Roberto Martinez finally appointed as Everton boss

Roberto Martinez has been appointed as the new Everton boss

Just like Jose Mourinho returning to Chelsea, Roberto Martinez arriving at Everton was a secret that nobody seemed to be able to keep.

Ever since Martinez told Wigan that he was leaving it was almost inevitable that he would be the next Everton boss.

Four-year contract

The Spaniard signed a four-year contract with the Toffee’s earlier today to succeed David Moyes as Everton boss.

Martinez has left Wigan after four years in charge at the DW Stadium, where he spent most of his time attempting to keep the Latics in the top flight.

This season Martinez’s team were relegated, but claimed a surprise 1-0 FA Cup final triumph against Manchester City.

It is hard to judge whether Martinez was a success at Wigan or not considering their contrasting fortunes last season.

Split

Everton Chairman Bill Kenwright said he would listen to the fans on the appointment of the clubs new boss. However, the appointment of Roberto Martinez has split opinion amongst the Evertonian’s.

Many Everton fans were in favour of the club appointing Porto boss Vitor Pereira, who has claimed consecutive league titles in his homeland. However, it seems that after interviewing a number of candidates Kenwright, including Pereira, decided that Martinez was the best candidate for the job.

Martinez’s appointment has been met by negativity from a host of Evertonian’s, but the doubters need to give the Spaniard a chance to prove himself. Some fans are already writing Martinez off and he has only just been appointed.

Wigan’s relegation and a poor win ratio in Lancashire have persuaded some Everton fans that Martinez is not the right man to move the club forward.

Highly-rated

Despite Wigan’s relegation, Roberto Martinez is regarded as one of the most highly-rated young bosses in the English game. He is thought of as one of the more forward thinking bosses in Europe, one of the games thinkers.

Style

One of the reasons that Martinez is considered so highly-rated is his philosophy on football. The 39-year-old has stuck with his passing style of football throughout his short career as a boss, even when the situation looked desperate for Wigan at times.

Unfortunately, Wigan was relegated while playing football last season. Martinez was very unlucky in the fact that he had a host of injuries to key defenders last season, which was a massive contributing factor to the Latics being relegated.

Wigan under Martinez conceded far more goals than Everton did under David Moyes in the last four years. The Toffee’s under Moyes were hard to beat and ironically, their style of play only improved towards the end of the Scot’s reign.

The number of goals that Wigan conceded under Martinez is a major concern for Everton fans. However, Everton have far superior defenders to Wigan. The backline of Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka, Sylvain Distin and Seamus Coleman is a very solid one.

The quarter is not all of a sudden going to become bad players just because Martinez has come in as manager. A change of formation may take some time for the Everton players to become accustomed to, but the Toffees players are intelligent enough to adapt.

Transfer market

Roberto Martinez has done some sterling work in the transfer market at Wigan, working on a shoestring budget, which will prepare him for Everton. The Spaniard will have to do the job on a small budget, although the Everton wage budget will be slightly higher than Wigan’s.

While at the Wigan, Martinez brought in the likes of Arouna Kone, James McCarthy and Shaun Maloney, who have all been big successes at the DW Stadium. All three are already being linked with a move to Goodison Park this summer.

Martinez has brought in lots of money from sales of players and instead of depending on money injected by Latics Chairman Dave Whelan the club became more self-sufficient. Martinez will have to be similarly shrewd in the transfer market on Merseyside.

Expectations

As Martinez stated in his press conference yesterday he has inherited a very good team and the fans have big expectations. The Spaniard needs to get off to a good start on Merseyside and if he does then I am sure the doubters will disappear into the background.

Can Roberto Martinez help Everton progress?