Ronald Koeman says that he should take the blame for Everton’s 3-0 defeat to Atalanta in their first Europa League group match.
Speaking to BT Sport after the game, the Blues’ boss said that his team looked like they were not prepared correctly and he took full responsibility for that.
He said:
This is not the time or place to criticise players, I need to criticise myself because the team was not prepared for this tonight. We saw the clips of Gomez before-hand. That’s the individual quality of one player but the whole team of Atalanta was better prepared than we were today. We knew from the beginning of July the start of the season is really tough. Okay we need to expect it, but that’s not the problem – the problem is what we showed in the first half.
Andrea Masiello opened the scoring for the home side when he poked home after Everton failed to deal with a corner kick before Alejandro Gomez doubled the lead with a curling effort.
IT was 3-0 before the break as Bryan Cristante waltzed his way through the Everton defence and slotted home.
The Toffees must now regroup as they face a tough test away to Manchester United on Sunday, a game Koeman must have the players ready for.
