ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE:Everton's Australian midfielder believes in his side's potential ahead of tomorrow's derby, writes Andy Hunter
THERE IS no sympathy for Liverpool’s plight at Everton but their Merseyside rivals are hardly in a position to gloat, as Tim Cahill will testify. Two teams in the city languish on six points from seven games, lest we forget, and one has not had the rich and powerful squabbling for control or any prospect of a new stadium in the foreseeable future. That will be the team carrying greater expectation at Goodison Park tomorrow.
David Moyes’s men have their own problems ahead of the 214th chapter of English football’s most-played derby. This week they lost 16-year-old Ross Barkley, a midfielder of immense promise who starred in England’s Under-17 European Championship victory in May, to a triple leg fracture. His personal torment alone should place Liverpool’s recent trials into perspective.
Marouane Fellaini, Everton’s authority in midfield, will be out for six weeks with a hamstring strain, Phil Jagielka is a serious doubt, Steven Pienaar and the rising Jack Rodwell are injured, and a season that opened with Champions League expectations has suffered yet another false start. Pressure to deliver is not only upon Roy Hodgson.
“It’s definitely a game neither team can afford to lose,” admits Cahill, who sealed Everton’s first league victory of the season, at Birmingham City, before the international break. “We are both in a false position but there is a greater emphasis on this game because of our positions and because of that it is one of the most vital games we will have all season.”
The Australia international describes the prospect of defeat tomorrow as “unthinkable”. Everton’s performances have not been as poor as the league table indicates, unlike Liverpool’s, with their main weakness being the one Moyes identified in the summer – a lack of penetration in front of goal. A lightweight midfield is now an added burden.
The subsequent toil has not altered Cahill’s pre-season predication that this squad is on “the verge of something big” for Everton. The 30-year-old insists: “I believe in this squad, it’s probably the best we have ever had. It’s just been the mistakes we have made in the seven games that have cost us. Five points on top of what we have now and we’d be right up there, and that has put added pressure on ourselves. If we don’t do it this season then it will definitely be next (season), because I know this team has so much potential.”
Merseyside derbies are notoriously splenetic. They also bring out the best and worst in Cahill. Ten red cards have been issued in the past 11 meetings alone, the Australian receiving one of them, but, immersed in all things Everton and with four goals against Liverpool, it is a fixture that means as much to the man from Sydney as any scouser.
“What it means to us and to the fans makes this the most exciting part of my career,” he says. “It’s a chance to make yourself something special, to look back when you’re older and say: ‘I remember that derby because I helped make a change’. The feeling of beating Liverpool is up there with the best of my career. The reason is how passionate we both are. I’ve become wrapped up in the competition of the derby.
“You expect (Jamie) Carragher and Steven Gerrard to go in hard in the first three minutes. Whoever sets the tone and puts their stamp on things can have a big effect on the game. I expect to be hit early. I expect someone to try to rough me up. It’s a compliment in football and it’s about how you react, and I will be fine. I always have a smirk when one of them goes in hard on us or vice-versa. As long as it’s done in the right manner, I am all for it.”
The danger is that Liverpool’s off-field distractions and the desperate league positions of both Merseyside clubs will spill over. Cahill claims to have paid no attention to his rivals’ courtroom dramas but he believes that, when compared to what Moyes has built on more modest resources, Liverpool cannot pin all the blame for their demise on Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
Cahill explains: “They have high expectations because they’ve spent a lot of money. In terms of what they have spent, what we have, what they’ve had and now don’t have, it’s not rocket science to say it’s affected them. For us, there is no comparison. Our manager has worked within a good budget and brought in players who love playing for the club. We don’t have the chance to go and spend £40 million (€46m) a season, we have to be cuter and bring through great young talent. The pressure’s been brought on by themselves, by what they’ve spent. Their fans expect results and when they don’t get them, there will always be pressure.” None more so than tomorrow.
Guardian Service
