It finally happened – Everton sacked Roberto Martinez after one promising year followed by two miserable ones. The lack of intensity was evident throughout the season and Everton’s defence was one of the worst in the league. They made the fifth most defensive errors in the Premier League and only Norwich made less interceptions. This demonstrates a lack of a defensive plan and a lack of power within the spine of the team.
Some of the early names linked are the bog standard ones linked to every middling Premier League job such as Frank De Boer and Unai Emery, these are good young managers but their lack of Premier League experience might scare some Everton fans off. De Boer plays a high intensity pressing game that simply won’t suit this Everton squad without a serious overhaul, he doesn’t seem flexible enough to take this job on.
An outside shout for this job has been the fiery Italian, Mr. Roberto Mancini, as a Man City fan I am familiar with his work and he is no doubt the best option for the Everton team moving forward.
He returned to Inter Milan after a short spell at Galatasaray and has stabilised the club whilst making some good signings in the process. He is good at setting up clubs to be taken to the next level, and when you consider the level of financial muscle Everton now have, it makes sense to bring Mancini into the club.
Everton’s defending is pitiful, they make too many errors and they look soft all over the pitch. One thing Roberto Mancini is better at than nearly every guy in Europe is sorting a defensive unit out. Inter have been a defensive mess for a good few years but this year they conceded just 38 goals, their lowest total since the treble winning season in 2010.
They weren’t pretty on the eye at times, but they were solid and are well equipped to move forward with or without Roberto Mancini. He enjoyed similar fortunes when he took over from Mark Hughes at Man City in 2009. City had blown many leads under Hughes and had actually dropped ten points from winning positions before Christmas, whilst conceding 27 goals in 17 league games. After Mancini was appointed, City dropped ZERO points from winning positions and only conceded 18 goals in the final 21 League games. There is no doubt that Everton could use this sort of solidity – they seem to collapse on too many occasions and dropped more points from winning positions than any other team this year.
There’s a myth that goes around about Mancini that needs clearing up to Everton fans. He supposedly was overly harsh on his players and made the atmosphere inside the training ground toxic – but I would question such statements. Mancini just demanded more from his players and that’s probably why City were so potent and solid under his stewardship. Since Mancini has left our points total has slowly declined, as has our intensity on the pitch. There has been a lack of responsibility around the Etihad, players have performed poorly and don’t seem to care because they know Manuel Pellegrini won’t drop or scold them. The lack of intensity was a mirror image of the man who was standing on the sideline. Under Mancini City were tough, committed and tactically ready to match any team in the league.
Everton aren’t that different from what City were in 2009, they have a talented squad but lack the organisation and ability to push the better teams out of the European places. The lack of intensity symbolises a lack of respect for the managers ideas – although I don’t really blame for them for not buying into his methods in the end. Someone like Mancini could change the players mentality, they could become winners under him – a trophy at every club he’s managed proves that he can instil a winning mentality in his players.
Despite what some may tell you, Mancini does actually try and get his teams to play exciting inventive football in the final third. He generally doesn’t use wingers, although at Inter he has used the crafty Croatian winger Ivan Perisic in a wide role. He likes his full backs to overlap and his teams are usually versatile in the final third. He is no doubt a ‘defence-first’ type manager, but this doesn’t mean that his teams play bad football. The football would be passing based and he would allow Baines and Coleman to bomb forward, where they can be so dangerous.
One final thing Mancini could do is something that is often overlooked in importance – connect with the fans.
The Italian was adored by City fans during his time at the Etihad, he never pulled punches or made silly excuses and he was always the first one to apologise to the fans after an abject display. This created an unbreakable bond between the squad and the fans. Under Pellegrini, that bond has gradually ebbed away.
Everton fans were fed up of Roberto Martinez taking positives from woeful performances – Mancini wouldn’t be guilty of doing something this stupid. The edgy analytical folk on Twitter will tell you that this side of the game doesn’t matter – but to a club with passionate supporters like Everton it really does matter. Roberto Martinez isn’t an inspiring character and his overly positive nature just wore the fans down after a while – it became boring hearing about ‘the positives’ after defeats. Mancini makes his players responsible and isn’t afraid to tell them exactly what he thinks of their performances.
Everton may want to opt for Frank DeBoer – but I can assure you as a City fan that appointing Mancini is the best possible thing you can do. He makes good signings, demands intensity from his players and can turn Everton’s defence into one that is elite on the European stage.
