No home comforts for Martinez as Everton slump
IT is one of the most atmospheric venues in the country, a stadium that can generate noise like few others: it is old-fashioned and far from perfect but it is Goodison Park, home of Everton FC.
This should be a place where the flow of points is heavy, given the way the stands tower over a tight pitch and how the local fans, on the best days, make it feel they are involved in games.
At the beginning of a campaign, it is not unreasonable to expect Everton to win a minimum of 12 of their 19 home assignments. The theory is good but the reality is alarmingly different. Everton have been lamentable at Goodison and the reason a season that promised so much is ending in league frustration can be traced to the appalling numbers in their home column of the Premier League table.
Since August, Roberto Martinez has seen Everton win four times at home in the league. Those victories came against a Chelsea team on the brink of implosion, the worst Aston Villa side in living memory and relegationhaunted Sunderland and Newcastle. That is bad but it gets worse. From 16 games, they have taken 16 of the 48 points available. For a team that is being spearheaded by one of best strikers in Europe and has a raft of young talent, the haul is unacceptable.
Once again, there were boos at the final whistle yesterday and Martinez said: ‘We were slow, we never saw clarity and we never anticipated anything. It looked like a feeble display. We showed what we can do in the FA Cup and that’s why it is so hard to take.’
Those last six words strike a chord: it is so hard to take. Evertonians have felt that at Goodison all season. It can’t continue.