Roberto Martínez insists Everton’s season will not be defined by Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final with Chelsea, and claims he is not worried about his future despite his popularity plummeting through his side’s habit of losing matches from promising positions.

“We have been winning the game then throwing it away, and that is harder to take than not being good enough in the first place,” Martínez said. “It is a painful process to go through but we can learn from it. The FA Cup is a different competition to the league and in the rounds played so far we have not even conceded a goal. The focus now is on Chelsea, who might be out of the Champions League but are still last year’s English champions, so with a late kick-off and a game under lights we are hoping the Goodison effect will come into play.”

By that Martínez means the home crowd creating a lively atmosphere and spurring his players to greater heights, not the fact that no fewer than seven of Everton’s defeats in the league have been in front of their own supporters. “If you look at the season overall we’ve been very consistent in our away form,” Martínez said. “But at home we have not been able to win often enough. That’s the truth and we have to face it.”

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Everton reached the semi-finals of the Capital One Cup and would book a trip to Wembley with victory over Chelsea. Although ending the season on a high note would deflect at least some of the criticism coming Martínez’s way, the manager does not see the next game as a make-or-break moment. “That’s too short term,” he said. “We could win the next game then lose in the semi-final. I am not a short-term manager, I enjoy building a club and making decisions that will affect the future. If someone else comes in and reaps the benefit of that work then fine, I will be the proudest man on earth.

“As a manager you have to do what is best for the club, not for yourself. I wouldn’t be involved in football if I didn’t have that mentality. The moment you start worrying about your own future you are not a good manager. A manager needs to be more concerned about his squad of players, allowing them to enjoy their football while giving them direction.

“If I was a new manager in the Premier League maybe I would be more worried, but I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve been managing for 10 years now, seven of them in the Premier League, I know what pressure is and I think I have the experience to deal with it.”

Martínez believes the positives outweigh the negatives over his three years at Goodison – some supporters would argue differently – and says he is optimistic about the future. “When I look at the players I have to work with I can only be excited,” he said.

“This is not a group that has reached its level or hit a ceiling – it still has room for growth. Over the last two and a half years we have sold and invested really well and ended with a squad with the potential to get somewhere special. We have had a certain amount of trauma and pain, that is true, but the process is there. Improvement has to be over the long term and it is not going to happen overnight.

“I understand it is hard to defend a manager and a team that lost 3-2 in their last match in the space of 12 minutes but I would hope people can look beyond that and see progress is being made. We beat Manchester City in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final, for instance, and that is really good experience to take with us into the game against Chelsea. The FA Cup is an incredible tournament and our sole focus now is to try to reach Wembley.”