Everton FC players responded to Goodison Park backlash, says Barry
Gareth Barry believes Everton responded to the backlash from the Goodison Park crowd against Dynamo Kyiv.
Supporters made their feelings known during the first half of last night’s Europa League last 16 clash after Roberto Martinez’s side had fallen to an Oleh Gusev strike.
Everton responded with goals from Steven Naismith and a late Romelu Lukaku penalty to take an advantage into next week’s return leg in the Ukraine.
And while Barry accepts the degree of frustration that he and his Blues team mates bore the brunt of from the stands during the early stages, the midfielder feels they were able to settle nerves through Naismith’s equaliser five minutes from the interval.
He said: “It’s not ideal. It can creep in as you saw there were a few anxious moments and the players can feel the heat.
“But the fans, it is their frustration and they are letting us know. We responded, especially in the second half. We dominated the whole of the second half.
“It probably was the goal [that] settled everyone down, including the crowd because, at the end of the day, the crowd can play a big part in the performance.
“It settled the team down, It settled the crowd down and from there, we grew in confidence and we’re slightly disappointed to only score two.”
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