Seasons » 2015-16 » Everton News
Martinez admits football is about results as big two games loom
58 Comments The Blues boss is looking to leverage his team's perplexingly superior away form his season to earn two big results that would go some way to lifting the gloom hanging over the club and also relieving the pressure on his shoulders and those of his players.
Everton have the seventh-best record on their travels in the Premier League this season but have won just four times at Goodison Park since April last year, a run that puts them 19th, ahead of only relegated and crisis-riven Aston Villa in the table based on points won at home.
Martinez continues to stress that the focus is on trying to replicate the Blues' away form in front of their own fans.
“Our away record is the way forward,” Martinez said in his press conference today. “It's quite a unique situation. A team can be going through a bad spell and you have bade games home and away. It's very rare to see a team that is so good and consistent away from — and that's our situation, it's Champions League form away from home.
“And that's what we need to address. There are many aspects where we could go into detail but I think that's something that we need to do at the end of the season and make sure that our home form mirrors this year's away form.
Martinez was asked there was a need before the end of the campaign for him, as manager, to try and iron out the mistakes and weaknesses that keep allowing teams back into matches that Everton are leading.
“I don't think it's a case of addressing mistakes. I think it's a case of having a strong enjoyment playing at home and coping with expectations. All we're doing is trying to play [in] a way that is going to be very effective, but it comes down to a model that will allow us to become a winning team.
“At home, our results haven't been good enough and I'll take responsibility for it . In the same way, away from home we've found the right consistency and [while] we're trying to [become] the finished article, that's what we need to achieve at home.”
The manager was asked if this week, with the Merseyside derby and the cup semi-final at Wembley, represented not just a defining week for the current Everton side but also a defining week for him as manager of the club.
“It's a defining week but with real excitement. To be in the semi-final of the FA Cup is an incredible opportunity and it's something that we're all very excited [about] but that's something that we'll address after Wednesday.
“We've got five games left in the league and, as you know, we want to finish as strong as we can. The derby is more than a game; it's not just three points. It's an opportunity to make our fans proud.”
“It is a defining week for our season as with any any team still involved in more than one competition. I wouldn't like to go through this season without a defining week. In the same way the quarter-final was a defining week and we were successful and we got through to the semi-final.
"We're going to be as good as we can and enjoy the big footballing occasions that are in front of us."
With banners appearing in the stands, first at Vicarage Road before the draw with Watford nine days ago and then again at the Southampton game last Saturday, speculation over Martinez's own future at Goodison Park has moved increasingly from social media and fan websites to the national press.
It was put to Martinez that he might need a positive result from one of the next two games in order to retain the backing of the Everton board and he admitted again that results are key.
"Football is about results. It's results business and I would never be stupid enough to look away from that aspect," the Catalan continued. "When I arrived at the football club, I'm the one who brought the expectations [upon myself]. I'm the one [with the drive], the hunger and the desire to take Everton to where we should be, which is competing for silverware, playing attractive football, playing teams eye to eye and that's what we're going to do."
Reader Comments (58)
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2 Posted 19/04/2016 at 18:50:02
3 Posted 19/04/2016 at 19:16:18
4 Posted 19/04/2016 at 19:19:04
5 Posted 19/04/2016 at 19:21:32
6 Posted 19/04/2016 at 19:23:06
“At home, our results haven't been good enough and I'll take responsibility for it ."
Of course if you actually strike the first two words of the sentence, it's even better. But beggars can't be choosers.
7 Posted 19/04/2016 at 19:24:32
Well he could have told the truth and said 'I'm a crap manager who's just got his team relegated and I don't want to hang around to repair the damage.'
And, probably, Uncle Bill would still have given him the job. 'What a manager !'
