Vitor Pereira has confirmed he has been interviewed by Everton over the vacant managerial position and declared: "If they want me, they must call me."
Everton sacked Rafael Benitez earlier in January after a dismal run of one win in 13 league games left them six points above the relegation zone.
That cushion has now been reduced to four points after Everton lost to Aston Villa on Saturday, with Duncan Ferguson having taken interim charge.
A host of names have been linked with the job, though all with vastly different profiles. Former Toffees boss Roberto Martinez, sacked in 2016, was an initial candidate, but the Belgian FA rebuffed Everton's approach.
Fabio Cannavaro is also said to have been interviewed, similarly Frank Lampard. Wayne Rooney, meanwhile, confirmed last Friday that no approach had yet been made to Derby County's administrators.
However, widespread reports on Monday claimed that Pereira was the favoured choice of owner Farhad Moshiri, whose running of the club has come under scrutiny from fans.
Those reports were met with some outcry, with a photo spread via social media on Tuesday showing graffiti at Goodison Park reading: "Pereira out. Lampard in."
With suggestions on Wednesday that Everton were still weighing up options, Pereira – who was dismissed from a second spell in charge of Fenerbahce in December – took the somewhat surprising decision to speak to Sky Sports.
"The club asked me to come for a meeting. I had a few interviews, not just one, with different people at the club, the board. We discussed everything, and I gave them my point of view about the club, the team," Pereira explained.
"I think they were enthusiastic to what I proposed. An intense game, pressing, possession. We need to give confidence to the players, to the team and the fantastic supporters. This is what I proposed to them. What I felt in the meetings was that they were positive."
Asked if he had been informed whether he would be getting the job, Pereira said: "They have other candidates and this is a time for decisions.
"No, [they have not told me]. Just to wait for the decision, be calm, and they are grateful for the interviews, that's all.
"What I want to tell you is that all of my career, I worked under pressure. About the decision? It's something I can't control.
"I built my career with passion, organisation, competence. This is what I can offer to the club. I give 100 per cent of me, football for me is 24 hours. This is my life, my passion.
"I will move forward with my life. If they want me, they must call me. That's all."
In response to the graffiti, Pereira said: "This is the first time in my career that I see this kind of thing. My CV speaks for itself. The club is not in a good position and the supporters have passion, this passion is the power of this club.
"[Critics] don't know me very well, they don’t know my work, know me as a person. I worked in a lot of countries, different clubs, different levels, got several titles.
"I don't take this as a personal attack."
Pereira has won four league titles across spells in charge of Porto, Olympiacos and Shanghai SIPG.
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
Lopetegui used to working under pressure amid West Ham scrutiny
West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui said he always works under pressure as the Hammers' inconsistent form continued with a goalless draw against Everton.
Reports earlier this week suggested Lopetegui was hanging on by a thread at West Ham, with the Hammers having made a poor start to their Premier League campaign.
A flat performance for large parts on Saturday failed to offer the response West Ham fans will have wanted to see from their side following last week's loss to Nottingham Forest.
The Hammers did, though, create the biggest chances during an improved second-half display, with Crysencio Summerville hitting the post and Jordan Pickford making a brilliant save to deny Danny Ings late on.
West Ham faced some boos from their supporters at half-time, while there was a spattering of jeers at full-time at London Stadium, but Lopetegui claimed the pressure is not telling.
"It's normal that the fans were not happy. We’re not happy with 12 points," he said.
"At the same time, other teams who look fantastic, only have three or four more points than us. We can do better, we're not happy, but we can take positives. We want more, we are not happy, we will work 24/7 to achieve this.
"Sometimes it's about the intensity, and to have the personality to do things. I think we have to improve in this. The players need to say 'Here I am and we are going to do this'.
"I always work under pressure, this is not new. I'm very happy with the players, with the club. We are not happy with our position but we are sure we are going to be able to finish higher in May – a lot of things can change.
"We are doing good things, but not enough of them to be consistent."
Everton got back on track after suffering a 1-0 defeat at Southampton last week. The Toffees could have scored through Abdoulaye Doucoure, while Jesper Lindstrom saw a header kept out by Lukasz Fabianski.
Sean Dyche said: "It's a good point, a good clean sheet. A solid performance.
"We obviously couldn't find that bit of edge in the attacking third and the bit of devil that is sometimes the difference, but a solid feel to the performance.
"We didn't really give much up, away from home in the Premier League, that’s difficult. In the end, we come away wondering if that’s one we could have won, but equally, Jordan makes a fantastic save."
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