Sharpys top lip
Player Valuation: £60m
We can clinch UEFA Cup and fourth place’ - David MoyesFeb 16 2008
By David Prentice, Liverpool Echo
DAVID MOYES insists he has the squad to win the UEFA Cup AND qualify for the Champions League – even though that would mean a further 20 gruelling matches for his players this season.
Moyes flew back from Oslo yesterday, after staying on in Norway after Everton’s 2-0 win over Bergen on Wednesday to watch possible last 16 rivals Fiorentina win in Rosenborg.
And he said: “We have the squad to win the UEFA Cup and qualify for the Champions League. I do not see it as a choice, nobody can pick the one they want.
“But our squad is good enough. We have coped recently with a lot of players missing and we are still in fourth spot in the league.”
If Moyes is to fulfil his dreams, he knows that Everton will have to play 20 more games this season, including eight if they want to lift the UEFA Cup at Manchester City’s Eastlands stadium in the final on May 14.
Those 20 games will be played in 84 energy-sapping days, and five in one crippling 16-day spell.
From April 19 to May 4, the Blues could face Chelsea, Aston Villa and Arsenal in the Premier League, plus both legs of a European semi-final.
Moyes said: “Our squad is good enough. I’m told that six wins on the trot is a record in Europe for an Everton manager, and that makes me proud.
“But it is the next six games that are the most important, but even that will not be enough to get to the final of this competition, it goes on and on.
“There is still a lot of work to be done but we are getting near the juicy part of the tournament, even if the UEFA Cup seems to go on forever.”
To win the UEFA Cup, Everton would have successfully negotiated 15 European matches, a mammoth task. And they dare not ease up in their final 12 Premier League games or fourth spot will be lost.
It is the most testing time of Moyes’ near six years as manager at Goodison, but he added of their European run: “We are growing into this tournament. We did not hurt Bergen enough early on, and there is always an element of fear over two-legged ties.
“You don’t want to take risks. But we are maturing as a team now, and we are showing that maturity and that we understand how you have to play at this level.
“We have a lot of belief now that we can win away games in Europe, and it is not going to get any easier. But the more games we have had this season the better we have played.”
So what do you think, can we do this?? Im not so sure,but one of the two would be superb.
So lets just say we can only do one. Which would it be??
Win the UEFA cup?????
or
Finish forth an qualify for the champions league????
By David Prentice, Liverpool Echo
DAVID MOYES insists he has the squad to win the UEFA Cup AND qualify for the Champions League – even though that would mean a further 20 gruelling matches for his players this season.
Moyes flew back from Oslo yesterday, after staying on in Norway after Everton’s 2-0 win over Bergen on Wednesday to watch possible last 16 rivals Fiorentina win in Rosenborg.
And he said: “We have the squad to win the UEFA Cup and qualify for the Champions League. I do not see it as a choice, nobody can pick the one they want.
“But our squad is good enough. We have coped recently with a lot of players missing and we are still in fourth spot in the league.”
If Moyes is to fulfil his dreams, he knows that Everton will have to play 20 more games this season, including eight if they want to lift the UEFA Cup at Manchester City’s Eastlands stadium in the final on May 14.
Those 20 games will be played in 84 energy-sapping days, and five in one crippling 16-day spell.
From April 19 to May 4, the Blues could face Chelsea, Aston Villa and Arsenal in the Premier League, plus both legs of a European semi-final.
Moyes said: “Our squad is good enough. I’m told that six wins on the trot is a record in Europe for an Everton manager, and that makes me proud.
“But it is the next six games that are the most important, but even that will not be enough to get to the final of this competition, it goes on and on.
“There is still a lot of work to be done but we are getting near the juicy part of the tournament, even if the UEFA Cup seems to go on forever.”
To win the UEFA Cup, Everton would have successfully negotiated 15 European matches, a mammoth task. And they dare not ease up in their final 12 Premier League games or fourth spot will be lost.
It is the most testing time of Moyes’ near six years as manager at Goodison, but he added of their European run: “We are growing into this tournament. We did not hurt Bergen enough early on, and there is always an element of fear over two-legged ties.
“You don’t want to take risks. But we are maturing as a team now, and we are showing that maturity and that we understand how you have to play at this level.
“We have a lot of belief now that we can win away games in Europe, and it is not going to get any easier. But the more games we have had this season the better we have played.”
So what do you think, can we do this?? Im not so sure,but one of the two would be superb.
So lets just say we can only do one. Which would it be??
Win the UEFA cup?????
or
Finish forth an qualify for the champions league????