8 Posted 19/04/2016 at 19:30:01
9 Posted 19/04/2016 at 19:32:31
10 Posted 19/04/2016 at 19:33:28
12 Posted 19/04/2016 at 19:35:07
13 Posted 19/04/2016 at 19:42:32
As fans we only need you to instil those standards in to the players and ensure that they go about their job with enthusiasm and integrity, but so far you have failed to do so and not many fans can see you achieving anything with our club. That's your own fault – not the club, not the fans but yours and yours alone.
14 Posted 19/04/2016 at 19:45:13
I thought, according to what I've read, our away from was the 6th best in the premier league? So not quite champions league form away from home. But hey, we're getting there, nearly.
Just need to improve our almost certain relegation home form.
15 Posted 19/04/2016 at 19:51:44
If we beat Liverpool and United I'll go easy on him and say it's fair for him to stay until the end of the season.
16 Posted 19/04/2016 at 19:52:59
Bloody hell, what were we doing before you came? That's right – competing for silverware. Not winning it, but we were competing. What are we doing now? Sitting in the bottom half every season, sending the fans to sleep with boring football.
17 Posted 19/04/2016 at 19:55:09
T'was ever thus – did he think it was about something else?
18 Posted 19/04/2016 at 19:56:36
Is it bollocks. How does he get away with crap like this?
How do journos not take him to task for either a) being delusional b) insulting people's intelligence c) a and b? Have they taken pity on him or something?
19 Posted 19/04/2016 at 20:02:20
Many like me will have seen our club win league titles more than once so we have an idea of what it takes to be successful. As he points out himself football is a results business, and his teams results are far from good enough. This is not a knee-jerk reaction this has gone on for 2 seasons.
Of course he wont resign, he has got another 2/3 years left of a very lucrative contract. And he knows that getting a club as big as Everton will be very remote.
So should the next 2 results go against us don't expect any contrition from Señor Martinez, he will then tell us he has learned many lessons from this season and we will see the improvement next season.
20 Posted 19/04/2016 at 20:02:31
21 Posted 19/04/2016 at 20:12:22
This season is done, we will achieve our worst finish for at least 10 years if not longer unless by some miracle we win the rest of our remaining games.
I'd love us to win the cup but I can't see us getting past Man Utd – if there's a glimmer of hope it's that we're not playing at home.
22 Posted 19/04/2016 at 20:14:45
Lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalaalalalalalalalalalalalaal.
Lalalaalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalal...
23 Posted 19/04/2016 at 20:20:14
Either way just do one to a club with your ambition and yardsticks. Same as Moyes. Regardless of the next two games.
24 Posted 19/04/2016 at 20:22:00
He thinks he's still at Wigan.
25 Posted 19/04/2016 at 20:27:14
As others have pointed out, it's not. It's really not. We have the 7th best away record although a win tomorrow will put us 4th best on that imaginary table, ahead of our loveable neighbours.
27 Posted 19/04/2016 at 20:29:21
What does that mean? The man just rambles. It's words put together randomly. Just bore off, you fraud.
29 Posted 19/04/2016 at 20:45:46
30 Posted 19/04/2016 at 20:50:04
31 Posted 19/04/2016 at 20:50:37
32 Posted 19/04/2016 at 20:59:49
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum.
COYB!!!
33 Posted 19/04/2016 at 21:00:04
Digging his own grave with comments like these.
34 Posted 19/04/2016 at 21:00:50
Roberto Martinez in desperate need of a triumphant finale as fan unrest grows ahead of pivotal week
35 Posted 19/04/2016 at 21:20:02
He's so full of shit it's ridiculous. He goes about games in the same way week in, week out and if his philosophy isn't working, he won't change tact to try and grind a result out so he's talking bollocks that results are more important. The possession stats and how many passes we've made per game is what matters to him the most!
36 Posted 19/04/2016 at 21:49:06
“It is a defining week for our season as with any any team still involved in more than one competition. I wouldn't like to go through this season without a defining week. In the same way the quarter-final was a defining week and we were successful and we got through to the semi-final."
It's got to the point where clap-trap like this is completely overlooked.
What on earth is he talking about???
