Leon Osman reckons Everton’s stars will pull out all the stops to ensure there is no repeat of last season’s misery.
The Goodison Park boys escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth with victory over Palace in the penultimate game of the season keeping them up. Coupled with financial issues, it was a dreadful season.
Frank Lampard and Co visited the United States on tour. And while a lot of good work has been put in, the 4-0 bashing by MLS side Minnesota – managed by Everton legend Adrian Heath – will not have helped their cause.
Former Everton midfielder Osman said: “They know what happened last season and it’s more of a determination not to let that kind of situation happen again.
“The squad has been really relaxed and yet I feel there’s a real closeness about them. 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.”
Despite the positivity, Osman knows they can’t just erase what happened last season.
He added: “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. 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.”
*Leon Osman was speaking on behalf of Stake.com to launch their club-record backing of Everton FC. 18+ BeGambleAware
