NEVER mind a game of two halves.
As far as Ronald Koeman and Roberto Martinez were concerned, it was a season of it.
That is why Koeman goes into the next campaign charged with leading Everton back to glory.
Martinez, in contrast, finds himself scouring football’s situations vacant column.
For Goodison’s new gaffer, whose appointment should be made official on Thursday, the gauntlet is down to turn the Toffees into serious top-four contenders.
They looked a world away under Martinez but Koeman is — with the exception of Claudio Ranieri — the man for a miracle.
When the Dutchman replaced Mauricio Pochettino at St Mary’s in June 2014, Southampton were many people’s relegation bankers.
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The exit of key players and ‘Messiah’ Poch had most predicting Saints would plummet from their eighth place.
At Everton, it was the opposite. They had come fifth and the sky was the limit.
How wrong we all were. In a 29-point turnaround, Koeman led Saints to seventh while Everton under Martinez dropped to 11th.
Last season Southampton finished sixth and booked European football, while Everton languished 16 points adrift in 11th.
Incredibly, that came after Koeman admitted he feared a relegation scrap at Christmas. In a stunning transformation, Saints won 13 of 21 league games from Boxing Day and rattled up 38 goals and 42 points.
Everton won six, scored 29 and secured 24 points.
Both sides had a 32 per cent win ratio in the first half of the season. In the second, Saints’ nearly doubled to 63 per cent while the Toffees’ fell to 26.
Koeman’s task is to take that form to Goodison.
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