"But I'm not prepared to have a player in the squad who has said he wants to leave the club.
"I told Steve I wanted him to stay and he said he didn't want to leave. Then he changed his mind. We tried to talk to him - me, my staff, the chairman - we all tried to persuade him.
"But he said he wanted to leave the club and I won't put anyone in who doesn't want to be here.
"The players didn't know anything about the Marlet situation before the game. They'll know now obviously, but we tried to keep it from them so I can't blame the disruption for what happened.
"It was a little disruptive for me, but not for the players. We didn't lose because of the Steve Marlet issue."
EVERTON MATCH REPORT