Blue Boys: Everton U-18s coach Kevin Sheedy has no complaints over John Lundstram derby red card
by Greg O'Keeffe, Liverpool Echo
Mar 1 2012
KEVIN Sheedy had no complaints over John Lundstram’s dismissal for a two-footed challenge during the Academy derby defeat by Liverpool. The 18-year-old was given a straight red for his rash tackle and Sheedy says it must be a lesson for the England U-18 midfielder. “He left the ground and we have no complaints,” he said. “We want players to be committed and John was frustrated because as a local lad he wanted to beat Liverpool, but that type of challenge is unacceptable and he has to learn that. “John has been in and around the reserve team and he is developing so we will not condemn him for it but we’ve spoken to him and pointed out he simply can’t get away with it on the pitch. “He’ll learn from it and realise that you have to control your temper and your frustration and that you can’t influence a game from the sidelines anymore after you’ve given the ref no choice.”

Blue Boys: Nottingham Forest next up for Everton Academy
by Greg O'Keeffe, Liverpool Echo
Mar 1 2012
EVERTON U18s host Nottingham Forest on Saturday, with Kevin Sheedy demanding a response to their derby humbling. He said: “Forest always produce sides that like to play the game well. They like to get the ball down and pass it around, so we’ll have another type of challenge. “But I expect us to show much more defensive resolve to go with our good attacking play which has been one of our strengths this season. When we get it right, like with the 4-1 win over Manchester United, we can prosper.”

England 2 Holland 3: James Pearce’s verdict on England’s defeat on Stuart Pearce’s first match as coach
by James Pearce, Liverpool Echo
Mar 1 2012
IT’S not all bad news for Stuart Pearce. Being a fully trained electrician and plumber, at least the self-styled hard man has a trade to fall back on. The interim manager’s dream of leading England into Euro 2012 went up in smoke at Wembley last night. With his tailored suit and patriotic rallying call ‘Pyscho’ did his best to look the part, but was found wanting. There’s more to managing England than breast-beating and flying the flag of St George from a 25ft pole in your back garden.
And a talented Dutch side made the most of the hosts’ glaring deficiencies to clinch a deserved victory. Forget the scoreline, there was nothing close about this encounter. Goals from Arjen Robben and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar had put the visitors in the driving seat before England produced a surprising late flourish. Gary Cahill and Ashley Young appeared to have secured a draw they didn’t deserve, only for Robben’s last-gasp strike to ensure justice was done. It meant for the second time in four days there was Wembley joy for Liverpool’s Dirk Kuyt following his heroics in the Carling Cup final. By the time the Three Lions face Norway at the end of May, Fabio Capello’s successor will be at the helm. Pearce’s generous offer to allow England to benefit from his “tournament experience” in Poland and Ukraine will surely be declined. Of course England’s problems run far deeper than allowing such a rookie to occupy the managerial hot-seat. A lack of talent will ensure they are merely making up the numbers at the Euros. But Pearce should be nowhere near a new era for the senior side. His handling of the captaincy issue was shambolic. To leave it until the day of the game and then snub Steven Gerrard, a player who has given so much for his country, was bang out of order.
Then having bizarrely opted to give Scott Parker the armband, it would have made sense to rest the Liverpool skipper. However, he added insult to injury by starting Gerrard just 72 hours after that gruelling contest with Cardiff City and the midfielder limped off before the interval.
Considering the last time Gerrard appeared for England in November 2010 he picked up a hamstring injury after being overplayed and was out for six weeks, Kenny Dalglish will be furious if history repeats itself. All will become clear when Gerrard is assessed by the club’s medical staff at Melwood today. The thousands of empty seats indicated the apathy for a meaningless mid-season friendly and during a lacklustre opening 45 minutes there was little to get excited about. A Dutch team packed with the quality of Robin van Persie, Wesley Sneijder and Robben should have had far too much for England but they were surprisingly lacklustre early on. It was the hosts who looked the more likely to find a breakthrough with Gary Cahill nodding narrowly over the bar. Gerrard put the obvious disappointment of missing out on the captaincy behind him as he pulled the strings. With Parker and Gareth Barry sitting deep, the Reds midfielder had a licence to get forward and it was his sweeping pass which sent Adam Johnson clear down the right. Johnson twisted and turned his way past Erik Peters and Nigel de Jong before his shot deflected just past the post. Holland briefly threatened with Joe Hart equal to Robben’s effort after the Bayern Munich star had got the better of Micah Richards. Parker then threw himself in the path of a strike from van Persie, who only briefly flitted into life before making way at the break. England and Liverpool were rocked by the departure of Gerrard 12 minutes before half-time. The Reds skipper shook hands with Pearce before heading straight down the tunnel. If the Dutch lacked their usual spark, Mark van Bommel at least lived up to his reputation by showcasing his penchant for kicking lumps out of people. Somehow he escaped with a ticking off for cynically hacking down Richards. The ineffective Gareth Barry didn’t emerge for the second half with James Milner getting his chance to shine. Daniel Sturridge, who had replaced Gerrard, provided some menace down the right and saw his low strike parried away by Maarten Stekelenburg. However, it was Holland who broke the deadlock in the 57th minute courtesy of a stunning individual effort from Robben. He picked up possession inside his own half and with defensive shield Parker having gone AWOL he was allowed to burst forward unchallenged.
England backed off and Robben punished them with an unstoppable left-footer past Hart from the edge of the box. Sixty seconds later the Dutch were 2-0 up. Kuyt delivered from the right and substitute Huntelaar gave his cross the finish it deserved with a thumping header.
The striker lay motionless on the turf after a sickening clash of heads with Chris Smalling and after a lengthy stoppage neither could continue. Liverpool’s Stewart Downing came off the bench and sent a volley flashing wide before Sturridge fluffed a glorious chance at the back post. The Dutch were cruising but out of nowhere England summoned a fightback inside the final five minutes.
First, Cahill latched on to Leighton Baines’ clever through ball to finish neatly and then Young dinked the equaliser past Stekelenburg. Everton full-back Baines impressed after being handed his seventh cap and will take heart from the fact he kept Ashley Cole on the bench throughout.
The hosts looked to have secured a draw but the Dutch simply went up a gear and grabbed a winner in stoppage time. Van Bommel’s flick found Robben who cut inside before his curling effort took a deflection off Cahill and left Hart helpless.
ENGLAND: Hart, Richards, Smalling (Jones 64), Cahill, Baines, Young, Barry (Milner 46), Gerrard (Sturridge 33, Walcott 88), Johnson (Downing 62), Young, Welbeck (Campbell 79).
Not used: Cole, Green, Lescott, Carson.
HOLLAND: Stekelenburg, Boulahrouz (Vlaar 82), Heitinga, Mathijsen, Pieters (Schaars 46), Van Bommel, N De Jong, Robben, Sneijder (Emanuelson 76), Kuyt, van Persie (Huntelaar 46, L De Jong 63).
Not used: Krul, Strootman, Wijnaldum, Bruma, John, Narsingh.
REFEREE: Felix Brych (Germany). ATT: 76, 283

Everton FC chairman Bill Kenwright to return to Coronation Street for special goodbye for Betty Driver
by Tina Miles, Liverpool Echo
Mar 1 2012
BILL Kenwright is set to return to Coronation Street after almost two decades to pay tribute to late actress Betty Driver. The soap’s bosses today revealed why they were keen to snap up the services of the theatre impresario and Everton FC chairman. He will reprise his original role as Gordon Clegg for Rovers Return barmaid Betty Williams’ funeral in April. A Corrie spokeswoman said: “It was important to us to mark Betty’s passing in a fitting way within the programme. Bill Kenwright was like a son to Betty and he always referred to her as his ‘second mum’. “At her funeral he indicated he would be interested in returning for her final storyline and we are thrilled this is now happening.
“Having Bill involved means we have been able to write a fitting ending for a fabulous lady.
“A secret will come to light that Betty has kept for almost 30 years – even from Gordon.”
Bill first appeared on Corrie in 1968 but Gordon only discovered Betty was his mum in 1975.
He was last seen in 1995 as Betty’s on-screen son. Betty Driver, who played the street’s hotpot queen for 42 years, died in October last year aged 91.

Everton FC fans letters: Neville Southall will always be a Blues legend
Liverpool Echo
Mar 1 2012
ABOUT the interview with Neville Southall in the ECHO this week: people use the word ‘legend’ far too easily these days. This guy WAS a legend, simple as that.
wiseblue
NEVILLE SOUTHALL was the best keeper of his generation (if not of all time). You do get the feeling that because he is Welsh and he didn’t get the opportunity to play at the highest level, he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. Some of the saves which he would pull off would just leave you thinking ‘how was that possible?’ With him in the side you always knew that we had a chance to win; in his prime he was a guaranteed 20 points a season keeper – he was that good.
He will always be one of Everton’s true greats.
Thanks for the memories, Nev.
hazyefc
ONE of my all time legends is our Big Nev – he was the best keeper in the world in my eyes in the 1980s. All the best, Nev. Evertonprideof Merseyside WHICH fool decided we’d play the derby just four days before our biggest game of the season? Even more so considering the sending offs this game seems to attract. I’d just play a reserve side at Anfield to make sure our strongest team is available for the Sunderland match. The derby means nothing compared to the FA Cup quarter-final.
ScouseBluenose
RE. the scheme for cheaper tickets for schoolchildren at Goodison Park next season. It is a fabulous gesture from the People’s Club – pure class. Well done to Robert and the board for agreeing to this in these very hard financial times.
bluepeter1
RE. Fellaini thinking Everton’s returning injured contingent being desperate to make their mark on the Blues’ season. Well, Rodwell, Jagielka and Osman will have to wait for injuries to get back in. Some might say Gibson’s injury will see Rodwell slot back in but I think we all know that just means Neville gets a game in midfield. As for Jagielka and Osman, they were ever presents in the woeful start to the season. Since they’ve been injured Everton’s form has improved dramatically. Osman should be no more than a squad player while Jagielka should probably be cashed in on at the end of the season. Not least as in Duffy it seems we have a ready made replacement. I heard many say we should cash in on Rodwell. It’s hard to argue. He promises so much but delivers so little, injured or not. It would be great to keep hold of him, but given Gibson’s done well, it may make sense to cash in.
Staygold

Taste Test: Dixie Dean suite at Goodison Park offers good food and a fascinating tour too
by Dawn Collinson, Liverpool Echo
Mar 1 2012
Dawn Collinson goes into extra time at Goodison Park in the Dixie Dean suite THERE was an unseasonable warmth lingering over Goodison Park on the Sunday afternoon of our lunch and ground mini tour. It was the smug afterglow of victory. Visit our Food and Drink section for baking tips, our wine column and more. Less than 24 hours had passed since Chelsea had been dispatched back down the M1 with a flea in their multi-millionaire ears and no points. And, as a family of genetically-preordained Blues, we were more than a little pleased. The timing, as it happened, was entirely co-incidental. The lunch and tour packages aren’t run every weekend, so it was simply a matter of good fortune. In fact we were there to celebrate my brother’s 50th, returning for a milestone birthday to the scene of many happy (and a few character-building) Saturday afternoons spent as children. The basic itinerary of the day is a three-course set lunch in the Dixie Dean Suite followed by a behind the scenes walk around the stadium, accompanied by a guide to talk you through the history and lesser known quirky facts of the club. Our booking had been preceded by an email exchange, prompted by news that chef was favouring a Brazilian steak as his main course. It varies from event to event but he was clearly feeling the Latin vibe on this particular weekend.
That presented a slight issue since three out of five of us don’t eat red meat. I asked if there might be an alternative, and after proffering a list of dos and don’ts, was reassured that chef would happily oblige with either chicken or fish. Arriving at reception, we were greeted and shown up to the Dixie Dean Suite, a stylishly (black and cream, not royal blue) decorated room lacking only in view. We wondered what could be seen through the windows if they weren’t etched, but worked out we were only missing the rooftops of neighbouring houses rather than the pitch. Most of our fellow diners seemed to be celebrating – birthdays, retirements and other family get togethers – which gave the restaurant an enthusiastic buzz. Menus on the table revealed what chef had decided on for his starter and dessert: a leek and potato soup, and sticky toffee and date pudding. Warm pumpkin seeded rolls were brought first to our table, followed promptly by the soup in small tureens.
It was lovely, not cloyingly creamy as leek and potato can sometimes be but with a good amount of body. It withstood a coating-the-spoon test admirably. Service was faultlessly attentive and friendly, although we did find the request for payment for each round of drinks just a bit intrusive.
Mains were the aforementioned Brazilian steak, with a port sauce, or the substitute chicken breast.
The steak was a great thick hunk, apparently devoid of fat and juicily pink in the centre, doused in a generous amount of tangy sauce. Our chicken was simply roasted; well seasoned, moist and still wearing its crisp skin. They both came accompanied by a delicious creamy, garlicky little stack of Dauphinoise potatoes and some perfectly lightly cooked carrots and greens. So far, so good. It was half time (roughly) and we were definitely ahead. Sticky toffee pudding, though, can so often be the undoing of an otherwise fine meal. In the wrong hands, it can build expectations to a mouth-watering peak only to be a stodgy let down. This one, happily, didn’t fail. It was dark and rich and packed with chewy dates as a good toffee pud should be. The ‘vanilla infused sauce’ was, to the untrained eye, actually a thin custard and so the ideal partner. A thicker version would only have weighed things down. As we finished off with coffee and mints, our Blues guest for the afternoon was introduced to much applause. Derek Temple, I have to admit, played before my time but I know that he’s a bona fide Everton legend, having scored the winner in the 1966 FA Cup final.
It’s a while since he hung up his boots, but he’s clearly an excellent after dinner speaker now and his heart still belongs at Goodison. He had plenty of genuinely funny anecdotes to tell and was happy to answer questions ahead of the tour. In fact, although he must know the ground like the back of his hand, he joined the assembled group as we were guided from boardroom – where all the big name signings were once made – through the dressing rooms (where some very unimpressive plastic baths have long replaced the traditional big communal one) and on to the pitch. There our tour guide Lily chatted as we took turns to sit in the dugout and have photos on the touchline - not the pitch, though, that’s far too sacrosanct to be trampled by high heels. At the end we were presented with certificates, a thoughtful touch and one which rounded off a memorable afternoon for any Blue. Especially those still unashamedly gloating.

lue Boys: Frustrating defensive lapses cost us dear in Merseyside derby says Kevin Sheedy
by Greg O'Keeffe, Liverpool Echo
Mar 1 2012
EVERTON FC U-18s must go back to the defensive drawing board after losing 3-1 to Liverpool FC, warned coach Kevin Sheedy. Sheedy was left to rue his young side’s defensive indiscipline after they crashed to the reverse at Liverpool’s Kirkby academy last week, and said his charges must now go back to basics. “It just wasn’t a performance to the level we’d expect.” said Sheedy. “We made frustrating individual and team defensive errors which cost us dearly and in truth it’s been a problem for a while now. “Conceding early in a game dents confidence, and we’ve shipped too many goals this season. “It’s very hard to win matches when you’re giving yourselves a mountain to climb all the time like this.” Sheedy singled out striker Hallam Hope’s performance as one of the few plus points on a disappointing afternoon for the Blues. “Hallam did perform to the high standards we expect of him and we were pleased with how he got about the pitch and played up front, he is in great form lately and has been showing a good attitude.” Hope, along with midfielder John Lundstram and defender Eric Dier were both involved in the England U18s squad which took on Poland yesterday, with academy goalkeeper Mateusz Taudul lining up in the opposition squad. “Mateusz has had a thumb injury which has made him miss a bit of training this season and he still has a lot of hard work to do but he is a good goalkeeper,” said Sheedy.

Inner Circle Sports join Everton FC buy-out hunt after helping to broker Liverpool FC’s two American take-overs
by Greg O'Keeffe, Liverpool Echo
Mar 1 2012
GLOBAL sports agency Inner Circle Sports which helped broker Liverpool FC’s two US take-overs has joined the hunt to find a buyer for Everton FC. Inner Circle Sports, who led first Tom Hicks and George Gillett, then John W Henry to Anfield, have been given the go-ahead by Goodison Park officials to help in their ongoing search for new owners. The New York-based firm, which also brought Ellis Short to Sunderland in 2008, approached Everton FC and asked to work with them, partly due to the club’s growing profile in the US. EFC’s exposure across the Atlantic has increased on the back of the two successful loan spells of US national team captain Landon Donovan, and their recent FA Cup fourth round victory over Fulham was broadcast live on ESPN in America.

A club spokesman declined to comment, however, the ECHO understands Inner Circle will join other companies and individuals helping Bill Ken-wright’s takeover search, and have not been given any exclusive remit. While the development does not signal any immediate increase in the likelihood of a buy-out, it represents the positive involvement of a company with a proven track-record in the field. Inner Circle Sports were also behind the financing of Wembley Stadium, and have worked alongside a number of US Major League soccer clubs including New York Cosmos and Real Salt Lake.
On their website home-page, the firm describe themselves as major players in the financing market. It says, ‘We frequently work as a buy-side advisor to lead the purchase of a sports franchise or other sports-related asset. ‘We work side-by-side with purchasers to identify compelling investment opportunities and to facilitate all aspects of deal execution’. Meanwhile, Everton FC's home fixture against Arsenal will now take place on Wednesday March 21 (kick-off 8pm). The game, which will not be televised, was originally scheduled for Saturday, March 17 but has been moved due to Everton's involvement in the sixth round of the FA Cup. David Moyes' men will be hoping to record their first win over the Gunners since Andrew Johnson scored the only goal at Goodison Park in March 2007. The Blues suffered a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal at Emirates Stadium in December.

Everton FC skipper Phil Neville warns QPR they have changed for the better
The Liverpool Post
Mar 1 2012
PHIL NEVILLE has warned Queens Park Rangers they will face a different Everton FC team to the one that made a “disastrous” start to the Premier League campaign. But the Goodison skipper admits that former team-mate Mark Hughes can guide the Londoners away from the drop zone.
David Moyes’s EFC side began the season with a shock 1-0 home defeat to promoted QPR, who had been thrashed 4-0 by Bolton Wanderers the previous week. It set the tone for a difficult first half of the campaign that saw Everton loitering in the bottom half until yet another New Year revival.
And Neville believes Moyes’s men travel to Loftus Road on Saturday full of confidence aiming to extend a seven-match unbeaten run and avenge that Goodison defeat in August. “It was a disaster,” said the 35-year-old. “It was a disastrous start to the season, make no bones about that.
“But I think we are a different team now, and I think they are a different team too. They’ve got different players and different management. “I’ve always had a soft spot for Loftus Road. It’s a tight stadium and the pitch is tight and small, and it always generates a good atmosphere. It’ll be a good game.” Liverpool’s Carling Cup final appearance means Everton have been without a game since the 2-0 FA Cup fourth-round triumph against Blackpool a fortnight ago. QPR, meanwhile, lost 1-0 at home to Fulham last Saturday to move within a point of the relegation zone despite Hughes replacing Neil Warnock as manager in January. And Neville added: “QPR are down near the bottom and we are pushing into the top half of the table. We just have to make sure we recover from the international break and not having a game, because we’ll need to hit the ground running.
“QPR have talented players, good front players like Zamora, Wright-Phillips and Cisse, and they won’t go down. We’ll have to play well to get a result. “Mark Hughes is a fantastic appointment, and he has a fantastic, proven coaching team. “They have a good work ethic and I’ve spoken to a lot of players who have worked with him, and everybody enjoys working with him. He’ll be a success at QPR.” Nikica Jelavic is hopeful of kickstarting his Goodison career after thus far being restricted to one substitute appearance since his £5.5million arrival from Rangers in January. The Croatia international has been suffering from a stomach injury known as athletic pubalgia, and has missed the last two games. And Jelavic said: “It’s been frustrating for me, believe me. I can’t wait to get out on the pitch again. “I think it’s been a good thing for me that we have had a two-week break because I have been able to prepare myself well and hopefully I can be ready to get out there soon and show people what I can do.”

