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Martinez's Everton Searching for Attacking Answers

Roberto Martinez's wait for his first Premier League victory as Everton manager goes on following a second-successive goalless draw.

Cardiff City 0 - 0 Everton

Roberto Martinez's wait for his first Premier League victory as Everton manager goes on following a second-successive goalless draw that deepened the sense of frustration around a team that has been utterly dominant in all four of their games this season but has managed to win just one of them.

Lopsided possession statistics have been a hallmark of the Blues' campaign so far but a worrying lack of incisiveness and threat in the final third has critically undermined them, particularly in the last two League games where they have been stifled into stalemate by West Bromwich Albion and now Cardiff City.

Granted, an elusive goal and, in all likelihood, the first three points of the season might have arrived had referee Anthony Taylor not ignored a blatant foul by Gary Medel on Leighton Baines in the Cardiff area late in the first half. It was the biggest talking point of Everton's first game against the Bluebirds since 1962 but the Blues' failure to turn in excess of two thirds of the possession into more than a handful of chances was just as pressing a concern.

Unchanged from the team that started against West Brom a week ago – all eight changes for the Stevenage tie returned to the starting XI – Everton brushed off some early ferocity and intensity from Cardiff to settle into their now-familiar patient passing approach under Martinez. Though initially unable to move the ball out of defence to the midfield due to the committed closing down by their hosts' forward players, the Blues eventually took almost complete control of proceedings.

Seemingly in their stride by the 11th minute, a lovely heel-flick by Steven Pienaar set up Ross Barkley for a surging run and Everton's first shot on goal that deflected behind. But as the first half progressed it became apparent that the tentative, slow-paced build-up that has drawn concern from Evertonians over the previous three games was again hampering the players' ability to break down another stubborn well-organised defence set up to close own the spaces and stop them playing their way through.

A nice passing move did open up a chance just before the half-hour mark, though, when Nikica Jelavic latched into a ball by the byline and crossed invitingly for Kevin Mirallas but he made disappointing contact with his header and glanced it wide.

And when Baines came inside with a smart run into the box and edged the ball past Medel, the Chilean appeared to scythe under him and make enough content to make the award of a penalty as nailed on as they come. And yet referee Taylor, who had a nightmare at the Emirates on the opening day and who seemingly did everything he could last season to make Evertonians question his appointment to the top flight refereeing roster, waved play on.

True to his no-fuss character, Baines barely complained and, in truth, there hadn't been sufficient anger four minutes previously when Barkley chased down Kim and executed an excellent sliding challenge to win the ball, only for the linesman to flag for a foul and referee Taylor to book the Everton midfielder!

The half finished, however, with what would arguably be the Blues' best chance of the afternoon, a header for Jelavic off a cross from the fairly subdued Seamus Coleman that came off a defender's arm and wrong-footed David Marshall in the Cardiff goal. The 'keeper did superbly to change direction and stop the ball with one hand and the home side escaped into the break at 0-0.

At the other end, Tim Howard had been almost completely untroubled and was called into meaningful action just once when a dangerously inswinging corner had him momentarily panicked but he parried it with two hands and Sylvain Distin hacked it away to safety.

That pattern would continue in the second half, with Everton in the ascendancy but consistently unable to carve the Welsh side open to any great degree or cause them many problems from a succession of set-pieces.

The best chance of the second half also fell to Jelavic seven minutes after the break when Barkley threaded a lovely ball into the channel to release the Croatian but he went for a first-time effort with his right foot- rather than letting it come across his body and hitting it with his left - and he stabbed his shot over the crossbar.

Barkley drove a poor direct free kick attempt into the defensive wall and Mirallas failed to test Marshall with a tame shot before Martinez made the obvious decision to introduce Arouna Kone with 22 minutes to go, withdrawing Jelavic rather than gambling with two strikers and hooking the ineffective Leon Osman from midfield.

The officials, meanwhile, were making a mockery of the players' and supporters' desire for consistency, failing to award so much as a foul for Kim's elbow to Pienaar's face or book Medel for chopping Barkley down in full flight. And then, right at the end, bottling a second yellow for Connolly for the exact same calculated block on Baines that had earned him his first booking earlier in the game.

In between, Baines had lashed a 25-yard shot wide with his right foot and Mirallas, who was a mystifyingly peripheral and ineffective presence throughout, wasted a good opening in the opposition area when he eschewed a shot with his left foot and instead tried to drag the ball inside with his right and he was closed down.

It was symbolic of Everton's general hesitancy to just put a boot through the ball once in a while when the goal opened up and it would be the Belgian's last contribution before being replaced by Gerard Deulofeu for his first Premier League appearance.

The Spanish teenager had just eight minutes (including stoppage time) to make an impression but he displayed more purpose and threat in that short period than most of his teammates had in the preceding 85. Two shots in as many minutes didn't unduly trouble the goalkeeper but they were both on target and, after he won a corner on the right in the last minute and the ball came back out to him, he fizzed a dangerous ball right across the face of the Cardiff goal but not a single blue shirt had gambled and it flew out to the far side.

So, three League games and three draws under the new manager with enough to evidence to suggest that Martinez has a lot of work ahead of him in trying to quicken the pace of play in the final third and get his players to create more chances. Given how often the Blues struggled to make their superiority tell under his predecessor last season as they racked up an inordinate number of draws, his biggest problem may be with the players he has in the squad, although the ponderous playing style he has introduced so far is certainly not helping.

With Mirallas largely toothless in the first three games, Osman lacking any offensive punch and Jelavic so reliant on chances created for him in front of goal, there hasn't been anyone apart from Barkley who has looked capable of fashioning a chance or a goal, and he hasn't yet been able to produce for a full 90 minutes yet. That will come as he gains experience and fitness but, in the interim, the feeling that Martinez needs to bring in at least two signings of real quality before the transfer deadline is inescapable.

A quick-minded and fleet-footed attacking midfielder to replace Osman and a reliable striker appear to be imperative, although there is little to suggest from the speculation thus far that he is looking at either type of player. And his task will probably be complicated by the loss of Fellaini to Manchester United if late-breaking speculation is correct. Should the Belgian be sold, James McCarthy would seem to be the most likely replacement but you would hope that there would be additional funds to bring in another couple of players as well to add more options.

On the obvious plus-side, the team looks very solid defensively, with Cardiff really only able to create a couple of chances, the best of them falling to Craig Bellamy who was put through on goal by Kim but his touch as he tried to round Tim Howard was too heavy and it took him too wide of goal to keep the opportunity alive. With Distin defying the years and Phil Jagielka every inch the dependable rock alongside him in central defence, conceding goals hasn't been an issue in the last couple of games.

And if he can find the key to unlocking his team's offensive potential on the back of its ability to control matches, Everton will be in very good shape this season. On the evidence so far, though, that is a sizeable "if".

Once the chaos of the transfer window is out of the way, Martinez has just under a fortnight to plan for the visit of Chelsea on the 14th which will, obviously, be his biggest test to date. One way or the other, that game will likely be very revealing about where Everton are heading under the Spaniard, at least in the short term. Rome, now that he has decided to partially rebuild it, wasn't finished in a day, but Evertonians will be looking for signs of progress sooner rather than later.

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