Romelu Lukaku thinks he and his Everton teammates need to show “more maturity” after they were beaten 3-2 away at Watford on Saturday, their fifth Premier League game without a win.
Lukaku opened the scoring for the Toffees when he latched onto a Gareth Barry pass after 17 minutes at Vicarage Road but the Hornets came back into the game and went 3-1 up thanks to two goals from Stefano Okaka and another from Sebastian Prodl. Lukaku grabbed his second of the game with four minutes of normal time remaining but it was too little too late for Ronald Koeman’s side.
"When we work harder on the pitch we get more chances. The last 10 to 15 minutes of the game we created enough chances to equalise or win the game,” Lukaku told the Liverpool Echo.
"But we didn't start the second half well. We didn't pay enough attention at set plays and lost organisation and shape after the first 30 minutes.
"It's always the same story. We always need to get a knock before we react and that needs to stop."
Remarkably, despite their poor run of form, Everton are still 9th in the Premier League going into two consecutive home matches against Arsenal and Merseyside rivals Liverpool and Lukaku thinks hard work and the support of their fans will be key to getting them back on track.
"We need to work harder and be focused. We need the fans at Goodison as well and we need to get them back onside,” he said.
"We need to talk as a group, we can't continue like that. We need to show a bit more maturity and be honest with each other as well.”
The Belgian, who was the subject of a reported £65 million bid from former club Chelsea in the summer, has now scored nine times this season and his brace at Watford was the first time he’d netted in four matches.
"You want to play to win," he said. "I try to do my best and score the goals so we win, but I would rather win and not score than lose and score.”
Ronald Koeman has come under fire for the underwhelming start he’s made to his Everton tenure since moving from Southampton in the summer but Lukaku believes the Dutchman will get it right in time.
"The manager is really trying to change the way we start and if you give him enough time I think he'll change it,” he said.
"He has good plans for the whole team but if we perform like that it's going to get difficult."