37 Posted 19/04/2016 at 23:18:54
But let's be honest, none of us would walk away from such a well paid job if our boss was happy to continue to pay us.
Kenwright or Moshiri have to see what is happening to there club (our club) and act.
39 Posted 19/04/2016 at 23:51:05
His talk are the words of a man clutching at straws to find an answer to the overwhelming issues of his stint as our manager.
I dearly want us to win both games this week and go on to lift the cup but I maintain a change would still be needed to remove his flawed blueprint.
For every great performance, Stoke and Southampton away, there are too many poor ones.
40 Posted 19/04/2016 at 23:51:33
41 Posted 20/04/2016 at 00:12:33
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/defiant-roberto-martinez-warns-fed-7788641?
42 Posted 20/04/2016 at 00:17:32
Yes, it's a results game... could be to late though, Bobby.
43 Posted 20/04/2016 at 00:32:41
If our home form had been as good, we could have 48 points after say 32 games, so handily placed in 9th place for a last gasp dash up the table to grab that last Champions League spot....or not
Remember, it's how we finish the season that's important, not the first 30-odd games
44 Posted 20/04/2016 at 00:53:57
Is that so? Find the nearest corner and stand it it.
46 Posted 20/04/2016 at 01:03:31
Roberto says that the silent majority are on his side, are they? Well it certainly explains the quietness of the crowd at Goodison for most of this season.
Roberto says 'I am not stupid. "I bring a different style of football. If we win the games, everything will be fine, if we lose, everything will be my fault. 'It is about the style of football, not how good you are with that style. I will always promote a style of football that will allow us to compete with any team – and not have a roof of the top seven.'
Well Roberto, due to your style of football it now seems that we have a roof of the top ten!
Talking about those fans that support his methods he says 'They have seen flashes of what we are about. Even seeing the team losing, they say they can see a team that has showed so much bravery, and so much attacking play, and so many signs from the players and good young players that they haven't seen before.'They know it is going to end up successfully.'
Well that's true, not many of us are old enough to have seen an Everton team take so few points on home turf and lose so often, but at least we are pleased with the youthful exuberance and the undoubted courage and desire shown by our team. Unfortunately the most important player Gareth Barry is our best player by a mile and he along with the club captain could hardly be described as good young players.
As for knowing it will end successfully even the most optimistic Evertonian could be forgiven for thinking that avoiding relegation next season will be seen as success and anything more will be a bonus, but we'll all be happy to know that the style of play will have been far superior to anything we may have witnessed previously at Goodison Park and that will pacify us all when we are banging our heads against the padded walls in our individual cells for the disillusioned and disappointed.
49 Posted 20/04/2016 at 02:47:18
And, therefore, on a scale of 10? 20? 30? 40? miles more effective than the cliched, hackneyed, one, two, or three liners from the people Eugene rightly lampooned and lambasted for being well, boring ........
A telling indictment, Patrick, of someone who will not be in charge at the start of next season.
50 Posted 20/04/2016 at 03:48:03
For three years he said possession is more important than results. All at once with his well paid job on the line he has been forced to acknowledge reality, but does he really accept it?
51 Posted 20/04/2016 at 04:32:43
Osman is still too lightweight in midfield and his best days are over, let's bring in some young talent, why not Davies and Connolly, Galloway and Holgate and one or two others. Whether Niasse is fit or not he should be playing the last half hour to get some action.
52 Posted 20/04/2016 at 06:30:17
As the current TW poll shows that 85% out of a current total of 15,900 voters want him out regardless of the FA Cup I would imagine such letters far outweigh the letters of support which may only be two, which is plural after all.
Martinez will surely see us all in psychiatric wards if we go on believing his double talk, first possession is more important than results, now results are what the game is about.
We are pushing for European places, now we're four places from the relegation scrappers. The man is seriously deluded and has to be got rid of before we all end up going completely gaga!
