Marco Silva says the manner of Everton's win over Southampton was important

Saturday 18 August 2018 19:23, UK

Marco Silva said a victory that was pleasing on the eye was an important factor in his first win as Everton boss.

He watched his side pick up their first three points since he took over the club with a 2-1 win over Southampton at Goodison Park, with a well-worked free-kick opening the scoring before Richarlison doubled the lead with a near-post header before the break.

While Southampton cut the deficit with a second-half finish from Danny Ings, Silva was delighted to get off the mark as Toffees boss.

"It's an important three points for us, it's important that it was enjoyable for our fans as well," he said. "In the first half we did very well, we tried to do things differently in the second half and manage the game.

"But things were a bit slow, and conceding the goal gave Southampton some belief. After 25-30 minutes of the second half though, we had enough to score the third goal and we would have deserved it.

"You can manage games in different ways. The only thing I'm not happy with really is conceding the goal from a set-piece, we needed to be stronger at that moment, but they didn't have a big chance to score with our organisation."

Richarlison kept up his red-hot form since his move to Merseyside with a third goal in two games, and Silva was pleased with the Brazilian youngster who previously referred to him as a father figure after their time together at Watford.

He said: "I don't like to talk about individuals but Richarlison is a boy who is working really, really hard, enjoying where he is at the moment and helping his team-mates, they are helping him too."