Joleon Lescott: Time running out to be ready
JOLEON LESCOTT has admitted Everton are running out of time in their attempts to be ready for the start of the Premier League campaign.
An increasingly difficult pre-season took another downturn for the Goodison outfit when they were beaten 2-0 by Major League Soccer team Chicago Fire in the early hours of Thursday.
It was a third defeat in five pre-season games for David Moyes's side after earlier losses against FC Sion in Switzerland and at Blue Square Premier team Cambridge United.
Lescott believes there can be "no excuses" for the team's performance at Toyota Park, which was severely criticised by Moyes. And with the Premier League opener against Blackburn Rovers only 15 days away, the centre-back is aware Everton are in danger of being unprepared for the new season.
"We have to try and galvanise ourselves now," said Lescott. "Fire were well organised and knew what they were doing. They're halfway through their season and we knew they'd be fit. But there's no excuse for us. We've come here and we should be able to beat them.
"The squad is not as big as we'd like, and with just two weeks ago we need to start focusing on the job in hand.
"Time is running out before the start of the season and we're running out of excuses, so we need to get down to the nitty gritty."
Moyes delivered a similarly gloomy assessment of Everton's predicament following the surprise defeat.
However, comments made shortly after the final whistle referring to any imminent moves in the transfer market have been misinterpreted in some quarters as being critical of the club's off-field progress.
Instead, Moyes was referring to the lack of attacking options at his disposal, something he is still striving to remedy with Sporting Lisbon midfielder Joao Moutinho his prime target.
He said: "I can't see any movement in the transfer market at the moment. It's incredibly frustrating, we're in a poor, poor situation regarding going forward.
"We can't hide the fact that we need new players. Everybody knows it. We have to get five or six players in before the season starts."
Everton must wait to find out whether they could be without James Vaughan for the start of the season following his dismissal against Chicago Fire.
Any further disciplinary action is at the discretion of referee Landis Wiley, who brandished a straight red after the striker's poor injury-time challenge on Daniel Woolard.
And an unhappy Moyes was critical of Vaughan while urging the 20-year-old, who was making his first appearance since February, to apologise to his opponent.
"It was terrible tackle," said the Goodison manager. "I've told him that, I wouldn't accept the tackle he put in. He's apologised, but it's to the player that he should apologise.
"James is just coming back from a long injury himself, so he should apologise to the Fire player for the tackle."
Everton arrived in Denver yesterday for the second leg of their United States tour, during which they play local MLS team Colorado Rapids on Sunday night.
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