Everton v Chelsea:DAVID MOYES'S desire to end Everton's trophy drought has never been in question. It was, arguably, best demonstrated on the night in May 2009 when he took to the stage at the Grosvenor Hotel and vowed never to open a box that contained the FA Cup runners-up medal he had received that afternoon.
A season of anti-climax and financial constraint has brought him to another pivotal cup meeting with Chelsea this afternoon, but it has not diminished the ambition that lifted a deflated FA Cup final party two years ago.
“I’ve never bothered with the medal. It’s in the house somewhere,” he says. “I think I gave it to my son, David. Maybe he’s opened it up and had a look at it. Maybe he’s got it somewhere. That’s not being disrespectful.”
Moyes has never come as close to lifting Everton’s first silverware since 1995 as he did on the day Frank Lampard crowned Guus Hiddink’s sterling repair work at Stamford Bridge by winning the 2009 FA Cup for Chelsea.
“The medal wasn’t the big thing,” says the Everton manager. “The achievement was getting to the final and the route that we took and the teams we beat to get there.
“Okay we didn’t win but we played our part in the day. We scored a goal in the first minute and it was an exciting FA Cup final. We just didn’t have quite enough on the day. I’ll open the box if we get there and win it, no doubt about that. I’ll hopefully try and do that. Maybe it will be this year.”
The Everton manager is right to speculate, for this has been a season in which his team’s performances have been impossible to predict. Frustration at Goodison Park is rising, but not only over Everton’s inconsistency.
Once again progress has been undermined by a lack of new additions during the transfer window, and despite selling Steven Pienaar to Tottenham Hotspur and getting Yakubu Ayegbeni and James Vaughan off the wage bill as well, Moyes is struggling to compete for a loan signing.
Yesterday, his latest bulletin on whether he would complete his search for a desperately needed new striker was: “Probably not.”
Asked if dissatisfaction would boil over should Chelsea consign Everton to a season of trying to stay clear of relegation, he said: “I don’t think it will. It is a really tough tie and I think everybody is aware of that. I feel that whatever happens, we will keep going.
“We still have a lot of Premier League games left to try and win this season and, I hope, FA Cup games as well. We’ve got a (financial) situation that I and the supporters are well aware of. We are not in a position to make big signings and the chairman has made that known at every opportunity.”
The danger is that a failure to replenish the squad will have a damaging effect on the players Moyes does have at the club, and will lead many to question their futures at the end of the season.
Moyes said: “I would like to bring a couple in to help the group itself, to give the group a lift. They need the competition and to see new faces as well.
“But if we don’t bring people in then it gives others a chance to get regular football and that is the way we have done it here in recent years. We’ve never brought in lots and if I’d signed a right-winger, for example, maybe Seamus Coleman would not have got his opportunity.”
Striker Victor Anichebe is doubtful for the visit of Carlo Ancelotti’s side but that aside, Moyes has no fresh injury worries.
England defender Phil Jagielka could return from a groin problem but Tim Cahill remains on Asian Cup duty with Australia, who play Japan in today’s decider.
Lampard remains a slight doubt for Chelsea having missed Monday night’s 4-0 Premier League win at Bolton with a calf injury.
Gael Kakuta and Patrick van Aanholt both left Stamford Bridge on loan this week, while Alex (knee), Yury Zhirkov (calf) and Yossi Benayoun (Achilles) remain sidelined.
Guardian Service
