Stand in skipper Ross Barkley has taken manager Ronald Koeman’s praise following the victory over Yeovil Town last night.
Hosting the Huish Park outfit at Goodison Park yesterday evening for the second round of the League Cup, Barkley was the stand in skipper on the evening and after Lennon had opened the scoring, he added the second before Kone helped himself to a late brace to more than make victory comfortable.
Speaking to evertonfc.com in his post game press conference, Koeman credited the midfielder for leading by example in the match as we booked our place in tonight’s third round draw.
‘Phil Jagielka and Leighton Baines were not on the pitch and if you look around, Ross is the player who has spent the longest time at the Club. For him, it`s the next step. He is a talent but he also needs the chance to show more responsibility for the rest of the team. It was a good experience for a young player.’
With plenty of chances created over the 90 minutes, Koeman was also delighted with the performance overall.
‘I`m very critical – maybe sometimes too critical! You saw by the first goal, if you play with high tempo and good movement then you can create a lot. But the final score is what I like. Finally we made the difference which maybe everybody expected. There are aways some aspects we can improve but we took it seriously. We had strong defending – they did not create many chances. We had some good chances to score more goals but it was a result everybody expects.’
With Barkley skippering and finding the net, he dedicated the game to Sid Benson who spotted him as a youngster and brought him to the club.
‘It was just a little message for Sid and his family. I might not be where I am today without him. He spotted me when I was a kid, brought me to Everton and ever since he spoke to me every week. I was sad to hear that he passed away but I know he is watching down on all us Blues – he was the biggest Everton fan you could find. I was over the moon to get the goal as well. I saw a gap. They only had one man in the wall so I thought ‘why not?` – thankfully it came off. I was pleased to see it go in the back of the net. It was important we got through to the next round, which we did.’
With the former Academy Graduate leading the team out for the first time, he ended by saying.
‘I am over the moon to captain the side. It is every Evertonian`s dream to lead out the club and it is a dream come true for me. I`m glad that we won as well. Just before the game, the manager said that I would have the armband and just told me what it means to captain Everton Football Club. He told me to go out there and show what I could do. We did that as a team tonight.’
