WATCH: Koeman says this City side is the best he’s ever faced

Ronald Koeman looked quite relieved and pleased that his Everton team had withstood the siege from Manchester City, and were able to leave the Etihad with a point.

He started off praising goalie Maarten Stekelenburg who had an excellent game after some shaky performances in the last couple of weeks.

“Maybe the goalkeeper played his best game ever.

“We know Maarten is a very good goalkeeper but to save two penalties and two more shots from Kevin de Bruyne was fantastic.

“Of course, you need luck to get a good result but I think we got the result today because the fighting spirit of the team was unbelievable. That’s what we needed because they are the best team that I have played against in my managerial career.”

Koeman went on to talk about the final result -

“I'm pleased with the point. We didn’t deserve more, I know. Maybe we didn’t deserve one, counting chances, two penalties missed but football is unpredictable and the key to get a point was the belief and the work rate of the players.

“It was good to show the fighting spirit after just two days of preparation [after the international break]. The intensity of the whole game was unbelievably high. We did not get a second when we were on the ball. I’ve mentioned it several times to our team that we need this because this is football, the highest level of European football.”

On striker Romelu Lukaku, whose wonderful finish had put the Blues ahead.

“We know Romelu is one of the best strikers because he is strong, he keeps the ball and, normally, if he gets a chance he scores.

“In the one-v-one situation, how he finished that chance today was world class.”