Everton Banter Archive January 04 2016

04 Jan 2016 20:58:31
Joe Mc - EFC seen your comments below about McCarthy. I agree totally underrated. Would be in my first 11. A problem in that position. I really like Barry, McCarthy, Besic, and Gibson. I even like Cleverly. Never got why he got so much stick before he came to Everton. He is a decent team player with a cracker of a volley.

Gibson was injured for a long time but is a top player imo. If he got going he would improve with every game imo. Besic I really like and would keep at Everton at all costs. I think he'll turn out to be top notch.

Barry is having a brilliant season. The amount of games he's playing will eventually catch up with him I think. I'd play him more sparingly to get the best out of him while introducing one of the other quality players mentioned. Barry is already surprising me how well he's playing this season. As far as I know he has played every game so far. Not totally sure about that.

McCarthy I think is vastly underrated and I think it will take one or two more seasons before it is recognised properly and fully by the Everton fans. Since he's been out we have been awful. Could be coincidence or he may have something to do with it.

It's a position we are well covered in and I'd keep Besic and McCarthy at all costs. Gibson may be used in other positions and Cleverly. Barry hasn't much more seasons after this one.

I just hope we can hold onto the other 4 for plenty of more seasons to come. They are quality players who can help win trophies.

04 Jan 2016 21:09:17
Besic is an unbelievable talent, has everything, pace (ask Bale) , he's strong, never gets tired and is a fantastic winner of the ball, not just that, he is so good on the ball too. His passing and dribbling is very good for a holding midfielder/ centre back and he can go past players. So underrated, really hope he gets his chances, he showed last season in the derby and at Arsenal just how good he is.

{Ed025's Note - the only problem is that his face does not seem to fit swan, he along with naisy and even kev seem to have been frozen out, bobby does have his favourites like kone and howard and its costing us big time..

04 Jan 2016 21:40:35
I agree NBTB that all our centre midfielders bring something different in a good way. I think Gibson is a good player and when he first joined he was very good. But I think McCarthy brings a lot more to our overall play. Swan is right about Besic, he looks a quality player. But infortunately ed025 is also right about Martinez having his favourites.
We all know who needs dropped/ replaced except the most important man. that's why I think its stubborness on his behalf.
Barry and Cleverley have played much better than I thought they would this season esp. Barry as he looked finished at times last season.
I hope Gibson does get a run but at whos expense!?! If he does get a run then hopefully its because he's doing well and that can only be good for us. That statement goes for all out players but we know it probably won't happen otherways Robles and Mirallas/ Naismith would get more playing time.

{Ed025's Note - good post that joe..

04 Jan 2016 22:16:19
I really would like to see Besic getting a run of 6 or 7 games to see how good he can be because in the small infrequent cameos that he's had he's been very good.

04 Jan 2016 22:22:35
Totally agree with all that Swan and Joe Mc - EFC. It's a good problem if you know what I mean.

I know this would never happen but I'd be interested to see how Gibson would fair out in Barkley's role. I rate Barkley, he's one of my favourites and I think he will improve with time.

Currently though I think he needs a kick up the you know what. Nothing like being dropped to get a spring back in a players step.

Gibson is a fantastic passer of the ball. Especially a through ball going forwards. He has a good long range shot also. He's not the fastest but no player is perfect. He's been out for a long time. Just hope he gets a chance.

I hope all they above get a chance. As you say Joe its always going to be at someone else's expense. That's the only downer.

I hope with Barry playing so well that we don't lose any of the others. Barry obviously should be playing and is one of best so far this season and long may it continue.

Don't mind that as long as we keep hold of the other gems.

04 Jan 2016 20:07:21
Heres one would you sell lukaku for 40m plus rooney and then buy dembele (fulham) and yarmelenko.

This is just a question.

{Ed025's Note - no way ant, lose one of the best CF,s in the country for a has been, a haf decent midfielder and a guy who does not want to be here?..not for me mate, and thats not to mention taking on 3 massive wages..