Blue Watch: Everton FC memories come flooding back with Loftus Road trip – but we’re glad ground has had some plastic surgery
The Liverpool Post
Mar 1 2012
SO who are QPR? I was only asked that recently by my seven-year-old as he scoured his Match Attax for players wearing blue and white hoops. “I found one,” he claimed excitedly. “Sorry son but that is a Reading player from a few years ago.” His face dropped. My boy can be forgiven as in recent years we have hardly played them in either league or cup. But the games we have played against them all seem to stick in your head. To many adults, mention QPR and what comes to mind? The plastic pitch. Even our most successful side ever struggled on the bouncy Loftus Road surface, leaving normally empty-handed and with burnt knees. But this fixture has thrown up some memorable games between the sides at both grounds over the years, from Latchford smashing four past Rangers in the 70s to the Blues securing their first title for 15 years on May 6 1985 in front of 50,000 adoring fans. From a high point to a low point in 1993 when Goodison Park saw eight goals, with five of them in the back of Southall’s net and Sinton and Ferdinand running riot amongst our back four. That day Ferdinand scored a hat-trick in front of only 19,057 fans – and to think we complain now when the gate drops below 30,000. Anyone who has been to Loftus Road will tell you it’s cramped to say the least. It has the feel of an over-sized Subbuteo ground. I was there back in 1995 as the Blues came up against old foe Ferdinand ready to inflict more pain on us. Brett Angell started up front that day and lasted 45 minutes, never to be seen in a blue shirt again. The abiding memory was seeing Andy Hinchcliffe bend in a superb free-kick late on to secure the win. Leighton Baines doing the same on Saturday will be more than welcome. But it could well prove to be a tricky game with them fighting for their lives. And they have been splashing the cash in January too with the additions of Zamora and Cisse. No doubt Mark Hughes will have them fired up.
Sadly we will be missing Darron Gibson – the Irishman never seems to be on a losing side in the Premier League. He was added to the list of players who fall victim to getting injured whilst on international service. Gibson has formed a good partnership with Fellaini and has the added bonus of being able to score the odd goal too. One player who could fill the gap is our new England coach, skipper Phil Neville. All of a sudden it seems the Neville brothers are slowly winning the hearts of a nation with brother Gary appearing to convert many haters with his expert punditry on Sky.
Phil is forever in his brother’s shadow but he is part of the furniture at Goodison and has all the makings of becoming a great coach/manager. Surely a future man to guide the good ship Everton in the coming years? That’s one to think about way down the line but let’s get Saturday out of the way at first and three points against...what’s that team again? Ah yes...QPR.

Phil Neville warns QPR to expect no repeat of August's clash when Everton travel to Loftus Road
by Greg O'Keeffe, Liverpool Echo
Mar 2 2012
BLUES skipper Phil Neville has warned QPR there will be no repeat of the sides’ last meeting when Everton travel to London this weekend. Rangers won 1-0 at Goodison Park last August, but Neville says the Blues will be a different proposition this time around. “(The Goodison game) was a disaster,” said the 35-year-old, who helped coach England U21s to a 4-0 win over Belgium this week.
“It was a disastrous start to the season, make no bones about that. “But I think we are a different team now, and I think they are a different team too. They’ve got different players and different management. “I’ve always had a soft spot for Loftus Road. “It’s a tight stadium and the pitch is tight and small, and it always generates a good atmosphere. It’ll be a good game.”

David Prentice: QPR example shows listening to fans can be a dangerous game
by David Prentice, Liverpool Echo
Mar 2 2012
EVERTON fans at Loftus Road tomorrow should keep their eyes peeled. Tony Fernandes, owner of Queens Park Rangers, is planning to take a walk around the stadium bars to meet unhappy fans and hear their concerns. Open-minded man of the people? Or idiotic self publicist? You decide.
But there’s no doubt that running a football club via vox pop is a dangerous and futile exercise.
Everton fans are all too aware of that precedent. So the story goes, an Everton chairman of the mid-90s liked nothing better than to wander around the lounges at Goodison Park after a match, listening to the views and opinions aired. As long as you accept that every football fan will have a different opinion – on everything – there’s no harm to be had. But when you start listening . . . well that’s a different matter altogether. And there are plenty of people who believe that Peter Johnson paid too much heed to what was being said by some supporters. After a spell which dragged Everton from near certain relegation to sixth place, an FA Cup success, then a label ‘dark horses for the title’ by December 1996, Everton endured an injury crisis, results suffered and the Blues plummeted down the table. Three months later Joe Royle, the manager who had overseen that upwardly mobile period of the club’s history, had a meeting with the chairman and was ‘mutually consented.’ Did some Goodison supporters exert an undue influence on the man who made the biggest decisions? We may never know. But while Tony Fernandes may think he is pulling off a valuable PR stunt at Loftus Road tomorrow, he is actually reinforcing the idea that football club officials can be influenced. Men who run football clubs have to be ruthlessly single-minded.
Former Everton coach Archie Knox had it right, when he and Walter Smith retired to the little referees’ room in the Goodison players’ tunnel with their wives, having just been informed that Duncan Ferguson had been sold to Newcastle United without their knowledge. The men were appalled. Mrs Knox, less so. “Well Archie, if what the fans in the lounges say is right, it sounds like you’ve got the best end of the deal,” she piped up. Archie’s answer was short, sharp and unprintable in a family newspaper. But it’s fair to say he never listened to a fan’s view in his life. Tony Fernandes would do well to listen to him.
History will be with Everton when they face Liverpool at Anfield
MATCH nights at Anfield are famously intimidating.
Unless your visitors are Everton.
Within minutes of the rearranged derby match date being fixed for Tuesday, March 13 Anfield’s official statistician, the relentless and meticulous Ged Rea, had unearthed a gem. Whenever Anfield has staged a weekday derby match, at night-time, Liverpool have never won. Mind you they haven’t lost all that many either. Eight times an Anfield derby has fallen Monday to Friday, seven have finished drawn and Everton won the other – which ended with Francis Jeffers and Sander Westerveld mimicking eight-year-old schoolgirls arguing whether One Direction or JLS were the coolest boy band. So even though Everton face Tottenham on the previous Saturday night, and an FA Cup quarter-final the following Saturday lunchtime, history will be on their side at Anfield.
Although records are made to be broken . . . aren’t they?

Howard Kendall: Leighton Baines given a rough ride by London-based media after England's defeat to Holland
Liverpool Echo
Mar 2 2012
LEIGHTON Baines performed very well against Holland at Wembley on Wednesday night, so when I picked up the national newspapers and a few writers gave him low marks, I was aghast.
I read one piece which said Baines’ performance meant that Ashley Cole should feel more confident about keeping his starting place for the European Championships. What a load of tosh!
The London-based media will always tend to favour players at London clubs unfortunately, and often give them blind support. Baines barely put a foot wrong, and I thought suggestions he could have prevented Holland’s late winner were a bit harsh too. Ideally, yes, you always want your full-back to show someone like Arjen Robben onto his other foot, but you can’t really legislate for a strike like that – especially with a deflection. But while I agreed with Stuart Pearce starting Baines, I disagreed with his decision on the captaincy. Steven Gerrard is the right man for the role, and even if you don’t intend him to play the full 90 minutes he can just hand the armband to someone like Scott Parker when he goes off.

Goodison legend Peter Reid on why he looks back on Everton v QPR games with mixed memories
by Neil Jones, Liverpool Echo
Mar 2 2012
PETER REID has no trouble naming his best moment at Goodison Park, but he can also remember his worst. Both came during games between Everton and Queens Park Rangers, four years apart.
In 1985, Reid was part of what most would consider the greatest Everton team of the modern generation, as Howard Kendall’s side swept away all before them, both domestically and abroad.
They would finish the 1984/85 season with two trophies, and were only denied a third by a piece of genius from Manchester United’s Norman Whiteside in the FA Cup final. Reid would pick up the PFA Player of the Year award that year – he would also come fourth in World Soccer Magazine’s World Player of the Year award, behind only Michel Platini, Preben Elkjaer and Diego Maradona – and the crowning glory of a memorable season would come in May, when Frank Sibley’s QPR side visited Goodison. In front of more than 50,000 fans – easily the biggest league gate of the season – goals from Derek Mountfield and Graeme Sharp would see the Blues clinch the First Division Championship with a 2-0 success. They would win the title by 13 points from Liverpool, a margin unheard of at that time. The Goodison golden era, though, was destined not to last. Kendall departed for Athletic Bilbao after guiding the club to a second league title in 1987, and the great side he had assembled was beginning to crumble. And by January 1989, Reid’s Everton career was over. A 3-1 home defeat to eventual champions Arsenal would be the last of his 235 appearances for the club. “Colin Harvey was in charge,” he remembers. “He wanted to go with (Ian) Snodin, (Paul) Bracewell and (Stuart) McCall in midfield. I was in my 30s by then and I wanted to play, QPR came in, so I moved on. “Trevor Francis was in charge, and he just told me that they were desperate to stay up. I went there, had nine months or so there and we managed to stay up quite comfortably.”
Comfortable it may have been – Francis’ side finished ninth, just one place below Everton – but Reid’s first visit back to Goodison, on April Fools’ Day, was most certainly not. “I remember going back to Goodison for the first time and I dropped a clanger, playing a short back pass and allowing Tony Cottee to score,” he laughs. “As we were walking off at the end Kevin Ratcliffe came over and said ‘Why couldn't you find him like that when you played for us?’. We lost 4-1 that day, and it was one to forget all round.” Reid would go on to make just 29 appearances for Rangers before leaving to link up again with Kendall, by now in charge of Manchester City. He would eventually succeed Kendall as manager at Maine Road, in November 1990. “I enjoyed it down at QPR,” Reid says. “I remember myself and Ray Wilkins playing maybe three games together in midfield. We were both well into our 30s by that point, but we won all three games. I don't think teams could get the ball off us to be honest! “It was short and sweet, but I enjoyed it. Kenny Sansom joined us, Paul Parker was there, Dave Seaman was there, so there was the backbone of a really decent side. “They were a good set of lads and, to be fair, it was a smashing club. It always had that family feel about it; it's a small club but it is a very, very warm club with great local support.” That local support, of course, will be looking to cheer their side to victory over Everton at Loftus Road tomorrow. Rangers won 1-0 at Goodison Park back in August, ensuring the Blues’ start to the season, delayed a week by the London riots, was a miserable one. Much has changed in west London since then, with Mark Hughes replacing Neil Warnock as manager back in January, and overseeing a late influx of players before the transfer deadline passed. Results, though, remain poor. Rangers have won just one of six league games since Hughes’ arrival, and sit 17th in the Premier League table, above the relegation zone on goal difference only. And Reid believes there are defensive issues which Everton can take full advantage of at Loftus Road this weekend. “I watched them recently up at Blackburn, where Blackburn turned them over,” he says. “They looked poor at the back that day. “Mark Hughes has come in and it is fair to say that they are still struggling. He has bought a few players, the likes of (Nedum) Onuoha, (Bobby) Zamora, and (Samba) Diakite – who got sent off against Fulham last weekend – but it takes players time to get to know each other. “It is a bit of a struggle for them at the moment, and they do look a little bit weak at the back for me. I think Everton can fancy their chances going there this weekend.” On Warnock’s sacking, a move which took many by surprise given the fact he had guided them to promotion last season, Reid adds: “Nothing surprises me in this game. “Gary Megson's just had the sack at Sheffield Wednesday and Lee Clark's had the sack at Huddersfield, Mick McCarthy's had the sack at Wolves, and sometimes you genuinely wonder what the reasons are. “In QPR's case the new owners came in, and decided to change things. That is part and parcel of football these days I'm sorry to say.”
PETER REID FACTFILE
Born: Huyton, June 20, 1956.
Position: Central Midfielder
Club career: Bolton Wanderers 1974-83, 262 appearances/25 goals.
Everton 1983-89, 235/13.
QPR 1989-90, 29/1.
Manchester City 1990-93, 114/2.
Southampton 1993-94, 8/0.
Notts County 1994, 5/0.
Bury 1994-95, 2/0.
International Caps/Goals: England, 13/0.
Honours: Second Division (Bolton, 1978-79); First Division (Everton, 1984-85 and 1986-87); FA Cup (Everton, 1983-84); European Cup Winners' Cup (Everton 1984-85).
Made Everton debut in December 1982, in 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest at Goodison Park.
Voted PFA Player of the Year in 1984-85.
Played for England at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
Joined QPR on a free transfer in January 1989.
Replaced Goodison legend Howard Kendall as Manchester City boss in November 1990.

Everton FC boss David Moyes' triple fitness boost with Nikica Jelavic, Leon Osman and Jack Rodwell back for QPR clash
by Neil Jones, Liverpool Echo
Mar 2 2012
DAVID MOYES is set to receive a triple fitness boost with Nikica Jelavic, Leon Osman and Jack Rodwell all in contention for Saturday’s Premier League trip to Queens Park Rangers.
The trio have all been missing recently, but took positive strides towards full fitness this week.
Jelavic, who has managed just 30 minutes for the club since signing from Rangers in a £5.5m deal in January, played 45 minutes for Croatia in their international friendly defeat to Sweden in Zagreb on Wednesday night. And with the 26-year-old showing no ill-effects from the athletic pubalgia problem which has kept him out of the Blues’ last two games, the striker is set to boost Moyes’ attacking options ahead of the visit to Loftus Road on Saturday. Jelavic, who earlier this week spoke of his frustration at being unable to launch his Goodison career so far, will return to training at Finch Farm today, and is expected to be part of the Blues’ travelling party as they head to west London to face Mark Hughes’ strugglers. The Croatian will, however, have to dislodge the in-form Denis Stracqualursi if he is to win a place in Everton’s starting line-up. The Argentine has emerged as something of a talisman in recent weeks, scoring three goals in his last five appearances.
Also set to face QPR are midfield duo Osman and Rodwell, both of whom emerged unscathed from a reserve-team outing against Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday. Osman, who has been out since suffering a knee injury during the defeat to Bolton on January 5, managed 45 minutes for Alan Stubbs’ second string, scoring in a 2-2 draw, while Rodwell, who picked up a hamstring strain in the same game, managed an hour. The pair’s return comes at a good time for Moyes, who will be without January signing Darron Gibson for up to four weeks after the midfielder sustained a knee injury during the FA Cup win over Blackpool last month. Phil Jagielka remains sidelined with medial ligament damage, but Moyes has no other fresh concerns.

Everton FC well and truly out of the blocks after yet another false start
by Ian Doyle, The Liverpool Post
Mar 2 2012
STARTING the season with a dismal home defeat to Queens Park Rangers set the tone for a hugely underwhelming first half of the season for Everton FC. Now David Moyes’s side have the opportunity to underline their New Year revival when they visit Loftus Road for the return clash this weekend. It’s not just at Goodison Park that there has been a transformation in the meantime, with much also changing for the Londoners. Their starting line-up for last weekend’s defeat to Fulham included only two players – goalkeeper Paddy Kenny and midfielder Adel Taarabt – that began the 1-0 win at Goodison back in August. Even the manager has changed, with Neil Warnock jettisoned in favour of former Everton forward Mark Hughes. It hasn’t made much immediate difference, with QPR just a point off the foot of the table and, it seems, one of the five clubs who will spend the rest of the campaign battling to avoid the drop. David Moyes, though, doesn’t have such fears, with Everton now well-placed to push on during the final months of the season with a home FA Cup quarter-final against Sunderland to come. Liverpool’s Carling Cup win means seventh place may prove enough to clinch European qualification through Premier League position and, with only six points separating the Merseyside rivals and 13 games remaining, overhauling the neighbours is still a possibility. Certainly, Everton’s chances can only improve with the return of long-term walking wounded trio, Phil Jagielka, Jack Rodwell and Leon Osman. Jagielka this week resumed training while both Rodwell and Osman emerged unscathed from a midweek run-out in the reserves.
For Rodwell in particular, it has been a frustrating time. Having exploded on to the international scene under Fabio Capello, the midfielder has played just 103 minutes for Everton and seen Capello exit from the England job. With Euro 2012 on the horizon, Rodwell can ill afford much more time on the sidelines with a new England manager – whoever that end up being – to impress. Otherwise, he may have to be content with an outing at the London Olympics later in the summer.
Saturday’s trip to Loftus Road will most likely come too soon for Rodwell and Osman although, with Darron Gibson facing a spell on the sidelines with a knee problem, Moyes would welcome greater midfield options. After rising to ninth place in mid-November, QPR have lost 10 of their last 14 Premier League games – beating only Wigan Athletic in that time – to slip just one place above the drop zone. The slump caused owner Tony Fernandes to dismiss Warnock, who had taken the club out of the Championship as title winners last season. QPR have used 35 different players in the Premier League this season – while Everton have used 30, eight of those have made at most two appearances – with Nedum Onuoha, Bobby Zamora and former Liverpool forward Djibril Cisse arriving in January along with Hughes. And Dave Thomas, who appeared on the wing for both QPR and Everton in the 1970s, admits the new manager has a difficult task on his hands. “Mark Hughes is a good manager, Neil Warnock did a great job but maybe it needed a change,” says Thomas. “I think they might just survive because they’ve spent a little bit of money on that slightly better player. They are good signings, particularly Bobby Zamora. “Football is so fickle now though, more than ever, but bringing a new manager in can give the players a bit of an injection. But QPR have a big task. If they can survive, they can capitalise by bringing in better players in the summer. “Hughes has had ups and downs as a manager. Has a great reputation as an ex-player but in management there can only be one winner and that’s what you are judged on.” Thomas, though, is confident that the Londoners can prosper should they avoid the drop this season. “As we all know, it’s very, very difficult in the modern day to come up from the Championship,” he says. “It’s always a matter of stabilising this year. If they can survive, then they can move on. They have a chairman who is prepared to put a little bit of his own capital in. “I’ve got good memories of going down there. I was part of one of the most successful sides the club ever had, really. Sadly we didn’t win anything, but in 1976 we got pipped by Liverpool by a point to the title. “We had a great keeper in Phil Parkes, we had Dave Clement, Ian Gillard, Frank McLintock, Dave Webb, Don Masson, John Hollins, Gerry Francis and myself, with Stan Bowles and Don Givens up front.” Of Everton, Thomas adds: “On his resources, what David Moyes has done is unreal. It’s amazing how he motivates the players. “Many people, though, just want success but it doesn’t work like that in the modern day game.” Everton have won only one of their last nine visits to face QPR at Loftus Road – Andy Hinchcliffe netting a last-gasp winner in 1995 – but, with the Londoners having the third-worst home record in the top-flight, the odds are on Moyes avoiding a landmark 150th defeat as Goodison manager for another week.

Mark Lawrenson: Everton FC itching to get back into action
The Liverpool Post
Mar 1 2012
EVERTON FC were left shuffling their feet at the weekend, and I don’t think the players would have been too happy not having a game. When you are on a good run, the one thing you want is to be playing. Never mind training, if you are winning games then you want to be playing every other day.
On the plus side, it would have given some of the squad time to recover from a few knocks and niggles picked up in recent weeks. And it also allowed welcome recovery time for players such as Phil Jagielka, Leon Osman and Jack Rodwell, who have all been out for a long period. It has all started coming together for Everton since the New Year. But isn’t this how things are for David Moyes? He will soon have real competition for places and the confidence is back among the players.
The ball is running for them. Sometimes there can be no rhyme nor reason for how form can turn, but what has always been in Everton’s favour is that their spirit is fantastic no matter what the results. That has got them through the tough periods and can now help them make the most of the remainder of the season. The FA Cup represents a great opportunity and Everton will probably wish they could be facing Sunderland at the weekend, after the Black Cats were hammered at West Bromwich Albion last Saturday. Martin O’Neill has done well on Wearside and got his players performing above their ability, but they appear to have hit a glass ceiling. You’d certainly back Everton if the teams were doing battle tomorrow. First up, though, is a trip to Queens Park Rangers and Moyes’s men will be champing at the bit after a fortnight without a game. QPR are individually making mistakes in games and that’s why they are dropping down the table. The fact they can’t finish a game with 11 players isn’t helping them much either. They are low on confidence and their home record is awful. If Everton start right, they can go to Loftus Road and win comfortably.

