Martinez says Everton defence no better this season

Oh the irony. Everton’s former manager Roberto Martinez has been talking about his observations on this year’s squad and started off by noting that the issues on the defence are yet to be resolved.

The Blues are currently tied at 4^th best defence in the Premier League, having given up 27 goals in 24 games, which is a 43-goal pace for the season. Under Martinez’s last two seasons at the club, the Toffees concdeded 50 and 55 goals respectively.

Speaking on Sky Sports' Goals on Sunday earlier today, the Spaniard said -

"As a fan you always want to see teams scoring goals and winning games. This performance was about that.

"The only worry is that we had defensive fragility last year and it cost us too many points. The performance was going in the right direction, you are doing everything right -- and then in one action you look fragile. I can see the same things still now. Three goals yesterday.

“First 30 minutes, I thought Everton were magnificent, dynamic, they took the opportunity, starting the game, they had doubts, Bournemouth changing the system and they were ruthless, clinical. But even then, at 3-2 Bournemouth looked like the team that would win the game.”

What Martinez missed there was that were it his side on the pitch at Goodison yesterday, then they would likely have lost the game, or drawn like they did at Bournemouth or at Chelsea last season.

Koeman has done an admirable job purging many of the lost causes in the squad that Martinez used to take comfort from, and likely by the end of the season will have exterminated the mental frailties that his predecessor failed to address in his three years at the club.

If you were in any doubt that Everton are better this term, then this stat should convince you - the Toffees have earned 25 points at Goodison Park with seven more home games yet to play, 2 points more than the whole of last season.

During the interview he went on to talk about the pressures of the job with the Blues.

“I think when you become Everton manager you realise very quickly that it is not a normal football club,

“The history and success the club has had in the past demands that the club has to be very close to silverware. You have to accept it.

“You have two options: go in the realistic way, when I arrived we had the ninth budget along with Fulham and Aston Villa, or in football you have to set the targets high and you have to be close to silverware.

“The disappointment is to be out of the domestic cups. We had two semi-finals last season, we were very close. You can learn and take it into the next season as a young player, there are key moments you have to control to get to a final.

“The focus is now on the league, I feel they can take that opportunity. Ronald Koeman can look at Manchester United, Manchester City ahead of them, they are involved in Europe and that is a huge distraction. You’re going to suffer in the league. You are not 100 percent every ninety minutes.

“At Everton, try to use the situation, no distractions and the objective of Ronald Koeman will be to try to get into Europe.”