Season › 2014-15 › News
Blues not thinking about relegation
John Stones insists that Everton are not yet looking nervously over their shoulders at the proximity of the bottom three, saying that their focus is squarely on the next game.
The Blues' failure to beat West Bromwich Albion at Goodison on Monday evening leaves them just four points above the relegation zone. But the young defender says that the players never focus on League position and that they are looking at building on four successive draws when they return from warm-weather training camp in Qatar.
Stones, whose return to the side has coincided with a noticeable improvement at the back, was asked if the players are contemplating the "R" word.
"Definitely not," he insisted. “We are just focused on the next game and the game after that. We are just taking each game as it comes. We never look at the table or focus on that. We are always talking between ourselves on how we are playing and how we can improve, we have just got to keep going in the same direction and keep playing with the passion we showed tonight and in the last few games.
“We're all gutted and everyone who was here [that night] will be as well,”he added. “We dominated the game and I thought we should've taken the three points.
Instead of looking down the table, Stones is focusing on the positives that came out of the goalless draw against Tony Pulis' Baggies, among them a first clean sheet of the New Year.
“The last few games have been really encouraging and I thought we took that into the game today and, as I say, I thought we should've got the three points," he continued
“You have got to take the positives out of this: we got a clean sheet and created a lot of chances but didn't take them. The final ball and lack of patience in trying to score and that bit of spark in the final third, was missing. We kept it quite well around their box and created chances but we need to do better in those areas.”
Quotes sourced from Liverpool Daily Post
Reader Comments (37)
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2 Posted 21/01/2015 at 16:53:03
3 Posted 21/01/2015 at 16:54:39
4 Posted 21/01/2015 at 17:25:49
5 Posted 21/01/2015 at 17:16:55
On a side note, IÂ’ve just spent the last few minutes looking at the league table on bbc sport. It really is unbelievable. Only Everton and Sunderland, in the entire league, have not managed more than one league win out of their last 10 league games......
WeÂ’ve taken a pitiful 6 points from the last 30 available - how the fuck is the manager still in the job? My main worry with the WBA game was that weÂ’d draw, thereby allowing BK to keep sitting on the fence and not do anything. Had we lost on Monday I believe RM would already be gone, now we trudge onto the next game with the manager basically on death row....
The only turn around would be like that which happened with Pardew at the barcodes where, although the fans wanted him gone, the players showed that they still believed in him. Would it be dreaming too much to think that our players could do the same after the Â’bonding in the sunÂ’ over the next few days?
I keep thinking Â’next bad result and heÂ’s goneÂ’ and then we get a draw and the death by a thousand slices continues.....we need an end to this soon, one way or another. Unfortunately nothingÂ’s going to happen for 10 days.
6 Posted 21/01/2015 at 17:34:47
They should all be banned from speaking to the press especially if theyÂ’re going to speak crap like "created a lot of chances "
7 Posted 21/01/2015 at 17:40:01
I doubt if any team in the premier or the championship could not have kept a clean sheet against a team that did not want to cross the half way line.
8 Posted 21/01/2015 at 17:58:16
9 Posted 21/01/2015 at 18:26:43
10 Posted 21/01/2015 at 18:15:39
WELL THEY BLOODY SHOULD BE!
Vast improvement required or the majority of the squad will be sold if we go down and the stadium move will be off.
We are in a very serious position and this pretence that we are doing okay is laughable.
Wake up and smell the coffee boys, us fans are not as daft as you may think we are!
11 Posted 21/01/2015 at 18:38:56
Rather than the nicey, nicey media friendly approach,we should be looking to develop a siege mentality, us against the rest.
12 Posted 21/01/2015 at 18:59:11
13 Posted 21/01/2015 at 19:50:28
14 Posted 21/01/2015 at 21:02:07
Everton are four without defeat and I can not see any more heavy defeats if he plays the way he has been playing.
If Everton could score more than there chances, then Everton would challenge for the league.
15 Posted 21/01/2015 at 21:10:35
Lost in translation maybe.
16 Posted 21/01/2015 at 22:49:02
17 Posted 21/01/2015 at 22:52:04
I hope Stones keeps his confidence up and his errors to a minimum as I think he is sailing very close to the wind. We shouldn't have to rely on such a young lad as our best defender as he will make mistakes and at this stage if the season they will be crucial.
18 Posted 21/01/2015 at 23:16:31
19 Posted 22/01/2015 at 00:58:45
Also, thank fuck we did keep a clean sheet against WBA, because we were never going to score two goals to beat them. In fact, we would have struggled to get one goal. Goals change games, and Pulls and WBA really would have parked the bus had they went a goal up.
That’s my problem with this rumour that Martinez does not believe in defending. If true, then that is bloody unbelievable. Is he really that naïve. Anyone who has ever played the game knows that it is important to defend and to keep a clean sheet. Means that you at least don’t lose.
I honestly find that incredulous if true about Martinez. Anyhow hereÂ’s hoping that Stones keeps fit for the remainder of the season. Everton need him.
20 Posted 22/01/2015 at 02:37:15
21 Posted 22/01/2015 at 02:38:42
The Phenomenal 15th with 62% possession.
Comes with free copy of the Magnificent 7th.
23 Posted 22/01/2015 at 03:57:46
24 Posted 22/01/2015 at 04:35:44
25 Posted 22/01/2015 at 09:58:02
26 Posted 22/01/2015 at 12:49:07
27 Posted 22/01/2015 at 14:10:02
28 Posted 22/01/2015 at 14:10:10
They had 5 shots, 0 on target.
It's stats like these that really blow Roberto's pubes back. These are also the stats Stones is referring to, one would imagine.
29 Posted 22/01/2015 at 16:04:59
Typical – a high is always followed by a low.
30 Posted 22/01/2015 at 16:16:33
31 Posted 22/01/2015 at 17:30:35
Do they realise who they got after the Palace game?
Liverpool and Chelsea – can't see Everton winning any of those too.
I hate to say it but I really do think that Everton will be in the bottom 3 comes the UEFA game against BSC Young Boys. What has happened at Everton FC? Why haven't they performed like the team they were last season?
It's fucking madness.
32 Posted 22/01/2015 at 20:23:52
33 Posted 23/01/2015 at 13:30:45
34 Posted 23/01/2015 at 19:02:07
That worries me more!
35 Posted 24/01/2015 at 11:38:44
We were all delighted by last season but by it's end we had been well and truly sussed. A new approach was called for and your man has proved very reluctant to change anything.
A locally based journo tells me that Martinez's charm and co-operation 'with the boys' has saved him from a 'going over' so far... but pencils are being sharpened for the Palace game. Not a minute too soon, to my mind!
36 Posted 24/01/2015 at 15:42:37
37 Posted 25/01/2015 at 16:15:24
38 Posted 28/01/2015 at 04:46:24
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1 Posted 21/01/2015 at 16:49:25