harold. Have you now fallen over that wooden stick you referred to before! If you want the privilege of posting on TW, then you have to take the stick - wooden or otherwise.

Anyway, Sunderland looms.... Let's concentrate on that.

As for Mcarthy, he proved every penny of that transfer few last night. People talk about the likes of Mascherano, Alonso, Vidal etc.... But in Mcarthy we have a very underrated talent.

A massively underrated player who quietly goes about his work of shielding the defence line..... Look at Busquets at Barcelona... Not the first name you think of when talking about Barca, but over the last few years he has been one of the biggest contributors to there success.