 Thanks very much for coming to our press conference. Head of the Lyon League game, we have the manager and Michael. Ben, if you can start us off, please. Good afternoon, Ronalds, Michael. I'll start with you, if I may. Even at this early stage of this competition, how important is tomorrow night's game for your aspirations? Really important. If you know the situation in the group that we need a win, we expected a win last time, but unlucky the team from Cyprus scored in the last minute. But, you know, with only one point out of two, you need a win. A win at home, normally. You need three wins at home, and maybe you pick something out of the away game, then it's okay. But the situation is that we need to win tomorrow to get the good possibilities to go through this tournament. The last time we spoke, you mentioned a frustration and a lack of time on the training pitch with your players. The fact you've got home game tomorrow, home game of the weekend, do you have a little bit more time to work with them this week? No, because we play during the week. We will play next Wednesday. We play Sunday. We play tomorrow. No, it's not. Maybe if you play on Sunday and the boys got one day off, maybe one session, not today, but yesterday, yes, you can do a little bit more. It's all about to make things clear to the players the way how we like to play and choose the best team for every game, but not about really spending hours, hours in training because there's no time for that. Can I just go ahead and say that, yeah? They have equalized at the last moment of the game, so we are now playing with one point on two games played. So you absolutely have to go to win tomorrow. It's mandatory, given the situation in the group. So the second question is about the calendar, a series of games. We are waiting for a very important game tomorrow. We gave a day off to the players, but we did a lot of training recently. The essential is not to practice all the time, without training, without training. It's better before a game to specify the tactics how to approach a game. And the essential is to choose the perfect starting line for every game. Ronald, this week we saw Craig Shakespeare lose his job. Before last week he said that Premier League managers are always four games away from a crisis. Do you feel, given the tough games coming up, that you're four games away from a crisis? Maybe, well, I'm in the crisis. But okay, everybody knows in football the manager's job is a really difficult job because things change really fast and we know that most of the time the manager don't get really the time to improve the team. I feel sorry for Craig, because I think he did a really good job. He took it over from Rainiery and they solved them in the Premier League last season. With its football, it's hard to take for the managers, but okay, it's part of the job. We saw this week that Lester City sent his coach Craig Shakespeare. He made a statement 15 days ago saying that in football, the coach is only four games away from a crisis. Do you agree with this opinion? Maybe you think you're already four games away from a crisis. Personally. Maybe the answer was like that. Maybe I'm already in the crisis. But we all know that it's a difficult job to be a coach. Things in football can change a lot in a very short period. Normally, we don't have a lot of time to win games and to win trophies. I feel sorry for him, because I think he did a really good job after having replaced Claudio Rainiery last year. He did a lot to save the team from the descent. But football is like that. Michael, if I can ask you a question. The supporters have voiced a bit of displeasure having it at home, particularly given some of the results and performances. Two home matches coming up, how have the players been affected by that from the stands? Obviously, we're disappointed not to go out there and win games for them. I think they had a fantastic record last year at Goodison. And that's something we wanted to continue and, for one reason or another, it's not quite happened so far. But all we can do is keep working hard. We're desperate to get it right. And I think our game at the weekend was much better the way we played. We could have won that game. And if we can control games like we did against Brighton, then we'll give ourselves a much better chance and hopefully we can do that tomorrow. The last two home matches, we've heard that fans of the club have been sifting after the game in mid-time. Now you have two home matches to correct that. Are the players affected by the fans sifting like that? Obviously, we're disappointed we didn't win. We didn't manage to win the home matches because last year, the last season, we won almost all the home matches. This season, it's not going to be for us at home. But it's for sure that we're going to do a lot of work. We're going to work very hard to improve the situation. I think against Brighton, at the end of last week, I think we managed to manage the game quite well. But the result didn't work out. We have to start from the beginning. We have to have games to have meetings with interval players or even meetings with the players to get it right. Really, what we want. The next is, and you can't train that, is to win because that's the best medicine for a football player to come to his level, also as a team. That's just a little bit of luck because if we scored out of the last two big chances Brighton, the whole picture was totally different today than it is now for most of the people. Not for us because we know what we need to do. The boys are working really hard to get it right. I think it's a good night tomorrow to get the win and to get the full confidence back in the team. We have to improve the situation in the club. Sometimes it's not necessary to be on the training grounds. We can have meetings with the players, we can teach videos, clips to the players, which is about the tactics we're going to adapt. But I think the best way to improve the situation is to get a win, to win a