Andrew Johnson chase set to be delayed

Jul 14 2008 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

Phil Neville was one of only three players involved that appeared in Everton’s final Premier League game of last season.

And the skipper believes the youngsters made the most of their opportunity to impress last week.

“If you had seen these kids in training, you would not have had any worries,” said Neville. “Sion are four weeks ahead of us, so it was a really good run out.

“The message that the manager sent out to them before the game was ‘what a chance you have got to stake a claim’ and I think they can all feel tremendously satisfied with their efforts. They certainly didn’t let anyone down.”

Everton arrived back on Merseyside straight after the game following the conclusion of their week-long training camp.

And Neville added: “It was the end of a really hard week, probably the toughest week of pre-season I have experienced since I’ve been at the club.

“This game was really just a continuation of our training.

“We had spoken to the manager and told him that last year we felt a little bit short of match fitness going into the season because of one thing and another, so the boss got this game in for us and it was a great training exercise.

“The good thing is that the manager doesn’t rest on his laurels.

“We finished fifth last season and maybe some people are expecting us to still be dreaming. Well, not a bit of it. The talk has been about climbing the mountain again.”