54 Posted 20/04/2016 at 08:05:07
Wow, does this mean the penny has finally dropped, and our set-up and subs, positional play, fitness levels, and game plan will suddenly be cohesive and meaningful? Don't hold your breath.
I hope the lads wearing the blue in the next two games have enough pride and passion to marry to their undoubted skills to do it for the shirt, the supporters and everything Everton
55 Posted 20/04/2016 at 08:33:23
All nonsense of course, ask the great manager's, they all agree, football played at it's best, is a simple game, look at Leicester!
56 Posted 20/04/2016 at 09:16:36
For a side thought of as stylish but flawed, it comes as a surprise to find that Wigan's strength is not creating scoring chances or producing moments of individual skill, but the more prosaic protection of a lead. This is even more surprising given that Wigan have only won five of their league games this season. I would perhaps be generous and add keeping the ball and completing a high percentage of passes to Wigan's strengths column but there can be little doubt about the veracity of those in the latter. Simply put, Wigan are fine at controlling the midfield but do not do enough at either end of the pitch, be it in terms of quantity or quality. For example, one of the reasons Di Santo does not score many goals is that he does not take many shots, averaging a paltry two per game. Somehow, only two Wigan players take more. A man as well-versed in sports psychology as MartÃnez would surely be familiar with Wayne Gretzky's maxim ‘you miss one-hundred-per-cent of the shots you don't take', yet he appears to ignore it. In terms of defending, MartÃnez's Wigan have long been the benchmark when it comes to farcical slapstick – even by the Premier League's increasingly worrying standard. This is perhaps because MartÃnez exclusively uses the style of coaching prevalent on the Iberian Peninsula, geared towards dominating the ball and developing good decision-making on an individual basis, but that must surely be augmented with some defensive drilling – particularly when managing a club with Wigan's resources
Sound familiar? If football is results-based, Martinez has learnt nothing.
57 Posted 20/04/2016 at 09:52:10
59 Posted 20/04/2016 at 11:54:31
Comical Ali was more believable, and clearer than Roberto is at the moment.
I hope Dunc, Unsy and Sheeds storm the dressing room before the game and put some fire and brimstone in our lads with several choice Anglo-Saxon phrases, instead of unintelligible Iberian bullshit.
60 Posted 20/04/2016 at 11:55:12
If we ever needed proof that he is an idiot, delusional or both, then he has just summed it up there!
He quite simply has to go, no matter what we do for the rest of the season. We've been shit for 2 years and it's that mug's fault!
61 Posted 20/04/2016 at 12:18:59
At 5-1 down, makes a sub, another at 6-1 down, but forgets he has a third to use. Could have brought on an extra goalie to fill the gap in the goal.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8365091.stm
62 Posted 20/04/2016 at 16:01:48
Now that would be phenomenal home form wouldn't it.
I like many other wish the people who interview him would ask follow up questions when he spouts utter rubbish, even Michael Ball on radio dodged the questions giving a Martinez swerve to them.
63 Posted 20/04/2016 at 16:02:39
Martinez 2016: "Results matter more than performances"
Martinez 2015: "It's not about the style, it's how good you are at it".
Martinez 2016: "It's about the style, not how good you are".
Who said he couldn't change?
64 Posted 20/04/2016 at 17:10:18
65 Posted 20/04/2016 at 18:06:58
68 Posted 20/04/2016 at 22:37:46
I think he is still sleepy to this day. How dreadful was that tonight?
Barkley was rubbish again, Stones terrible, Mirallas erratic and everybody else giving the ball away all the time... the worst Everton performance I have ever seen (and I have been watching them since 1944)... and Martinez is the worst manager we have ever had.
Even when we were relegated in 1951 we played better than tonight's performance. How much longer do we have to wait for BK to act?
69 Posted 21/04/2016 at 03:42:28
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1 Posted 19/04/2016 at 19:00:51
Then what you might get is a packed Goodson giving lots of support to you and your team and a few fans who are no longer getting totally disinterested by what you have to say.
COYB