Ian Doyle: Credit Everton FC for trying to win back the lost generation
by Ian Doyle, The Liverpool Post
Mar 2 2012
KUDOS to Everton FC for taking some much-needed initiative in the battle to reclaim the lost generation of Premier League supporters. The announcement that a season ticket at Goodison Park next season for juniors (those in school Year 6 and below which, in old money, means anyone in infant and junior school) will cost just £95. That’s £5 a match. A fiver. With Junior Blues aged between 11 and 15 paying less than £200 for a season ticket, it makes Everton one of the most accessible teams to watch in the top flight. Other Premier League teams should take note of Everton’s pro-active approach. The cost of watching the best of English football has rocketed inexorably during the past decade. But, with austerity measures and the prospect of another recession on the horizon, supporters are starting to reassess their priorities. And the exorbitant prices are ensuring youngsters instead watch games on television rather than attend matches themselves. After all, £40-odd quid – as some clubs are still asking – could easily be better spent elsewhere on a child, particularly for cash-strapped families. Small wonder the average age of the Premier League supporter is rising – more than 40 – and clubs are beginning to realise that only by encouraging youngsters back into the stadiums will they address that worrying trend.
With their ‘Standing Together’ campaign, Everton’s board are doing the right thing. AS surprises go, it was right up there with Greece giving Cyprus 12 points in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Within weeks of Louis Saha moving to Spurs, the striker was handed a recall to the France national squad. Typical. Even when rattling home six goals in eight games last year, or scoring one of the quickest goals in FA Cup final history, Saha was constantly overlooked by a France team flailing from one crisis to another. Then he moves to White Hart Lane, nets a couple and is given instant gratification by French team coach Laurent Blanc. Anyone could score goals for an attacking team like Tottenham. Hey, even Roman Pavlyuchenko did.

Yellow peril won’t be in Lee Cattermole’s thinking in the derby
By Graeme Anderson
Friday 2 March 2012
Sunderland Echo
LEE Cattermole says if he picks up the booking this weekend which will see him miss Sunderland’s FA Cup quarter-final against Everton – then so be it. The Black Cats skipper goes into Sunday’s derby at the Sports Direct Arena walking a disciplinary tightrope ... but knowing exactly what Wearside expects. And he says the thought of not going into a Newcastle-Sunderland game at full tilt simply won’t cross his mind. Cattermole successfully got through last weekend’s game at West Brom without picking up his 10th yellow card of the season – a booking which would have brought a two-match ban, ruling him out of the derby and next week’s game against Liverpool Now the captain knows that a booking in Sunday’s white-hot derby atmosphere will deny him the chance to face Everton at Goodison Park in the FA Cup in a fortnight’s time. But the tough-tackling midfielder says he will not hold back as Sunderland go all-out to avenge their August defeat at the Stadium of Light, and win on Tyneside for the first time since 2000. He said: “I won’t shirk anything on Sunday because of the nine yellows. “If I get booked and miss the cup quarter-final, then that’s the way it’s going to be. “Obviously, I don’t want to miss the cup game but you can’t go into a game like this worried about what will happen if you make a tackle. “You just have to play one game at a time, and not look too far ahead. “It was hard at West Brom and I think it played on my mind a bit because it was highlighted a lot, particularly with the derby coming up. “But it didn’t affect the way I played. I don’t think you can really try to change your game for things like that – I play how I play.
“Tackling is a massive part of my game so I have to just put things like this out of my mind.
“The most important thing is that we win, because the defeat in August was hard to take after being the stronger team on the day.” Cattermole is one of several players who will be involved this weekend who were a part of the Sunderland side that lost 5-1 at Newcastle last season.
But he points out that the Black Cats hit back after that derby disappointment by taking seven points from their next three games – including the amazing 3-0 win at a Chelsea. With Sunderland’s 4-0 defeat at West Brom last Saturday being their heaviest defeat this season, Cattermole is looking for a similar response, starting at the Sports Direct.. “Fingers crossed, that’s what will happen,” he said.
“Last season we were on a good run when we went to Newcastle and lost, but we responded brilliantly – beating Stoke, drawing at Spurs and then winning down at Chelsea. “Obviously, we lost badly at West Brom last weekend and hopefully we will bounce back in the same manner.
“The spirit is still high because we’ve only had one bad result in three months. The longer our good run went on, the more likely that there would be a bad performance and a bad result.
“It’s definitely better that it came last weekend than this! “And on the back of that bad result, there is no better game for us than this one’.” Cattermole may have been born on Teesside, but he believes the Tyne-Wear rivalry is as intense as any in football and fully understands the passion it stirs amongst the fans. “This derby is as big as any for me,” said Cattermole. “I went to Arsenal-Tottenham on Sunday and the atmosphere there couldn’t touch the Sunderland-Newcastle games.
“There’s a lot for us to play for this season, but we know how important this game is to the fans. They get put right at the top of their ground but they will be singing their hearts out and we will do the best we can out on the pitch. “These are the games we all want to play in and Sunday’s game is one we are all relishing. We can’t wait.”

Striker could make Everton return for QPR trip
Friday, March 2, 2012
London24
Everton striker Nikica Jelavic could return to the side for tomorrow’s game with QPR at Loftus Road.
The Croatian, who has only been on the field for 30 minutes since his move from crisis-club Glasgow Rangers in January, has missed the last two matches with a groin injury but he played 45 minutes for his country in an international friendly against Sweden during the week. Jack Rodwell (hamstring) and Leon Osman (knee) could also return to the team after making a run-out for the reserves but Darron Gibson, who signed from Manchester United, is out with a knee injury.
Squad: Howard, Heitinga, Baines, Hibbert, Distin, Neville, Cahill, Drenthe, Fellaini, Stracqualursi, Mucha, Duffy, Gueye, Anichebe, Coleman, Rodwell, Osman, Vellios, Pienaar, Jelavic.

Everton Club Focus - Toffees to welcome back a number of players against QPR
By Andrew Tuft
Friday 02 March 2012
Everton face Queens Park Rangers on Saturday seeking revenge for the defeat handed to them by the newly-promoted side in the Toffees’ first Premier League game of the season. To help David Moyes achieve that end, a number of first team players previously ruled out by injury, including Leon Osman, Jack Rodwell and January signing Nikica Jelavic, could be available. Osman and Rodwell played for Everton reserves in midweek, a 2-2 draw with Bolton Wanderers that saw Osman on the score sheet, while Jelavic featured for Croatia as a second-half substitute in their 3-1 defeat by Sweden. Everton, although unbeaten in their last seven matches, have been operating with a small squad, and the return of a trio of first team players is welcome. Rodwell in particular could be needed after Darron Gibson’s injury suffered in the FA Cup against Blackpool, leaving a hole in midfield next to Marouane Fellaini. The Everton that hosted QPR in August and the Everton that travels to Loftus Road this weekend could hardly be a more different prospect. In August the atmosphere around Everton was distinctly depressing, after a summer that had gone by without significant additions to the Everton squad and bubbling discontent from a growing section of supporters. The discontent has not truly dissipated but rather been masked by a January transfer window that saw Gibson, Jelavic, Steven Pienaar and the now-departed Landon Donovan signed and results finally pick up on a consistent basis. The emergence of Denis Stracqualursi as a hard-working centre-forward and the presence of the exciting Royston Drenthe have also lifted the mood.
After a fixture-free weekend due to Liverpool’s involvement in the League Cup final - Everton were originally scheduled to travel to Anfield for the Merseyside derby - the question now is what impact that break will have on the form of Moyes’ side. It is as likely to have stilted Everton’s moment as refreshed weary legs and minds, and only time will tell. QPR meanwhile go into the fixture without a win in their last four Premier League games and, if the FA Cup is included, it is five matches since Mark Hughes’ outfit last tasted success. The Rs are in the midst of a run of an altogether different sort of form, one Everton is aiming to prolong. Perhaps as important as the return of a handful of players towards fitness is the return unscathed of a number of first team players from international duty. Leighton Baines and John Heitinga played for England and the Netherlands respectively at Wembley, while Fellaini completed the full 90 minutes as Belgium drew with Greece, Tim Howard helped the United States to defeat Italy and Pienaar captained South Africa in a goalless draw with Senegal. With a number of senior figures competing across the globe having returned safely, those same players will need to re-discover the spirit and form of the last few weeks to avoid a similar result to the one that started the season so poorly against QPR.

Realistic Tony Fernandes concedes Rangers may go down
London Evening Standard
David Smith
2 Mar 2012
Tony Fernandes, chairman and owner of Queens Park Rangers, admitted for the first time today that the club was bracing itself for relegation straight back down to the Championship. Rangers head into tomorrow's home game against Everton having won just one of their last 14 Premier League games and with new manager Mark Hughes having claimed just four points from an available 18 since replacing Neil Warnock in January. Only goal difference separates Rangers from the relegation zone and Fernandes will take his seat in the directors box at Loftus Road knowing that his side faces a daunting run-in to the end of the season with the remaining 12 fixtures featuring games against Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City. The airline magnate said: "We've got to be real, it's tough in the Premier League. I came in at the start of the season with wide open eyes thinking we could go down. The first game I watched was a 4-0 loss to Bolton, so I'm a realist. "If we go down, we'll have to deal with it. It's a long-term project, though. We are building a great team with the backroom staff and the squad we've got. We're developing the academy and we're making plans for a new stadium." Speaking to TalkSport, Fernandes went on: "We'll have some setbacks and if we go down, we go down. But I'm resolute. I love what we're doing and once you put a good structure in the results will come." Ominously, Everton come to London buoyed by a seven-match unbeaten run which has seen David Moyes' side climb into the top half of the table and reach the quarter finals of the FA Cup. QPR's French striker Djibril Cisse, whose partnership with Bobby Zamora promised so much before he was sent off at home to Wolves last month, is still suspended but DJ Campbell and Heidar Helguson could be available to Hughes if they pass late fitness tests on hamstring and groin injuries.

QPR boss wants to follow Everton model
By Jacob Murtagh
Mar 2 2012
Fulham a& Hammersmith Chronicle
MARK Hughes wants QPR to follow in the footsteps of Everton and establish themselves in the Premier League. Rangers go into tomorow's crunch clash with the Toffees hovering above the drop zone on goal difference with just12 games remaining. Everton have been in the top-flight for more than 50 years, and Hughes wants the Rs to model themselves on the Goodison Park club.
He said: “Everton are a well-established Premier League club. They are well managed and have built correctly at the right rate in terms of renewing their squad. “In the future that's what we will strive to be.”

QPR star faces fitness test ahead of Everton clash
By Jacob Murtagh
Mar 2 2012
Fulham & Hammersmith Chronicles
LUKE Young will be assessed in the morning ahead of tomorrow's clash at Loftus Road.
The QPR defender has been sidelined with a hamstring injury, but is back in full training and could be included against the Toffees. Fitz Hall also resumed training this week but is unlikely to be involved, while boss Mark Hughes is hopeful DJ Campbell will train in the next seven days following a hamstring problem. Heidar Helguson (groin) misses out, while Alejandro Faurlin (knee) is a long-term absentee.

Squad sheets: Queens Park Rangers v Everton
Friday 2 March 2012
The Guardian
QPR's run-in is so wretched that if they do not get anything from this game, then their chances of avoiding relegation will suffer drastically. Their hopes will depend firstly on their ability to keep 11 players on the pitch, after the concession of dumb red cards undermined them in recent weeks. New signings Samba Diakité and Djibril Cissé are suspended but Mark Hughes can at least welcome back several injured players, as can David Moyes. Everton look better on paper and can play without pressure, making it difficult to see the home side achieving anything better than a draw. Paul Doyle
Venue Loftus Road, Saturday 3pm
Tickets Sold out
Last season n/a
Referee Kevin Friend
This season's matches 13 Y49, R1, 3.85 cards per game
Odds Queens Park Rangers 11-5 Everton 7-5 Draw 9-4
Queens Park Rangers v Everton: Probable starters in bold, contenders in light. Photograph: Graphic
Queens Park Rangers
Subs from Cerny, Murphy, Hill, Derry, Bothroyd, Hall, Gabbidon, Campbell, Traoré, Smith, Macheda, Balanta
Doubtful Campbell (hamstring), Helguson (groin), Taiwo (calf), Young (hamstring)
Injured Dyer (ankle, Aug), Faurlín (knee, Aug), Hulse (knee, unknown)
Suspended Cissé (last of three), Diakité (one match)
Form guide LLLDWL
Disciplinary record Y37 R5
Leading scorer Helguson 8
Everton
Subs from Hahnemann, Mucha, Jelavic, Drenthe, McFadden, Gueye, Barkley, Osman, Rodwell, Vellios, Duffy, Baxter, McAleny, Anichebe
Doubtful Anichebe (groin), Jelavic (groin), Osman (knee), Rodwell (hamstring)
Injured Jagielka (knee, 10 Mar), Gibson (knee, 24 Mar)
Suspended None
Form guide WDWDDL
Disciplinary record Y37 R1
Leading scorers Anichebe, Baines, Osman, Vellios 3
Match pointers
• QPR have failed to keep a clean sheet in seven home top flight meetings with Everton dating back to December 1989
• Everton conceded from the only shot on target that QPR managed when these sides met in the reverse fixture at Goodison Park in August
• QPR have used more players in the league this season (33) than any other team
• Everton have scored 11 goals in their last 12 league games and only once in that run have they managed more than one goal in a game
• QPR have dropped 13 points from winning positions at Loftus Road this season

Moyes: You won't find me bleating about congested fixtures
By David Maddock
Daily Mirror
March 2 2012
David Moyes has surveyed his ¬Everton team’s manic March and insisted: “Bring it on.”
The Toffees must endure a tough fixture pile-up that sees them follow today’s visit to relegation haunted QPR with another SIX games before the end of the month. And they are no run-of-the-mill matches either, with a crucial FA Cup quarter-final against Sunderland¬ sandwiched between massive clashes with the likes of Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal. Such a programme has most Premier League bosses launching angry attacks on the schedulers.

But not Moyes, who said: “We have got a terrible schedule coming up, but to be fair I wish we’d had a hectic schedule all year. “I’m not bleating about it. Hectic schedules usually mean you’re involved in lots of cup games, and that’s what we want here.” But Moyes admits he has a big job on his hands coping without the likes of Phil Jagielka, Nikica Jelavic and Jack Rodwell, who are all on the comeback trail. He added: “We’re going to need players back because of our schedule. But my worry is getting them match fit and up to speed quickly for the month ahead.”

Barry Horne: Everton FC can build on their impressive run at Loftus Road
by Barry Horne, Liverpool Echo
Mar 3 2012
l I SAID at the start of the season that QPR were one of my relegation contenders. Despite being labelled as the world’s richest football club at one point in its history, they have since become something of a joke club and subject of a black comedy film called The Four Year Plan.
I saw them recently at Blackburn and I can honestly say that for 45 minutes they played like the worst Premeir League team I have seen for a long time. Since then they have suffered another defeat and produced another ill-disciplined performance. If Everton can produce what is becoming a typically efficient display at Loftus Road today, we should extend our recent impressive run.

Barry Horne: Portsmouth shambles sends out warning signs to all
by Barry Horne, Liverpool Echo
Mar 3 2012
THERE was an interesting juxtaposition of articles in one of our broadsheets this week. On the left hand page was an article under the heading ‘FIFA clean up transfers’ whilst the right hand page carried a large article on the dire situation at one of my old clubs, Portsmouth. Portsmouth has, as any football fan will know, a fantastic heritage and history and a club which can easily be compared to Everton in many ways. It’s a port, a working class city and, as I discovered in my time there, has a set of fans (right) who are incredibly passionate about their club and will take to their hearts any player who gives his all in every game. In the past decade Portsmouth have enjoyed seven years in the top flight, enjoying the enormous riches that brings – and were FA Cup winners in 2008.
But while some very good players have passed through Portsmouth in that period, you would be hard pressed to name any Premier League superstars. Neither have they invested in the dilapidated Fratton Park ground. In fact, with the exception of one stand behind the goal and a bit of concrete on the car park, the ground is almost exactly the same as when I left in 1987. Yet the club finds itself in danger of being unable to fulfill its fixtures for the season – an outcome which would be a disaster for English football. It’s been a good period for the Anglo bashers at FIFA and UEFA.
The national team is heading into a European Championships with no manager, no captain and a racist slur set against it (despite having done the most to counter racism, in Europe) while a whole series of other clubs have fallen foul of financial wrongdoings. On top of all that our relatively poor showing in the Champions League means it’s been a dark period for English football.

Royal Blue: Daredevil Phil Jagielka wants Everton FC fans to try Goodison zip slide
by Greg O'Keeffe, Liverpool Echo
Mar 3 2012
ANYONE who has met Phil Jagielka can attest that few things phase the happy go luck defender, not even, it seems, the prospect of hurtling from a sky-high ledge with only a posh elastic band tied around his ankle. The England international revealed this week that he has actually done two bungee jumps, as he tried to persuade Evertonians to follow his dare-devil example. As Everton in the Community’s player ambassador for health, sport and physical activity Jags wants people to try the hair-raising zip slide at Goodison Park on Monday May 7 in aid of the club’s official charity.
“When I was a younger lad I was a bit of a thrill-seeker,” he said. “I think the most daring thing I have ever done was a bungee jump into the sea when I was on holiday. “The adrenaline was amazing. I am a lot more safety conscious these days with having a family, but I would still like to jump out of a plane one day! “I would definitely like to zip slide across Goodison too, I think it’d be brilliant. I’d like to encourage fans to get involved and I am sure when you get to the Top Balcony and you’re waiting to jump off, the butterflies will be going and it would be such a great thrill,” added the Blues’ defender. The zip goes from the top balcony in the Main Stand across the pitch to the Paddock in the Bullens Road. There are 180 places available, and a registration fee of £15. Fundraisers must raise a minimum of £85. For more information call Carena Duffy on 0151 530 5260.

Royal Blue: Everton FC’s Leighton Baines shone for England despite what dead-beat pundits said
by Greg O'Keeffe, Liverpool Echo
Mar 3 2012
TELEVISION football commentary very rarely rises above the bog-average unless bland description is littered with opinion. But when that opinion is so banal, blinkered and essentially incorrect as ITV’s Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend during England’s international friendly with Holland on Wednesday, it’s better to mute the box and reach for the radio. The woeful Alan Green aside, at least BBC’s 5Live have commentators who watch games without clear bias towards certain players from certain London clubs. Anyone who heard Tyldesley and Townsend variously ignore and criticise Leighton Baines during his impressive performance against the Dutch will still be scratching their heads now. The Everton left-back’s excellent run and weighted pass to create the opening for Gary Cahill’s scuffed equaliser failed to elicit a flicker of recognition, but both were full of admonishments when they accused Baines of failing to stop Arjen Robben’s winning strike a few minutes later.
It wasn’t just them either. Some London-based national journalists concluded that Ashley Cole should now be confident of his starting place in the Euro 2012 team. Irritatingly predictable.

Barry Horne: Welsh FA did Gary Speed and his family proud at memorial match
by Barry Horne, Liverpool Echo
Mar 3 2012
IF the English FA is in something of a state of disarray, largely of their own making, the Welsh FA has had a very difficult situation thrust upon them in recent months. Just as Newcastle, Leeds, and in particular Everton, arranged for superb tributes to Gary Speed, the Welsh FA did their young manager and his family proud on Wednesday night. They arranged an evening which was, indeed, a fitting tribute and memorial to someone who was a great servant. The evening had been a long time coming, but now it’s done I am sure everyone will be better equipped to move on. Whilst the match was almost of secondary importance, it was still important for the Welsh players who Gary had done so much for, to come together and grieve as a group, which they did. Chris Coleman has spoken eloquently and movingly about his old mate and the best tribute he and the players could pay would be to put in a good performance in the next qualifying campaign. Craig Bellamy has been at least as important in Wales’ recent success as the much celebrated Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey and without wishing to put any pressure on him, his continued involvement is crucial for Coleman.
Craig seems to have found a way to cope with his fragile knees and he will, of course, have consider- ations about extending a successful club career at his beloved Liverpool. But I, like every other Welshman, would hope that he would show the same commitment to Chris Coleman’s team as he did to Gary’s.

