There’s a joke doing the rounds which suggests that David Moyes spent 11 years trying to get Everton above Manchester United and now at last he’s succeeded!
It’s more a reference to United’s unconvincing start to the Premier League season than an acknowledgement of what’s going on at his old club.
Like Sir Alex Ferguson, Moyes himself was a hard act to follow. But along the East Lancs Road, the effect of the departure of a long-serving manager seems to have been much less of an issue than it has at Old Trafford.
Roberto Martinez’s replacement of Moyes appears to have been skilfully managed to avoid potential damage to structures already in place. More than that, though, he has actually succeeded in increasing, rather than decreasing, optimism around Goodison Park.
Moyes’ tenure brought plenty of respect but no trophies and only one Top Four finish. Martinez has achieved nothing yet, of course, but you have to admire how he’s gone about his business.
At Wigan, he earned a reputation as an exponent of passing football whose teams shipped too many goals. There were those who argued that winning the FA Cup papered over a Premier League record that was worse under Martinez than it was under his three predecessors.
And he took them down!
His critics maintained that his trendy Spanish-style football and immense personal charm were combining to fool everyone into thinking that he was something he wasn’t. It was Emperor’s New Clothes syndrome. When you looked a bit closer, he would be exposed. But that hasn’t been the case.
Given a superior set of players to work with, Martinez has shown he can put out a team that can defend. He’s also made some astute decisions, both in selection and recruitment.
Ross Barkley has been given a responsibility Moyes was reluctant to hand him. The loan signings of Gareth Barry and Romelu Lukaku look like masterstrokes.
If Everton beat Tottenham today, some will be eager to proclaim that The Toffees can bust apart the monopoly at the top. The thirst for trophies at Goodison is such that those expectation levels will be high and Martinez will then have to manage them.
In reality, Everton are probably going to fall just a little short of the Champions League places simply because their squad is numerically inferior to most of their rivals.
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