Everton 'personalities' can make a difference says Ronald Koeman
Saturday 29 October 2016 12:30, UK
Everton manager Ronald Koeman wants the "personalities" in his side to make an impact when they host West Ham at Goodison Park on Sunday.
The Toffees made an excellent start in the Premier League this season as they followed up an opening home draw with Tottenham by winning their next four games.
But they have failed to take maximum points in any of the four fixtures since then and Koeman, who left Southampton to take over at Goodison Park in June, knows a swift improvement in results is needed.
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"Of course, we know if you don't win in your last four in the Premier League, then every time you come more close to a must-win game. We need to turn it around," the Dutchman said.
"It happened also at Southampton - it is not always sunny. You don't win always. You get in difficult, tough times and then, really, you need to support each other. That's important.
"If everything goes well it's easy to come in the team and play. But we need now really the personalities to turn it around. And I think we have enough personalities in the team."
Everton, who went into the weekend in sixth place in the table, have conceded eight goals and scored 13 in their nine games so far.
They have scored only three in the last four, and Koeman wants to see them develop more of a cutting edge in attack, with Romelu Lukaku, who has netted six goals, receiving more support.
"Overall I am happy about the defensive organisation in the team, but not our offensive aspect," Koeman said.
"We need to improve and be more clinical. We need to have more productivity. It's a big difference between Romelu and the rest in scoring goals and we need to make that better."
Koeman is confident Sunday will yield a "good" result against a West Ham side - 15th at the start of the weekend - who have won their last two league games.
"What I have learned is if you are in a tough time, stay calm and do your job," he said.
"I believe in the way we do our job at Everton and results will come.
"We need to be prepared for the next match and it is a difficult one, but we play at home and I'm really confident in a good result."
Sunday's contest will be Everton's first home match since the one-year anniversary of the death of their most successful manager, Howard Kendall, and the club will pay tribute to him at the game.
Having won the league with the Toffees once as a player, Kendall then did it twice as boss, during a spell in which he also guided them to an FA Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup triumph.
And Koeman said: "It is really nice to see how Everton and the fans give a lot of attention to him, because he deserved that.
"Although you can't compare what happened in the past, what I can say is that I hope one day I [could] be so successful as he was as a manager - but that will be very difficult."
