Brands calms fans

Marcel Brands spoke with angry fans at Finch Farm yesterday while accounts from the dressing room at Anfield suggest some senior team members hit back at the notion they didn't try against Liverpool.
That is according to separate reports today as Everton reels from its humiliating FA Cup exit to what was tantamount to their local rivals' Under-23s team over the weekend.

The Blues lost 1-0 to a Jürgen Klopp team featuring half a dozen teenagers and were dumped out of the competition at the first hurdle and the recrimination, hurt and frustration from fans has been palpable in the aftermath.

According to The Times, that led a small group of Evertonians to drive to the club's Halewood training complex to demand an audience with the players, a request that was, predictably, denied.

That prompted Director of Football, Brands, to come out to the gates of Finch Farm where he spent 20 minutes listening to the supporters' concerns and complaints about what they felt was a cowardly display at Anfield and the feeling that too many players have been using Everton as one last cosy pay check.

The Dutchman was said to have promised to relay the fans' feelings to the players and coaching staff but if an account in The Athletic is anything to go by, there might not be a very receptive audience among the more experienced members of the squad.