BLUE WATCH: Patience the key for Everton as we face Italians

Mar 6 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

APART from the early thriller with Metalist Kharkiv, Europe has provided something like light relief for Everton so far this season.

The goals have flown in from all angles and even supposedly tricky sides like AZ Alkmaar, with their formidable home record, have been casually brushed aside on the whole.

Fiorentina though, in the last 16, feel like a bit of a different proposition from the sides that have come before.

With all due respect to German, Dutch and Russian football, the standard of their leagues isn’t generally considered to be as high as that of the Premier League, the Primera Liga and Serie A.

You only have to look at where the usual winners of both the Champions League and the UEFA Cup hail from to realise that the English, Spanish and Italians are the sides to beat.

Just how do Serie A and the Premier League compare now though, head to head?

There was always a feeling that the Italians, despite the many problems their domestic game has faced over the last decade, still possessed a certain worldliness that could often undo even the most efficient of English sides, but this season especially that notion seems to have been put to bed.

You only had to watch Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal, a side no longer fancied to win the title at home, destroy the holders AC Milan at the San Siro to realise that there might finally be some truth to broadcasters’ claims that the English top flight represents the best league in the world.

So while no one would claim that Everton are at the same level as the Gunners, their result on Tuesday – as well as Liverpool’s victory over Inter – indicate that perhaps the Blues need not be too intimidated by the task that faces them. It will be difficult, certainly, especially in tonight’s leg at the Artemio Franchi, but ultimately Davis Moyes' men face better teams than the Viola in the Premier League. After all, Adrian Mutu is their star turn.

The disgraced Romanian was hardly a world-beater when he was at Stamford Bridge and actually misses out with injury. And if he isn’t enough of a benchmark to the quality of the opposition then perhaps a look at the heart of their defence, where Per Kroldrup plays, should be enough to give Everton the encouragement they need.

The Dane is one of the most infamous signings Everton have ever made, and the one that gets brought up most often when disgruntled fans wish to criticise David Moyes. Legend has it that he was simply appalling in the air, despite his size, and ultimately unsuitable for the rigours of the English game.

Fair play to Moyes, unlike, say, countless Newcastle managers who would have simply put Kroldrup in the team for a season or two, the Everton manager was prepared to bite the bullet, admit his error and ship the player straight back out.

Kroldrup's bound to have a blinder tonight then, and look great on the ball, but it will be interesting to see what he’s like in the return leg when the he's staring into the floodlights and being challenged by Victor Anichebe at an excitable Goodison Park.

As ever with these European matches, patience is the key for the Blues, especially in the away leg.

A goalless draw would be a great result over there, setting us up for the possibility of an absolute humdinger of a return next Wednesday.