Mr Versatile wants a settled position

Jul 25 2007 by Nick Smith, Liverpool Daily Post

THE country that honours its sports stars by naming them MVP appears to be the ideal setting for Phil Jagielka to be spending his first Everton pre-season.

It may be too early for him to be given that Most Valuable Player accolade just three weeks and a handful of pre-season games into his Goodison career.

But for now, Most Versatile Player is certainly a deserved honour.

Because while Jagielka is so far manager David Moyes’s one permanent summer signing, Everton are actually getting pretty much a whole new team for their money such is his ability to spread his workload across a variety of positions.

He most memorable execution of this talent came in the last game of 2006 when previous club Sheffield United were without a substitute goalkeeper after Paddy Kenny went off injured.

But while most players stare at their bootlaces schoolboy-style hoping not be noticed when the call for volunteers to go between the sticks comes, one immediately raises his hand.

And it was a hand belonging to a pretty safe pair, keeping Arsenal at bay for more than half an hour as United stunned the Gunners with a 1-0 win at Bramall Lane.

If the old saying that you have to crazy to be a goalkeeper is true, then taking the gloves in that situation would earn you a straitjacket to go with them.

But Jagielka offers a more sane explanation of his route to the remarkable performance that provided the most memorable result of a campaign that ended in relegation Neil Warnock’s side.

“It started when I used to play with my older brother and he’d put me in between the sticks and boot balls at me,” said the Mancunian.

You had two choices – if you let it go past you had to go for miles to fetch it, so I had to try to stop it.

“Then about three years ago at United we had a mess around where the keepers played out and a couple of lads went in goal and I used to go in a lot.

“So I have always enjoyed it and a lot of the time Neil Warnock decided not to put a keeper on the bench so it was up to me to go in.

“Every time Paddy Kenny got injured though, it was a very nervous moment for me.

“The Arsenal game was an experience but I don’t think it will happen too many times here, there should be a keeper on the bench.”

That’s what Jagielka is hoping for anyway, as he looks to make those heart-stopping moments when a goalkeeper is lying prone in his penalty area or coming dangerously close to handling outside the box a thing of the past.

In fact, his ability to change positions often deprives him of his preferred role in central midfield, something Phil Neville also encountered when having to cover for Tony Hibbert at right-back during his sustained injury lay-offs last year.

Jagielka, however, recognises that this increases the chances of him always having a role in the starting 11, and Everton now have two of just five players – the other being Joseph Yobo – who played all 90 minutes of every Premier League game in 2006-07.

“Being versatile is a little bit of a disadvantage,” admits Jagielka, who actually started at right-back in Everton’s 2-0 defeat at Real Salt Lake City on Saturday night.

“But I’ve been doing it for a little while now and if it’s going to mean I play more games in a season I’m not going to start complaining.

“I’d like to have one position and play there all year round but in this day and age you have a hell of a lot of games all season and it’s just a case of filling in where needs be.”

Taking versatility to the extremes the way he did last December is why Jagielka also felt at home in Utah, where weather extremes are pretty much the state capital.

The Winter Olympic-hosting ski resort of Salt Lake melts away to uncover a hot, dry expanse of stunning mountain scenery that was hardly picture perfect for the Everton players, who suffered a delayed and draining journey last Thursday.

Come Saturday night, the fatigue had a crippling effect as MLS also-rans Real Salt Lake ruthlessly took advantage with a 2-0 humbling of Moyes’s men.

But Jagielka – who since being released by Everton as a youngster has only played for one club and one manager – is just happy to be part of a pre-season tour that brings home how much of a leap he has made since a year ago, when he had yet to play a Premiership game.

“We went to China once with Sheffield United and that was similar because of the humidity – but that’s about the only thing that was,” added the man who became an England B international despite playing for a relegated team.

“We’ve travelled a lot better and everything seems to be well organised. It wasn’t too bad at Sheffield United but this is obviously a club that have been doing it a lot longer and the bonus is this is my first trip to America as we didn’t do too much long haul sort of stuff before.

“Everyone has the same kit around the hotel so everyone seems very together, that’s the major difference.

“Nothing particularly changed that much from the Championship for us as much as it might if we had been in the Premiership for three or four seasons.

“It was hard enough to battle for survival without having to change too many things off the pitch as well.”

Stateside for the first time, Jagielka will have to cram any holiday plans into the players’ day off tomorrow, but just being in Los Angeles in some form is a relief following the energy-sapping atmosphere of Salt Lake, which provided the venue for the first three days of the tour.

He added: “Sometimes in Salt Lake you found you couldn’t do as much because you literally couldn’t breathe. In LA we’re not as high up so things are a bit easier.

“Obviously the temperature is really hot but if you’ve got the option, you take the sun – and we’ve not had any back home.

“We are having a very busy time now with two training sessions every day but I’ve never been to LA and quite a few of the other boys haven’t.

“So if we do get a little bit of spare time I’m sure well enjoy a little bit of shopping and stuff like that. It will be a lot of hard work but a bit of fun in between as well.”