Martinez rejects Alcaraz criticism

"I don't think defensively he had a poor game, I think as a team we put our defence and keeper under immense pressure because our defensive performance as a team wasn't up to standard."

If he thought that wasn't a poor game by his centre-back then I am amazed. It's one thing to not criticise individual players; it's another to not recognise that somebody's game wasn't up to the required standard.

Anyone know if Garbutt has signed that contract yet?

Alcaraz had a nightmare of a game and should have been subbed before 30 mins, as Reidy said, "You're sitting with me son", pity we didn't have a tall, CB in our team who can head a ball when they are pumped in from distance, apart from the two we do have in Stones and Distin,

Joe the results aren't bad are they? WBA have lost, Leicester are dead, Burnley are going to lose. Palace winning is the only one we would want to be different. If Sunderland lose tonight and we get 3 points tomorrow then I will consider us finally safe barring a total disaster.

When will someone call this idiot's bluff and turn his nonsense back on him?

Funny that logic didn't apply to the goal keeping position after 3 clean sheets....

So why did RM return Howard in goal after three clean sheets by Robles?

RM by his talk seems to contradict himself so no wonder so many think he is out of his depth.

It’s all up to anyone’s interpretation but that’s how I see his comment. Basically he sees it as someone else has taken a bullet meant for him.

Alcaraz had a mare so don't say anything or something along the lines of " the lad will be disappointed by his performance"

Yes there was no pressure on the ball that allowed Kiev to ping balls in the box at will, but FFS the balls were bread and butter for any CB let alone a 'top class experienced international' and it would've been disappointing if the CB from your mates Sunday league team had 'dealt' with crosses like that.

BTW, I thought the Barca way was when you lose the ball you swarm al over the opposition to get it back again.

We should be checking the results for Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and dare I say it the RS of a weekend NOT Leicester, Palace, WBA and Burnley. That's how far backwards we've gone...........not quite the Champions League as BK was apparently promised. (Did anyone actually believe that other than BK and Rocky?)

If we lose to QPR then that has got to be it for RM, surely?

Looking forward to the season ending and having a break from this farce of a season.

On Sunday though, we had more cohesive set up and a midfield who were quick to move the ball out and two forwards who were getting in the face of the Newcastle defenders.

So I can see what Martinez says about our defence being worth the start on Wednesday. English International Centre Half and left full back, Irish International right full back and and Alcaraz who had palyed quite well on Sunday.

It soon became apparent though that, a our midfield was being overran and Barry in particular was slower to the ball than the oppositon and once they were past him that was that. It also became apparent early on that Alacaraz was having a very iffy start.

I felt he should have been taken off before half time and replaced with John Stones. I also think Barry should have been on the bench and Gibson start the match.

We looked frail down our left and crosses were going in with depressing regularity.

To me though, I wouldn't be singling out Alcaraz as though our defeat was solely due to him. I don't think that's true. Our goalkeeper was beaten twice with shots from outside the area. I thought his positioning for them was really poor. A couple of weeks ago, I think it was Young Boys who went ahead with a very similar goal and the press was calling it a "wonder goal". Well I don't think it was and two of the goals the other night were the same. At the time they were scored our goalie appeared to be well outside our 6 yard box. I think even I could put the ball in an empty net...if I could kick it that far! I think that Robles deserved his chance and I think Howard needs dropping and shouldn't have come right back in.

I also looked on in amazement as our captain headed a ball right in to our own danger area which led directly to another goal for Kiev. That was poor as well. So that was 3 goals at least, that I think were down mostly to our own doing.

Lukaku and Atsu, I thought kept some pressure on the opposition but were getting little support from the midfield.

So I agree that Alcaraz was not alone in having a poor game,,, but he should have been hauled off and that's where I disagree with Martinez.

Frustrating, depressing and Martinez got it wrong in my view, when we could have and should have, given Kiev a much sterner test.

Didn't stop him dropping Robles after 3 clean sheets FFS

BUT, itÂ’s not his fault he was selected. The blame for that lies at the brown-shoed feet of the ghost of Mike Walker. A man who will neither shut up or fuck off. Computer says no Roberto, take your right-angled couch and your two tellies back to cloud cuckoo land.

I routinely hit the off button when I see him on TV, same with the radio, and I no longer read the Echo sports pages.

The saddest thing about this is that my Martinez dartboard has to go too, and this has given me hours of pleasure recently.

I will donate this to his next club, which, a good source tells me, will be Prescot 'evo-stik' Cables. As a special favour, they are going to reward my donation with a quantity of their sponsor's product.

I am sure this will come in very useful for us before he departs for Hope Street at the end of this season.

