This thread is pretty bizarre.
Everton has a few good (but not great) seasons under Moyes. There are complaints – we hoof the ball, suffer from a lack of vision, and frequently score, sit back, and then let in late goals to inferior opponents. The results are okay but not great. We finish from 6th-8th a few seasons in a row.
We bring in an exciting new manager with a philosophy radically different than our old one. The first season, he succeeds – he builds upon the solid foundation left by the old manager, adds his own style, and with a little bit of luck (Tim Howard playing out of his mind, a few clutch free kicks, etc.), we have our best season in awhile. We don't hoof, we pass. We know exactly what we're going to do, even when we visit the best Premier League sides. We never sit back, even when we're holding onto a one goal lead. Everybody's happy.
The next year, things go a bit sour. The foundation left by the previous manager starts to crumble – some of the key players left by him (Distin, Pienaar, Osman, Howard) are shells of their former selves. Our luck dries up – a few missed calls, fewer goals from free kicks, inconvenient injuries, etc. All of a sudden, things are dire. Despite sitting mid-table, we start to declare that he's "too stubborn" and that our playing style is "too boring" and demand to switch to the same aimless kick and run that we hated just a season and a half ago.
Maybe it's just my Americanness shining through, but a season spent rebuilding is not an excessively long time, so long as we stay up. My favorite baseball team, the Mets (I know, I know) have spent EIGHT YEARS rebuilding. And that's in a league where teams that spend too much money have to pay a luxury tax, there's a draft that rewards poorly performing teams, etc. We're in a league where a number of teams significantly outspend us, and we're complaining about a single bad season. And let's not forget all the evidence that Martinez has a plan – beyond the young core we currently have (Stones, Barkley, Coleman, McCarthy, Lukaku) we've brought in Besic, Galloway, and Henen, all players who will hopefully grow up learning to play possession based football (not to mention the rest of the academy, Garbutt and Ledson in particular).
Do I agree that things don't look great right now? Sure. But I'm not sure where this arrogance comes from – this attitude that our team isn't allowed to go through rough spells and if they do, it's the end of the world. It's funny because many of the people complaining right now are the people who give the Red [Poor language removed] crap about being "deluded" and "glory hunters."
We're Everton. We're not going to solve our problems by spending hundreds of millions. We're not going to hire and fire a bunch of different managers just to put on a show. It may take time, but things will turn out alright. In Bert we trust!
