I heard Graeme Souness’ comments about Demarai Gray’s penalty and I don’t really get this kind of negativity within the national media towards Everton.
I’m very critical of them at times – both on and off the field – because they’re my club, and while I understand what it’s like to be a player, now I’m a fan.
My expectations are maybe a bit over the top at times but it’s because I want the best for the football club. I’ll call them out when I feel I need to but I’ll also give them praise when they do well.
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But when Souness is being negative about a player who has just scored a penalty and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way, there’s no need for it. Why bring it up?
I wonder if it was someone playing for Liverpool or Newcastle United he’d have said ‘fantastic composure, great penalty’ yet he told us it was a poor strike.
If Keylor Navas had gone the correct way he might have saved it but there were a lot of ifs, buts and maybes, so why is he being like that? Graeme has got a big voice in football.
When a player puts the ball in the back of the net, there’s no room for something like that when he’s sat in a Sky Sports studio. Gray hadn’t played for a long time, it was his first start under Sean Dyche and there was pressure on him to show his new manager what he could do.
He had the bravery to pick the ball up, put it on the spot, sent the keeper the wrong way and put us in the lead. That deserves plaudits.
We’ve got to look after ourselves but it’s up to the players to feed off that negativity. If they’re questioning you – and I was questioned in the ECHO when I played for Everton – you feed off that because you want to prove people wrong and prove it to yourself too.
You want to prove it to your team-mates, the manager and of course the fans that you’re fit to put that shirt on. I think our players are starting to do that under Dyche and a lot better than under Frank Lampard.
It was the kind of penalty that reminded me of one I took against Southampton. It might not have been a big thing for others but it meant a lot to me.
I’d not been getting a run of games, I’d been on the bench and had to bide my time, working hard in training, being patient to wait for my opportunity.
It came when we faced Southampton at Goodison Park. I knew the goalkeeper (Paul Jones) and I always went to the goalie’s right so that was pressure to me because I was thinking ‘if I miss this, I’m definitely not going to play next week.’
It was in front of the Gwladys Street, an end I’d never scored in front of at the time. That’s what I loved about taking penalties, whereas football is a team game and you need your team-mates to help you and you win and lose together, but when you step up to the spot it’s like being a boxer, it’s your wits and ability against the keeper’s.
Sometimes when the goalkeeper knows your preferences, he can start playing games with you but I stuck it into the other corner which I’d never done before. It wasn’t like it was the last minute in a World Cup final but it was a little tick for me that I could handle the pressure with the eyes of Walter Smith burning down the back of me.
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