Barkley needs lots more games

Ross is probably a bit like Ya Ya who spends more time on the ball than the others.

Personally, I'm slightly disappointed. He always had the look of a goal scorer but it seems he will now be aiming for assists.

When he starts games he looks like a genuine talent who could potentially grow to be world class, when he comes on as a sub he looks like he's won a competition to be there and is wearing his boots on the wrong feet.

Due to his natural abilities to run at pace with the ball into space, Ross is best suited to playing from a deeper position in the long term, perhaps as a midfield two alongside someone like Barry or Besic who have more natural defensive tendencies.

To play behind the striker, you need a lot more footballing intelligence. Someone like Pienaar, Naismith. It will come for Ross too, but perhaps not for a long while.

Given that's the case, Ross is going to need to put in more work off the ball to turn him into a top quality all round midfielder, and give us that balance. You can't carry a player in this league, especially not in the middle of the park.

Blimey, has the ghost of Moyes taken up residence inside Roberto?

One of our big problems is lack of movement. Not even Messi can pick up the ball and ghost past half a team except on the rarest of occasions. Most top attacking players rely on movement and taking up intelligent positions to create chances, advance the play or score goals.

Look at Eto'o's header a few weeks ago. It was his movement from deep that created the chance for him to get his head on the ball. It wasn't his height or his ability to beat players with skill or his running ability.

I think and hope Roberto is going to try to get Ross to rely less on trying to beat half a team when he gets the ball, and perhaps work more on his off-the-ball game to try to get in really good positions.

The other thing I'd say is that I can't think of many players who Roberto has ruined. Most seem to have improved under him and gained in confidence. We should have a bit of faith that Roberto will improve Ross in the right areas without disrupting his natural talents.

Then again its all just press conference nonsense I never bother with, but I just thought it was interesting to make the contrast if this had been quoted by Moyes.

All Roberto is saying is that Ross is currently much better suited to playing the No 10 role as it plays to his strengths rather than a deeper role which requires much more defensive work. He's not yet ready for that although he will grow into it, particularly for home matches where we need to break down stubborn opponents who park the bus.

We are going to continue to play with 2 defensive midfielders to allow our full-backs - the best in the Premier League - to get forward and provide width.

He needs to learn, my concern is that these are the same areas he has needed to develop for the last few seasons. He doesn't seem to be a quick learner, or is ignoring what he is being asked to do. Hodgsons rollicking may be a little insight into his attitude ie maybe he can't accept advice?

I don't know if its a none CL club type of thing, but say at Chelsea or City you have your two deep in their 4231, but you don't hear of getting Silva or Hazard touted as future midfielder generals sitting deep pulling the strings. Shouldn't Ross be sitting behind the strikers ripping up defences and well into the future? I don't see him as the Lampard type no matter how many goals that guy has got. I want Ross to frighten the defences not pull the strings further back.

His 'greatness' is more about what we know he CAN do rather than what he DOES on anything like a regular basis.

I've had a go at Roberto on a number of occasions and he helps Ross not one iota by all his 'greatness' speeches. But he's right in saying the lad will need a hundred games under his belt to be a midfield general.

The question is whether the manager can afford him automatic inclusion when he often doesn't merit selection.

Ross won't get better by sitting out games or playing 10 minutes here and there. He needs games. He needs to make mistakes, learn, play against top quality defenders every week.

He probably has more natural talent and ability than any player in our squad, all thats required is fine tuning and guidance. By all accounts he is well grounded and eager to learn, so there is no reason not to give him as much game time as required, even if it hurts our results in the short term.

Infact the same is true of Lukaku and Stones. Players like Browning and Garbutt could well make the grade too, but are perhaps less proven than the other 3.

If we can develop those kind of young players as a core of a future Everton side I think we're in good shape.

The last manager talked about his players a lot.

With such gems as "Baines is the second best left back in the league "

Bet he felt 10 feet tall in his next game

Trouble is that in the modern game not only we, but the paymasters, demand instant results. With so much at stake per Premier point - and managers' bonuses being aligned to points targets - 'developing teams' as they used to do has gone out of the window. We all want it NOW !

One aspect of Rosses game that does concern me is his decision making 'in the last third'. I've heard it said that is something that can't be taught because it's entirely instinctive. We shall see.

What planet are you on Phil? He’s played all of about 2 games this season and got an assist in one, and your there berating him. He should start every important game he is fit for, no question at all. He needs to get to these hundred games as quickly as possible. Even now he is one of, if not the, best attacking player in the squad, and in a few years time, if he rightly gets the games he could be one of the best players Europe.

Some fans on here have very short memories. I swear, if a player didn’t score in last weeks game then he’s crap.

McCarthy, Besic and Barkley have the potential to be one of the best and most expansive midfield threes in world football. Then with Big Rom, Stones and Coleman in that mix.And some of the other lads coming though like Ledson, Browning, Green, Mcaleny etc. Wow.

Let the boys play and get behind their development. COYB

Hard to say for ceratin but, to me Roberto is saying that where Ross is now, there are aspects of the game he needs to learn to develop a "great player" and become the Midfield General that Roberto hopes he'll become.

It's great when he waltzes through half a team and sends in a belter past a bemused goalie (last season's home game against Man City.) and sends the crowd wild. Too often though, he'll make wrong decisions, lose the ball or doesn't see the killer pass.

I think it is nonsense to say we should just chuck youngsters in and expect them to become seasoned professionals overnight. I've seen that happen too often at Everton, when we have been in the mire and hoped that youngsters will pull us out of it.

