Everton v Southampton - Sat 14th January 2023

COADY ON SQUAD DETERMINATION AND SOUTHAMPTON TEST

Conor Coady has spoken of the collective determination in the Everton squad to get their season back on track at home to Southampton at Goodison Park on Saturday.

The Toffees already boast a win against the Saints and victory this weekend would hand the Blues a first league double over the south coast side in 21 years.

Coady scored the crucial equalising goal in October’s 2-1 win at St Mary's and has said the team are fully focused on securing another positive result this weekend as they aim to start climbing back up the Premier League table.

“We aren’t come into training laughing and joking at the minute, it’s not like that, we’re not enjoying the position we are in, I will be totally honest with you,” admits the England international.

“It’s a position in terms of knowing where we are and what we need to do to get out of it.

“We have spoken together, we have spoken as a team, we have spoken as a group, with staff, but also as players in terms of what we need to do going forward.

“We are fully focused on what we need to do to get out of it.

“We are a really open group; we are a group who speak to each other every single day.

“[On the conversations had] It's realising the situation we are putting the Club in because that’s where we are, we work and play for this football club.

“We love the Club as much as anyone else and want to make sure it isn’t in this position, so when we speak, it’s not so much about home truths, it’s more about being honest with each other and taking responsibility, that’s the most important thing.

“We really believe we can get out of this; I wouldn’t say these things if I didn’t believe that.

“We all have to be on the same page and same path to get ourselves out of it. Is it easy to block [external] things out? Not really, I read and see everything, I have to be completely honest.

“Some players may sit here and say, ‘Yes, I don’t read anything’, but I do. I see everything, yet I am so focused on trying to get the Club out of the position we as players have put it in at the minute.”

Southampton will travel to Goodison Park bottom of the Premier League table and having suffered defeat in each of their past six league outings.

However, Nathan Jones’ side will be buoyed by last week’s 2-1 FA Cup win away to Crystal Palace, a result which they then followed up with an impressive 2-0 Carabao Cup quarter-final victory at home to Manchester City on Wednesday night.

Coady, though, believes there are plenty of positives Everton can take themselves following last week's tight FA Cup defeat at Old Trafford and he’s relishing coming up against Southampton on Saturday afternoon.

“Everyone is looking at the game in the same way,” says Coady.

“We are human beings, sometimes people look at footballers and say, ‘They’re putting their professional hat on’, but we understand what game is coming up, we know how big it is for the Club, for us as players and we’re looking forward to it.

“That’s the biggest thing that I can say coming out of our team at the minute, we can’t wait. We have had a full week of training and we are looking forward to it.

"Against Manchester United, we feel we played some good stuff at times, we were together, we were organised, we had a way of playing and we focused on that way of playing.

“We now need to build on that, build on the positives from that game. We understand it’s a big game, but we are ready for it.”

By David Hughes / Everton FC