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Pat Nevin believes Roberto Martinez must find a way to get the best out of his full backs if Everton FC are to emerge stronger from their recent slump in form.

The Blues head into tonight’s FA Cup third round tie with West Ham United on a run of four straight league defeats, and with just one win in nine games in all competitions.

It is a sequence that has led to increased pressure on the manager, and a defeat at Goodison against the Hammers would crank that up further.

Nevin, though, reckons Martinez has to get Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman, two of his most influential players, firing again.

The former Blues winger said:“I don’t think the team looks as balanced as it did last season.

“There’s a variety of reasons for that, but one of them is that I don’t think he’s getting the best out of his full backs.

“Those full backs are fantastic, and it is not their fault. The problem is, the players in front of them don’t link up with them.

“Most teams are based through the middle, so you need those main players to be doing well. But Everton were so good from those wide areas with Baines and Coleman, and those two are not getting forward as much as they were, and it is because the players that are in front of them, the wide players and the forwards, don’t link.

“Another reason why those full backs are not getting forward as much is because the centre backs have either been injured, or lacking in form compared with last season.

“Roberto has to sort that, 100%, because it’s a knock on effect.

“From there, you look at other issues like why is your striker, (Romelu) Lukaku, not scoring? Is it because he’s not working hard enough? Is it because he’s lost some confidence?

“Or is it because those balls from his full backs are not coming any more?

“It is a structural problem for Roberto to figure out, and of course every time he tries, an important player seems to get injured.

Nevin added: “One of the things that is in Martinez’s favour is that he has got a really good team, and a really good squad. And if he can build that confidence, it can come back, and it can come back very quickly.”

Nevin hopes Everton’s revival will begin with a win at Goodison this evening. And he rejected the notion that the FA Cup is a distraction his former club could do without.

“Knowing Roberto, he’s going for it!” he said.

“It’s the same with the Europa League. Do they need it? Some people would say no, but he’s going for that as well.

“At the start of the season, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Everton chasing for the top four, but that is not happening now.

“It may be that there are too many games for them, but that is what Roberto is like. He is very pure of heart, he will chase things and he will try and bring glory to the club.

“It might be his downfall in the end, but I hope it isn’t, because I love that kind of attitude."