Everton manager Ronald Koeman rues lack of goals after another Premier League blank
Monday 8 May 2017 09:40, UK
Ronald Koeman rued a lack of goals from his Everton side after they failed to score for a third successive Premier League game.
It has been 11 years since the Toffees were unable to find the net in three back-to-back fixtures in the top flight as they lost 1-0 to Swansea on Saturday.
They had previously drawn 0-0 at West Ham and lost 3-0 at home to Chelsea, and did not produce much of a reply to Fernando Llorente's first half header.
It was the barren spell in front of goal that Koeman was critical of following the match, although he did praise other aspects of the team's performance.
"If we have a problem in the last few games it is our productivity in front of goal," he said. "We have not scored for the last three games and only had four or five shots on target.
"We know what we need to improve, to be stronger because the organisation in the team is good. The team can play aggressively, but the difference between scoring goals at home and away from home is too big.
"It is difficult to say why. Maybe we are more confident at home, but we have found it difficult to create away."
The result saw Everton stay outside the top six - two points behind Arsenal in seventh - although Swansea did pull themselves out of the relegation places with the victory.
Although the Toffees produced an improved second-half display, Koeman says the fight their opponents showed was "normal" for a team battling for Premier League survival.
"It was not a disappointing performance," he added. "You are disappointed if the team doesn't show the right attitude, like West Ham away.
"We had a lot of ball possession, but in the last part of the game they fought for life in their defending. They showed good defending in stopping the crosses. We didn't stop the cross, and it cost us. That is normal with a team fighting relegation."
