Everton Changes Won’t Bring Immediate Reform

Goodison Park Credit: Andrew/Flickr

Going down 2-0 against Hull City on New Year’s Day was certainly not the best way for Everton to start 2015.

At times, they cut the look of a side that were direction-less and without motivation, and they were torn apart meticulously by The Tigers who needed little invitation to take advantage of the visitors’ unfamiliar shape and line-up which included Joel Robles, Antolin Alcaraz and Arouna Kone in the starting XI.

The Toffees will be keen to make sure the result doesn’t shape the rest of their month, because they’ve now lost four league matches in a row, and that’s a trend they’ll be eager to shake off as quickly as they can.

Looking at their recent form, they’ve not been in great shape to say the least, but it’s likely that the only way out for them now is to continue making the difficult decisions – and much of that burden is going to fall on Blues boss Roberto Martinez who was in fighting form following their recent defeat, as reported by the BBC:

"“This is a challenging time but we need to look forward to the second half of the season,”"

Much like his Merseyside rival Brendan Rodgers or indeed the former Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew, Martinez has been doing his best to chop and change his team, working constantly to find the best combination that can help turn things around quickly.

So far, they haven’t passed the endurance test as they’ve looked vulnerable under the strain of so many different problems.

It worked for The Toon Army, and it’s beginning to work slowly for The Reds – so who’s to say it won’t work for The “School Of Science”?

Again, patience is a virtue, so it will take a lot more of that before the Goodison Park faithful start to feel more secure and confident watching their team play once again.

Make no mistake, it will take time for the wins to come together. It will take sleepless nights from the back-room staff and it will drain the fans of hope for a while, but Everton will bounce back – their squad is just too good not to. Of course, much will depend on whether or not they’re able to hold on to some of their best players, but it’s easy to see how they’ll revive themselves once they figure out how to start playing like themselves again.

So far, they haven’t passed the endurance test as they’ve looked vulnerable under the strain of so many different problems.

It’s a fact of the modern game that sometimes it just doesn’t work out on the pitch, especially with a few of the injuries they’ve had to deal with; things can, and do, go wrong quite often. So, it’s going to be an even bigger test of character to see how they cope in the mean time, even though expectations of them are at a new low.

The reason? The players know they’re under-preforming and many of them will be playing for their futures at the club in the next few months. If some of them can rise to the challenge and find a way through their current hellish situation, the grass will start to look a little greener at Goodison.

Transfer speculation surrounding Kevin Mirallas, Seamus Coleman, James McCarthy and Ross Barkley have not been a friend to the club this season as rumours and gossip have haunted them at every twist and turn so far.

While the rise to power of a few surprise packages has also hindered their own expected surge into the top four.

Taking all of these factors into account, it’s clear that this season has been one of transition, so it’s vital everyone involved with the club realises that and works mindfully towards a number of realistic goals on both the domestic and European fronts.

Can Everton turn things around in the coming weeks?