Royal Blue: Evertonian trainer Will Kinsey dreaming of glory with his horse Gwladys Street
by Greg O'Keeffe, Liverpool Echo
Mar 3 2012
PENCIL it in you diary – Aintree, April 2016. Blues fans will be singing as Gwladys Street wins the John Smith’s Grand National. Well, that is the dream of one of the newest horse race trainers Will Kinsey.
The 30-year-old Ashton-based handler, who only got his full training licence in January, is a big Evertonian. And at his Peel House stables is a horse he part-owns that he named after the iconic end at Goodison Park. The five-year-old is yet to win in three runs in National Hunt Flat races and over hurdles. But he was third at Sedgefield at the start of the year and ran well in a decent race to finish sixth at Carlisle last month. Kinsey is unconcerned as Gwladys Street is a long-term project and being related to 2006 Grand National hero Numbersixvalverde and recent Eider Chase winner Portrait King, he is bred to get better when he tackles fences and goes over extreme distances.
Kinsey said: “Gwladys Street is owned by a little syndicate that I set up. I bought him in Ireland as a three-year-old. Basically set up a little syndicate of people who wanted a few days out and a little bit of fun. They left it to me to name. Obviously being a massive Evertonian I chose the name.
“There are lots of Everton names I tried to get but they were all taken. But I couldn’t believe it when I saw Gwladys Street wasn’t. “There are a few Man United fans in the syndicate and one or two rednoses as well and a few who are not into football and didn’t know anything about it.
“I named him then I told them, so they have to like it or lump it.” Kinsey is also a keen amateur footballer – he describes himself as a ‘Tim Cahill-type’ – and was captain of the Liverpool Ramblers in Crosby before his racing commitments meant he had to hang up his boots. Now he is more likely to be seen in the stands at Goodison rather than on the pitch. But he is hoping to be watching on at another big Merseyside sporting venue – Aintree – in the future. He added: “We think he is a nice horse for the future. The aim of Gwladys Street would be to get him to Aintree one day. Jumping the National fences would be something else. That is what he is bred to do. Hopefully when he is nine or 10 he could win the National. “That is the dream and would be very special.” For now Kinsey thinks he may win one or two races over hurdles. His only frustration is that some commentators clearly don’t know their history and keep mispronouncing his name. Kinsey said: “At Sedgefield the commentator was saying ‘Gwa Ladies Street’. I felt like going over and putting him right.”
But they may have to work on getting it right soon, if he progresses and Kinsey’s dream of winning at Aintree comes true. Evertonian racing fans will no doubt follow the gelding’s progress very closely.

David Moyes says form of John Heitinga presents him with Everton FC selection dilemma when all defenders are fit
by Greg O'Keeffe, Liverpool Echo
Mar 3 2012
SUCH was his unfamiliarity with the break-neck speed of the Premier League, that John Heitinga often pulled up with cramp during his initial Everton FC appearances. But three years later, and it is the classy Dutchman who is setting the pace for cultured defensive imports in the top flight.
Fresh from collecting his 75th Netherlands cap, no small feat for any international, the World Cup finalist has gone from a frustrated bystander outside the Toffees’ defensive axis of Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin, to being one of the first names on David Moyes’ team-sheet. And the Blues boss, who signed Heitinga from Atletico Madrid in September 2009, has been thrilled with his recent contribution, ahead of today’s game against QPR at Loftus Road. “You look at England v Holland and the quality of the Dutch players and maybe you don’t give Johnny as much credit as he deserves,” says Moyes. “He’s a really talented footballer and to have 75 caps for Holland is an outstanding tally by anybody’s standard. He played in a World Cup final, and he’s making a good contribution at the moment. He’s doing really well.” Moyes admits it took the former Ajax player time to find his feet in England, after arriving at Goodison in the turbulent period following the late sale of Joleon Lescott.
“I remember when Johnny came in to the Premier League game and he was getting cramp in every game,” says Moyes. “He probably couldn’t understand the speed of the game. Like anyone else, it takes a bit of time to adapt. But his credentials are very good.” The 28-year-old found cult hero status early with the Goodison faithful, who initially considered him as a blood and thunder destroyer. And while Heitinga certainly plays the tough-guy role with aplomb, his shoulder barge on Ashley Cole in Everton’s successful FA Cup penalty shoot-out at Stamford Bridge last season a memorable high point, he is a much calmer figure these days. In fact, he even assumed the role of mentor to rookie Shane Duffy, when he was pitched into the midst of Premier League battle against Tottenham Hotspur in January as Everton’s defensive injury crisis reached its nadir. “Johnny is a different type of centre-back to a Duffy and Jagielka,” says Moyes. “It shows you there are other ways to play it. Johnny is very composed and great knowledge of the game and reading of the game. He has a different element as a centre-back. You would hope everybody looks at each other and learns what they all do." “He is good with the kids and I can see Johnny going on in time to become a coach. But a lot of the Dutch think that! He’s knowledgeable and conscientious, it wouldn’t surprise me if he went on to coach and manage. “He’s not a shouter but he encouraged Shane and helped him into the right positions. Johnny has done well in the last couple of months.” Indeed Heitinga’s quiet assurance and presence at the heart of the defence, means Moyes faces a dilemma when Jagielka is fully match-fit. The Everton manager has always insisted he has strong competition for those berths, but now more than ever he faces a conundrum. “I always thought we had competition,” he says. “Jags was the man in possession so we’ll see. We are going to need them all for the games coming up.” Moyes could have his England defender back sooner rather than later. “They’re all doing fine. He’s training. I’ll have a look at them today and see what I think,” he admitted. But regardless of the side he selects, he is under no illusions about the difficulty they face bidding for three points at Loftus Road. Despite their recent struggles, Moyes is still backing Mark Hughes’ side to beat the drop. “I just think the three teams who came up have given themselves a real chance,” he says. “Neil Warnock gave them a really good platform and I think they’ve got enough in their squad. I think Swansea and Norwich will stay up as well. Those three teams have got a great chance of staying up.” Since Hughes replaced Neil Warnock in early January the Loftus Road club have taken just four points from six league matches. The 17th-placed outfit are only out of the relegation zone on goal difference. But Moyes said not every new manager could have an instant impact and Rs fans would have to be patient. “When a new manager comes in you can sometimes get the instant effect of winning a few games like Martin O’Neill (at Sunderland),” he said.
“But in other situations it takes time to get results and bed in what you are trying to do.
“But there is no right way and wrong way because if that was the case chairman would be changing managers every three months just to get an instant hit. “It is one of these things: I am sure in time Mark Hughes will prove his ability as a manager at QPR.”

Everton FC can thrive in mammoth March challenge says David Moyes
by Greg O'Keeffe, Liverpool Echo
Mar 3 2012
DAVID MOYES insists his Everton FC players must thrive on their mammoth March challenge.
The Blues boss admits their congested fixture list is “terrible”, but believes his squad has proven in the past that it can thrive in adversity. In a 12-day period Everton face Tottenham, Liverpool, and Arsenal in the Premier League along with an FA Cup quarter final against Sunderland – just four days after the Merseyside derby. But with a host of injured personnel on the brink of return – Leon Osman, Jack Rodwell and Nikica Jelavic are all in the frame to be involved against QPR today – Moyes is trying to stay positive. He said: “We’re going to need the players yes because of the schedule we’ve got, it’s a real tough one for us. “We have got a terrible schedule coming up. But to be fair I wish we’d had a hectic schedule all year. Could I have coped? I don’t know but hectic schedules usually mean you’re in Europe and you’re involved in lots of cup games so I’m not bleating about it. “I’m just saying it’s a tough one – that week we’ve got Tottenham, Liverpool, Sunderland and then Arsenal. Four games in that period is a real tough call. “Sometimes it does suit us. I can’t do an awful lot about it anyway, and I’m just getting on with it because there have been times in the past when we have come through these tough periods better than we have what has seemed a smooth run.” After playing 45 minutes for Croatia in mid-week January signing Jelavic will be hoping to figure at Loftus Road today, and Moyes is glad to have him back in contention. “I’m looking forward to it because it’s something we’ve not seen but Denis has made it easy for me,” he said. “It’s not as big a panic as it was because he’s made it easier for me and that means we can introduce Jelavic slowly and at the right times. “We’ve not been able to play him so we’ve got no idea yet what he can offer.” Although he is pleased to have his injured players returning to action, Moyes warns that it will take time for them to get match-fit. At least the injured players are coming back?
He said: “I need to get them back to match fitness. My worry is can I get them back to match fitness quickly enough to be at the speed we need them to be at for the coming month.” Steven Pienaar is another key player he will be able to call upon again, after missing the FA Cup fifth round win over Blackpool, and Moyes is grateful the South African opted for a Goodison return despite being heavily linked with a switch to QPR in January. “I’m relieved he didn’t,” he said. “He gave the players a lift as much as anybody. But we haven’t had him for a few weeks. “We are going to miss him in the Cup game, but in the league game he gives us something important. I’ve no idea how close he got to joining QPR.”

QPR v Everton FC preview: David Moyes praises John Heitinga as EFC look to extend unbeaten run
Ian Doyle
Mar 3 2012
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UNTIL recently, it appeared John Heitinga’s Goodison career would be best remembered for his shoulder barge into Ashley Cole at Stamford Bridge last year rather than anything constructive on-field contribution. Opportunity, though, has knocked during the past few months. And Heitinga has emphatically answered the call. With Phil Jagielka and then Sylvain Distin succumbing to injury in the New Year, the Dutchman has emerged as a key figure at the heart of the Everton defence and integral part of a run of just two defeats in 14 that has eased any relegation fears and moved Moyes’s men to the brink of another Wembley appearance. Heitinga appeared at the national stadium on Wednesday, earning a 75th cap in his country’s 3-2 win over Stuart Pearce’s England.
And despite the player rarely commanding the same headlines as some of his defensive colleagues, Moyes is grateful for the 28-year-old’s timely show of form. “You look at England v Holland and the quality of the Dutch players and maybe you don’t give Johnny as much credit as he deserves,” says the Goodison manager. “He’s a really talented footballer and to have 75 caps for Holland is an outstanding tally by anybody’s standard. “He played in a World Cup final, and he’s making a good contribution at the moment. He’s doing really well. “I remember when Johnny first came in to the Premier League game and he was getting cramp in every game. He probably couldn’t understand the speed of the game. Like anyone else, it takes a bit of time to adapt. But his credentials are very good.” Indeed, Heitinga has endured a rollercoaster time since arriving from Atletico Madrid in September 2009, leading to persistent suggestions of a move away from Goodison. However, the Holland international’s experience helped cajole Shane Duffy through his fledgling first-team steps earlier this year and provided Moyes with a welcome selection headache once Jagielka regains full fitness. “Johnny is a different type of centre-back to a Duffy and Jagielka,” says Moyes. “It shows you there are other ways to play it. Johnny is very composed and great knowledge of the game and reading of the game. “He has a different element as a centre-back. You would hope everybody looks as each other and learns what they all do. “He is good with the kids and I can see Johnny going on in time to become a coach. But a lot of the Dutch think that! He’s knowledgeable and conscientious, it wouldn’t surprise me if he went on to coach and manage. “Johnny’s not a shouter but he encouraged Shane and helped him into the right positions. Johnny has done well in the last couple of months. “I always thought we had competition at centre-back. Jags was the man in possession so we’ll see. We are going to need them all for the games coming up.” Heitinga is in line to make his 22nd consecutive start this afternoon when Everton look to extend their seven-match unbeaten run at Queens Park Rangers. Moyes’s men were beaten 1-0 at home by the Londoners on the opening day to set the tone for a disappointing first half of the season. QPR, though, have struggled on their first time back in the Premier League since 1996, with Neil Warnock replaced by Mark Hughes as manager in January. But Moyes believes they may have to wait to see the benefit of bringing in Hughes despite backing QPR to avoid relegation. Since the arrival of Hughes, the Loftus Road club have taken just four points from six league matches to slip to 17th place and just one point off the foot of the table. And Moyes says not every new manager could have an instant impact and QPR fans would have to be patient. “When a new manager comes in you can sometimes get the instant effect of winning a few games like Martin O’Neill (at Sunderland),” he says. “But in other situations it takes time to get results and bed in what you are trying to do. “But there is no right way and wrong way because if that was the case chairman would be changing managers every three months just to get an instant hit. “It is one of these things: I am sure in time Mark Hughes will prove his ability as a manager at QPR. “I am maybe not surprised (at their league position) because you wouldn’t expect a newly-promoted team to be much further up. “But I’ve said from the start of the season I expected the newly-promoted teams to stay up and I still believe that. “Norwich are almost a certainty and Swansea are close to being safe and the only ones who are in any difficulty are QPR but I’ve always had a feeling they have enough to get out of trouble. They have spent well and they will fight all the way to the end.”

Everton FC can thrive despite "terrible" schedule in March says David Moyes
Ian Doyle
Mar 3 2012
DAVID MOYES is confident his Everton squad can thrive in the adversity of a “terrible” schedule this month. The remainder of the Goodison outfit’s campaign will be shaped by a programme of seven crucial games in March. At the heart is run of four matches in 11 days that sees Everton entertain Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League, visit Anfield for the Merseyside derby, face Sunderland for a place in the FA Cup semi-final and then welcome Arsenal. Moyes, though, believes the raft of fixtures have come at the right time given his side’s growing momentum built by a seven-match unbeaten run. “We have got a terrible schedule coming up,” said the Everton manager, who takes his team to struggling Queens Park Rangers this afternoon. “But to be fair I wish we’d had a hectic schedule all year. “Could I have coped? I don’t know but hectic schedules usually mean you’re in Europe and you’re involved in lots of cup games so I’m not bleating about it. “I’m just saying it’s a tough one – that week we’ve got Tottenham, Liverpool, Sunderland and then Arsenal. Four games in that period is a real tough call. “I think the way the weeks work they need to get the games in as fast as they can. “Sometimes it does suit us. I can’t do an awful lot about it anyway and I’m just getting on with it because there have been times in the past when we have come through these tough periods better than we have what has seemed a smooth run.” Phil Jagielka returned to training this week, while both Leon Osman and Jack Rodwell could figure at Loftus Road this afternoon having come through a midweek run-out for the reserves. Although Darron Gibson is out with a knee injury, Nikica Jelavic, Tim Cahill and Victor Anichebe are all expected to be available after missing out in the FA Cup win against Blackpool a fortnight, and the cup-tied Steven Pienaar also returns. And Moyes added: “It helps they are coming back but I need to get them back to match fitness. “My worry is can I get them back to match fitness quickly enough to be at the speed we need them to be at for the coming month. “They’re all doing fine, though. Jags is back training. I’ll have a look at them and see what I think.” A stomach injury has restricted Jelavic to a 30-minute substitute appearance on his debut at Wigan Athletic since arriving from Rangers for £5.5million in January. However, the striker played 45 minutes for Croatia in their international friendly defeat to Sweden in Zagreb on Wednesday night. “I’m looking forward to having him available because it’s something we’ve not seen, but Denis Stracqualursi has made it easy for me,” said Moyes. “It’s not as big a panic as it was because he’s made it easier for me and that means we can introduce Jelavic slowly and at the right times. “We’ve not been able to play him so we’ve got no idea yet what he can offer. “We’re going to need the players yes because of the schedule we’ve got, it’s a real tough one for us.”

WE NEED NIKICA JELAVIC
Daily Star
3rd March 2012
By Neil Johnston
DAVID MOYES has challenged Nikica Jelavic to prove he is a £5.5m bargain as Everton embark on a ‘Mad March’. A groin injury has limited Jelavic to just 30 minutes of action since joining from Rangers at the end of January. But the Croatian striker is set to feature as Everton’s campaign reaches crunch time. The Toffees face seven games in 28 days, including a Merseyside derby against Liverpool at Anfield and an FA Cup quarter-final at home to Sunderland. Jelavic scored 17 times this season for Rangers but the 26-year-old has made just a brief appearance for Everton, in a 1-1 draw at Wigan on February 4 after ¬replacing Denis Stracqualursi. He set to feature at QPR today after ¬appearing in Croatia’s midweek friendly ¬defeat to Sweden. Everton boss Moyes said: “I’m looking forward to seeing him because it’s ¬something we’ve not seen a lot of since he arrived.
“But it’s not as big a panic as it was ¬because Denis made it easier for me and that means we can introduce Jelavic slowly and at the right times. “We’ve not been able to play him so we’ve got no idea yet what he can offer. “We’re going to need all the players ¬because of the schedule we’ve got. It’s a really tough one for us.” After QPR, Everton host Spurs on March 10 and face Liverpool three days later. The FA Cup tie with Sunderland on March 17 is followed by a home match with Arsenal four days later and a trip to Swansea on March 24. Providing there is no FA Cup replay, Everton round off the month at home to West Brom on March 31.

QPR 1 EVERTON 1:
3rd March 2012
By Gary Jones for Dailystar.
QPR were unable to eke out a draw against Everton as the struggling west Londoners yet again failed to make the most of home advantage. The Hoops have now won just two of their 14 Barclays Premier League matches at Loftus Road and teeter dangerously over the drop zone with a tough-looking batch of fixtures remaining. QPR came into the match on a run of six defeats from their past eight matches and almost got off to the worst possible start, with a Tim Cahill half-volley hitting the crossbar early on. Everton were playing like a side unbeaten in seven matches in all competitions and that confidence was epitomised by Royston Drenthe, who broke the deadlock with an exquisite 30-yard effort. The lead lasted just five minutes, though, as QPR showed a fighting spirit often lacking this season, with Bobby Zamora bundling home a Akos Buzsaky free-kick off goalkeeper Tim Howard. Buzsaky inexplicably hit the post after an Adel Taarabt effort had done the same as half-time approached, although they could not force a second-half winner. There was a tense atmosphere around Loftus Road as the game began with the visitors on the front foot.
Cahill came close to turning Everton's strong start into the opening goal inside four minutes, when a superbly-struck effort rattled the crossbar. The strike seemed to jolt QPR into life and they came close themselves six minutes later, with a hopeful Buzsaky drive from the edge of the box flicked just wide by Clint Hill. The centre-back had another opportunity moments later, although he could not keep his header down from a neatly-delivered Buzsaky free-kick. With QPR enjoying a spell in the ascendancy, referee Kevin Friend frustrated home supporters by not allowing play to continue when Shaun Wright-Phillips was fouled on the edge of the box. Only Howard's quick reactions prevented Buzsaky's resulting free-kick sneaking in, before Zamora saw a run into the box thwarted by the Everton defence. Drenthe was looking the Toffees' most dangerous player going forward and, after seeing an audacious drive saved by Paddy Kenny, delivered a free-kick that was almost directed home. QPR fought back with a Wright-Phillips diving header that went just wide, before Drenthe broke the deadlock in the 31st minute. Taarabt lost the ball in the middle of the park and when the on-loan Real Madrid midfielder secured possession his fizzing left-foot drive flew in from 30 yards.

However, it was 1-1 five minutes later. Drenthe brought down Taarabt and Buzsaky whipped the free-kick in for Zamora to bundle home from close range off goalkeeper Howard. The Dutchman was booked for his challenge and was followed into the referee's notebook by team-mate Steven Pienaar shortly afterwards. Everton were enjoying the lion's share of possession as half-time approached, although both sets of fans seemed more excited by a squirrel that was running around the pitch. Attention turned back to the football as QPR somehow failed to net on the stroke of half-time. Taarabt fired a shot from the edge of the box that rebounded off the post, Zamora collected the loose ball and squared it for Buzsaky, who hit the post inside the six-yard box and then scuffed the rebound. QPR started the second period in the same vein and would have taken the lead shortly after the restart had Nedum Onuoha managed to divert a Shaun Derry effort goalwards. The second half was a scrappier affair, though, and Everton boss David Moyes brought on Leon Osman and Nikica Jelavic in a bid to change things. Rangers were still having opportunities and a rasping Buzsaky drive was followed by some good play from Taarabt, who burst into the box to strike just across the face of the Everton goal. Tensions were beginning to rise inside Loftus Road as QPR pressed for a much-needed winner. Buzsaky stung the palms of Howard as the Hungarian once again took it upon himself to find a way through, before QPR manager Mark Hughes replaced Taarabt with 10 minutes remaining. Jamie Mackie was the man that came on in his place as QPR went more direct, although that move could not force a winner. Things could have got worse for QPR as the visitors dominated the four minutes of stoppage time, although the match ended in a draw.

