The game against Burnley saw yet another bizarre penalty scenario for Everton. After Aaron Lennon charged his way towards goal and was brought down, (probably just outside the penalty area to be fair), the referee awarded a penalty. To everyone’s surprise, it was Ross Barkley who stepped up to take the resulting spot-kick, only to see it saved. It was a strange situation, considering what happened against West Brom with Kevin Mirallas. Romelu Lukaku appears to have taken over penalty duty from Leighton Baines, which is strange enough. But with Lukaku not even on the pitch at the time of the penalty against Burnley, it seems even more peculiar for Ross Barkley to be next in line, considering Baines was present.
On the incident, Martinez said, “Romelu is the penalty taker. After that there are three or four players who can take the penalties. There is no such thing as a best penalty taker. I don’t agree with penalty takers being designated apart from Romelu being on the pitch. We have Leighton Baines who is a specialist, Gareth Barry who has an incredible record – it depends on how you feel at that moment. Ross showed incredible responsibility and Leighton Baines was happy to given him that responsibility.”
Personally, I cannot understand why Baines, who has scored 15 of 16 from the spot, has been removed as the main penalty taker. Yes, Lukaku has scored 3 from 3, but none have been struck with the conviction that Baines possesses. For Martinez to say there is no such thing as a best penalty taker, to say he doesn’t agree with designated penalty takers apart from Lukaku is frankly, baffling. Does Lukaku have a clause in his contract that says he has to take penalties? It would seem like a slightly odd request. I know he rates himself, but is his ego really that big? Of course, we don’t know what goes on behind closed doors. We don’t know if something has been said on Baines’ part that’s resulted in the manager seeing fit to remove him. But from the outside, it does seem like yet another example of Martinez over-complicating things, for no obvious reason.
I like Roberto, but there have been several examples of him unnecessarily making things difficult for himself. Up until recently, his reluctance to play two natural wide players stands out, instead preferring to put Barkley or Naismith out wide. His persistence on playing players who were out of form as well, when there were other viable options available to him, also falls into this category.
The penalty taking situation seems like the latest example of the manager trying to answer a question that no one asked. Leighton Baines is one of the best penalty takers you will see, his record shows this. The decision to remove him as the main taker makes absolutely no sense. We got away with it at the weekend, but unless this is rectified quickly, we will inevitably be punished for it, and the manager will rightly get criticised.
Baines is by far our best penalty taker. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
