00:00I just wanted to go back to the Premier League key match incidents panel,
00:04saying that you should have had a penalty against Arsenal.
00:07What's your reaction when you hear something like that?
00:12I think it's football, it's never changed.
00:15You get decisions that go for you sometimes and they go against you.
00:18I think they're trying to correct it as much as they can on the day of the game,
00:23but I think we all thought it was difficult that they didn't go to VAR at the time.
00:27They didn't ever look at it at VAR.
00:29But it didn't happen, so we can't go back.
00:32We can't replay it again because of that.
00:34You hope that you get a few decisions go your way between now and the end of the season as well.
00:39You brought Harrison Armstrong back from his loan spell at Preston.
00:43Is there an opportunity there for him to ensure that you don't want to send him out on loan
00:47once you get players back anyway?
00:49Well, there's an opportunity.
00:51If we bring him back, he does well.
00:53But the truth is I would like him to go back to Preston.
00:55I want Preston to get promoted.
00:57The small club and where I played and where I managed.
01:00So they're in a really good position, Preston.
01:03They're pushing for the playoffs.
01:05So I think it's been really good for him.
01:08I've watched him quite regularly playing for Preston.
01:10He's doing a good job for them.
01:11And if things allow me, then I certainly will send him back because I think it's really good for his development,
01:17his education, where he's at at this present time.
01:19But we need him at the moment and if he comes in and does well, then we'll keep a hold of him.
01:25I appreciate he's going to be back a short while.
01:27But do you notice a difference in him?
01:28And you see that difference coming from that loan spell?
01:30Well, we've only had him in for a day really since we've had him back.
01:34So we've not had him back much.
01:36But I think it's easy for him to settle back in.
01:38And this is his parent club and it's easy that he comes in and gets involved with the players again.
01:44Take a check on availability.
01:45Keenan Dewsbury Hall, Michael Keane, Charlie Alcaraz.
01:47Chance for any of them?
01:50Michael Keane's got a chance, but I would say the others don't have a chance now.
01:55Go back to James Garner.
01:56We've spoken a lot about his England chances.
01:58But is there one hope for 2026 with regard to that, that he does finally get that England call-up?
02:03I've said many times, I use it all the time.
02:05I wouldn't want to be picking an England team.
02:07Certainly wouldn't be as a Scotsman anyway, that's for sure.
02:10But I think Jimmy's playing as well as many or any midfield players in the country.
02:16But it's not for me to decide that or say that.
02:20It's for other people.
02:21So we're pleased with how he's playing for Everton and that's an important thing.
02:24James Tokowski says that James Garner can do absolutely everything.
02:27And James himself said, I feel like I've got a responsibility now to kick on and be the one to make the difference.
02:33Are you seeing that?
02:34Are you seeing a player who's taking on that kind of responsibility?
02:36Well, we've sort of asked him to and maybe in the past he's not really been that sort of player.
02:41He's flittered in and out a little bit at different things.
02:44But I think now he's certainly taking on a more senior role.
02:47We need it because we don't have Seamus Coleman around.
02:50We don't have Ashley Young from last year, senior professionals who are needed.
02:55So we need some other people to step up to the plate as well.
02:57He obviously combined really well with Tieno Barry for that second goal against Nottingham Forest.
03:02With regards to Tieno, he said after the game they'd be watching videos of Lukaku.
03:06Was that his idea, your idea?
03:08No, it's a great idea if he keeps scoring, that's for sure.
03:12And let's be fair, if he does anything like what Lukaku did in this country or even forever,
03:18then we'll be highly delighted, that's for sure.
03:21But sometimes players do need a little bit of inspiration in looking for things which might make a difference to them.
03:27So he got another good goal for us in midweek and worked hard for us.
03:31So we were pleased about that.
03:3311 points more at this stage of the season than last season.
03:3759 points in 2025.
03:39Atali Everton have beaten just once in the calendar year since 2013.
03:43What satisfaction do you take from that?
03:46I don't know if I take satisfaction.
03:49I think it's my job to do that and get as many points as we can.
03:52When you say it, it's nice to hear.
03:54But all you can ever think about is the next game and how we're going to go on in the next game
03:59and keep bringing in more points.
04:02But I think if you'd said to me when I came in, this is how it's going to be, you know, you'll finish this.
04:06I would have said, well, that'll be fantastic because it was showing that the Cubs made progress.
04:11We'd stayed up from the position we were in last year.
04:14We had moved to a new ground.
04:17And I think more importantly, you know, at the time there was lots of bits not together.
04:24I definitely think the crowd are all together with the players.
04:27They were amazing at the game against Nottingham Forest.
04:30So, all in all, I think there's a lot of good things.
04:33We're beginning to get that feeling again back at the club and we want to try and build on it.
04:38You said that feeling. Does it feel like an identity back?
04:41Well, sometimes being the manager, you're not the right one to sort of say that.
04:46I can only tell you how I feel inside the training ground, how I feel with the players.
04:51I think the way they've gone about their jobs in the games has showed that they're committed,
04:55they're determined to try and get back to a better level than we've been.
04:58None of us enjoyed.
05:00I certainly didn't enjoy coming and taking over Everton where I did it then, you know, mid-January or whatever it was last year.