Queens Park Rangers 1 Everton 1: match report
03 Mar 2012
Telegraph
A BBC documentary this weekend will show the mad, mad world of Queens Park Rangers under the ownership of Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone, and judging by this hard-fought draw with Everton, things have not changed too much since Tony Fernandes took over. The fact that a squirrel ran undisturbed around the Everton half of the pitch for the final ten minutes of the first half should give some idea of the nature of the game at Loftus Road. The rodent's moment in the sun, with fans singing songs in its honour, came after a scrappy half in which Eveton played the neater football and took a well-deserved lead in the 31st minute when Royston Drenthe scored his third goal of the season. The Dutch winger had already tested Paddy Kenny with a long shot and provided the cross from which Tim Cahill's weak header was held by the QPR goalkeeper with Johnny Heitinga ready to pounce. But Drenthe made no mistake in when Adel Taarabt was caught in possession inside his own half by Steve Pienaar. The former Spurs midfielder played a square pass to Drenthe, who drilled his shot into the corner of Kenny's net from 30 yards. It was a fine reward for Everton, for whom Cahill had hit the bar with a well-executed volley on the turn in the fourth minute. QPR's best early chances fell to defender Clint Hill, who missed from close range with a flick and a header, while Akos Buzsaky had a curling free-kick well saved by Tim Howard. With Taarabt in a roving role, Bobby Zamora was effectively on his own up front, but in the 36th minute, the striker scored his second goal since moving from Fulham with a close range header from Buzsaky's free-kick on the left. The kick had been taken close to where Fernandes was sitting, and the QPR owner was pictured celebrating wildly. Fernandes had promised to visit the local pubs before kick-off, canvassing opinions from supporters concerned about their side's proximity to the relegation zone.
They might have cursed their bad luck, too, which showed itself when Taarabt and then Buzsaky both hit the left and right posts of Howard's goal in quick succession shortly before half-time.
They improved in the second-half, playing with more composure but unable to break down a solid Everton defence, with Buzsaky shooting from ever greater distances. Everton manager David Moyes sent on Nikica Jelavic after an hour to give his forward line more life, and the Croation striker put himself about with purpose. But there were precious few clear chances for either side to score a decisive goal, and a draw was not much help for QPR, who are still only a point above the relegation places.

Bobby Zamora's header earns QPR a point against Everton
Saturday 3 March 2012
The Guardian
QPR were unable to eke out a winner against Everton as the struggling west Londoners yet again failed to make the most of home advantage. The Hoops have now won just two of their 14 Barclays Premier League matches at Loftus Road and teeter dangerously over the drop zone with a tough-looking batch of fixtures remaining. QPR came into the match on a run of six defeats from their past eight matches and almost got off to the worst possible start, with a Tim Cahill half-volley hitting the crossbar early on. Everton were playing like a side unbeaten in seven matches in all competitions and that confidence was epitomised by Royston Drenthe, who broke the deadlock with an exquisite 30-yard effort. The lead lasted just five minutes, though, as QPR showed a fighting spirit often lacking this season, with Bobby Zamora bundling home a Akos Buzsaky free-kick off goalkeeper Tim Howard. Buzsaky inexplicably hit the post after an Adel Taarabt effort had done the same as half-time approached, although they could not force a second-half winner. There was a tense atmosphere around Loftus Road as the game began with the visitors on the front foot. Cahill came close to turning Everton's strong start into the opening goal inside four minutes, when a superbly-struck effort rattled the crossbar. The strike seemed to jolt QPR into life and they came close themselves six minutes later, with a hopeful Buzsaky drive from the edge of the box flicked just wide by Clint Hill. The centre-back had another opportunity moments later, although he could not keep his header down from a neatly-delivered Buzsaky free-kick. With QPR enjoying a spell in the ascendancy, referee Kevin Friend frustrated home supporters by not allowing play to continue when Shaun Wright-Phillips was fouled on the edge of the box. Only Howard's quick reactions prevented Buzsaky's resulting free-kick sneaking in, before Zamora saw a run into the box thwarted by the Everton defence. Drenthe was looking the Toffees' most dangerous player going forward and, after seeing an audacious drive saved by Paddy Kenny, delivered a free-kick that was almost directed home. QPR fought back with a Wright-Phillips diving header that went just wide, before Drenthe broke the deadlock in the 31st minute. Taarabt lost the ball in the middle of the park and when the on-loan Real Madrid midfielder secured possession his fizzing left-foot drive flew in from 30 yards.
However, it was 1-1 five minutes later. Drenthe brought down Taarabt and Buzsaky whipped the free-kick in for Zamora to bundle home from close range off goalkeeper Howard.
The Dutchman was booked for his challenge and was followed into the referee's notebook by team-mate Steven Pienaar shortly afterwards. Everton were enjoying the lion's share of possession as half-time approached, although both sets of fans seemed more excited by a squirrel that was running around the pitch. Attention turned back to the football as QPR somehow failed to net on the stroke of half-time. Taarabt fired a shot from the edge of the box that rebounded off the post, Zamora collected the loose ball and squared it for Buzsaky, who hit the post inside the six-yard box and then scuffed the rebound. QPR started the second period in the same vein and would have taken the lead shortly after the restart had Nedum Onuoha managed to divert a Shaun Derry effort goalwards. The second half was a scrappier affair, though, and Everton boss David Moyes brought on Leon Osman and Nikica Jelavic in a bid to change things. Rangers were still having opportunities and a rasping Buzsaky drive was followed by some good play from Taarabt, who burst into the box to strike just across the face of the Everton goal. Tensions were beginning to rise inside Loftus Road as QPR pressed for a much-needed winner. Buzsaky stung the palms of Howard as the Hungarian once again took it upon himself to find a way through, before QPR manager Mark Hughes replaced Taarabt with 10 minutes remaining. Jamie Mackie was the man that came on in his place as QPR went more direct, although that move could not force a winner. Things could have got worse for QPR as the visitors dominated the four minutes of stoppage time, although the match ended in a draw.

QPR 1 Everton 1: Luckless Rangers secure precious point after Zamora bundles home
3rd March 2012
Daily Mail
QPR were unable to eke out a winner against Everton as the struggling west Londoners yet again failed to make the most of home advantage. The Hoops have now won just two of their 14 Barclays Premier League matches at Loftus Road and teeter dangerously over the drop zone with a tough-looking batch of fixtures remaining. QPR came into the match on a run of six defeats from their past eight matches and almost got off to the worst possible start, with a Tim Cahill half-volley hitting the crossbar early on. Everton were playing like a side unbeaten in seven matches in all competitions and that confidence was epitomised by Royston Drenthe, who broke the deadlock with an exquisite 30-yard effort. The lead lasted just five minutes, though, as QPR showed a fighting spirit often lacking this season, with Bobby Zamora bundling home a Akos Buzsaky free-kick off goalkeeper Tim Howard. Buzsaky inexplicably hit the post after an Adel Taarabt effort had done the same as half-time approached, although they could not force a second-half winner. There was a tense atmosphere around Loftus Road as the game began with the visitors on the front foot.
Cahill came close to turning Everton's strong start into the opening goal inside four minutes, when a superbly-struck effort rattled the crossbar. The strike seemed to jolt QPR into life and they came close themselves six minutes later, with a hopeful Buzsaky drive from the edge of the box flicked just wide by Clint Hill. The centre-back had another opportunity moments later, although he could not keep his header down from a neatly-delivered Buzsaky free-kick. With QPR enjoying a spell in the ascendancy, referee Kevin Friend frustrated home supporters by not allowing play to continue when Shaun Wright-Phillips was fouled on the edge of the box. Only Howard's quick reactions prevented Buzsaky's resulting free-kick sneaking in, before Zamora saw a run into the box thwarted by the Everton defence. Drenthe was looking the Toffees' most dangerous player going forward and, after seeing an audacious drive saved by Paddy Kenny, delivered a free-kick that was almost directed home. QPR fought back with a Wright-Phillips diving header that went just wide, before Drenthe broke the deadlock in the 31st minute. Taarabt lost the ball in the middle of the park and when the on-loan Real Madrid midfielder secured possession his fizzing left-foot drive flew in from 30 yards.
However, it was 1-1 five minutes later. Drenthe brought down Taarabt and Buzsaky whipped the free-kick in for Zamora to bundle home from close range off goalkeeper Howard. The Dutchman was booked for his challenge and was followed into the referee's notebook by team-mate Steven Pienaar shortly afterwards. Everton were enjoying the lion's share of possession as half-time approached, although both sets of fans seemed more excited by a squirrel that was running around the pitch. Attention turned back to the football as QPR somehow failed to net on the stroke of half-time. Taarabt fired a shot from the edge of the box that rebounded off the post, Zamora collected the loose ball and squared it for Buzsaky, who hit the post inside the six-yard box and then scuffed the rebound. QPR started the second period in the same vein and would have taken the lead shortly after the restart had Nedum Onuoha managed to divert a Shaun Derry effort goalwards.
The second half was a scrappier affair, though, and Everton boss David Moyes brought on Leon Osman and Nikica Jelavic in a bid to change things. Rangers were still having opportunities and a rasping Buzsaky drive was followed by some good play from Taarabt, who burst into the box to strike just across the face of the Everton goal. Tensions were beginning to rise inside Loftus Road as QPR pressed for a much-needed winner. Buzsaky stung the palms of Howard as the Hungarian once again took it upon himself to find a way through, before QPR manager Mark Hughes replaced Taarabt with 10 minutes remaining. Jamie Mackie was the man that came on in his place as QPR went more direct, although that move could not force a winner. Things could have got worse for QPR as the visitors dominated the four minutes of stoppage time, although the match ended in a draw.
MATCH FACTS
QPR: Kenny, Onuoha, Ferdinand, Hill, Traore, Derry, Barton, Wright-Phillips, Buzsaky, Taarabt (Mackie 80), Zamora. Subs not used: Cerny, Gabbidon, Bothroyd, Young, Smith, Taiwo.
Goal: Zamora 36.
Booked: Derry.
Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Drenthe (Jelavic 63), Fellaini, Neville, Pienaar, Cahill (Osman 63), Stracqualursi (Coleman 88). Subs not used: Mucha, Jagielka, Gueye, Barkley.
Goal: Drenth 31
Booked: Drenth, Pienaar.
Referee: Kevin Friend.

QPR hang close to drop zone as they fall short of home win to Everton
Everton 1 QPR 1
Simon Peach
Saturday 03 March 2012
Independent
While clearly there’s the potential for egg on the face in going against Manchester United in any fi...
QPR were unable to eke out a winner against Everton as the struggling west Londoners yet again failed to make the most of home advantage. The Hoops have now won just two of their 14 Barclays Premier League matches at Loftus Road and teeter dangerously over the drop zone with a tough-looking batch of fixtures remaining. QPR came into the match on a run of six defeats from their past eight matches and almost got off to the worst possible start, with a Tim Cahill half-volley hitting the crossbar early on. Everton were playing like a side unbeaten in seven matches in all competitions and that confidence was epitomised by Royston Drenthe, who broke the deadlock with an exquisite 30-yard effort. The lead lasted just five minutes, though, as QPR showed a fighting spirit often lacking this season, with Bobby Zamora bundling home a Akos Buzsaky free-kick off goalkeeper Tim Howard. Buzsaky inexplicably hit the post after an Adel Taarabt effort had done the same as half-time approached, although they could not force a second-half winner. There was a tense atmosphere around Loftus Road as the game began with the visitors on the front foot.
Cahill came close to turning Everton's strong start into the opening goal inside four minutes, when a superbly-struck effort rattled the crossbar. The strike seemed to jolt QPR into life and they came close themselves six minutes later, with a hopeful Buzsaky drive from the edge of the box flicked just wide by Clint Hill. The centre-back had another opportunity moments later, although he could not keep his header down from a neatly-delivered Buzsaky free-kick. With QPR enjoying a spell in the ascendancy, referee Kevin Friend frustrated home supporters by not allowing play to continue when Shaun Wright-Phillips was fouled on the edge of the box. Only Howard's quick reactions prevented Buzsaky's resulting free-kick sneaking in, before Zamora saw a run into the box thwarted by the Everton defence. Drenthe was looking the Toffees' most dangerous player going forward and, after seeing an audacious drive saved by Paddy Kenny, delivered a free-kick that was almost directed home. QPR fought back with a Wright-Phillips diving header that went just wide, before Drenthe broke the deadlock in the 31st minute. Taarabt lost the ball in the middle of the park and when the on-loan Real Madrid midfielder secured possession his fizzing left-foot drive flew in from 30 yards.
However, it was 1-1 five minutes later. Drenthe brought down Taarabt and Buzsaky whipped the free-kick in for Zamora to bundle home from close range off goalkeeper Howard.
The Dutchman was booked for his challenge and was followed into the referee's notebook by team-mate Steven Pienaar shortly afterwards. Everton were enjoying the lion's share of possession as half-time approached, although both sets of fans seemed more excited by a squirrel that was running around the pitch. Attention turned back to the football as QPR somehow failed to net on the stroke of half-time. Taarabt fired a shot from the edge of the box that rebounded off the post, Zamora collected the loose ball and squared it for Buzsaky, who hit the post inside the six-yard box and then scuffed the rebound. QPR started the second period in the same vein and would have taken the lead shortly after the restart had Nedum Onuoha managed to divert a Shaun Derry effort goalwards. The second half was a scrappier affair, though, and Everton boss David Moyes brought on Leon Osman and Nikica Jelavic in a bid to change things. Rangers were still having opportunities and a rasping Buzsaky drive was followed by some good play from Taarabt, who burst into the box to strike just across the face of the Everton goal. Tensions were beginning to rise inside Loftus Road as QPR pressed for a much-needed winner. Buzsaky stung the palms of Howard as the Hungarian once again took it upon himself to find a way through, before QPR manager Mark Hughes replaced Taarabt with 10 minutes remaining. Jamie Mackie was the man that came on in his place as QPR went more direct, although that move could not force a winner. Things could have got worse for QPR as the visitors dominated the four minutes of stoppage time, although the match ended in a draw.

QPR 1 EVERTON 1: BOBBY ZAMORA STRIKE CANCELS OUT ROYSTON DRENTHE OPENER
Daily Express
Saturday March 3,2012
QPR were unable to eke out a winner against Everton as the struggling west Londoners yet again failed to make the most of home advantage. The Hoops have now won just two of their 14 Barclays Premier League matches at Loftus Road and teeter dangerously over the drop zone with a tough-looking batch of fixtures remaining. QPR came into the match on a run of six defeats from their past eight matches and almost got off to the worst possible start, with a Tim Cahill half-volley hitting the crossbar early on. Everton were playing like a side unbeaten in seven matches in all competitions and that confidence was epitomised by Royston Drenthe, who broke the deadlock with an exquisite 30-yard effort. The lead lasted just five minutes, though, as QPR showed a fighting spirit often lacking this season, with Bobby Zamora bundling home a Akos Buzsaky free-kick off goalkeeper Tim Howard. Buzsaky inexplicably hit the post after an Adel Taarabt effort had done the same as half-time approached, although they could not force a second-half winner. There was a tense atmosphere around Loftus Road as the game began with the visitors on the front foot. Cahill came close to turning Everton's strong start into the opening goal inside four minutes, when a superbly-struck effort rattled the crossbar. The strike seemed to jolt QPR into life and they came close themselves six minutes later, with a hopeful Buzsaky drive from the edge of the box flicked just wide by Clint Hill. The centre-back had another opportunity moments later, although he could not keep his header down from a neatly-delivered Buzsaky free-kick. With QPR enjoying a spell in the ascendancy, referee Kevin Friend frustrated home supporters by not allowing play to continue when Shaun Wright-Phillips was fouled on the edge of the box. Only Howard's quick reactions prevented Buzsaky's resulting free-kick sneaking in, before Zamora saw a run into the box thwarted by the Everton defence. Drenthe was looking the Toffees' most dangerous player going forward and, after seeing an audacious drive saved by Paddy Kenny, delivered a free-kick that was almost directed home. QPR fought back with a Wright-Phillips diving header that went just wide, before Drenthe broke the deadlock in the 31st minute. Taarabt lost the ball in the middle of the park and when the on-loan Real Madrid midfielder secured possession his fizzing left-foot drive flew in from 30 yards.
However, it was 1-1 five minutes later. Drenthe brought down Taarabt and Buzsaky whipped the free-kick in for Zamora to bundle home from close range off goalkeeper Howard. The Dutchman was booked for his challenge and was followed into the referee's notebook by team-mate Steven Pienaar shortly afterwards. Everton were enjoying the lion's share of possession as half-time approached, although both sets of fans seemed more excited by a squirrel that was running around the pitch. Attention turned back to the football as QPR somehow failed to net on the stroke of half-time. Taarabt fired a shot from the edge of the box that rebounded off the post, Zamora collected the loose ball and squared it for Buzsaky, who hit the post inside the six-yard box and then scuffed the rebound. QPR started the second period in the same vein and would have taken the lead shortly after the restart had Nedum Onuoha managed to divert a Shaun Derry effort goalwards. The second half was a scrappier affair, though, and Everton boss David Moyes brought on Leon Osman and Nikica Jelavic in a bid to change things. Rangers were still having opportunities and a rasping Buzsaky drive was followed by some good play from Taarabt, who burst into the box to strike just across the face of the Everton goal. Tensions were beginning to rise inside Loftus Road as QPR pressed for a much-needed winner. Buzsaky stung the palms of Howard as the Hungarian once again took it upon himself to find a way through, before QPR manager Mark Hughes replaced Taarabt with 10 minutes remaining. Jamie Mackie was the man that came on in his place as QPR went more direct, although that move could not force a winner. Things could have got worse for QPR as the visitors dominated the four minutes of stoppage time, although the match ended in a draw.

QPR 1 EVERTON 1: BOBBY ZAMORA GRABS POINT FOR QPR
3rd March 2012
By Gary Jones for Dailystar
QPR were unable to eke out a draw against Everton as the struggling west Londoners yet again failed to make the most of home advantage. The Hoops have now won just two of their 14 Barclays Premier League matches at Loftus Road and teeter dangerously over the drop zone with a tough-looking batch of fixtures remaining. QPR came into the match on a run of six defeats from their past eight matches and almost got off to the worst possible start, with a Tim Cahill half-volley hitting the crossbar early on. Everton were playing like a side unbeaten in seven matches in all competitions and that confidence was epitomised by Royston Drenthe, who broke the deadlock with an exquisite 30-yard effort. The lead lasted just five minutes, though, as QPR showed a fighting spirit often lacking this season, with Bobby Zamora bundling home a Akos Buzsaky free-kick off goalkeeper Tim Howard. Buzsaky inexplicably hit the post after an Adel Taarabt effort had done the same as half-time approached, although they could not force a second-half winner. There was a tense atmosphere around Loftus Road as the game began with the visitors on the front foot.
Cahill came close to turning Everton's strong start into the opening goal inside four minutes, when a superbly-struck effort rattled the crossbar. The strike seemed to jolt QPR into life and they came close themselves six minutes later, with a hopeful Buzsaky drive from the edge of the box flicked just wide by Clint Hill. The centre-back had another opportunity moments later, although he could not keep his header down from a neatly-delivered Buzsaky free-kick. With QPR enjoying a spell in the ascendancy, referee Kevin Friend frustrated home supporters by not allowing play to continue when Shaun Wright-Phillips was fouled on the edge of the box. Only Howard's quick reactions prevented Buzsaky's resulting free-kick sneaking in, before Zamora saw a run into the box thwarted by the Everton defence. Drenthe was looking the Toffees' most dangerous player going forward and, after seeing an audacious drive saved by Paddy Kenny, delivered a free-kick that was almost directed home. QPR fought back with a Wright-Phillips diving header that went just wide, before Drenthe broke the deadlock in the 31st minute. Taarabt lost the ball in the middle of the park and when the on-loan Real Madrid midfielder secured possession his fizzing left-foot drive flew in from 30 yards.
However, it was 1-1 five minutes later. Drenthe brought down Taarabt and Buzsaky whipped the free-kick in for Zamora to bundle home from close range off goalkeeper Howard. The Dutchman was booked for his challenge and was followed into the referee's notebook by team-mate Steven Pienaar shortly afterwards. Everton were enjoying the lion's share of possession as half-time approached, although both sets of fans seemed more excited by a squirrel that was running around the pitch. Attention turned back to the football as QPR somehow failed to net on the stroke of half-time. Taarabt fired a shot from the edge of the box that rebounded off the post, Zamora collected the loose ball and squared it for Buzsaky, who hit the post inside the six-yard box and then scuffed the rebound. QPR started the second period in the same vein and would have taken the lead shortly after the restart had Nedum Onuoha managed to divert a Shaun Derry effort goalwards. The second half was a scrappier affair, though, and Everton boss David Moyes brought on Leon Osman and Nikica Jelavic in a bid to change things. Rangers were still having opportunities and a rasping Buzsaky drive was followed by some good play from Taarabt, who burst into the box to strike just across the face of the Everton goal. Tensions were beginning to rise inside Loftus Road as QPR pressed for a much-needed winner. Buzsaky stung the palms of Howard as the Hungarian once again took it upon himself to find a way through, before QPR manager Mark Hughes replaced Taarabt with 10 minutes remaining. Jamie Mackie was the man that came on in his place as QPR went more direct, although that move could not force a winner. Things could have got worse for QPR as the visitors dominated the four minutes of stoppage time, although the match ended in a draw.

