Everton face worrying signs as new season approaches
During the summer leading up to the 2014-15 season, Roberto Martinez recognized that Everton did not have the squad to meet the new challenges of the coming season. It had been six years since the Toffees had competed in Europe … Continue reading
During the summer leading up to the 2014-15 season, Roberto Martinez recognized that Everton did not have the squad to meet the new challenges of the coming season. It had been six years since the Toffees had competed in Europe and Martinez was fully aware that his team, particularly the aging defense, would be put under immense strain. The Europa League is infamous for destroying a club’s league form; tougher travel, more games, and later midweek scheduling add serious hurdles to the marathon Premier League season.
Knowing this, Martinez was open about hoping to add at least six but potentially eight new players to the squad. By the time the window shut in August, Everton had five new players. Two of those players were Gareth Barry and Romelu Lukaku, both of whom had spent the previous season on loan at the club. Only one of those signings, nineteen-year-old Brendan Galloway, was a defender.
Heading into a crucial sophomore season, Martinez gambled on one big money signing (the club-record $43 million paid to Chelsea for Romelu Lukaku) and lost. Everton made the round of sixteen in the Europa League, found early exits in both domestic cups and finished 11th back home in the Premier League, winning only 12 matches all season. More worryingly was the goals against column, which had gone from 39 in 2013-14 to 50 in 2014-15.
It is a huge blessing for a manager to inherit a cohesive, experienced defensive unit but it is also vital for a manager to anticipate that unit’s eventual decline and have successors in place. Martinez is very vocal in his advocacy for youth development and bringing players all the way through the academy to the first team. That dedication to youth, along with a blind spot in transfer policy, has put Everton into a precarious position heading in the 2015-16 season. The mainstays of Martinez’s back four are mostly over-30, the only current starter under-30 is Seamus Coleman, a player who is constantly in danger of being snatched away by a top four club. The club’s most experienced defender, Sylvain Distain, moved on this summer and leaves behind a center back role to be filled by youth players with little-to-no experience of top flight football.
Martinez has always been a manager known for his open, attacking football and in his debut season at Everton the faithful were treated to some truly outstanding displays. For all his talents however, Martinez had never been able to set out a team to defend a game. The resilience shown by Everton in his debut season appears more and more to be a lingering Moyes-ian stoutness imbued in the veteran players.
Wigan under Martinez were always a favorite of the neutrals. Their smooth passing game brought the plaudits and eventually an FA Cup. It also brought them three straight relegation battles before eventually going down in a blaze of glory holding the FA Cup. Martinez continues to insist that he is building up Everton with the longview in mind, which is all well and good. However without adding more experience and depth to his squad, particularly the defense, Everton and Martinez could be facing some harsh realities in the short term.
