Everton captain demands team “stand up and be counted” as they head to Millwall in FA Cup
Seamus Coleman has told his Everton side they need to “stand up and be counted” ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup tie at Millwall.
The Toffees lost 2-1 at Southampton on Saturday.
And captain Coleman had some harsh words about the display on the South Coast.
Everton follow up with a fourth round test at The Den in a televised 5.30pm kick-off. Millwall knocked Leicester City, then defending Premier League champions, AFC Bournemouth and Watford out of the competition on their way to the quarter-finals in 2017.
“They [Southampton] kind of out-battled us and that’s disappointing,” said Coleman. “I’ve been here a long time and the minimum when you play for Everton is that you battle to the very end and keep fighting.
“They beat us to second balls a lot and that’s the biggest disappointment from our point of view.
“There is no magic potion – we just need to work hard and keep battling. At the minute we are not getting back-to-back wins, which always breeds confidence.
“We all have to look ourselves in the mirror and ask if we performed well enough or did enough for the shirt. I think a lot of us will say that we didn’t.
“You don’t want to keep saying that we had new players coming in and trying to organise that – as a whole we need to be better. We need to stand up and be counted. At the minute, we all need to do better.”