QPR 1-1 Everton: Points shared at Loftus Road
03/03/12 By MirrorFootball
QPR were unable to eke out a winner against Everton as the struggling west Londoners yet again failed to make the most of home advantage.The Hoops have now won just two of their 14 Barclays Premier League matches at Loftus Road and teeter dangerously over the drop zone with a tough-looking batch of fixtures remaining.QPR came into the match on a run of six defeats from their past eight matches and almost got off to the worst possible start, with a Tim Cahill half-volley hitting the crossbar early on.Everton were playing like a side unbeaten in seven matches in all competitions and that confidence was epitomised by Royston Drenthe, who broke the deadlock with an exquisite 30-yard effort.The lead lasted just five minutes, though, as QPR showed a fighting spirit often lacking this season, with Bobby Zamora bundling home a Akos Buzsaky free-kick off goalkeeper Tim Howard.Buzsaky inexplicably hit the post after an Adel Taarabt effort had done the same as half-time approached, although they could not force a second-half winner.There was a tense atmosphere around Loftus Road as the game began with the visitors on the front foot.Cahill came close to turning Everton's strong start into the opening goal inside four minutes, when a superbly-struck effort rattled the crossbar.The strike seemed to jolt QPR into life and they came close themselves six minutes later, with a hopeful Buzsaky drive from the edge of the box flicked just wide by Clint Hill.The centre-back had another opportunity moments later, although he could not keep his header down from a neatly-delivered Buzsaky free-kick.With QPR enjoying a spell in the ascendancy, referee Kevin Friend frustrated home supporters by not allowing play to continue when Shaun Wright-Phillips was fouled on the edge of the box.Only Howard's quick reactions prevented Buzsaky's resulting free-kick sneaking in, before Zamora saw a run into the box thwarted by the Everton defence.Drenthe was looking the Toffees' most dangerous player going forward and, after seeing an audacious drive saved by Paddy Kenny, delivered a free-kick that was almost directed home.QPR fought back with a Wright-Phillips diving header that went just wide, before Drenthe broke the deadlock in the 31st minute.Taarabt lost the ball in the middle of the park and when the on-loan Real Madrid midfielder secured possession his fizzing left-foot drive flew in from 30 yards.However, it was 1-1 five minutes later. Drenthe brought down Taarabt and Buzsaky whipped the free-kick in for Zamora to bundle home from close range off goalkeeper Howard.The Dutchman was booked for his challenge and was followed into the referee's notebook by team-mate Steven Pienaar shortly afterwards.Everton were enjoying the lion's share of possession as half-time approached, although both sets of fans seemed more excited by a squirrel that was running around the pitch.Attention turned back to the football as QPR somehow failed to net on the stroke of half-time.Taarabt fired a shot from the edge of the box that rebounded off the post, Zamora collected the loose ball and squared it for Buzsaky, who hit the post inside the six-yard box and then scuffed the rebound.QPR started the second period in the same vein and would have taken the lead shortly after the restart had Nedum Onuoha managed to divert a Shaun Derry effort goalwards.The second half was a scrappier affair, though, and Everton boss David Moyes brought on Leon Osman and Nikica Jelavic in a bid to change things.Rangers were still having opportunities and a rasping Buzsaky drive was followed by some good play from Taarabt, who burst into the box to strike just across the face of the Everton goal.Tensions were beginning to rise inside Loftus Road as QPR pressed for a much-needed winner.Buzsaky stung the palms of Howard as the Hungarian once again took it upon himself to find a way through, before QPR manager Mark Hughes replaced Taarabt with 10 minutes remaining.Jamie Mackie was the man that came on in his place as QPR went more direct, although that move could not force a winner.Things could have got worse for QPR as the visitors dominated the four minutes of stoppage time, although the match ended in a draw.

QPR 1 Everton 1
The Sun 03/03/2012
Royston Drenthe fired Everton ahead after 31 minutes to leave the hosts looking nervously over their shoulders towards the Premier League drop zone.But Zamora pulled them level just five minutes later with a header to give the R's faithful something to cheer about.QPR came into the match on a run of six defeats from their last eight matches which, not surprisingly, resulted in a tense atmoshophere around Loftus Road.And it nearly went from bad to worse for the hosts when Tim Cahill came close to turning Everton's strong start into the opening goal inside four minutes.The Aussie midfielder's superbly-struck effort rattled the crossbar — much to the relief of the home faithful.With boss Mark Hughes barking instructions from the bench, the lucky escape jolted QPR into life and a hopeful Akos Buzsaky drive from the edge of the box was flicked just wide by Clint Hill.Centre-back Hill had another opportunity moments later, although he could not keep his header down from a Buzsaky free-kick.With QPR enjoying a spell in the ascendancy, referee Kevin Friend left Hughes fuming by not allowing play to continue when Shaun Wright-Phillips was fouled on the edge of the box.Only Tim Howard's quick reactions prevented Buzsaky's resulting free-kick sneaking in, while Zamora saw a run into the box thwarted by the Everton defence.Drenthe was looking the Toffees' most dangerous player going forward and, after seeing an audacious drive saved by Paddy Kenny, delivered a free-kick that was almost directed home.QPR fought back with a Wright-Phillips diving header that went just wide before Drenthe broke the deadlock.Adel Taarabt lost the ball in the middle of the park and the on-loan Real Madrid midfielder's fizzing left-foot drive flew in from 30 yards.But it was quickly 1-1 when Drenthe brought down Taarabt and Buzsaky whipped the ball in for Zamora to bundle home from close range.The Dutchman was booked for his challenge and was followed into the referee's notebook by team-mate Steven Pienaar shortly afterwards.Everton were enjoying the lion's share of possession, although both sets of fans seemed more excited by a squirrel that was running around the pitch.Attention turned back to the football as QPR somehow failed to net on the stroke of half-time.Taarabt fired a shot from the edge of the box that rebounded off the post, Zamora collected the loose ball and squared it for Buzsaky, who hit the woodwork from inside the six-yard box and then scuffed the rebound.QPR started the second period in the same vein and would have taken the lead had Nedum Onuoha managed to divert a Shaun Derry effort goalwards.The second half was a scrappy affair and Everton boss David Moyes brought on Leon Osman and Nikica Jelavic in a bid to shake things up.QPR were still creating opportunities and a rasping Buzsaky drive was followed by some good play from Taarabt, who burst into the box to strike just across the face of goal.Tensions were beginning to rise inside the stadium as the home side pressed for a much-needed winner.Buzsaky stung the palms of Howard before Hughes replaced Taarabt with 10 minutes remaining.Jamie Mackie was sent on as QPR went more direct but the change in tactics could not force a winner.
QPR: Kenny, Onuoha, Ferdinand, Hill, Traore, Derry, Barton, Wright-Phillips, Buzsaky, Taarabt (Mackie 80), Zamora. Subs not used: Cerny, Gabbidon, Bothroyd, Young, Smith, Taiwo. Booked: Derry.
Goals: Zamora 36.
Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Drenthe (Osman 63), Fellaini, Neville, Pienaar, Cahill (Jelavic 63), Stracqualursi (Coleman 88). Subs not used: Mucha, Jagielka, Gueye, Barkley. Booked: Drenthe, Pienaar.
Goals: Drenthe 31.
Att: 18,033
Ref: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire).

QPR 1 Everton FC 1 - final whistle match report from Loftus Road
By Neil Jones
Mar 3 2012
EVERTON FC recorded a hard-fought 1-1 draw with struggling Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road, as Bobby Zamora's header cancelled out Royston Drenthe's fine first-half strike.
Zamora struck just five minutes after Drenthe had fired EFC ahead in west London, and though both sides pressed after half-time, neither could find a winner.David Moyes received a triple boost prior to kick-off, with Leon Osman, Nikica Jelavic and, surprisingly, Phil Jagielka all fit enough to return among the Blues' substitutes.Steven Pienaar was deemed fit enough to start, despite concerns earlier in the week, and provided a dual threat from wide areas with Drenthe.And Everton FC could have been ahead as early as the 4th minute. The home side failed to clear Phil Neville's long throw as Marouane Fellaini challenged, with Tim Cahill smashing the loose ball against the crossbar from 14 yards with his left foot.Rangers, with Adel Taarabt prominent early on, went close as Clint Hill diverted Akos Buszaky's volley just wide on 9 minutes, before the former Tranmere defender headed a better chance over the bar a couple of minutes later.Buszaky drew the first save of note from Tim Howard with a 20-yard free kick in the 21st minute, while Drenthe's skimming strike was fielded by Paddy Kenny at the other end.John Heitinga had an excellent chance to open the scoring on 24 minutes, but couldn't adjust his feet quickly enough to turn Drenthe's free kick home from inside the six-yard box, after the ball had flicked off a QPR head at the near post.Shaun Wright-Phillips sent a diving header just wide of Howard's left-hand post soon after, but it ws Everton FC who would take the lead just after the half-hour mark.Fellaini robbed a dawdling Taarabt, allowing Pienaar to feed Drenthe, and the Dutchman let fly from fully 30 yards with a fierce low effort that nestled inside Kenny's right-hand upright.Taarabt, eager to make amends, had a free kick deflected just wide moments later, and would win the set piece from which Rangers levelled on 36 minutes.He was felled by Drenthe after some nimble footwork, and when Buzsaky bent in the ball from the left, Zamora met it at the near post, the ball bouncing down and into the net via Howard's grasping arms.And Rangers should have been in front two minutes before half-time. Taarabt bent a 20-yard strike against the inside of Howard's left-hand post, Zamora retrieved the ball and teed up Buzsaky, who somehow contrived to sidefoot against the other upright from close range.After the break Anton Ferdinand was able to turn Shaun Derry's scuffed strike goalwards after EFC failed to clear a corner, while Fellaini slashed wildly off target after being let in by a wayward Taarabt pass.Buzsaky hooked a 25-yard effort over the bar as the game took on a rather scrappy feel.Moyes introduced Jelavic and Osman for the ineffective Cahill and Denis Stracqualursi just after the hour mark, and Jelavic had the ball in the net soon after. His effort was, however, ruled out for offside.Taarabt dragged a left-foot effort wide of the far post on 66 minutes after being rolled in by Zamora, as the home side looked the more likely scorers.Buzsaky, who impressed throughout, hit a 25-yarder which Howard fielded comfortably 14 minutes from time, but clear chances were at a premium during a tame second half.
QPR (4-2-3-1): Kenny, Onuoha, Ferdinand, Hill, Traore, Barton, Derry, Wright-Phillips, Buzsaky, Taarabt (Mackie 80), Zamora Substitutes: Cerny, Gabbidon, Young, Taiwo, Smith, Bothroyd
Cards: Derry
Goals: Zamora (36)
EVERTON (4-4-1-1): Howard, Hibbert, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Drenthe (Osman 63), Fellaini, Neville, Pienaar, Cahill (Jelavic 63), Stracqualursi (Coleman 88) Substitutes: Mucha, Jagielka, Gueye, Barkley
Cards: Drenthe, Pienaar
Goals: Drenthe (31)
Referee: Kevin Friend
Attendance: 18,033

QPR 1 Everton FC 1 - Bobby Zamora denies EFC three points
By Neil Jones
Mar 3 2012 Daily Post
EVERTON FC recorded a hard-fought 1-1 draw with struggling Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road, as Bobby Zamora's header cancelled out Royston Drenthe's fine first-half strike.Zamora struck just five minutes after Drenthe had fired EFC ahead in west London, and though both sides pressed after half-time, neither could find a winner.David Moyes received a triple boost prior to kick-off, with Leon Osman, Nikica Jelavic and, surprisingly, Phil Jagielka all fit enough to return among the Blues' substitutes.Steven Pienaar was deemed fit enough to start, despite concerns earlier in the week, and provided a dual threat from wide areas with Drenthe.And Everton FC could have been ahead as early as the 4th minute. The home side failed to clear Phil Neville's long throw as Marouane Fellaini challenged, with Tim Cahill smashing the loose ball against the crossbar from 14 yards with his left foot.Rangers, with Adel Taarabt prominent early on, went close as Clint Hill diverted Akos Buszaky's volley just wide on 9 minutes, before the former Tranmere defender headed a better chance over the bar a couple of minutes later.Buszaky drew the first save of note from Tim Howard with a 20-yard free kick in the 21st minute, while Drenthe's skimming strike was fielded by Paddy Kenny at the other end.John Heitinga had an excellent chance to open the scoring on 24 minutes, but couldn't adjust his feet quickly enough to turn Drenthe's free kick home from inside the six-yard box, after the ball had flicked off a QPR head at the near post.Shaun Wright-Phillips sent a diving header just wide of Howard's left-hand post soon after, but it ws Everton FC who would take the lead just after the half-hour mark.Fellaini robbed a dawdling Taarabt, allowing Pienaar to feed Drenthe, and the Dutchman let fly from fully 30 yards with a fierce low effort that nestled inside Kenny's right-hand upright.Taarabt, eager to make amends, had a free kick deflected just wide moments later, and would win the set piece from which Rangers levelled on 36 minutes.He was felled by Drenthe after some nimble footwork, and when Buzsaky bent in the ball from the left, Zamora met it at the near post, the ball bouncing down and into the net via Howard's grasping arms.And Rangers should have been in front two minutes before half-time. aarabt bent a 20-yard strike against the inside of Howard's left-hand post, Zamora retrieved the ball and teed up Buzsaky, who somehow contrived to sidefoot against the other upright from close range.After the break Anton Ferdinand was able to turn Shaun Derry's scuffed strike goalwards after EFC failed to clear a corner, while Fellaini slashed wildly off target after being let in by a wayward Taarabt pass.Buzsaky hooked a 25-yard effort over the bar as the game took on a rather scrappy feel.Moyes introduced Jelavic and Osman for the ineffective Cahill and Denis Stracqualursi just after the hour mark, and Jelavic had the ball in the net soon after. His effort was, however, ruled out for offside.Taarabt dragged a left-foot effort wide of the far post on 66 minutes after being rolled in by Zamora, as the home side looked the more likely scorers.Buzsaky, who impressed throughout, hit a 25-yarder which Howard fielded comfortably 14 minutes from time, but clear chances were at a premium during a tame second half.QPR (4-2-3-1): Kenny, Onuoha, Ferdinand, Hill, Traore, Barton, Derry, Wright-Phillips, Buzsaky, Taarabt (Mackie 80), Zamora Substitutes: Cerny, Gabbidon, Young, Taiwo, Smith, Bothroyd
Cards: Derry
Goals: Zamora (36)
EVERTON (4-4-1-1): Howard, Hibbert, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Drenthe (Osman 63), Fellaini, Neville, Pienaar, Cahill (Jelavic 63), Stracqualursi (Coleman 88) Substitutes: Mucha, Jagielka, Gueye, Barkley
Cards: Drenthe, Pienaar
Goals: Drenthe (31)
Referee: Kevin Friend
Attendance: 18,033

DAVID MOYES WAGES WAR
Sunday March 4,2012 Sunday Express
By Jim Holden
“Perhaps the 20 per cent suggestion would cause some mayhem,” says Moyes, “but I think we need to do something serious. People might say it would be harder to attract players to the Premier League, but we have to take responsibility for the long-term health of football.“Clubs have to control their money properly and only pay what they can actually afford. People have to be held responsible when things go wrong.“Every family in the country at the moment has to finance correctly. They can’t overspend. Why is football different?”Moyes has proved a roaring success at Everton, cajoling the club to punch far above its weight with slender resources.He has been named Manager of the Year three times in a decade and earned universal admiration. In the same period, Sir Alex Ferguson has won the award only twice.Premier League football was very different when Moyes arrived as a virtual unknown at Goodison. Amid the excitement, he has seen too many bad trends corrupting the game.“I see myself as a supporter of football and I see things I don’t like that are damaging the game,” says Moyes. “One of them is players going down too easily. In the last 10 years, we have seen a lot more diving. Players now go over at the slightest brush of contact. For me, it’s one of the worst things of all.“I believe players must take a bigger responsibility on this issue. We and the players haven’t done enough to help the referees, which has made their job doubly hard. I would advocate retrospective action by the FA on diving.“I say to my players there must no diving in our team. There is no ‘but’ to it either. I don’t want it.“Another area to worry about is agents. It was a better situation 10 years ago. Back then, I looked at the way agents abroad had control of the players, and in some cases the clubs, and thought that couldn’t happen in Britain.“You thought the chairmen wouldn’t be daft enough for agents to be doing the deals or telling them what deals they should be doing.“That seems to be happening now in some cases, and it seems the players are more easily controlled by agents instead of doing what’s right for their own game. That’s a change for the worse.”Moyes also believes the quality of football in the Premier League has declined with the advent of faster and more powerful players.“Technology has changed for managers and helped in many ways,” he explains. “Now we can monitor everything a player does. There’s no doubt the game has speeded up but I’m not sure that has made for better football.“I think some of the players in the Premier League 10 years ago were at a superior level than those of today in terms of technique and ability. I’m thinking of Dennis Bergkamp and Gianfranco Zola, for example. That was a golden era in the Premier League.”Ten years at Everton have given Moyes a rare perspective. His enduring passion for the game shines across in his suggestions for the future, large and small.“We have to help referees,” he says, “whether it is using technology, whether it’s having two referees on the pitch or whether it’s changing attitudes in the game.“Maybe it’s time to have a Premier League One and Two, and to invite Scottish clubs like Celtic and Rangers to join. I think that would add to it.“I’d like to see lower ticket prices so that everybody can afford football. We should be filling all the grounds all the time. If people in football took that 20 per cent pay cut, then lower ticket prices could be one direct result. Football’s been around for 150 years and it has come a long way, but we have to make sure we don’t take it away from its roots. We must not get too far away from people.“Look at the kids – we’ve moved too far away from the roots there. I would advocate allowing top young footballers to go back to playing for their school teams. Taking kids out of school, and just playing with other elite youngsters, has affected discipline.“I think we need to get back to kids growing up normally, not being banned by football clubs from playing other sports, like cricket, at the age of 14. I think that’s terrible. Just let kids play.“We used to talk about ‘over-use’ injuries in youngsters because they played too much. Now the danger is that they are nearly not playing enough and not playing just for the fun of it.”The intensity of David Moyes’ conversation is wonderful and you could listen all day. It is challenging and invigorating and blessed with intelligence.The one word you could never use to describe it is ‘mellow’.
DAVID MOYES WOULD LISTEN IF ENGLAND CAME CALLING, BUT SAYS HARRY REDKNAPP HAS EARNED JOB
Sunday March 4,2012 (Sunday Express)
By Jim Holden
DAVID MOYES is one of the many outsiders in the betting to become the next England manager, but he would consider the job if the FA come calling.The Everton boss believes Harry Redknapp is the top candidate to take England to Euro 2012 and beyond.“I think the England job now looks made for Harry and he would be a popular choice,” says Moyes.“He has earned it. He has done his years, although for Harry to leave a really successful Spurs team would be a big thing for him.“Being England manager is something I’ve never thought about, but if it was put to me then I would consider it. The most important thing with the England manager is that the national team do well.”Moyes has had to rely on many youngsters at Everton – players like Leon Osman, Jack Rodwell, and, of course, Wayne Rooney.He added: “All football clubs need a youth and development programme, and we are really big on that at Everton. It’s the same at national level. Spain and Germany identify young players and get them into the system. “My ambition from the early days was to make myself better. That becomes tougher as you become older. You really have to toughen up.“If success is judged on trophies, then we’ve failed. If it’s judged on consistency, on 10 years of improvement and progress that we’ve had at Everton, then I think we’ve done all those. I don’t think I’ve failed.“Our battle at Everton has been much harder because of the relative lack of money.“A highlight of the 10 years has been getting Everton back into Europe. Finishing fourth in the 2005 season, above Liverpool, was another big one, so was getting to the FA Cup final.“What pleases me is that we have become very consistent.“Everton have been in the Premier League for all its 20 years, and in the first decade they only twice finished in the top half.“Since I came we have had seven years in the top 10. You need resources to compete at the very highest level, but I have never accepted anything less for myself and my players than an attitude of challenging the best. We have to believe we can get into Europe each season.“There was a time when I’d been at Everton for about four years and people were telling me I’d done a good job at Goodison and it was time to move on. But I didn’t feel that way.“I remembered Sir Bobby Robson telling me the value of working a long time at one club, as he had at Ipswich.“The message I took was to go on and do the job long-term at Everton, and try to build a club up in the right way. That’s what I have tried to do.”

