Cup priority understandable

Sep 7 2007 Fan scene by Mark O'Brien, Liverpool Daily Post

IT must have come as no surprise to anyone when earlier this week David Moyes stated that the cup competitions represent a priority this season.

By Everton standards he has invested heavily in the team so there are no excuses for making better progress in the knockout competitions and going some way to exorcise the ghosts of, say, Shrewsbury and Bucharest.

While the manager has been keen to stress that our first opponents in Europe, Metalist Kharkiv, are no pushovers, it has to be said that you can’t really ask for much more than a tie against a side that the vast majority of people have never heard of before.

Perhaps the opportunity to play the home leg second – as Liverpool always do – would have made matters slightly more straightforward, but as it is the Toffees will just have to hope they can finish the first game a few goals to the good and with a clean sheet before they travel to the Ukraine.

We might not have thought it a week ago, but after seeing his second half cameo against Bolton Wanderers it would appear that Thomas Gravesen could end up being a key figure both domestically and in Europe.

The Dane may lack the athleticism and dribbling ability of Manuel Fernandes, but when it comes to directing the play and protecting the ball he demonstrated at the Reebok that he still has plenty to offer.

In fact his neat passing and barrel-chested run was somewhat reminiscent of a countryman of his who plied his trade across the park many years ago.

Against a team who exert more pressure on the ball than almost anyone else around, Gravesen took control, found acres of space where previously there had been none and turned the tide of the match completely in Everton’s favour.

His vision and his eagerness to go forward all the time obviously inspired his team-mates and gave the likes of Leighton Baines, Andy Johnson and Mikel Arteta more confidence to make forward runs, knowing that more often than not the man who flopped so miserably at Celtic would pick them out.

It’s obviously early days yet, and there’s obviously plenty of time for Gravesen to remind us of his frustrating attributes too, but on the little bit of evidence we’ve seen so far, a signing that had many initially rolling their eyes in despair might just end up proving to be an absolutely inspired bit of business.