At the time I think he should have been sacked, but I do feel our players sold him short, and I think the fans turned rather quickly - especially given supposed lower expectations.
If you think about it now he was the only manager to demand top 4 -yes that was Kenwright's statement during his press conference- and tried to instill a winning mentality around the club: one example simply showcasing our past history around Finch Farm and leaving a blank canvas up in a nod to making your own.
Similarly under Martinez and his 'philosophy' we did give the 'top 6' a game - not to say it didn't have it's gapping flaws, but the principle stands we tried to influence the game in a positive way and he came as close to any as breaking a few ducks. Currently -and going back to last season- we don't seem to want to influence the game, instead we try to contain teams and grind out a result of sorts.
If we get the balance right I think we can start looking up the table instead of consolidating 'best of the rest'.
As we've all alluded too -although little to go off- Martinez's first season was something of a stepping out of the dark moment, everything seemed to click and we all got carried away [who knows what would have happened if we got forth that season, we had to be the team to get the most points and not get in]. That's not saying Martinez's Everton is the blueprint to follow, but I genuinely feel we were building something of an identiy. Probably an over used superlative but we had an aura about us, the big teams were talking about us in concerned ways, we 'loaned' our way to success, and a fair few thought Barca were gonna sweep him away.
I fully agree his mantra didn't work when the chips were down, but I feel we lacked conviction and believe when we had a run of poor results. I think weve said for a long time we lack leaders, and don't have characters in the dressing room, it just seems to me we resorted to type, and then the manager becomes the scapegoat. Look at Koemans 1st season after the first 5 games, it when south very fast after the Norwich cup game, we're a defeat or two from collapsing. Koeman to his credit switched it up, but we resorted to a style lacking in his pressing vision.
I thought the period under Martinez -who I wanted as manager when he was at Swansea- has been massively exaggerated as to how bad it became - saying that there is little to know denying his time was up. You could say I'm being misty eyed and taking Martinez's performance against the 'top 6' out of content given he has been the only manager since supporting Everton I've seen 'take the game' to them. That being said under Martinez i've left the game early for the first time -away to Liverpool- but also left a game thinking 'wow' (Arsenal away first season) there was just no middle ground, it was either a top performance or a complete shambles. To be fair the players threw both him and the fans under the bus during his 2nd/3rd season.
I think the blueprint Martinez tried to instil was bearing some fruition, but we seemingly took one step forwards, two steps back, or in Martinez's case an extra sideways pass before being caught in possession and conceding. Saying that -not that its something to celebrate- but i'm sure in his final season we had the best away record, be that for x amount of years, or in one of the best in the league, it was oddly the home form that cost us,
Other managers have damped our ambitions and we've just become complacent so for what its worth Martinez with money and buying players to suit his style would be much better then the dross we've been served since.
If you're the slightest bit interested this is my opinion on Martinez - typed when coming back from Wembley:
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/everton-fan-qa-roberto-martinez-11272823
