Mathias Normann: We will turn this around

“I think our performance was quite good actually and we played well, it’s just the small margins in football,” he said. “I believe if we keep working like we do, we will turn this around together.”

Everton took the lead when Andros Townsend scored a penalty in the first-half, which was awarded when David Coote and VAR decided that Ozan Kabak had fouled Allan in the box.

“I haven’t seen it yet, but from my angle on the pitch, it looked like he fell down before the touch,” Normann said. “If you saw Ronaldo last week, he did the same and didn’t get a penalty, so I don’t know. I’m not the ref, but from my angle it wasn’t a penalty. I haven’t seen the video.”

Despite the result, Normann remains full of faith in the project his team is working towards.

“The boss wants us to be brave on the ball and press high,” he said. “I feel we were more brave in the second half and showed that we have a lot of quality in this team. I had a couple of shots that were a little bit dangerous and we had a couple of crosses that were dangerous. It’s small details.

“Okay, the result is 2-0 to Everton, but it’s not a 2-0 game. We were a little bit unlucky and, in my opinion, we performed well. I believe in this project, we have good quality players and we are a good team. Together, if we keep working well in training, we will turn this around, for sure.

“Of course, it’s frustrating, but you don’t feel it too much on the pitch. You just keep going and working. We lost the ball in the midfield and they punished us really hard.

“If we keep our heads up and keep working, I believe in the boss’ project. I’m not worried at all because in training we have quality players, a quality team, quality staff and everything. We need to turn small details our way and we will be fine for sure.”

Normann was substituted in the second half, but explained that the change was a tactical one and not related to any injury concerns.

“No injury, I just need to get used to the intensity and the tempo in the Premier League, so now two games of 70 minutes and I’m getting there,” he said.

“It’s intense, fun and a lot of running. I think this league suits me well and this team suits me very well. I’m only looking forward to what’s coming. We will turn this around together.”