Big job is needed to qualify after defeat, admits David Moyes

Mar 7 2008 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

DISAPPOINTED David Moyes admits Everton face a “big job” to keep their European dream alive after defeat to Fiorentina.

Late goals from Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Riccardo Montolivo sent the Goodison side crashing to a 2-0 loss in the UEFA Cup round of 16 first leg in Italy .

Only a man-of-the-match performance from goalkeeper Tim Howard prevented an even heavier beating as Everton struggled to impose themselves at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

Kuzmanovic gave Fiorentina the lead in the 70th minute with a low drive, before Montolivo volleyed in the second nine minutes from time. And Moyes admitted: “The better team won. Our performance wasn’t good enough tonight. But credit to Fiorentina, they played well.

“I think we didn’t start the game particularly well. We gave the initiative to Fiorentina. It’s a big job now. Fiorentina are a good team. But we’ll have to do better than tonight’s performance.”

While Moyes accepted too many of his players under-performed on the evening, he is confident Everton can produce a better display in the second leg.

“I thought some of our players didn’t play to their potential, that’s for sure,” he said. “In fact, the majority didn’t.

“But we have another game. We’re still in it and hopefully we can play much better than we did tonight.

“We still need to play clever in the second leg. They scored two goals in the last 20 minutes and we need to think about that ourselves.

“We’re all disappointed, but we’ve been playing very well this season and hopefully we can continue to play well. Tonight just wasn’t one of those nights.”

Fiorentina enjoyed the greater possession and peppered Howard’s goal with long-range shots.

And Moyes added: “We had had a couple of shots against us, we had a warning. We defended crosses well, but gave their midfield players chances to get their shots away.

“I didn’t think we ever get to the pace of the game. We never got right up the way we have been in recent months.

“Both goals could have been avoided but you have to give credit to their players for shooting.

“Fiorentina played well throughout, were good in all departments. They played very well as a team. Nothing surprised me about them, we knew they were a good team and they proved that.”

Everton captain Phil Neville admitted his team simply did not do themselves justice in the defeat.

He said: “We didn’t play at all tonight. We were a little bit negative in our play.”

He added: “The manager set us out to attack, but we were probably a little bit too cautious and didn’t get men forward. We didn’t play how we know we can – and that is always a let-down.”

But Neville insists all is not lost, adding: “We are still in it going back to Goodison. It will be a great atmosphere – and we know we have to play at a higher tempo, put them under pressure and play how Everton play.”

Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli gave a guarded welcome to his team’s victory.

“We played well tonight but we know the second leg will be an even more difficult game,” he said. “But we are playing with a lot of self-confidence at the moment.

“Even though we have won, we know we will need to work hard in the second leg. Everton were very well organised in defence and it was difficult to penetrate them in the area.

“They had a lot of players back, so shooting outside the area I thought would have been a good solution for us.”