Time to say goodbye for Martinez at Everton

Everton boss Roberto Martinez is under increasing pressure from Toffees fans and looks set to leave the Toffees

Everton suffered a 3-1 defeat at newly-crowned Premier League champions Leicester City on Saturday evening.

There was something quite ironic about legendary Italian opera performer Andrea Bocelli performing prior to the game, because it does now seem like it is ‘time to say goodbye’ to Everton for boss Roberto Martinez.

The Toffees face relegation-threatened Sunderland on Wednesday in a game that could ensure the Black Cats safety. The way that the Toffees have been playing of late, a Sunderland win looks highly likely.

Where is the heart and will to win?

Having watched some of the turgid Everton teams of the 1990’s and 2000’s I feel I know what bad Everton teams looked like. However, those turgid teams had an often noble poorness about them.

At least they showed heart and spirit when wearing the famous royal blue. A lot of those players signed by Everton were just simply not good enough for the Premier League, but they gave everything to the cause and Everton fans appreciated their efforts.

The current team has bags of ability and are praised to the heavens. The likes of John Stones, Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku are highly-rated young players. Yet for all their apparent quality, a seemingly lack of effort and confidence has made this season a poor one for the Toffees.

There is a certain feeling when a manager has lost his players and that feeling has been rife amongst Evertonians for the last few months.

Time to go Roberto

Martinez’s positivity was refreshing to Evertonians at first, but it has now got to the point where the Spaniard’s positivity is downright annoying. Everton fans have for the most part supported the Spaniard, as he is a very likeable individual and his attitude was at first refreshing.

No more though the majority of Evertonians are worried about the direction the team is going in under Martinez. At least under former-bosses Everton had poor players who played to the best of their ability.

Somehow Martinez cannot get the best out of a talented group of players. John Stones is the perfect example. The England international has at times been in awful form this season , because Martinez has not been able to teach him when to kick the ball into row z.

He is undeniably talented and will more than likely flourish under another boss, but not under the Spaniard who seems to applaud the centre-back for taking unnecessary chances.

Martinez’s football philosophy may work well in Spain, but he will never be a success in England as he just too defensively naïve. Anybody can pick an attacking team and go for a win, then say oh well we attacked well.

Attacking well is no good if the team is losing or drawing games that they should be winning. If you list the players in the Everton squad they should easily be in the top ten of the Premier League.

Much-maligned former-boss David Moyes for the most part had the Toffees in the top half of the table. In periods the team played some nice stuff as well and arguably could have made the top-four with an injection of slightly more quality.

Moyes was not always successful in the transfer market, but he signed the likes of Phil Jagielka, Seamus Coleman, Tim Howard, John Stones and Steven Pienaar, who are all still in the Toffees squad.

Martinez has had a lot to spend comparatively speaking and has brought in some quality players, but he has brought in some dross too.

Surely must be living on borrowed time

Roberto Martinez must now surely be living on borrowed time at Everton. The Toffees last home game of the campaign will see them take on relegation-threatened Norwich, who could be relegated by then, obviously depending on Sunderland’s result against the Toffees on Wednesday.

The usual end of season lap of honour will be rather awkward for the Spaniard, who may not receive the best of welcomes.

Those on the Everton board cannot be stupid and they must be aware of the strength of feelings amongst the Blues fans, as it is difficult to find an Everton supporter who still wants Martinez as the clubs boss next season.

The Spaniard losing his job in the near future seems inevitable. Republic of Ireland boss Martin O’Neill is current favourite to be the next Toffees boss at odds of 7/4, but is not a popular choice among Toffees who are fed-up with their club going backwards, while other clubs progress.

This summer could be one of change at Goodison Park, but the right changes need to be made or the Toffees could once again be stuck in midtable obscurity next season.

Who should be the next Everton boss?