Phil Neville: Missing out on Europe would be disaster

May 3 2008 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

FOR Phil Neville, it would be a disaster. For David Moyes, a disappointment. Either way, everyone at Everton is desperate to avoid a debate on how to describe a failure to clinch fifth place.

Following a season of such encouragement, the Goodison Park outfit must now apply the crucial finishing touch to ensure the campaign ends with deserved reward.

The tag of being ‘best of the rest’ and a return to the UEFA Cup is the prize on offer to Moyes’s men, who know four points from their final two games will fend off a late charge from Aston Villa and achieve their goal.

First up is a trip to Arsenal tomorrow afternoon. And having acquired a taste for the Continent this season, skipper Phil Neville believes the dread of missing out on Europe is a driving force for Everton’s squad.

“From a personal point of view it would be a disaster for myself to miss out on Europe and I know the other players feel the same,” he says.

“We’ve had some tremendous nights and I want to play European football every season whether it’s the UEFA Cup or the Champions League.

“You can’t say that we deserve it so far because at the end of the season the table doesn’t lie but we’ve got to make sure we see things out and get our just rewards for everything we’ve put in.”

Moyes, however, takes a more pragmatic view of Everton’s campaign.

“We have been in a good strong position all season,” says the manager. “To finish fifth or sixth would not be a disaster.

“Having another top-six finish shows we are getting more consistent, are doing better and can put to bed the tag that we are a yo-yo club.

“Disappointment is different from disaster, I’m sure that there will be a tinge of that if we don’t finish fifth. We’re going to do everything that we can to remain fifth. But if we finish sixth then we can’t look at that as being a disaster.”

Everton have been hamstrung yet again by poor form during the run-in, but Neville saw signs in the 2-2 draw against Villa last week to suggest the Goodison outfit can return home with something from the Emirates.

“We’ve got to go down to Arsenal and put in an outstanding performance and there aren’t many better stages to go out and show your footballing skills and show why we’re fifth in the league,” says the skipper.

“They’ve nothing to play for and hopefully we can go there an attack them and give as good as we get.

“We’ve not beaten a top four side this season. We’re going to have to do something we’ve not achieved all season next week and it’s well within our capabilities. You could see the freshness back against Villa.”

A point at the Emirates tomorrow would secure another top-six finish and mean Everton would at least be guaranteed an Intertoto Cup place.

While the competition has in the past been regarded as something of a joke, Moyes has no qualms in altering his pre-season plans to accommodate a possible route back into Europe.

“The Intertoto might alter things slightly and what it will do is give us more games,” says the Goodison manager.

“Whereas we qualified for the group stages of the UEFA Cup with just playing two games, you’d play a home and away tie in the Intertoto, another in the UEFA Cup qualifying round and then another before the group stage, so you’d play six. That would be the difference.

“It would replace some of the pre-season fixtures and gives them a bit more spice, and you’d have to have your players more ready for that. You want to get into Europe, no matter how you go about doing it.

“I can’t make a pre-season programme yet because we’re waiting to see what we are doing. We have quite a few things ready to go, there are a few either/or situations.”

Moyes, though, doesn’t believe that league placing will have any effect on his summer transfer kitty.

“I’ve had no indication about funds yet,” he adds. “But there’s no dependency on where we finish.

“Midfield is one of the areas we need to look at, from out wide to central areas, we’ve been short of numbers as well as quality.

“A lot of our work has been emphasised abroad and we’ll probably be doing more there this summer.”

One area where Everton haven’t been overly worked is from the 12-yard mark. Remarkably, the Goodison side are on the brink of completing an entire league campaign without being awarded a penalty for the first time since 1971-72.

And Moyes says: “We’ve not had one penalty kick in the league and we’ve only scored one free-kick from direct play, which was Alan Stubbs in the second game this season (at Tottenham).

“It’s an incredible non-achievement really to have no penalties and have only one free-kick come to something. I don’t think I’ve ever been at a club where they haven’t had a penalty in the league in a season.”

Moyes, meanwhile, has passed on his congratulations to former Everton manager Walter Smith and his Rangers team, after they eliminated Everton’s UEFA Cup conquerors Fiorentina to set up a final against Zenit St Petersburg later this month.

“I was pleased,” he says. “Once again it was Belgian referees, the ref at our game against Fiorentina was the fourth official on Thursday, and I thought Rangers got nothing off the ref all night.

I thought the referee was influenced by the crowd. Rangers had a tough night to get through under the circumstances, and it’s remarkable that they did and is a great achievement for Walter and Rangers.

“I spoke to Walter before their first game against Fiorentina and we had a long chat. They didn’t need any help from us, though, but if he needs to speak to us about Zenit we’ll help him out.”