Jagielka: We players need to take the pressure off the manager
Everton skipper Phil Jagielka says the fans are correct to vent their frustrations at team performances and results, but says that the players need to buck their ideas up and perform better.
A disappointing campaign has seen Everton get their lowest points total for the amount of games played in 88 years and sees Bradford beating more Premier League teams in 2015, but Jags says they hope to improve the bad mood in the dressing room.
“The fans were great tonight. It has been a difficult season to watch us because the performances have not been as good as last season,” Jagielka said.
“They are going to vent their frustrations, it is normally the manager that gets it as he is head of the food chain.
“But, we as players know we need to buck our ideas up, start performing better and take pressure off him, pressure off ourselves and start getting some more points.”
“We know we need to concentrate on our league form,” he said.
“We have 10 games left now and need to pull our finger out and start picking up points.”
Asked if he felt Everton were now in a relegation fight, he said: “Yeah, I think so.
“With 10 games to go that is not where you want to be.
“We still have that six point gap but we are not taking anything lightly. We have some tough games coming up and we are not where we want to be so need to start winning sooner, rather than later.”
Jagielka added: “We’re obviously down. They came at us and scored a fantastic headed goal in off the post. We put them under pressure in the second half and they scored the second one.
“I’m a little disappointed with the way we conceded it and I thought there was a foul on the halfway line.
“But it still doesn’t change the result and there is a bad mood in the changing room.”
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