Roberto Martinez hails Ross Barkley's re-emergence at Everton

Robert Martinez has praised Ross Barkley's maturity

ROBERTO MARTINEZ believes Ross Barkley’s re-emergence for Everton is down to the midfielder’s willingness to accept responsibility for last season’s struggles rather than pointing the finger at others.

 

Barkley has played every minute in the Premier League this season, conjuring goals and assists, following a summer of soul searching in which he recognised he could not blame his own form on Everton’s collective toils.

“Now as a young player, you’ve got a choice,” said Everton manager Martinez, whose side face Swansea today.

 

“Last season he just could have gone and just put his head under and said, ‘The team is not performing well, what can I do?’

“Or you can say, ‘How I can change the team’s performance by me improving?’ That was the attitude of Ross, which is very, very rare in football.

 

“He openly came out saying he was not performing as well as he should do. That was the change.

“The difference between last season and this one is down to his choice as an individual to take responsibility and ask what he could do to make the team better.”

Martinez regularly substituted Barkley last season but has placed his trust in him so far.

“If you give him minutes for the sake of it, you’re not going to get the benefit,” said Martinez.

“But as a player, what I’ve seen with Ross is a maturity because of the decisions he has taken on the pitch, which allows him to play different roles.”