Everton suffered a heavy defeat on Thursday night.
Ronald Koeman’s side played Atalanta away in the Europa League, and fell to a 3-0 loss to the Italian side. The only positive from the game is that Everton are unlikely to play this poorly again for the remainder of the season. They were abject, putting in a disjointed and passive performance. They also looked a lesser team than the one that finished seventh last year, despite spending £150m on their squad during the summer.
Everton have now lost three games in a row, and next up is Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday.
The fixture list hasn’t been kind to the Toffees, so their form could pick up in weeks to come. However, Everton fans will be concerned about the team’s lack of pace in the final third and the absence of a proven striker to lead the line. They have had just four shots on target in their last three games.
Ronald Koeman isn’t hiding from criticism. Following the loss to Atalanta, the Everton manager took the blame for the poor result and performance.
“Our ball position was poor but most painful was in the first half – they showed more aggression, they showed more passion. That’s really painful because it starts with that and then you need quality on the ball. I asked myself questions on what I was doing wrong against Tottenham, because it’s not how I like to see my team. We can play bad football, we can miss chances, but the commitment and passion Atalanta showed in first half was much bigger than we showed. This is not the time or place to criticise players, I need to criticise myself because the team was not prepared for this tonight.”
Koeman is also one of the few Premier League managers with an active Twitter account, and he regularly tweets to his 1.14m followers.
The former Barcelona defender posted a tweet on Thursday night, following the 3-0 loss, saying his team lacked the “right attitude” and urged everyone associated with Everton to stick together.
Very disappointed match! A really poor first half in all aspects, without the right attitude and… https://t.co/c0X9FZrNwG
— Ronald Koeman (@RonaldKoeman) September 14, 2017
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZCSmnxF9z5/
This is standard talk from a manager after a disappointing result, but Koeman at least fronted up in a way most managers would not. It’s also not the first time he has reflected on a poor result on Twitter, posting this after Everton lost 3-0 to Spurs last Saturday:
A very disappointed result today. Our start was not bad, but we lost control after the opening goal #Everton #EFC pic.twitter.com/VMqZWUqIyJ
— Ronald Koeman (@RonaldKoeman) September 9, 2017
However, Koeman also received a lot of backlash for his tweet on Thursday, which is, unfortunately, the sad reality of life on Twitter. Here are some of the kinder responses to the Everton manager’s tweet.
Im dissapointed that you played an 8-0-2 formation and made the Italian West Ham look like the Harlem fucking Globetrotters…
— David 1878 (@davidJB1878) September 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/daveybwavertree/status/908443109440270337
Your fault, sort it out
— owen 🚩 (@oas1878) September 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/shaun85smith/status/908437666559119361
Get it sorted. These performances are abject!! To say we weren't prepared is shocking! You are paid shit loads to prepare them.
— Tom (@Tom_Cagsey) September 14, 2017
Why were the team not prepared?
— 1878 Spzl (@SJM1878) September 14, 2017
Koeman out
— Snake Draft Dave FPL🏴 (@SnakeDraftDave) September 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/podefc/status/908437670644379648
💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩
— FinKitch (@FinKitch) September 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/TheEFCway/status/908450641906892800
Sorry Ronald, I just fail to see any structure, pattern or intention in the teams you're putting out this season.
— Mark Pendleton (@sunscreemer) September 14, 2017
And, as Phil Neville noted, some other responses weren’t as considered. Hopefully Ronald had his notifications turned off.
https://twitter.com/fizzer18/status/908437122805362693
Sorry Ronald, I just fail to see any structure, pattern or intention in the teams you're putting out this season.
— Mark Pendleton (@sunscreemer) September 14, 2017
