Everton have made a fantastic start to the 2013/14 season under new manager Roberto Martinez. But can they keep it up, and how far can they go in the future?

Overview

In the never-ending monotony of a Premier League very few teams can win, and the vast majority are just aiming to stay in, there were few situations as intriguing as the one at Everton this summer.

The Toffees should, in theory, be teetering on the precipice. Goodison Park is certainly big enough capacity wise — 40,569 — but it lacks the hospitality facilities to generate the matchday income enjoyed by the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal. Oozing history and standing proud among the terraced houses in its corner of Liverpool, it’s a fabulous old-style football stadium that’s a joy to visit in this age of identikit builds on edge-of-town retail parks — but Philip Beard would tell you that Everton struggle to “sweat the asset” or some such bollocks, which means they literally fall further behind the Manchester clubs and Arsenal every time they stage a home game.

Bill Kenwright seems like the ideal chairman for a football club. As a lifelong Everton supporter he has the interests of the club and the team at the forefront of his mind rather than worrying about using it as a personal vanity project, or opportunity to profit from television money and Far East shirt sales, or advertising vehicle for his airline. But he would tell you himself that, in this age of Sheiks owning Man City and morally questionable Russian oligarch’s buying Chelsea, he simply doesn’t have the personal wealth to be able to buy Everton the four or five world class players they need to take them from their current position as the ‘best of the rest’ in the top flight, into regular Champions League qualification. In the last decade they made it to fourth once, received the toughest possible qualifying draw against Villarreal, and then got screwed over by the referee in the second leg.

So without a shiny new stadium, or a minted new owner, what Everton need to continue to compete is a seriously shrewd manager. In David Moyes they seemed to have the perfect fit. Much has been made of the Scot’s fabled ‘secret room’ at the Everton training ground, where a map of Europe detailed little known players like Kevin Mirallas in Greece of Bryan Oviedo in Denmark who Everton had scouted three dozen times and were simply waiting for the need to arise and the price to be right. Moyes kept lists of best and worst case scenario starting elevens stretching years into the future. QPR signed Bobby Zamora and Luke Young.

Then, this summer, after a decade in charge, Moyes was gone — lured across to Old Trafford to take on the poison chalice as Alex Ferguson’s replacement. Wise man said best to be the man who replaces the man who replaces Alex Ferguson. Moyes said “you don’t say no to Manchester United.” In his place, Roberto Martinez from Wigan.

Martinez is impossible to dislike. Despite a relatively meagre playing career, spent mostly with Wigan and Swansea in the lower divisions in this country with brief stops at Walsall, Chester and Motherwell, he has developed a reputation as a high-quality new-age manager. Ian Holloway spoke of the epiphany he had watching Martinez’s Swansea team — where the ‘out’ ball when faced with no other option went right across the pitch to a winger tight to the far touchline, rather than the traditional English route of straight down the line to try and turn an opposing full back around. His methods laid a platform for Swansea to climb up into the Premier League and cement their place their under Brendan Rodgers and more recently Michael Laudrup.

Martinez moved onto Wigan where he won the FA Cup last season. That trophy has been devalued to such an extent in recent times that this remarkable achievement, which placed the two major domestic rugby league trophies and football’s premier knock-out prize in the tiny north western town at the same time, received nowhere near the acclaim it deserved — especially considering the Latics beat Man City’s billion pound team in the final.

But question marks remained. After all, Wigan were relegated last season, and had only survived the previous two years thanks to remarkable runs of form right at the very end of the campaign. For three consecutive seasons Martinez’s Wigan team was a soft touch, losing constantly, for six or seven months of the campaign. So what did we have here? An innovative genius, or one of those new-age waffy foreign types who Sam Allardyce will tell you only get a job because of their exotic sounding surname and smouldering Mediterranean good looks?

The first six months at Everton suggest Martinez is very much the former. Rather than suffer from the loss of their long-serving, influential manager, the Toffees have actually stepped up a gear. Martinez’s trademark style, where a deep-lying midfielder drops in between the centre backs to start moves from deep, has made stars of Gareth Barry and James McCarthy — both much-maligned when they were signed during the summer. His technique of using both full backs as attacking weapons, rather than defenders of wide areas, has benefitted Leighton Baines, Oviedo and, particularly, Seamus Coleman who are all now attracting interest from elsewhere. Ross Barkley has fulfilled his potential to such an extent that it would be a surprise if he wasn't on the plane to Brazil in the summer while Gerard Deulofeu looks like another potential star of the Barcelona academy.

At the start of December this bright, enterprising, entertaining, enthusiastic, attacking, attractive side won 1-0 at Old Trafford against David Moyes’ staid, cautious, underperforming Manchester United. Days later they went to league leaders Arsenal and played them off the park in a 1-1 draw. Prior to the match Martinez said the biggest challenge for his players wasn’t the various threats posed by Arsene Wenger’s men, but whether they had the confidence to go into such a tough away game and be themselves. They did, in spades.

The question is, given the relatively limited resources at Goodison Park, how far can they go? Champions League qualification is not out of the question, and would provide extra money to aid them in the fight to compete against this country’s monied elite, but in reality the Blues’ best chance of success rests in the cup competitions. That makes them one of the worst possible draws for a Championship side hunting an upset, which is why we probably should have realised that “number 32, Queens Park Rangers” was coming out of the hat long before it actually did.

Interview

Thanks this week to Everton fan Ben Johnson who we bullied into giving us his opinions on the Toffees via the Twitter…

Assess the first half of the season at Everton for us. Beyond your wildest expectations?

