Everton face Jablonec in a pre-season friendly fixture on Saturday trading as bet365’s 4/5 favourites to inaugurate their preparations for the new Premier League season with a victory.
While Blues fans could draw succour from runs to the semi-finals of the League and FA Cups, the 11th-place league finish derived from a record of just 11 wins in 38 matches was fundamentally insufficient for a club in possession of Everton’s playing squad and financial resource and the success enjoyed by Leicester City and Spurs last term only served set the Goodison Park side’s underperformance in even sharper relief.
The appointment of hugely successful Southampton manager, Ronald Koeman, as Martinez’s successor last month, however, has boosted fan optimism thatFarhad Moshiri’s takeover in the second half of last season might transform the club’s fortunes.
Everton’s squad has already been strengthened by the arrival of Netherlands goalkeeper, Maarten Stekelenburg, this summer and speculation continues to abound that players of the calibre of Axel Witsel, Georginio Wijnaldum andFernando Llorente could be set to move the Goodison Park in the near future. The retention of senior players such as John Stones, Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku will also prove crucial to the Merseyside club’s hopes of securing a top-four finish in the coming campaign.
While Blues fans could draw succour from runs to the semi-finals of the League and FA Cups, the 11th-place league finish derived from a record of just 11 wins in 38 matches was fundamentally insufficient for a club in possession of Everton’s playing squad and financial resource and the success enjoyed by Leicester City and Spurs last term only served set the Goodison Park side’s underperformance in even sharper relief.
The appointment of hugely successful Southampton manager, Ronald Koeman, as Martinez’s successor last month, however, has boosted fan optimism thatFarhad Moshiri’s takeover in the second half of last season might transform the club’s fortunes.
Everton’s squad has already been strengthened by the arrival of Netherlands goalkeeper, Maarten Stekelenburg, this summer and speculation continues to abound that players of the calibre of Axel Witsel, Georginio Wijnaldum andFernando Llorente could be set to move the Goodison Park in the near future. The retention of senior players such as John Stones, Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku will also prove crucial to the Merseyside club’s hopes of securing a top-four finish in the coming campaign.
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