ROB: NO MORE LATE LET-OFFS
EVERTON boss Roberto Martinez has urged his players to learn from their Bournemouth blow-out to avoid a Capital One Cup calamity at Middlesbrough.
Martinez’s men led 2-0 with 80 minutes gone on Saturday – but then fell apart and had to settle for a 3-3 draw.
The Everton boss, who is set to bring Leighton Baines back into the squad after nearly seven months out with ankle trouble, reckons his men won’t make the same mistakes again.
Now he has set them the task of reaching the League Cup’s last four for the first time since 2008, and only the fifth time in their history.
Martinez said: “We still have a lot to learn. It’s only normal because we are a very young group.
“Even the important players are very young. Saturday’s experience will help.
“I would have been concerned if we’d started slowly at Bournemouth, conceded a goal and were then chasing the game to get a draw. But it was very different. We were in total control but stopped playing and never managed the two-goal lead.”
Everton have not won a major trophy since lifting the FA Cup in 1995.
Martinez, who won that trophy with Wigan in 2013, admits the prospect of ending a 20-year wait for silverware makes it tempting to get carried away.
But he has told his men to play the match, rather than the occasion, as they take on Aitor Karanka’s Championship promotion hopefuls tonight.
He said: “We haven’t been in a League Cup quarter-final since 2008, and for a club this size that’s rare.
“The real key is to have clarity on how to get to the semi-final.
“The moment we start thinking about the possibility of getting to a final or winning a title, it gets very abstract.”
Joel Robles will replace Tim Howard in goal – as he has for each of Everton’s Capital One Cup games this season.