Bring me Roberto Martinez!

by   |   20/09/2024  23 Comments  [Jump to last]

Let me start by saying I despise Sean Dyche as a manager. I said it before he arrived — he isn't good enough for this club and he has achieved nothing to suggest he deserves to manage Everton. He has no credit in any bank with me. 

I have a little more respect for David Moyes for what he achieved in his early years with us, but I have no real love for him or hankering to have him back (although I never thought I'd say it but I'd have him back tomorrow for the rest of the season). 

The problem I have is the very public "we can't win this" attitude. 

Knives to a gunfight might be a great soundbite, but it's also telling the players you manage that you don't think they are good enough. 

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Dyche is similar. "Not my fault", we have issues behind the scenes, players didn't take their chances, ref was wrong. Yawn. 

The one I hate most is "we only have 12 fit first-team players" — well that's because you never blood any new ones. Again, this sends a negative message to all those players. "You aren't good enough to be a first-team player". It's also a preemptive excuse as to why we inevitably lose. "Wasn't my fault, I told you we had too many injuries and had to play Uncle Albert in defence!" 

Right now, I want a Roberto Martinez. Now many derided the nonsense he spoke, sometimes appearing to miss the obvious, but there can be no doubt that his first season was our most successful of the Premier League era. 

I believe he benefited from the organisation of Moyes's team he inherited. But what he did was tell those same knife-carrying players that it was okay to win. They were capable of going to Old Trafford and winning where previously they had been told they were beaten before they got off the coach. 

Yes, Martinez has his limitations — and I'm not suggesting we go for him by the way. I'm simply saying a manager who talks his players up will always feel better to me. 

At his best Jose Mourinho made his players think they would win because he was invincible, the Special One. It's a different spin on the same tactic: "You can win because". 

Sir Alec Ferguson didn't accept his players would lose, the same players that won the title, Moyes managed to do just that with them — lose. It's a mindset. 

So I just hope Dyche goes. Soon, somehow. I can't watch him, I can't enjoy the team I have supported for 45 years. Playing Roman Dixon... he plays well and is then told he's not good enough (maybe not verbally but through his actions). Sums Dyche up. 

I'd sooner have Rafael Benitez back and I bloody hate him too! 


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Reader Comments (23)

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John Raftery
1 Posted 20/09/2024 at 13:09:18
This season, Dyche has ‘blooded' Armstrong, Dixon, O'Brien, Iroegbunam, Ndiaye, Lindstrøm and Mangala.

All have faults in their game, some more than others, but for better or worse they have been given a chance to claim a regular starting place.

Nigel Scowen
2 Posted 20/09/2024 at 13:19:28
John @1,

And Tim and Ndiaye have pretty much established themselves already as team regulars.

Dixon, O'Brien and Mangala will also if they are given a run in the team.

Lyndon Lloyd
3 Posted 20/09/2024 at 22:17:50
Unfortunate timing for me, I'm afraid, Stu, on the eve of a trip to Leicester. I remember the day they beat us and were crowned champions — we travelled as a team short on confidence with faith in the manager almost spent (sound familiar?) and just lay down the carpet for them.

We were utterly woeful and memories of those final weeks under Roberto are hard to shake. I could never have him back, as much as I loved the spirit he instilled in the team in his first season.

James Hughes
4 Posted 20/09/2024 at 22:24:09
'What a manager!" said the greatest Evertonian.

We are in enough shit so the guy who wouldn't practise corners is something we do not want right now.

Andrew James
5 Posted 20/09/2024 at 22:31:38
I've had this funny feeling that, should Textor come in, we'd end up with a former coach but not Moyes (who should be cheaper as he's out of work). I have just been feeling that Roberto Martinez would come back as I suspect he misses club football and has had mixed fortunes on the international stage.

The other name that keeps crossing my mind from our motley crew of coaches is Marco Silva.

He played a swashbuckling brand of football and Textor would have to pay to get him out of Fulham, yet he was more pragmatic than Martinez.

Brendan McLaughlin
6 Posted 20/09/2024 at 22:58:04
Abso...lute...ly.

No.

Denis Richardson
7 Posted 20/09/2024 at 23:32:34
Haha, Had to check the calendar to make sure it wasn't 1sr April.

Bobby Bullshit?? Nice one!

Barry Rathbone
8 Posted 20/09/2024 at 23:38:52
Martinez was the best manager we've had since Joe Royle.

