Koeman visibly displeased by Everton debacle

Everton’s long-standing duck in the EFL Cup continued into yet one more season after getting dumped out of the competition at home by Norwich City. Former player Steven Naismith scored the first while falling to the ground, before youngster Josh Murphy capped off a mazy run with an excellent finish to seal the game.

The Toffees were wasteful with their chances, seventeen shots in all. Gerard Deulofeu and Ross Barkley were the biggest culprits and manager Ronald Koeman no doubt learned that his squad was not deep enough to make six changes from and still get the same level of play from his top side.

After the game, Koeman didn’t say much, no doubt saving his harshest words for the players in the changing room.

“Of course I’m not happy about the final result because in cup football you don’t get a second chance. But I can’t criticise my players because they did everything to score the goal.

"We had enough chances to score the goal but we did not. You can make it difficult, but football is about scoring goals and, as you saw with the first goal for Norwich, you need a bit of luck.

“I don’t organise parties after 13 points from five games or have gripes after tonight. It’s football and we have to accept it. We are disappointed but from [Wednesday] we will prepare for the game against Bournemouth and we go on."

On the subject of the six changes he made to the side -

“All of them worked very hard tonight. It’s always difficult for these players. They did not play a lot at the start of the season and you can’t analyse them by one match.

“Everybody is working hard to get the chance and to play, but it's the whole team performance. If you see the second goal, it was a great goal but bad defending from four or five players - some who have played regularly.

“It’s always the whole team that is doing well or is not clinical enough. But, once again, I’m not disappointed in my players.

“It’s worse if you think the team did not work hard, did not press or did not do what we spoke about before the game - then it’s a problem. But this is not a problem tonight.”