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The prelude to ‘the Roberto Martinez’ era at Goodison has so far been overshadowed by the actions, or more so by the lack of it, by his predecessor to the throne at Everton.
Moyes’ uncanny habit of rounding up the season at 6th or 7th despite having only tit-bits to spend on in the window has left him a legend of acclaims. On a pretty similar scale, Roberto Martinez’s era of stubbornness to survive at Wigan and his initial heroics during the establishment of the current Swansea, have claimed their own pages.
The Europa League was a spot that Everton were fighting for at the end of last season, and ironically it was Martinez’s antics at Wembley that claimed the spot for Wigan instead. The fact that last season was Martinez’s most successful in terms of silverware; his move to Everton along with interests from Liverpool and Sunderland has now put him in a different ballpark altogether.
It is often seen that managers moving on to other clubs in the same league, try to bring some of the players from their previous club with them. This was seen controversially in Joe Allen’s case with Brendan Rodgers and is expected imminently in Fellaini’s case with Moyes. And again the situation that has caused the least bit of stir is the parade of players that Martinez has brought in to Merseyside from the Latics. Kone, Alcaraz and Joel (earlier on loan from Atletico) have all completed the move, and each one of these moves makes some sort of sense.
Moyes’s eternal tactic at Everton has been to take advantage of the chemistry between Baines and Pienaar on the left. This often leads to the lads in the centre being huge and towering and winning every single ball in the air; enter Jelavic and Anichibe. Adding Fellaini, Jagielka and Distin to this mix shows Everton as the single most scorer of set-piece goals in the league.
This does not mean that Moyes’s midfield was just a connect between the defence and attack, but the Scotsman major tactic was sweeping the ball from the centre towards the likes of Baines and Coleman. Certainly Martinez’s style at Wigan was quite dis-similar; and despite the fact that the Spaniard played a different shape at the back, his style involved the men in the centre: McArthur, Watson and McCarthy much more in the build and always found a forward in a wide position running in at goal.
This led to successful stints for Kone and Di Santo at the club, whose pace during direct attacks at goal, ideally complemented the skills of Maloney and McManaman.
Kone’s arrival at Everton is currently being seen as just a back-up plan for Jelavic, who was out of form for the whole of last season. But looking forward, Kone is nowhere near a presence in the box, and his positioning in the box is not going to encourage the likes of Coleman or Baines to put crosses in the box.
All in all Martinez is not going to play the Ivorian as the main striker and neither is he going to compromise on Everton’s eternal tactic of playing majorly through link-ups on the flanks. And with Pienaar’s position on the left being pretty much fixed, Kone should be restricted to the right-forward spot.
With the front three temporarily fixed, the main question is that where does Martinez see Miralas playing. The Belgian has been a real revelation in his first season, and like all his compatriots he has rarely disappointed. Moyes had started to use Miralas on the right flank initially, but he was seen converted into a No.10 as the season progressed.
Miralas is more than capable of playing from the left with Pienaar in the centre, but then Belgian direct approach at goal would restrict Baines’ ability to overlap alongside.
This again brings up the question of Marouane Fellaini playing in the hole behind Jelavic. This indeed turned out to be this Belgian’s best position while attacking deep lying teams, and the Belgian’s towering presence in the box as well as his precise hold-up play in midfield, allowed the likes of Pienaar and Osman to rush ahead.
Marouane Fellaini
But Fellaini’s tentative contract situation that could see him go either to Manchester United or Arsenal, would leave a huge hole in the Blues’ lineup which needs to filled tactically rather than physically. Using Miralas in this hole rather than Fellaini would mean that the front four for Everton become a highly attacking outfit, hereby leaving the manager with the only option of playing 2 deep midfielders.
Leo Osman is surely one of the candidates for the role, and his energetic displays last season won him a well-deserved English cap. His partner in the pivot in the centre last time around was either the now retired Phil Neville or the injury prone Gibson.
In Gibson’s case, the Englishman was able to provide reliable support in the centre albeit it being a make-shift position for him. But the Blues indeed require a more solid DM next to Osman, as Leo often shows attacking tendencies on the ball. Martinez’s tactic of not bringing Wigan man James McCarthy is really odd in this case.
The place that Roberto did indeed strengthen is the CB role, where Alcaraz came in from Wigan. Martinez is quite fond of his former captain, and now he comes in mainly as a backup to the established duo of Jagielka and Distin. Martinez had earlier established a three man defence at Wigan , but was seen to stick to the 4-2-3-1 in the preseason friendlies at Everton.
Alcaraz’s inclusion in the first team would only be possible in case United make a late bid for Baines. This will then see Martinez shifted to a three man defence with Coleman and Oviedo on the wings. Though this might change the balance of the team, it was indeed effective against the likes of Stoke and Spurs last season, where Pulis and AVB played a team without any established wingers.
Everton has often been about teenagers that it develops and then sells. But recent rise in status in the League and domination in Merseyside means that now Kenwright can often develop a good youth setup too. Ross Barkley is a clear indication in this regards, as the versatile midfielder who was often played on the right by Moyes, is now a main stay in the English junior setup.
Barkley has often shown immense skill in the centre of attacking midfield, but the presence of Fellaini has kept him restricted to the right flank. Apart from Barkley’s ever increasing presence at the club, Martinez has now successfully brought Barca’s Delofou on loan to the club. Deulofeu is highly regarded player in Catalonia and is seen as a future star for Spain.
This definitely means that the 20-year-old will surely return in a year or two, but Martinez will surely get enough chances to make use of the youngster’s eye for goal and movement off the ball.
The only risk that sees the Blues drop off the top 5 is Roberto Martinez’s mentality. Though the Spaniard’s recent silverware might have attracted Kenwright, but on paper Martinez is quite used to having a slow start to the season and then fighting back later in the season.
Apart from that Martinez has always been a tactically sound manager and is pretty sure to follow Moyes’ footsteps which saw the Scotsman dynamically change shapes and positions even during big games.
