With just seven games of the Premier League campaign gone and Everton sitting just above the relegation zone, it would be hard not to look for reasons why the Blues have struggled to get out of the blocks this season. Last term, Everton drew the opening three games but then came racing into fantastic form, losing just twice in the remaining four months of 2013. This time around though, we’ve won just one of our seven Premier League games. There could be a multitude of reasons behind the inability to get started this season; injuries to Ross Barkley, Seamus Coleman, Kevin Mirallas, Steven Pienaar and now John Stones won’t help, of course, while the fact that Everton have now played three of the top four sides from last term (plus a Manchester United side boosted by £150m of new signings) must also be taken into account, but the slap-dash approach to pre-season can’t be ignored. These days, footballers may not need the intensive fitness regime of 30 years ago when our top striker would come back from the summer 3 stone over weight – Ross Barkley was snapped in the height of summer still sporting a very impressive six-pack, for instance – but they do need to get back into the habit of playing 90 minutes of competitive football again. Everton’s World Cup players were given extra weeks off, with Romelu Lukaku and Kevin Mirallas barely kicking a ball before the season had started, while tactics were tinkered with and formations bewildered everyone watching – and half of those playing, it seemed. It was as if the pre-season had crept up on Roberto Martinez and his team. As if they’d all been enjoying watching the World Cup a little bit too much and then all of a sudden had to arrange some sort of pre-season campaign. A third of Everton’s pre-season games weren’t arranged until within 21 days of the fixtures themselves – Celta Vigo (at Prenton Park) and newly promoted German side Paderborn away – and the Blues failed to record a single win throughout the preparations for the new season. Results in pre-season are always said to be completely irrelevant, the games are about gaining fitness and getting back into playing regularly, and yet several key players were absent throughout. Key players we would be bound to rely on through the season. Excuses were made for record signing Romelu Lukaku not scoring or looking his best in the opening games due to a lack of fitness, and yet he had been left out of the entire pre-season campaign. Kevin Mirallas now looks likely to spend more than a month on the sidelines thanks to pulling up in the derby at Anfield just six games into the season. Seamus Coleman suffered an injury in the game against Tranmere which set back his progress and is now on the sidelines again, while Ross Barkley will be missing until at least December. Roberto Martinez is a phsyio, a great man-manger, and an excellent tactician, but the summer of 2014 simply was not good enough for Everton Football Club, and starting this season with a whimper must surely, in some part, be the result of a poorly planned and executed pre-season campaign. He promised us – as part of the fan group consort with whom he has met at Finch Farm – that he would meet with us again even if things weren’t going so well. I hope he does, and I hope he will answer the questions we will no doubt put to him about the summer just gone Would you agree? Have your say below and leave us a comment #st
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 08:54:55 +0000
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