#toffeemen

[hogan]

... its been quite a ride.

[youdontneedtofollowme]

Looking forward to the announcement today that Roberto Martinez has been fired as Everton Manager.

CONFIRMED!

Looks like Frank de Boer could be our next manager.

[youdontneedtofollowme]

Mirallas better have a broken leg b/c if I see Cleverly or Kone start out on the left wing again this season I’m calling Martinez to book an appointment between his head and the palm of my hand.

Mirallas, Barkley, Lukaku, Deulofeu, Cleverley/McCarthy, Besic/Barry, Galloway/Baines, Mori/Stones, Jags, Coleman, Robles - that’s the starting line up. How hard is this to understand?

[youdontneedtofollowme]

This is the most talented squad Everton have enjoyed in years. It is hard to escape the nagging feeling that they are a team who, languishing in 11th place after one win in nine, are horribly under-achieving.

Dominic Fifield

Horribly accurate assessment. Also, unless Mirallas was injured it was unacceptable for Martinez to leave him out of a starting position for so long. He makes a natural complement to the boy Gerard on the right. Come on Roberto, sort that defence out lad and tell the team how to defend a goal or two goal lead to the death. Any where less than 7th at the end of the season and they’ll all leave and you’ll have to go to. Sorry.

[youdontneedtofollowme]

The best team since ‘86

As an Evertonian, learning to live with painful dissapointment and mediocre boring football has become so familiar that my gf now knows them as FFS because that’s what she has heard me say most of the times when I’ve watched them.

In fact I can only recall one fleeting time before the mid to late 1980s when Everton were a joy to watch - 1994~1996 when Andre Kanchelskis and Anders Limpar were on the wings and the last time we won any trophy, the FA Cup against Manchester United in ‘95. Yes, twenty years ago or in other words half of my life ago. That long.

But now, Roberto Martinez looks to have formed a team that has emerged as one of the most exciting to watch in the EPL and once again I can look forward to a blues game because even if we don’t win we might lose with style.

Key to this are three players in particular, Stones, Lukaku and Deulofeu, all of whom are still young and have amazing talent that hopefully can only get better.  But the Everton squad is filled with young talent sometimes I feel that Martinez doesn’t quite know how to best balance youth and experience.

So, here’s my suggestion of two optimal formations that I want to see from RM:

4-4-2

Howard

Galloway    (Sub - Baines)

Stones

Jagielka      (Sub - Fune Mori)

Coleman

Mirallas       (left wing) (Sub - Baines)

McCarthy    (Sub - Besic)

Cleverley     (Sub - Barry)

Deulofeu     (right wing) (Sub - Lennon)

Lukaku        (Sub - Kone)

Barkley        (Sub - Rodríguez)

4-3-2-1

Robles

Galloway    (Sub - Oviedo)

Stones

Jagielka      (Sub - Fune Mori)

Coleman

Baines        

McCarthy    (Sub - Besic)

Cleverley     (Sub - Barkley)

Deulofeu      (right wing)

Mirallas        (left wing)

Lukaku         (Sub - Rodríguez)

[youdontneedtofollowme]

Howard Kendall RIP.

[youdontneedtofollowme]

Infuriating

If we sell John Stones I’m not really sure what the point of EFC is other than as a nursery for raising brilliant talent other clubs can use to achieve success whilst we are left eternally struggling with mid-table mediocrity. No-one remembers a certain Wayne Rooney?

[ohh-myy-loove]

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