00:00David, just an update really on Ndi, how is he?
00:04He's fine, he's trained today so hopefully everything's okay.
00:09And he's been in tremendous form hasn't he and we see a lot of speculation about his future
00:14and people wanted maybe being interested in him.
00:18Is it important that the club keep hold of players like that now?
00:23Well I don't really see the speculation because I'm not looking probably
00:26but I think he's got a three and a half year deal here, maybe more.
00:30So it's something which we're fully aware of, he's playing really well.
00:35It'd be wrong for teams not to talk about him because he's fine
00:38but here at Everton we're building a team we want to build with players like Kelly
00:43so we've got no intention of letting them go that's for sure.
00:47The focus once again has turned to the strikers
00:50and we saw the missed chance against Sunderland and the frustration.
00:54Is it a difficult balance for you?
00:56Because we hear fans asking about changing to Alcaraz maybe up front and different.
01:02Is it a difficult balance in the way that you have to deal with this situation?
01:07I think we're all wanting more centre forwards to score goals.
01:11I think when I came in last season nobody expected Beto to score any goals.
01:16Beto done fantastically well.
01:17Probably helped make sure there were a Premier League team by his goals
01:21and his opportunities he made in the second half of last year.
01:25So we're not going to give up on them right away
01:28but we're putting them under pressure to score goals as well.
01:31No, we need to give them a bit of confidence, a bit of belief
01:33but they have to give something back as well.
01:36They have to show what they can do to get the jersey.
01:40There's a frustration there, isn't there, for everyone
01:42especially probably the two strikers themselves
01:44because they'll want to do better.
01:46But when you look at what you're creating in games
01:49do you think you're getting what maybe you should get from games because of that?
01:54I think we've created quite a bit and maybe not getting enough.
01:58I think our return from the forwards at the moment isn't good enough
02:01but I could say that as well.
02:03Maybe I'm saying I want my centre-halves to score more goals
02:05or maybe I want my full-backs to create more goals.
02:08So I think there's a lot of things which you have to take into it
02:11not just the centre-forwards.
02:13Fulham here at the weekend
02:15it's an interesting fixture
02:17but an ex-Everton manager coming back as well
02:20which always adds a bit to it.
02:22What do you make of what Marco Silva's done at Fulham?
02:24Marco's done a brilliant job at Fulham.
02:28I wouldn't say Fulham were ever really not that stable
02:31since they got back into the Premier League
02:33but I think over recent seasons
02:35they've actually become a really good side Fulham.
02:37Good players.
02:39I think they've recruited well over several years.
02:41It's not just been a one-year thing.
02:43I think they've been able to do it over time.
02:45I think Marco's done a really good job
02:47and continues to do a good job.
02:50I must just ask you, the England team has been announced today.
02:52I know Jack Grealish.
02:54How do you see that?
02:55I know you're not going to pick Tom Stuckel's team
02:59but is it a good thing, a bad thing for you?
03:02I thought you were going to ask me about the Scottish team.
03:04We've got two huge games more important to me
03:08than the England team, to be honest.
03:10But as far as Jack's concerned,
03:12I think he makes his 200th Premier League game
03:14if he plays tomorrow.
03:17Yeah, well, we get asked about Jack in every press conference
03:21which is rightly so
03:22and that tells you how well he's done
03:23but also what he's thought of by many supporters
03:27in England and the UK.
03:29We're really pleased with how he's doing.
03:32We want him to keep adding to his tally of assists
03:34and a couple of goals more as well would help.
03:37I've said many times that Tom Stuckel will pick his team
03:39and he has to decide what he wants.
03:42At the moment, Jack's doing really well here for us.
03:45Wish he had a Scottish grandmother or something.
03:47Well, I'm checking.
03:48I think the Irish might have something to say about that,
03:50to be honest.
03:51Yeah, very true.
03:52Thanks, Dave.
03:53Yeah, cheers.
03:53Thanks, Alan.
03:54We'll go to Simon at Premier League Productions.
03:57Hi, Simon.
03:58Hi, how are you?
03:58Good, thank you.
03:59Good.
04:00Talking about appearances as well,
04:02Michael Keane, if he plays this weekend,
04:05he will make his 350th greater league appearance.
04:08Considering where Michael maybe was
04:10before you came back here
04:12and potentially going in a mini wilderness,
04:15shall we say.
04:15How pleased have you been of his response subsequently?
04:19I think he's done really well.
04:21He'd done really well last year.
04:24And before I came in,
04:24they told me that at the start of the season,
04:26he'd actually started this season and played well
04:28and I think he came out of the team
04:29and probably didn't get himself back in.
04:32But it's his level of professionalism
04:33when he's not involved.
04:35You know, he went about his business in the right manner,
04:39trained well, you know,
04:41didn't sulk about not being in the team
04:43and overall just done a really good professional job
04:47off the field and behaving like a professional.
04:49He's got more opportunities than he's now in the team.
04:53I thought he played really well at the end of last season.
04:55I think he certainly scored at Fulham last year.
04:58He played great at Newcastle in the last game of the season.
05:01So I'm pleased for him because he does such a good job.
05:06He's gone about his work really steady
05:07and long may that continue at the moment.
05:10I was just reading some Alan Hayek stats,
05:13but I was reading before about your passing percentage
05:16in terms of passes completed with Everton.
05:20This is as high as it's ever been in any of your spells
05:23here at the football club
05:24in terms of the number of passes,
05:26the number of completed passes as well.
05:27Is that something that specifically you can work on?
05:31Well, it's something we wanted to make different.
05:33I think that when I came in,
05:34I think it was something which Evertonians were looking for
05:37for a bit of a change
05:38and I think we've tried to do that.