He respected the club (still does; never said a bad word against us) and gave us the best moment we've had in years… no, not beating Man Utd at Old Trafford, but the toe-to-toe mauling of Liverpool at Goodison which ended up 3-3. "Sin miedo" personified.

But he just didn't have the money to disinfect the club completely of Moyes types absolutely essential to maintain the impetus of Lukaku, Deulofeu, Barry and McCarthy.

Nonetheless, "never go back" applies to Bobby as much as it does any of our past managers. He was the right man at the wrong time; that ship has sailed – it's time to look elsewhere.

Sean Kearns
9 Posted 21/09/2024 at 01:18:23
We would go down if we tried to play good football like that with this team.
Ray Robinson
10 Posted 22/09/2024 at 10:57:19
Martinez? You must be joking!

Bobby Bullshitter managed to take a very decent team and make it worse with each passing season. He even managed to do what Dyche did which was to toss a 2-0 lead away late on at Goodison and some of the football played in the latter stages was atrocious!

If the players hadn't openly ignored his instructions and reverted back to a style that suited them better, we'd have been relegated under Martinez.

Very good first season with a team that he inherited.

Steve Hogan
11 Posted 22/09/2024 at 11:09:09
Now I know some of our fans do actually suffer from a severe mental health condition.
Christopher Timmins
12 Posted 22/09/2024 at 11:22:21
No!

If we are to go back to a former manager then it should be Marco Silva; however, they do say that you should never go back.

We should stick with Dyche for the season, he will keep us up. Make a call on a new manager next June when someone like Potter would have time to implement his ideas during a full preseason.

If Dyche is removed now, we are looking at a David Moyes or a Big Sam solution as we must stay in the Premier League.

Paul Rattle
13 Posted 22/09/2024 at 16:03:18
Yep.

If only so I can sing Roberto's Blue Army again… haha.

Paul Hewitt
14 Posted 22/09/2024 at 16:21:24
Bobby Brown Shoes talked more crap than Dyche ever does.
Tony Abrahams
15 Posted 22/09/2024 at 16:35:51
I've just read an article in the Echo which tells me that Dyche is under pressure and having to go on the defensive, that will have a lot of Dyche haters spitting feathers! Although, when you read John's list @1, then I'm sure it will have gone under the radar of many people how many new players have already been blooded this season.

I listened to Moyes talking about how he coined the phrase, "The People's Club" on a clip that I was sent earlier today, while he was in the studio with Timmy Cahill and Andy Gray, and to listen to him talk about his Everton squad, you would think they had won quite a few honours.

Lyndon's description of Martinez is a lot more like mine than Barry R's, although it was mostly a pleasure watching Everton during his first season. I'm not sure if Marco Silva is anywhere near pragmatic enough, Andrew, he was the manager who I personally believe was let down the most while in charge of Everton.

Barry has got a point because Martinez definitely needed backing more after his very good first season (even though we signed Lukaku on a permanent basis) but then I think of players like McGeady and Niasse… and then I have a completely different view.

I remember Philip Carter, the club was that skint, the fans were having a whip-round to help sign Terry Curran. I remember Peter Johnson losing a fortune gambling on cheesy-chips. I remember Kenwright playing thousands and splitting the fanbase. I can't wait to get rid of Moshiri, even though I'm very grateful for our new stadium.

I remember being a little boy and seeing Sir John Moores getting out of a big car outside the Players Entrance on Goodison Road, with a lovely big blue and white scarf around his shoulders, and more than anything I want a man like this!

Mike Gaynes
16 Posted 24/09/2024 at 03:49:33
Tony, if Friedkin closes the deal, the big car on Goodison Road will be an Everton blue Toyota Sequoia!

(With those big-ass tires and a huge push bumper for clearing the streets of RS.)

Ajay Gopal
17 Posted 24/09/2024 at 05:26:39
The original post is incredibly harsh on Sean Dyche.

The first 2 games were disastrous but, after that, in spite of having a weakened squad, the team has played good football, except for the defending which were mostly individual errors.

I can sense the team is clicking into gear and when we have Branthwaite, Broja, Chermiti, Patterson, Coleman, Mykolenko, Gana (and possibly, Dele Alli) back fit and we get the likes of Tarkowski and Garner fully fit, then I believe we have a very decent squad and I don't think we will be folding easily.

Dyche deserves to be given an opportunity to work with this squad because he is not a Dy-nosaur as being made out. Pragmatic, yes, but clueless ? I don't believe so.