Ross has got great natural talent, has great skill with the ball but he is only half the player that I hope he will be.

If anyone can remember Bobby Collins, well he was the Man who ran the team. As much as I hate to say it, Gerrard has done the same for our dear neighbours. Peter Reid in the Eighties team is another great.

If Ross can become like any of them in reading a game, geeing up other players and learning to see the game several moves ahead. We truly will have a great player.

He is still only a very young player and he loads ability which will eventually show itself but it will be a be long learning road. I think the same applies to Lukaku.

Time to stick to our best team for a run of games as this season really needs to Â’startÂ’ from this weekend! Hope Mirralas is fit as his absence has me convinced he is possibly our most important player. No substitute for pace and goals from midfield.

it's this latter area were Barkley is dividing opinions, Hodgson just won't stand for possession lost , he won't carry just flair/luxury players , Martinez allows mistakes to be made but only in the knowledge that Barry and McCarthy can clear up the mess. Martinez clearly means that Barkley cannot, will not be allowed to play in Barry's position yet. It is Barry that controls are game, McCarthy's role is to get the ball back ASAP after we lose it, it is Barry that sets the pace.

Barkley's current role is to put the fear of God into the oppositions midfield and back four , keep them on their toes and try to get Lukaku, et al in behind them. He does it as I said early this week, once in about 4/5 games, which at the moment isn't good enough to displace Naismith.

Time flies in football and itÂ’s about time Ross showed some maturity and the ability to learn his best position, adapt his game to suit it and force his way into the team on merit because, if heÂ’s not careful, heÂ’ll be spending more time on the bench and then blundering around as a sub and no amount of hype from Martinez will be able to excuse the waste of his talent.

Hopefully, he will be a great Everton player in years to come but he's not there yet. When we have a full team again, it seems to me that Martinez is allowing Ross to use his talent in the most effective way, and he can surely do that. But it is as a forward running, extremely skillful and exciting talent that he is able to help our team.

You're right about his first touch for the goal, yet throughout the match, I thought his good and not-so-good points were on show. It is not that great.

I think Lukaku is in a similar stage of maturity. Eto'o showed both of them how apply the skills they have in an all round effective way.

These two lads are both talented but it's Martinez's job to develop other aspects of their games. I'm sure he will.

We just have to be a bit patient as both Pienaar and Naismith have many years of experience. Match fitness and confidence go hand in hand so let's not expect too much from Ross until he has another 5-6 games under his belt.

Just how poor were Distin and Jags in the first few games and now they look pretty good. Even Barry took a few games to come good. Mirallas was up and running pretty quick after a slow start.

For me, play Ross next to Lukaku in a 4-4-2. In the middle, creating havoc and running at the back four.

We're fighting for consistency at the moment, which means we need players all over the park who DO deliver AND who aren't on the pitch to keep up their morale... He was poor at Sunderland and Swansea and Burnley. Not great yesterday either, apart from first 10. His dive was embarrassing.

Roberto sees him every day and I think has it spot on. Ross was so physically superior to opponents in youth football that his size and power were enough but he is against grown men now and he has yet to learn how to play sensibly against them and then burst forward when the right opportunity appears.

Ledson and Walsh are coming through now and will overtake him if he doesn't get to grips with what Roberto and Hodgson are trying to teach him. Like Linda above, I love him but would take City's hand off if 㿞-60m was offered as it would be a great deposit on the new stadium which we have to get in order to progress and I think we have the youngsters coming through to replace him if he continues at his current level of performance.

The team would be: Howard, Coleman, Jagielka and Distin, Baines, McCarthy and Osman in front of the back four. Mirallas, Pienaar out wide on the flanks with Barkley and Lukaku striking.

It is about time Barkley started getting in position to score goals; otherwise, he is hardly worth a place in the side. He can frighten defences if he runs at them but deeper he is wasted.

I just watched the first half of QPR v Liverpool and that wide left guy Bolasie runs like Bolt and is as strong as a bull. I said we should have tried for him a year ago. He is so fast and direct with a bullet shot, I would love to see him playing for us. He should definitely be in a better side than QPR.

It'll be another 18 months to two years before Ross has the necessary experience to dominate games in the PL. Unfortunately the lad does seem a tad introspective and unlike Rooney does not at this moment in time, immediately come to life on the football pitch.... But he will do – and hopefully in the blue shirt of Everton.

I think many fans are quite pragmatic, they understand the financial constraints of the club, and the fact that Martinez apparently has a long-term plan that he is working towards and are prepared to give the side time to develop, providing they can see evidence that things may improve down the line.

That's certainly how I see things. I could quite happily live with a few mid-table finishes, if it meant that in 3 or 4 years we had a core group of young players who were immensely talented and able to crack the top 4 and stand a decent chance of staying there.

Only Martinez knows why he isn't picking the younger players so much. Maybe he doesn't rate Browning or Garbutt, although I find that hard to believe, especially when the alternative is a very awkward Hibbert playing out of position. Maybe they're not performing so well in training? Either way, I'm hoping by the end of the season they get a decent chance.

Unfortunately for Ross, there are a lot better out there for the money we would get for him.

Anyway, I hope you agree that Bolasie is worth a punt.

If Ross was performing like a 㿞M player I would not want to sell him but if City offer that now when he may make it big or may not then I would take the money. If it was 㿊M, I would probably say No but a ridiculous offer like 㿞-60M whilst he is playing so inconsistently would be hard to turn down.

As for Seamus, Colin, he is the best in the country in his position so a totally different proposition and should not be sold. Selling unrealized potential for a crazy fee is another matter entirely.