05:39We can't change everything in one fell swoop.
05:43We can only do certain bits.
05:44But I think that we've done that quite well.
05:47Certainly the players we've brought in,
05:49we've tried to bring in some players
05:50who've got really good footballing qualities.
05:52Kieran Dewsbury-Hall, Jack Grealish to mention
05:54has certainly given us a lift with that.
05:57And I think the players as well.
05:59People like Jimmy Gardner's playing
06:00probably as well as he's ever played.
06:02So as we talked about Elian Jai, how he's playing.
06:06So I think them keeping a hold of the ball
06:09better, playing better, I think.
06:11Sure, I think against Tottenham,
06:13I think there was a stat that came out
06:15that I think only Man City had kept more possession
06:17against Tottenham than we had.
06:20So is it a good thing?
06:23Possession means something, maybe,
06:26if you get goals from it at the moment.
06:27We're maybe not getting the goals from it.
06:29But we're certainly a lot more balanced
06:32in how we're playing and how we're trying to play.
06:34And just finally, if I may,
06:35you said about everybody needing to weigh in
06:37with the goals,
06:38not just the couple of lads
06:39that have been playing up at the front.
06:43Is that something as well
06:44that you've been spending more time on?
06:46Or is it something that will come naturally to them?
06:49Or how does that work?
06:51Well, we can always,
06:52what we can do is we can go out and train
06:53and practice,
06:54no finishing, more finishing,
06:55give everybody their finishing practices
06:57in their position specific
07:00to try and get more goals.
07:04We need to do that.
07:05But let's be fair,
07:05most clubs you need your number nine
07:07to get yourself some goals.
07:08We need that.
07:09So we're not hiding away from the fact.
07:12But it shouldn't take away from us
07:13needing more number fives
07:14to score from corner kicks
07:15or assists coming from the full-backs.
07:18All those things have to play their part in it.
07:19So that's why I'm saying everybody chips in.
07:23Beto hadn't scored any goals last season
07:25when we first came in.
07:26I don't think they'd won and ended up
07:27going on to get eight or nine
07:29in the second part of the season.
07:30So it can change very quickly for strikers.
07:34Thanks, Simon.
07:35We'll go to Julia at Radio News.
07:38Hi there.
07:40On the strikers then,
07:41because there is so much focus
07:43and everyone talks about it
07:44and the camera zooms in on Teerno Barry
07:47when he goes to the bench
07:48and he looked devastated when he came off.
07:50How are they coping in here at the moment
07:52with that level of pressure?
07:53Do you have to protect them from that?
07:56Yeah, a little bit we do,
07:57but they also have to be able to take responsibility
07:59for the roles they play in the team.
08:01You know, you come to any football club,
08:04if you're a goalkeeper,
08:05you have to keep the ball out the net.
08:06If you're a centre-half,
08:07you probably have to head it and block
08:09and do all the right things.
08:10Centre-forwards have to get into the right positions,
08:12have to try and score.
08:13And when you're not doing that,
08:14then obviously, as you've rightly said,
08:17probably focus goes on it.
08:18On them, I should say.
08:19But, look, we like the both of them.
08:22They're both very honest big boys.
08:24So we hope that their goals are going to come.
08:27Tyler Dibling's had a call-up to the England under-21s.
08:30He was someone that you persisted with in the summer
08:33and you were keen to bring,
08:34and he came in for quite a big fee.
08:36What more does he have to do
08:37to break into the Everton first team?
08:40Because I appreciate it's difficult
08:42and he might need experience.
08:43How does he get that?
08:45Well, at the moment, he's got L.A. and Jai
08:47and he's got Jack Grealish in front of him.
08:49So that's probably the reason why
08:51he's finding it really difficult
08:52to break into the first team.
08:55We also see, you know,
08:56we want him to up his levels, up his training.
09:00But I always sort of think about it
09:01when I think when I first came in here,
09:03Leighton Baines, you know,
09:05John Stones, you could name them,
09:08Joel and Lescott, go on and on,
09:10who all had to sort of sit and wait their time
09:11and wait for the right moments
09:12and find their way into the team.
09:14So that's the way it is.
09:18And I think for Tyler at the moment,
09:20he'll have to do that as well.
09:22Do you think because he came in for the big fee,
09:23that's where the focus is coming?
09:25Especially when maybe you need
09:27quite a lot of players coming in.
09:30I don't think it's that big a fee,
09:31to be honest, in the football
09:33and the clubs were dealing with in the Premier League.
09:37How close is your team then
09:39to being your squad?
09:41Because January will come round relatively quickly.
09:43Do you want to be active?
09:45How many more would you like to come in?
09:46Well, I don't know.
09:47I don't know if I've got to that point
09:48how many I would want to put in.
09:50I think every window gives you an opportunity
09:52to try and improve your squad if you can do.
09:55We didn't bring MD in in January
09:57except Charlie Alcaraz on our loan last January.
09:59So we didn't have any players brought in in January.
10:03So I think we would be out there trying to be busy.
10:10But I see the pen's writing there
10:13but that doesn't mean to say I'm going to be busy.
10:16January's been quiet for quite some time.
10:18So is it just the deal's right?
10:20Yeah, I think so.
10:21I think now we're in a different position.
10:23We're in a much more better position financially
10:26with the new owners
10:27and they'll certainly back us with a certain amount of money.
10:31So we'll be looking around to see what could help if possible.
10:36It's never ever been a brilliant window.
10:39People would tell you that.
10:40But, you know, we're a side
10:42which are probably trying to build on every year
10:45or every window if we can do.
10:47Thank you. Good luck.
10:48Thanks, Julia.
10:49Any further questions in the open section before we move on?
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