Everton got nowhere near the credit they deserved for the 3-1 thumping of Chelsea at the weekend. Partly that is due to the fact that the defending champions making such a wretched start to the season will always be a bigger story, especially if it can be illustrated with pictures of a grumpy José Mourinho. But partly it is due to Everton’s own status as a nearly team, an up-and-down sort of side, a typical Roberto Martínez outfit.

In the wider scheme of things Everton are not expected to carry on like that all season, to terrorise all who come to Goodison Park and make a serious push for a Champions League place. It could happen, but most probably it won’t. Fortress Goodison got off to a limp start to the season when Watford came along and gave the home side a scare. A 2-2 draw was a reasonable result in the end but it still had supporters expressing doubts, once again, over Martínez’s style of management and suitability for the job. Those same supporters are happy again now, after a joyous afternoon against Chelsea when every single one of Martínez’s decisions came off – better not to ask what might have happened if Muhamed Besic had not picked up an early injury and Steven Naismith remained on the bench all afternoon – but every Everton fan is aware the Midas touch could disappear again just as quickly. Such as on Saturday afternoon, for instance, when Martínez returns to Swansea.

That is not to imply Everton will lose at a ground where they gained a respectable point last season, just to point out that their form and results can be wildly unpredictable. Everyone feared the worst when Everton had to go to Southampton after the disappointing display against Watford, a stylish 3-0 away win was a long way from what most people were expecting.

Similarly there was nothing in the next two games, a defeat by Manchester City and a scoreless draw at Spurs, to suggest that Chelsea could be overcome so emphatically when Premier League football resumed after the international break. Mourinho’s side had a lot to do with their own downfall – teams such as Swansea and West Bromwich are likely to allow Ross Barkley less time on the ball than Chelsea permitted him – but on the other hand Everton were not backward in coming forward.

They poured enthusiastically into the miles of space behind Chelsea’s high line, not always using it effectively if the truth be known, created enough chances to win the game by a distance and finished three of them crisply. Defensively they were just as good, with John Stones practically taunting Mourinho with his calmness and ability on the ball, Phil Jagielka putting in his usual shift and Brendan Galloway excelling at left-back as a replacement for the injured Leighton Baines. Martínez deserves praise for his handling of the whole Stones situation, his willingness to trust that his player would not be distracted was amply vindicated by the performance against Chelsea, and it should also be noted that when he sent on Ramiro Funes Mori to make his Everton debut when Seamus Coleman was injured late in the game the home side were still only one goal ahead and the points were not yet safe.

Martínez undoubtedly looks the real deal at times – he even found an amusing riposte to Mourinho’s foul-mouthed rant in the tunnel after the game, though how newspapers can deem the single use of just one swearword as a rant is beyond most people’s comprehension. It just shows how desperate the media has become to make Mourinho the entire story. If the Queen or the pope ever start effing and jeffing then fair enough, that might count as front page news, but a football manager uttering a single expletive in the aftermath of a defeat is hardly in the same league. By current standards of prudery practically every football manager (not to mention players and supporters) is guilty of a foul-mouthed rant every Saturday afternoon.

But back to Martínez. Is this the start of something big at Everton, or is he simply doing what he used to at Wigan, namely producing stellar performances one week then mistake-ridden calamities the next? Roller-coaster would be the cliche of choice for the Martínez years at Wigan, beating all the big names in the Premier League but leaking points to lesser opponents all the while, though helter skelter might be a more apt description of the final few weeks, FA Cup glory notwithstanding. Martínez and Wigan never got the credit they deserved for taking Manchester City apart at Wembley either. Once again most of the coverage focused on the opposing manager – it turned out to be Roberto Mancini’s last game and City were therefore excused a lacklustre display – when in reality Martínez should have been lauded for his tactical acumen and his ability to get the absolute utmost form a collection of mostly ordinary players.

Martínez has a much better selection of players at his disposal now. Perhaps not a Champions League standard squad – whatever that is, after the two Manchester sides’ results on Tuesday – but there is no way players such as Barkley, Stones and Romelu Lukaku can be described as ordinary. Ask the manager for his ambition for the season and he would say a top-four finish.

Get into the Champions League and beef up the squad with a few more better than average players. At the moment that seems a reasonable aim – Everton have made a better start to the season than Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs – though it is an assessment that really needs to be made in the second half of the season, not the first couple of months.

Everton need to develop consistency, to become a team feared by opponents for picking up points as well as rave reviews. Everyone knows they can hit the heights, everyone also knows there are likely to be troughs as well. Right now with Everton the tendency is to wait for the next result to put the last one into perspective. If Martínez can break that spell he could take his side to the next level. Confidence is currently coursing through the club, though the same could be said of Crystal Palace, Leicester, Swansea and West Ham.

Everton need to show they can top that mini-group first, before they aim any higher. It is traditional at this point to observe that Everton, or someone like them, will have a good chance in the cups if they are not quite strong enough for the league but can raise their game when the occasion demands. That is both patronising and old-fashioned. The cups have had their day. Consistency is now the bigger prize.