Barcelona defender Thomas Vermaelen backs his former boss Ronald Koeman to turn things around and succeed at Everton

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Barcelona defender Thomas Vermaelen has come out in support of his former boss Ronald Koeman and has backed him to turn things around at Everton.

The Dutchman has come under fire at Goodison Park recently after a series of weak performances, questionable team selections and poor results. 

Sunday's catastrophic 1-0 home defeat by Burnley left them hovering two points off the relegation zone and marked their fourth loss in seven Premier League games.

Ronald Koeman has been cirticised and is under pressure after Everton's poor start this season

The 54-year-old's woes have been heightened by the £140million he spent on seven additions this summer, including vanity signing Wayne Rooney and the arrivals of Michael Keane and Gylfi Sigurdsson.

Despite being under severe pressure, Everton's major shareholder Farhad Moshiri confirmed on Monday he has retained his 'total support' and indicated he will remain in charge for their trip to Brighton that follows the international break.

Moshiri cited injuries and a gruesome run of fixtures were more to blame than Koeman for Everton's toils.

And now Vermaelen too has come out to jump to his defence and urged the Everton fans to remain patient.

'He's shown at Southampton and Ajax that he's a great manager,' Vermaelen told Sky Sports News. 'He has the experience to turn it around for sure.' 

Everton are two points off the relegation zone and have won just two Premier League matches

Sunday's 1-0 home defeat by Burnley made matters worse as the pressure continues to mount

Koeman handed the 31-year-old his senior debut at Ajax over a decade ago and the pair came close to being reunited this summer. 

'I don't want to go into details,' he said, when probed about suggestions Everton had attempted to sign him on deadline day.

Despite only featuring 11 times for Barca since his move from Arsenal the Catalan giants were keen to retain his services and blocked a move away from the Nou Camp.

Koeman's woes have been heightened by the amount of money he spent on new acquisitions 

Despite this Everton's majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri said Koeman has his 'total support'

He added: 'Barcelona always said they didn't want to let me go. All big clubs need at least four centre-backs.

'They were happy with my pre-season and kept me.'

Koeman may wish that wasn't the case as his defensive pairing of Keane and Ashley Williams have looked rocky of late.

But it seems he will be given time to recuperate and work out how to change their fortunes over the international break. 

Everton will need to significantly improve by the time they return to Premier League action on Sunday October 15 against Brighton, for Koeman's sake.

And now Thomas Vermaelen is shown his support and is backing him to turn things around