Journalist Joe Thomas has claimed that within the dressing room, Everton’s squad have valued their trip to Australia and felt it was necessary.
Everton travelled to Australia for a mid-season break which saw them play a few friendlies and have some time to recharge their batteries ahead of the second half of the season.
The trip may well have been snarled at by some Everton fans given the club had lost three games in a row before the winter break, although Thomas, who went along to their mid-season tour, has claimed that the players had felt the benefits.
Thomas revealed on the Royal Blue podcast many people within the Everton dressing room appreciated the trip and saw it as something they all needed to get back on track.
“Within the camp itself, I think there was a degree of – and I say this within the dressing room and Frank Lampard and some of the players – I think there was a sense of it was a good time for a break and a good time to kind of take a step back, and just reflect on where things might have been going wrong for the last few weeks.
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“A degree of hope that it presented an opportunity to kind of carry on working on some of those areas, Everton had a weakened side, but if you take Dominic Calvert-Lewin out of it, they did have what is essentially their first-choice attack out there – Neal Maupay, Anthony Gordon, Demarai Gray and Dwight McNeil – this was an opportunity for them to keep working together, try to figure themselves out.”
TIF Thoughts on Everton’s current situation…
It’s no surprise that the Everton players and staff thought a trip to Australia in the middle of winter has benefited them, and now fans will be wanting to see action on the pitch.
But if the Everton players serve up more shocking performances than they did before the break, questions will only get louder over what was the point of the trip away.
Therefore, the time for talking has to stop now and Everton players have to perform on the pitch by picking up results – or they could well face a nervy battle to fend off the threat of relegation once again.