We counter-attacked quite quickly. We didn’t always pick the right pass.
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He said: “We’ve got to go again for the fans because that wasn’t good enough in that second half today”. Duncan [Watmore] was a threat. You have to give Everton credit, they picked people out with a couple of really good balls.
The players showed the level they can be at and that was in the second half. “If we exploit the spaces on the pitch, we can do a lot of good things”.
Only the second half.
“We were poor in the first half and I was not happy”.
Everton launched an £18m bid to sign him with the offer eventually rejected by boss David Moyes. He didn’t have to work too hard for his goals.
“I think it was all about fitness levels”, Lukaku said.
“We didn’t stop the crosses, didn’t defend the crosses”.
“We’ve started from scratch, we’ve got to be crystal clear on the fundamentals again and be crystal clear on what we want to achieve”.
The home side’s misery was complete in the 71st when Lukaku helped himself to a third after Kevin Mirallas had played him through on Pickford. It is unbelievable how good he can be. “Our goal is to repeat what we did in the first chunk [of the season], and if we do that, we’ll be in a good position”. “It was a great performance”. “But that’s no excuse – when you’re in the big league, you’ve got to step up to it”.
“I was really disappointed about our first 45 minutes”, admitted Koeman.
Lynden Gooch nearly caught Everton keeper Maarten Stekelenburg napping with a curling effort which might have crept under his crossbar had he not got his fingertips to it five minutes before the break, but Bolasie smashed a rising drive just over on the stroke of half-time. “We need to fight for European football and the players showed the level they can be at”.
“That is a realistic target.
Physically I needed one more week [before the global break] but I’m happy, I’ve got the goals flowing now”, Lukaku told Everton TV.
“But we’re training every day with them, so we’re trying to explain to them how to adapt, how to play, and they’re taking it very well”.
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The Toffees made a bid of £18million for Kone earlier in the summer transfer window, but Sunderland were determined not to lose one of their best players.
