There is a current Premier League side who had their lowest league finish in ten seasons last year, registering their lowest points total in that time in the process. At the half way stage of this campaign, they are on course to register their second lowest points total in that same timeframe (should they mirror the form they showed from August to January).
The only 3 victories in their last 12 games have come against the league’s bottom three sides. In fact they have won just 6 league games from 19 all season.
SIX wins from nineteen games. SIX.
The same team has been labelled “electric” and “exhilarating”, their players have been lathered in coats of adulatory journalistic phlegm and their manager pedestalised.
That team is Everton FC. That manager is Roberto Martinez.
It’s hard not to get lured in and swallowed up by the general positive vibes that you get when watching Everton play. They attack with pace and guile, they seem to have great players all over the pitch, but they hardly ever win. Everton would be the perfect case study for the “entertainment vs success” debate.
As I pointed out earlier, last season was their lowest league finish in a decade, but Goodison Park also recorded its highest average attendance in that same ten year span despite them winning just 7 of their 19 home games. Crap results, but the fans kept coming in droves. So far in 2015/16 their home record stands at 3 wins from 10.
Everton are producing the kind of results that would see other manager’s slaughtered in the press and on the terraces in equal measure, so how has Martinez dodged the criticism?
Granted, Everton seem to play well most weeks, but shouldn’t that in itself set alarm bells ringing? You often hear the old football adage “it’s always a good sign to play badly and win”, but shouldn’t the reverse of that clichéd statement be something of a concern to Blues fans? If your team plays well every week and STILL can’t win…….what happens when they play poorly?
Everton’s easiness on the eye has blinded many to a truth that has been hiding in plain sight. Everton’s results have been atrocious for 18 months. EIGHTEEN months. This is no temporary dip, no momentary lapse, no short lived bungle – it’s a long term pattern of underperformance.
The headlines wax lyrical about Lukaku, Deulofeu, Stones and Barkley who produce show stopping moments, but Everton are not winning near enough football matches. The show stopping moments are just magical seconds buried within weekly 90 minute failures.
SIX wins from nineteen games. SIX.
Martinez’ Teflonic ability to deflect and avoid the critics was apparent during his tenure at Wigan too. The Latics were a Premier League team for 8 consecutive seasons, 4 before Martinez and 4 with him. They finished 10th, 17th, 14th and 11th before Martinez arrival and 16th, 16th, 15th and a relegated 18th with the Spaniard. He made them worse. Easier on the eye, but worse. It’s only fair to acknowledge Wigan’s miraculous FA Cup win in his last season, but the club have since swirled down the English league football drain and probably won’t be back for a long, long time – if ever at all.
In his first season at Everton he bested his predecessor David Moyes by one place, finishing 5th to Moyes 6th the season before. If we open the history books again, Everton’s last 10 Premier League placings look like this: 6th, 5th, 5th, 8th, 7th, 7th, 6th, 5th and 11thlast season. Should Everton fail to redress 18 months of poor form, they look set for another mid table finish this time around. So, speaking in terms of league finishes, Martinez has made Everton worse. Easier on the eye, but worse. Can you see a pattern emerging?
Evertonians seem thrilled with their lot. They probably enjoy their team’s tag as the league’s great entertainers. In a season where one of football’s biggest headlines has been Man Utd’s transformation into the Premier League’s most boring side, Blues fans have been treated to gluts of goals and drama by the bucketful. But they hardly ever win games. They don’t win as many games as Crystal Palace, West Ham, Watford, West Brom or Stoke and Everton have better players than all of them.
At what point does the mist lift from eyes distracted by the pretty passing carousel? Are those at Goodison Park transfixed and stupefied by a studious Spanish face and articulate English in a Spanish accent? At what point do you list the talent at Martinez disposal and correctly conclude that his results just don’t measure up?
SIX wins from nineteen games. SIX.
If we get to February/March with Everton still languishing in midtable, don’t be surprised to hear the first rumblings of Scouse discontent. If Lukaku picks up an injury or loses a bit of form, those rumblings might start even earlier. Or maybe all it will take is for one big name to take a swipe before everyone realizes that the Emperor is nude?
