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Brilliant Martinez confounds expectations

He's already taken Everton to the next level

The Mirror's Daniel Storey provides an effusive analysis in of the impact Roberto Martinez has had since his arrival at Everton. Despite apprehension in some quarters when Martinez was appointed, Storey says that the sceptics have been proven wrong; Martinez has entirely altered preconceptions of his tenure.

Statistics could demonstrate that Everton under Roberto Martinez are startlingly similar to Everton under David Moyes last season. After 11 league games they have identical records: Won 5, Drawn 5, Lost 1. In both campaigns they lost 2-1 away from home in the third round of the Capital One Cup. Their shooting accuracy, shot conversion rate and save percentage rate are all within 1-2% of last season's figures, as are the number of shots on target and and shots faced per game.

However, there is an increased air of optimism surrounding Goodison currently. Despite sitting sixth (they were actually fourth at this stage last season) the Toffees are just five points behind leaders Arsenal. People are looking up, and the future looks bright.

There was a fair deal of concern when Roberto Martinez took over in June. It wasn't necessarily that the club was still on the up under the departed David Moyes, but they had found a plateau, a ceiling on expectations higher than at any point since the late 1980s. The attainment of eight consecutive top-eight finishes prior to his defection to Manchester United was the best at Goodison since the glory years under Howard Kendall, and Moyes had been pitted with relatively sparse resources against comparatively augmented opposition.

Martinez split the Goodison faithful. He had won the FA Cup with Wigan Athletic and taken the club into Europe, a startling achievement, but had also taken the Latics down, thus failing where Steve Bruce and Paul Jewell had succeeded – evidently not a comparison to be viewed in favourable terms.

The reason for apprehension was palpable. The Spaniard would attempt to operate his own brand of attractive, measured football, almost the antithesis of Moyes's direct 'blood and thunder' style of pressing and combative midfield strategy. Due to the lack of financial resources, the Spaniard would be forced to implement his philosophy with Moyes's players, leaving square pegs in round holes. With full-backs licenced to roam forward, Everton would be left exposed at the back – no Premier League side conceded more than Wigan last season. Midtable was widely viewed as Everton's natural home in the short-term, an inevitable regression considering the instigation of a new era at the club.

The sceptics have been proven wrong. Not simply due to Everton's current position (they are one of only two teams to have lost just one PL game), because at this early stage that could still be considered false, but through the ease of transition during his five months in charge. Fears have not just been allayed at Goodison, they have been firmly extinguished.

Martinez has entirely altered our preconceptions of his tenure. Everton have been tighter at the back than under Moyes (it is four years since they conceded at a rate of less than one per game) and have actually scored fewer goals (1.27 per game) than during the last seven years, when Everton finished 11th.

Everton's formation has also been noticeably modified. David Moyes normally went with a rather simple 4-4-2 last season (with two of Victor Anichebe, Nikica Jelavic and Steven Naismith up front), shifting to 4-4-1-1 for the tougher assignments, with Marouane Fellaini in the hole behind a lone forward. Under Martinez, however, Everton have lined up 4-2-3-1 in all 11 games, Romelu Lukaku possibly the Premier League's ideal exponent of the target man role, expertly bringing Barkley, Kevin Mirallas and Leon Osman into play before making the late run into the box.

This shift has been facilitated by the club's transfer business during the summer. Despite gainfully holding out for a big fee for the midfielder, Fellaini was never a Martinez-type option in midfield, providing brawn where the Spaniard wanted brains, beauty or both. Fellaini, Phil Neville and Johnny Heitinga accounted for two positions (66 starts between them) last season, and in replacing the trio with James McCarthy and the on-loan Gareth Barry, Martinez has effectively transformed enforcing midfielders into passing pivots – blockers have become creators.

Such changes in personnel and formation alter a team's approach. Everton's average possession has increased from 52% to 58%, and they are making 80 more passes per game on average, a 20% increase on a year ago as the new manager looks to impose his belief in a measured build-up as a key to the club's attacking success.

One of the most interesting amendments has been to the role of Leighton Baines. Under Moyes, Baines was given free licence to maraud down the left flank, particularly on the quick counter-attack, but under Martinez this necessity has been curbed. Baines is making 35% less crosses, and whereas last season he was creating over three chances a match, for this campaign that figure stands at just 1.27. He is yet to register an assist.

Instead, Baines has made almost 30% more tackles, and should perhaps be thanking his new manager for the adjustment in his duties – Roy Hodgson is unlikely to pick a first-choice left-back based solely on his attacking threat, and this is the opportunity to convince in a more defensive capacity.

There is no doubt that Martinez has had his fair share of fortune thus far. Eight Everton players have started nine or more of the club's 11 PL games, and the entire back five have played every minute of the league season so far, an extraordinary occurrence in late November. Quite how the club are able to fare without Barry or McCarthy, Sylvain Distin or Phil Jagielka remains to be seen, and Everton's squad is still rather thin on the ground.

For the last word on Martinez's initial achievements however, we must again look to offer that balance between figures and feelings. In transforming Everton in his own image, the statistics look impressive for the new manager, but it is crucial to mention the reception of goodwill offered at Goodison to their new manager.

Everton is a club with morals running through its core, a club with community and community spirit interwoven into its very fibre. The behaviour of former manager Moyes in attempting to purchase Fellaini and Baines, the public pursuit so soon after leaving the club, amounted to treachery. Even considering his evident success despite relative financial stringency, this was a former manager effectively burning his bridges. In doing so, he allowed Martinez to build his own.

“I'll get you in the Champions League,” were Roberto Martinez's first words to Bill Kenwright upon being appointed. In just five months, such lofty ambitions look less and less absurd. The Spaniard is quickly laying the foundations for a new era at Goodison Park.

Quotes or other material sourced from The Mirror

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