Kevin Mirallas' January 2015 Form Leaves Much to Be Desired
The mental side of football is often overlooked. We expect the players we watch every Saturday afternoon, Sunday lunchtime, Monday evening and throughout midweek to be immune to pressures of the mind.
They’re in an incredibly privileged position, these young men. They are representing our clubs, our cities, our fans, us. Why would they ever think that life could be better elsewhere?
Yet as we know from countless examples down the years, things don’t always work out like that and footballers’ heads can be turned. The important thing is just what happens after those neck muscles have been strained.
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They could—like Luis Suarez after his now scarcely believable switch to Arsenal was blocked by Liverpool in the summer of 2013—respond by producing the best football of their career, dragging his current club upwards and earning an even better move off the back of it. Or they could do what Kevin Mirallas is doing at Everton.
An apparent transfer target for Tottenham, according to Anthony Chapman in the Daily Express—a report which also credits Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund with an interest in the winger—Mirallas has decided to put contract talks with his current club on hold until the summer, according to David Anderson in the Mirror.
By then the 27-year-old Belgian will have entered the final year of his deal, thereby making him more attractive to potential suitors, and as plenty of Everton supporters currently believe, it is those suitors that Mirallas currently has a lot more intention to play for than the club which pays his wages. This has been evidenced by his displays in January.
By no means was he biggest flop in world football in the month—that would be more than a little harsh. There are worse footballers than the dynamic winger with an eye for goal, but it is impossible to deny that Mirallas has fallen below his high standards during the month, as indeed have Everton as Roberto Martinez has been forced to admit they are in a relegation battle, as per Andy Hunter in The Guardian.
Kevin Mirallas' January
| Opponent | Minutes Played/Notable incidents |
| Hull City - Jan 1 | 45 - Substituted at half-time |
| West Ham - Jan 6 | 65 - Substituted |
| Man City - Jan 10 | 13 - Came off the bench |
| West Ham - Jan 13 | 53 (inc. extra-time) - Scores free-kick |
| West Brom - Jan 19 | 45 - Misses penalty, substituted at half-time |
| Crystal Palace - Jan 31 | 68 - Substituted |
The Blues managed a crucial win on the final day of January at Crystal Palace, but before that they’d gone winless in eight games, five of those last month as they exited the FA Cup at the first hurdle.
At a time when Martinez has needed his big players—most of whom were there for his impressive first season—to stand up, Mirallas has been poor. He failed to complete 90 minutes and was taken off at half-time twice in the month—once in the dismal New Year’s Day defeat to an equally dismal Hull City, then more infamously against West Bromwich Albion.
The focus after that game was understandably on the Belgian’s decision to snatch penalty-taking duties from Leighton Baines, only to promptly miss his spot-kick and ultimately cost his side two points in a goalless draw.
But even had Mirallas scored the penalty, and even had Everton won the game, the real story was of a man who seemed not to care about the club any more. His heart simply doesn’t seem in it, and while that is bad enough at any club, it seems somehow worse at Everton—a club who pride themselves on their fighting spirit and proud traditions.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by Mirallas’ downturn in form, though, as he seems to work in two-year cycles.
After breaking through at Lille, he moved to Saint-Etienne in 2008. He stayed there for two years before moving to Olympiakos and was then there for two years before moving on to Everton, where he’s played for two-and-a-half years. He might just get bored easily.
If this is indeed the way his Blues career is ending, then it is a sad one for a player who has embodied a lot of just what is good about the club during his time at Goodison, but if his head can’t be turned the right way around again, then perhaps a parting of the ways is the best thing for all parties.
Mirallas did still produce a flash of inspiration during his month to forget—the fine free-kick in the FA Cup replay at West Ham which took the match to extra-time—but if anything, that only heightened the frustration that Everton fans are feeling with him right now.
He’s a very good player on his day, it’s just that barely any of those days came during January 2015, and it would be a surprise if any came beyond the end of the season in May.
