With the problems that many other teams have suffered this season, Everton's travails have perhaps gone a little under the radar.
However, travails they have, with Roberto Martinez's side languishing in 11th place at Christmas, 10 points off fourth place in one of the most open races for Champions League qualification in years.
They are closer, in terms of points, to the bottom three than the top four, and have 13 fewer points than at the same stage last term. In addition, they were rather meekly dumped out of the early stages of the Capital One Cup by Swansea City in September—a competition they had a realistic chance of winning.After all the good work done by Martinez last season, this should really have been their time to push on, particularly after securing Romelu Lukaku on a permanent deal, along with the maturing Ross Barkley and John Stones and adding the nous of Samuel Eto'o.
Frustration is growing at Goodison Park, and their defeat to Southampton at the weekend was a perfect example of why. It was perhaps not just the defeat that irked the Toffees faithful so much, more the way it arrived, seemingly through a series of basic managerial and playing mistakes.
Barkley, consistently lauded as one of the best young playmakers in the country and a man Martinez has said will not be sold even for a world-record fee in January, according to Andy Hunter in the The Guardian, was deployed on the left flank during the 3-0 reverse, a position he has played before and clearly demonstrated his discomfort in.When Barkley has played in the middle—such as against Queens Park Rangers a couple of weeks ago, when he scored and was Everton's standout player—he has been much more effective, but when he is shunted out of position it not only minimises the impact the youngster can have, it also makes the team lopsided.
Perhaps more unforgivable was Martinez's dithering in trying to change things at St Mary's. It was clear for all to see that Plan A was not working against a Southampton side in terrible form and should really have been there for the taking, but Martinez sat on his hands and made no changes in personnel, leaving the likes of Aiden McGeady, Steven Pienaar and Arouna Kone under blankets on the bench.
Martinez may feel that accommodating the likes of Eto'o and Gareth Barry is necessary, but it shouldn't be at the expense of their most talented and exciting young player.
Source http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2308016-everton-and-martinez-can-still-turn-their-season-aroundbut-must-do-so-soon
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