QPR 1 Everton 1
By PAUL JIGGINS
04th March 2012 Sunday Sun
The QPR owner toured local boozers before the game, talking to fans and even serving them drinks. But he would have needed to pour himself a stiff one after seeing his strugglers somehow fail to finish off Everton. In the end, Bobby Zamora was the toast of Loftus Road as he hit Rangers' equaliser — after Everton's Royston Drenthe had left them punch drunk with a potent piece of Dutch courage. QPR boss Mark Hughes, whose team have had five players sent off at home this season, at least had the satisfaction of keeping everybody on the pitch this time. He said: "We'd have preferred three points but we showed we have a platform to build on and we kept 11 men on pitch — and saw a marked raise in our game as a result. "We need more of it between now and the end of the season. It's a start we can build on." If Rangers do go down, they will look at games like this and the chances they squandered. They had a lucky escape when Tim Cahill hooked a fourth-minute shot against the bar. But the Hoops took control and created a flurry of chances. Defender Clint Hill failed to divert in Akos Buzsaky's long-range shot on 10 minutes before heading the Hungarian's free-kick over the bar from close range moments later. Ropey ref Kevin Friend denied Adel Taarabt a sight of goal by stopping play for a Sylvain Distin foul on Shaun Wright-Phillips instead of playing advantage. Everton keeper Tim Howard had to be at his best to keep out Buzsaky's resulting free-kick. Rangers were made to pay for their wastefulness as Drenthe netted in the 31st minute. The Dutch dangerman collected Steven Pienaar's pass and rifled a powerful left-footed shot past Kenny and into the corner. But as a squirrel ran on to the pitch — to the delight of the crowd — Hughes' men showed some nuts. Bobby Zamora headed in Buzsaky's 36th-minute inswinging free-kick after Taarabt was fouled by Drenthe near the corner flag. Zamora's second goal for Rangers should have been the prelude to a second for the home side before the break. But Taarabt and, even more incredibly, Buzsaky BOTH hit a post in an amazing goalmouth scramble. As for the squirrel, he left at the interval, having managed to spend almost as long on the Loftus Road pitch as £4million striker Djibril Cisse this term. Rangers went in search of a valuable victory but Nedum Onuoha and Taarabt both dragged shots wide. The west Londoners remain out of the drop zone on goal difference. But Hughes said: "The lack of goals is no problem, not with the quality we have. We have a threat and Cisse is back next week. "We'll definitely have enough going forward." Everton stay mid-table after another solid, if uninspiring, display earned them a draw. Boss David Moyes said: "QPR are fighting for their lives and it's tough on that pitch. It's not made for passing. "We got a point but it wasn't great. We didn't create enough." NUTS TO THIS ... a squirrel kept the fans entertained
QPR: Kenny, Onuoha, Ferdinand, Hill, Traore, Derry, Barton, Wright-Phillips, Buzsaky, Taarabt (Mackie 80), Zamora. Subs not used: Cerny, Gabbidon, Bothroyd, Young, Smith, Taiwo. Booked: Derry.
Goals: Zamora 36.
Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Drenthe (Osman 63), Fellaini, Neville, Pienaar, Cahill (Jelavic 63), Stracqualursi (Coleman 88). Subs not used: Mucha, Jagielka, Gueye, Barkley. Booked: Drenthe, Pienaar.
Goals: Drenthe 31.
Att: 18,033
Ref: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire).

Everton FC manager David Moyes: ‘We should all take a 20% pay cut’
by Neil Jones, Liverpool Echo
Mar 5 2012
DAVID MOYES has suggested “everyone in the Premier League” could take a 20% pay cut to make football more affordable for fans. The Everton boss believes top-level clubs have a responsibility to safeguard the long-term future of a game beset by financial problems of late. With rising ticket costs pricing out many supporters, and with clubs such as Rangers, Portsmouth and Port Vale on the brink of insolvency due to excessive spending, Moyes believes a blanket pay cut across English football's elite level would help make watching football easier for “the ordinary fan”. Moyes said: "Perhaps the suggestion would cause some mayhem. "People might say it'd be harder to attract players but we have to take responsibility for the long-term health of football. "Everyone in the Premier League (should) take a 20% pay cut to put football finances back on an even keel and allow a significant reduction in ticket prices to make football more affordable for the ordinary fan. "We should be filling all the grounds all the time. "Clubs have to control their money properly and only pay what they can actually afford. People have to be held responsible when things go wrong.
"Every family in the country at the moment has to finance correctly. They can't overspend. Why is football different? "Football's been around for 150 years and it has come a long way, but we have to make sure we don't take it away from its roots. We must not get too far away from people.”

QPR 1 Everton FC 1 - EFC search for fox in the box
Liverpool Echo
Mar 5 2012
FIRST it was the Anfield Cat, now the Loftus Road squirrel – but for Everton FC it’s the elusive fox in the box which proved the problem. The Blues lacked creativity and in turn a cutting edge up front against QPR, and ultimately it cost them the chance to continue their winning streak.
Nikica Jelavic got almost half an hour under his belt in West London, and David Moyes will hope his £5.5m January signing quickly regains full match fitness, such was his side’s general lack of fire-power in West London. Mark Hughes’ spirited outfit haven’t kept a clean sheet since October, so Everton really should have helped themselves to more than one goal in this patchy affair.
But Denis Stracqualursi, who rightly started on the back of his stirring recent displays, was strangely subdued, and just behind him Tim Cahill failed to build upon an early flash of intent when his powerful left-footed half-volley hit the crossbar. Read More: Royston Drenthe can't be tamed
As this contest progressed it seemed increasingly likely that the two week period without a game since the FA Cup win over Blackpool had done Everton no favours. Several within the Blues camp had hinted at their frustration that their building momentum had to be interrupted, and it seemed difficult to reignite that zest on Saturday. A Loftus Road surface with more than a passing resemblance to Wigan Athletic’s ravaged home pitch didn’t help either. But ultimately if the Blues had been able to get ahead early, they might have crushed Rangers’ spirit, such has been their demoralising form at home. Yet Everton’s top scorers this season are Victor Anichebe, who was unable to shake off injury in time for Saturday, Leighton Baines and Royston Drenthe – all with a modest four goals. At least there was Drenthe, in all his maddening, hair-tearing, majestic glory. Here was at least one Everton player who looked capable of starting where he left off against the Seasiders. To his credit, Drenthe never lacks self belief with the ball at his feet and the goal in his sight – something Everton have traditionally been short on – and he delivered in scorching fashion after 31 minutes. The Dutchman’s venomously-struck 30 yard effort left Paddy Kenny helpless, and Drenthe sprinted to the dug-out to celebrate with the bench. However, his idiosyncratic nature cost the visitors dearly just five minutes later. Drenthe foolishly upended Adel Taarabt, who had gone close moments earlier with a deflected free-kick, but the hosts made no mistake second time round. The neat and effective Akos Buzsaky fired the subsequent set-piece into a dangerous area at the near-post, and Bobby Zamora squeezed his header home. Ultimately Everton are going to have to live with Drenthe’s unpredictability, both good and bad, because if he had more self-discipline it’s unlikely Real Madrid would have farmed him out in the first place. There’s no shortage of natural ability, but the midfielder is old enough to know better when it comes to his perplexing decision-making in games. Emboldened, Hughes’ men started to crank up the pressure and Buzsaky somehow hit the post after a Taarabt effort had done the same as half-time approached, and a second goal for QPR seemed on the cards. Moyes brought on Leon Osman and Jelavic to change things in the second half, and the Croatian had the ball in the back of the net within moments of his introduction, although the linesman’s flag had already made his confident finish redundant.
Everton’s potent left-sided axis of Baines and Steven Pienaar was largely marshalled well by the home defence, for whom Nedum Onuoha, a one-time Moyes’ target, impressed alongside ex-Tranmere defender Clint Hill. Pienaar admitted afterwards that he had heavy legs after an energy sapping return flight to South Africa in midweek, and some added rest without international commitment will hopefully have him back at his sparkling best in time for the Merseyside derby.
Both teams had their chances to claim the points, with the impressive Fellaini wasting one opportunity, but Buzsaky went closest to a winner with a rasping drive and Taarabt dragged a left-foot effort wide of the far post. In the end, the draw felt deflating after Manchester City, Chelsea and Blackpool had been put to the sword so convincingly, but at least the unbeaten run continues.
Everton’s players know they can perform better, and have a week to rediscover their fluency ahead of the visit of Spurs.
They might be two points worse off at this point in the season than they were in the previous campaign, but there’s still plenty more to be cheerful about.
QPR (4-2-3-1): Kenny, Hill, Traore, Ferdinand, Onouha, Derry, Taraabt (Mackie, 80), Buzsaky, Barton, Wright-Philips, Zamora. Not used: Cerny, Gabbidon, Young, Taiwo, Bothroyd, Smith.
EVERTON (4-4-1-1): Howard, Hibbert, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Neville, Fellaini, Drenthe (Osman, 63), Cahill (Jelavic, 63), Pienaar, Stracqualursi (Coleman, 88).. Not used: Mucha, Jagielka, Barkley, Gueye.
GOALS: Drenthe (31), Zamora (36)
CARDS: Booked: Derry; Pienaar, Drenthe
REFEREE: Kevin Friend
ATTENDANCE: 18,033.

Everton FC manager David Moyes sees both sides of Royston Drenthe
by Neil Jones, Liverpool Echo
Mar 5 2012
DAVID MOYES admitted he had seen both sides of Royston Drenthe during Everton FC’s 1-1 draw with Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road. The Toffees extended their unbeaten run to eight games in all competitions with a stalemate against Mark Hughes’ strugglers in west London. Drenthe had given Everton FC the lead with a 30-yard thunderbolt on 31 minutes – his fourth goal of the campaign – but recklessly conceded a free kick just five minutes later, from which Bobby Zamora earned the home side a deserved point. Moyes, who substituted the Dutchman early in the second half, says he is pleased to see Drenthe contributing to the Blues’ modest goal tally (they have managed just 27 league goals all season), though admits he is still adapting to the English game.
“It was a really good goal, coming in off the line,” Moyes said. He has been good for us. He has scored a few goals and they have been important. “The attacking side of his game is very good. It is the other side of the game at times which we worry about, as we saw with the foul he gave away.
“It’s been a little bit easier to use him at home, than away. “But it has taken him a while to adapt. He is adapting now and he is getting better. We are beginning to trust him a bit more and get used to him. “And what he is doing is he’s scoring goals and having assists for goals, which is really important.” Moyes, candid as ever, said his side had not created enough to have picked up all three points, though insisted a poor Loftus Road pitch had hardly helped matters. “It was a hard-fought point,” he said. “It was a difficult game, with QPR fighting for their lives. “We found it tough, but it will be tough for whoever plays here on that pitch because it certainly doesn’t make for great passing. “It will be even worse for QPR who have to use it for all their home games. It wasn’t great but we got a point “I don’t think we created enough chances (to have won the game), but then I don’t think they did either. “They put us under a bit more pressure in the second half, but I thought in the first half we played quite well at times. We gave away too many free-kicks, which eventually proved costly.” Moyes, of course, will celebrate ten years in charge of Everton later this month.
And while the Scot believes the club has progressed during his decade at the helm, he admits he remains desperate to bring some silverware to Goodison Park. He said: “I think the Premier League has been running for 20 years now, and I have been there for 10. In my 10 years I think we have had seven top-10 finishes, while prior to that Everton had had two top-10 finishes out of 10?
“So I would hope there has been progress. “But it has always been a really big club, has Everton, and I am trying to do all that I can to take it back to the glory years of the 1980s.”

Analysis: Everton FC must learn how to utilise their ‘Flying Fortress’
by Neil Jones, Liverpool Echo
Mar 5 2012
EXPECTATION can be a dangerous thing in football. It can crush the weak, and weaken the strong. It is expectation, among other things, which accounted for Andre Villas-Boas, one of the game's brightest young managers, sacked by Chelsea on Sunday. But it is always there. Chairmen will always expect, so will managers, so will players. So, of course, will supporters. Nikica Jelavic, if he didn't already, will know that now. The Croatian has enjoyed – or, rather, endured – a stop-start beginning to his Everton FC career. Injury and illness has limited him to just 57 minutes in a Blue shirt since his £5.5m move from Rangers on the final day of the January transfer window.
But having managed almost half an hour during this otherwise-forgettable 1-1 draw against a Queens Park Rangers side perched precariously above the Premier League's relegation zone, the man once nicknamed “The Flying Fortress” is ready to make his mark on English football.
And boy do Everton need him to. He had the ball in the net moments after replacing Tim Cahill – whose own ineffectual afternoon raises questions of its own – but only after being correctly flagged for offside. There were also some neat touches from the 26-year-old, hinting at his ability to be much more than just a target man, but in truth his cameo will give David Moyes plenty of food for thought. Moyes had started this game with Cahill in support of lone striker Denis Stracqualursi, and flanked by the talents of Steven Pienaar and Royston Drenthe on the wings. And, for just over half an hour, it worked. Cahill rattled the bar inside the opening four minutes, Pienaar was Everton's tidiest player on a pitch which tested even the most adept technician's touch, while the enigmatic Drenthe hit the jackpot as he drifted in from the right to crack home a superb 30-yarder to give the visitors the lead shortly after the half-hour mark. Thereafter, though, Everton rarely threatened. Stracqualursi has endeared himself to the Goodison faithful with his all-action style in recent weeks, but endeavour can only take a player so far. Here his limitations were plain to see, and contributed to a second half in which his side spent most of their time on the back foot. That is not to say they were dominated. Tim Howard did not have a save of note to make after Bobby Zamora's 36th minute equaliser – though Rangers did hit both of his posts on the stroke of half time.
But Jelavic's return poses some interesting questions. Moyes' style, in recent years, has been to use a midfield link-player, be it Cahill, Leon Osman or Marouane Fellaini, in support of a lone specialist striker. But with Cahill's form dwindling – he has managed just one goal in almost 15 months, and his performance levels have undoubtedly dropped in that period – that system is starting to look unsuited to Everton's personnel. The fact that they have managed just 27 goals in 26 league games this season – only bottom club Wigan have managed fewer – tells its own story. Drenthe's strike makes him the club's joint-top scorer. On four goals. Jelavic's presence could change that, though it is creatively that Everton require improvement. They are unbeaten in eight games in all competitons now, but they rarely threatened to turn one point into three in the second half here. They drop into the Premier League's bottom half as a result. Finding a way to incorporate Jelavic, and then a way to play to his obvious strengths, will be key between now and the end of the season. At least Moyes now has options. Both Osman and Seamus Coleman returned to action here, while Jack Rodwell and Victor Anichebe will do so soon. Phil Jagielka, absent for the past eight weeks with a knee injury, is back to bolster an improving defence, having been named on the bench on Saturday. But with choices come dilemmas. Some big names – Cahill, Phil Neville, Sylvain Distin – will doubtless be looking over their shoulder as Moyes prepares for the visit of Tottenham next weekend.
Especially with a potentially season-defining FA Cup quarter final clash with Sunderland, and a derby trip to Anfield, looming large on the horizon. Goodison expects, we will see over the next few weeks whether this Everton side can live up to those expectations.

Royston Drenthe can’t be tamed by Everton FC warns Sylvain Distin
by Greg O'Keeffe, Liverpool Echo
Mar 5 2012
Everton's Royston Drenthe scores their first goal of the game during the Barclays Premier League match at Loftus Road, London. SYLVAIN DISTIN believes Royston Drenthe’s unpredictability remains an asset for Everton FC – and warned against trying to tame the Dutch winger. Drenthe scored a scintillating goal to give Everton FC the lead in their eventual 1-1 draw with QPR on Saturday, but five minutes later gave away the free-kick which allowed Mark Hughes’ men to level. The Toffees were left feeling frustrated at Loftus Road, but Distin insists Drenthe is still worth his place in David Moyes’ side, because of the flair he conjures out of nothing during games. He said: “That’s Roy. He scored a fantastic goal and just needs to be a bit more disciplined. Maybe if he gets too disciplined though he could lose that little bit of craziness at the other end of the pitch. We’ve got to take him as he is. “Sometimes you try to change a player but he can’t be perfect. That’s his personality and altogether it’s more beneficial than anything else so we’re fine with it.” Drenthe’s misjudged tackle on Adel Taraabt allowed QPR to take the free-kick which Bobby Zamora headed home, but Distin said the on loan winger should not be made a scapegoat. “What is discipline though?,” said the defender. “Another day with the same tackle he might have got the ball, it goes out for a corner and everyone’s happy. Yes it was a foul but they didn’t score because of his foul, they scored because we didn’t defend the cross properly. "If we cleared the ball then we’d have forgotten about it and said he had a great game. You’ve got to be realistic. “He’s dangerous and you can’t ask him to be dangerous, have that spark, and defend all the time. Every player is different and we all have our own strengths. You’ve got to play on it.” Distin blamed a poor playing surface at Loftus Road for stunting Everton FC’s fluency, and also admitted the two week break since their last game had made life difficult for them. “You could say it’s frustrating but to be fair the condition of the pitch was poor and QPR had a good game as well. The surface was very bobbly and we tried to do our best on it. “First half we did OK but in the second half we didn’t keep the ball well enough. It was a bit frustrating but a point away from home keeps us unbeaten and keeps our run going. “When you’re having a good run you don’t want that break. You want to carry on, you want the next game to come quickly and you want to keep the positive feeling going. "Sometimes that break brings you back to reality a bit and that showed against QPR.”

Everton FC manager David Moyes calls for 20% pay cut across Premier League
Mar 5 2012
EVERTON FC manager David Moyes has suggested "everyone in the Premier League" could take a 20% pay cut to make football more affordable for fans. The EFC boss believes top-level clubs have a responsibility to safeguard the long-term future of a game beset by financial problems of late.
With rising ticket costs pricing out many supporters, and with clubs such as Rangers, Portsmouth and Port Vale on the brink of insolvency due to excessive spending, Moyes believes a blanket pay cut across English football's elite level would help make watching football easier for "the ordinary fan".
Moyes said: "Perhaps the suggestion would cause some mayhem. "People might say it'd be harder to attract players but we have to take responsibility for the long-term health of football.
"Everyone in the Premier League (should) take a 20% pay cut to put football finances back on an even keel and allow a significant reduction in ticket prices to make football more affordable for the ordinary fan. "We should be filling all the grounds all the time. "Clubs have to control their money properly and only pay what they can actually afford. People have to be held responsible when things go wrong. "Every family in the country at the moment has to finance correctly. They can't overspend. Why is football different? "Football's been around for 150 years and it has come a long way, but we have to make sure we don't take it away from its roots. We must not get too far away from people." Meanwhile, Moyes says he saw both sides of Royston Drenthe in his team's draw with QPR. Drenthe had given Everton the lead with a 30-yard thunderbolt on 31 minutes – his fourth goal of the campaign – but recklessly conceded a free kick just five minutes later, from which Bobby Zamora earned the home side a deserved point. "It was a really good goal, coming in off the line," Moyes said. He has been good for us. He has scored a few goals and they have been important.
"The attacking side of his game is very good. It is the other side of the game at times which we worry about, as we saw with the foul he gave away. "It’s been a little bit easier to use him at home, than away. "But it has taken him a while to adapt. He is adapting now and he is getting better. We are beginning to trust him a bit more and get used to him."

