Everton manager Marco Silva has revealed that he gave the stark instuctions of being “a different team” to his players ahead of the second half against Fulham on Saturday.
After a goalless first half the Toffees ran out 3-0 winners in the second period, and Silva has now lifted the lid on what he said to inspire his team.
“I told them we have to be more aggressive and without the ball, we have to be a different team and we knew what we had to do,” he said to Sky Sports.
“In the second half, I told them we had to be more aggressive and play with more calm during some moments. They did that and I think a good example is when we missed the penalty, Gylfi and the squad, they reacted to win balls in our offensive part of the pitch.”
The result leaves Everton sitting in 11th on nine points, a point and a place behind Manchester United, while at least two points ahead of the rest of the chasing pack in the bottom half of the table.
OPINION
Everton were certainly more aggressive in the second half so it appears that Silva’s words had an impact on his players. Gylfi Sigurdsson in particular looked much more threatening after the break, and he got his just rewards with a pair of goals. He could have had a hat trick, of course, but he missed the penalty won by Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The second half performance seemed more of what fans expected the Toffees look like under Silva. The former Watford chief is known as an attack-minded coach, and once Everton started playing more aggressively in the second half you could see his philosophy in action. There are still improvements to be made, but the assured displays of the likes of Jonjoe Kenny and Michael Keane at the back – not to mention striker Cenk Tosun off the bench – give the Goodison Park faithful some hope that the team are moving in the right direction under their new manager.