McCarthy remains doubtful for West Ham clash

Shame Kone isn't Irish!!!!

I was somewhat surprised by Martinez saying that Oviedo is still "quite a little while away from being ready"

I thought the operation to remove the screws was going to be a simple one that meant he wouldn't miss anything worse than a week or two?

We just never seem to make progress with getting injured players fit quickly.

We were told Kone would possibly be back early Autumn, yet mow he's gone until New Year at least.

I suppose we shouldn't expect to see Mirallas back before January either?

I'm sorry if it's sounding negative but the way this season has go e is making it pretty hard to be anything but.

Big Fat Sam will be wondering what way to set his team up and what training routines to use in preparation.

Don't be too surprised if Baines, Coleman, McCarthy and Gibson all recover in time.

With the large number of injuries we are experiencing, I believe that it is time for the manager to see if the faith he had in these youngsters is warranted by giving at least one or two a chance to prove themselves. Who knows a bit of youthful exuberance may liven some players who are not playing up to their potential.

My team if all those players are unfit is:

Howard
Coleman Jagielka Distin Garbutt
Barkley Besic
McGeady Eto'o Pienaar
Naismith

With Lukaku off the bench, especially if we are winning and there is space at the back for West Ham.

I believe Eto'o behind Naismith could be our best combination for teams that pack the defense tightly. Eto'os vision and and Naismith's movement proving a good double act to break a stubborn rearguard to my mind.

Browning aside, we have not seen the likes of Garbutt, Galloway, McAleney, Grant or Long progress to the first team. Even McAleny got a rare outing under Moyes a few years ago. And Long was involved pre-season.

Surely with all these problematic and recurring injuries, now is the time to shake things up a little?

Barkley is a potential liability anywhere but in an advanced role and I see Nais making a better contribution right now.

Hopefully McCarthy will make the cut and we can see how Besic and McCarthy do.

Hopefully Bainesy and Kev are fit and will strengthen our chances.

But an inexperienced line up against the high flying Hammers would be tantamount to throwing the points away,

Garbutt does not seem to have progressed this season and the manager seems to feel Browning is not ready yet.

Howard
Coleman Jagielka Distin Garbutt
Besic
McGeady Barkley Osman Naismith
Lukaku

Eto'o, Pienaar, Browning, Hibbert are the only realistic options for getting playing time from the bench. The rest of the bench could be interesting: possibly, Ledson and Atsu (other than Robles).

But there are many other possibilities: push Pienaar/Hibbert into a Left Back role if he thinks that Garbutt is not ready to start a full game. Or pair Pienaar with Besic in a deep lying role or provide the 'old heads' of Osman and Pienaar to shore up the defensive midfield with Besic and play McGeady, Barkley and Lukaku in a front 3. Or play a back 3 of Jagielka, Browning and Distin with Besic providing additional defensive cover and use Coleman and Pienaar as wing-backs.

I am talking:

Howard
Jagielka Browning Distin
Coleman Besic Pienaar
Barkley Osman Naismith
Lukaku

SUBS: Robles, Eto'o, McGeady, Atsu, Garbutt, Hibbert, Ledson

Despite disliking OFM intensely, he always stepped up in times of injury crises and we usually did far better than expected. It was when he had a full squad to choose from that he seemed unsure who to play.

Roberto now has to do the same. He needs to use his remaining assets in the most effective manner or it could be a long time till Xmas.

I don't think there's a chance of Pienaar playing a wingback. Yes he tracks back, but he has no positional sense defensively whatsoever, which isn't his fault, just that he isn't a full back.

I'd like to see Besic with Barkley in midfield, but I imagine it's going to be Osman. I think the team would look like this:

Howard
Coleman Jagielka Distin Baines
Besic Osman
McGeady Eto'o Naismith
Lukaku

Barkley might fit in there somewhere, but despite West Ham playing well, that's a team good enough to beat them.

Barkley can be a liability but he's strong, fast and can pass the ball decently off both feet. He arguably had one his best games for us in the derby last season when dropped back. I don't see a better option currently assuming, as I originally stated, that McCarthy and Gibson are unfit.

I agree, Naismith or Eto'o are better fits for the attacking midfield role but surely we want Barkley in the team if possible. He has to play his way back to sharpness and continue to learn his craft. Missing this many players in defensive midfield seems the perfect opportunity to me given the lack of alternatives to try him there again.

