da fezbet： This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
da bwin： Speaking after their defeat to Norwich, Everton manager Marco Silva has admitted his team were “afraid”.
What did he say?
The Portuguese man has come under increasing pressure in recent weeks following their poor start to the season. The Toffees currently find themselves in fifteenth in the Premier League table after their 2-0 defeat at home to the Canaries, and have already conceded 20 goals.
Having come off the pitch to a barrage of boos at full-time, Silva later admitted that his side were simply “afraid” to play football, and that was the main cause of their defeat.
He said (as quoted by BBC Sport): “We started to be afraid and that was the problem. You can never, ever, ever be afraid to play football. I think it is not the main thing to talk about the situation. It is not the moment to talk about individual positions.
“We have to look what is best for us as a club and for myself and the players as well – but always the club has to be at the top. If you are really disappointed with the afternoon I can imagine they (fans) are as well and they have the reaction to the manager and the players. When you lose a match, the first person they look to is the manager. Football is like that. The message is I respect what is their feeling, for sure. It is not the first time they felt the way they felt this afternoon.”
The end is near
When your own manager comes out in the post-match press conference and states that you were “afraid”, then that certainly isn’t going to go down well. As is the case with modern football, it’s the man in the dugout who receives the lion-share of the criticism, and to call out his players for being scared to actually play the game, then Silva really is building his own grave.
The Toffees continue to slide down the table, and for all their lavish spending in the summer (Moise Kean for £25.1m anyone?), they had zilch to show for it. Silva appears to be a dead man walking, and his comments after the Norwich defeat have simply confirmed that he effectively knows it too.