Koeman: Duo To Be Battle Ready For Second LegRonald Koeman is expecting new signings Jordan Pickford and Sandro Ramirez to be battle ready by the time Everton renew acquaintances with MFK Ružomberok on Thursday night.
Both players were omitted from Koeman’s starting line-up for the Europa League third qualifying round first-leg encounter with the Slovaks last week, albeit Spaniard Sandro was handed a run-out for the final half hour of the match.
The manager subsequently explained he had held back Pickford and Sandro owing to their respective late arrivals at Goodison Park this summer following the European Under-21 Championship in Poland.
Maarten Stekelenburg performed immaculately in former Sunderland man Pickford’s absence, while Sandro helped the Blues go for their opponents’ throat after he was chucked into the fray.
“Sandro is a different type of number nine from Wayne Rooney,” said manager Koeman. “We put Wayne on the right (after Sandro had replaced Dominic Calvert-Lewin) with a bit more freedom, and pushed Cuco Martina further up that side.
“We had some more pace up front - what Sandro showed in 30 minutes was good. In one more week, normally, he would be ready to start.
“Maarten played half a season last year. We signed Jordan Pickford but he was one of three players with only eight or nine days of training and it was too soon for him to start. Maybe he will start next week.”
Koeman insisted he was content with the single-goal victory in his first European match at the Blues’ helm.
His only disappointment was rooted in Everton’s inability to capitalise on a chink he had spotted in the visitors’ defensive armour – but he is confident his side will be primed to exploit a Ružomberok team that will have to play with greater ambition this time around to overturn their one-goal deficit.
“We knew they would drop back and we would get a lot of possession,” added Koeman.
“There was not really any space and you need to be at your best to create chances.
“We started with Dominic on the right side, because their left full-back was not really a defender and there was a lot of space behind him.
“I showed the players three clips at half-time, where we had won the ball and there was a lot of space to attack and set Dominic free - but we did not pass the ball.
“We had a lot of possession and played aggressively. We had some good chances to score the second goal and get the perfect result. But in European football, 1-0 with the clean sheet is a good result.
“That is positive after four weeks of pre-season. But after one more week of training – and when Ružomberok need to do more than they did in the first game - it will, maybe, be a totally different game for us.”