Tim Howard hopes ‘buzz’ can help Everton get it right in Europe

Oct 2 2007 by Chris Beesley, Liverpool Daily Post

TIM HOWARD hopes that the ‘buzz’ which has returned around his team-mates will enable them to get the result they need to progress in Europe this week.

Everton, who hope to have groin injury victims Andrew Johnson and Leon Osman back in contention, face a potentially season-defining trip to Metalist Kharkiv on Thursday where they must either win or earn a score draw of 2-2 or more to ensure their passage to the UEFA Cup group stages.

Despite the disappointing 1-1 draw at Goodison in the first leg, Everton go into this game on the back of two victories in the space of five days, 3-0 at Sheffield Wednesday and 2-0 at home to Middlesbrough, have buoyed David Moyes’s side for the return match.

With influential performers like Howard and playmaker Mikel Arteta also back to fitness, the belief within the Everton camp is positive ahead of jetting out to Ukraine.

Howard said: “The manager was saying (in the dressing room) you can feel it a little bit in the team, the guys are pushing each other on.

“We’re battling for places and there’s a good buzz about the place.

“We need to get into the group stages, we know that. That’s what we want to do. We’ve got our work cut out but given the way we played here against Metalist we were a little bit encouraged.

“We created some chances and didn’t take them but we’re hoping to go there and get a result.”

Howard missed the first leg at Goodison as a swollen finger suffered on international duty with the USA kept him sidelined for four matches.

Although the former Manchester United keeper was pleased with understudy Stefan Wessels’s form during his absence, he admitted he was eager to get back into the side.

Howard said: “It’s never fun or easy (watching). “You’re cheering your team-mates on but the competitor in all of us wants to be out there by hook or by crook.

“Whether we’re playing well or not so well you just want to be out there pushing a ball and seeing where you’re at.

“Of course Stefan had done well in my absence, he’s been at one of the biggest clubs in the world with Bayern Munich playing alongside Oliver Kahn and has played at Cologne as first choice.

“He’s no pushover. He’s done really well integrating into the squad, has been pushing really hard and keeps his mouth shut and his head down.

“He’s a good guy and a good goalkeeper too.”

Until Sunday, Everton were the only side in the Barclays Premier League who had failed to keep a clean sheet this season, so a shutout on his return to the side was particularly pleasing for Howard in the build-up to the Metalist match.

He said: “It’s one of those things, if you haven’t done it in a while, you think can you still do it.

“That’s just me but as a team we got one with Stefan (Wessels) behind the back four and now one against Middlesbrough.

“It’s good because personally I think they come in bunches. Over the course of last season there was a period when we didn’t get any then we got three or four.”

The 3-0 midweek success at Sheffield Wednesday ended a three-game winless sequence for Everton but Howard admits picking up three points is always a priority.

He said: “You want to advance in the cup but when managers come out and say ‘It’s all about the Premier League’ it really is.

“We got back to winning ways during the week but when it got to the weekend we thought we really need a result.

“If you looked at the table before the game we were down in eighth and you worried about being pushed into the bottom half but with the win we’ve gone up to fifth – it’s that tight.”

Meanwhile, defender Cory Sinnott, 17, who missed 13 months of action with a serious back injury, has signed a two-year deal at Everton, his first professional contract at the club.