Rafael Benitez had a "bad philosophy" and was never a good fit for Everton, according to Lucas Digne.
France international Digne left Everton in January, joining Aston Villa.
That move came after a falling-out with Benitez, with reports claiming that Digne – who did not feature for Everton after a 4-1 defeat to Liverpool on December 1 last year – had criticised the manager's conservative approach.
With Everton signing Vitaliy Mykolenko from Dynamo Kyiv, Digne was sold to Steven Gerrard's Villa for a reported £22million, less than a year after the left-back had signed a long-term contract with the Toffees, who he joined from Barcelona in 2018.
Yet less than a week after the switch to Villa had been finalised, Benitez was sacked after a defeat to Norwich City left Everton six points above the bottom three following a run of one win in 13 league games.
In an interview with L'Equpie, Digne did not hold back in his criticism of Benitez.
"I enjoyed three and a half years of happiness and love with the supporters," said the 28-year-old. "I had, and still have, a great relationship with them, with people at the club, my former team-mates.
"But I don't look back. Football is like that. One day everything's fine, and the next day, less so."
Regarding Benitez, Digne said: "The relationship we had was not good. It was complicated to be excluded from the squad for a month. It was an unprecedented situation in my career, but I had my family and my team-mates with me."
He said disagreement with Benitez concerned "the style of play, especially".
"I thought we had a team that could have a lot more possession. He asked me the question, I gave him my answer," Digne said. "I felt it legitimate to give him my feelings and those of the others in the dressing room. The group was unanimous. What followed proved me right, since he was fired because of poor results. I think he also had a bad philosophy. It didn't fit at Everton."
Benitez also suggested that Digne had informed him he did not wish to play for Everton, but this claim has also been refuted.
Digne said: "I never refused to play."
Matters have hardly improved for Everton under Frank Lampard, given they are just three points above the bottom three, albeit with games in hand on their rivals.
Neymar suffers fresh injury blow
Neymar sustained a new injury as he was forced off during Al-Hilal's AFC Champions League Elite win over Esteghlal.
Aleksandar Mitrovic plundered a hat-trick on Monday to seal a 3-0 win.
But Al-Hilal's victory was soured by an injury to Neymar, who had to make way just 29 minutes after he came on as a second-half substitute.
The Brazilian, who has just returned from over a year out of action following a serious knee injury, was forced off with what appeared to be a thigh issue.
Indeed, Monday's appearance was only the 32-year-old's second for Al-Hilal since his comeback.
He has featured just seven times for the Saudi Pro League champions in all competitions since his big-money move from Paris Saint-Germain in 2023.
Premier League MD10: Lucky winners and unlucky losers
We are now 10 games into the Premier League season and the table is beginning to take shape, but that does not mean there is no room for an upset or two.
On Saturday, both Manchester City and Arsenal fell to surprise defeats at Bournemouth and Newcastle United respectively.
It was only the third time since the start of 2017-18 that both of the previous season's top two teams had lost on the same day in the Premier League, after March 7, 2021 and January 14, 2023.
Pep Guardiola's champions could have few complaints about the result at the Vitality Stadium, where Andoni Iraola's Cherries won the expected goals (xG) battle by 2.04 to 1.56.
But which other games featured a lucky winner or an unlucky loser? We delve into the Opta data to find out.
Unlucky losers: Arsenal
The weekend's action began with Arsenal travelling to St James' Park to face Newcastle, with Mikel Arteta's side chasing a victory to move within a point of leaders Liverpool.
However, they succumbed to a 1-0 defeat as Alexander Isak's early goal proved enough for Newcastle to make it three wins in their last four home league games against Arsenal (one loss).
The Gunners could count themselves unlucky to come away from Tyneside with nothing, however, after limiting Newcastle to a measly 0.53 xG – 0.25 of which came from the chance for Isak's goal.
Only West Ham, who played half of their defeat to Nottingham Forest with 10 men, created a lower figure across the nine games to take place this weekend, with 0.13 xG.
Arsenal were far from their free-flowing best, though, only recording 10 attempts worth 1.05 xG themselves. They have averaged just 7.4 shots per game in their away Premier League matches this season, with only Brentford (7.5) taking fewer.
Lucky winners: Southampton
Just two teams – Wolves and Ipswich Town – remain without a victory in the Premier League after Southampton finally got off the mark by beating Everton 1-0 at St Mary's.
