Leighton Baines: We have to tighten up at the back

Oct 9 2007 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

LEIGHTON BAINES admits Everton must address the defensive frailties that continue to undermine their Premier League campaign.

The Goodison outfit kept 14 clean sheets in the top flight last season but have managed just one shut-out in nine league games so far.

Everton were the instigators of their own downfall at times during the 3-2 defeat at Newcastle United, with an unhappy David Moyes declaring his team’s defending as “rubbish”.

And left-back Baines concedes work needs to be done on the training ground ahead of the visit of Liverpool for the Merseyside derby on Saturday week.

“We did well to get ourselves back into the game on Sunday but to concede three goals is disappointing,” said Baines.

“Maybe you could say it’s a lapse of concentration. The first goal was sloppy, there were three or four different occasions we could have cleared. And for the third again, they had two men in the box and we had five and they managed to get a clear header.

“We’ve got to highlight the goals we concede. The manager spoke to us about that.

“Ultimately we have to look to be positive and look forward. We have some time off and time to work on a few different things with the lads who aren’t going away on international duty.”

Despite the defeat at St James’ Park, Baines believes morale remains good with Everton due to discover their group opponents in the UEFA Cup when the draw is made in Switzerland today at 11am.

“Everyone is down from having lost the game but it’s been a decent week,” said Baines to evertonTV. “We are in a reasonable position in the league and had a few wins.

“It’s important we got through in Europe so there’s no need to be too downhearted.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Johnson yesterday underwent an operation to remedy a problem in his right ankle.

Moyes expects the striker to be absent for “three to four weeks”, ruling Johnson out of England’s Euro 2008 qualifying double header against Estonia and Russia and the Goodison derby on Saturday week.

Everton have confirmed their Carling Cup fourth round tie at Luton Town will take place on Wednesday, October 31 with a 7.45pm kick-off.