Everton boss Roberto Martinez has praised the character of Ross Barkley as the driving force behind his improvement this season.
The 21-year-old struggled to impose himself in the midfield in the last campaign as the Toffees had an underwhelming season when they found life difficult to balance their commitments in their Premier League and Europa League.
However, Barkley notched two goals in his side's first two matches of the season and opened his account for England in their win over San Marino earlier this month.
Martinez told reporters: "Football is a team sport and last season was a disappointment for us in the league. We started with a real good feel-good factor and great expectations, but we never reached those.
"Now as a young player, you've got a choice. You can say it's the team's fault or you can change the team's performance by improving. That was the attitude of Ross, which is very rare in football.
"He openly said he was not performing as well as he should be. When you have a young player with that incredible attitude, that's when you see a difference. The difference between last season and this one is down to his choice as an individual to take responsibility and say what could he do to make the team better."
Everton next face Swansea City in the Premier League later today.
Simon Sinclair
