Koeman frustrated by dismal Toffees
Everton boss Ronald Koeman could not hide his disappointment following another dismal display in last night’s 3-0 Europa League defeat to Atalanta.
The Toffees went into the match on the back of a 3-0 home loss to Tottenham and with Koeman stressing they would “need to react” in Italy.
But they were abject once again, with their sloppiness punished by a dynamic Atalanta side who scored three times in the first half through Andrea Masiello, captain Alejandro Gomez and Bryan Cristante, beating Maarten Stekelenburg, who replaced ex-Sunderland star Jordan Pickford in goal.
“A lot went wrong, except maybe after a difficult start , maybe 10 minutes that we had a little bit more of the ball and looked a bit more comfortable,” Koeman said.
“Ball possession was poor, but most painful was in the first half that they showed more aggression, that they showed more passion and that’s really painful because in my opinion it starts with that and then you need qualities on the ball.
“It’ s a good question to the manager, because I asked myself the question ‘what am I doing wrong?’ about the second half against Tottenham, and the first half, because it’s the way I like to see my team.
“We can play better football, missing chances to score, but the commitment, the passion that they showed to us in the first half was much bigger than we showed together.”
A trip to Manchester United on Sunday continues Everton’s tough start to the season, but Koeman added: “We knew from the beginning of July that the start of the season was really tough.
“Okay, we need to accept it, but that’s not the problem. The problem is what we showed in the first half together.”