“I will get you into the Champions League.”
These are the audacious words uttered by Roberto Martinez that persuaded Bill Kenwright to hire him as David Moyes successor back in June 2013. The sheer confidence and calm demeanour of the Catalonian had Evertonians excited, promising times were on the horizon. Despite almost delivering on this promise in his first season on Merseyside when Everton narrowly missed out and finished fifth, the club has been in a downward spiral ever since.
Everton currently possess arguably their best squad since the Premier League’s inception back in 1992, and, despite this, the Toffee’s are hugely underperforming.
Often considered the almost team, the perennial leaders of the chasing pack, Everton seem to be slipping into mid-table obscurity under the misdirection of Roberto Martinez.
The Spaniard claims to be nursing a nucleus capable of great things, but has yet to curb the seemingly perpetual slide.
This season alone, Everton have a dreadful return of six victories from 23 league outings. A solitary win in the last ten, including the hugely underwhelming loss to a struggling Swansea side, has Martinez on the ropes. Whether he has what it takes to come back from the brink is a contentious matter.
A once impenetrable fortress, Goodison Park has become a playground for opposing teams. I liken the Grand Old Lady to that of a buffet, where visitors can come in and help themselves to whatever they so wish for. 22 goals have been conceded in only 12 home fixtures, which you don’t need me to tell you is an awful statistic.
The most frustrating thing of all is that the dynamism and potent attacking threat being implemented is simply futile with a shaky rear-guard. The club is in disarray in this respect, as I saw someone say on twitter; If we really were a School of Science, we’d have been shut down by Ofsted months ago.
The argument is that Martinez, albeit underutilising the squad at his disposal, is building a squad for the future. Tell me this, when we finish 12th this season, which of our gifted players will chose to spend another season away from European competition in favour of developing as a footballer with a team capable of challenging for titles?
I’ll tell you the answer, none of them.
Yes, Martinez’s determination and belief is admirable, but the club needs more. His job is to pick 11 players to start a game of football, and in some way or another ensure that they win the game.
The successfulness of the Catalonians Everton career really does now hinge on his ability to shift the club’s fortunes. All of his eggs will now be firmly in a League Cup shaped basket – a cup which could be his only chance at redemption.
After all, mangers have been sacked for doing a lot less wrong. As of the 23rd of January 2016, Martinez’s win percentage at Everton stands at 39.8%. To put this in perspective with other managers relived from their jobs; Andre Villas-Boas had 51.9%, Roberto Mancini had 61.7%, Carlo Ancelotti had 63.2% and a man that has seen many bay for his blood this season, Louis van Gaal has 52.8% (as of 11th of December).
These clubs have more money to spend on quality, but are their expectations bigger?
Everton consider themselves as contenders, not the underdogs. They want to be fighting for silverware, and if they want to be successful, they need to act with this in mind.
Martinez would have almost certainly lost his job already, should he have been at Tottenham or Liverpool, clubs that are of a similar standard to Everton. Liverpool in fact have bitten the bullet and moved on, and it could be in Everton’s best interest to follow suit.
The club need someone who can see the issues at hand and work towards amending them. They need someone who can see Tim Howard’s vertical drop in form and replace him with his hungry, and better, understudy Joel Robles. They need someone who will see that there is an over-reliance on Romelu Lukaku to score, and Gerard Deulofeu and Ross Barkley to provide, and so search for more attacking options. They need someone who WILL change tactics or personnel when they need to.
Roberto’s days are numbered; or at least they should be. He still has a dwindling number of fans on his side, and Wednesday’s game against Manchester City could well be his only chance to win back the fans he has already lost.
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