Ashley Williams opens up on Everton troubles as he insists players are behind under-fire Ronald Koeman

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“Ask the question, it’s alright,” Ashley Williams replied, after it was suggested to him that he’d stood up for the Everton cause against Lyon. Williams’s evening had involved barging into Lyon’s goalkeeper, Anthony Lopes, before clouting midfielder, Lucas Tousart. It also involved scoring Everton’s equalising goal – though Everton still lost in the end.

In the previous months, Williams had suffered. His mistakes for Everton have resulted in opposition victories. He went off to play international football for Wales. His mistake there led to Republic of Ireland taking a lead and Wales were out of the World Cup.

“It has been tough, I am not going to lie,” Williams admitted. He described what happened with Wales as a “big hit.” On returning to Merseyside, Ronald Koeman tried to comfort him, asking how he was. “It was difficult because that was probably my last chance of a World Cup personally and I have missed out,” Williams said.

Koeman, Williams stressed, is a manager Everton’s players respect. “We all like him,” he insisted. If there is one person that has faced more criticism at Everton this season than Williams, it is Koeman, someone whose only protection from the sack at the present time might be the cost to let him go.

“It is difficult for him at the minute,” Williams said of Koeman. “He is sticking to what he knows and he keeps trying to do the right thing. He is onto us every day and he is pushing us as a team. We will keep working as hard as we can for him and it goes without saying that the players are fully behind him.”

Everton face Arsenal on Sunday at Goodison Park. Last season, this was a fixture where a late win – secured by a thunderous Williams header - gave Everton the confidence to save their season. They won seven of their next thirteen league games. “We battled, we worked hard, we scrapped for everything,” Williams remembered. “It wasn’t a pretty game at all, we didn’t play well, it was something we needed.”

Koeman outlined exactly what he would try and do to Arsenal after the Lyon defeat. “We need to play more direct,” he said. “We don’t have this confidence, we don’t have this quality at the moment.” Arsenal should know what is coming, then: exactly the type of football they struggle against, a theory supported last weekend by the comments of Troy Deeney, the Watford striker.

“Troy said what he had to say about Arsenal, but I am not too concerned about their fight,” Williams said. “So long as we fight that is the minimum we have to do at the minute. We have been showing fight and especially tonight you saw the response from the crowd. They were fully behind us and that is the kind of thing we have to show them, show ourselves and show everyone really. That is the baseline. The fight is the base and if you play well after that, perfect.”