What The Papers Say - Feb 20

Monday's newspapers feature Royston Drenthe and Marouane Fellaini.

The views on this page are taken from the local and national media and do not necessarily reflect the views of Everton.    

David Moyes might have suspected luring a player from Real Madrid would be no easy task, but his attempt to turn on-loan Royston Drenthe into a full-time Evertonian looks like presenting a challenge all of its own.

Drenthe is a free agent in the summer and could join Everton on a permanent basis, provided Moyes can finance a costly contract and be sure he has eradicated a mental frailty that undermined his time at the Bernabeu.

As an extra complication, the Everton manager knows he will face competition for his signature, should he succeed in coaxing more matchwinning performances out of him between now and the end of the season.

Blackpool cold not live with Drenthe’s blistering pace, and Real’s £13million signing from Feyenoord seemed to revel in being the centre of attention for much of a comfortable 2-0 win.

Yet for all the apparent swagger, his confidence took such a mauling in his early days in Madrid that he asked then-coach Juande Ramos to leave him out on three occasions, rather than face more jeers from an unimpressed Real support.

‘I didn’t know about that, but it doesn’t altogether surprise me,’ admitted Moyes.

‘There is a bit about him where he needs help with his confidence and needs a bit of loving.

‘He has had one big move, but really he is still only a young boy trying to find his way.

'You are expected to swim straightaway in these situations, but sometimes you feel like you are drowning and in need of a helping hand. We will give him that.

‘At the moment, I don’t know what will happen beyond this season, and there are a few things he needs to do a bit better. There are a few things off the pitch, where he has to look after himself and show how much he wants it.

‘It was apparent he possibly lacked a bit of self-belief when he arrived here, but the good thing is, the crowd really took to him. He has responded to that and looked a real threat at times.

‘He is very quick and very sharp, one of the quickest around over a short distance. He is a powerful little boy as well, with a low centre of gravity, and I think he is beginning to get what this club is all about.

‘He can see the desire everyone expects from an Everton player. He is never going to be the best defensively, but there is always a chance he is going to make something happen going forward.

'He needs to step up to that level as often as he can.’

The 24-year old made his mark just 48 seconds in, curling a left-foot shot beyond Matt Gilks after being set up by Marouane Fellaini.

Once Denis Stracqualursi added a second in the seventh minute, it was a question of how many Everton would score.

It would have been several, but for a series of near-misses and a Gilks save from Drenthe that almost took his hand off.
 
The Blackpool keeper climbed to his feet, shot Drenthe a look of blank bewilderment and scratched his head at the sheer power generated by his left foot.
 
A few more may be following suit before the 24-year old’s future is resolved at the end of the season.

PETER REID helped two of his former clubs face each other in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
 
The former Everton midfielder was a guest at Wembley for the draw and he picked the Toffees out of the hat to face Sunderland, who he managed for seven years.
 
Reid reacted by joking: "It's a no-win situation for me, that one!"

The big guns left in the draw were all handed home ties — providing they reach the sixth round.
 
Liverpool face Brighton in the late kick-off today while Chelsea and Tottenham face replays after they were held by Birmingham and Stevenage respectively.

ROYSTON DRENTHE has always made an impact on and off the pitch – not always in a positive way.

As a kid, the Dutchman came close to being booted out of Feyenoord after disciplinary problems on a youth-team trip to Switzerland.

In a turbulent spell at Real Madrid, he crashed his car into a police vehicle a few days after joining them and scored a spectacular goal on his debut. He also asked to be left out for a few games with “anxiety problems” after the Bernabeu crowd turned on him in his second season.

During a subsequent loan spell at Hercules, he turned up a week late after the winter break, claiming he had “lost confidence” in the club’s directors.

Drenthe has been making an impact since joining Everton on loan from Real – and not just because his three goals have all come moments after stepping on to the pitch. He has the gold teeth, the bling and the entourage and team-mate Tim Howard said: “Without question he’s up there with any eccentrics I’ve worked with.”
 
Roy will say himself that there are a few things he needs to do better

Everton boss David Moyes admits he is looking for more of the sustained 90-minute performance Drenthe produced against Blackpool before deciding whether to try to sign him on a permanent basis this summer when he becomes a free agent.

Wayne Rooney, back watching his old club, was nodding his approval when Drenthe scored a superbly taken goal after 49 seconds.

He then supplied the corner from which Denis Stracqualursi scored the second after six minutes.

Moyes believes the return of Steven Pienaar on loan from Tottenham – he was cup-tied on Saturday – may help Drenthe to focus.

“Roy will say himself that there are a few things he needs to do better,” said Moyes. “He’s never going to be the best defensively – that’s not his thing – and there are a few things off the pitch.

“He needs to look after himself and he has to make sure he shows me how much he wants it. And the players want him in the sort of form he showed against Blackpool. When he’s like that, he is a real threat.

“He has always done well coming off the bench, but in a lot of the games he has started, he has not had such a big impact. He has seen that we’ve brought back a player [Pienaar] who everyone wants, so it is going to be difficult for him to get into the side. He has realised what we require. He needs to step up to that level.”

After the flying start, the only disappointment for Moyes was his team’s failure to convert a stack of chances to kill the tie. In the end, they had to withstand a late rally from Blackpool. Kevin Phillips struck the bar with a free-kick and Lomana LuaLua forced a brilliant save from Howard.

