Ronald Koeman claimed his future as Everton manager should not be questioned despite his expensively assembled side suffering a fifth defeat in eight matches with the 1-0 home loss to Burnley.
Pressure and criticism is growing around Koeman at Everton after a series of weak performances, questionable team selections and poor results; the latest coming on Sunday when Jeff Hendrick’s goal gave Burnley their first win at Goodison Park since 1976.
Koeman dropped Wayne Rooney to the bench for the first time in the Premier League this season as he opted for the pace of the 19-year-old summer signing Nikola Vlasic and recalled Oumar Niasse in a two-man attack. However, it was only after the former England captain’s 63rd-minute introduction that Everton put Sean Dyche’s team under sustained pressure.
Everton spent almost £140m on seven additions to their first-team squad in the summer, albeit while failing to adequately replace Romelu Lukaku, yet Koeman denied the poor return on heavy investment should weaken his position. Asked whether he was still the right man for the Everton job, the Dutchman replied: “I don’t answer this type of question. That is not the business at this moment.” But he later argued that his players’ efforts showed he should not be sacked.
“It is always about the money,” he said. “It is so easy in this situation to speak about money. We have a lot of money and we invested some money. In my opinion it is all about the difference in spending on transfers. It is a negative. We signed a young goalkeeper, he’s doing well and he will improve. We signed young players and we have a lot of young players in the squad performing for Everton. That is the way we like to continue.
“Of course, we have to improve in winning games. I know that. It is not in my hands but I try to get the best out of the players. If there is no commitment and no aggression then that is maybe a reason to think about my future but I thank the players for their commitment today. I have experience and I know if you win that your life on a daily basis is different. If you lose, of course it is not nice. Now we have two weeks for an international break after a defeat like today. But that is life and you have to accept it. But you don’t accept sitting back and waiting. We will continue and I will try to do the best for my job. All the stuff and the other questions are not in my hands.”
Koeman insisted Rooney had taken his demotion professionally and accepted the tactical reasons for his move to the bench. “The reason was to change and to bring a second striker in,” he said of Rooney’s omission. “I had to make a decision about one or two midfield decisions as well. I opted for Gylfi [Sigurdsson] and I thought Nikola did well last Thursday on the ball and that was the reason not to start with Wayne.
“He was really positive. He is committed to the team and committed to every Evertonian. He showed that, he accepted it. I explained the situation, that we changed the style of play. Like every professional player he accepted it.”
The Everton manager received a show of support from his opposite number Dyche, who claimed the predicament at Goodison could change easily with the quality of players at Koeman’s disposal. “He is a very good manager at a very good club and has some very good players,” the Burnley manager said. “We all have tough times – and players have tough times – where you have ups and downs. Sometimes you have collective down times in the team and it goes away very quickly. If Everton turn up and get a win today it all looks very different. In the Premier League particularly one game can change perceptions very quickly.”