Everton boss Rafa Benitez expects to buy in January.

Benitez concedes the job has been "more difficult" than he expected.

He said, "We will go to January and try to improve the squad and hopefully we can do well and I am sure that we will be much better in the second part of the league and the fans will be happy at the end."

Asked if this is a bigger job than he expected, Benitez adds: "More difficult. I knew about the challenge. At the beginning we identified the problems.

"After a month we could see the things we wanted to change but Rome was not built in one day. We have also had important injuries in the spine of the team and that is why you can see the team not doing exactly what we are expecting.

"The attitude of the majority of the players is quite good and they are trying their best. I am 100% sure we will be much better in the second part of the league."