There aren’t many people who would give Everton the benefit of the doubt any time we visit Old Trafford to bring home more than a point at best. If you look at the way both sides have been playing recently, there are clear weaknesses in both teams. Firstly Utd have been losing more games than normal, and personally I’m not convinced it has that much to do with the loss of Ronaldo in the summer. I think it’s a combination of the loss of Ronaldo, Tevez and some injuries to their usually consistent defensive back line which has left them more vulnerable than in seasons past. That said, this is still Man Utd and still an incredibly difficult team to beat – even if Everton were at their strongest and best – which we are certainly not.
I won’t blather on too much about our injury list, but with Pienaar still likely to miss out on a place, we can’t expect to see the flowing and creative moves that we have witnessed over the last couple of seasons at times. This is more a challenge of old fashioned hard work and determination rather than flair if we want to take something from the game. We need every player in blue to have their best game of the season today – not because Man Utd are so vastly superior, but because Everton need to turn their season around and that will only happen when the players who are fit, make the most of what they have – which hasn’t been the case yet this season in most cases.
Utd hate it when we get in their faces. Last season the turning point in our whole campaign began with Man Utd at home and that tackle by the probably absent Phil Neville. It signaled a change in our players’ mentality, woke up the crowd and from that point on, we were on the front foot. We don’t have home advantage today, but I hope that same spirit can still be awoken in our starting 11 this afternoon. COYB!
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