Everton Was Taught A Big Lesson – Ronald Koeman

Ronald Koeman admitted that Chelsea taught his Everton team “a big lesson” after a rampant Eden Hazard helped inspire the Blues to a 5-0 win at Stamford Bridge.

Hazard opened the scoring in the 19th minute and goals from Marcos Alonso and Diego Costa put Chelsea 3-0 up by half-time. The Belgian then added a spectacular fourth before Pedro Rodriguez completed the rout on 65 minutes.

The result lifts Chelsea to the top of the Premier League after a fifth consecutive victory and clean sheet, and after the match Koeman spoke in glowing terms about the performance of Antonio Conte’s team.

“They showed us a big lesson in every aspect of football,” Koeman told Everton’s official website. “They showed us high quality and totally deserved [the win]. We need to accept it, it’s difficult and we are disappointed. I did not expect the difference we saw on the pitch.

“[Chelsea’s 3-4-3] is a difficult system to play against. That made the movements of Hazard create a lot of problems in our defending. The way they press and how they play aggressively was much better than what we showed.”

In his postmatch media conference, Koeman added: “Sometimes in life you have to accept your opponent is the better team and that is the case today.

“Chelsea showed us today a very high level of football. In every aspect. Aggression, quality on the ball, second balls… How they work, how they run, how they press — we can learn from them. It’s a big lesson what happened.

“I’ve never seen a team so strong playing out this system. This system is difficult. I hadn’t seen Chelsea live. I think after playing five wins in a row in this system, no goals conceded. It’s the best way for them. If they keep this up, Chelsea will fight for the title.”