Roberto Martinez has to get rid of his stubbornness to succeed
This season has been a dud so far. Apart from some excellent performances in the Europa League we have been poor in nearly every match and where we have been excellent we haven’t had the fitness to see through a match.
Roberto Martinez is right to stick to certain principles and playing the game the right way is certainly one that he should stick to, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of other things that are needed to win football matches. Currently things aren’t right within the club and he needs to change very quickly or find himself out of the club or relegated.
I believe he should focus on these 5 things.
Fitness
Everton over the last 20 years have always been a very fit team working hard to break down teams and working as a unit. We look unfit and have done since pre-season. We should be pressing teams high up but we have been backing off and proving an easy team to overcome. We have suffered a number of bad injuries because of our lack of fitness and when we have put in good performances like against Arsenal, we haven’t had the fitness or mental strength to get us over the line.
We need to go back to basics and get the team uber fit once again.
Set Pieces
It is clear to every Evertonian that we don’t practice set pieces. People that work at Finch Farm have even confirmed as much. Set pieces win football matches. Even if you are playing poorly, you can score from set pieces and this breeds confidence. We have some excellent set piece takers, yet we seem clueless from freekicks and corners.
How often when we have the ball from the flanks inside the opposition half from a freekick have we simply played a short 5 yard ball and tried to pass it around the opposition before losing it. These are a perfect opportunity to get big men up to try and score from headers.
Formation
For the last 18 months we have stuck to the same 4-2-3-1 formation and teams have worked us out. It has only been the last couple of games that we have looked to change the formation, but haven’t really had the players to do it. Teams have worked out that if they press us high, then we don’t have the defenders to play the ball out of defence and if they lose it, we don’t have the confidence to win the ball back.
We have some excellent strikers including one of the games best strikers of recent times in Samuel Eto’o and he is continually played in midfield or on the wing which will bring me to my next point. Eto’o scored 9 in 21 for Chelsea as a striker. Why not play 2 strikers and go for teams, rather than try to always pass around them. We need a plan A, B, C and D.
Round Pegs and Square Holes
We have suffered a lot this season with injuries to key players, but that doesn’t mean that we need to play players out of position. Like with Eto’o, we have one of the games greats that is being played out of position. We have one of the best young English talents in Ross Barkley that is playing in a different position every week and we have Gareth Barry that is so off form that he is stinking the pitch out on a daily basis. If we haven’t got the correct players to play 4-2-3-1 then change it and put the players in their correct positions.
Team Spirit
Everton have always had a good team spirit and we need to get this back quick. Rumours of player revolts as far back as Arsenal have been touted and there is no fight from the players or manager. If there is a problem it needs sorting with a karaoke session or something. The players need to take responsibility too. There is nothing at the moment.
I believe that Roberto Martinez needs to win the next 2 games to continue his Everton career. I believe that he is the right man for the job, but with the last 4 performances and lack of passion from the team and manager it is making it harder to make a case for the manager. He needs to bring about a change in personnel and get rid of the dissenters and he needs to stop being so sudden and do what is needed to be a success.
The fans can see what the problem is, why can’t the manager.
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I was of the opinion that he was the man to see us into another level.He probably is if that level is beneath the present one. The passing game is his ambition and last season it won through because it was coupled with a healthy work ethic.That seems to have gone and I believe you can trace it back to the Winter break they went on last year.Since then we have been misfiring,the players have been told so often that it will come right they do not see any need to put in the effort or concentration. And it is lack of concentration that has screwed this defence not fitness.The thought that players who trained throughout the Summer for their World Cup exertions could be unfit or not match fit is risible. All the rest had a normal pre season and we were told that squad size and fitness was OK. If you watch Roberto’s players with the exception of McCarthy they are fairly lackadaisical and laid back when effort is required.Robles is not of sufficient quality and I feel that Alcaraz was too old.Kone may have been unlucky with his injury,but seemed to slip back into the hit and miss player from Wigan that Roberto brought to the club.The question is can he be tough enough to manage successfully at this level?Unfortunately it appears that he has not got the necessary gumption and if he retains control for too much longer we could find ourselves with a real scrap to stay up.
What would you like to see happen Win?
After last season I think the man is capable and the squad is relatively unchanged,so there is obviously something amiss.Maybe we could sort this without getting rid of him.Perhaps the position of assistant was the change that occurred that made the difference when Irvine went did the steel go with him.Whilst I do not suggest taking him back,a move upward for one of the back roomers could give us the impetus to put those points on the board.But I fear in the long term we do need a new chief