Koeman very calm despite languid performance

If you were expecting Ronald Koeman to have given the Everton players the patented Sir Alex Ferguson ‘hairdryer treatment’ down 2-0 at the half, you will be disappointed.

It turns out he very calmly explained to the players what they needed to do, which they promptly forgot as they stepped out of the changing rooms for the second half and immediately conceded a third.

Speaking to evertontv after the game, midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin said -

“Tottenham were better than us on the day. We are not going to hide or find excuses, we just have to admit that they were better than us on the day.

“We started well but the goal gave us a bit of a slap. But then we can’t drop the intensity and quality of our play like we did. It’s difficult when you go 2-0 down, but you’re still in the game. Then to concede the third so soon into the second half, it’s difficult on confidence.

“We have to use this game and learn from it. It’s only the fourth game of the season. Obviously, we have a very hard start to the season. We will learn from it as quickly as possible.

“As we said in the changing room afterwards, it’s not one defeat that can change our season. We just have to learn from it and show that we can bounce back in the next game.”

With the first Europa League group stage upcoming on Thursday away at Italians Atalanta, the Blues will need to fix whatever issues plagued them yesterday quickly.

“The manager is someone who is very calm when he analyses things. He analysed things very well at half-time, explaining the mistakes we had made and trying to change things for the better. But at the end of the game, of course, he told us we needed to be more aggressive and show more on the ball.

“We are all football players and most of us are experienced, so we also know ourselves when we were bad and where we need to improve.

“We will have a meeting on Monday, after the manager has had time to analyse the game and we as players have had time to reflect on it.”