Ronald Koeman has responded to Roberto Martinez’s criticism of Everton’s defence.
Martinez used an appearance on Sky’s Goals on Sunday last weekend to berate his former club’s back line during last weekend’s 6-3 thrashing of Bournemouth.
The Catalan, now in charge of Belgium, was deposed by the Blues in May last year before being eventually being suceeded by Koeman two months later.
And while the Everton manager insists that he will reserve any judgement on the side he inherited from Martinez, he admits to being bemused by his predecessor’s claims.
He said: “First of all, he is a really good talker, a good communicator and all that, as you say.
“He speaks nice and like everybody he is a human being defending himself. But I think it is easy to talk after Bournemouth about the defence.
“That defence had three clean sheets in a row before Bournemouth [actually two in three]. And finally the numbers, the stats, it is still not the end of the season.
“So I will wait to give my good answer.”
Everton are already eight points better off than they were at this stage of last season under Martinez and now eyeing a Europa League qualification place.
But Koeman admits that there were a myriad of issues to address when he took the reins at Goodison Park during the summer.
“It was not only defence. I remember one or two meetings at the start of the season where I showed what we needed to change,” he added.
“I took clips out of last season, including good clips of the team in ball possession but also clips out of possession because in my opinion there was not always good defensive organisation when an attack broke down.
“A big part was defending set plays – 14 conceded last season was too many.
“Then you need to know the character of the players, the quality of the players; if you are there with them day by day you get a different idea.
“Also being more direct instead of a lot of ball possession back to the goalkeeper. Play the ball in the channel… there is more high pressing, trying to press your opponent and not to wait and drop back too much.
“That takes time and maybe you need different players to play that system. There were several aspects of football I wasn’t happy about.”