So the hunt for a new manager is on. I guess we don’t ask for too much as Everton fans. Let’s see, where do we start…
Well firstly we are going to demand that the new manager doesn’t talk utter nonsense. That’d be nice. It was funny with Martinez to start with as his positivity transformed Goodison, far away from the depressed and underwhelmed stadium that Moyes left. That quickly faded though when most fans realised that they were dealing with someone deluded in a way that made Rodgers over the park look measured.
Update: Just heard that Moyes was interviewed this morning and is ‘hopeful’ of getting the job back. Good God, please no…
Attacking and entertaining football is something that we are going to demand, but this is a weird one. Martinez (link to Roberto Martinez Wiki page) has given us a lot of goals during his time at the club – it was the defence that was the problem (see below). Problem was that the methodical build-up style did everyones heads in. His refusal to allow the players to get crosses in early from corners or free kicks confused fans that were brought up on a diet of big number 9’s and aggressive headed goals. And at the same time can we stop with the ‘death by football’ experiment. That phase has gone. We don’t want the ball any more. Worked for Leicester.
We want a decent defence too (see above). Moyes was dour and unambitious but he knew how to get a defence sorted out alright. Everyone knew what their roles were and stuck with them. They knew how to mark players at corners as they practiced them occasionally – something Martinez refused to do as ‘not many people score from corners in a match’. Unless playing us, clearly. Stop John Stones from messing about at the back too. By selling him maybe as I’m not sure he wants to change, let alone can!
What else – ah, yes. Fitness. This site mentioned 2 years ago that we were worried about players not being given a good pre-season fitness workout, and the fears were increased hugely this last season as we faded badly against other teams that were obsessed with pressing our players into mistakes. They were the ones that were meant to be knackered, not us!
So, we need a charming, clever tactician that will increase the fitness levels of our team whilst scoring loads of goals in an entertaining way and not letting many goals in. Sounds easy doesn’t it?
So who fits that bill and how can we do next season? Well the people we are being linked with all have one thing in common. They are winners (okay, maybe not Moyes…) who will not give too much away when it comes to risks. It’s very rare to find a swashbuckling entertaining side that wins the league – they all have quality all over the pitch with one or two flair players.
Think of Man City – solid throughout with two or three great entertainers that, if injured, are badly missed. I think that if we get the Sevilla manager or perhaps Koeman or De Boer we’ll not be the most entertaining team for a while but we’ll certainly be hard to beat and a lot more organised.
The odds at the moment at the moment are interesting too for anyone who likes to have a dabble at the market for Premier League winners, and actually getting some money on Everton before the new manager is announced may be wise. Unless we announce Moyes. At that point this site might just implode.
You can bet on football with William Hill who are giving a very generous 100/1 for Everton to win the league next season. After seeing Leicester and Spurs do so well this season and with every other club changing manager too can we possibly slip in there to snatch one of the Champions League places and possibly even the title?
The title may be pushing things but anything is possible. As a wise man once said… “watch this space”…