Glasner: We have to get the momentum back
Speaking in his post-match press conference at Goodison Park, manager Oliver Glasner gave his assessment of the game and his approach to getting back to winning ways.
The Eagles took the lead early on at Goodison Park thanks to Marc Guéhi’s early goal from a set piece, but then came undone in the second-half with two great strikes from Dwight McNeil.
On the game itself, the manager said: “I think we controlled most of the first half, most minutes, and then we had a bad 15 minutes straight after the kick-off in the second half, where we lost the game in those 15 minutes.
“We lost the momentum. At the end of the first-half, I could hear the crowd a little bit booing, and they were not really pleased with the performance of the home team, but we gave the momentum to Everton straight after half-time with an easy goal.
“Our mistake. The long ball from Pickford, we knew it was always the same after a kick-off. Long ball, stupid foul on the corner, clear the free kick, lose the ball again, and then a great finish.
“Then they got the belief back, they got the momentum, and the second goal is again a second phase after a set play, wide free kick, we clear it, and we are not ready for the second ball.
“Then we lost the game, we tried everything, the players did everything until the end of the game, but we could see we got a little bit nervous then, we wanted to get the equaliser, but we didn't find the right spaces.
“Then they defended with everything they had, they celebrated every clearance in their own box. Within 15 minutes we lost the game today, really disappointing.”
Following his assessment of the game, the manager then went on to praise the first-half display and outlined what gave the side the initial dominance.
“Yes, [the idea was] to get them [Ebere Eze and Eddie Nketiah] in the pocket to turn and having the wing-backs high, creating a five against four and making runs.
“We had these situations many times in the first half, we were not that accurate in these passes to score more of it, but we had the lead after a set play, so we were dangerous in set plays as well.
“But you can't always score two, three or four goals to win a game, you need to be focused on the defending of the set plays. It was not like this, but when they have to get the equaliser, we will get our spaces and then decide the game for us, but when you don't even touch the ball and you concede the equaliser, the crowd back them, they get their confidence back, then it was an open game and one more set play decided the game for Everton.”
Reflecting on the tough start to the campaign so far, the manager gave his concluding remarks with a sense of optimism, saying: “Yes, we're not pleased having this start.
“I mentioned this before, but I think everybody forgot because of the last seven games at the end of the season, but we've been in the same situation seven rounds before the end of [last] season.
“So we don't want to be there, we're not happy to be there, we're not happy that we don't have a win, but we also can see the players investing a lot to score a goal, to play, to create situations, and even after [going 2-1 behind] we tried everything. The players played forward, but at the moment it's not going so easy.
“There are two different ways you can deal with the situation: blame the other ones, blame whoever, or - start with yourself changing something, and not bury your head in the sand. You roll your sleeves up and keep going, because mentality is great, character is great, we have to find [a way to] get the momentum back, and we will try it next week against Liverpool of course.”