Howard
Browning Jagielka Distin
Coleman Besic Osman Barkley Pienaar/Eto'o
Lukaku Naismith

Or his favourite 4-2-3-1 formation:

Howard

Coleman Jagielka Distin Garbutt
Besic. Osman
McGeady Barkley Pienaar/Eto'o
Lukaku

'he's a creative/attacking player and nothing else, just get real.'

a) He's really not very creative is though. How many assists has he got this or last season? Very, very few.

b) Who are you to say what he is with such certainty? The lad's 20 years old and has yet to nail down one position. Martinez has tried in him in at least 4 different roles this last season and a half.

c) To my eye he's clearly suited to a box -to-box player rather than an intricate attacking playmaker. Maybe he'll develop into one but right now he isn't one. I reckon that some time in DMC while we are short there will benefit him in the long run.

Although I do agree that Martinez will probably play Osman instead I don't think thats the right move. Time will tell.

I haven't seen Barkley win a tackle yet, I haven't seen him track a player, I haven't seen him win a midfield header, he hasn't an ounce of "defensiveness" in him.

If he doesn't develop into an attacking midfielder, he won't ever become a good PL player.

Spot on again Sam.

Sounds as though you don't watch us a lot then!

I've watched Barkley dominate in central positions for Everton and England youth teams and he has all those things in his locker. Of course it's different doing it consistently in the premiership and I'm not saying the defensive side of his game is anywhere near his strength but he certainly has the capacity.

The lad has a good engine, is pretty quick and he's a solid 6-ft plus build. He's so clearly a Yaya Toure / Steven Gerrard type player and not a David Silva / Juan Mata type. Box to box... not picking locks. There, I made it rhyme so you can remember it.

What baffles me is that for all his lauding of young Barkley, he seems to prefer Naismith or Ossie behind Lukaku even though it is obviously the younger man's prime role! Perhaps he's right to do so?

Just for clarity.
You are suggesting Osman should be in the team, in the position behind the centre forward, before Barkle?

If Ross gets the shout against West Ham then I hope he makes himself undroppable!

Agree fully with your analysis of Barkley.

All this 'you're either an attacking midfielder or a defensive midfielder' bollocks is just pointless modern pigeonholing and Barkley finds himself automatically placed firmly in the former category because of his perceived weakness of giving the ball away 'all the time'.

Like losing possession isn't something that happens to every player. Everton 'legend' (fuck me) Phil Neville spent his entire captaincy miscontrolling the ball like his boots were made from Lego, sending passes astray, and then pointing forwards as though some fucker should be chasing after it. Osman loses the ball a lot. Pienaar is another. McGeady, Mirallas, Lukaku, they all do it. It's just with Ross it's jumped on and pointed out constantly whilst, with others, it's written off as part and parcel of the game (look no further than last nights over-the-top weaction fwom that Wombles wesembling wanker Woy). Coleman often gets robbed while trying to beat a man and is then caught out of position at the wrong end of the pitch, but no one ever has a go at him about it or writes him off as a liability. He's expected to try and run with it and make things happen, as Ross is, and it can't always come off.

What's wrong with just being a plain, old fashioned, central midfielder anyway? As you say, anyone who witnessed Barkley at youth level will know he has the capacity to control a game from the middle when given the responsibility. He can pass it short or long, can speed up the tempo of a game by driving forward from deeper areas, is physically capable of coming out of his fair share of challenges with the ball, can win it in the air (despite claims to the contrary on this thread) and he has more passing options open to him than just an isolated lone forward surrounded by two or three defenders.

His best performance for the first team to date was probably in the Goodison derby last year, when he dropped back into a more orthodox central midfield role and completely changed the whole complexion of the game. He was involved in everything good that day and provided a glimpse of what he could, and should, ultimately become.

People who prefere, Naismith or Ossie before Ross in the hole are "barking mad" and donÂ’t know enough about the game! how the feck you can come to that decision, I will never know.

Ossie is just "lucky"to play In premiership never mind take the place of a massive talent like Ross. Naismith is just a work horse and scores the "odd goal," this lad just runs around in circles doing fecking nothing!.. (Last two games) There are many players with "that talent" playing non league.

Said it many times before, until we get rid of players of this weak standard! We will NEVER! win feck all. These too players are only part of a group of players that will always stop us being a top team in premiership.