04 Jan 2016 20:29:07
True ed but dembele is gunna be boss rooney loves the club and would try his best. yarmelenko is a codeye he will retire at kiev.

04 Jan 2016 21:01:31
In monopoly rule number 1 is once you've got Mayfair you never sell it, not for anything.

04 Jan 2016 21:04:35
No, Rooney is finished, Dembele has potential but nowhere near Rom's level and Yarmolenko as ed says doesn't want to be here. Losing the second best striker in the country for those 3? No chance.

04 Jan 2016 21:28:35
Swan we agree on something. Rooney chose his path we've moved on. Last thing we should be wanting to do is help that lot again by giving them our best player.

04 Jan 2016 21:45:03
No way Ant. Lukaku is our prize assett this season. As toffee says keep Mayfair and keep looking for Park Lane to play with him.

{Ed025's Note - instead of old kone road.. :)

05 Jan 2016 19:08:05
Very good ed025.

04 Jan 2016 19:16:27
Can anyone remember the last time we got a penalty in play. Don't think we have one this season. Home or away. Needing luck is a must each season
and we havnt been getting much.

04 Jan 2016 20:58:38
Yeah. Mirallas missed it didn't he?

04 Jan 2016 15:55:53
{Ed's Note - We have posted a new article entitled, Transfers Abound As Arsene Backs Arsenal To Outplay Everyone And Other News

04 Jan 2016 13:25:29
We have to be the least media savvy club in the prem. Surely there must be someone at the club watching Martinez' post match rambles.

When we don't get 3 points at home I don't want to here what was amazing or phenomenal. I want to know why it wasn't 3 points and a bit of honesty for the fans.

So why doesn't someone pull him to one side and tell him to show a bit of pragmatism at least to give us the confidence that they'll be working on what's wrong on the pitch and not waxing lyrical about the little that we did do correct.

By the way. Simple stat that explains everything right now. We are in the top four for goals for and the bottom four for goals conceded. So where should we be out of 20 teams? 10th or 11th. Don't expect anything will change that.

Sorry it's not positive but I'm having a day off.

04 Jan 2016 13:59:29
ha ha ha Ace, I posted below trying to pick people up a bit but we are knackered now mate, once you go then there is no hope for any of us, first ever negative post off you, God help us now mate lol.

04 Jan 2016 14:45:46
Cheer up Toffee at least you're off work.
By the way appreciate the use of paragraphs in the post. Wish others would follow suit.

04 Jan 2016 17:22:41
Apologies for calling you silly Toffee Ace, I to am having an off day. Will try very hard from now on to leave RM out of future posts.

04 Jan 2016 17:22:43
It's only temporary Degs. I'll be back to my normal self one we get a win. Easy pleased me mate.

04 Jan 2016 20:18:56
There's a lot of logic in your goals for/ against stat. As they say the table never lies. Shows if we tightened up at the back it would be a good contribution to climbing the table.

04 Jan 2016 06:26:08
I keep hearing this when he was at wigan, we are wigan, were going the way wigan did ect we have far better players than wigan ever did or have, yes Martinez is questionable we are far to open at times, but I have to agree with poster we are over rating are players at present stones is vastly over rated no doubt he's good on the ball but his defending is questionable he's young he's learning but lost his way since jags has been out, coleman and baines have been questionable in defence ever since they started playing at everton, mori is still adapting in this league, Galloway is young, howard is finished are two left+right sided mids at present have a poor side to there defenceive side geri is young and kone is a stiker only lennon is good enough on that side of his game but it takes away a lot of his attacking side kev is same as geri in the middle barry is to slow and gives ball away to many free kicks barkley vastly over rated now it may seem am slagging the team off am not what am saying everyone is to blame for are lack of victories and poor defence add that to Martinez attacking tactics and lack of it and all his back room staff training methods its obviously not working as we have players all over the park to attacking here lies the prob its so hard to get the balance, a point yesterday after the last two home games was a good point let's move on and upwards let's go all out for this cup we have a poor home record and a good away record you make your minds up why bring on city we have nothing to fear from them we have to stop been negative when teams equalize against us it only helps the other team C. O. Y. B.