Russell Martin's team accumulated just 0.74 xG to Everton's 1.56, but Adam Armstrong's strike five minutes from time handed them a huge three points in their fight for safety.
While Beto, who headed against the crossbar just 25 seconds before Armstrong's winner, and Jack Harrison spurned great chances for the Toffees, Southampton were also grateful for a late VAR intervention, as the former saw a potential leveller chalked off for a marginal offside call.
It was the first time Everton had failed to score against Southampton in the Premier League since February 2022, bringing their five-match unbeaten run in the competition to a halt.
Unlucky losers: Crystal Palace
Southampton ended the weekend in 19th, above winless Wolves after they were pegged back in a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace at Molineux.
Marc Guehi salvaged a draw for the Eagles, who were without star men Adam Wharton and Eberechi Eze yet arguably still did enough to leave the West Midlands with all three points.
They racked up 19 shots totalling 2.51 xG to their hosts' 11, which had a total value of 1.51 xG. Palace's xG figure was the highest in the Premier League this weekend, but they were missing their shooting boots as Ismaila Sarr squandered two glorious chances when they were a goal to the good in the second half.
With both defences struggling, this was only the second Premier League game of the season to be goalless at half-time but see both sides score at least twice in the second half, after Everton 2-3 Bournemouth in August.
There could have been a fifth goal in stoppage time, too, as Jean-Phillipe Mateta saw a potential winner disallowed for a foul on Jose Sa in the build-up. Wolves – and their under-fire head coach Gary O'Neil – arguably got away with one.
Lucky winners: Chelsea
Sunday's late game saw Chelsea fight back to draw 1-1 with Manchester United at Old Trafford, denying Ruud van Nistelrooy a first Premier League win as the Red Devils' interim head coach.
Moises Caicedo's well-taken volley cancelled out Bruno Fernandes' penalty and Chelsea arguably looked the more likely victors in the second half, but they only generated 1.1 xG from their 12 attempts – and just 0.29 from six after the interval.
United, meanwhile, had chances worth 1.98 xG, though Fernandes' spot-kick – with an xG value of 0.79 – was a major contributing factor.
Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho squandered decent opportunities for United, though, and incoming boss Ruben Amorim has plenty of work to do with their attackers.
United have scored just nine goals in 10 Premier League games this season – their worst record through 10 matches of any league campaign since 1973-74 (also nine).
Fans of a certain vintage will need no reminder of what happened at the end of that season – United were relegated from the First Division, their fate sealed by club legend Denis Law scoring against them with a nonchalant backheel, while representing rivals Man City.
Postecoglou praises 'outstanding' Tottenham after Villa turnaround
Ange Postecoglou saluted an "outstanding effort" by Tottenham after they came from behind to beat Aston Villa 4-1.
Spurs scored four second-half goals as they got back to winning ways in the Premier League, following last weekend's 1-0 defeat at lowly Crystal Palace.
Postecoglou's side notched up an impressive 2-1 victory over Manchester City in the EFL Cup on Wednesday, but fell behind against Villa to Morgan Rogers' first-half effort.
Nevertheless, the hosts responded well after the break. Dominic Solanke scored twice, while Brennan Johnson and James Maddison were also on target in what was eventually a commanding victory.
And Postecoglou by the positive manner in which his players have responded to their setback at Selhurst Park.
"Seven days is a long time in football," he said. "Seven days ago, I was a grumpy old so and so. We have to stay true to the course we're on. We made sure not to feel sorry for ourselves and get back to the team we want to be.
"The first half was a bit of an arm wrestle. [Villa] have a consistent level of performance. We have other gears in us, which we showed in the second half. After the performance in midweek, I thought it was an outstanding effort.
"I felt the momentum was going our way, we knew we would finish strong and if we upped it a couple of gears like we can, we knew we would be hard to stop."
The head coach also paid tribute to Solanke, who became the first Spurs player to score at least four goals in his first eight Premier League appearances for the club since Rafael van der Vaart in 2010-11.
"The amount of work the guy did for us over the week - goals are great, but his capacity to do everything he can for the team in every area - I can't speak highly enough of him," Postecoglou added.
"We stuck with it," Solanke told Sky Sports. "A few times this season, we've gone a goal down. Against Palace, we didn't react in the right way, but today we did.
"We always believe we can score many goals. It all came together today in the second half. We had to adapt to the way they were playing. At half-time, we had time to regroup and discuss what we had to do.
"We've had some great games, but haven't managed to do it the whole season, but we think we're capable of it."
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