Wednesday, 2 October 2013

Everton manager Roberto Martinez expresses relief that Chelsea unable to ... - Telegraph.co.uk

"He is technically really gifted when he has his back to goal and that was a focal point today. He is a great goalscorer. He looked like a player who felt at home.

"I want him to enjoy his football, I want him to develop and become as good as he can.

"The next step now is taking what he did last campaign, in terms of number of starts, to another level.

"I don't think anyone questions the quality of Romelu otherwise they would never spend the money they spent at such a young age.

"We are only glad we can have him. The chemistry with the fans was terrific."

Asked whether he thought Chelsea had made a mistake letting him join another club he added: "It will be easy to say that but you need to remember how many strikers they have.

"You need to mention Samuel Eto'o's record, Demba Ba's record and Fernando Torres' pedigree, you are talking about a squad which has phenomenal talent up front."

Martinez was not too disturbed by seeing his side concede twice in the second half, giving the scoreline a lop-sided look considering their excellence before the break.

"Sometimes you go into half-time with a one-goal lead and that allows you to keep the tension," he said.

"It was normal you are going to get a reaction in the second half.

"It was a completely different performance. We showed style in the first half and grit into the second."

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew was less than impressed by his side's opening 45 minutes.

"It would have been fortuitous for us if we'd got something from the game," he said.

"The first half wasn't good enough. The second half was much more like it, we showed a bit of pride and passion, won some headers, won some tackles and made some forward passes - which helped.

"It was important I reminded them (at half-time) of the nuts and bolts of the game - there are fundamentals that need to be done in the team ethic and I didn't think we did those in the first half.

"In the second half we made two changes and it looked like we made 11.

"They are a good side but we stood off them too much in the first half and a couple of goals were more than defendable."

(Edited by Giles Mole)

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