Everton FC player Sylvain Distin visiting a training session
Defeat hurts more at Everton – because it is most passionate dressing room of my career, says Sylvain Distin
SYLVAIN DISTIN insists defeat hurts more at Everton – because it is the most passionate dressing room of his lengthy career.
The experienced French defender has played for eight clubs during a 16-year spell in football, but said the commitment and desire to succeed among the current Goodison squad is unparalleled.
That’s why Distin admits Everton’s players are hurting so badly after their woeful FA Cup quarter final defeat by Wigan Athletic on Saturday, but he warns they must not wallow too long with the visit of his former club Manchester City looming quickly on the horizon.
He said: “This must be the most passionate dressing room I’ve been part of since I’ve been in football. When you’re that passionate and you lose it really hurts.
“We’re not happy but we know City will be tough and we need to focus on it.”
The former Paris St German, Newcastle and Portsmouth defensive linchpin believes the second half of last Saturday’s cup exit was among the most frustrating of his career, as Everton vainly searched for a foot-hold in a tie which saw them fall 3-0 behind in under four first-half minutes.
“It was one of the most frustrating times for me,” said the 35-year-old. “I don’t think 3-0 reflected the first half really either. We had a lot of the ball and were on top quite a bit. Then for three minutes we made some mistakes and conceded those goals.
“It hurt everybody but we’ve got to recover from that and we’ve got to do it pretty soon. We don’t have time to wallow. I don’t want people to think we don’t care. It’s not that but the games come up so quickly that you have to be ready. We have to be focused on that City game.
“We’ve looked at the Wigan game again, spoken about it and now we need to move on.”
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