Distin's exile a forward-thinking move for Martinez

I honestly think we will go under next season with Martinez still here, itÂ’s a club that looks totally on its knees in terms of positivity and energy.

I will stick my neck out and say Martinez wonÂ’t see out the calender year of 2015. He will be here in August, heavens knows why, but he will be because we are too gutless to move him on but a bad start to the league, and another early League Cup exit should see him ushered out and replaced by a positive hungry manager that will regain the heart and soul of EFC.

LetÂ’s be honest, Martinez has been a lucky man at times this season, he could easily have been sacked after the horrendous Christmas period was capped off by the New Years Day horror show at Hull.

We should get rid of him in the summer, get a new man in for the summer window and pre season rather than giving him 10 games or whatever.

We have done to death his imbalanced teams, players out of position, perseverance of playing players when out of form......the list is endless, and every one purely "footballing decisions".

Now I know weÂ’re really in the shit next season if this idiot stays.

I actually think this is a very good decision by Martinez. Distin has been on his last legs for a while, and as well as heÂ’s served the club, Stones is obviously a better choice in the short and long term.

Enough has been said about his Brazilian tour and subsequent diabolical pre-season but not a word from the man himself. We have yet to hear the slightest explanation about that episode. Come to think of it, I have yet to see or hear our lickspittle press query him about it.

Then we suffered months of his philosophical brain-numbing tripe that had us heading in the same direction as his previous club. Thankfully our predicament and growing vocal abuse from spectators forced him to employ a more direct style plus a few very fortunate results helped us climb from danger.

Snippets of gossip surfaced about his mantra that ball possession was more important than attempts at goal. As recently as yesterday we have seen the result of that idiocy.

Practicing corners and free kicks were not on his menu and that also has been exposed as stupid tom foolery. He stands like one of Lewis’s mannequins, alone in his technical area and unlike all other managers neither speaks to or seeks advice from his assistants. With his warped ideas he probably will claim the Sunderland game as another phenomenal success.

Slowly but surely that kind of crap is looking more and more like exactly that. If Kenwright had an ounce of brains or gumption he would rid us of Martinez today. Whoever his replacement a few extra days in the hot seat would be invaluable.

HeÂ’s been asked by a journo to respond to the comment by Distin and he has answered it with dignity without dragging Everton FC through the mud, turning us into a Newcastle.

If you really believe that what a football manager says to the media is the same as what he says to his staff and players then you are bloody naive.

Surely with birdman injured a fit Distin would have at least made the bench a couple of times.....

Sorry, bollocks again from the manager. He may have been right to drop/banish Distin but his explanation is obviously utter crap.

Back to Jim, I could not have put it better, mate. Roberto Martinez is a total fraud, heÂ’s been shown up and should have definitely been shown the door before the West Ham FA Cup game. We need a major overhaul within the squad and I would not trust this idiot to do it. We have a full 11 who could and probably should go, but unfortunately we would be lucky to raise ٤m from them.

IÂ’m not a typical moaning fan, IÂ’m a season ticket holder along with my dad and two young sons but IÂ’ve seen as much of Roberto that I can handle, please get him out.

I know this 100% with 8 games to go Martinez, told the team anyone can take the penalties until the end of the season disregarding what the score is at the time of the penalty being taken. Now is that good managing or bad?

Playing Alcaraz ahead of Distin = idiocy.

YouÂ’re mixing two separate components together and coming up with something that tastes of crispy turd, Michael. Distin didnÂ’t decide to stay at Everton on the back of reassurances given by Martinez. The only reason the move fell through was due to the length of contract. West Ham offered six months. Distin demanded eighteen. It was widely reported at the time.

Can you guess which of them it is? If you wish to be treated like a mushroom that is your own prerogative.

So I am clear, you are saying that everything Martinez says in the press is a lie? Baseless? Or just babble?

Martinez hasnÂ’t done his best work this season. ThatÂ’s clear. If people want to dislike him for the product he has put on the field, IÂ’m right there with ya. I just want people to judge him on facts and not for things they think he might have done.

Why is Gareth Barry getting picked for every game when his form had been terrible, when we have a player in Besic that our manager reckons is a star player and well ahead of schedule, (plus when Gibson played, he was as part of a 3 DM formation!).

For me, Bobby has the potential to do well at Everton, however, it looks to me he will never learn from any of his mistakes and his stubbornness will be his downfall.

Distin is a model pro and deserved a bit more respect. If he wasnÂ’t in first team consideration he should have been given a free transfer in January not left to rot in the youth team. DoesnÂ’t sit right with me that.

I don’t watch postmatch interviews anymore – I can’t stand the hyperbole he constantly spouts.

I wouldnÂ’t go as far as to say everything Martinez says is a lie just for the sake of telling a lie. But as a manager of people, one of his responsibilities is the morale and motivation of his staff.

As performances this season have been somewhere between tedious and utter crap, to publicly call them crap every week will damage that morale unless you have mentally strong characters. But many of our players are not winners and need their hands holding.

RM has put his ego ahead of the club's welfare; whatever went between them both should have been put aside in the face of crying need. It wasn't and as a result we lost games, disrupted the team and cost the club income.

Footballing decision? Give me a break, if the fallout was that bad, Distin would have been let go, paid off and shown the door. It wasn’t a footballing decision made for the good of the club – it was made out of malice.

