Everton to face Boro in Capital One Cup 5th Round

It's not a bad draw all things considered. Certainly better than a trip to Old Trafford, the Etihad or Anfield, if you ask me. One step at a time but, yes, we have to play a full-strength side and do ourselves justice.

If we can avoid City in semis that will probably mean Europe if we assume they will get to the final. That means 2 more games to into Europe and more importantly have a chance of a trophy.

This will be the same – stronger support away from home and the players don't seem to be as tightly wound as they are at Goodison .

If we come out on the front foot, we will be through. Come on, the Saints.

I'm not sure the losing League Cup finalists ever did qualify for Europe, did they?

For the uber-optimistic, the final is the 28th of February.

I remember the marathon against them in 1988, Big Norm scoring a late winner against them in front of a delirious Street End in 1990, Back-of-the-echo netting up there during a win in the League Cup in the same game Big Dunc famously kissed a fan after scoring and knocking them out of the FA Cup at Goodison in 2009.

They have done us twice: League Cup in 2003 on pens and in Walter Smith's last game the year before... but, considering we could have got Man City, getting them isn't the end of the world.

We have been playing much better away from home this season, and with about 6,000 blues at Boro, we can easily win this one. They won't exactly be relishing playing us.

He, in my opinion, has let Robles and everyone else know that Howard, regardless of how he plays, is his Number 1.

If we were to be in touching distance of our first chance of silverware for years, he would have to play his strongest team. If he continued playing guys coming back from injury, squad players (and that includes Robles) and we were to lose the final, then he'd be finished at Goodison, and quite rightly.

Martinez by his actions and words has made a rod for his own back.

We know we're not the brightest team on the planet at present but we have a good squad of players. We should expect them to pick up their game again.

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As long as we avoid Man City in the semis I believe we have a very good chance of getting to the final.

When do the tickets for Boro go on sale?

Boro will fancy this one though so it's a potential banana-skin tie. We must go with Robles in goal and the strongest outfield we can muster. I'm confident in Funes Mori at the back and if Baines is fit, Stones plays as he should and not as he did last night, and Seamus is up for it, we should be solid at the back.It's the midfield and forwards that worry me.

Boro will play with high intensity so we need pace up front. Deulofeu must start, and Rom needs to find a new pair of boots that don't cramp his bloody shooting ability.

Will Barry have the pace to cope with Boro's pressing game? Besic an alternative to break up their attacks early? Left wing, Mirallas? He needs more game time before the tie though. Unfair to judge him harshly on last night's game as he's hardly had a kick all season.

Was Martinez talking out of his backside when he said Kev had an important part to play for us this season? So give him the chance to prove it. With him and Deulofeu raiding down the wings, Rom up front and maybe Barkley in his best role as #10? We might just be too much for Boro to handle.

Problems begin, however, if Martinez starts tinkering again as he did last night when a full strength team might have polished Norwich off in normal time. If we're really going all out to win this cup I'd agree to see him resting a couple of key players in the preceding league match if it helps w the semis.

Come on, Roberto, let's see some real management from you for once! We'll never have a better chance of silverware methinks.

I don't trust Martinez any more and the only way we could possibly go through to the semis was with a home draw in my humble opinion.

We always fuck up when it really matters. Well, in my world we do.

As for the draw, as perverse as it sounds, no matter how bad home form is, I would always opt for a home draw; but, as away draws go, considering who was left in the pot, I would take 'Boro.

Will we play a full strength side? Nope. Will we win? Maybe.

We have to really focus on this tournament now though – we are three victories away from silverware, silverware we've never won before.

A must-win tournament Roberto, get it done.

We have arguably a stronger side now so I can only surmise that Roberto's erratic selections along with some very bizarre tactics have caused such pessimism.

Strongest 11 should start, clear message being, destroy them. No stupid defensive howlers and we win. Boro are a good team but we saw how it went at Reading who aren't far off Boro. As soon as we upped the tempo and our flair players tired them out, they were spent.

This cup should mean more to us than anyone else. Boro simply must get promoted this season. City will prioritise the other competitions. Liverpool face a scrappy encounter with Saints who will be targeting this one imagines.

We have not won this trophy and we haven't won a trophy for 20 years. If they win the next 4 matches in this competition they can play this suicidal if not sometimes exciting brand of football for the rest of the season and finish 9th or whatever.

I see Lukaku, Barkley and Deulofeu and can see a core of kids emerging and bonding. All three were cool customers with the penalties last night.

That said, for all our chaotic playing style, we are very difficult to beat and Barkley, Lukaku and Deulofeu are a formidable trio.

So a strong team, the team that most punters on here would pick. Most of us preach from the same book. Let's hope Martinez does... soon.

How about after 50 years, a cup final against the Owls? Fifty years on from the 1966 Cup Final... and I bet that we would still go two goals behind. That's Everton; we never make things easy. Anyhow, that would be my dream final... Why not?

And maybe Hull City might do us all a favour. Cause TBH I wouldn't want Man City at any stage. But they do slip up now and again. Only thing is, they never slip up to Martinez's Everton.

Anyhow, not a bad draw; it could have been much worse, so no excuses. Let's hope we play our football and do ourselves justice. And also three points at the weekend. Thank you very much... Mr. Martinez.

Martinez needs to be on his game to win this one. Do you think that old BK might have a word in his shell-like? "Advise" him to field his strongest team? I would...

