Roberto Martínez, like any manager in his position, was never going to concede Roy Keane was right and that he had indeed “pressured” Everton’s Irish contingent to swerve the occasional flight to Dublin. But the thought must have occurred. The bar has been raised for Everton this season and James McCarthy plus Séamus Coleman are among the few to seize it. Goodison Park is selling out by the week but still waiting for the collective to ignite.
Everton stand 10th with almost a third of the season gone, level on points with Liverpool but minus the alarm that performances across Stanley Park have warranted. Saturday’s visitors, West Ham United, stand six places and four points above and represent a stern test to an Everton side disrupted by injuries to possibly 11 players. “West Ham are the form team in the Premier League,” Martínez insisted. “Southampton have done really well but their change from last season hasn’t been as great as West Ham’s. Their new players have adjusted to the league very quickly.”
Adjustment partly explains Everton’s disjointed start. Their manager denies that overall performance levels have dropped and has a six-game unbeaten run, an improving defence and a position on top of a tough Europa League group to underpin his argument. Martínez’s team travel to Wolfsburg next week requiring one more point from two group games to advance. Strong, incisive displays at home to the German club and Lille, coupled with resilient draws on the road, have affirmed that Everton are a rare Premier League breed in the Europa League – in it to win it.
But, a 3-0 defeat of Aston Villa apart, those levels have not been sustained too often over 90 minutes in the Premier League. Consistency has proven elusive, with back-to-back wins recorded once this season, individual errors frequent, a number of late goals conceded inviting questions over post-World Cup fitness and only one home league win so far.
Injuries to Ross Barkley, Kevin Mirallas, Coleman and John Stones have undoubtedly hindered attempts to rediscover the fluent, penetrating style of last season. But having declared this summer’s record £28m signing of Romelu Lukaku “makes it clear where our focus is set”, and missed out on a Champions League place last term despite collecting 72 points, Martínez accepts Everton must make ground soon to realise their aims. The opportunity presented by problems at Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United does not come around every year.
“We were punished defensively quite easily in the first part [of the season]. I think we’ve changed that,” the Everton manager says. “We’ve been stronger over the last six games. We have shown a strong, defensive way of playing without losing the good things we had going forward. I see us as being four points below where we should be, because the four points we dropped against Leicester and Arsenal are points that we should never have lost in any game. That’s something we need to recover in the final two thirds of the competition.
“The way we have adapted to Europe has been magnificent. Now we have a strong platform for the final two thirds of the competition – 24 outfield players who have had an opportunity to show what they can do, and the mentality is ready to cope with seven games in three weeks. That was a big target for us in the summer. Overall I am happy with where we are.”
Contentment will increase around Goodison should Barkley and Lukaku recapture last season’s form. Whereas McCarthy has brought greater authority this term – likewise Coleman, whose importance was also illustrated by Everton’s results during his month out injured – the team’s other young talents have made slow-burning starts.
Lukaku has been burdened not by a £28m price tag but a toe problem that required three injections before games and restricted his pace and movement. “I couldn’t push off to sprint because the tendon would almost explode,” he explained. The Belgium striker has declared himself fully fit as he looks to improve on a return of four goals.
Barkley has made only five appearances for Everton since damaging knee ligaments on the eve of the campaign and, for all the unhelpful Paul Gascoigne comparisons from the England manager, Roy Hodgson, remains a work in progress. The 20-year-old said he wanted more games in central midfield this season but that opportunity is unlikely against West Ham despite injury concerns over McCarthy, Gareth Barry and Darron Gibson.
Martínez said: “I want Ross to play that position eventually but ‘eventually’ is maybe 100 games in the Premier League. The role is different. You need to reduce what you do on the ball and put in more work off the ball. The outstanding quality of Ross is the way he makes that transition as soon as he wins the ball, the way he attacks players and drives at space. It would be a shame to lose that and a big loss to restrict what Ross gives you naturally as a raw talent.”
