Everton seek Europa salvation to revive fledgling domestic campaign
LONDON --
Nothing, perhaps, sums up the paradox of Roberto Martinez quite so well as the fact that his side was the only English team to escape the bonfire of the vanities a fortnight ago, and yet it faces a scrap even to stay in the Barclays Premier League. As Everton prepare for a Europa League Round of 16 tie against Dynamo Kiev (live, Thursday, FOX Sports 2, FOX Sports Go, 4:05 p.m. ET), Martinez's supporters continue to salute his pursuit of glory, while his critics claim that his teams lack substance.
In the week that a record-breaking new television deal was announced, there seemed something almost poetic about the way Manchester City and then Arsenal slumped to first-leg defeats in their UEFA Champions League ties, while Tottenham and Liverpool crashed out of the Europa League. That leaves Everton, who crushed Young Boys of Bern 7-2 on aggregate, as the sole Premier League representative along with five Italian sides and two each from Spain, Russia and Ukraine.
The disparity between Everton's European and domestic form is baffling. In the Premier League, the Toffees sit four places and six points above the relegation zone, a record of one win in its last 12 games leaving it looking anxiously over its shoulder. Fans booed the side off after last week's defeat at Stoke City. It's not simply, as some have claimed, that the level in the Europa League is lower than that in the Premier League: Everton has comprehensively beaten both Lille (eighth in France) and Wolfsburg (second in Germany) in this run and, while Young Boys may not have been the strongest opponents, it does sit second in the Swiss league. These are not patsies.
The most plausible explanation, perhaps, is that Premier League sides have gotten used to combating Everton. The approach that saw it finish fifth last season is no longer so effective domestically, but still works against unsuspecting foreign opposition. Constant evolution is part of a manager's art, and further development is needed next season -- assuming Everton does survive.
There's also probably a psychological aspect. Once a team gets on a losing streak, confidence ebbs, and it's been notable particularly how Ross Barkley's form has dipped this season. Tim Howard, Romelu Lukaku, Gareth Barry and Kevin Mirallas have all had bad patches and have been less effective than they were last season, while Sylvain Distin at 37, is at last beginning to show his age. Teams get on treadmills of defeat and while it may not be, as Brian Clough once said of his Nottingham Forest team, that European ties feel like a holiday, it's easy to understand how the Europa League, with its different build-up and dynamic, could feel like a release.
"We know we need to concentrate on our league form," said the team's captain, Phil Jagielka. "We have 10 games left now and need to pull our finger out and start picking up points."
But as Martinez showed in winning the FA Cup while being relegated with Wigan Athletic in 2013, he is a coach who will pursue glory even if it risks slipping out of the Premier League. This raises the intriguing possibility of Everton simultaneously battling for Champions League qualification through the Europa League while fighting the drop. That's some way off, though, and Dynamo Kiev represents a major obstacle on the way to the quarterfinal.
Amid the chaos of Ukraine, Dynamo has found a resolve that has taken it seven points clear in the Ukrainian league. In part that's because Shakhtar has been more affected by the conflict, forced to play home games away from Donetsk where the fighting between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists has been fierce. Yet this also looks the best-balanced Dynamo side in years.
Serhiy Rebrov, once of Tottenham and West Ham, has impressed as a calm and astute coach. Serhiy Rybalka has excelled as an anchor in front of the back four, with Artem Kravets leading the line in front of a flexible midfield four in which the Portugal international Miguel Veloso, who has regularly been linked with Everton in the past, plays a major role.
Elsewhere, Wolfsburg, so impressive domestically this season, takes on an Internazionale side (live, Thursday, FOX Sports 2, FOX Sports Go, 2 p.m. ET) still struggling for consistency under Roberto Mancini, while there's an all-Spanish clash between Villarreal and Sevilla (live, Thursday, FOX Soccer Plus, FOX Sports Go, 4 p.m. ET), three-time winners of this tournament in the past decade, and an all-Italian tie between the sides sixth and second in Serie A as Fiorentina hosts Roma (live, Thursday, FOX Soccer Plus, FOX Sports Go, 4 p.m. ET).