The "diamonds" Ledson, Dowell and Co are in danger of going the way of Kissock. Hence our reliance on the poor-man's Joe Parkinson — James McCarthy. We could possibly get a decent midfield if we can develop Barkley, let Cleverley move inside, and keep Besic and Oviedo fit.

Center halves? We are laughing. More than we need plus left backs.

Up front we are weak. Rom's agent is trying to engineer a move; if the money is right we should take it. I like Kone but he's past it, Naismith seems ready for a stint as a starter and he's just not good enough to hold that spot for us. McGeady? Can we sack him? Mirallas, Lennon, worth a shot but they're not top four quality. Get rid.

We really need someone with a personality to lead us. Someone with an eye for goal and a player who WANTS the ball and use it.

Great post; I agree with all of that.

We have fumbled our way through this far by sheer luck. Tactically we are hopeless and crucially, for me, we are incredibly bloody boring to watch.

I'm totally fed up with this deluded, faux-intellectual at the helm.

We're not in Europe, so the the schedule shouldn't be a reason not to field a truly competitive squad. Martinez will pick the same players for the next game, no matter what the fans think, because he believes he has to. To show them that he has faith in them, even if, in the process, we lose faith in him.

If we actually win the thing...bonus. But no big deal if we don't.

Even this week when we were shit for 70 mins the next hour was very exciting with the pinnacle being the shoot out.

You think we're a good team to watch? You must be in the very small minority.

This is the last 8 of a cup against a Championship side; very winnable.

Then again, Martinez does what he wants at Everton and all we can do is let him!!!.

Surely in the example you give the team that's drawn 2-2 away would go through by virtue of scoring more away goals. It's overall goals, not just the second leg. What would happen in your example if it had stayed 0-0?

Playing away first is always an advantage on paper as you get to play any extra time period on your own ground. No guarantee of success, of course. Fiorentina!

All I'm really saying is we'd rather have them than a Prem side. On paper that has to be the less challenging game. OK, I know, that all goes out of the window. So we'd rather play City, or rs or Saints or Stoke! Or would we?

Fingers crossed we can turn things around a bit, and hit a streak of form, before the end of November. You'd be surprised if Middlesbrough weren't up for this, so we definitely need to be. COYB.

Ridiculous except for greedy bastard reasons having a two leg semi in this comp. Takes the gloss (what little of it there is) off imo.

There's no Extra Time in the first leg.

If the teams are level on aggregate after 90 mins of the second leg, then Extra Time is played. Away goals only count double if the match finishes level after Extra Time in the second leg.

Penalty shoot-outs are a pure lottery and the teams remaining could all be so different than what they are.

Boro will be tough but they do have their sights on a higher target and assuming Everton have the first eleven out and have improved then they can get a result at the Riverside.

If we actually win the thing... bonus. But no big deal if we don't.

I have to respectfully disagree.

It's this kind of "we're better than this competition" arrogance that drives me certifiably insane.

Everton have won nothing – zilch, zip, zero, nada – for a really, really long time.

This is silverware. Who the hell are we to look down on a trophy?!

I've got news for you: We're not Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal, et al. We should not be playing the kids or second-rate teams in this competition. We should be going all out to win the thing.

Honestly, who do we think we are at present? We've not won a single thing in over 20+ years and haven't gotten to the holy grail of top 4 in 10+ years. Acting like this competition is a "bonus" is so lofty.

A club can act arrogant and field kids if they're actually winning something. We've won the sum of sweet FA for how long? And yet we act as if this tournament with an actual trophy at the end of the tunnel is beneath us?

A bonus?

I don't understand the thinking. Win something, then go ahead and act holier than thou. Until that time? Well...

Let 's actually win something! Like this year's League Cup for starters.

I still don't like the two legs.

However, I am sure that, now that things are heating up, there is more likelihood of stronger teams being fielded, except by the teams still in Europe: Man City and RS.

Everton certainly have an opportunity here of capitalizing in the Capital One Cup. Excuse the pun!

An away tie to a lower league club is exactly what we could have hoped for.

I agree with everything you say. I should have put quotation marks or something around the last line. It's not what I think, it's what I think Martinez thinks.

Let's win this thing!

We should be all out for this cup, we are one win away from a two-leg semi-final. Avoid Man City and Wembly's on the horizon!!

If we can't win the Premier League, then win cups! Win what we can, when we can and do anything we can but win!

If we finish 11th or upwards, that'll do me until we're stronger to aim for the top six, if it means we go all out to win a cup.

I agree with you, though, scrap the two legs.

I seem to remember that Harry Catterick once brought about a heavy fine for our club by fielding his reserves in the old League Cup. Lack of respect for the supporters was given as the reason. Nothing has changed it seems.

Peter Weaver, I agree with you regarding the way Roberto, and frankly Moyes before him, set our team up in this competition. They've continually acted like a team whose britches are too big for the League Cup.

Frankly, at Everton, that's just fucking laughable. Yes, we've a history second to none, but we don't have any results to brag about at all in the last 20+ years. Because of that, I think we should have targeted this competition, year-in and year-out.

In short, I'm with you 100%. I'm a big backer of Roberto. But his line-ups in this tournament have just thoroughly pissed me off.

He's not Jesus though. And coincidentally I hope he soon realizes neither is Tim Howard...