game. That's the ideal medicine to change things. I think that if we didn't have a lot of chances in the end of the match against Brighton, we had two beautiful occasions. Here, for example, the ball goes into the cage. That changes the situation for the world, for the fans. But not for us because we know we need to win. We know tomorrow we have a good opportunity to do a good performance and maybe get the win that will change everything. But the rest is like Coleman, Yanik Balasi, Funes Mori, Ross Barkley, Kenny had some issues when he came back from the international duty. He did his first session today and we have to wait for tomorrow. Same situation with the absent players like Coleman, Funes Mori and Ross Barkley. But Kenny, we'll see tomorrow what happens with the injury. He was a little touched after the international break of FIFA. Not just for the Europa League, but in terms of giving confidence and taking away apprehension on the field in all competitions now. Yeah, but you mentioned by yourself three different competitions. And what we want is to do it well in all these competitions. And that starts tomorrow. That's our focus. That's what we need to concentrate for tomorrow. And after tomorrow, we need to prepare ourselves for Sunday. And we know it's a tough start of the season. Sunday is the fifth game of nine against the first five teams in Premier League from last season. And that's tough, but I think it's all about tomorrow first. And then we make a good game and then finally a good result. And then to prepare the game for Sunday will be easier because then the players get maybe a boost from a good game and a good result. And that's all about what we need to do. You have a fairly tight calendar. The next 15 days, a lot of matches, an important series of matches in three different competitions. That may be an opportunity to have more confidence among the players and avoid a bit of fear that we see on the field. Yeah, you already said that we have three competitions. All competitions are different but we approach each game with the same mentality. A positive mentality tomorrow. It's a good opportunity to have a good result and a good performance, a good performance. With a good result, that's the ideal preparation for Sunday because we have an important match on Sunday too. We have to note that we had a rather difficult season quite complicated. We will play against the top 5 teams, the 5 best teams of the last season. Many times during the first 9-10 matches of the season, that's not easy. But with the good performance tomorrow, that may trigger the season in a positive way. Michael, obviously you defend as a team and it's not just down to the defenders to keep teams out. How frustrating is it and how much more difficult does it make it that Everton right now and since the start of the season concealing the first goal in games? Yeah, it's really frustrating. Obviously the first goal is massive in any game you play. We need to get back to keeping clean sheets. We did it a few times at the start of the season and we were away from that for one reason or another and I think that's a basic as a defender you need to organise people in front of you and we need to basically get back to not concealing goals and then we can get a bigger platform in a game. If we can take the lead then that will give all the lads a big boost I think that's what's been missing when you concede first sometimes your head can go down and it gives the other team a big lift so like I said if we can get the first goal tomorrow we can get the fans behind us and it just gives everyone a bit more confidence. This season you had difficulties in defence a few times you broke the first goal in games, that's the most difficult thing Yeah, that's for sure breaking the first goal in a game like that we can't have the possibility to get a zero goal I think we need to organise ourselves in defence I think it's easier for a team to defend if we score first in a game it's easier by leading in a game than when you lose in a game because sometimes when you break the first goal it's the case that you lose hope and that's for tomorrow focus on everything we can do to have a good result and maybe with the support and the support of the fans maybe it will happen tomorrow because he was here but it was not only Farhad Moshe here it was also Bill Kenwright and more people from the board because they didn't see till last Friday the new building and of course if they are in, they have good lunch and you speak about football of course What was the kind of message from them at the scene? The president of the club Farhad Moshe here what was the conversation that we had with him it was not only him it was the other president of the club Bill Kenwright they were here precisely to see the new facilities we have built training facilities here a new building we ate well we had lunch normally we speak about football during a lunch like that what was the message from them? There was not really a message but the feeling is that they are behind the team they are behind the manager and ok and everybody knows in football that's a nice thing but in football always finally it's all about results and if you are for a long time in football maybe you know better than who knows about this situation but till now it's a full, totally support from the board What was the message that they gave you the two presidents? So it was positive I think they supported not only the coach but also the team it was good obviously but everybody in football in football for a long time among you everybody knows that it's about results so it's essential to get good results A question in French on a subject which I'm sorry because it's not a conversation perfect for Everton but we never talk about it How do you judge the return of Juan Runea Everton since the beginning of the season? A question in French I know it's not about the game tomorrow night but it's a general question about Everton if you permit me How would you judge Juan Runea's