Conor Coady has described his Everton home debut as ‘incredible’.
Coady lined up at Goodison Park for the first time with Frank Lampard’s side for Saturday’s draw with Premier League newcomers Nottingham Forest.
The Merseyside-born defender joined the Blues on a season-long loan from Wolves, where he was elevated to club captain during a seven-year spell.
And Coady admitted that he had relished the prospect of appearing in a royal blue shirt ever since making the move from Molineux earlier this month.
He said: “I’ve looked forward to it since the day I came into the club a few weeks ago.
“It was something that was always going to be a proud day for me. All my family and friends were here.
“It was incredible and lived up to experience and more, because it was something, like I said, that I’ve been really, really looking forward to.
“It would’ve been nice to push on and get the winner at the end.
“I felt like we deserved it if I’m being honest because I felt we played some fantastic stuff, especially at the start of the first and second half.
“But listen, its a point, we take it on the chin, we move forward and we need to try and make it the start of a big week for us.”
Alongside fellow summer recruit James Tarkowski and Mason Holgate, Coady has formed the bedrock of Everton’s new look five-man defence this season.
The England international operated in a similar system at Wolves and believes the early signs from Lampard’s tailored approach are already encouraging.
“I can only talk from when I’ve played in the games and I feel extremely comfortable in it,” added Coady.
“I’ve got two fantastic footballers either side of me and we’re learning every day from the manager.
“I played it quite a bit before but it’s different to how I played when I was at Wolves and it’s something we’re trying to pick up every single day.
“As a back five, as a unit, we’re sticking to our job. We know where we want the opposition to go.
“It’s not just the back five, we’re looking at everybody in the team to try and stick to their roles, be close together, be compact as a unit and I think you’re seeing that out on the pitch.
“It’s hard to be 100mph for every minute of every game. I know we all want that when we go out there but it’s really tough in the Premier League and there’s going to be opposition who have the ball for spells.
“But then we’ve got to make sure we’re still in control of the game, with and without the ball. It’s something we’re trying to improve on and I’m sure we’ll get better at it as well.”