Marco Silva claims Richarlison is ‘spirit’ of Everton dressing room

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Everton beat Wolves 3-2 on Sunday afternoon, with Richarlison scoring twice.

Everton boss Marco Silva has told the Liverpool Echo that forward Richarlison is ‘the spirit’ of the dressing room at Goodison Park.

The Toffees were in action against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday afternoon, and played out a frankly bonkers game of football.

It was 2-1 inside 12 minutes as Richarlison opened the scoring, only for Romain Saiss to equalise for Wolves and then Everton go back in front through Alex Iwobi’s header.

Raul Jimenez looked to have rescued a point for Wolves, but Richarlison had the last laugh as he headed home Lucas Digne’s cross to seal all three points for Everton.

The Brazilian – a big-money signing from Watford in 2018 – hadn’t really impressed in the early weeks of the season, but got on the scoresheet against Lincoln City in the 4-2 Carabao Cup win in midweek.

Richarlison celebrated his goal by putting his finger to his lips, seemingly attempting to shush those who have criticised his performances in the early stages of the season.

Silva has now suggested that Richarlison’s celebration showed that he needs the big moments to gain confidence, and highlighted that he didn’t have a full pre-season with Everton due to Copa America.

Silva feels that Everton couldn’t do miracles by having Richarlison up to speed in the early stages of the season, but praised him as a ‘fantastic’ player and the ‘spirit’ of the Everton dressing room.

“Richarlison is the type of player that needs good performances and if possible to win more confidence in the way he likes to play,” said Silva. “The way he celebrated the last goal against Lincoln shows he needs these kinds of moments. Last season, he did all the pre-season for us. This season he did Copa America and after was on holiday and started the first game against Crystal Palace with 13 days working with us. Miracles we cannot do.”

“He needs time like all the players to be best physical condition. He scored two really important goals for us. He will keep improving for sure. We are talking about a fantastic football player and a fantastic boy. He is the spirit inside our dressing room,” he added.