Everton vs Swansea: Roberto Martinez says moaning about referees, as Garry Monk did, is pointless

Monk was furious with what he saw as a deliberate dive to win a penalty

Roberto Martinez remonstrates on the sideline during Everton's 3-2 defeat to Crystal Palace (Getty Images)

Everton boss Roberto Martinez has stressed in the wake of Swansea counterpart Garry Monk's recent comments on referees that there is no point moaning about decisions.

Martinez has also defended Professional Game Match Officials Limited general manager Mike Riley and the standard of refereeing in English football, describing it as "very strong".

Monk has made headlines of late with some forthright views on decisions against his team, most notably Michael Oliver's call to award Stoke a penalty when Victor Moses went to ground in the Swans' 2-1 Barclays Premier League defeat at the Britannia Stadium on October 19.

The Football Association has decided not to take any further action against Monk having asked him "for his observations" after he launched a post-match tirade against Oliver, Moses and Riley, who he is set to meet this week.

Monk was left fuming again on Tuesday by a red card for Swansea defender Federico Fernandez - which the Welsh club have subsequently appealed - in a 2-1 Capital One Cup loss at Liverpool, although he did say while complaining after the game: "What is the point?"

And when asked on Thursday if he thought moaning about referees' decisions got you anywhere, Martinez, whose side host Swansea in the Premier League on Saturday, said: "I think it makes you feel better, but I don't think it gets you anything at all.

"Football is a game of errors, and sometimes you get those errors in your favour or against you, and that is part of the game."

In his comments after the Stoke match, Monk accused Riley of "poor leadership".

But on his own experience of Riley, Martinez said: "Mike is always there to cope with any sort of enquiries and I've seen a real professional side from him."

The Spaniard - who both played alongside Monk and managed him at Swansea - added: "I've never, ever seen a team that always get bad decisions, or that always gets good ones.

"In general, everything levels up over the course of a season, and we are quite fortunate with our refereeing standards in our leagues - we shouldn't lose sight of that.

"I'm looking at other leagues around the world and they would love to have the standards we have here. I think the level of our refereeing system here is very strong."

Ninth-placed Everton go into Saturday's clash against sixth-placed Swansea with their season starting to come together results-wise after a shaky start to the campaign, and their veteran frontman Samuel Eto'o is in fine form.

The Toffees have lost just one of their last six games in all competitions, and last weekend's 3-1 win at Burnley made it back-to-back top-flight victories for the first time this term.

Eto'o scored twice in that match, has netted three times in his last four appearances and has a tally of four goals in total since joining the Merseysiders over the summer.

Fellow striker Romelu Lukaku - also a scorer against Burnley, and with four goals this season - has spoken of feeling "blessed" to be working with the 33-year-old Cameroonian.

And Martinez said of Eto'o: "To have Samuel at our football club is like a gift from the footballing gods.

"It is important we give him the right amount of playing time.

"But Samuel's performance on Sunday, and every role he has had so far, has been of a real high standard and I'm really excited to see how well he can adapt in the second half of the season.

"His experience and know-how have already been very important - in Europe, for example. But with the finishes against Burnley, it looked like the old good times of Samuel Eto'o."

Martinez said the knocks Lukaku sustained against Burnley and midfielder Darron Gibson picked up in training should not affect their availability for Saturday.

Winger Kevin Mirallas (hamstring) and defender John Stones (ankle) remain out of contention, while full-back Bryan Oviedo and forward Arouna Kone are set to play in a "practice" game next week as they continue to work their way towards first-team action.

PA