“It felt like it wasn’t us, more than revenge, we want to give a good showing of ourselves to them, but we are at home and that means a lot to us and our fans so hopefully we are going to put on a good performance.

That is our focus, not revenge; it is not just about Benfica; it is trying to get out of this group and winning would go along way to doing that.”

Claiming 17 clean sheets in the Premier League last season, to surpass Neville Southall’s best of 15, Howard’s achievements in goal have etched him into club folklore.

Thus, the Goodison Park team’s recent generosity in defence is something not lost on their No 1, but as key personnel return and the side becomes settled, Howard is confident Everton can be watertight once more – starting this evening in front of a packed home support.

Howard added: “That would be another big plus, that would be ideal. It sucks to concede goals, but for me it is about putting in consistently high level performances where you are stopping opposition from creating chances, dictating the tempo and keeping a high line, not letting teams in your box easily.

“When you are doing all that, you feel like you are on a high and it is tough to be beaten, but it is difficult as a defence.

“You can see it on peoples’ faces when goals are going in; it is not nice but to our credit, no-one is pointing the finger at each other; we are just trying to find out why we have been conceding at certain times in games and trying to get better.

“Sure there a lot of reasons and excuses (why conceding goals), it is tough to say but my personal feeling is that when you bring so many new players in the summer it is really tough to integrate them. I know myself, I have been away for two weeks at a time every month with internationals and when you get a squad full of players like that it is hard to bond and gel as a group.

But we are getting there and we know the foundation at Everton is that toughness and that fighting spirit, and though we want to play good football, there has got to be that meanness. It is no secret that is the foundation of this club and this team, and we are slowly starting to get there and I feel like we are getting that back.

“In my time here this has been the first time where we have not been completely settled, for various reasons, injuries, suspensions, players cup-tied and when we are playing on different fronts, it is hard.

“The manager has had a difficult task because of those reasons, he has had to chop and change and you have to go Wednesday, Sunday, Thursday with different line-ups.

“It has been hard. When we were at our best we had a fantastic understanding; we knew each others’ body language, and got the performances right.

“I am hoping we will get back to that with players coming back and start to settle into a routine – but we certainly have to put that into practice.”