The season just gone was meant to be a progressive one for Merseyside’s blue half, but what transpired was anything but.
The Story
Having only just missed out on a UEFA Champions League berth in the 2013-14 season, hopes were high that Everton would go one better, taking step by step, season after season. But since then, the Blues have not even stagnated. They have simply gone backwards in an awful two seasons in the proud club’s history, this one worse than the last.
For the second season in a row, Everton finished outside the top half of the league table, recording only 47 points; a tally that is worse than what was chalked up the season prior. The Toffees won just six games at home in the league, all against sides that finished below them with the exception of a 3-1 win over Chelsea in the campaign’s infancy. As a result, manager Roberto Martinez paid the price with his job, fired after an abysmal 3-0 defeat at Sunderland.
On the cup front, Everton reached the semi-finals of both the League and FA Cups, only to be defeated on each occasion by either Manchester club.
EPL – Newcastle United 2015-16 report card
Key Player – Romelu Lukaku
What makes Everton’s awful campaign all the more mindboggling is that this guy was leading the line. Lukaku netted 18 league goals, the fourth-best return bested only by Golden Boot winner Harry Kane (25), Sergio Aguero (24) and Jamie Vardy (24). Each of those players finished in the top four. Everton? 11th.
Still, Lukaku will go down as a shining light in a dark campaign, one that, on a personal level, should be regarded as a breakout campaign. Among other things, Lukaku’s maligned hold-up ability improved immensely. Reports suggest the 23-year-old is desperate to play Champions League football, something he will not find at Goodison Park in the near future. Could you really blame him if he sought a move elsewhere?
The Manager
Still with two years to run on his contract, Martinez was sacked by new investor Farhad Moshiri late in the season after Sunderland embarrassed Everton on the two teams’ penultimate matchday.
It was an abrupt yet necessary end to a tenure that began in such promising fashion and had Evertonians dreaming. Martinez’s footballing outlook never really evolved, he failed to find a way to bring out the best in his players and, in truth, his departure came much too late, leaving stand-in manager David Unsworth to steady the ship on the final day.
A number of high-calibre, unemployed managers have been linked to the Everton job, including recently resigned Ajax boss Frank De Boer and Jose Mourinho.
Offseason Recruitment
It is hard to predict how Everton will shop in the summer given there is currently no manager installed. The club’s first priority will be to do exactly that – find the right man to take the club forward.
What is little secret though is that the Blues must strengthen two playing positions in particular: right-back and in goals. Tim Howard has left Everton after 329 games in blue, leaving them a quality gloveman short. On the right, Seamus Coleman’s late-season absence left the Toffees without quality alternatives, instead made to improvise with left-footed Bryan Oviedo and inexperienced Matthew Pennington.
Grade – F
‘Disaster’ is an apt one-word summary of this campaign – the manager and boardroom underperformed, effectively forming a contagion that was borne upon the players. Even with the likes of Gerard Deulofeu and Aaron Lennon signing, and John Stones sticking around despite strong preseason interest from Chelsea, Martinez failed to bring the best out of a team bursting with talent. Everton threw away more points than you could count on both hands, blowing winning positions against Stoke (4-3), Bournemouth (3-3), Chelsea (3-3) and West Ham (3-2), just to name a few.
Despite making the aforementioned cup semi-finals, the Toffees could not get the job done either time, despite holding a 2-1 lead following the first leg of the League Cup semi against Manchester City. The 20 years and counting of waiting for a piece of major silverware continues.
A crucial summer awaits the club’s hierarchy. The last two seasons have been riddled by mediocrity, and another passive, ineffective offseason will leave the club reeling in a mire of indifference.
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