Melting Toffees
The heat on Koeman as Everton slide continues
LONDON: Until the 83rd minute at Old Trafford Ronald Koeman must have thought his Everton side had turned an important corner, before a late capitulation left them in the English Premier League relegation zone.
Everton were trailing 1-0 to Antonio Valencia’s early stunner but playing well and threatening an equaliser.
Then Ashley Williams gifted United a second goal scored by Henrikh Mkhitaryan and the floor gave way on Everton.
To rub salt into the wounds, Romelu Lukaku, who joined United from Everton in July, made it 3-0, appearing to enjoy kicking his old side when they were down.
Anthony Martial’s injury-time penalty completed the rout, meaning Everton have conceded 10 goals without scoring in eight days.
They have lost their last four games and have not won since beating Hajduk Split in the Europa League on Aug 17.
Few would have expected Koeman’s name to feature highly on the “managers at risk” list after the club’s spending spree in the close season which saw players such as Gylfi Sigurdsson, Davy Klaassen and Michael Keane arrive for big fees.
Now, tomorrow’s League Cup clash at home to second-tier Sunderland takes on huge importance with bookmakers William Hill making Koeman second favourite to be the next manager sacked.
“After today we have four home games and we have to win, otherwise we’ll have problems,” the Dutchman said.
Everton, who in mitigation have played Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United already in the league, slipped below West Ham on goal difference to 18th spot.
Their next league games are at home to struggling Bourne- mouth and seventh placed Burnley.
Koeman said his side were “afraid” and lacking confidence in the early stages at Old Trafford but that he was encouraged by the way they responded, especially after a dreadful Europa League display away in Italy to Atalanta on Thursday.
“We grew in the game and in confidence and not many teams will get two big chances like we got today. We didn’t score the goal and after a personal mistake it was 2-0,” he said.
“From what I saw today from the team it made me happy.” — Reuters