Koeman not happy with Barkley and Lukaku criticism

Everton manager Ronald Koeman has defended Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku following their performances in the defeat to Liverpool.

Lukaku and Barkley came in for criticism following Everton's 3-1 defeat to their nearest rivals in Saturday's Merseyside derby, but Koeman feels the team as a whole did not perform and believes it was wrong for two players to be singled out. 

"What I don't like is too much individually about the performances of the players because it is a team, every individual is part of the team and the team was not good enough," Koeman told reporters ahead of Tuesday's game against Manchester United.

Koeman accepts neither played as well as well as they could but he feels it was unfair for the two players to be criticised for their performances.

"I said not too much individually but maybe some players didn't perform at the level what maybe they showed in the last few games. For Romelu, it was difficult. I spoke to Romelu, he was not really sharp, he was a little bit tired," Koeman added.

"He's the top scorer in the league. Why now about the Liverpool game do we need to criticise Rom? He's a great striker, he's working hard. It's a human boy, it's not always a 10, that's football and if you don't play football, maybe you don't understand it.

"Ross played in a little different position than he played in the last few weeks. Of course, he lost several balls in the midfield, instead of playing a little bit faster and no dribbling with the ball.

"He needs to improve in that, but to take out one or two players for criticism and that was the problem last Saturday, that's not fair. It's easy to give your opinion in front of the television without any responsibility.

"I'm happy, I see a lot of progress in the club, in the team, it's a whole season, it's not one game."

Victory at Old Trafford would see Everton move above Manchester United but Koeman is expecting a tough evening against Jose Mourinho's side.

"We know that they have difficulties at home in the last few results. They have a lot of ball possession and were the better team in every game," he explained.

"They are still a really strong team and we know some players will come back for them. It's a great stadium to play football and we like to play our way. We like to dominate the game but we know we need to defend United. 

"Big teams are above United at the moment. They won the League Cup and are still in the Europa League and are fighting for Champions League football. To make further conclusions about them we have to wait until the end of the season."

Manchester United's meeting with Everton on Tuesday is live on BT Sport, which is available as part of the eir Sport pack.