Everton FC’s Leighton Baines calls on his side to be more ruthless after draw at Sunderland

LEIGHTON BAINES has urged his shot-shy Everton team-mates to be more decisive and stop trying to pass the ball into the net.

The defender shares his manager’s frustration that too many in royal blue are ignoring opportunities to test goalkeepers this season, and a habit of overdoing things is hampering their ambitions.

David Moyes has demanded a more direct approach from his charges, but saw them again squander chances during their 2-2 draw with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light last night.

Baines said: “There was probably a lot of times we got within 20 yards of goal outside of the box, with no real pressure and still turned down the opportunity to take a shot.

“Sometimes you just need to take the chance and hit one. Sometimes it will fly in, others it will miss, and I think that is something we need to look at. We are in range a lot of times and not hitting it.

“Some of us are always looking for another pass. For example Steven Pienaar is a footballer through and through, and he is always trying to score a goal that you’d call an Arsenal goal – lots of passes, then it’s knocked in from six yards. We’re not doing that at the moment unfortunately though, and players like Steven and Mikel can really hit a ball.

“Like with Mikel, his shot took a deflection and went in. You’ve got to try your luck.”

Baines accepted that the draw was frustrating as the Blues remain in the bottom half of the table, only two points clear of the bottom three.

He said: “We feel we’ve dropped another two points. We came to win and we know what three points can do for you at the moment in the league with the table how it is.

“We were disappointed. They were off the back of a good result and put us under a lot of pressure, so in some ways it wasn’t the worst point.

“Becks had a great late chance, and the two extra points would have made a big difference but we can’t keep relying on that.

“We can’t always ask him to come on for ten minutes and win a game. That’d be hard on him. We must do more in the 80 minutes before that to put ourselves in a better, winning position.”