IT’S BATTLER RAFA
TOFFEES BOSS A SWEET FIGHTING MAN
RAFA BENITEZ vowed that his Everton teams will always show fight after kicking off the season with a comeback win over Southampton. Trailing at half-time through an Adam Armstrong goal, the Toffees roared back to seal victory thanks to strikes from Richarlison, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Dominic Calvert-lewin.
Benitez played down his own role in that success, insisting: “It’s nothing to do with me, it’s more about the players and the fans.
“After so many months without fans, I think the players appreciate their support – and the fans appreciate the commitment of the players.
“And the manager? The majority of them know I like to fight, I like to compete. I did it today and I will do it in all my time here.’’
A sweet start for Benitez looked far off when Che Adams, capitalising on hesitancy from Michael Keane to pinch the ball, played in Armstrong for an unerring finish into the top corner.
Saints could have added a second before the break but after the restart Everton looked a changed team.
The equaliser came after Saints thought they had done enough to clear a corner.androstownsend headed the ball back into the danger zone, where Richarlison had a close-range finish.
That goal inevitably changed the mood for the better, restoring Goodison Park’s noise levels to the highs of the opening exchanges.
It still required the intervention of a substitute to make it pay, though, with Alex Iwobi laying the ball off to Doucoure for a powerful finish into the top corner.then a reinvigorated
Everton wrapped it up five minutes later, Calvert-lewin stooping low to head in Richarlison’s low cross despite Alex Mccarthy getting a hand to it.
Benitez added: “At half-time we changed the position of the centrebacks and the position of Richarlison and Demarai Gray.
“These changes plus the support of the fans, pushing the players, gave us the intensity that we were looking for in the first half.”
Unsurprisingly, Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl was left lamenting his side’s second-half collapse.
He said: “It’s very disappointing because we had a really good start to this game.
“How we concede the goal is too easy and then everything is lively here in the stadium with a full crowd.”