Hull City head coach Sergej Jakirovic has described facing Everton manager David Moyes as an honour, saying the veteran boss appears to have been in the Premier League for "100 years".
Jakirovic, who led the Tigers to promotion in his first season in charge, was speaking after Sunday's 2-2 draw at MKM Stadium. Moyes, now 63, was the division's youngest manager when he arrived at Goodison Park as a 38-year-old in 2002, and is now its elder statesman. He is one of only three managers, alongside Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, to have collected more than 1,000 Premier League points.
Rookie boss learns from veteran
Jakirovic, who had called Moyes one of the "old folks" who "know everything" about football in his pre-match press conference, said: "Always, it's a very big test for me, because I'm new here, and David is... 100 years here!"
"So, I can be calmer when I see him, he's very calm like he's in his living room, so this is very interesting. But this experience, I'm young, I'm 49 years old now – I'm 50 in December, so I'm not so young – but I compare with me with him and I'm younger, and I have to learn from every game."
"For me, it's an honour to be his opponent and try to beat him or try to surprise him, which is not so easy."
Fair result and areas to improve
The former Bosnia and Herzegovina international added: "I think it's fair result, you know? In the end, we used one of their mistakes and we scored the goal, but unfortunately, we gave them two goals."
"Then we showed the strong mentality, because we played with more risk and were happier with the ball. We created a good chance for Mohamed Belloumi and he scored."
"Maybe I was not happy with some transitions, counter attacks, especially in the first half because we had better decisions. We were scrappy on the ball."
"But this the players' decision and you cannot change there anything. But in the end, I think we should be happy with this point."
Jakirovic was unhappy with the goal that put Everton ahead, when Sorba Thomas' cross-field pass for Semi Ajayi was intercepted by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who set up Thierno Barry to score. He acknowledged Moyes' side are difficult opponents.
"I felt more of a lack of energy at that moment. We were not so aggressive on the front foot, that we chasing them with the ball, especially doing pressing on the player with the ball and around him."
"That was the reason why we made substitutions. I can say there is no responsibility in these situations or a lack of concentration, but now it's done."
Everton's unbeaten run explained
"So, there is a lot of scope to improve some things and in possession, we should be braver on the ball because we can create problems. You see that after going 2-1 up how Everton sat back."
"Especially against Everton is not easy to break them because they are a pragmatic team, they are a tall team who put in very good challenges and are tactically disciplined. They know what they're doing, so this is the reason why they are still unbeaten."
