France international midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin has backed countrymen Lucas Digne and Kurt Zouma to continue delivering high-class performances after the defensive duo's displays in a busy week for Everton.
The two summer signings both featured as Everton beat Rotherham United in the Carabao Cup before retaining their places in the starting line-up for the draw with Huddersfield Town.
Former Barcelona left-back Digne and on-loan Chelsea man Zouma caught the eye on their first Premier League starts for the Toffees and Schneiderlin is confident their match action will significantly help the pair's attempts to quickly bed into Marco Silva's team.
“They are two very good players, we know that,” Schneiderlin told evertontv. “Two games in a matter of days is not easy but they both produced very good performances.
“We need that for the rest of the season.
“They are settling well and add depth to the squad. They are very nice guys and good players, which makes it easy. They speak good English, too.
“All the players are going to take the time to get to know them even better and I’m sure everyone will improve.”
Schneiderlin was at his influential best in the Blues’ engine room against Huddersfield. His 87 touches were the most of anyone on the pitch and his pass completion rate of 93.2 per cent the highest of any of the game's 22 starters.
His two tackles, pair of interceptions and three clearances also aided the Toffees' bid to limit the visitors' threat going forward.
But he was left vexed that the Toffees only walked away from Goodison Park with one point after encountering a resilient Terriers rearguard.
Schneiderlin acknowledges Everton must find the “little bit of magic” needed to unlock teams that come to the Grand Old Lady with a plan to frustrate the attacking style of play introduced by manager Marco Silva.
“It is frustrating of course when we wanted to win the game,” he added. “But we lacked that little bit of magic to get the three points against this kind of team who come here and just defend.
“Huddersfield defended very deep and had 11 players in the final third. It is very hard but we needed to produce a bit more magic – something like a one-two, a shot, a dribble that could put them into trouble. We couldn’t produce that so it is disappointing.
“We expect teams to come and defend. But it is up to us to find the solution to win. We could see in the World Cup that a lot of teams defend very deep and it is hard to play against that. At the moment, these kinds of teams are picking up points.
“It is up to the teams trying to break them down to find the solutions. It is up to us - attackers, midfielders and defenders - to create some problems and put them in trouble.”
