IT FEELS like this Europa League tie in Athens has sneaked up on us to a certain extent.

The Greeks were hopeless at Goodison back in September, but they are apparently a tougher proposition at home, were they have already beaten Benfica.

The way the group stands, the most important thing is that we avoid defeat in this game. If they do that then just a point against BATE will guarantee qualification to the next stage. Lose in Athens though and matters are out of our own hands.

Whether anyone at the club is that bothered about that now though is up for debate. In seasons gone by the Europa League has looked like an easier route to silverware than even the domestic cups. When Zenit St Petersburg thrashed Rangers in the 2008 final, for instance, Evertonians couldn’t help wonder what might have been. After the two games against Benfica though, few would really fancy our chances of lifting the trophy in Hamburg next May though.

Of more concern now is the position in the league. The defeat at the KC Stadium was an absolute disaster – the only positive coming from it was that the players set the bar so low in terms of their performance and attitude that they are now getting pats on the back for losing a home derby 2-0.

Obviously we were all pleased to see some genuine effort against Liverpool, but the result still means we let more points slip against a very beatable team. We hear our Kopite counterparts moaning about the state of their side all the time, but not until we actually saw them in the flesh could we really appreciate just how ordinary they are. Hardly any of their players would have got into Everton’s team on Sunday, never mind Chelsea or Manchester United’s. And yet they still won.

Both clubs are shadows of their former selves, and the sad state of football on Merseyside as a whole was reflected in the way that the television served the 212th derby as an appetiser for the day’s main event at the Emirates. Where once an Everton-Liverpool encounter was seen as one of the highlights of the season for the whole country, it’s now viewed by neutrals more like the Birmingham derby: mildly diverting because of the wild tackles and the risqué chanting, but ultimately inconsequential.