Barkley: Koeman has instilled a hunger to win

The Barca job can wait while we become successful.

Next game will see if indeed the team is improving.

I'm glad Ross has spoken in this way. To me, he and other players now need to always step up to the plate when they're criticised instead of bleating to their agent or going awol in matches. We've seen too much of that for many, many years.

And that's not a criticism of him because I really appreciate his qualities as a manager. I'd expect Barca to come calling after we qualify for the Champions League or actually win something, not before.

"They've just got shut of one of those."

Got shut??!!!

Enrique won eight trophies in his first two seasons, including the treble and the double. Could win the double again this year. Best manager on the planet since 2014.

And hardly "getting shut"... he's not being sacked, he's leaving on his own.

Also, Barca hasn't hired a manager based on "winning something" since van Haal. Pep hadn't done diddly squat. Rijkaard had just been relegated from the Eredivisie. Antic had just been relegated too, although he had a lot of previous success at Atletico. To Barca, family is far more important than previous record.

We have a far stronger mentality this season than I have seen at Everton Football Club in a while but I'll start to fully believe we have a winning mentality if we can go to the likes of Tottenham tomorrow fearless and pick up a win, or maybe if we finally end our record at Anfield next month.

We saw a strong runs under David Moyes but there was always a glass ceiling for games like tomorrow's, a limitation in what we were allowed to achieve in them.

Maybe this team is cut from a different cloth; we shall find out.

So just what on earth were his predecessors preaching? Love and peace to the world?

Honestly, as encouraging as results have been, since the derby defeat (and that STILL gets up my nose) I read this and just wonder how simple is the world of professional football? They have to be coached to attain the desire to win?

Good heavens, I was crap (had all the pace of continental drift), but never, ever did I once go onto the pitch without my heart and soul dedicated to winning. Winning! For heavens sake that's WHY I played !

I had three serious injuries (serious to someone playing as a hobby, bad enough to put me off work for three months in one case) two of them happened playing for a mate's team who were short, 'cos I was determined not to let them down.

Sometimes, the insight into elite football just makes me think. Which seems a bloody sight more than most of our cherished heroes ever bother to do.

“I heard through some of the staff at the training ground about what kind of player he was."
Thank heavens that you overheard this revelation! I'm stunned.

Perhaps a few of our first team squad might take a sly peep at some Everton memorabilia. I'd recommended stuff from the eighties. You might discover why us fans sing "It's a grand old team play for" and "If you know your history"!

Ronald was a proven player and his charisma is now starting to show in his team.

The fella whom EFC gave severance pay of £10m, should be sued by the club for professional misconduct , during his tenure.

We move on and here's to a good result tomorrow and safe travel to the match.

The difference of how success was measured between two individuals, as many of us suspected; there you go right there.

Even as a kid, along time ago, you went onto the holler or street and played your heart out, with nothing at stake, felt gutted when you lost. I'm afraid with a lot of today's players money talks and they don't half fuckin' listen.

I think that what Koeman has, which both his predecessors lacked, is the experience of actually winning things. Moyes obviously never expected us to beat the big teams because he never did as a player. Obviously he'd have made the right noises to the squad, but deep down he thought we wouldn't have a chance (knife to a gunfight, etc) and that's bound to rub off on the players.

Koeman on the other hand is used to winning. He doesn't just want to win, he expects the team to win. For too long our club have been 'plucky little Everton' who are just happy accept not getting beat. From Ross's comments it's clear that Koeman is trying to change the players mentalities and turn them into players who believe they can win.

Impossible to add even a single syllable. Job done.

It's fantastic IMHO to hear Ross express himself just the way he did. Most players less distinguished than your self are really helped by having a role model to focus them...

The penny really seems to have dropped with Ross and I think its kind of obvious that he really looks up to Koeman who was the embodiment of a great player and a brilliant manager and coach.

Sometimes it is the most obvious simple things that need to be reinforced continuously. Ever wonder why a Drill Sergeant spends most of his life telling grown men Left, Right, Left, Right? That's so no-one gets lost.

We talk about Everton needing to develop a 'winning mentality', not simply a desire to win. As other posts have said, it should be a given that there is a desire to win, it's the bleeding obvious. In contrast, a 'winning mentality' is a different kettle of fish.

I believe a 'winning mentality' is a mental attitude that separates champions from also-fans, the mentality of playing the same methodical way regardless of the score. Like in tennis, where a champion plays the same way whether he's three match points up or three match points down. An attitude where it becomes 'second nature', never to give in. This attitude can be developed through coaching and mental conditioning, as it has for Andy Murray in tennis.

I think maybe it's this 'winning mentality' that Ross is talking about. That's surely part of the reason for Koeman being here, to develop this approach in the players, through discipline and mental conditioning, aided by the increased fitness regime.

We can all talk about a desire to win, but at the top of professional sport, like at the top of any profession involving high talent and skill, developing a mentality to succeed, rather than just a desire, is a task in itself.