05:08Because every week you were worried, am I going to be going down or am I going to be staying up?
05:13So, I didn't like that feeling and I told the players that I wasn't going to do this club if that's the way it was going to be.
05:19I was only going to do it if we were progressing and no challenging near the top.
05:24So, we've got a lot to do.
05:26You could lose two games in this league and you could be near the bottom.
05:28You could win two games and you could be getting talked and going terms.
05:32So, it's a bit early for that, but I hope that we can keep it going and, you know, keep hanging in amongst it
05:37February, March time and then we can try and see what we can do in the final furlong.
05:42Well, that's it because you're currently a couple of points off fifth place in the last few years or so.
05:47When it's got to January, it's been about bringing in players to help in a relegation battle,
05:52but now the talk around the club is whether you can supplement your squad to spearhead a charge for Europe.
05:57Does that make it more difficult to move?
05:59No, but the truth is we're actually really, our squad at the moment is really short
06:03and we've got a lot of injuries, which we had a great result in midweek, but, you know, let's be fair,
06:09we've not got enough players at the moment and we're really short.
06:14So, we've got to either get them back from injury or back from the AFCON
06:17and we've brought Harrison Armstrong back, as we've talked about already.
06:21We're finding ways of supplementing the squad at the moment and we'll need to do that to try and get through this busy period.
06:28Do you think you're going to be able to add to the squad this month?
06:30I think if we found the right players and the players we want, we could do so.
06:34I think the club, the board have all been really supportive in saying yes,
06:39but I think finding the right players is the hard bit.
06:41I know we talk about every game being a difficult game in the Premier League,
06:44but this is obviously a game against Brentford which can determine league positions as well,
06:48given the proximity of the two sides.
06:50I just wonder what you think of the job as well that Keith Andrews is doing,
06:53following an act like Thomas Frank, who you know very well.
06:55Well, I have to say I think Keith Andrews has done a great job because Brentford, to be fair,
07:01are a really settled club, a really good club, got themselves well established in the Premier League.
07:07Thomas Frank done unbelievably there, but the club itself has done a great job in putting themselves in that position.
07:13Keith Andrews has taken over and stepped in and done the job so well.
07:18So, you're right about the points, as I said, you could win one, you could be up a few places,
07:23you could lose one, you could be down.
07:25So, it's so tight at the moment, it's hard to call.
07:29Thanks Vinny, we'll go to Fraser at Premier League Productions.
07:32Just following on from Tieno Barry, you've talked a lot about how pleased you are with the work that he's done,
07:37but is it just that little extra now to see some more goals coming in that would make him a lot happier,
07:43would make you a lot happier?
07:45Well, if you're going to be a centre forward, you need to score more than two goals, that's for sure.
07:49So, we need more goals.
07:51I say it in every press conference at the moment that we like him, he's improving,
07:56but goals will always probably be what we're going to have to judge you by.
08:00So, if he could go on a run, and I remind when I came in this time last year,
08:04Beto went on a great run of goals, which probably kept us up, and he done great.
08:10So, I'm hoping Tieno or Beto will be the ones who go on a great run of goals and get us goals in five or six games on the trot.
08:19That's the plan, hopefully.
08:21You've talked a lot about the character, particularly in the Forest game, given the lacking in numbers that you've got at the moment.
08:28Is that all entirely down to the players themselves, that show of character, or are there things that you can do as manager to try and foster that?
08:35Well, you hope that we can foster it in the daily work we do and the way we go about dealing with the players.
08:42But I think when you've got good characters, as you know, we've got a lot on the team who can do it.
08:47You know, sometimes they've been resilient in games where you would not expect them.
08:51We've had some amazing away results this season, but if I think back to last season,
08:56with probably a lesser team than this season, some of the away results last year were terrific as well.
09:03So, we've kept it going. I hope we can do it. I hope we can try and keep doing it in the remaining away games we've got this season as well.
09:11Thanks, Fraser. We'll go to Ian at Radio 1.
09:14Hi, Ian.
09:15Excuse me. Can I just check on Jack as he came on, obviously, the other nights.
09:20Has he fully passed the illness that he had recently?
09:23He's much better. He looks much better. He looks a lot fresher on the face and sharper,
09:29but he had a really bad illness and it affected him, sickness and all the other stuff that come with it.
09:35So, he's looking a bit better now and certainly back in training.
09:39I know you've talked about being a bit light on numbers, but when you look at people like Nathan Patterson and Merlin Roll and Tyler Dibbling have come in,
09:47how pleased have you been that those players have been able to come in and do a job?
09:51Yeah, I'm pleased, but I did expect them all to come in and be able to do jobs. I think, though, I think talking about them and adding them to the numbers is different.
10:00We needed them to make the numbers up because of the numbers we've got out at the moment.
10:06But, no, they all came through that game really well, done well.
10:10But Tyler's coming on. As we said, he's a bit younger than the others.
10:14So, Merlin's really just coming back from an injury and still getting used to coming here.
10:19So, pleased with how they performed.
10:22Thanks.
10:23Any further questions in the open section before we move on?
10:26No?
10:27Okay.
10:28Thank you guys.
10:29We'll see you next time.
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