Duncan Ferguson says Everton’s players need to show they are better than their league position.
Ferguson will take charge of the club he has represented as both a player and coach over a combined 18 years when they take on Chelsea on Saturday.
His appointment as caretaker manager comes in the wake of Marco Silva’s sacking following a dismal run that plunged the Blues into the relegation zone.
And Ferguson has urged the Goodison Park dressing room to display their true qualities when they take on Frank Lampard’s side in the lunchtime showdown.
He said: “We need a reaction. The players need to stand up.
“Hopefully we’ll get that reaction tomorrow and put Chelsea under a lot of pressure.
“I believe they can [react] and that’s what we’ve been working on, only in a short period if time.
“But we’ve got to make sure we build that confidence and make sure every player who’s going pulling on that jersey are going to bleed for this club tomorrow.
“It’s embarrasing talking about it but I believe that the players do give 100 per cent. They need to give that tomorrow and more. That’s what we’ll be asking from them.”
“The position in the league’s not good enough, we’re a better team that but we’ve got to show it.”
Attention has already turned to the identity of Silva’s long-term successor with Mauricio Pochettino and Carlo Ancelotti leading the current shortlist.
But despite relishing the prospect of an emotional managerial bow, Ferguson presently has no designs to state his own case for the Goodison hot seat.
“That’s not something I’m looking at,” he insisted.
“My dream is to one day become the Everton manager but at the moment my focus is on taking the team [for] tomorrow.
“I’m sure the club will go through their candidates and they’ll find the right man.”