Koeman: Everton need to keep Lukaku
the reception offered to Romelu Lukaku, who announced last week that he would not be signing a new Everton contract and, yet, he noted that for Everton to become a contender for trophies, individuals such as Lukaku must be retained.
“He will do everything for the club until his contract is ended and nobody knows what will happen,” Koeman said. “We like to keep our best players because we need them to make the next step.”
Everton will probably go to Anfield – and maybe to Old Trafford – without Morgan Schneiderlin due to a calf injury that led to his early withdrawal against Hull.
Without Schneiderlin, Everton’s team did not seem balanced and, as Koeman pointed out, it contributed to several of his players “running too much”, which meant they were chasing the ball and not in control.
After Dominic Calvert-Lewin had given Everton the lead, the visitors were pushing for an equaliser when Tom Huddlestone was sent off with 17 minutes to go and, with the extra space, Everton’s victory became emphatic. Enner Valencia scored within 90 seconds of his introduction and Lukaku added two more.
Hull manager Marco Silva will look at video evidence before deciding if to appeal against Huddlestone’s dismissal for a tackle on Idrissa Gueye.
He was right that Hull “competed for 70 minutes against a very good team and controlled some moments of the game”.