No, I am not a Ossie and Naismith hater!....Before people get their lame excuses out about these players, they build up as world beaters. Just being realistic about something which is fecking obvious!!

Barkley will play deeper alongside a holding midfielder, much in the same way Toure plays alongside Fernando at Man City; the same as Dembele (a box to box midfielder) plays alongside Capoue ( a holding midfielder) at Spurs.

Barry and McCarthy are both very defence minded players and in certain games I don't think we need to play both at the same time. Barkley could add something a little more dynamic from playing deeper role.

At the moment Naismith is actually a better option playing as a supporting striker, because Naismith works harder to close down the opposition and – being vastly more experienced – he currently has more intelligence about where to put himself to cause damage. That will come for Barkley too with matches.

Two defensive midfielders can be excused when we have Coleman and Baines playing at being wingers, but with Baines likely to be out, I can't see Garbutt being as cavalier, or as effective.

Barkley has the frame and ability to play as a box-to-box midfielder, he won't throw himself into tackles like McCarthy, but he will shield the ball and use his strength to win or keep possession.

With the extra space he'll get picking the ball up from deep positions, he can really hurt West Ham. He's a much better choice in there than Osman, who is more disciplined and experienced, but too lightweight.

Seems odd that we've gone from having so many options at centre mid, to scraping the barrel in the space of a couple of weeks! On the plus side, I'm looking forward to Besic getting a sustained run in the side. The Chelsea cameo apart, he's looked very good whenever he's played since.

Three kids are a lot and I think he will minimise changes and perhaps just have one of them play. Barkley is far better with the ball and I want to see him in the opposing half of the field and run at defenders not just make short passes. His strength is in playing directly and linking up with the wide men.

At present we only have two wide players available unless Mirallas makes a miraculous recovery. McGeady and Atsu are the only players who can play wide. I just hope that Pienaar and Baines make the team as they play well together.

If McCarthy is not fit then we are left with Besic and another from Naismith, Browning, Garbutt if Baines is fit to play or Osman. Garbutt might be worth a try as he has a great left foot and takes very good dead ball kicks. He is fast and is already a defender.

As for Osman, well you know what you'll get from him, and for that reason he may get the nod. Still, he struggled to play in the centre last season in those first few draws; he'll find it more difficult a year on. Could we move McGeady into the centre with Barkley and Besic? Is there any chance of Mirallas being fit in time to take care of business out wide? Pienaar can play in the centre, but I think in some ways I'd prefer to see Barkley given the chance there.

I'd like to see more of a 4-3-3, with there being three fairly central to counter balance having our two mainstays out. Is there anyone in the frame from the youth set up? At least we're at home, but this will be a difficult match against a West Ham side that made a fairly positive start.

Common sense must prevail if the Blues are going to get some wins at home and climb the table. He cannot be frightened of blooding some young players when the situation arises.

Experience is one thing but not when those players are way past their best and no longer able to last the 90 minutes with reasonable consistency.

Everton have had a rather up and down season so far and any more points dropped, particularly at Goodison, must be translated that the rest of the season will be similar.

Does it not make sense that opportunity knocks for some of the talented youngsters to be given a run out?

Howard
Coleman, Jagielka, Distin, Oviedo
Barkley, Besic, Osman
McGeady, Lukaku, Eto'o (all three interchanging positions)

I do see Barkley as a player who can and should pick the ball up deep and pass, run whatever is on. He's not a tackler, he's not the type who will cover back, he's not a marker, he's a free spirit when on form can turn any game. I think when's he too far forward and he receives a pass with his back to goal he is far less effective than having space to run in.

I still think Martinez will push for a Besic - Osman pair rather than bringing Barkley back in a "defensive role".

On a separate issue, I would be disappointed if Martinez does put Hibbert as left back, when Garbutt surely deserves a chance (even though he gave a terrible goal away with England U21s last week).

If Martinez decides that Leon is more effective in that role than Ross, then there is something seriously wrong.

I watch Sterling and yes his form is up and down which you get from youngsters, but he has also turned in some scintillating performances, but so far I haven't seen that from Ross.

Moyes certainly did quite early in his reign and there have been signs of it from Roberto as things have got tougher this season.

Perhaps his pick for the Hammers game will show us whether he is the cavalier so many make him out to be or just the same old same old.

Having said that, if we lose, most on here will brand him a clown whomsoever he selects... or wheresoever he plays Ossie!