Everton: Ronald Koeman welcomes international break

Everton manager Ronald Koeman admits he is relieved to have a breather, in light of the recent up and down form from his team.

Professional athletes often say after a loss, they prefer to play again as soon as possible, in an attempt to bounce back. However, what about when you’re on a bad run of form with seemingly no end in sight; case in point being Everton.

Some people will point to the recent wins over Sunderland and Bournemouth. However, the reality is those victories came against a Championship side in the League Cup and a team second bottom in the Premier League.

The fact of the matter is, Everton have lost four of their opening seven league games this season. And if you want to go back to the 2016/17 campaign, they have lost seven of their last 12 league fixtures and picked up just 11 points out of a possible 36. (Relegation over the course of a full season, in case you’re wondering.)

Now of course, statistics can often be manipulated to support almost any argument. Regardless, it seems clear Everton needed some time to regroup and reassess their options.

With this in mind, the international break theoretically couldn’t have come at a better time. The Blues do not play again until Oct. 15, when they travel away to face Brighton Hove Albion.

Not one to lack confidence in himself, even Ronald Koeman sounds like he agrees the international break came at a good time. As reported by The Mirror‘s David Anderson, Koeman said:

"“Maybe, sometimes, it is good for everyone to freshen up…It is all about the result at the weekend. Of course, you like to work with the players every day to improve the team, but maybe in this situation it is good to have the break.”"

Of course, there’s only so long you can run away from your problems – not that Koeman strikes you as that type of person. In any event, while the current break relieves some of the pressure temporarily, the manager and his players have to deal with the problems at some point.