New Portugal coach. I want his agent, honestly. The guy is pinching a living. He’s so bad I’d sooner keep Southgate for England than have him. And there aren’t that many ‘big name’ managers who I’d say that about.
I actually think he's a good coach, he resurrected 3-4-3 formation from the dead at Wigan in the premier league when everyone was playing 4-3-3 and took their points per game from 0.6 to 1.9 - takes some balls in my book to go against the orthodoxy like that.
I rate him too. Martinez & the Belgian golden generation is a bit of a myth. The squads for 2021 & 22 were pretty poor. He only really had a top squad in 2018 & they bet Brazil & lost to France the eventual winners. Far worse were the 2014 & 2016 tournaments where he didn’t manage them. Thought he was brilliant at Wigan. It went wrong at Everton but in his first season there is the best version of Everton in my time watching footy with Stones, Coleman, Baines, Lukaku, Barkley etc
I think he's okay. Not elite. Below Emery/Lopetegui/Pocc and certainly below guardiola, Klopp, Ancelotti and Conte albeit i think that goes without saying. Think he's probably on the level of Rodgers type for me. He did well at Wigan though as others have said, and his first year at Everton.
Shame you’re not as old as us, cos the Everton team of the mid to late 80s were fantastic. They’d have won the European Cup if it hadn’t been for the ban.
If it hadn't been for the ban Howard Kendall would have stayed in charge and they'd have probably won more trophies domestically too. Too much had gone in between him leaving for Bilbao and returning.
As a child I supported Liverpool before I found Barnsley at around 10, I then continued with a soft spot for them, but their fans have just put me off over the years. It seems like Everton fans are much the nicer bunch.
Opinions and all that. I honestly think he’s woeful. Very rarely agree with anything Jason Cundy says but he used to refer to him as ‘Mythinez’ - I agree. His teams do ok going forward - when they are full of brilliant attacking talent - but I can’t recall any of his teams being remotely competent defensively. He also seems to go stale after a couple of years after starting out ok. Started at Swansea, missed out on a playoff position by shipping six at home on the final day, though walked the league the next season in fairness. Did ok in the championship and promised he’d never choose to leave the club and would have to be forced out, while criticising any players who left for clubs in higher divisions for more money. He then left to premier league Wigan for more money… He did ok for a few seasons at Wigan, culminating in them winning the cup - but that same season they were relegated, having been in the premier league for eight consecutive seasons and with arguably the best squad they’d ever had. He was on a long contract and Dave Whelan wouldn’t have dreamt of sacking him despite relegation. He rewarded the loyalty by ******* off again. He went to Everton, again did ok to begin with, with a great squad of players who he hadn’t signed - but after finishing fifth in 2015, and given money to strengthen, he took them to the bottom half of the table, to twelfth when he was sacked, and he’d lost the fans months before that too. He was then given the plum job with Belgium, pretty much straight away. Qualified well and took the team to the semis of the 2018 World Cup. I would argue, as I do about England and Southgate, that this was despite him, not because of him. I’d accept many won’t agree, as they don’t about Southgate. With the squad he had at his disposal, even being probably past it’s peak in the World Cup just gone, they should have done much, much better in the euros and WC 2022. For me, great managers make a team outperform the ‘on paper’ potential of the players, or if they have the very best players, are continuously successful. Martinez always seems to manage to underachieve, even if starting pretty strongly. He’s obviously relatively competent - I’m not suggesting he shouldn’t be considered for any job at all - but I don’t see how he walks into another high level international team job, having had, arguably, the best squad of players at international level for the past six years, and failing to even make a final in any of the tournaments. Failing to get out of a group with Morocco, Canada and a Croatia team which wasn’t exactly the greatest in their history, with the best players even older and further past their peak than the Belgian squad, should have led to a period of rest and inactivity or maybe a less elite role. I maintain that his agent earns every penny he makes.
I do agree about the defence argument, he’s certainly not the best at organising a defence. Personally I don’t think Belgium have ever been close to having the best squad in the world & certainly haven’t been close since 2018. Even at their peak they never even had a decent full back & were playing converted wingers there or centre backs because they had no full backs playing at a decent level. The poor tournaments were before Martinez in my opinion. Losing to Wales under Wilmots in 2016 was the big flop with a great crop of players in their prime. In 2018 they still had a great crop & beat a top side in Brazil (something Southgate gets stick for never having done) & then lost narrowly to the winners France. I don’t think you can really knock losing to that French side. In 2021 they were already on the decline with many of their best players from 2014, 16 & 18 either gone or on the way down. They only really had 3 top players in De Bruyne, Lukaku & Courtois & against lost narrowly to the winners in Italy. Poor in December but I don’t think it was a surprise, Lukaku half fit & Hazard’s been poor for several years but still trying to play him & past it players like Vertonghen & Alderweireld because they don’t have any strength in depth. Also you have to say that both Croatia & Morocco were brilliant. Croatia knocked out Brazil & a Japanese side that beat both Spain & Germany & Morocco beat both Portugal & Spain. At the time in 2018 people were raving about his tactics when he played Lukaku off the right wing & he played a starring role as they knocked Brazil out. I don’t think there’s any shockers in there, there’s no England - Iceland, Belgium - Wales, Japan - Germany. I don’t think they’ve ever had an embarrassing result under him. I don’t think the Wigan & Swansea sides he built had any right to be in the premier league. Most of the players in them sides peaked under him & never achieved that kind of success again. I think if you’ve got one of the smallest budgets in the league & you don’t have a big squad eventually you will drop. It happened with Burnley & Dyche last season. I know he was sacked before the actual relegation but I think they were dropping regardless of the manager. Same with Bournemouth & Howe. You can’t keep cutting costs & hoping your manager will work miracles. Southampton likely to find this out soon as well. Agree about Everton. That’s the big stain on his record in my opinion. The best squad they’ve had in a long time & for whatever reason it went wrong.
