Leon Osman has backed Everton to kick on from a ‘really good’ training camp to put last season’s relegation scrap behind them.
The Blues danced with death for far too long before a string of vital results earned them their safety ahead of the final day defeat at Arsenal. Frank Lampard’s January arrival failed to instantly curb the pessimism left by Rafa Benitez, but his side fought to the end and secured survival - with the help of the Goodison faithful.
Lampard took his squad to the United States for pre-season where they lost to Arsenal and Minnesota United. But a promising performance in Sunday’s 4-2 win at Blackpool, coupled with the signings of Ruben Vinagre and Dwight McNeil, have reignited optimism around Merseyside, and Osman has backed his former team to build on the momentum from an intense training camp to push up the table over the next nine months.
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“The squad has been really relaxed and yet I feel there’s a real closeness about them.” Osman told the Mirror . “They’re bonding well, they’re laughing well, the mood is really good and the work on the training field is the best they can give. I’m seeing them come off absolutely exhausted — as training camps go, this has been a really good one. So we hope last season was just a case that the stars aligned all wrongly.
“We had to change manager halfway through last season so there obviously was a fundamental issue. But since Frank and his team came in, the club is on a good track, the players and the manager have a good understanding of how they see the games going and how they want to go about achieving results.
“And there has been a real understanding between the manager and the fans, which is always crucial. When you have all different people within the club pulling in the same direction, you start to see results and it’s definitely the case at the moment. The players have come back with a real determination to make sure this season is a good one and they are working hard to make that the case.”
Last season’s trauma will live long in the memories of many Evertonian’s, with relegation looking all but confirmed during the latter stages of the campaign. But Toffees boss Lampard galvanised both players and fans to create a cauldron-like atmosphere at Goodison and pick up the necessary points - and Osman stressed that there were plenty of positives to take from that survival fight.
“I don’t think you forget about last season, I don’t think you tune your mind to becoming blase that it didn’t happen," the 41-year-old added. "But when you look at the end of the season, once Frank and his team had been in enough time to get his messages across, the last eight or 10 games is what will be remembered in that period.
“We knew what we wanted to achieve, we knew we were in a poor position, we knew things were aligning against us, yet me managed to galvanise, to produce good results, to get the fans on board and achieve what we needed to achieve in those last eight or 10 games.
“So that’s the kind mentality the guys are talking about taking forward. The knowledge that when you’re pulling in the same direction and things are going well, that we can achieve what we need to. That’s what we’ll be taking out of last season.”
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