The problems are all in our head, fumes De Zerbi

ROBERTO DE ZERBI accused his Brighton players of being mentally weak as he held an angry post-match dressingroom inquest.

Everton started the day as the lowest scorers of all the Premier League and EFL’s 92 clubs but ended it having scored five goals from counter-attacks. That lifted Sean Dyche’s team out of the bottom three, but bruised Brighton’s push for Europe under De Zerbi. Everton’s Neal Maupay waited more than half an hour after full time to see old Brighton team-mates but they were still locked in with De Zerbi. Speaking afterwards, the Italian did not hold back as he said: ‘We didn’t forget the victory against Manchester United. The biggest quality of the big team is to forget when you win. ‘You have to be ready to play every game, every day, and we arrived at the stadium late — in the second half.’

Brighton beat United 1-0 at the Amex on Thursday but found themselves trailing 3-0 at half-time to Everton, and they face Arsenal next.

‘If you watched the game with Manchester United, and if you watched this game, you can watch two completely different teams,’ De Zerbi added. ‘What is the problem? The problem, maybe, is in your head.’

Everton face Manchester City next and this was a good day for Dyche. His son, Max, won promotion from League Two with Northampton.

‘The feelgood factor is very important,’ said Dyche. ‘But I said to them, “Lads, it’s only another step”. We’ve made another step, but there are three more big steps we need to make.’

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford added: ‘We still have three cup finals and we have to keep going.

‘We have to keep believing and focus on Everton, not what is around us.’