Phil Neville: We can’t afford a New Year hangover

Jan 1 2008 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

ALL around the country, people will this morning be reaching for the painkillers and eschewing the bacon butties as the effects of last night’s revelries hit home.

However, for Phil Neville and his Everton team-mates, the groggy feeling that threatens to be carried over into the New Year isn’t because of any celebration.

David Moyes’s side ended an encouraging 12 months by pushing firmly on the self-destruct button during the second half against Arsenal on Saturday.

Given their deserved half-time lead, the Goodison Park outfit were left dazed and confused as to how they had managed to implode in such dramatic fashion, their defence taking the season of goodwill a tad too literally.

It was the second time in a week Everton had inadvertently aided a championship contender, following Steven Pienaar’s moment of madness that allowed Manchester United to sneak a streaky 2-1 win at Old Trafford the previous Sunday.

Moyes’s men responded to that defeat with a convincing Boxing Day dismantling of Bolton Wanderers.

And skipper Neville believes a repeat dose at Middlesbrough this afternoon will cure the lingering bitter aftertaste of Saturday’s setback.

“There can’t be a hangover,” says the England international. “If we want to be pushing Liverpool for that fourth place, we have got to bounce back like we did against Bolton. There is so much confidence in the squad and there is still freshness.

“It’s not as if we haven’t got players who can come in and replace people to give us a bit of impetus. All we have got to do is take our football from this game and just learn from the experience. When you play in big games, concentration wins you the points.

“We are playing some fantastic football at the minute and the confidence around the club is there for all to see. We are playing good football in the big games and you can see that we are competing.”

The 4-1 defeat to Arsenal means Everton have taken just a single point from five league games against the big four of the Gunners, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United so far this season.

Moyes’s side remain in sixth place, four points behind fourth-placed Liverpool having played a game more than their neighbours. But while Neville accepts the importance of breaking their duck against the top four teams, he is confident another Champions League qualification berth is not beyond the Goodison outfit.

“We are one of the in-form teams in the Premier League but once a season you have got to win one of those big games and we slipped up against Arsenal,” he says. “In the first half we played really well, we attacked them and stopped them playing.

“Liverpool and Manchester City drawing was the perfect result for us. If we want to get into fourth place, we want to keep as close to Liverpool as possible. Manchester City will be thinking the same way.

“We are aiming for a Champions League place but we need to keep winning and we also need the teams around us to beat the teams at the top. We have to believe that we can finish in fourth place.

“We had a 13-game unbeaten run and only top teams do that. Why not aim for fourth place? We are improving as a club, the quality of football we are playing is getting better and we have got great confidence.”

Of Everton’s record against the top four this season, manager Moyes says: “I don’t think the results are a reflection of how we have played during those games. There are lot of aspects in the games that we have been pleased with, and others that we were not.

“Both the games against United were extremely close. We drew at Chelsea and lost narrowly to Liverpool and played quite well against Arsenal.”

Following today’s game, the Premier League takes a backseat with Everton opening their FA Cup campaign at home to Oldham Athletic on Saturday before the first leg of their Carling Cup semi-final at Chelsea next Tuesday.

And Neville adds: “To win a trophy with Everton would be fantastic. They say your next trophy is always the best and we haven’t had a lot of success here in recent years.

“We want to put that right. If we won a trophy the club would move forward again.”

Today’s visit to the Riverside is almost certainly the last time Moyes will be able to call upon Pienaar, Joseph Yobo and Yakubu for a top-flight fixture until February, with the trio poised to join up with their respective countries for African Cup of Nations duty next week.

Everton will attempt to persuade Nigeria coach Berti Vogts to delay the call-up of both Yobo and Yakubu to allow them to play at Stamford Bridge next week.

And Moyes says: “Every other team in the Premier League with African players have the same challenge as ourselves, we must all try to cope without the players.

“I have no idea yet whether we can get some leeway over their departures, I have not really addressed that yet.

“We are looking at it and we will know more about it nearer the time, that’s all I can say at the moment.”

Of Pienaar, Moyes adds: “He was very good on Saturday. He has done really well for us. He has done a lot of really good things with the ball, and we will miss him when he goes to the African Cup of Nations.”