Everton and Bafana Bafana star Steven Pienaar is keen to play down the recent praise from his boss David Moyes, saying he has been pressuring himself to make an impact in the English Premiership.

This comes after Moyes declared that Pienaar was the creative stalwart of his side and a key factor in the 'Toffees' recent return to form.

"When you come back from two months injured it's always difficult," Pienaar told Everton TV.

"And, in fairness, it's not like I was walking into a team that was playing really nice football. It's difficult because you come in and you really want to prove they've been missing you. You put pressure on yourself."

He added: "That's just the way I am, I always push myself and pressure myself to do better. So far I'm not really happy with the way I've played. I know it will take time to get back to the form I was in.

"I don't read the newspapers but for the manager to say what he did is an honour. In my career I've always created a lot of goals and if you look back [to my time] at Ajax I created more goals there than any other player, almost. But I don't score, that's the downfall."

Pienaar has scored just two goals for the Toffees thus far, but he is hopeful of adding to that tally in the not-too-distant future.

"It was really annoying — especially getting injured against a Dutch team (PSV Eindhoven). But it happens in football. I've had a few injuries in my career so that helped me keep focused and realise it just happens," concluded Pienaar.