Roberto Martinez vowed to repay Everton’s fans for a ‘horrible’ derby defeat when he takes his side to Wembley on Saturday.
Wednesday’s 4-0 defeat to Liverpool was a miserable evening for the Blue side of Merseyside.
As well as the heavy defeat to their local rivals, Everton lost
John Stones and
Gareth Barry to fresh injury worries and
Ramiro Funes Mori to suspension.
Liverpool were on top in the first half but it looked like the Blues would make it to half time with the score at 0-0 - only for the home side to strike twice in quick succession before the break.
Martinez said: “Nobody deserved to experience that - no fan or player deserved to be in that situation or chain of events. We need to move on quickly and repay our fans with a proper performance and showing in the semi-final of the FA Cup.
"That game is so close to us that I don’t think we should dwell on this one for too long because you have to focus on Saturday. It was a horrible experience for everyone connected to the football club.
“We need to regroup and make sure we have that opportunity to give the fans what they deserve - a chance to get in the final.
“We need to regroup and make sure we have that opportunity to give the fans what they deserve - a chance to get in the final.
“It was a game that probably changed on the two actions that we didn’t defend well enough in the period before half time. Clearly we lost concentration. For the first 40 minutes we had a different focus, a different way about us. We gave them a soft cushion of two goals that just before half time was a massive blow.”
The Everton manager said he believed Mori’s tackle on Divock Origi was a result of the emotion of the derby - before admitting the game was over as a contest after that incident.
He continued: “We tried to regroup and the first action is the red card. From that point on the game becomes a non-event and a horrible, horrible experience especially with the big game we have around the corner.
“Ramiro tries to win the ball, that was his intent. He doesn’t try to hurt the player or contact the player. It is a mis-timed challenge - it could have been a yellow card, it could have been a red card. I can understand why the referee gave it. Probably Ramiro got carried away with the emotion of the derby.
“Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. At half time we lost
Gareth Barry through injury and then
John Stones falls victim to illness with some stomach cramps. We already have
Phil Jagielka injured in that position and we ended up with two midfielders in those positions.
“It’s Gareth’s groin so he is very doubtful. He felt it very close to half time so we’ll see the extent of it. Maybe he came off at the right time.”
Tell you something, can't believe he's trying to defend Mori, I love the lad but that was a disgraceful challenge, because IMO, Mori had no intention of going for the ball.
