What The Papers Say - 20 October 2009

What The Papers Say - 20 October 2009

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

 

 

TIM HOWARD is confident misfiring Everton will be ready when they begin a “big week” in Portugal on Thursday.

Although enjoying a seven-game unbeaten run, David Moyes’s side have failed to convince during their last two outings having been held to home draws by Stoke City and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

It leaves the Goodison outfit in the bottom half of the Premier League table, in stark contrast to their Europa League form of two wins out of two in Group I.

Benfica lost their last European game in Athens but defeated BATE in their opener at the impressive Estadio da Luz in Lisbon where Moyes’s men travel on Thursday.

Everton then travel to Bolton Wanderers on Sunday before ending a period of three games in five days with a Carling Cup trip to Tottenham Hotspur 48 hours later.

And despite the hectic schedule, Howard reckons Everton are well prepared for the challenge.

“It’s a big week for us but I think we are ready for it,” said the goalkeeper. “We enjoy travelling in Europe and hopefully that will kick us off for what is a big couple of weeks.

“We’re frustrated at the moment. I wouldn’t say there’s anything wrong, but going into these two games (against Stoke and Wolves) we were certainly looking to get six points and you would expect that from us.

“We created so many opportunities and the disappointing thing is that we didn’t take so many of them. We deserved to win both.

“It’s strange because the games before these two we scored a bagful of goals, fours and threes. But we’re creating chances, which is a positive. If you’re not creating the chances you get worried.”

Howard was involved in a fracas with Wolves striker Stefan Maierhofer during injury time on Saturday, which saw the latter sent off for a second bookable offence.

The American was also awarded a yellow card for retaliation after pushing Maierhofer to the ground.

Wolves manager Mick McCarthy was unhappy the Everton man did not also seen red, Howard said: “I thought it would probably be yellow. When you do something stupid like that then you leave it up to someone else to make the decision and thankfully he had a level head and didn’t send me off.

“I know better than that but I was frustrated that he (Maierhofer) did what he did. It’s not something I usually do.But I was annoyed more than anything.”

Meanwhile, Lucas Neill further improved his fitness with a 90-minute run-out for the reserves in their 3-0 defeat at Blackburn Rovers yesterday.

The 31-year-old right-back has been restricted to just a second-half cameo in the Carling Cup win at Hull City last month since arriving on a free transfer.

 

 

EVERTON will be backed by the biggest European exodus of Evertonians for 25 years in Lisbon on Thursday.

The Blues have officially sold close to five-and-a-half thousand tickets for the eagerly anticipated trip to the Stadium of Light against Benfica.

But many more fans are expected to travel independently and occupy home sections of the stadium – making it the largest away following since the successful European Cup Winners’ Cup campaign of 1985.

The biggest number of away fans to leave Goodison since then went to Nuremburg two years ago.

Everton officially sold their total allocation of 3,500 tickets for that UEFA Cup tie – but such was the appeal of the fixture thousands more were crammed into home sections of the stadium.

A huge army also travelled to Villarreal for the Champions League qualifier of 2005, but with the Stadium of Light boasting an official capacity of 64,500, effectively any Evertonians who want to make the trip will be able to do so.

Benfica warmed up for Thursday’s match with a 6-0 thrashing of Monsanto in the third round of the Portuguese Cup – taking their goals tally for the season to a remarkable 37 in 12 games.

But while their domestic record includes an 8-1 win over Setubal, a 4-0 triumph at Belenenses and a 5-0 victory over Leixoes, in the Europa League they lost 1-0 at AEK Athens before an unconvincing 2-0 home defeat of BATE Borisov.

The Portuguese named a much changed team for the Cup tie, but Blues boss David Moyes has admitted he won’t be able to make as many changes as he would like for the gruelling run of games over the next week.

The Blues face Benfica, Bolton and Tottenham in the space of six days, and Moyes admits that while youngsters like Jack Rodwell need a rest, he will need to play through his tiredness.

“If I had my way and we had enough bodies I’d probably want to give him a breather. He knows that,” said Moyes.

“But it’s noticeable that we’re just a little bit short of people who we think could play in the centre.

“You do expect a dip in form, but he’s done really, really well.”

Another player who is demanding to play in all three games is goalkeeper Tim Howard.

The USA international has made 84 unbroken appearances for Everton and said: “I think it’s important to play every game. When you look at goalkeepers like David James and Brad Friedel, Petr Cech and all the big keepers – these are the guys who play consistently well and it’s what I want to do. I do not want a break.

“We’ve got a big week of games coming up, Benfica, Bolton and then Tottenham, but we’re capable.”