Garner: Keep Up The Intensity

James Garner has called on his Everton teammates to continue with the same high intensity when the Blues travel to Molineux to take on Wolves this weekend.

Sean Dyche’s side travel to the Black Country on Saturday (3pm GMT kick-off), looking to get back on track after producing strong displays but ultimately being left frustrated in their past two games against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City respectively.

Both encounters saw decisions go against Everton and while Garner admits it’s hard not to feel deflated by being on the wrong end of decisions in the moment, he insists he and his teammates will be raring to go again when they take on in-form Wolves.

“Calls are just not going our way at the moment, but that is just football,” Garner said.

“Especially against the opposition we are playing, Tottenham [Hotspur], who are one of the best teams, and [Manchester] City, who are arguably the best team in the world at the moment.

“It was a tough result [to take on Wednesday] considering I felt we played really well in the first-half.

“I thought we were in the game for large amounts of it, and when decisions don’t quite go in your favour, it is a tough one.

“I am not sure what happened in the second-half, whether we came away from our game plan or they just upped the ante a little bit. It is a disappointing result.

“The penalty was the penalty, and the other two goals were goals we should have never conceded.

“The third one was an error, and the second one was one we worked on the training ground yesterday, and we knew that was coming so that was a bit sloppy from us.”

Everton’s goal in the 3-1 defeat to Manchester City came from a high-press that forced the newly-crowned Club World Cup champions into a mistake that gifted Dwight McNeil the opportunity to slide the ball across to Jack Harrison to slot home.

Garner is relishing the team’s set up and approach under Dyche and believes the manager’s methods will continue to see the Blues take strides forward. 

“The manager had us set up really well,” he continued. “We nicked a few balls quite high [up the pitch], that’s how we scored the first goal. We can take that into our next game [and build upon that].

“It is massive. Going into that game, the bottom half of the table is quite close now, so every game counts and matters. Of course it is one we will be going there to win.”