Michael Ball tells Everton how to turn their season around
Michael Ball has told Everton how they need to approach games in order to turn their season around and get fans back on side.
The Toffees have won just once in their last 11 games in the Premier League in a run of form that has seen them just eight points above the relegation zone ahead of Burnley, who have two games in hand on them.
But the shining light performance in that run came in a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge earlier this month.
Benitez was forced to play a young team after his side was decimated by injuries and COVID-19, but they battled and fought for a late equaliser against the European champions.
According to former defender Michael Ball in his Liverpool Echo column, that is the spirit and sort of performance Everton need more of to turn their season around.
“We’ve seen our performances being slow and sloppy and lethargic at times,” he said.
“I think when we’re under the cosh, that’s when we’re at our best. When we are the underdogs and we need to fight for each other that’s when you see the best of Everton.
“The manager said after the game that we’ve got to be together – as a club and a fanbase – but the players can also see that if they don’t do their job they cannot help their teammate out.
“I took a lot of positives from the second-half against Chelsea, that the players worked hard for each other and they left it all out there under difficult circumstances.
“But they should be like that every game. That’s the way forward and that should be happening week in, week out.”
Spirit
The spirit of the club and the fans is something that has always been lauded at Goodison Park and it’s something these players need to channel to succeed.
They’ve been under immense pressure recently, with the manager getting the brunt of it, but they’ve come out of it on the other side and it’s now time to get results again.
When they take on Newcastle this week it’ll be a must-win game. They’re the better team on paper, with a better coach on paper and they’ll have home advantage too.
If the fans are bouncing early on, that will lift the players and a good performance can be expected with players beginning to return from injuries.
They can use that Chelsea performance as a base, and now look to push off to claim a victory and start their ascent back up the Premier League table.
In other Everton news, striker could miss the rest of the season with ‘disaster’ injury.