MY ACCOUNT
Abdoulaye Doucoure admits Everton must find their shooting boots quickly to avoid Premier League relegation.
The Merseysiders are the top tier’s joint-lowest scorers this term, having found the net only 22 times in 28 outings.
Richarlison’s departure to Tottenham last summer and Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s injury woes have left the Toffees short of a prolific marksman for much of the campaign.
But Doucoure — who netted in a morale-boosting 2-2 draw at Chelsea prior to the international break — is making no excuses for his side’s poor season in front of goal.
The midfielder, 30, told the club’s official website: “We have to score more. Everyone.
“I include myself, of course. Sometimes I blame myself because I’ve had a couple of chances that I didn’t score.
“We have to be more ruthless in the box and it is not the responsibility of any one person. We have to look at ourselves and take the responsibility to score more goals that will win us games.”
Team effort
Although results have improved since Sean Dyche replaced Frank Lampard two months ago, Everton are still in real danger of the drop, only two points from safety in 15th place.
Demarai Gray tops the Toffees’ scoring charts this season with four league strikes, followed by Dwight McNeil and the now departed Anthony Gordon on three.
Dyche has confirmed that Calvert-Lewin, who bagged 29 top-flight goals across 2019-20 and 2020-21, is back in light training but will not feature against Tottenham on Monday evening.
Yet Doucoure remains confident that the club’s other forwards will step up to the plate in the coming weeks.
He added: “Dom has had his injury problem and we have to give him the right time to recover and be strong.
“We can’t wait around for him to come back and even when he is back we can’t put all the pressure on him. There are no excuses.
“We have good players. Neal Maupay is a good player, Ellis Simms has done great with us since he’s been back and we all have to take responsibility.
“Then, when Dom does come back that is great for us.”