performances since coming back to Everton during the summer? He's a great player I think he's trying to be that football player for Everton to improve other players to give his performances out of his level and overall I think he's a key player to the team and which is his experience he showed that in the last minute of the game the last weekend to take the penalty and to score out of that penalty in a difficult moment in the game in a difficult situation for the team but he is that player what we like to have and why we signed Wayne to come back to Everton I know he's a great player he's trying to improve not only himself but he likes he wants to improve the group and the players I think his performances have been very positive especially he's a key player for us he showed all his experience at the end of the week when he scored out of the penalty in a difficult situation I think he represents for us the player that we wanted to sign and that we managed to sign during the pre-season class Michael is it a little bit easier almost to play a Brighton at the weekend given that in some of the most recent home games there's been a sense of expectation and nervousness certainly when Burnley scored early on you can sense an atmosphere of apprehension around the ground has it been difficult to play in home games in the last couple of weeks I wouldn't say it's been difficult no I think we've got a lot of experience in our team and we know what it's like if we're not playing well if we're not playing free-flowing football then the fans have a right to get on our case because they have high expectations as they should do it's sometimes nice to go away from home to sort of build that confidence of the type of football you like to play and then bring it back to Goodison so I feel like we controlled the game and we're going to do that tomorrow and be more positive in our play we want to create chances we want to keep teams pinned in and put them to the sword and we haven't yet done that well not enough at Goodison this year and the fans deserve to see that so hopefully we can give them that Do you think we should play with a more free mentality when we play outside because we've seen more football at Brighton over the weekend compared to the match against Burnley and when Burnley scored the first goal of the match we saw nerves among the players, maybe nerves and cramps in the stands I think we know we have a very experimental effect there are a lot of experiences in the locker room and we know that we haven't played well all the time during this season at home we hear and understand that the fans, the supporters have a very high expectation and that's normal it's up to us to try to master the ball I think we managed to do that in front of Brighton we managed most of the game but we have to have an attitude tomorrow evening starting with tomorrow evening a desire to create opportunities to pressure and do everything we can to bring the game to Lyon to make things difficult for Lyon as soon as the match comes Can you tell us about the team from Lyon what you've been able to retain from the observations that were made Can you just give us a brief outline of what your thoughts are about Lyon and the sort of principal dangers of what they might produce Of course I know Lyon very well because I saw both matches last season against Ajax Amsterdam when they played for the Europa League and of course they have some Dutch players they have some players who played in Holland like Marcelo for PSV in Holland and the way how they play is really offensively I like the style with some high quality players like Trauray like Depay like Diaz, like Fekir and ok, they had a good game last week against Monaco they had finally the win and they are strong and it will be a tough game for us tomorrow We're going to have a difficult match I know I studied Lyon well I saw both matches in Europe against Ajax There are a few Dutch players who played there I know Marcelo from his time at PSV I like the way they play I think they have an offensive style they have players who can influence a match like Trauray Depay, Diaz, Fekir so after the win against Monaco it will be difficult for us because they have confidence after the win against Monegas Ronald, you just mentioned Depay then you tried to sign him last January how big of a blow was it not to get him how much of a danger will he be tomorrow night? Of course we went behind him and finally the club Everton did get an agreement with May United and Depay chose to make the move to Lyon and then he's still a young player he's one of the Dutch talents for the future for the national team and he's always dangerous because maybe he's more in the game he has some interval qualities in free kicks outside of the box that he's always that dangerous player that we need to control and that's all about him so Depay will play tomorrow you know because you tried to sign him last January you were disappointed and he's going to be a threat, a danger for tomorrow we know we followed but we couldn't agree with Manchester United finally he chose Olympique Lyonnais he's still young he's a talent a young hope of the Dutch team from the Netherlands he's considered a dangerous player he has some qualities especially with the ball stopping at the goal of Lyon why do you think it didn't work out from Manchester United Depay not important at this moment because it's Depay I'm not the right man to explain why something is not done now sorry? because he didn't play a lot for United and he's still a young player and I like the player and still I believe it's a lot to do for this player and we try it but finally once again we didn't have a return agreement for him that's why he didn't he didn't do any exploits for Manchester United there's a reason for that it's not for me to make statements but I can see that I like the player we tried to sign him to bring him here but we didn't agree with Manchester United but I'm in line he's a good player ok guys thank you very much thank you