Certainly beyond expectations for the new manager. Most Blues I know weren't entirely sure what to expect of Martinez - a young manager who'd just won the FA Cup (having delivered a 3-0 beating at Goodison on the way), while getting relegated. I think there was a suspicion that while he'd bring a welcome emphasis on attractive passing football, we'd be found wanting defensively - that, while playing a lot of teams off the park, we'd also be on the receiving end of a few thrashings at the hands of the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Man City.

As it turns out, while Martinez has been a real breath of fresh air in a footballing sense, we've been really strong defensively too, and our league position, alongside results against some of the best sides in the Premier League, reflect that. He's brought a real winning mentality too, and you can see that in the way we approach even the toughest games.

He also looks really smart and sophisticated on the touchline in his black coat. Have you ever seen Moyes wearing that cardigan he sometimes has on under a suit? Embarrassing.

Moyes would almost certainly still be at Everton had the Man Utd offer come along, but does the progress made under Martinez show it was perhaps time for a change anyway?

Yes, though I don't think most of us realised it at the time Moyes left. Putting aside some unfortunate and disrespectful comments he's made since going to Man Utd, Moyes clearly did a good job for Everton, and left the squad in a far better state than he found it. There's no question that Martinez, rather than rebuidling the squad, has set about building upon what Moyes left, both in terms of personnel and style. Moyes wasn't the 'hoofball' merchant some of the more hard-to-please Evertonians made him out to be, and I think the way Martinez has us playing owes more to what Moyes left behind than many people will give him credit for.

What's really changed, it seems to me, is the attitude and the general feeling around the club. What our progress over the last few months has demonstrated is the negativity which was innate in Moyes' approach. We used to go to Arsenal, Chelsea and the Manchester sides looking to keep it tight and get away with a draw. Going a goal ahead early on would inevitably lead to a to backs-to-the-wall defensive effort….

What has Martinez changed, and can this fantastic start be maintained through the second half of the season?

Following the last answer, now it seems like the team go into each and any game believing they can not only win, but also outplay the opposition. That showed in the game at the Emirates, which we were unlucky to draw - several Arsenal fans I know have said that we're the best side to play them at home for a couple of seasons.

Players like Barkley and Coleman have been let off the leash, we look more creative, more willing to take chances and all the better for it. The players look like they're enjoying it more, and certainly the fans are as well.

We saw some really good business in the transfer market - Gareth Barry has brought a real solidity to the midfield, alongside James McCarty who sounded expensive but has been a real revelation and could be a top player for us for years to come. Lukaku hasn't been through the best of spells lately but he's a class act and Gerard Deulofeu has shown some touches of magic reminiscent of Andrei Kanchelskis in his pomp.

Who have been the stand out performers in the team, and where are the weak links?

The full backs have been superb, and I don't think I'd swap either Baines or Coleman for anyone else in their position right now. Seamus Coleman looks like being the buy of the century at £60,000 or so a few years back from Sligo - credit to Moyes for that, though again it seems Martinez has brought out a level of performance we never knew he had before. Honourable mentions also to the central trio of Barry, McCarthy and Barkley, maybe our new Holy Trinity...

As for weak links, in all honesty it's hard to point any out. On the wings, neither Kevin Mirallas nor Steven Pienaar have been playing at their best for most of the season, but I think weak links would be stretching it a bit.

Everton have been known for selling their better players in recent years, is that the fear again with this team?

It's inevitable that with a talent like Ross Barkley, there'll be speculation about wealthier clubs; but with club finances seemingly a bit more secure, and our current level of performance, I don't think we're too worried about losing any of our top players at the moment - not unless other sides want to offer ridiculous money.

One downer is that we only have Deulofeu and Lukaku on loan and it's hard to imagine that we'd be able to offer the kind of salary or promise of Champions League football to secure either permanently. Certainly Barcelona seem to think Deulofeu is one for the future and his time with us is about developing his game ready for their first team. But, though we bow to no-one in terms of history, I can think of worse things to be than part of Barca's development programme, so if they want to send anyone else over for a year or they're welcome...

What do you make of David Moyes' dodgy start to life at Man Utd?

He's a good manager but it was always going to take some time to settle in. Ferguson won the league title last year with a fairly average side. Moyes doesn't have Ferguson's tactical nous (and certainly not his motivational abilities) and I think that side is now showing its real level under a manager without superhuman powers. I think he'll probably win things there if they give him time, but they won't dominate like they have done.

Realistically what can be achieved this season?

I think we can finish in the Champions League places. It's not impossible that we could be in the top three if we stay consistent, though what looked like a relatively easy run of three games over the festive period (Sunderland home, Southampton home, Stoke away) yielded only four points. Realistically, I think we'd settle for fifth and a run through to the FA Cup final, if things go our way on Saturday (which is a big if - we got dumped out of the League Cup down the road at Craven Cottage just a few months back). And finishing above Liverpool, naturally.

Going forward, can Everton continue to compete at the top end of the Premier League without significant financial investment?

Compete? Yes. Win league titles? I'm not sure anyone can without the resources to build a side with the depth of Chelsea or Man City's. If you were a billionaire looking for a club to invest in right now, on paper Everton would look like a good bet I suppose. But there's a certain stubborn refusal among many Evertonians, myself included, to accept that we can't continue to compete as a club with its roots in the community and its fan base, and with Goodison Park as our home. The progress we've made this season has been come without the resources of the rest of the top five or six teams, so why not?

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TacticalR added 23:57 - Jan 3 Thanks for your oppo report and to Ben. It really does sound as though everything is ticking over nicely for Everton.
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