The FA Cup semi-final that may decide his fate comes less than 72 hours after the trip to Anfield on Wednesday but resting players in the Merseyside derby is not an option for Roberto Martínez. Everton, from manager to players to supporters, desperately need belief from somewhere, anywhere, in preparation for a defining encounter against Manchester United.
A tepid draw against Southampton confirmed that, for all Martínez’s talk of fierce competition for places in his squad, there is precious little.
Darron Gibson and the impressive teenage debutants Callum Connolly and Tom Davies were the only members of a makeshift side to promote their claims for inclusion at Wembley.
The point also confirmed that, statistically, this Everton team of Romelu Lukaku, Ross Barkley, John Stones et al are the worst performers at Goodison Park since the introduction of three points for a win in 1981. They have taken 17 from 17 home matches this season and only six more points remain available. The Everton sides that scrambled for Premier League survival on the final days of the 1997-98 and 1993-94 seasons managed 26 and 28 respectively, albeit with the latter from a 42-game campaign.
“I don’t think you can switch on and off,” Martínez said when asked whether he would prioritise United with his team selection against Liverpool. “You have to perform well before you go to a semi-final. You can’t just say: ‘OK, let’s switch it on. We are going to play well.’ It doesn’t work like that. You have to create a competitive nature in every game you go into.
“We can take many positives from this game, apart from that you didn’t see our normal fast-flowing forward play and the final ball that allows us to break teams down. But we will get that from players coming back from suspension and injury.”
The most impressive feature of this subdued affair was Ronald Koeman’s anger afterwards. The Southampton manager berated his strikers for not taking responsibility in front of goal and damaging his hopes of Europa League qualification for next season. “Sometimes we are too reserved but not today,” he said. “Mané, Tadic, Long and Pellè are all strikers, we cannot play more offensively or with more strikers. It’s the responsibility of the strikers to do more.”
Southampton were the more cohesive, dangerous side and struck the woodwork three times but precision was lacking in the final pass and their finishing. Sadio Mané’s poacher’s goal after weak defending from Everton was the exception and cancelled out Ramiro Funes Mori’s opener from eight minutes earlier.
His goal apart, the Argentinian’s defending reinforced the importance of Phil Jagielka recovering from a hamstring strain this week. Seamus Coleman is expected to miss the derby and the semi-final with a similar problem incurred against Saints.
Man of the match Dusan Tadic (Southampton)
