from football365:
Roberto Martinez and damaging optimism
It might be the most Martinez-esque anecdote imaginable. At 2-0 up at home to West Ham but down to ten men, Everton’s manager chose to take off winger Aaron Lennon for a forward. Not only that, but Oumar Niasse had only experienced two minutes of Premier League football prior to his introduction. Fifteen minutes later, 2-0 had become 2-3.
Martinez seems a lovely man with a sunny disposition, but his managerial optimism has already strayed far into the grounds of naivety. This is the top-flight coach who said in January: “Would I base the performance on wanting to keep a clean sheet? No… My philosophy is winning games, not keeping clean sheets.”
Until Martinez learns – or accepts – that the two are not mutually exclusive, he will never fulfil his, or Everton’s, potential. Everton have now lost 45 points from winning positions under his management, and 14 since late-November. That’s the difference between 12th position and third, success and failure.
“I thought tactically we were outstanding,” said Martinez after the West Ham defeat. “If you look at the way we got set up in the second half, we were the better side and I think we showed an incredible tactical understanding and character.” Alrite Brendan Rodgers.
It’s a drum this column has been banging for some time, but still there is no improvement. If Martinez sees the style of Everton’s football as something to be prioritised over results, the club has a new billionaire owner who would beg to differ. When a squad with “the most exciting group of young players in Europe” has fewer points than Tony Pulis’ West Brom, aesthetics begin to lose their pull.
“With the seven defeats we can analyse every single one and, apart from Manchester United, in every one we performed in an incredible manner and deserved a lot more,” said Martinez after the game, his head still chilly from being left in the clouds.
No Roberto, you have deserved what you’ve got, especially when you blow three two-goal leads in the space of four months and concede more goals at home than any other Premier League team. Martinez may truly believe that the pressure on him has not increased with Everton’s new-found riches, but he is so very wrong. The last ten games of the league season act as an extended probation period.
“We can’t wait to get good wins, good performances and build something special,” were Martinez’s post-match words on Saturday, again spectacularly unaware of his won underachievement. The Spaniard is digging his own grave with a spade in each hand.
