Friday, 17th October, 2014
Everton manager Roberto Martinez has poured praise on forward Steven Naismith ahead of his side’s Premier League clash against Aston Villa on Saturday.
The Scotland international, who has already scored four league goals in the current campaign, has also been in fine form for his nation in the 2016 European Championship qualifiers.
Naismith can play in a number of different positions for the sake of his team, and Martinez feels it is one of the biggest qualities of the 28-year-old.
However the Spaniard, who also lauded Naismith’s goalscoring prowess, believes the former Rangers player still has scope for improvement.
"I think you see in the way he plays that he can be deployed in different positions”, Martinez told his club’s official site.
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“You saw in Scotland's game against Georgia [last Saturday] that the role he had was very different to the one he had against Poland.
"I think it comes down to his footballing intelligence. You don't get many players like Steven who can take information and concepts in and adjust the way he plays for the benefit of the team.
"Then he has that incredible knack of scoring good goals and that appreciation of space. I think the moment of form he has been in for the last 16 months has been very impressive.
"But I still think that there is room for him to carry on improving and carry on being important whenever he plays for Everton or Scotland."
Naismith, whose present contract with Everton runs until the summer of 2016, has thus far made 79 appearances in all competitions for the club, scoring 17 times.
He also has 32 caps and four goals for Scotland to his name.
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