APN_EFC
Player Valuation: £25m
There are a few things about Martinez' three years which were undeniably good, don't you think?
Of course it was time for change, but here are my top 5 good ideas I hope we don't lose.
1) Fearlessness against top teams. Apart from against Liverpool, we conquered the fear of big teams, and had some really memorable wins against Chelsea, Man U and Arsenal in particular.
2) Martinez attracted some surprisingly good players to EFC, who seemed to come for him, the style and the idea of what we wanted to do. Even if they might not have worked out long term, think Eto'o, Lukaku, Barry, Geri
3) A playing culture throughout the system, from youth to the first teams, was apparently put into place, getting them playing in a particular way.
4) Promoting young players, most of the time. Although at the end it was a bit crazy when the excellent U21s were not getting selected ahead of injured or out of position seniors, having blind faith in Barkley, Stones & Lukaku must have given them confidence (and a bit of complacency too)
5) Loads of English & British players...we might have almost had 5 players in the England squad, and a good core set of other British lads
I like what he did with Unsy, Big Dunc and other blue-blooded players behind the scenes, and two semi finals is not bad! I hope that some of the good things Roberto did are not ripped up
Of course it was time for change, but here are my top 5 good ideas I hope we don't lose.
1) Fearlessness against top teams. Apart from against Liverpool, we conquered the fear of big teams, and had some really memorable wins against Chelsea, Man U and Arsenal in particular.
2) Martinez attracted some surprisingly good players to EFC, who seemed to come for him, the style and the idea of what we wanted to do. Even if they might not have worked out long term, think Eto'o, Lukaku, Barry, Geri
3) A playing culture throughout the system, from youth to the first teams, was apparently put into place, getting them playing in a particular way.
4) Promoting young players, most of the time. Although at the end it was a bit crazy when the excellent U21s were not getting selected ahead of injured or out of position seniors, having blind faith in Barkley, Stones & Lukaku must have given them confidence (and a bit of complacency too)
5) Loads of English & British players...we might have almost had 5 players in the England squad, and a good core set of other British lads
I like what he did with Unsy, Big Dunc and other blue-blooded players behind the scenes, and two semi finals is not bad! I hope that some of the good things Roberto did are not ripped up
