Unsworth tells Everton to act fast after yet more humiliation
David Unsworth called on the Everton board to end the uncertainty surrounding the vacant manager’s position after another humiliating defeat that intensified the growing sense of crisis enveloping the club.
This heavy defeat, Unsworth’s fifth since he took temporary charge following the dismissal of Ronald Koeman, leaves the side two points above the bottom three in the Premier League table, with the caretaker-manager admitting change is needed quickly, on and off the field.
Unsworth wants to do the job on a permanent basis, but with an approach for Watford’s Marco Silva having so far failed, Martin O’neill, the Republic of Ireland manager, is emerging as the leading candidate for the role.
“The club has to decide and the sooner that happens the better,” said Unsworth, who saw his side undone by two goals from Charlie Austin and a late Steven Davis effort after Everton’s Gylfi Sigurdsson had equalised Dusan Tadic’s opener. “The players need this resolving.”
Asked if he had been told of any progress in the search for a manager, he said: “I went up to see the board of directors before the game, as I always do when we come away. You are asking the wrong guy.”
He added: “It’s killing me. I take responsibility, but we all have to as well. We’re in a tough place and things have to change quickly. What I see is a happy squad, but I’d rather have an unhappy squad that’s winning.”
Everton have now conceded 28 goals, the worst in the division and the club’s worst defensive record after 13 games since 1958. The way they capitulated, three days after a 5-1 home defeat against Atalanta in the Europa League, confirmed the scale of the problems.
“If it needs players who are injured to come back or January to come and get new players, something has to change,” said Unsworth. “This group of players is underperforming. On the training field everything looks right, but when we go into a game situation, because confidence is low, we are conceding far too easy.”
Unsworth insists back-to-back home games against West Ham and Huddersfield offer a chance to halt the slide, but the players will have to discover more resilience.
Austin had grown frustrated at being left on the Southampton bench, but handed his first league start of the season he could not have wished for more accommodating opponents. His two secondhalf headers provided his first Premier League goals from open play for a year and he could have been celebrating a hat-trick had he made more of two early chances when he skied over before hitting the post moments later. “You could say I had a point to prove,” he said.
“It was all about biding my time. Today I got my reward, and more importantly we got the three points. The fans can get behind us now. I know they’ve been a bit worried – and so have we.”
Tadic had put them on course when he got behind Leighton Baines to meet Ryan Bertrand’s low ball after a sweeping break to beat Jordan Pickford.
Everton got back on level terms just before the break when Sigurdsson produced an outstanding long-range chip over Fraser Forster that crossed the line after striking the bar twice and a post.
Southampton, though, remained patient and were rewarded when Austin met Bertrand’s cross with a near-post header before offering a repeat from Tadic’s ball in.
Finally, Davis’s late effort in the 87th minute capped a painful afternoon for Unsworth.