Saturday 23 April 2016 21:45, UK
Roberto Martinez insisted he remains the right man to lead Everton after they exited the FA Cup in "heartbreaking" fashion to Manchester United on Saturday.
Anthony Martial scored in the 93rd minute to seal a 2-1 semi-final win for United, sending them to the FA Cup final for the first time since 2007.
Everton had fallen behind to Marouane Fellaini's first-half goal, and saw Romelu Lukaku's penalty saved before an own goal from Chris Smalling got them back in the tie.
But Martial's late strike sent Martinez's side crashing out, and the Everton manager felt his side would have gone on to win the game had it gone to extra time.
"The feeling we share now, is probably as cruel as football can be," Martinez said. "It was a terrific game of football.
"I don't think we were at our best in the first half and after half time we showed a really strong mentality to dig deep to get ourselves in the game. Having said that, in the first half we created the best two opportunities but the transformation [after the break] was plain.
"We had an incredible tempo and intensity to impose ourselves. We had the penalty, which was a big moment of the game, but that didn't stop us from playing the way that we want to play and we scored a goal.
"At that point, it's where the story becomes very heartbreaking, against the run of play in injury time, it's always a difficult one. After that second half, I don't think we deserved to be on the losing side.
"Going into extra time, I just feel our side would have been the strongest one and that's why it's a major, major disappointment."
Lukaku, who had scored in each of his five previous FA Cup appearances for Everton, missed a number of chances and saw his second-half penalty kept out by David de Gea.
But Martinez refused to pin blame on the Toffees forward, instead praising the number of opportunities he created for his team.
"Strikers should be measured by the amount of chances they create, sometimes you need to give credit to the goalkeeper and sometimes it's a degree of fortune," he added.
"I thought his second-half performance was one from a very mature footballer, and Gerard Deulofeu benefited when he came on and Ross Barkley grew into the game.
"He's still a young man, and it shows we invest in young players and give them big roles and you see they are starting to fill those roles."
Everton's heavy defeat to Merseyside rivals Liverpool in midweek increased speculation over Martinez's future, but the manager insists he is the right man for the club.
"I've been here three years and Everton is a very special football club," he continued. "The fans, and the way they represented the football club, was terrific.
"It's going to take time to bring silverware back to Goodison and that's what I want. I am so attached to the football club and my ambition is the same as the club's ambition.
"The last three years, we haven't been spending money, we have handled assets really well and the squad have a great valuation, if you like, and have been developing young players really well."
