Roberto Martínez was in an awkward spot when Bill Kenwright revealed his interview technique last summer. "Almost Roberto's first words to me were 'I'll get you in the Champions League'," the Everton chairman said at the unveiling of the club's new manager, prompting some laughter at Goodison Park and more sweat on the Catalan's brow. The laughter has died now. It is Arsenal and Arsène Wenger who are sweating.
Martínez's response to Kenwright's confessional signified a change in ambition at Everton, although those assembled to meet the manager who had just overseen a glorious FA Cup triumph and galling relegation for Wigan Athletic could not have detected so at the time. He joked that the Everton chairman "has put no pressure on me", and explained that a top-four finish was the long-term objective.
That might still be the case. Pointedly, however, the new man did not attempt to backtrack. Champions League qualification, said Martínez, "just comes with the title of being Everton manager". Finances complicated the challenge, he added, "but with time in football you can achieve anything".
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The 40-year-old's innate positivity – in words and deeds – has galvanised Goodison, from youth-team coaches who felt alienated under David Moyes and are now included in regular briefings to supporters who decorated Christmas trees with brown leather shoes in tribute to the manager's match-day attire. And of course the players, who are greeted at the Finch Farm training complex by photographs of Everton's nine title-winning and five FA Cup-winning teams. Martínez ordered the final canvas be left blank.
His optimism appeared misplaced at the beginning of March when successive away defeats at Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea left Everton seventh and eight points adrift of fourth place.
A 4-1 defeat to Arsenal in the FA Cup quarter-finals brought further deflation. Martínez was undeterred and maintained the 71-point target he set for Champions League qualification was achievable. Five consecutive league wins later and Everton stand four points behind fourth-placed Arsenal, who arrive on Merseyside on Sunday, with a game in hand.
Arsenal's run-in and Champions League pedigree gives them the edge but the question of whether Martínez could take Everton forward, and whether Moyes's exit would instigate a rapid decline, was answered months ago.
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Osian Roberts, the chief instructor of the Uefa pro-licence in Wales, where Martínez took his qualification, is surprised the question was asked. "He is one of the sharpest brains out there," said Roberts, also the technical director of the Football Association of Wales and national team coach.
"We've had hundreds of coaches on our course and he is one of the sharpest of the lot in terms of his philosophy and beliefs. When he became manager at Swansea he went from being a player to a manager. That happens often but rarely do you see someone who, like Roberto, has been preparing for the role for years. Everything he needed to do as a manager was in place before he got the job. He knew what training he was going to do on every day of the season before he started. His thoroughness and preparation stood out but also the willingness to adapt his style.
"He went to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to study Chile. He went to all their games and training sessions and was fascinated by the way Marcelo Bielsa was playing with three at the back. He's done that with Everton at times and I think he will use that more when he has the players that can do it. If he hasn't got the players he won't play an unsuitable system but he will always look to create something in a system of play that gives his team an advantage.
"For example, one-on-ones in key areas, overloads in key areas and how best to exploit them. He has a sharp brain. He might find something from watching Chile, something else from a totally different team in a different league and see how he can adapt both into what he wants. He is always open to new ideas.
"One of the best things about Roberto on the course was how he made time for everyone. We have a range of candidates, varying from the top end of the game to part-time coaches in the Welsh Premier League, and some still ring him for advice from the Welsh Premier level and he is always willing to give it, but in a humble way. He has strong beliefs but he wants to provoke ideas in coaches as opposed to instilling them. He believes in educating people."
Few players epitomise the change in Everton this season better than the right-back Seamus Coleman. The Republic of Ireland defender had an idea of how Martínez worked from sharing a room on international duty with James McCarthy, formerly of Wigan and now the Everton manager's most expensive recruit at £13m. But it was at half-time at Carrow Road on the opening day of the season when he discovered how astute and precise the new manager would be.
"He showed me on a laptop that if I ran off the back of the winger there would be a chance that I could get in at the back post for a tap-in, and that's exactly what happened," said Coleman, who
put Everton 2-1 ahead from close range before Norwich City secured a 2-2 draw. "Roberto helped me to get that goal. I had full confidence in him after that! The previous manager was brilliant with me and helped me massively. Roberto has helped me massively too, like with the positions I should take up when I don't have the ball. I'm learning as much as everyone else from him."
Coleman has seven goals this season and widespread acclaim as one of the finest right-backs in the Premier League, interesting clubs such as Arsenal as a result. The bargain £60,000 signing from Sligo Rovers insists Martínez had the instant respect of the Everton dressing room and believes his own development stems from the freedom he receives at full-back.
The 25-year-old from Killybegs, Donegal, explains: "All the lads knew he was a top manager straight away. I think it is a credit to the players that we adjusted quickly to the way he wanted us to play but I still think there are things that we can do better. Maybe it's the foreign mentality. It's about keeping the ball for as long as we can and not needlessly giving away possession or not trying to get a goal when it might not be on. He'd rather you play the pass for it to open up for a better opportunity.
"He's a very positive character and I think we all feed off that. As players you like to be confident and keep your confidence up, and when you go out on a Saturday he encourages you to try things. If it doesn't come off, he's not going to give you a bollocking from the sideline, he'll encourage you to try it again. Saying that, if you're not performing and doing well, he doesn't say 'well done' every day. If you've made a mistake he'll let you know about it."
Everton's average possession has risen from 52.5% last season to 56% under Martínez, with total passes per game up to 477.6 from 416.2, passing accuracy up from 79.4% to 83.4% and the number of dribbles attempted per game increasing from 13.3 under Moyes to 23.6 this term.
Somewhat surprisingly, given their respective reputations for porous defending and pragmatism, Martínez's Everton concede an average of one goal per game and have kept a clean sheet in 35.5% of league games (compared with 1.05 per game and 28.9% last season) while, under Moyes last season, Everton averaged more shots per game and more passes in the attacking third.
"It's not only about the tactical and technical side, he's a good man-manager. He is very personable," says Roberts, for whom Martínez will be the guest speaker at the FAW National Coaches Conference in May. "You can see when he makes his signals from the side of the pitch that his players are looking at him and taking on the instructions. You can see the respect. He took Leighton Baines to Old Trafford with him this week to watch the Bayern Munich game and will have been talking tactics all game. You can see the players want to learn from him.
"It is football 24 hours a day with Roberto. He will take his wife and baby to Brazil for a month this summer and that's not bad, it's a lovely place, but he'll take them wherever the tournament is, like Poland two years ago. Fair play to her."
