Onwards and upwards now for Everton, says Allardyce

Everton beat Huddersfield Town 2-0 at Goodison Park to finally record their first consecutive wins of the 2017-18 season. New manager Sam Allardyce was happy to start off with a win, and went on to claim credit for his halftime team talk that sparked the Blues opener.

“We changed the tactics at half-time by telling Aaron Lennon and Gylfi Sigurdsson to sit in the holes, not to chase their full-backs all the way back on top of our full-backs.. that gave them a bit more freedom when we won the ball back, because we could pop it into them and they were further up the pitch when they were receiving the ball.

"That helped us get the first goal. It was a super bit of talent with the flick and the finish but I think if that situation happened in the first half, Gylfi would have been too far back to actually get it in the box. It was a very important goal at that particular time.

“It was a lovely little flick to get Gylfi in on goal and I am so pleased for Dominic Calvert-Lewin that he got his goal after his work on the front line. For a young centre-forward learning his trade in the Premier League, to get that goal for us at that particular time just killed Huddersfield off.”

On his approach to the job so far -

“I know my responsibility to the football club and the fans and I know they want as attractive football as they can possibly get, but I also know they want to see people who dig in, work hard and roll up their sleeves for the cause.

“If I take a job I am fully, 100 per cent committed and I do not take jobs in any other circumstances. I have turned down many a job before this one but I felt this one to be right for me.

“It is a dream job for me and I will give it 100 per cent. And getting a win in my first game after the fantastic victory on Wednesday night is great. Let us hope it is onwards and upwards now.”

The quick six points Everton have picked up in the last few days has settled the nerves around the club -

“That has taken the pressure off us all, I am glad to say.

“It just shows you, at this stage of the season, what back-to-back wins can bring to a team who have been struggling in their past few games.

“All of a sudden, you get this quick turnaround and it will give the confidence of the players a big boost, and that is very, very important.

“They should feel good about themselves at the moment. They have had a bit of stick recently, so everybody at the stadium today appreciated the win, as they did on Wednesday and, hopefully, we can continue in the right frame of mind... and grow and grow and grow, as we have done in the past two games.”