Everton need to win FA Cup tie against West Ham as Roberto Martinez's boundless optimism begins to grate - Telegraph
It has taken only 18 months, most of which have been spent on the crest of an Evertonian wave, but Roberto Martínez’s boundless optimism and faith in his football principles are beginning to grate at Goodison Park
Four successive defeats – the 2-0 New Year’s Day loss at Hull City was Everton's seventh in nine games – have led to the FA Cup third-round tie at home against West Ham United on Tuesday becoming, in Martínez’s words, "the most important game of the season" and one which could shape the Spaniard’s future at the club.
Few Evertonians appear to want a change of manager, but the exasperated mood among the supporters was summed up neatly by the Hull match report on the thisisnotfootball fans’ website which claimed that the "eminently likeable and intelligent Martínez is looking like the mayor of Amity Beach now, trying to convince everyone that the water’s fine as the body parts keep washing up on the beach".
If trophies were handed out for positivity and optimism, Martínez’s CV would resemble Sir Alex Ferguson’s at Manchester United, but even Everton’s supremely confident manager is beginning to change the mood music. In Jaws, it got worse before it got better, but as he prepared to face Sam Allardyce’s team at Goodison Park, using unfamiliar words such as "anxiety" and "adversity", Martínez conceded that Everton are approaching a line in the sand.
"The next game is the most important of the season, even if it’s not in the Premier League," Martínez said. "This could be a pivotal moment in our season. It’s important that we support each other and trigger that bit of momentum that we haven’t really had. It’s completely normal people [supporters] are getting upset.
"But we are here to build something for the future, not just for now, and become a winning team, so the message is very clear – we need to react in the proper way, find solutions in adversity and find a way to become a winning side."
Having admitted to researching the chairmen for whom he chooses to work, Martínez will know that Bill Kenwright is a man blessed with greater patience levels than most, someone prepared to offer time for a storm to blow over. But the Spaniard, 41, needs a positive result against West Ham, if only to gain a glimpse of blue sky behind the clouds. "We need to start enjoying our football again," Martínez said. "The FA Cup could give us that as it’s a completely different game and a different situation where you don’t carry any luggage from what happened in the past."
The past is Martínez’s problem, however, in that it makes the here and now appear bleak. Twelve months ago, Everton approached FA Cup third-round weekend sitting in fifth position in the Premier League, with 38 points from 20 games. Now, Martínez’s team find themselves with 21 points from the same number of games, with a goal difference of -4 – this time last year, it was +13.
Injuries to key players, such as John Stones, Leon Osman, Steven Pienaar, Kevin Mirallas and, now, goalkeeper Tim Howard, have halted Everton’s progress, but Martínez’s methods, and unswerving faith in them, remain the same.
Last season, the former Wigan Athletic manager’s arrival had a liberating effect on a group of players who had grown frustrated with the rigidity imposed by David Moyes, but there is now a sense that the Scot’s organisation and defensive mindset is just what Everton are lacking.
For Martínez, however, rediscovering the form of last season is about restoring belief and cutting out the mistakes – Everton have conceded more goalscoring opportunities than any other Premier League team this season – which have punctured the players’ confidence.
"I do feel that our expectations at the beginning of the season were so high for the right reasons," Martínez said. "But in the league, the four points we lost against Arsenal and Leicester [in August] really made it very difficult. When I say difficult, I mean that you are afraid of making a mistake, and then you make it.
"In football, when you play with freedom, when you are on top of your game, those aspects don’t get punished. It is not doubt [in the players’ minds], it’s a bit of being anxious – you want to win a game and you don’t know how.
"Yes, we lost a lot of injured players, that in particular moments we had to make too many changes. That forces errors and sometimes you get punished. But we now need a fresh start in the league and create new momentum because the second half of the season could be important in terms of things to fight for."
Rumblings of players growing disenchanted with Martínez’s approach have grown throughout Everton’s dismal recent run – a side-effect at most clubs of any sequence of poor results – but Martínez, who won the Cup as Wigan manager in 2013, insists his players are not "hiding". He said: "I wouldn’t say hiding, no. I do think during a period when we have had four defeats in the league, we need to do more, but that’s the manager, the staff, the players.
"We all need to do more and, if it’s five per cent, it’s five per cent. I have seen a lot of character, a lot of responsibility and I think some of the players have been too affected by the bad results and the confidence has gone low. That’s something we need to get rid of."
