Phil Neville warns Everton: We need to get it right in Europe

Sep 23 2007

Skipper Phil Neville has warned Everton they must learn about the demands of European football quickly.

The former Manchester United man, who has a Champions League winners’ medal from his stint on the bench in the Nou Camp back in 1999, saw the chances of adding a UEFA Cup gong to his tally take a massive blow on Thursday.

And ahead of today’s Barclays Premier League trip to Aston Villa, Neville has still been quick to explain the facts of life to his European rookie colleagues at Everton.

They were held 1-1 by nine-man Metalist Kharkiv in the UEFA Cup first round, first leg at a stunned Goodison Park, where the visitors somehow survived with a priceless draw to take back to the Ukraine.

Andrew Johnson missed two penalties on the night, but Neville believes in collective responsibility.

He said: “Okay, so we missed penalties, but the worst thing of all was to concede a goal at that stage, that made it a nightmare.

“We have to learn about stopping opponents from grabbing vital away goals if we are to progress in this competition.

“But I feel the game is pretty evenly poised. We must go to the Ukraine and play a lot better.”

He added: “We all know this is a big tie for this club, Everton should be in Europe and it is up to us to make sure we stay there now we have fought so hard to get into the tournament.

“We are desperate to get into the group stages of the UEFA Cup, we now know we have to face up to the second leg knowing we have to perform much better than we did collectively in the first game.”

Everton and Neville know they must put things right in the second leg on October 4, and their failure to build on a 1-0 lead, against a side suffering two red cards, is the real reason the Toffees are in a sticky situation now.

Neville said: “After we had gone ahead and they were initially down to 10 men, we needed to kick on, score more goals and finish the tie off there and then.

“That we didn’t manage that means that the second leg will be a difficult game for us.

“We needed to score a couple more, then the game is over. We would have wanted them to be disheartened and then we could have scored a few more.

“But the fact that we didn’t, and we missed the initial penalty, gave them a real lift. Then we got another penalty and that was missed as well. All this was giving them a lift and encouragement.”

Boss David Moyes accepts Everton will need their spirits lifted ahead of the trip to Villa Park.

He said: “I am sure Andy will need his confidence built up ahead of the Villa game, but then we all will.”

Everton are hoping that midfielder Mikel Arteta recovers from an ankle problem to face Villa.

Arteta was a late withdrawal from Thursday’s match with Kharkiv after the training injury and Moyes admits he was hopeful the Spaniard would have recovered in time to face the Ukrainians.

Goalkeeper Stefan Wessels is expected to continue as Tim Howard’s replacement, the American still recovering from a broken finger. Steven Pienaar is expected to have recovered from a groin problem.