McClaren told of Johnson’s injury woe

Oct 8 2007 by Chris Beesley, Liverpool Daily Post

DAVID MOYES revealed that he contacted England manager Steve McClaren to let him know that Andrew Johnson would have to withdraw from the England squad.

A long-standing ankle problem is set to be rectified when the striker goes under the surgeon’s knife today but he is also likely to be out of the derby at home to Liverpool a week on Saturday.

Johnson had missed Everton’s wins over Sheffield Wednesday, Middlesbrough and Metalist Kharkiv but produced arguably his most impressive display of the season to date when coming on at half-time for James McFadden at Newcastle yesterday and scoring in the 3-2 defeat.

But he will withdraw from the England squad after being picked for the Euro 2008 qualifiers at home to Estonia next Saturday and in Russia the following Wednesday.

Moyes said: “He didn’t aggravate it today but Andy knows he’s got a problem and he wants to get it sorted. He’s also got a groin problem and I didn’t think he’d be able to play today but I’ve spoken to Steve (McClaren) about it and I’ve made him aware of it.

“I know that he came on today and scored but I think he’d have been struggling for England.”

Despite riding their luck a little during an entertaining first half when Newcastle fashioned several good chances, Everton looked the better side for long periods after the break when they had levelled but ultimately they were left with nothing.

Moyes said: “I thought in the second half we nearly deserved something but we just couldn’t quite get there.

“It was disappointing that Newcastle’s goals came from our defensive mistakes. It was similar to Aston Villa in a lot of ways with the mistakes we made. It was a very poor first goal, I don’t know how many people gave it away or didn’t block it or didn’t clear it.

“The second goal was a very good strike by Emre but I still think we should have got down the line and blocked it.

“I think there were one or two phases of play leading up to it where we never really got rid of the ball in that period.

“The third goal was just a terrible goal.”

Metalist match-winner Victor Anichebe, on from the start ahead of record £11.25million signing Yakubu as he had been at Villa Park, was presented with Everton’s best opening but was unable to show the same composure that led to his goal on Thursday night as Everton were left to count the cost of the miss, conceding twice in the final four minutes.

Moyes said: “I think during that period of the second half we looked more likely to get something and if that chance had gone in it might have changed things.

“I couldn’t say if there was any hangover from Europe. I didn’t think we played particularly well in the first half but played better in the second half.”