Keown: Mirallas and Barkley game-time is key to an improved Everton season

, 9 July, 7comments  |  Jump to most recent
The former Blues defender has backed Everton to enjoy a much improved 2015-16 season — provided boss Roberto Martinez can get Kevin Mirallas AND Ross Barkley on the pitch together more often.

» Read the full article at Liverpool Echo



Reader Comments (7)

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Paul Kossoff
1 Posted 09/07/2015 at 19:02:10
Keown is right regarding the freedom Everton had in Martinez's first season; hopefully we will have that again this season. If we don't, then God help us.
Ant Dwyer
2 Posted 10/07/2015 at 00:19:43
I'd agree with Keown on this, Barkley must be played centrally to find his vest form and Mirallas should be our go to man in wide areas like Hazard is for Chelsea.

In our own way we have a similar formation to the champions and with Ross being a young lad he should be allowed to float around a bit almost like Oscar does for Chelsea.

Again I'm not trying to compare these players or our beloved blues with Chelsea I'm just stating that there way isn't a bad blue print for us.

Harold Matthews
4 Posted 10/07/2015 at 04:31:39
Yes, Ant. The Chelsea blueprint would suit me just fine. though their spine of Courtois, Terry, Matic, Fabregas and Costa is a little bit out of our reach. Even so, I know what you mean but, for me, our "Hazard" would more likely be Deulofeu and our "Oscar" would be Cleverley. (Hopefully he will get into the box and put a few away.)

Barkley is a frustrating enigma. A jigsaw puzzle with the missing pieces awaiting delivery... What are these pieces? That's easy.

They portray the time when he finally matures and becomes a man. Sadly, his recent interview didn't fill me with hope.

Back to reality. The needlessly dropped points in the the first three games of the last two seasons must not be repeated. Martinez knows it. The players know it. Let's hope we get things right this time.

Joseph Clarke
5 Posted 10/07/2015 at 20:06:20
The team, manager and board, don't deserve the fantastic support they get.
Ross Edwards
6 Posted 10/07/2015 at 20:12:53
We won't have the freedom of his first season because we've been worked out. Teams know how to keep us quiet and limit our attacking ability.

So Martinez needs to rethink his tactics and adapt because, if he preservers with his usual tippy-tappy, it'll be more of the same.

Jim Lloyd
7 Posted 17/07/2015 at 15:10:19
Well, if the tippy tappy football is owt like the first season, that’ll do me. We’ve got a couple of good players in though Deulofeu is a bit immature and we’ll probably get frustrated to ....at times with him.

If Mirallas has committed himself to EFC, then I think we’ll see a lot me of him this season than last. And if Pienaar can stay fit, then I can see us getting a lot more forward and a lot faster than we did last season.

Ross, well he’s a conundrum. Bags of talent but last season it was pitiful to see him at times. Almost as if he’d hit a brick wall in his development. I think that Deulofeu, Pienaar and Mirallas will link up well with him but it’ll be hit and miss at times.

Yep, teams worked us out (except Man Utd!) and Roberto needs to be able to vary his tactics but we also had a lot of important players out for a long time and we didn’t have Geri either, so I’m cautiously optimistic..

Dan San
8 Posted 23/07/2015 at 02:49:40
I think he’s wrong, I think Barkley should only play when more consistent and Mirallas is good but not one of the best for the position he is in, if we could get a better player in this position we definitely should.

Keown is a Gooner; we should be careful taking advice from a player traditionally more associated with the team we have often looked most likely to dislodge from 4th spot.


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