Silva: Everton Stars Creating 'Special' Bond

Marco Silva says the “fantastic team spirit” being created in Everton’s dressing room is helping inspire the Blues’ current run of productive form.

Everton have claimed 16 points from the past 21 available and won four matches on the bounce at Goodison Park following Saturday’s 1-0 success over Cardiff City.

Gylfi Sigurdsson scored the decisive goal against Neil Warnock’s team, the Icelander sweeping the ball home after Theo Walcott’s initial shot was parried by goalkeeper Neil Etheridge.

Attacker Walcott had sustained a knock early in the second half but recovered to pinch possession and carry the ball half the length of the pitch before drawing a stop from Etheridge.

Walcott’s determination to continue playing after being hurt followed the similar example of Richarlison shaking off the effects of an early blow to score twice when Everton beat Brighton & Hove Albion three weeks ago.

And at Chelsea a fortnight ago, Sigurdsson ploughed on for another 50-odd minutes after being on the end of a painful first-half challenge from home midfielder Jorginho.

“I think we are creating a very, very good team spirit,” Silva told evertontv.

“For me, it is really important and I told our players how it is important to create something special in our dressing room.

“It is not just what I can see on the pitch – where it is most important, of course – but I can see what we are creating every day at Finch Farm.


“A fantastic team spirit, the fantastic way the players work – they are always open to work. Our players know to achieve something important, to achieve good results, we have to work really hard as a team and that is what we are doing.”

The three points earned by Sigurdsson’s 59th-minute strike against Cardiff saw Everton vault above Bournemouth, Watford and Manchester United and into the Premier League’s top six.

Five of Silva's six outfield summer recruits started the weekend's match. The sixth, Kurt Zouma, was a late substitute, having played 10 successive games before being ruled out of the visit to parent club Chelsea. And Silva's half-dozen new boys have struck an instant rapport with the Club's established core of players.

Everton’s latest Goodison win followed the pattern of their preceding three home victories, when the Toffees went into half-time on level terms before capitalising on their superiority after the break.


Cardiff, however, refused to go quietly after falling behind and subjected the Blues’ goal to a good deal of pressure in the game’s closing stages.

Jordan Pickford turned away a stinging drive from midfielder Victor Camarasa and Josh Murphy’s goalbound strike deep into stoppage time was superbly blocked by Lucas Digne.

And Everton manager Silva drew as much satisfaction from the way his side stood up to Cardiff’s late barrage – with Warnock’s team raining balls into the Blues’ penalty area via a mix of high crosses and Exocet throw-ins delivered by Aron Gunnarsson – as he did any other aspect of an accomplished performance.

“The game was always open because Cardiff are strong on offensive set-pieces and with their long throws,” added Silva.

“In that moment [when Cardiff were hunting an equaliser] we were strong, we showed good maturity during the match, which is important.

“What I saw on the pitch was nothing different from what I expected, which was a tough match.

“We scored the first goal and after that we had enough chances to score a second and kill the match. We didn’t kill it, though, and until the end it was always open.

“But I am happy we achieved an important win and another three points. We deserved the three points, no doubts about that. We were always in control of the game.

“It is one more win and one more clean sheet, so it is good for us.”