Silva demands more amid revival
Everton manager Marco Silva’s faith in his players and their capacity to improve has kept him level-headed despite a mixed bag of results this season.
Silva’s reign got off to a rocky start as the absence of several firstteam stars due to injury contributed to just one win in their opening six Premier League fixtures.
But as the treatment room has gradually emptied, Everton have experienced an upturn in fortunes and climbed the table by beating Fulham, Leicester City and Crystal Palace.
They will be eyeing a fourth successive topflight win at Manchester United today, yet Silva is not getting carried away by their recent purple patch.
“I don’t change too easy my focus if some results are not the best in one moment or if you achieve good results like we have achieved in the last three games,” Silva said. “I know what we are doing, I believe in our squad and our players. I can tell you not just because we’ve won the last three games everything is OK now because it is not.
“We have many things to improve on and we have the quality to improve these things, these small details we have to improve to get better every time.
“It is my ambition as a coach and the players know how we will be demanding every time to improve our squad.”
Everton may be high on confidence but they have won just once in the past 26 years at Old Trafford, while they have failed to beat United in the last seven attempts. Silva, though, is convinced Everton can increase the pressure on United manager Jose Mourinho.
“The record isn’t the best, but this reflects how it’s difficult to play there, how they are a good team as well,” Silva said. “What we have to do is to be ourselves, to respect the opponent because they have enough quality to cause problems for us.
“But you are there as well to create problems and to compete in the game. It is our goal as a team to go there and achieve a good result.”