If we really have to change a manager in the summer, I would keep an eye out for Aberdeen's Swedish manager - Jimmy Thelin:

Pressing, passing & elite coaching – Thelin's Aberdeen revolution

Ian Jones
18 Posted 24/09/2024 at 07:42:23
Stu, interesting post...some valid points but in my opinion, as Ajay indicates, a bit harsh on Dyche.

Dyche is very much a marmite character. Personally, I think he's a decent man, very knowledgeable about the game, and perfect for us at the time he came in with everything going on at the club. He was probably spun a yarn about the club but imagine his experience of working in football meant he knew the basket case of a football club we had become and he still took the job on. Bit like Frank Lampard. Why wouldn't they. Forget the financial incentives.

Both knew that Everton Football Club are a massive club and given the opportunity to manage the club they both jumped at it. The person who turns us around will be a hero. Villa took a while and now they have Unai Emery, a manager many on here derided. If he wins something there even better.

Whether Sean Dyche deserves to manage us is a different matter. We just to have to realise we are where we are at the moment and support him while he's with us. That's not to say I want him to stay long-term. The football has to improve but from what I can see from the limited highlights I have seen, the team has played some reasonably attractive footie or tried to, perhaps apart from the Southampton game, and if we had taken some chances, we may have been a bit further up the league. Surely, things will improve once the illnesses and injuries have abated.

Re blooding of players, as has been pointed out to you, quite a few new players have been blooded, but I agree with your "You aren't good enough to be a first-team player" comment in regards to sending out negative messages. The problem is that we all want instant impacts now. If a young player isn't up to speed straightaway, they stand a chance of being jettisoned. The days of giving a youngster a prolonged series of matches to get up to speed are long gone.

I''d take a 'Roberto Martinez' type of manager but one who knew the beauty of defending. Would we have enjoyed Arteta's Arsenal's 10 man second half backs to the wall performance that so nearly won them the game. And around 12% possession in the second half.

Martinez first season was great to watch and yes, his comments, mostly in the second season, did get laughed at. Clearly, he was struggling. A little like Sean Dyche is now which is the reason horvhis nonsense talk.

I agree again with your 'I'm simply saying a manager who talks his players up will always feel better to me.'

However, whilst your 2 examples of managers who did this, Mourinho and Ferguson, are valid, it's so much easier to talk players up when they are some of the world's best and in a successful team. Moyes never had a chance at Man Utd, the players never took to him. Admittedly, he probably did loads wrong as well.

I'm glad you didn't start with your Benitez comment. I would have ignored the rest of the article. :)

Derek Thomas
19 Posted 24/09/2024 at 07:53:39
So you want to add Roberto – I couldn't defend if my life depended on it – Martinez to a team that's already hemoraging goals? Nah.
Danny O'Neill
20 Posted 24/09/2024 at 07:58:17
Tony, you capture that perfect.

My only claims to fame are meeting George Wood outside the player entrance as a youngster and Andy Burnham at Euston on the way back from Goodison.

It looks this is going through so brighter times could be ahead.

Mike, a royal blue Mustang?

Christine Foster
21 Posted 24/09/2024 at 08:31:44
Ian, 16# good post,

I did enjoy Roberto but felt he benefited massively on the years of defensive rigour Moyes had instilled; by the second season it fell apart.

I read a post a while back from a Burnley fanzine during Dyche's time there, the complaints about style of play, noise, favourites etc, could have been written last week… in fact they were. Nothing has changed and the same complaints about the same players.

Dyche was brought in to do a job he has done, admirably, but just because he has done it does not qualify him to take us forward. He bought us time and kept us alive but whether or not he can change or adapt to win games convincingly is a moot point. I am thankful he got the job but that job is done... Thank you for that. But now it's different.

Mark Murphy
22 Posted 24/09/2024 at 08:33:27
The following coaches are also between jobs:

Massi Alegri
Joachim Low
Graham Potter
Xavi

Xavi grabs my attention….

Danny, I met Georgie Wood, Asa Hartford and Eamonn O'Keefe in the Royal Oak on the East Lancs Roaad after a game once. George was great company and absolutely hated the RS.

David West
23 Posted 27/09/2024 at 14:52:08
Roberto had made his living off the back of Moyes's hard work. We only needed to add a top class forward, he got Lukaku and boom! The rest was already in place.

Yes, they played nicer more entertaining football. He's never proved he can sustain a club long-term in the top half of the Premier League… or build a defence… or have a Plan B.

But he made a good living from one FA Cup shock win!


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