Osman: Martinez had to leave Everton

Cape Town - Leon Osman says that Everton made the right decision to sack Roberto Martinez and praised the club for appointing Ronald Koeman in his place.

The Toffees' home form during the 2015/16 season was very poor, resulting in a disappointing 11th-place finish, their lowest in ten years.

Despite manager Martinez managing to take his side to both the League and FA Cup semi-finals, their league performance simply wasn't good enough for him to retain his job.

And Osman, who recently signed a new one-year contract with the Merseyside club, expressed his support for the decision.

"(Under Roberto) it was pleasant, it was good," he told BBC Merseyside. "There was always a good atmosphere, and we always enjoyed coming training."

"That first season was fantastic, when the feeling was good and we were winning games, but we lost our way a bit in the next two seasons.

"It was disappointing, and the way things developed was probably right. We needed to look for a new manager and that's what we did," the 31-year-old added.

How does he feel about Koeman taking over from Martinez?

"It's a good appointment," Osman said. "If I was picking (the new manager) myself, I'd want a guy with Premier League experience. He's done a good job at Southampton, and he'd have been near the top of the list."

"Time will tell, but he looks like he has all the attributes to succeed. If this was his first job in management, you'd have the utmost respect for him due to his playing career. But he's done well as a manager too.

"The players will have a lot of respect for him, and from what it looks, it'll be a good appointment." Osman added.