Phil Jagielka: ‘We let ourselves down’

Everton defender Phil Jagielka insists his team did well to earn a point against Manchester City but he believes they could have done more in attack.

The Blues, who are 21.00 to finish in the top four in the Premier League, were the better team in the first-half and created a number of chances that tested City goalkeeper Joe Hart.

However, they failed to find a way through as the home side came back into the game in the second-half and Jagielka admits that was mainly down to his team’s mistakes.

Roberto Martinez’s men did look strong in defence and keeper Tim Howard was on hand to make several key saves in the latter stages.

Although he was pleased with the point, Jagielka insists they could have done more with the ball.

“In the first half we had a decent game plan where we managed to keep the ball better and have a few counter-attacks, but in the second half we let ourselves down a little bit on the ball,” he told the club’s official website.

“We’re disappointed we didn’t keep the ball as well as we should, which made us busier than we would have liked, but it’s a hard-fought point and something we can build on.”

The former Sheffield United defender was also pleased to come through another game and he is now aiming to play in the final four games of January.

“I’m still trying to find a bit of match sharpness,” he explained. “This was only my second 90 minutes in about three months. The games are going to come thick and fast now, we’ve got Chelsea away on Saturday, so it’ll be an interesting couple of weeks or so.”