04 Jan 2016 09:16:36
So, you've said most of our team is overrated, the managers poor tactics and his bad training ground methods, then went on to say we have nothing to fear. Thanks you've really beefed up my confidence for City (this is all just sarcasm, just relax) .

Howard-Garbage, worst in the league, not exaggeration, every other team has a better Goalkeeper than us.

Coleman-Seems to be getting worse each season now, excellent 2 seasons ago, dreadful going forward last season but is now dreadful forward and back.

Stones-Don't think he's overrated, though plenty of fans are trying to push him out the club and make the loss easier by now calling him garbage, Evertonians.

Mori-Still adapting

Jagielka-Still good.

Baines-Been poor going forward for a few years and his defending has always been poor, very overrated, amazed some still hold him in such high regard.

Barry-Goes back to what I said a few days ago, quality player (too slow because as we all know, pace is the only thing that matters to a holding midfielder, that's why Schneiderlin, Lucas and Matic are so bad) , needs someone with a brain next to him, which neither Ross or Macca have.

McCarthy-Vastly overrated by our fans, is just a headless chicken workhorse. I mean, he works hard but his ability on the ball is Phil Neville bad and going back his positioning is awful, that's why he can't play on his own, doesn't know what he's doing.

Cleverley-No one really overrates him, reckon he's been quality this season.

Barkley-Very overrated, was having a discussion with a fellow Evertonian over Tw@ter last night. He said some see how world class Ross truly is and some don't. Well I don't to be honest, a lot of our fans on social media regularly laugh at Coutinho saying he is overrated as all he does is pop up with a wonder goal every few weeks, well, isn't that exactly what Ross does? . Someone made a comparison to Shelvey, if anything, Shelvey has more to his game than Ross. Ross has a powerful shot, not a good shot as it takes him 10 attempts to keep his shot inside the stadium. Shelvey has this too but can actually pass the ball. Going to annoy a lot of people but I really don't think he's special, what's changed in 2 seasons? Exact same player.

Deulofeu-Still learning but is obviously boss.

Mirallas-Quality is there, just our bitter manager won't play him, all because of a penalty miss.

Lennon-Works hard and seems to improve the whole team whenever he plays.

Kone-Not needed anymore.

Lukaku-Second best striker in the league.

There is obviously room for improvement but we are still underachieving, by about 6-7 places in the league, at least.

04 Jan 2016 10:04:21
Some great points there muff. IMO the defensive difference is both the experience of the players and type of holding mid. DM used Neville who could read the game really well and would slot into either CB or RB to allow additional defensive cover to the attacking FB. We don't have a defensive mid currently that just slots into the defense when we are attacking down the flanks they all move up the pitch leaving us more vulnerable to counters.

04 Jan 2016 10:13:30
Have a look on the ssn app there is an article on Everton. The stats tell the story imo and that is as good as we are going forward we are just as bad at the back, this is the manager and coaching staffs responsibility to organise the backline oh and when on the pitch a quality keeper organises his defence ours just flaps about slaps his own head and kicks his post!

04 Jan 2016 11:25:51
Swan by your account the only decent players we have ate Lukaka, cleverly, and Barry . You are deluded . Mc Carthy is best midfielder we have when fit first man on team sheet.

04 Jan 2016 12:36:19
Get a grip, Stones, Mirallas, Deulofeu, Lennon, also called them quality, changing things and ignoring what I said to suit your argument, McCarthy isn't even the best Irish international midfielder in our team. You provide no points to back up your argument, just state something with no basks and expect it to be received as fact so no, you are deluded.

04 Jan 2016 12:38:19
I believe Basic is a better option than McCarthy as Besic can do what McCarthy does but can also pass a ball and is a far better footballer so I don't agree when fit Mccarthy should be the first name on the sheet.

