Naisy reckons Martinez tops even Moyes
STEVEN NAISMITH hasn’t taken long to become a fully paid-up member of the Roberto Martinez Fan Club.
The Scotland star was already a massive admirer of the Spaniard long before he took over as manager of Everton.
But his time spent working beside his new manager since he replaced David Moyes at Goodison in the summer has only increased his admiration for the former Swansea and Wigan coach.
Having spent his entire career working with Scottish managers, Naismith has found the experience of working under a foreign coach for the first time a real eye-opener.
“I love the stuff he does,” said Naismith. “In all honesty, it’s the first time I’ve enjoyed pre-season.
“Before he came in, I was quite British in my mentality. I always believed you had to run your backside off to get fit.
“But Roberto has come in and it has been totally different. Everything is with the balland you are trying to keep possession when you are knackered.
“He says if we can do that, the opposition team will be even more tired than us.
“And his attention to detail is incredible.
“For example, all the players now have an App on our mobile phones via which he sends us footage to study to help us prepare for games.
“There will be clips of your own involvement in the previous match as well as the opposition’s previous game. There will also be individual clips of their players for us to look at and study.
“He even records training sometimes to show us how certain patterns of play have materialised with a view to taking it into a matchday.”
Naismith could have found himself playing under Martinez prior to his arrival on Merseyside, as the highly-rated manager twice tried to secure his services.
“I’d already made my made my mind up I was going to Everton,” explained Naismith. “The deal wasn’t quite finalised but it was as good as a done deal.
“But I received a phone call, saying Roberto was insisting on speaking about me signing for Wigan directly so I took his call one night.
“I must say out of every manager I spoke with he impressed me the most.
“His knowledge of the game was frightening. He could tell me about things when I played with Kilmarnock and told me he tried to buy me for Swansea but I ended up going to Rangers.
“He spoke to me about the way I play the game and how he felt I did too much work defensively. He believed I could do more for the team if I reserved more of my energy for going forward.
“One bit of advice I received at the time was to call Roberto back and thank him for taking the time to speak to me and for wanting to sign me.
“I didt hat and, lo and behold, a year later he became my manager. It was very good advice!”
And if Naismith wondered whether Martinez would be as keen having inherited him at Everton, any concerns were evaporated after one call from his new boss in the summer.
He said: “The manager phoned me and basically said: ‘You know how I feel about you and I have a lot of confidence in you’.
“If a new manager doesn’t fancy you then you can find yourself out in the cold so that gave me a bit of reassurance.
“But he then said something which blew me away. He told me he knew it took me a year to 18 months to settle at my previous clubs before playing my best football and I was amazed by that.
“When I was at Killie it took me a good year in the first-team to settle down, and it wasn’t until a couple of years in at Rangers that I started to perform like I knew I could.
“Last season was difficult for me at Everton with injuries, but what Roberto said is exactly how I felt. For him to know that about me was unbelievable.”
If Moyes faces the almost impossible task of trying to replace Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, Martinez doesn’t actually have it easy trying to emulate a man who delivering unbelievable success at Everton.
“They are definitely big shoes to fill,” admitted Naismith.
“There are a lot of similarities between my old manager and my new manager, the main ones being their attention to detail and the amount of hours they put in.
“But in other ways they are at completely different ends of the spectrum. I can’t speak highly enough of them.
“David Moyes took over Everton when they were relegation battlers, and every season throughout his 11 years at the club the team got better and better.
“He turned Everton into a topsix team. The structure of the club is incredible and we have an unbelievable training ground with the very best facilities.
“I remember sitting down and talking to David about the training ground and he had a hand in every part of it — even as far as to say where bushes were going in between training pitches!
“That is how hands-on he was at Everton.” Having worked with Moyes at Everton, how does Naismith see his countryman coping at OldTrafford?
“Without knowing Sir Alex Ferguson too well, but hearing a lot of stories about him, I think David is the most similar manager to him you could get,” said the former Rangers man. “He is his own man, he has that aura about him which makes players respond the second he enters the dressing-room and he doesn’t suffer fools.
“I’m convinced he’ll do very well indeed— as will Roberto at Everton.”