According to the latest reports from the Scottish Sun, Roberto Martinez has emerged as an odds on favourite to become Celtic’s next manager. Paddy Power have kept the Belgian boss at evens ahead of Neil Lennon who was tipped to take up the top job at Celtic Park.
Martinez’s stocks have risen in the past year or so after his impressive work with the Belgium national team. He guided them to the third spot which was their best finish in a World Cup. To be honest, it is even surprising to see someone like Martinez being linked with the top job at Celtic given that he is currently managing a national team. The Euro 2020 is just a year away, and we don’t really think the Spanish manager would do a Brendan Rodgers.*
Why Martinez can be an exciting option?
Martinez shot into the limelight with Wigan Atheltic when he guided them to a FA cup victory by defeating some big boys of the Premier League. The Spaniard was known for playing an attacking and extravagant brand of football which often costed him in the English top flight. He earned a move to Everton, where he brought the Goodison on their feet with some of his team’s performances. However, defensively they kept on struggling under him.
Often the consensus regarding Martinez was that he was too naive as a manager as he disregarded organisation and defensive stability for an attacking brand of football. But after the recent World Cup, we can definitely say that the manager has learnt from his mistakes as Belgium often played to their strengths by relying on the counter-attack.
Is he a better option than Lennon?
We think so at the moment as Celtic have lacked ideas since Lennon took over. It’s true that they have managed to earn favourable results since he took over in February, but quite a few victories have been last gasp wins. Martinez can bring the Celtic Park to their feet with his attacking brand of football.
The Spaniard is also known to extract the best out of his players as he showed at Wigan where he guided them to their first FA Cup win in their history. After his recent work with Belgium, there is no doubt in our mind that the 45-year-old will be an upgrade over Lennon.
doing a Brendan Rodgers*- Form of a verb which means leaving someone in a lurch. For example- I loved that girl very much, but she did a Brendan Rodgers on me.
