Problem position? Joel Robles’ Everton performances are shielding Ronald Koeman from criticism

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Ronald Koeman failing to sign a top class goal-keeper almost undermined Everton’s progress but, in recent weeks, Joel has stepped up to the plate.

With Ashley Williams at centre-half flanked by two of the league’s most consistent full-backs, grit and guile in midfield via the Morgan Schneiderlin-Tom Davies axis supplemented by the creativity of Ross Barkley and the clinical finishing of Romelu Lukaku, Everton are where Everton should be. Seventh. The best of the rest.

Yet, it is an easy argument to suggest that if, say, Joe Hart was between the Goodison Park sticks, the gap to the European chasers would be a few points smaller. After all, the failure to sign a proven Premier League goalkeeper remains a bone of contention for a number of Everton fans, especially as Maarten Stekelenberg swings unpredictably from composed to catastrophic.

However, such claims do Joel Robles a disservice. The Spaniard’s sluggish reactions were widely attributed for Sadio Mane’s last gasp derby winner in December but, in the weeks since, Joel’s performances have quietly, and unfairly, slipped under the radar.

After all, Everton’s run of eight games unbeaten, their most impressive period of form under Koeman, coincided immediately with Stekelenberg’s injury and Joel’s subsequent return to the starting XI.

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As reported by the Liverpool Echo, only David De Gea achieved a better save percentage over the Christmas period and, in the aforementioned eight league fixtures, the 26-year-old has kept five clean sheets.

For a lesser goalkeeper, that tally would stand at four. However, as Joel’s superb late save denied Middlesbrough’s Rudy Gestede a winner at the Riverside on Saturday, the former Wigan understudy finally earned the admiration his performances have warranted for some time.

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Koeman may have stumbled across his new number one thanks to Stekelenberg’s untimely injury but, for now, no one at Goodison Park is demanding a new goalkeeper.