04 Jan 2016 12:49:19
More obvious than that Swan. Reason Mr Martinez does not play Mirallas is (I believe) because Mirallas is a robust character who speaks his mind. RM is a yes man and like all yes men he only functions with yes men around him. His treatment also of Robles is not very good, the statement 'Tim is the No1 and that's it, Robles knows this' is appalling, is he really saying that no matter TH's form and no matter how Robles plays he has no chance. Terrible man-management.

04 Jan 2016 16:00:25
. i'd have to agree about McCarthy - he works tirelessly and runs around everywhere but is somewhat over-rated in my opinion. but his ability on the ball and what he does with it are questionable!

04 Jan 2016 16:00:25
. i'd have to agree about McCarthy - he works tirelessly and runs around everywhere but is somewhat over-rated in my opinion. but his ability on the ball and what he does with it are questionable!

04 Jan 2016 16:26:15
McCarthy is a much better player than Gibson. Don't take my word for it take the word of Everton's management team and Irelands management team. that's why he plays for both ahead of Gibson. McCarthy does the work of 2 players when he's on top of his game. He turns over possession more times than any other Everton player that's why he is 1st choice.

04 Jan 2016 16:58:56
The same Everton management team that plays Tim Howard and Arouna Kone every game? .

04 Jan 2016 17:25:54
Yes that same team. I don't agree with playing/ starting Howard and Kone but I don't see them training everyday. Maybe you do see the training drills from your bedroom window and can say that these 2 are terrible and McCarthy runs around like a headless chicken everyday. But from what I see of McCarthy he is a very good player and has covered for our defenders many times since joining with his tackles. His energy levels are 2nd to none and he's one of if not the best tackler we have.

04 Jan 2016 17:54:09
sorry joe I agree with swan. you can't say ask the managment team like they know wot there talking about when quite clearly they avin got a brain cell between them when he continues to pley howard picks a hopeless kone over a far far better player in mirraless and naismith,and does not know when to make game changing subs I agree macca is a good player but howard and kone are not and gibson is a much better passer than mcarthy and can pick out a player with a defence splitting pass don't ask the managment ask the thousands of blues fans I would listen to them more than are pathetic and clueless managment team.

04 Jan 2016 18:15:58
My opinion is McCarthy is much better than Gibson in the position they play and that's why he's picked before him for club and country. Saying he runs around like a headless is nonsense, he has been outstanding for us since he signed. Howard and Kone must be doing something right in training, what that is i've no idea mainly because I think Howard has cost us so many points for the past few seasons. He should've replaced 2-3 years ago. Kone I don't know what has happened to him, he played well with Lukaku earlier this season but has gone backwards. I don't think Martinez is clueless but do think we should replace him at the end of season. He seems more stubborn than clueless for refusing to change his tactics and players when everyone can see its not working.

04 Jan 2016 19:09:26
i never said macarthy runs round like a chicken with no head and I never said gibson was a better player but that he is a better passer,you say martinez is not clueless but you want him replaced because he is stubborn well how about clueless and stubborn and he can take his clueless and stubborn staff with him.

04 Jan 2016 20:02:08
I called McCarthy a headless chicken mate, I think he was referring to me when he said that. I agree on Gibson, much better passer, imo he's a better player, can defend, can shoot pass and dictate the game by himself, McCarthy can't do any of that. Used to be a massive McCarthy fan then I just started wondering what he actually does, and I still don't know.

04 Jan 2016 21:21:02
I want him replaced at the end of the season because I don't think he can take us to where we all think we should be. that's into the top 6 and pushing for a champions league position.
My comment about headless chicken was directed at your comment Swan. I can't remember ever watching Gibson dictate a game for us and I can only remember him scoring 1 from long range against City. I do agree that he's a great passer. Barkley can shoot but that doesn't mean he's good at it as i'm sure you'll agree.
Next time your at a game and McCarthy is playing count how many times he wins possession or breaks up play. You might be pleasantly surprised.