Naismith: I’m fouled a lot because I strive to win
Everton forward Steven Naismith believes that he is fouled a lot because of his desire to win football matches and says that he will keep putting his body on the line for Everton.
Naismith is second in the most fouled players in the Premier League this season with only Chelsea’s Eden Hazard ahead of him, but says he won’t change his game because he wants to be successful for Everton.
“It’s part and parcel of the game.
“The way I play is I put my all into the game and do everything to win.
“If that’s going into tackles or going up for a header when you might get hurt, then you just do it.
“It is about striving to win. I can’t say I’ve woken up and thought ‘I’ve had enough of this’.
“I’m happy to be on the pitch, playing and trying to be successful for Everton.”
Asked about the Europa League, Naismith says he hasn’t looked beyond this round.
“To be honest, there hasn’t been any chat of the last 16 because we know how cup competitions can work and how quickly things can change,” he said.
“We’ve given ourselves a very good chance after a very good performance and we deserve to be where we are, with a three goal advantage, but the second leg will be about doing a professional job and trying to play as well as we did out there, score more goals and cement our place in the next round.”
Naismith added: “Young Boys will need to be more attacking than they would have probably liked but that’s the nature of the game so I would expect them to be a bit more attacking.
“We need to exploit that and be patient, not rush things and take our chances to attack at the right times and make sure we capitalise.
“But that will all be secondary to us setting up well defensively and then to play our game going forward.”
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