Keown blasts Everton set-piece defending against Atalanta

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Everton suffered a huge 5-1 loss to Atalanta in the Europa League on Thursday night.

Martin Keown has not held back in his criticism of Everton’s defending when talking on BT Sport after the Toffees were completely outclassed by Serie A side Atalanta on Thursday night.

In what was a meaningless match in terms of the Toffees’ chances of qualification, interim manager David Unsworth still decided to field a strong side as he looks to prove his worth for the permanent role.

However, the likes of Wayne Rooney, Michael Keane and Ashley Williams failed to prevent the Toffees from being whitewashed by the Italian outfit as Atalanta strengthened their place at the top of Group E with a 5-1 win.

Speaking after the match, former England and Arsenal centre-back ridiculed Everton’s defending from set-pieces by claiming the players do not know what they are supposed to be doing – and blamed Unsworth for his part.

“Every time it came into the box, it looked like they [Atalanta] were going to score,” Keown said. “It’s the manager I’m afraid – the setup and the principles of the manager, set-pieces, what you believe in.

“There is a sort of routine that you work on, you know your role and responsibility at set-pieces, and it seemed that every Everton player simply did not know their role.”

Everton’s only goal of the game came through flop summer signing Sandro Ramirez, who started up front with Rooney, Davy Klaassen and Kevin Mirallas supporting the Spaniard.

Unsworth will be hoping his Merseyside outfit can put the dismal result behind them ahead of Sunday’s trip down south, as the Toffees look to go unbeaten in three Premier League outings by avoiding defeat against Southampton.