Everton are in dire straits at present with Goodison Park boss Marco Silva on very thin ice and the Toffees fanbase increasingly vocal in wanting him sacked.
Roberto Martinez has given his thoughts on the current tricky situation at Everton, in which a rift appears to have opened between the Toffees fanbase and the Goodison Park hierarchy amid Marco Silva’s poor form and the direction of the club (The Mirror).
Under Silva, Everton have been inconsistent this season and sit just four points clear of the Premier League relegation zone, 18th-placed Norwich having reduced the gap with their 2-0 win at Goodison Park last weekend.
It was Everton’s seventh loss of the season, sending them to a lowly 16th in the table – particularly poor considering there were real pre-season hopes of a European challenge at least – and to say increasing amounts of Toffees fans have grown tired of Silva would be a massive understatement.
Martinez, who managed Everton between 2013 and 2016, thinks the Toffees need to be speaking more openly to fans about the ambitions of the club and their long-term planning, which he fears has been lost in the frantic clamour for results at all costs.
“Not just at Everton, but in football, patience is a rare commodity,” Martinez told The Mirror. “In British football now, you almost have to survive every defeat, and that is very, very dangerous for young managers. It is self-destructive. Every defeat there is an assessment of the manager’s position. But the fans have to know what the long-term vision and project of the manager and the club is, and stick to it.
“They can still do it (win silverware), but they need to set their standard, have things very clear and allow the fans to understand it can’t be a quick fix. You can’t have a situation where you are surviving every defeat. The fans are the most important ingredient of every club, so you have to take them with you on the long term vision and project of the club.”
Everton face a daunting set of fixtures over the coming weeks – Leicester City and Liverpool away, Chelsea at home, Manchester United away, Leicester at home in the League Cup quarter-final, then Arsenal at home just before Christmas.
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