There’s no issue with the “mood” in the Everton squad claims Rafa Benitez ahead of his side’s trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Everton go into tonight’s fixture having suffered back-to-back home defeats in their past two games, 1-0 to West Ham United and then 5-2 to Watford, but the Spaniard believes only a commitment to eradicating the kind of mistakes that happened last time out against the Hornets can help them to improve.
Benitez said: “It is not a question of mood. We are professionals and we have to assume our responsibility and if we make a mistake solve the problem as quickly as possible. They are fine.
“It is about dealing with the situation, like with the third goal being in the right positions. Not the mood or confidence. It is about making the right decisions.
“Normally you are disappointed and the players were disappointed. After, we were talking about the mistakes and how to approach the future so everybody knows we keep giving everything.
“No-one can complain about that. In terms of commitment and work rate everything is fine so we need to manage special situations in another way.
“The players realise it is like that and need to work on different situations during a game so we know how to react, depending on what is going on.
“The first thing is to know the mistakes but to try to remember the good things we have done this season.
“We have done great for a long period, with all the issues we had in terms of what we could invest and with missing players. The team was doing well. The team was showing character and with the passion the fans are asking for.
“The connection between players and fans was really good. We have to go back to that and make sure the team works as a team and has balance between attacking and defending.
“It is easy to say, but we didn’t do it in the last game. We did it in other games and have to go back to that.”
Benitez finds himself in a similar position to where he was at the same stage in his first season in charge of neighbours Liverpool, having suffered three defeats from the first nine games (the Reds had two points more) but he shuns any comparisons, either with that situation or Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton a year ago.
The 61-year-old said: “You cannot compare any season. You cannot compare any season with the last season.
“There are different circumstances, a different manager, different players.
“The starting point here – this team finished 10th last season – and did not spend too much because of the FFP rules and we are missing some very important players.
“Considering all these things, we were doing well. Something which happens with all my teams is that little by little we are getting better and finish the season quite strong.
“When you win trophies it is because at the end of the season you are strong enough.
“I am confident we can do it, but Rome was not built in a day.”
Benitez added: “We are trying to improve in every department and little by little we will see that, and now without important players and we have to manage that – we did really well.
“We cannot forget about the game that we won and the way we played, the fans were delighted and they have two bad games…
“I would say we had two bad games, one against West Ham when we were not great but we could still have won, and one the last one when we were at the end ahead and then made two made mistakes in just a few minutes.
“So in one way another way the characteristics of this team, because last year they were really good, and then could not manage.
“And this year we had similar players, and then you have to make sure you are working on the mentality, on the approach on the tactics, and everything to give them this belief this confidence that will be crucial during the season.”