Then Phillips skied an added-time penalty over the bar to make it 11 years without a goal on his visits to Goodison.

Blackpool boss Ian Holloway hopes his players will learn some lessons from the game that will help them in their clash with promotion rivals West Ham tomorrow – and beyond.

“We were beaten by the better team,” he said. “Everything I tell my team was emphasised by Everton. Every one of their players defends when they haven’t got the ball. They do that week in, week out. That’s the way you need to be.”

TIM HOWARD believes Marouane Fellaini is proving he can be one of the best central midfielders in the country, as the commanding Belgian helped Everton FC march into the FA Cup quarter-final.
 
Everton FC will host Martin O’Neill’s Sunderland in the last eight of the competition next month, after they made light work of Blackpool at Goodison Park on Saturday.
 
And while Royston Drethe provided the most eye-catching midfield cameo with an opening goal after just 49 seconds, Fellaini’s mammoth contribution was not lost on his appreciative team-mates.
 
“He shows every week that he can compete and has the class and touch of a top quality midfielder,” said Howard. “Often he outplays the other team’s central midfielder and that’s even against the top sides. We rely on him so heavily, he’s invaluable to us.

“He’s got a soft chest and controls the ball so well. It’s tough to mark him, you have to mark behind him because he’s so strong. He gives us so many options.”
 
In the absence of the injured Tim Cahill, Fellaini was deployed in an advanced position by David Moyes, and Howard believes the 24-year-old is thrives with a more attacking remit.
 
He said: “I think he plays better up the pitch for us, but it’s hard depending on personnel to get him up there for us. He’s a handful for opponents.
 
“He will be one of the best for sure.”

LEIGHTON BAINES was sick during Saturday's pre-match warm up – but still managed to complete the 90 minutes for Everton FC against Blackpool.
 
It was the only Cup upset Everton endured and afterwards boss David Moyes paid tribute to the dogged defender.
 
“Bainesy was sick on the pitch in the warm-up.
 
“He was as ill as anybody and I wasn't going to play him,” he explained. “I was going to take him off the teamsheet 10 minutes before the start, but I told him to give it a go and we would see how he was, so for him to play says a lot about him.

“He is tough and resilient and is turning out to be a really good player. Which he is.”
 
Moyes had Nikica Jelavic, Phil Jagielka, Leon Osman, Jack Rodwell, Tim Cahill, Victor Anichebe and Shane Duffy all on the injured list – and could ill have afforded another casualty.
 
“Tim Cahill is carrying two or three injuries at the moment and Shane Duffy is injured,” explained Moyes. “We were really short today, with not having Jelavic, Osman, Rodwell, Jagielka and Anichebe. It was a big ask today. Five or six of those players might have started.
 
“It was a big job today to get through. Blackpool are a decent side and you saw the way they played in the Premier League last year. It was a tricky tie for us.”

PERHAPS Leighton Baines felt it prematurely when he was sick on the Goodison Park pitch before kick off – but by the end Everton FC’s FA Cup fever was contagious.
 
There is a real sense Everton FC could conclude another wildly fluctuating season with a trip to Wembley, and maybe even a chance to conclude some unfinished business from 2009.
 
An unusually packed press box suggested that some thought Ian Holloway’s in-form Blackpool would cause an upset, but they reckoned without the mood of defiance in the home dressing room.
 
Even shorn of the invigorating presence of Landon Donovan, who failed to overcome his own fever and missed his farewell game, Everton thrived.

It wasn’t just the departing American who missed out. Steven Pienaar was cup-tied, and Nikica Jelavic, Tim Cahill and Victor Anichebe joined other casualties Leon Osman and Phil Jagielka, sparking genuine concern about a lack of creativity.
 
But talk of renewed spirit in the Blues camp is not just platitudinous sound-bites. David Moyes’ men took to their task with an energy and zeal that quickly left those hoping for a giant-killing disappointed.
 
Of course the visitors were not quite at full strength either. Holloway made seven changes from the line-up that beat Doncaster 3-1 in mid-week, resting the influential Barry Ferguson and Stephen Crainey perhaps with his priority firmly on a promotion bid.
 
But Everton started at such a tempo that any team Holloway turned out would have struggled to cope.
 
It helped that Royston Drenthe had clearly had his pre-match tipple of Red Bull. The sparkling return of Pienaar has cast doubt on how much the eccentric Dutchman will figure for the remainder of this campaign, but he responded with a display that suggested he is ready to fight for his place.
 
It took just 49 seconds for him to cooly sweep home a left-footed finish after a slick move involving Magaye Gueye and Marouane Fellaini.
 
It didn’t take long after that for the Blues to effectively deliver the killer blow. From Drenthe’s corner, Gueye flicked on, and a panicking Blackpool defence stood and watched as the ball fell to Denis Stracqualursi who poked home from point blank range.
 
Two goals in two FA Cup games, the Argentine is proving quite the specialist, and led the line with his winning blend of ceaseless endeavour and enthusiasm again.
 
But it was the gloriously unpredictable skills of Drenthe that lit up the tie. His close control and speed continually frightened the life out of Blackpool’s defence, winning repeated free-kicks for the home side.