Oh my God, I have just become as deluded as our great leader!

Really, him offering an opinion about any defensive topic is not worth reporting.

I'm sure with Roberto's comments he must have another match streamed into his thick stubborn head from an unknown source, as it's obviously not the one we see week-in & week-out!

You bought a Wigan dud, Roberto, grow a spine and admit it, FFS! (Or was he free? Either way, they saw us coming!)

I admire managers who stand by the team when it's not playing well, but there are times when the manager can be nothing more than honest and tell it like it is.
Martinez really is insulting the intelligence of us Everton fans and football fans in general. My Arsenal-supporting friend called me today to tell me we have a "Walter Mitty" on our hands! The manager is digging a serious big hole for himself.

Yes, he has a point that the whole team should defend a whole lot better, but what can some of the team do if they're getting overrun because he insisted that Barkley and Atsu stay high up the pitch with Lukaku, ready for the counter, but in turn leaving no cover for the FBs and leaving gaps in CM so we were getting run ragged all game?!

Imo, when we equalised, we should've dropped Barkley into a 3-man midfield, got on the ball and killed the game for the rest of the half and go again in the second half. But no, not in Roberto's thinking. Instead he kept us open and we got badly punished!

I couldn't believe that a manager who masterminded a one-nil win in the FA Cup final against a very talented Man City with spot on tactics, could approach a Europa League tie away from home against a Kiev side with their record at home like that!

And the bit about Stones only just recovering from a virus and not playing a game beforehand and it being a risk to put him back in his bollocks! So how come, when he came back from his ligament damage injury in the season, he pretty much brought him straight back in? He should've been in from the start, a virus doesn't all of a sudden make you unfit!

And how come when Howard came back from a calf injury, he came straight back in for an in-form Robles?

Same with Baines. Soon as he was fit, he was straight back in for Garbutt who hadn't put a foot wrong; same goes for McCarthy. Soon as he was back he was straight in for Besic, even though Barry as been the weak link in midfield. I know McCarthy should always play when fit, but it's beside the point; if someone comes in for these injured players and plays well, then they shouldn't be the ones to suffer when they're back fit, imo!

Alcaraz is a mistake waiting to happen and should never have started an important game like that ahead of Stones! And back to the point about Martinez being right about the team should've defended better as an whole, but you can't blame things on a team issue when your CD can't read or win headers and he is a total liability to the rest of 'em!

Just another case of our manager's disregard for other teams' strengths with his thinking of that "with my philosophy, we will score more than the opposition can".

If Martinez had done his preparation properly, he would have known Dinamo throw crosses in.

Why play two central DMs and two central AMs (Naismith and Barkley and then complain about crosses not being prevented from coming in?

It's no wonder that Baines's and Coleman's games have gone to pot. They don't know who will cover in front of them or link up with them.

How the hell Martinez got a coaching badge, I will never know.

For that comment alone, he should be sacked. I know he's got to protect his players but Jesus, the amount of rubbish the man comes out with is just incredible.

I wonder if there is more to Martinez bringing in duds from Wigan with him... you'd think that, with a little more money available to him, he would look at more reliable, high-calibre targets.

The thing I find most worrying about what has happened this season is that, behind the scenes, he has taken apart the infrastructure that had so carefully been built over 10 years. Training has become febble and people are leaving because they can't work with him. And that is what we know...

Wait. He didn't want to disrupt a defence that kept a clean sheet in the previous game, yet earlier in the season he dropped Robles after 3 successive clean sheets – up to that point, our only clean sheets all season in the league.

He is so out of his depth it is unbelievable. He contradicts himself week after week. He's definitely lost it.

Martinez has already had a blow up with Distin and put him in the deep freeze. There have been rumours of dressing-room discontent all season and it started developing leaks for the first time in years.

It's the same with Barry. By rights both should have been dropped, or "rested", long ago. But if he does he's got three, or more, mightily pissed off senior pros in Distin, Barry and Howard kicking their heels on the bench.

You need the senior pros. It's easy saying "drop them" but it's not as easy as that sometimes. From Martinez's perspective, it may be best to just get this season out of the way and ditch them in the summer. Although, as he has given Howard & Barry 4- & 3-year deals, that may be easier said than done!!

From a footballing perspective, though, Barry just needs less football at his age, starting 25 games max. Then when he played we'd get the best of him, because he'd be fresh. Stuff like playing every minute of three games in ten days for a stocky, immobile, 33-year-old holding player is just asking for trouble and actually does the player himself zero favours.

If there is anyone out there who knows what this means, please let me know. ٣ if you can enlighten me.

