Frank, your reflections on a dramatic afternoon here at Goodison…
Yeah, it was dramatic. It was a good finish from being one nil down to come back and get
a draw. We pushed for the win but it didn’t quite come for us. Generally in the game,
we had 19 shots, good opportunities and should’ve scored more goals to win the game.
You have been involved in quite a few of those moments since you got here, what does it say
about their resilience in the team and the connection you have got with the fans here?
Yeah, yeah. There is resilience and spirit. And to be fair to the players in the first three games
the performances have been pretty good. It is easy to lose confidence when things don’t go your way
when you don’t take your chances or if they get a goal off a rebound, but the players stuck with it
and so did the fans. Everyone was a bit nervy - the goal changed that - but you can see the
power of unification when we got to the last five minutes and everyone was pushing for that goal.
The players ran and showed that energy - it is the sort of thing we need to get for 90 minutes.
That is the responsibility of all of us. We saw that at the end. We’ll take the point
but again it is another game we could’ve got more from.
In terms of Demarai’s goal, what would you say
about the composure he showed and his performance in general today?
Really good. Demarai was against a back five which is committed to defending in numbers,
you need players who can open the game up and Demarai did it with his movement, speed
and his one v one stuff. The goal was fantastic. It was a great ball from Jordan,
the line was high and we had to try and play behind it. The timing of the
run was perfect and the control on the run was perfect - and that was really tough and then the
finish. The way the day was going we kind of expected that moment not to go in. You
become cynical to it because we had just watched the ball fire around their box
and not go in for us. I was really pleased with Demarai’s performance and the goal.
You mentioned we had 19 shots but only converted one of them, but
were there encouraging signs with the attacking play?
Yeah, I want more. I was pleased with some parts of our attacking play. We understand that we look
different from last year. Things need to settle. There are areas on the pitch we want to improve on
and the window is still open and we will look at that, but in terms of
some of the combinations and play - yeah, I liked it. That clinical nature of finishing
which wins you games isn’t quite there. We have to keep pushing on together.
You called for bravery ahead of the game, did you see a bit more of that on the ball?
Yeah, I thought so. I thought Alex Iwobi was fantastic in midfield - receiving it,
controlling it and breaking through the lines. That was great to see. The movement of the back
three and the angles they tried to play through. The early parts of the game were really good.
Some really good performances. Players like Tom Davies were integral to the way we were
playing and those were the moments in the first 20 minutes when you are playing well and creating and
opening them up, it is like can we get the goal because the game would look completely different.
We can take the positives but there are still things to improve.
Just on Tuesday’s game against Fleetwood, when you are playing a lower league team like that,
what does the mindset have to be for a game like that?
That we have to approach it with respect, get our attitude right and prepare for it in the
right way. Maybe there will be an opportunity for a couple of players to come in and play
who will be desperate to play games because all first-team players are.
But we will treat it with complete respect - myself and the players,
get our approach right and look at Fleetwood over the next couple of days.
You have won the competition twice as a player,
what would it do for this Club to have a run in it?
A lot. We have a history of amazing cup runs, long before I have been here. When you have
that history, you want to stay in it and give the fans who have travelled the opportunity and the
idea that maybe, maybe we could get to a final and win something. It starts here and we have to get
our approach absolutely right. The fans want to see things like cup runs so we will do our best.