After going 1,100 minutes of competitive football without a goal for Everton, Lukaku ended his drought in ruthless fashion as he bagged an 11-minute hat-trick at the Stadium of Light. “I think it was all about fitness levels”, he said.
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“The start is very good but it is only after four matches”.
Lukaku then went agonisingly close to adding a second just three minutes later, but was denied by the post after being teed up by the impressive Gueye once again.
Deulofeu himself, meanwhile, came off the bench to provide the movement and direct running that proved to be the difference between a patchy and often staid performance before half time and a wholly more energetic one in the second half, thereby underscoring the depth in Koeman’s squad when it comes to potential difference-makers.
And Koeman, whose decision to take off the ineffective Ross Barkley for Gerard Deulofeu paid dividends when the Spaniard helped set up the first goal, admitted that he made his feelings about the first 45 minutes quite clear to his players.
Koeman also targeted European football for next season after the Toffees climbed level on 10 points with second-placed Chelsea.
Everton striker Romelu Lukaku insists that he is “back in business” after scoring a hat-trick against Sunderland last night.
The Belgium global later admitted he needed to be more clinical in front of goal, and his manager was happy with the player’s self-awareness.
“We showed that today in the second half – but if we play like the first, I think we will be in 13th or 14th place”.
Everton continue their Premier League campaign next weekend with a home tie against Middlesbrough on Saturday.
We didn’t stop crosses, we weren’t in the right positions to defend and they should be simple things to do that we didn’t do well enough.
“Physically, I needed one more week [before the worldwide break] but I’m happy”, Lukaku told evertontv.
“I know it’s always hard for the manager because he was not selected for the national team and you take the player off after 45 minutes”.
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LONDON (AFP-Jiji) – Manchester United became the first British soccer club to earn more than half a billion pounds in a single year after announcing Monday total revenue of £515.3 million ($683.5 million) for the year ending June 30, 2016.
