Roberto Martinez deserves praise for Everton’s season and they could play key role in title race
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| *Martinez holds the ace |
THE season of the headline. Well it’s normal practice, really, in the Premier League,
but even by the Fleet St headline-writers standards, this has been a good
spell. The Top 4 gunning for the title.
Eight managers sacked across seven clubs, chairmen walking,
owners vilified, the incredible tale of Manchester United’s tailspin.
And half the league flirting with relegation in the logjam
of mediocrity.
That covers 19 of the 20 clubs. And then there’s Everton. Little ol’ Everton.
Credit where it’s due has not been paid, while the debt of
disparaging disappointment has
And therein lie the story of what an incredible job Roberto
Martinez has done.
The transition from the 11-year David Moyes era has been as smooth
as the abdication of Sir Alex at Old Trafford has been rough.
Only twice has Everton been really well beaten – Manchester City away in October and the Merseyside
Derby on Jan 29.
Both those games showed the deficiencies that explain why
they will just miss out on the previously unthinkable Champions League spot.
But jeez, apart from that, it is impossible not to give the
Spaniard, who was in charge of a Wigan side
that in its past four seasons had an aggregate goal difference of minus
(MINUS!) 109, plaudit after plaudit.
Everton, by the way, have let in 26 goals this season,
second only to Chelsea’s
21. And they prefer to pass, not plunder.
Any thought Martinez
doesn’t belong in this company is completely debunked.
Perhaps his best achievement is the subtle nature of
introducing his methods.
“Ninety per cent of the players here David Moyes bought and
it is David Moyes who has put this winning mentality in the head as well for 10
years,” Sylvain Distin explained in December to the UK
Martinez
added last month in the Daily Mail: “Slowly you put in little tweaks to make us
more diverse and give us more dimensions and the change from week to week
depends on how the group reacts to it.”
They’ve reacted by losing just four league games.
He could have come in and gone bang, crash, wallop and put
his own stamp, but what for? Moyes did well at Everton, why not build on that
structure?
Still: easy to say, hard to do.
Martinez
is a deep thinker. Resolve is apparent, an ability to adapt clear just by
looking at his resume, which has him leaving sunny Spain
for dreary Wigan as a 22-year-old. Then to Scotland, Wales
and back to Wigan. Not many short-passing
nimble Latin types want to take that on. He did, and prospered.
Wise to the world he operates in, the transfer dealings Martinez made and didn’t
make have been, on the whole, successful.
Marouane Fellaini. The big Belgian on his day is a
destructive force but ask a Manchester United fan if he’s been worth the 27.5
million pounds and chances are you’ll learn some new swear words.
Leighton Baines has been locked into a new contract when it
seemed certain he’d follow Fellaini out the door, while the loan signings of
Gareth Barry, Gerard Deulofeu and Romelu Lukaku have worked.
Loan term doesn’t equate to long term, because it almost creates a false sense
of security, though Barry is a big chance to stay given his contract at parent
club Manchester City ends in June.
And then there was the great story of Malaysian man Ric Wee
travelling around the world to see his beloved side play for the first time
ever… only for weather to call the game off. Never mind, the club gave him an
all access tour, meeting Martinez
and players.
Even the most cynical would see it was the doing of a club
operating for the right reasons.
Everton, it would seem, is a happy place, far removed from
the unusual unrest of late 2011 when fans protested against the chairman, Bill
Kenwright, and his inability to take the club forward.
Because David Moyes (understandably) wanted to take his
career forward, it looks to be working out perfectly for Kenwright and his new
man.
Martinez
has quickly established a mandate to run things his way, and his refusal in
January to buy for the sake of it means a summer of research awaits to find the
right new players. On current form, you’d back him to get a few right
As for this season, an FA Cup is a distinct possibility. Everton will be fresh
for the quarter final on March 8, opponents Arsenal have to fight for their
Champions League lives three days later in Munich.
They probably won’t make the Champions League this season.
However, they will have a massive say in who wins the
closest Premier League season ever.
There’s the visit to Chelsea
this Saturday, in April Arsenal visit Goodison, before Manchester City
do the same in May.
Big headlines are yet to be made at Everton this season.
Chances are they will be, very soon.
Loan term doesn’t equate to long term, because it almost creates a false sense of security, though Barry is a big chance to stay given his contract at parent club Manchester City ends in June.
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