There’s not much you can hide from Roberto Martinez if he is your manager. The Spaniard with the amiable manner is a coach of rigour and detail.
He’ll personally inspect hotels his team are scheduled to stay at, well ahead of their arriving there. He has on his laptop state-of-the-art technology full of live scouting reports from across the world on how his players are performing, or running, or resting.
Martinez, formerly of Swansea City, Wigan Athletic and Everton, brought the intensive, 24/7 approach of a club manager to his work with the Belgian national team between 2016 and 2022 and now does the same with Portugal.
He may only gather his first-team squad together for isolated periods but his scrutiny and planning seldom ebbs. Fair to report that after seven months in charge of a national squad with huge potential if you add up the sum of its gifted parts, Martinez has made quite the impact.