Victor Anichebe talisman for Everton victory

Nov 9 2007 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

DELIGHTED David Moyes saluted UEFA Cup “talisman” Victor Anichebe after Everton secured victory in Nuremberg last night.

The 19-year-old striker came off the bench in the 75th minute to win a penalty that was converted Mikel Arteta with seven minutes remaining.

Anichebe then sealed the win with a magnificent solo effort five minutes later to keep Everton at the top of Group A.

It was youngster’s third goal in the UEFA Cup this season, and Moyes praised an impact all the more commendable given Anichebe was playing with a broken hand.

“He is proving a talisman, not half,” said the Everton manager. “He came on and made a really big impact in the game.

“He has been suffering from a broken hand and that’s why I kept him off a bit longer, I wasn’t sure how he was.

“We might have brought him on earlier but I was concerned about his hand and that he hadn’t trained much this week.

“At times he has probably been better coming off the bench. He is improving. We have a couple of young centre forwards we are excited about, and we will have competition up front.”

Moyes’s side are two points clear of Zenit St Petersburg, with a home game against the Russians to come before ending their group campaign with a trip to Dutch outfit AZ Alkmaar.

Everton were backed by thousands of travelling fans at Nurnberg’s EasyCredit-Stadion, and Moyes believes the volume of support proved an inspiration to his players.

“This is all new to us at Everton really,” he said. “You can see by the number of fans here tonight how much they have been longing for it.

“There was no motivational speech needed tonight because it was there on the streets of Nurnberg tonight.

“The fans were a big influence, they were all around the ground and were a credit to the club as well.

“We are trying to give the fans success.

“I hope that we can get it back to like it was in the 80s when Everton were successful.

“We’re trying to improve the profile of the club by getting into Europe more often. I’m not sure how many points we’ll need to qualify, but it’s a great start for us.”

Anichebe had replaced Yakubu, whose tireless efforts as a lone striker also earned praise from Moyes.

“Yakubu did a good job holding the ball for us,” said the Goodison manager. “We were unfortunate not to score in the first minute and other parts of play.

“Nurnberg had some shots, but I thought in the main that we coped quite well with it.

“I thought we played well in the first half and we had some opportunities. Nurnberg got into the game more at times in the second half, but we were pretty solid and I was always hoping the moment would come for us to get that goal.”