Everton keeping tabs on preferred choice Roberto Martinez amid Frank Lampard sack talk
Roberto Martinez is in the frame to replace Frank Lampard as Everton manager with the club keeping tabs on the Belgium boss, Het Belang van Limburg reports.
The former Toffees coach was Farhad Moshiri’s “dream manager” when he got rid of Rafael Benitez in January [Fabrizio Romano, 17 January], and the owner tried to appoint him before settling on Lampard.
While the Spaniard is in contract talks over an extension with Belgium past the end of the World Cup he is currently due to be available in the new year.
The current Everton boss is under pressure after a run of one win in seven in all competitions, with some of his own fans turning on him after he changed his entire XI for the Carabao Cup trip to Bournemouth on Tuesday (8 November) which ended in a 4-1 defeat.
The question of whether he will be sacked is being discussed by pundits including Jamie Carragher and Rio Ferdinand, and HBvL now add that the club are continuing to follow Martinez in the mean time.
Calm
There probably is a better manager than Lampard out there, but for a relatively young coach in difficult circumstances he hasn’t done badly.
There is certainly fair criticism to be levelled at him, and publicly turning on his own players after the cup defeat feels counterproductive, but sacking him at this point feels premature.
Whether Martinez could do a better job in the current situation, with far less money than he had before and a squad that is light in attack, is highly debatable.
His time in charge previously started very well, but he was sacked with the Toffees a mid-table team, and despite narrowly avoiding relegation last season Lampard could well at least match that yet in this campaign.
There is no doubt that things have taken a negative turn over the past couple of months, but prior to that there were definite signs of growth.
Injuries and a lack of replacement for Richarlison have badly hampered things, and while the former Chelsea man still has plenty to learn and certainly needs to improve the situation, it doesn’t seem like getting rid of him at this point would be the right move.