Relieved Roberto Martinez revealed that an ill-timed international break gave his Everton squad and staff an excellent opportunity for some soul searching reflection.
And the time-out helped the Blues bounce back with a first win of the season.
After a crushing 6-3 home defeat by Chelsea a fortnight ago, the Blues were denied the opportunity to get the result out of their system by a round of international fixtures.
But rather than stew on the demoralising defeat, Martinez revealed that the break allowed his squad to reflect on the positives from the game.
“It allows you to reflect a lot,” said Martinez. “Sometimes it is good to stop because it can be a ruthless way of working in the league, so when you get an international break it is good.
“We have been working with the players we have behind closed doors and it has been a really good period to look back on what we have achieved and where we are.
“You don’t want to be stopping for such a long time with a defeat, but we have got a lot of positives playing against Chelsea in the manner we did.”
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One of those positives was the performance of Steven Naismith – and despite the Scot failing to maintain his goal a game record at West Brom by skying a sitter, Martinez was thrilled with his latest display.
“It is such a joy to watch him,” he added.
“He can adapt to so many positions and he is one of the most intelligent footballers I have ever worked with and he keeps making really good decisions on the pitch which put us into really good positions.
“He missed an open goal on Saturday, but he’s scored seven goals in the last 11 league games and that is a phenomenal return for someone who works incredibly hard off the ball and gives his performances for the team.
“He is in the best moment of his career and he is enjoying every second of it.”
Martinez has also been delighted to welcome Darron Gibson back to the first team fold for the last two matches.
“Darron was on the bench on Saturday and played 70 minutes for the Republic of Ireland against Oman and he’s looked really sharp in training,” he added.
“I have no worries about his fitness – he is ready – and he is going to play a big, important role this season.
“It is not bad for me to have so many good players in certain positions because the competition is what keeps players at their best moment of form and Darron, clearly, is important for that.”
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