Roberto Martinez was frustrated after Everton’s 2-2 draw with Leicester City. He really wanted you to know.
“We were frustrated,” the Everton manager said. “Because I did feel the role we had to play in the game was to be patient, not to get frustrated with our play, because we had to break down a solid unit. Scoring the first goal was going to be difficult, but once we did that, we are frustrated and disappointed because I think we were very soft in the goals that we conceded.”
When asked to choose whether it was the finishing or the defending he was most annoyed with, Martinez said the defense without missing a beat. “When you look at the clean sheet we had against Crystal Palace, the clean sheet we had against Liverpool, the way we defended against Chelsea - conceding in the 89th minute - the way we defended against Young Boys against a really attacking-minded team with 10 men for over a half an hour, it is disappointing that today we were really soft in those two goals because it’s not us.”
[ RECAP: Read about Everton’s 2-2 draw with Leicester ]
Despite that frustration on today’s lone point, and the knowledge that Everton is just five points above the drop zone, Martinez still believes the Toffees are in a solid position. But, the job isn’t done yet.
“Everyone is in a scrappy situation until you get 40 points, that’s the way the league works,” Martinez insisted. “You can assess the league by the table, but we don’t look at the table, we’re trying to get as many points as we can, and see where that takes us. Our focus is to get as high up the table as we can and try to replicate the levels we had last season.”
