Everton were looking to assert themselves among the top six again after a difficult previous season and there were ground for optimism as Romelu Lukaku and John Stones were kept and the brilliantly talented Gerard Deulofeu returned for another spell. Roberto Martinez was talking up the quality of his squad but the results were initially mixed. The Toffees were certainly proving tough to beat, losing only to Manchester City in the first eight, but seemed too focused on that only and not really going for wins in every game. They remained a steady and solid side that was getting some good results but not enough points to be a factor at the top end of the table. Lukaku was having a really strong season in front of goal and in Ross Barkley he had an accomplice who has was maturing nicely and delivering quality assists and dictating play week in, week out. The main achilles heel of this Everton side was their inability to close down games and general feebleness at the back. Stones had a really good start of the season but, as talented as he undoubtedly is, the defender was prone to lapses and giving opposition chances. Added to that was the insecurity of Tim Howard, who was still being kept as number one keeper despite his clear decline in recent months. All that added to some shocking displays as Leicester and Stoke scored seven goals combined at Goodison in late December. The results remained mostly sketchy as Everett failed to get on a consistent good run and became mired in mid-table with little prospect of European football. They had hopes of reaching the League Cup final after beating Manchester City at home in the first leg of the semi-final, only to be undone in the return leg after a conceding a couple of late goals. The team continued to get progressively worse as some disjointed displays showed real lack of desire and drive. By March, they have already accumulated eight home losses for the league season, a negative record never reached before in their history. The fans openly turned against the manager and the tide reached humongous proportions after a dreadful collapse away at Liverpool in the derby in April. Only a few days later, Everton faced Manchester United in a FA Cup semi-final. It was the last hurrah of this team as they outplayed the Red Devils in the second half and came back from a goal down, only to concede dramatically in added time for a gut-wrenching 2:1 loss. It meant that the ending of the season was really downbeat and it got so worse for Martinez that he was sacked a game before the end of the season, following a particularly spineless collapse at Sunderland. As a whole, this has been a massively disappointing season for a side of immense potential and the hopes were that the Merseysiders will be much closer to the top of the table under a new manager next season, even if Lukaku is unlikely to be around after a real breakout season.
