Roberto Martinez says Sunday’s game against Austria Vienna was a good workout at the end of a successful week stepping up preparations for the coming season.
Everton’s players have been training in the scenic countryside town of Laa an der Thaya, an hour north of the Austrian capital.
And though the contest ended in a 2-1 defeat, Martinez was happy with the overall benefit his side will have gained.
“The game was more of a physical exercise than anything else,” he told evertontv. “It’s been a very successful week. We’ve accumulated a lot of work and that’s been exactly what we needed and it’s given us a very good platform. Today was just to get a run out and we gave everyone 45 minutes more or less.
“We were playing against a side who are one week away from the start of their season and that’s what we wanted – we wanted to push ourselves to the maximum from a physical point of view, and I thought we responded really well.
“There were many things where you could see the rustiness in our play but it was the culmination of an important week of work that is going to take us back to Finch Farm now, where we can carry on our preparations for the season.”
In what was his first game in charge, Martinez made 10 substitutions, affording him the opportunity to cast an eye over a large part of his squad, including six of the Club’s Under-21s.
Shane Duffy, Francisco Junior, Conor Grant, Conor McAleny, Tyias Browning and goalscorer Apostolos Vellios all made appearances.
And the Spaniard added: “Today gave us a great opportunity to see the youngsters and other players and, all in all, it’s been a real success with no injuries.
“The experienced boys also had to show a real maturity in their play because it’s not easy when you’re playing as a group of 10 who have never played together before.
“I thought Darron [Gibson] did that really well, in the same manner as Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin did in each half.”