Neville Southall today advised Everton’s struggling stars: “Just be a Scouser and we will be fine.”
The Blues hero said it was important for the club to be positive and look ahead to the remaining nine games rather than at previous results. Confident Frank Lampard's squad has enough ability to stay up, he told the players they needed to display the ‘passion and desire’ shown by the supporters.
Southall also said he believed Jordan Pickford, handed the captain's armband in the defeat at Burnley on Wednesday, was the subject of a "witch hunt", and backed Dominic Calvert-Lewin to find form, before concluding the team needed to be more resilient because “at the moment we are a very nice bunch of players who are too easy to get beat”.
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Speaking on Sky Sports News after Everton’s loss to Burnley, Southall expressed frustration at the manner of it. He said: “I think the overall performance wasn’t too bad. We just made silly mistakes. And in the position we are in now, mistakes cost us. If you score two goals away from home you expect to win the game.”
Southall stressed the importance of remaining positive as Everton head into the final nine games just one point above the relegation zone - referring to one player in particular who has struggled to contribute since his return from injury.
He said: “There’s enough in that team to keep them out of relegation. There’s enough goalscorers. The odds on Calvert-Lewin not scoring are coming down all the time with each game he doesn’t score, so he’s bound to score eventually.”
Southall, who also defended Pickford from criticism, added: “Everybody in the media and everybody around the club is focused on the negatives. Look at the positives. We have got 27 points to play for, we’ve got Man Utd on Saturday and if you’re a kid growing up, that is who you want to play against.
"It doesn’t matter about anything else. Just go and see the challenge as a challenge to see how good a player you are. It’s no good looking backwards you have just got to look forwards. And everything has got to be all about Man Utd on Saturday.”
Explaining what he thinks Everton need to do to survive, he said: "For us it is all about being solid, being hard to beat, being aggressive, basically, just be a Scouser and we will be fine.”
