David Moyes: Everton played well enough to beat Fiorentina

Mar 13 2008 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

PROUD David Moyes praised the performance of his players after Everton suffered a heartbreaking UEFA Cup exit.

Trailing 2-0 from their first leg to Fiorentina, the Goodison outfit fought back to win the return game 2-0 last night before losing a dramatic penalty shoot-out 4-2.

Yakubu and Phil Jagielka both missed from the spot while the Italian side netted all four of their penalties to progress to the quarter-finals.

Andrew Johnson had given Everton a 16th-minute lead in normal time before Mikel Arteta levelled the tie with a blistering drive midway through the second half.

Everton dominated the match and created numerous chances only to find Fiorentina keeper Sebastien Frey in superlative form.

And a disappointed Moyes said: “We battered them. They played better than us in Italy , but we did a lot more tonight to them than they did to us in Florence.

“We should have won it in the 90 minutes. It was some effort. I’m disappointed because we haven’t gone through. I thought we maybe could have scored the third goal in the 90 minutes, and that was maybe our only failing. Their goalkeeper got lucky at the right times and made some really good saves.

“Our players played really well and put a great shift in, but in the end we have not got any reward and that’s what is hard to take.”

Moyes added: “We’re doing so much better, playing better, and the players deserve enormous credit for how they are performing and how they are progressing. Apart from the one game in Fiorentina and half a game in Kharkiv, we’ve done quite well in Europe this season.

“We were playing against a Fiorentina team that, had they not had points deducted last season, they would have qualified for the Champions League.”

Everton were backed by a vociferous home support, who acknowledged their team’s efforts despite the defeat by giving them a standing ovation after the shoot-out.

“It was a great atmosphere, the fans were fantastic,” said Moyes. “The players made that as well by their endeavour and determination to force a cup tie all the way. Really we should be through and should have scored more goals if it wasn’t for a really good goalkeeper.”

Everton must now concentrate on the Premier League, with their hopes of again securing European qualification boosted last night by Aston Villa’s 1-1 home draw with Middlesbrough. Moyes’s men stand alongside fourth-placed Liverpool on 58 points with Villa seven points behind, with all three having played 29 games.

“It’s a challenge now to get fourth or fifth in the Premier League as they are the only two places we can finish in now to get a European place next season,” said Moyes.

“But I don’t think that we are feeling sorry for ourselves tonight. We are just a bit deflated because we didn’t win. Penalty kicks do that. We hope we can have a good response after this. We’ll dust ourselves down and move on. We have nine Premier League games to go and we should look forward to the positively because Everton are playing well.”

Moyes refused to criticise the nonchalant manner of Yakubu’s penalty in the shoot-out which the striker hit against the post, and said: “There are different styles of penalties now. If somebody had come up and blasted it over the bar I wouldn’t be asked the same question.

“I knew who had scored in training and who I could rely on when it came to the shoot-out,” he added.

Tim Cahill missed the game after taking a knock to the foot that had caused him to miss much of last year with a metatarsal injury.

And Moyes admits the Australian is already a major doubt for Sunday’s trip to Fulham.

“He had a foot injury and a hip injury, so I don’t know which of those would have kept him out,” said Moyes.

“We’ll give his foot a check, and I would think he is a doubt for the weekend.”