COMMENT: Graft joined by goal craft for Yakubu

Dec 10 2007 by Ben Thornley, Liverpool Daily Post

EVERTON’S success under David Moyes has been rooted in a fierce work ethic, but it is the most languid of players that could yet define the Scot’s Goodison reign.

When the manager parted with £11.25million for Ayegbeni Yakubu in the summer, many supporters questioned the wisdom of the club record outlay.

Could a player with a reputation for shirking the grittier aspects of the game adapt to Moyes’s ethos? A touchline bust-up with Leighton Baines in September’s 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa, after the youngster took exception to the Nigerian’s failure to chase a loose ball, suggested not.

However, even in the Pro Zone age of football where managers’ team selections are influenced by the distance a player completes each game, there will always be a place for a forward like Yakubu.

While his Pro Zone stats may not flatter the former Middlesbrough forward, he deals in a much more tangible currency, as he demonstrated with a powerful display of finishing in Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Fulham.

A second-half hat-trick, which took the 24-year-old’s tally to nine in 17 games for Everton, will have done much to silence the doubters, Yakubu leaving the field to a rapturous reception when he was substituted on 82 minutes.

Everton is a club with a proud tradition of outstanding centre forwards.

Yakubu’s lackadaisical style may not instantly conjure images of past Goodison greats, but this fervent crowd have had to endure far too many industrious frontrunners who have failed to stir their imagination in recent times. For all the endeavour of another one-time club record capture, James Beattie’s graft alone won him few fans among Everton’s support.

Nothing quite excites the Gwladys Street End like an exhibition of goalscoring and Yakubu is a natural.

His style – like his opening strike – may not always be easy on the eye, but the Nigeria international has an enviable record for finding the back of the net.

Which is why Moyes was willing to stake his reputation on the player, and why he will continue to indulge his striker’s less vigorous moments – despite the former Preston manager later insisting the forward must still work on his all round game.

Yakubu’s contribution outside of the box has undoubtedly improved since he was axed for the 2-0 Villa Park reverse – partly due to his increased fitness levels. But Everton will only get value for their money when he is in it. The ex-Pompey man was bought to score goals.

Even the more creative elements of Moyes’s side have always shown a willingness to sacrifice themselves for the team, the likes of Mikel Arteta, Tim Cahill and the excellent Leon Osman all allying graft to their craft.

Sometimes, however, it doesn’t always befit a striker to be as selfless, a complaint many have levelled at the tireless Andrew Johnson.

It may be a tad premature – and in some respects a disservice to the Nigerian – to compare Yakubu to Brazil legend Romario, but his example gives insight into a like-minded forward.

When his PSV Eindhoven coach, Bobby Robson, asked his star man why he refused to jog in training, Romario replied that he had no need for stamina as it was the job of his team-mates to do his running for him. His role, he insisted, was simply to ripple the net.

On a sodden pitch that made a layman of even an artisan like Arteta, Yakubu had looked a slightly cumbersome figure operating as a lone striker in Everton’s attack in a dour first half. However, inspired by Moyes’s interval-time home truths, Yakubu and his team-mates looked a different force after the break.

Fulham were taken apart by a left-foot poacher’s effort and a header before Yakubu slotted expertly with his right boot to seal a perfect hat-trick which was the ideal way to illustrate his worth.