Over this disappointing of seasons, I've come to believe that Roberto's main objective was to fulfil his promise to BK to qualify for CL... by winning the Europa League.

I know it sounds deluded but I'm sure he prioritised that competition and was happy to 'rest' players in Premier League matches so as to have them available for Europe. Thus, his surprising selections against Newcastle was in this cause rather than brilliant foresight.

I'm told he did the same at Wigan vis a vie the FA Cup – and it's success got him the Everton job, didn't it?

Bet there won't be many changes for tomorrow although Barry is suspended and Alcaraz will probably have pulled a hammy!

Regardless of the QPR result, his Everton contract must be terminated. A new manager would then have time to get his feet under the table in time for the next pre-season.

Does anyone know exactly what it is going to cost us to 'terminate his contract'?

I'm fed up of hearing the same thing over and over again – but what will it cost!!

Okay somebody will probably say that it will cost more if we don't terminate – but same question: What will it cost if we do??

Saves you the job, eh, Robbie?

The suggestion that his critics are now using the benefit of hindsight, is insulting. Anyone who has seen Stones ad Alcaraz play this season knew the gormless twat had named the wrong team before a ball was kicked.

Gerrimarofere

a) Doesn't know what his best side is
b) Believes that experience is the be-all and end-all;
c) Doesn't seem to mind losing and that I think has been shown in the players' performances this season;
d) Doesn't seem to take anything on board from the press, the fans or any other quarter.

Last season it was relatively easy to manage the team as enough results went the right way often enough, but the test of any manager at any level is when things are going wrong and, in my opinion, Roberto doesn't have the necessary armoury to cope with failure. He ignores it and strongly believes that things will over time get better; that isn't good management... that's dereliction of duty.

I honestly believe if Everton FC keep this man for longer than the end of this season, it will be the most catastrophic mistake that Bill Kenwright and the rest of the board will have made in their entire time at the helm and possibly the single worst mistake the club will have made in its entire history.

A good gambler knows when to cut his losses and, as BK is known to like a flutter, I would advise him to cut those losses asap, because in the long run it will save him money and it may save his club.

He really is out of his depth and this comment clearly displays this.

I was a fan of his last season but his choice to stay on at the World Cup as a pundit started in me a distaste for his behavour, his tactics and his persona. I know it's time for him to resign but regretably he would prefer to be sacked for the big money payout. Honour no longer has a place in modern life and especially in football.

Trouble is that with a new extended contract last summer – and 'a good Europa', only relegation will see the back of him and none of us want that.

More suffering in store, I feel. Then, I suspect, it will be the turn of Stubbs and Weir. Oh dear!

And that's the way it's been all too often this season. I reckon a lot of it has to do with Coleman and Baines not getting enough support from midfield.

My own view? I can see (sort of) what he is trying to do, and if we had Messi in the side it could work a treat. But, in the situation in which we have found ourselves, I worry at the apparent stubborness (surely he doesn't really believe some of what he says after games? Does he?)

I also feel he has little clue as to how to defend. If we were six-nil up against a mixed sex team of over sixties from the House of Lords, I would still have fear and trembling in my heart every time they attacked or won a corner.

Howard should be dropped as he is utterly pathetic and believes in his own mind that he is a goal keeping god.

Alcaraz and Barry just aren't up to it, I didn't see the midweek game due to a personal tragedy but by all accounts Alcaraz was inept as hell. Barry hasn't got a brain fast enough to make up for his creaking body and we got the best out of him while he was trying to secure a permanent move.

So that's the spine of the team that needs replacing.

Will it happen???

Don't dare make a bet on the first name on Martinez's team sheet next season, I bet it begins with H.

Dropping Gibson and Kone after tearing one off Newcastle is unforgiveable.

Okay, Lennon was cup tied, but had we gone with the same mindset in Kiev, just maybe we would have put them on the backfoot a bit more, taking pressure off our back four.

I have no doubts Gibson will start Sunday, dropping him next week to bring Barry back in is a cert, let's just hope for a win Sunday.

Personally, I would bring Stones and Robles in, I will not hold my breath though.

What will it take until impotent Bill puts everyone out of their misery?

We were fooled though, he still hasn't a clue. When we stay up it won't be because of Roberto, it will be in spite of him. That, and there are three or four teams worse than us. Sad!!

QPR now 1/8 to be relegated whilst we are out to 80/1

Worry ye not!

The bottom line is one that so far neither RM or BK wants to admit and that is they have gotten it all wrong. Other poor teams below them in the Premier League will keep Everton from the bottom three but that must not disguise the fact that big changes need to be made as soon as the season is over.

