Sunderland boss David Moyes said he “couldn’t believe” the standard of his side’s defending in their 3-0 Premier League defeat to Everton on Monday.
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The Black Cats remain without a Premier League win after the shocking second-half collapse to Everton, with Romelu Lukaku scoring an eleven minute hat-trick.
The Belgian worldwide had not scored a league goal in 13 matches covering more than 15 hours but said he should have scored more goals at the Stadium of Light as Everton posted their most impressive start to a season for 10 years. “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”.
“I think we will be one of the teams that will fight for European football”, Koeman said. “If we exploit the spaces on the pitch, we can do a lot of good things”.
“Up front we didn’t keep the ball and create enough”.
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Winger Yannick Bolasie, who joined the club from Crystal Palace in August, started out on the right hand side against Sunderland, but really thrived when he shifted over the left hand side at half time.
Moyes has no doubt about Lukaku’s quality, but admitted his players had made it easy for him. “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.
“There have been a couple of games where we’ve been right in it right at the end, but the minute we lost a goal tonight, we never looked like getting back into it”.
In comparison Lukaku has scored more goals than Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez, Wayne Rooney and Manchester United summer signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic achieved at the age of 23.
Ronald Koeman has praised his players for their reaction after half-time this evening as more of his decisive management paid dividends following a sluggish first-half performance.
Hat-trick hero Lukaku got all the goals thanks to a remarkable 11-minute second half blitz. I think the two goals Romelu scored with Belgium gave him a real boost, and it’s unbelievable how good he can be.
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“I know Rom, I’ve seen him play and I know what he wants as a striker so, for me, that’s flawless and ideal for me as a winger”.
