Put your shirt on Everton to qualify for Europe, says delighted boss Ronald Koeman

12 September 2016 09:48

Ronald Koeman has set his sights on bringing European football back to Goodison after a dominant second half performance helped them cruise to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Romelu Lukaku scored a hat-trick in 11 minutes to end his 13-match goal drought stretching back to March and put Everton on ten points from the opening four games.

It's been an impressive start to his reign, and Everton boss Koeman told Sky Sports: "I think we will be one of the teams that will fight for European football.

"I think that is a realistic target and we showed that in the second half but if we play like the the first half then we will be 13th or 14th place. We need to fight for European football and the players showed the level they can be."

Speaking about the match-winner Lukaku, Koeman said he 'never had any doubt' that the goals would start to flow for the big Belgian, and he added: "It is unbelievable how good he can be. He showed all his qualities and it was a great performance."

Koeman, however, wasn't 100 per cent satisfied - and admitted he was 'angry' with his side's first half performance and demanded a better showing in the second. He got it.

"We were poor in the first half and I was not happy. We had good defending but that wasn't the problem; the problem was when we had the ball possession in the midfield and up front, we lost too many balls.

"I know my players, that was the level of the second half, not the level of the first half. If we play like we did in the second we we will be one of the teams fighting for Europe. But play like we did in the first and we'll finish somewhere between 10th and 13th."



Source: PA-WIRE