The honeymoon with RM of last season is forgotten and BK has to determine if he wants to gamble with RM again next season. Most of us cannot see RM doing anything differently and so the answer is obvious.

He now contradicts himself virtually every time he indulges in 'manager speak'. I bet he plays Alcatraz on Sunday just because that is how he operates.

There's a mental health charity called MIND and I wonder if they recognise any serious delusional traits when they listen to him. By the way I mean no offence to anyone who either suffers from mental health issues or anyone who knows of anyone who does, it's just that this guy needs help.

We often think of footballers as being not very intelligent and a little dim, but I really do wonder what the senior pros at Everton who have been round the block a bit, actually think of our current manager?

Baines actually got closest to the truth when he appeared as a pundit on TV a couple of weeks ago, without actually spilling the beans.

In the first few months of his tenure at the club, most people welcomed his positivity after 11 years of the ginger one, but few recognised it as 'the early stages of some sort of mental dementia'.

Maybe one day in the future, we may see him being carried off during a post match press conference by a couple of health professionals screaming, "It's phenomenal, it's phenomenal"...

Team Meetings

God I wish. It's about us (the team) that is giving us belief.

This is the phrase that worries me most of all. I'm not surprised he's defending his players, I don't even think that's a terrible thing to do, but the statement above is ridiculous and pretty much underlines the problems many fans have with Martinez and why he has to go.

1. The time to 'look back at the game' and see 'what you should have done' was after 40-45 minutes when it was clear that Alcaraz was totally out of his depth, Barry was absolutely ineffectual and our tactical approach was getting ripped to pieces.

2. No Mr Martinez, you do NOT 'have to allow football to make the decisions'; the person making the decisions is the football manager, ie, you in this case.

Your initial poor decision in team selection, then abject failure to make any decisions at the time when they could have impacted the flow of the game (eg, before 65 minutes when we were 4-1 down and heads had started to drop) are what contributed to the ensuing 'football', not vice versa. Then again, the less said about the decisions he eventually did make the better – Osman and Kone on wasn't so bad, but taking off Naismith and Atsu rather than the redundant defensive midfielder when the only thing that could save us was 2 goals is just mindboggling.

I agree 100%.

So why did he replace Robles with Tim Howard after his three clean sheets? Selective messaging again from Roberto!

I would read fuck all into these comments. This is politics and ego massage and nothing more.

I expect to see changes tomorrow inspite of these comments and expect another round of vanilla flavoured press action after the final whistle.

Team tomorrow:

Howard
Coleman, Jagielka, Stones, Baines
McCarthy, Gibson
Lennon, Barkley, Naismith
Lukaku

#COYB

Anyone see Soccer AM Saturday morning? Eddie Howe was interviewed, he was asked who he supported... Everton was his answer! His favourite player... Tony Cottee! That did freak me out slightly.

Would anybody have Eddie Howe? I would as he can't be any worse than this tool we have in charge. I know he is a young coach but I would prefer us having a British manager at this point in time, maybe alongside Alan Irvine/Peter Reid.

Just my opinion guys & gals.

For once I agree with something he has said though, it's not fair to blame Alcaraz as it's clearly Martinez's fault. Sack him asap please as I can't keep watching the shite he puts on display.

Whoever our manager is in the summer could do worse than look at Ritchie and Arter at Bournemouth, Flint at Bristol and Fodringham at Swindon. However, I doubt RM would consider this. I doubt humble pie will be on the menu at the next shareholders dinner.

The manager, players and fans are unhappy. A win tomorrow will see us nine points clear from the bottom three. Once we are safe officially, change must come. If a manager cannot take responsibility and blames everyone else, well you lose all respect. It's time for change.

The big question is whether Martinez truly believes what he says. The answer will be provided today. If he plays alcaraz then for me Roberto has shown that he is too stubborn to ever be a good manager. He will take us down eventually if that is the case.

Tell me again, Roberto, then why did Howard get his place back?

John Stones was really "thrown in at the deep end" this afternoon at Loftus Road... and was absolutely brilliant at times.

"Throw him in at the deep end"??? He's a professional footballer, a brilliant youngster, a proven exceptional defender, with the prospect of a fantastic career... playing football is his very essence. "Thrown him in at the deep end"??? ... Really? Maybe he was still recovering from a virus in Kiev... but then why was he on the bench?

And now for a gem from the bizarre world of the Parallel Universe: "had we won that game, or even kept a clean sheet, nobody here would have mentioned him"!!!!

Here's the whole point, though, Pete. We didn't win. We lost 5-2, squandering the lead from the first leg. Most who watched the real game in this Universe saw that Alcaraz was simply atrocious, and of course they mentioned it... in abundance. This is what we call the Real World. End of.