EVERTON 0-1 ESPANYOL
Quique praises "accomplished display" against Koeman's Everton
Léo Baptistão fired in the only goal of the game from the penalty spot as Espanyol beat Everton on Ronald Koeman's debut at Goodison.
Quique Sánchez Flores praised his side's professionalsim as Espanyol came away from Goodison with a 1-0 win on the day when Ronald Koeman made his home debut on the Everton bench. “We played well, we looked very focused during the whole game against an important rival who have some very good players. Defensively, we managed to keep them quiet. And for moments, we played the ball around well", the Espanyol coach said after the game.
Léo Baptistão fired in the only goal of the game from the penalty spot on five minutes with Ross Barkley having his spot-kick saved at the other end just on half-time.
“Our first half perfomance was much better, we defended well all the way through but later, in the second half we gave the ball away far too quickly after winning it back, we lacked the fluidity we had going forward in the first half, when we were robbing the ball back and pressing forward immediately. Despite that, our mentality was very good. We have two goalkeepers who are competing reaklly well - Pau made two or three great saves the other day and Roberto saved a penalty today - that's good news for us because it's impossible to go the full 90 minutes without receiving a single shot on goal. I'm pleased because today we showed personality, commitment and solidarity”.
