Can Everton cope with the demands of Europa League football?

Everton boss Roberto Martinez is taking the Europa League seriously this season

Everton started their Europa League campaign on Thursday with an impressive 4-1 victory over German side Wolfsburg.

The Toffees kicked-off their season in a slow manner, but their last two games show that they are starting to get back to their best.

No Hangover

Some teams are unable to cope with the rigours of Thursday night football and then Sunday games. However Toffees keeper Tim Howard is confident that his team can cope with the demands of Europa League football.

The USA international told Sky Sports: “It’s a positive – if you win you can stay on a good winning streak, and if you lose there’s another game right there for you to prove yourself,”

“I always think the more you play the less you have to train. Playing games keeps you ticking over and I feel when there’s points to be had, it’s easy to bounce back.

“These two results help. Against Leicester, Arsenal and Chelsea we played well but we were just a little bit frail in certain areas.

“We also knew if we could beat West Brom then double up and beat Palace we’d be right back in the thick of things so hopefully that will be the case.”

Depth

Everton squads of the past have struggled for strength in-depth. The first 11 eleven may have been strong, but beyond those players the Toffees had very little cover. However with a number of players coming back from injury Everton’s squad looks far stronger this season.

Toffees boss Roberto Martinez now has a lot of options available to him, which means if things are not going as planned then the Spaniard can change things around. The recent return to training of the likes of Arouna Kone and Bryan Oviedo have handed the squad a boost in numbers.

Outstanding

Everton full-back duo of Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman are arguably the best pair of players in their position in the top-flight. Both player’s bomb forward and they make Everton a very exciting team to watch.

Roberto Martinez has given Baines and Coleman the license to get forward, with the excellent James McCarthy and Gareth Barry filling in at times for the pair. The two central midfielders are very intelligent players and give Everton that defensive protection.

The full-backs are a key to how Everton play, just as the Toffees second goal against Wolfsburg proved, with Baines supplying an assist for Coleman to score.

The way that Martinez sets-up his team means that opposition find it hard to counteract the Toffees when they are in full-flow and it seems they are close to returning to top form at the moment.

Slow

Everton’s £28million record-signing Romelu Lukaku has made a slow start to the season. The youngster opened his scoring account as a permanent Everton player last weekend with a superb win against West Brom in a 2-0 win.

The striker’s performances will improve and he will find his top form at some point. The 21-year-old now has the perfect mentor in former-Chelsea and Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o, who has won everything there is to win at club level.

The 33-year-old is also a very good back-up player for Roberto Martinez to have to come off the bench and provide the team with another attacking option. The return to training of Arouna Kone will also boost the Toffees attacking options.

Confident

Despite Everton’s results at the start of the season not being the best, they now seem to be finding the form that made them one of the best teams to watch in the Premier League season.

Everybody involved in the club seem to believe that the team can cope with the demands of the extra games this season. Toffees boss Roberto Martinez has already stated that he is in the Europa League to win it, which they are odds of 20/1 to do.

Whether their league form suffers because of the Europa League remains to be seen, but at the moment European football is considered an honour rather than a chore and Everton look well equipped to cope with anything that will be thrown at them this season.

Can Everton cope with the demands of Europa League football?