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Koeman pleased with fighting Everton qualities in Man Utd draw

Ronald Koeman was delighted with the way his Everton side fought back against Manchester United on Sunday.

The Toffees forced a 1-1 draw with Jose Mourinho's Red Devils thanks to an 89th-minute penalty from Leighton Baines, after Zlatan Ibrahimovic had scored a lovely lofted goal over Maarten Stekelenburg late in the first half.

After the match, Koeman spoke of the fighting spirit of the Toffees who now sit eighth on the Premier League table after 4 matches.

"We can fight back - we showed that today," Koeman told Everton TV.

"It was disappointing to go 1-0 down before half-time. We played out with good defensive organisation from the start and made it difficult for Manchester United to create.

"It was much better than last week. We played very compact which made it difficult for the opponents to create chances. You saw maybe a lack of confidence on the ball but we will get it back if we show that fighting spirit we had until the end.

"We showed commitment and quality.

"The three substitutes (Gerard Deulofeu, Mason Holgate and Enner Valencia) had a big impact in the game.

"It was deserved because we were the most dangerous team in the second half. (David) De Gea made two fantastic saves. We kept the belief and got the penalty."

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Andrew Slevison
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Andrew Slevison

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