Howard Kendall had hit back at the stinging criticism his side had received after a heartbreaking late loss to Tottenham. Everton lost two goals in injury time to throw the match away and media around the country were very critical of Kendall’s men. But Kendall insisted that there wasn’t much wrong in his side’s performance except for minor mistakes that they must stop.
Howard Kendall said “It wasn’t down to the substitutions that we lost. It was bad defending as a team collectively. The first substitution was made because they were getting down that side and we wanted to tighten it up. We wanted to kill because they were getting down the game. As for the second, I’d have been slaughtered on the continent if I had not made that change. I just wanted to kill time. We wanted to get Barlow on to turn them with his pace for the last two minutes and get the ball into the attacking third.”
Howard Kendall said “There is a narrow gap between success and failure and this season that gap has been narrowed even more. But we have to reduce the basic errors, not commit suicide and believe in ourselves more if that gap is not to increase again.”