As stated above, he would have fared much better against Benteke and wouldnÂ’t have been bullied (fouled) as much by Wickham (didnÂ’t realise he was so big....)

As already said, the 'footballing reason' excuse goes out the window when you play Alcaraz alongside Barry.

I still hope Distin gets a run-out in the last match. He deserves it.

Footballing reason? My arse!

Jim, I think itÂ’s natural for someone who wants to change employers to lose a bit of their edge, concentration and motivation at their old job. ItÂ’s not really a conscious thing, it just happens. Once a player has made it known that they want to leave, most managers will try not to pick that player going forward. They donÂ’t know what his mindset will be like and they also want to concentrate on the players who want to be at the club.

When you read SouthallÂ’s and SharpÂ’s books, they both tell of KendallÂ’s ruthless and callous approach towards his the glory team of the 80s. The way he chucked aside Gray, Ratcliffe, Sharp, Southall etc. He made them play in the reserves for some; for others, he wouldnÂ’t let them come near the first team.

If a manager feels that the playerÂ’s presence is disruptive (rightly or wrongly), then to the manager, that is a footballing decision, because the manager sees that as having a direct impact on the footballing outcomes.

So, fact is, thatÂ’s how the manager would see it, IÂ’m not saying that itÂ’s right or wrong, but itÂ’s how the manager interprets it.

The playerÂ’s statement.

As been mentioned in the running discussion on this situation, when Distin came back from his "exile", Roberto put him back in the squad. He played. How bad a bust-up could it have been?

Now, Alcaraz playing before him? Pissed off at that, I could see. Wonder how Jags, Baines, and Coleman felt about it, too?

IÂ’m ready to accept that Distin not moving in the window was enough for the decision-makers. Roberto was told to park him for the rest of the season. Those situations happens. Look at the flip side, the terrific position Garbutt finds himself in. It happens.

But:

HeÂ’s lost a yard of pace (Oh boy).

HeÂ’s leaking goals. (No. Alcaraz did and Stones still is.)

Distin + EtoÂ’o = Unrest (in hushed voice, "They speak French to one another . . . . nuff said").

His right foot is shit (my current favorite).

WhatÂ’s done is done. Just hope the starting 11 out of the tunnel last game includes Sylvain Distin.

If we analyse it from the "footballing reasons" explanation, it makes no sense whatsoever. Even though Distin is past his best, I still believe that he has plenty to offer. He still has pace and his "put us all on a line" comment signifies that. He has always had good positional sense and he is arguably the best CB in the air when dealing with crosses. Does Alcaraz tick any of these boxes?

I would definitely play Stones and that is not in question, but Distin should be at least on the bench for every game. Also, I wonder how the rest of the players view the treatment of Distin, who has been an honest, hard working and reliable colleague to many of them for several years. These kind of actions can have an effect on team morale, particularly when the alternative is Alcaraz, who some of the players appear to place little faith in. I have seen Stones bollocking Alcaraz on several occasions.

This is not Man Utd, you cannot jettison a player for non-footballing reasons if you lack the quality to replace him.

The team no longer played to its strengths, and it had to change, it did but I suspect Distin was the scapegoat for RM pride. He didnÂ’t like it. Rather than use Distin when he was needed he let his ego get in the way of a "footballing decision".

I like that Roberto tries to play football but he has a lack of common sense and a bullshit overdrive button (only to be pressed at media interviews) which frankly, is cringe worthy. We donÂ’t have the money to buy the quality that is required to deliver a consistently high quality footballing team. Without the consistency we continually make mistakes that many of our team have been coached out of at an early age.

Remember, "DonÂ’t play around with it at the back"? or "if in doubt get it out" or the classic, "donÂ’t try to play football in your own box"
We are no Barcelona... Lukaku is no Messi, Distin is just a good honest Pro... Roberto is not as good as he thinks he is.

Over here we have the term "contract year" where guys play their last year looking for a contract elsewhere. It is usually one of their better years because they are trying to impress. I donÂ’t buy for one moment a professional player who is looking to play elsewhere, not retire, would lose his edge and certainly not enough of one to warrant anywhere near the treatment and exile that Distin has received.

At the very minimum he would be better than Alcaraz who continues to make the bench and couldnÂ’t possibly be responsible for more goals than Stones. I understand playing Stones. Plus it would be nice to see an Everton CB outmuscle an opposing player on set pieces.

If you see Distin trying to turn and react to a speedy striker running off his shoulder you can see Distin is clearly not a first choice starter anymore. So the blooding of Stones was the correct choice.

However, why freeze him out completely when the alternatives after Jags and Stones is Alcaraz?

Dustin has always struck me as a model pro: he's fit as a butcher's dog and he obviously looks after himself, so training wouldnÂ’t be a problem. HeÂ’s forged close friendships with Howard and Jags and when we have been beat in the past he clearly seems to give a shit.

It strikes me he may have been one of the senior players to actually question Martinez face to face. Nothing else can explain why he's been frozen out. Martinez has obviously got a problem with Distin, saying the right thing and toeing the line with the press can't ever hide that.

It's a shame but he won't be the last footballer to be frozen out by a manager; Alex Ferguson was notorious for it.