IWOBI: WE’LL PROVE WE’RE UP FOR FIGHT
ALEX IWOBI has admitted that Frank Lampard was right to question whether his Everton players were ready for a relegation battle – and that it’s up to them to show him they are. Lampard turned on his team when they were hammered 4-0 by Crystal Palace in the FA Cup after winning just two of his first seven Premier League games at the helm.
He faces the club that launched him on a stellar playing career when the Merseysiders meetwest Ham in the London Stadium, fully entangled in a relegation scrap.
And the 25-year-old revealed the mood in the dressing room is stark. The midfielder said: “We know that sometimes we don’t give the fight we’re capable of giving.
“If we fight, we are capable of competing with anyone in the league. It’s not just the manager saying it – the players agree with his statement.
“It starts in training. If we’re all trying to fight and be the best that we can in training it transforms into matches. But even before Frank came we were saying we had to show more character.”
Iwobi lived in Plaistow after moving to East London with his family from Nigeria at the age of four and could have signed for
West Ham before joining Arsenal.
He moved to Goodison Park for £28million in the summer of 2019 but it has been a struggle.
Everton have parted company with Marco Silva, Carlo Ancelotti and Rafa Benitez in his time at the club.and with Duncan Ferguson having two spells as caretaker boss, it means he has now been managed by five different bosses.
Iwobi said: “It is difficult (when the manager is changed) but we’re professional players and we should have the mentality to cope.
“The one thing Seamus
Coleman is always telling us is that we’ve got to keep on fighting and giving 100 per cent.
“Whenever we’ve done that, it doesn’t matter which manager we fight under, we’ve normally been able to get results.
“We’ve got to keep giving
100 per cent – especially under Frank, who has been in the game himself – and we’ll be able to get results.
“As players, we know it isn’t down to the manager or fans. It’s down to us.”
A red card in the Africa
Cup of Nations meant
Iwobi missed the draw with Ghana that sent
Nigeria tumbling out of the World Cup in midweek.
But his last Premier
League outing saw him score only his seventh goal for Everton in the priceless 1-0 win over
Newcastle to spark scenes of pure joy inside
Goodison.
Iwobi added: “It was crazy, the scenes were amazing.
“I wish I could describe it but in the moment it was one of those feelings you wish never disappears.
“We want that atmosphere all the time so we need to keep working to make sure there are many more feelings like that.”