“We’re in a good position in the league and we have to keep going”.
Advertisement
“That’s how I think about football”. “I have to be more of a serial killer for the team to achieve their objective”.
For Everton, it was a missed opportunity to close the gap on the top four, and one which David Moyes was left to rue in the wake of the result.
“The start in the Premier League is good – 10 points from four games – but we need to continue and we need to prepare for the next game on Saturday against Middlesbrough because maybe that will be more tough and more hard than it was in the second half tonight”.
“Come the second half Everton were in the game a lot more and we made some basic defending errors and they cost us”.
The Toffees’ top-flight rivals – Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City and Burnley – all agreed to stump up the £6,500 cost per head for the flight for their players, as they had league games on Saturday.
“I am pleased with the hat-trick because that gives the player, but also the rest of the team, a really big boost for this Saturday”.
The Belgian frontman, though, might have done better than heading it straight at young Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, the England Under-21 global still reacting brilliantly to tip the thunderbolt header over the bar. Martinez’s predecessor made just one change to the side that beat Stoke City before the global break, with fit-again Seamus Coleman replacing Mason Holgate at right-back.
For opposite number David Moyes, it was a sobering evening as he saw Sunderland extend their run without a league victory in August or September to 23 games dating back to 2012.
A 3-0 win in the corresponding fixture on 11 May secured Sunderland’s Premier League safety.
The Irish international’s cross shot sneaked across goal and although Lukaku got an outstretched boot to it it wasn’t enough to direct it into the net, the ball trickling wide of the post.
Pickford denied Bolasie a fourth but Everton’s visiting fans were in full voice – some of them targeting Moyes with chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” – as their side took revenge for a 3-0 reverse on the same ground last season and moved into third in the table.
Advertisement
Romelu Lukaku drew the first save of the match from Sunderland’s Jordan Pickford, whose lightning quick reflexes helped push the Belgian’s header over the bar following Yannick Bolasie’s cross, earning rapturous applause from the Sunderland faithful.
