Lukaku: Teamwork kept us focused against City

Everton manager Ronald Koeman had stated very clearly before the game that the Blue would need to defend as a team to come away with anything from the Etihad. In the end, they flustered Manchester City enough to come away with a very hard-earned point, and it was the players that motivated each other at halftime, says striker Romelu Lukaku.

The Belgian striker scored a very well-taken goal to put the Toffees ahead halfway through the second half, but saw the visitors then pegged back with a Nolito equalizer.

"When you're under pressure like that against the best team in the League at the moment you have to be tough mentally and defend well.

"Be as a team.

"That's what told eachother at half time - we had to encourage eachother and be positive.

"We had to be patient, defend well and try to take our chances."

He talked about his goal relieving the pressure -

"When we got the lead I thought if we could get the second it'd be a totally different game.

"But you have to be focused and we lacked a bit of focus when they scored. After that we defended well for the rest of the game."

Lukaku also commented on Koeman’s tactical change to take advantage of the three-man backline -

"In the first half we tried three up front for the first 20 minutes and it didn't work out.

"Then when we played two up front and a diamond in midfield we were good on the counter attack.

"But I think we have to be lucky with one point. City were good - they have top quality players. We have to be happy with the draw and keep going."