Rafa Benitez insists Everton’s early season form has shown that they can stop the rot when the full squad is available. The Blues boss refused to “blame” the players who played in today’s 1-0 defeat at Brentford – a result which extends the club’s winless run to seven matches.
Rafa Benitez said: “We can understand the frustration of the fans because, also, we are frustrated. You cannot complain about the effort of the players or the intensity they put in the game, they tried from the beginning until the end. We had lots of crosses, lots of shots, we couldn’t score, but you cannot complain about effort and you can be disappointed, like everyone, because we don’t want to lose.”
Asked how concerned he was by the winless run extending to seven matches,
Rafa Benitez replied: “We were not expecting it, the way the team was playing at the beginning. We have been analysing that. We have missed some key players, with Doucoure coming back it seems a little bit better but overall we didn’t deserve to lose but when you put everything together it seems worse. The reality is the team is giving everything oh the pitch, you can see the togetherness of the players and they were fighting until the last minute, I can understand the frustration but you cannot complain about effort. Hopefully we can be more precise in the final third.”
Many in the away section berated the Everton players at full-time, such was the anger at the latest result, but Benitez says the team can regain their form when the squad has a clean bill of health.
Rafa Benitez said: “If we consider what we did at the beginning of the season, the intensity, the reaction of players, quality in the games, we have seen enough quality to do much better. Even in the games we lost or drew, the team was doing enough in some of these games to get something more. It is a question of confidence and missing these platers. You could see what we were capable of doing at the beginning of the season and if we have everyone available, we can do it again. I think the fans appreciate the effort of the players but they were expecting something better in terms of results. At least you cannot blame any player because they were not giving everything. In terms of effort, they give everything, I cannot blame any players. I cannot be pointing fingers, they were giving their best, every one of them.”