QPR 1 Everton FC 1: Neil Jones’ verdict
by Neil Jones, DPW West
Mar 5 2012
DAVID MOYES is used to taking the rough with the smooth. Ten years as manager of Everton has seen to that. He will understand, then, that to manage Royston Drenthe is to attempt the impossible; to perform that delicate balancing act between good and bad. The Dutchman is maverick, a bundle of energy who influences games, for better and for worse. It is the way he is, and the way he always will be. At Loftus Road, both sides of his split footballing personality were on display for all to see. The good, a skimming 30-yard drive which flashed past Queens Park Rangers ‘keeper Paddy Kenny en route to the bottom right hand corner of his net, had threatened to give Everton a valuable away victory on a ground where they traditionally struggle. But the bad, which came just five minutes later, helped ensure this game would finish level. His rash lunge on Adel Taarabt – a kindred spirit, whose own genius is sprinkled with a propensity to infuriate – allowed Akos Buzsaky to pick out Bobby Zamora for QPR’s equaliser. Everton rarely looked like pinching all three points thereafter. It was a fact Moyes was as honest enough to admit after the game, and he will surely feel a sense of disappointment at his side’s lacklustre showing – particularly in the second half. QPR’s home record – they have won just two of 14 league games at Loftus Road all season – is among the worst in the Premier League, and the threat of relegation looms large over Mark Hughes’ side. Since the Welshman replaced Neil Warnock as manager back in January, Rangers have won just one of seven league fixtures. Defeat here would have plunged them into the relegation zone, with a distressingly tough run-in to follow. Everton, though, could not take advantage. In truth it was the home side who looked the more likely winners as the game progressed. With Steven Pienaar deemed fit enough to start despite midweek concerns, and with Nikica Jelavic, Leon Osman and, most surprisingly, Phil Jagielka all named among the Blues’ substitutes, there was a solid look to Moyes’ side. The imminent return of Jack Rodwell, who managed an hour for Alan Stubbs’ reserve team in midweek, will further strengthen the Scot’s hand. All of a sudden Moyes has options and, with them, some big decisions to make. Some big names – Tim Cahill, for example – should be looking over their shoulders. Cahill might have given his side the lead early on here, thundering a left-foot volley against the crossbar in the fourth minute, but all-in-all it was another frustrating afternoon for the off-colour Australian. With just one goal in more than 15 months, his admirable stint as Moyes’ “go-to” man is well and truly over. In truth, Cahill’s struggles mirror that of his team-mates. Drenthe’s opener, rattled in from distance on 31 minutes after Marouane Fellaini had robbed the dawdling Taarabt in midfield, makes him Everton’s joint top scorer this season with Leighton Baines, the left back, on four goals. The Toffees are unbeaten in eight games in all competitions now. Their defensive record – 28 goals conceded in 27 games – is superior to Tottenham’s, Chelsea’s or Arsenal’s. Yet still they sit 11th in the Premier League, with a negative goal difference. It doesn’t take a genius to see where their problems lie. And once Zamora had levelled, glancing in Buzsaky’s excellent delivery after Drenthe had displayed his Mr Hyde side with a crude foul on Taarabt, Moyes’ side rarely looked like troubling Kenny. The excitement which greeted the arrival of a pitch-invading squirrel said plenty about the lack of goalmouth action in this game. Jelavic managed 27 minutes, as a replacement for Cahill. The Croatian displayed a deftness of touch and had the ball in the net, albeit long after being flagged for offside, but in truth it was QPR who looked the likelier winners.
They could have been ahead on the stroke of half time when Taarabt bent a 20-yard strike off the inside of Howard’s left-hand post. Zamora retrieved the loose ball and squared for Buzsaky, who inexplicably sidefooted against the other upright from point blank range. It was a day where the graft outweighed the craft, on both sides. The Loftus Road pitch – a patchy, bumpy effort which tests even the best technicians’ touch – hardly helped matters, but in all honesty there were few efforts of note in a second half played almost exclusively in midfield. Fellaini, who enjoyed a solid game, slashed Everton’s best chance wildly off target after seizing on another loose pass from the exasperating Taarabt, while the Moroccan dragged the home side’s most presentable opening wide of Howard’s far post on his left foot. Buzsaky, probably the man of the match, briefly threatened with a selection of long-rangers. QPR managed 22 shots in all, but Howard was rarely stretched.
Nor, though, was Kenny. And it is that fact which will give Moyes plenty to ponder ahead of the visit of Tottenham next weekend.

Ledley King tells Tottenham to wake up ahead of Everton FC trip
Liverpool Echo
Mar 6 2012
TOTTENHAM captain Ledley King has warned his team-mates that they cannot afford to keep repeating the kind of abject defensive display that has seen them concede eight goals in their last two matches. Spurs now find themselves 13 points off the Premier League summit after following up their 5-2 mauling at Arsenal with a 3-1 defeat at home to Manchester United on Sunday.
The Londoners, who face a tough trip to Everton on Saturday, are now resigned to scrapping for a third-place finish with the Gunners and Chelsea, who trail them by four and seven points respectively. “You’re not going to beat teams like United if you’re not concentrating and it was a bit of a lesson,” he said. “You can’t fault the work rate and we gave a good account of ourselves for the majority of the game but if you fall asleep at vital moments, you get punished. “To allow them a free header in the six-yard box on the brink of half-time was disappointing. It shouldn’t be happening. We lifted ourselves but we went to sleep on a throw-in for the second goal.”

Phil Dowd to referee 217th Merseyside derby between Liverpool FC and Everton FC at Anfield next week
James Pearce
Mar 6 2012
PHIL DOWD has been appointed to referee the 217th Merseyside derby. The 49-year-old official from Stoke will take charge of next Tuesday night's showdown between Liverpool and Everton at Anfield. Dowd has already overseen five Reds games so far this season, including home league draws with Sunderland and Swansea as well as Carling Cup ties against Chelsea and Manchester City.
His last encounter with Kenny Dalglish's side was at Old Trafford last month when he won widespread praise for his handling of a bad-tempered clash after Luis Suarez failed to shake hands with Patrice Evra before kick-off. Dowd has only refereed the Blues once this season and that saw them suffer a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Bolton in January. In 28 matches this campaign he has shown 107 yellows and four red cards. Anthony Taylor will take charge of Liverpool's trip to Sunderland on Saturday, while Mark Halsey is the referee for Everton's home clash with Tottenham.

Everton FC big names set for a run-out in today's mini-Merseyside derby
by David Prentice, Liverpool Echo
Mar 6 2012
EVERTON could name an experienced line-up for today’s mini-derby at Goodison Park (kick-off 2pm), as they seek to give some of their returning injury victims some much needed match sharpness.
With the Blues facing seven high profile fixtures in the space of 28 days during a ‘mad March’ – including a Merseyside derby, an FA Cup quarter-final and the visits of Tottenham and Arsenal to Goodison – David Moyes is keen to get players like Phil Jagielka, Jack Rodwell, Seamus Coleman and Leon Osman back up to speed again. Neither Rodwell nor Jagielka has featured in the first team since the home defeat by Bolton on January 4, while Leon Osman’s substitute run-out at Loftus Road on Saturday was his first appearance since that night. Rodwell and Osman both made their comeback in the reserves’ 2-2 draw with Bolton last Tuesday and could use today’s clash for another run-out. There may also be run-outs for Magaye Gueye, James McFadden and Francisco Junior, the Portuguese midfielder signed last month who impressed in last week’s reserve match and who already has a senior squad number. Last month’s away mini derby ended in a 1-1 draw. Greek Under-21 international Apostolos Vellios put the Blues ahead at Liverpool’s Kirkby Academy but the hosts hit back with a leveller from Raheem Sterling 17 minutes from time. Supporters wishing to watch today’s clash can do so but entry will only be permitted to the Upper Bullens section of the stadium. Tickets will be priced at £4 for adults and £2 for juniors and concessions. Season ticket holders will be granted free admission on the production of a valid 2011/12 season card.
Tickets can be purchased at the turnstile on the day, cash only.

Everton FC big names set for a run-out in today's mini-Merseyside derby
by David Prentice, Liverpool Echo
Mar 6 2012
EVERTON could name an experienced line-up for today’s mini-derby at Goodison Park (kick-off 2pm), as they seek to give some of their returning injury victims some much needed match sharpness.
With the Blues facing seven high profile fixtures in the space of 28 days during a ‘mad March’ – including a Merseyside derby, an FA Cup quarter-final and the visits of Tottenham and Arsenal to Goodison – David Moyes is keen to get players like Phil Jagielka, Jack Rodwell, Seamus Coleman and Leon Osman back up to speed again. Neither Rodwell nor Jagielka has featured in the first team since the home defeat by Bolton on January 4, while Leon Osman’s substitute run-out at Loftus Road on Saturday was his first appearance since that night. Rodwell and Osman both made their comeback in the reserves’ 2-2 draw with Bolton last Tuesday and could use today’s clash for another run-out. There may also be run-outs for Magaye Gueye, James McFadden and Francisco Junior, the Portuguese midfielder signed last month who impressed in last week’s reserve match and who already has a senior squad number. Last month’s away mini derby ended in a 1-1 draw. Greek Under-21 international Apostolos Vellios put the Blues ahead at Liverpool’s Kirkby Academy but the hosts hit back with a leveller from Raheem Sterling 17 minutes from time. Supporters wishing to watch today’s clash can do so but entry will only be permitted to the Upper Bullens section of the stadium. Tickets will be priced at £4 for adults and £2 for juniors and concessions. Season ticket holders will be granted free admission on the production of a valid 2011/12 season card.
Tickets can be purchased at the turnstile on the day, cash only.

Everton FC goalpost Ryanair protest man John Foley given Asbo
by John Sutton, Liverpool Echo
Mar 6 2012
RYANAIR protester John Foley who handcuffed himself to the goal post at Goodison Park during a match between Everton FC and Manchester City FC was yesterday banned from sports grounds.
A court heard John Foley was demonstrating against budget airline Ryanair. He has an ongoing dispute with the carrier and St James’ Management Services, which recruits and trains cabin crew, over the alleged treatment of his daughter. During a hearing at Liverpool Community Justice Centre the 46-year-old pleaded not guilty to a charge of unlawfully entering a football pitch on January 31.
He will be tried in April on that charge but in the meantime was given an interim anti-social behaviour order (Asbo) by Judge David Fletcher. Foley, of Lord Street, Southport, appeared in the dock wearing a suit and tie with a daffodil in his lapel. Peter Sigee, representing Merseyside police, made the case for the Asbo. He said fans experienced “harassment, alarm or distress” when Foley invaded the pitch and shackled himself to a goal post in the Park End side of the ground. Mr Sigee added players were also adversely affected as “professional sportsmen who have prepared and warmed up”. But that argument was rejected by James Gore, defending Foley, who said players experience similar delays due to injuries and said Everton captain Phil Neville was seen going over to his client to ask what was going on. The court also heard of other attempts Foley has made to protest against Ryanair, including disrupting last spring’s Cheltenham Gold Cup Festival by running onto the course. He has also unfurled banners from tall buildings, including on hotels at John Lennon airport, raising fears he could fall and injure himself or others. There have also been concerns Foley will try and disrupt Olympic events after he allegedly told a police officer at a Manchester Airport hotel he was “planning a spectacular” protest for the London Games.
However no Olympic events will have started when Foley’s trial begins on April 23, after which his Asbo will be reviewed, so Judge Fletcher would not ban him from attending events at the 2012 Games. Under the terms of the interim Asbo, Foley was banned from visiting sports grounds hosting an event to which the public pay to gain admission. He was also prohibited from protesting on high buildings or structures where he may cause harm to himself, anyone dealing with the incident, or cause anyone harassment, alarm or distress by his actions.

Everton FC fan John Gartland running to every ground in the Premiership in mammoth charity bid
by Joe Thomas, Liverpool Echo
Mar 6 2012
AMBITIOUS Everton FC fan John Gartland is running between all the grounds in the Premiership to raise money for charity. John Gartland is hitting the road for a 740-mile run in aid of his nephew, four-year-old William Reid, who suffers from severe epilepsy. Money raised by the mammoth effort will go to the Alder Hey Imagine Appeal and epilepsy charity, the Daisy Garland. Everton fan John started his run last Monday, taking in Newcastle United’s St James’ Park and Sunderland FC’s Stadium of Light. By Friday he had run an incredible 199 miles to finish the day at Goodison Park.
John, who is originally from New Brighton, said: “Going through the Yorkshire Dales on Tuesday and Wednesday there were so many hills which took it out of me. “I’ve done a few marathons in the past and raised a bit of money but I’m doing this because my nephew’s been ill recently.
“He was diagnosed with epilepsy but the last six months he’s been really bad.” Inspired by Eddie Izzard’s 43 marathons in 51 days for charity last year John hopes to complete his run in 21 days.
He is due to finish his run in Norwich on Sunday, March 18. But his feat was made much harder by Welsh side Swansea entering the Premiership this year – adding 195 miles onto his run.
John added: “I’m looking to forward to finishing. “I’m an Everton fan so getting sent into Goodison was good. Friends and staff at Alder Hey ran with me so that was good. “I’m not looking forward to the Brecon Beacons – it’s where the SAS train and I’ve got to do 45 miles through and back.
“Thinking of my nephew is getting me through the hard times though.” John’s nephew, William, suffers from multiple seizures almost every night. For more information on the charities helping William, and to donate, visit www.deadeyedesign.co.uk/RMD.

Part One of Everton FC boss David Moyes’ exclusive 10th anniversary interview: The making of Moyes
by Greg O'Keeffe, Liverpool Echo
Mar 6 2012
DAVID MOYES’ office at Everton’s Finch Farm training ground is testament to its occupant; sizeable, imposing, immaculately ordered and focused on functionality. It has a balcony with a view of some of the complex’s 10 training pitches, so Moyes can – on the rare occasions when he is not outside, track-suited in the cold himself – survey his players’ preparations. But while his executive-style private space has shelves containing various manager of the month gongs, and three coveted manager of the year trophies, unlike the realms of other captains of industry it features no motivational posters or plaques. If it did, however, it might contain a quote from legendary American football coach Vince Lombardi, who led the Green Bay Packers to three successive league championships in the 1960s. ‘If you can accept losing, you can’t win’, he said, and could easily have been describing the man who 10 years ago next week was appointed manager of a football club which had got used to doing just that. Moyes was 38 when he was tasked with reviving one of the great clubs of British football, and as he sat down with the ECHO to reflect on his tenure so far, the theme of being unable to accept defeat is touched upon time and again. “There are some teams when it’s impossible to win every week,” says Moyes, who played in a successful side at Celtic before mixed spells with clubs like Preston North End, Cambridge United, Bristol City and Shrewsbury Town.
“I’ve played for teams where we couldn’t buy a win. I’ve been relegated as a player with Cambridge United. So I’m not for a minute saying all I ever did was win, but my aim was always to win.
“When I went into the coaching side winning games was the ultimate. Your style is always important, but I do think if you want longevity you need to get results and win enough to stay. “So, to get 10 years means you’ve had enough good results for a start.” But Moyes had to stand by his sense of belonging at Goodison, and belief he could evolve the club further, even from the early years of his decade on Merseyside. “When I first took the job some folks said to me ‘Everton? You’ll have no chance’,” he says. “And even after a year or two, some said, ‘It’s time you left Everton now. You’ve done enough there’. But I never really saw it that way. I always thought I could do better and break the glass ceiling.” High standards were bred into Moyes right from the start of his footballing education, a process that began on the wind-swept pitches of Glasgow, where he helped his father David Snr, a draughtsman in the ship building industry, and mother Joan with the business of running one of the youth teams at respected local club Drumchapel Amateurs. “When I was young my dad would take the teams and I would go with him and watch the games,” he says. “I’d be chasing the ball, watching the players, and I loved being around it all. “After the game I’d pick the strips up and my mum would wash them. They’d be hung up on the line and I’d be packing them back in the bag for the next week’s game. So that was from my earliest days of youth. It was how my family worked. The weekends were all about where dad’s teams were playing. A lot of my understanding was of people who give up their time for nothing, running amateur teams. There’ll be plenty who do it in this city. “I remember going to tournaments abroad with them, and they were a great club. From that maybe I inherited something of the organisation and planning of running football teams.” However, when it came to picking where to play his youth football, there was only one choice for the talented young defender. “My development was with Celtic Boys Club when I went up to 16, and then became an apprentice,” he recalls. “Folks ask where my organisational side comes from? I picked up a lot from Celtic as well. It’s the way that the players turned up smart every week. Even from a 12-years-old you were in blazers, shirt and tie. You were a ‘Celtic’ player then, and you were representing that club. “The style was fantastic and if I ever wanted to play a way it’d be like they did – attacking, enterprising football which was great to watch. They had great players.
“But more than anything they had to win. Jimmy Lumsden (Everton’s first team coach), who is still with me now, was my youth team coach at Celtic. He’ll tell you – we wouldn’t lose very often, but if you did lose there was murder on. It just wasn’t accepted. That was drummed into me.
“A lot of my discipline came from seeing how mum and dad did Drumchapel Amateurs, and then I saw first-hand how Celtic took it on. In both ways I had a great early education in football.”
Those firm foundations in the game he loved set Moyes on a journey that eventually led to leaving Preston North End, where he had experienced highs as both player and manager, to answer Bill Kenwright’s call in March 2002. “I had a few offers,” he says. “I was very close to being the manager of two or three other clubs, some in the Premier League. You’ve got to remember I’d just missed out on taking Preston into the Premier League and the next season we would have been recovering from that. But I got the call in March to take the job. “I remember a director of one of the other Championship clubs would often say to me at games, ‘Everton’s the one for you. Everton will be the club for you lad’. I always remember that. I don’t know if he just thought I was a fit for it.
“I was from a big city, a tough environment and had been brought up that way. But you’re never prepared for it until you get in, and I didn’t know what I was taking over. “If you go into a job when you leave school, whether you’re a joiner or a plumber, you do your apprenticeship and probably see it as being your life’s fulfilment. That’s what you set out to do. “But when I started out in football I never knew how long I’d be in it but it was the only thing I really loved and enjoyed. So, when I came to Everton did I think I’d be here 10 years? I don’t think you ever think that.
“You sign a four-year contract but it’s difficult to know how long you’re going to get. This job, because of the demands put on you, the public scrutiny and the results world that means there’s a demand to win regularly, makes it hard to stay at any one club for 10 years.” Moyes’ exposure to big city professional football in Glasgow gave him a handle on what to expect in Liverpool, but he admits his tender years and the scale of the task he had accepted were a challenging combination.
“I came from a big city in Glasgow so I had an idea about the pressure and the scrutiny, and I actually thrived on it because football was my hobby as well as my job,” he says. “But when I left Glasgow I didn’t realise the pressure and the changes it would make for a manager, and for me. The level of media and supporter attention, the level of player improvement, was all a big thing. You have to develop yourself. “I took the Everton job when I was 38 years old, so it was relatively young.
“Some of the players weren’t that much younger than me, and you have to earn respect.
“The players want to see how you work. But I think I’ve been lucky because I’ve had good players around me and things have gone well – from the very first game. “So, yes 10 years is a big achievement, but the club deserves a lot of credit as well. Bill Kenwright had the foresight to look for someone he felt could help Everton, and they’ve not been in a business where they’ve been unstable. Possibly because of our stability that’s really helped the club, and with the financial situation that’s helped too.”
Moyes on trying to emulate Howard Kendall’s 80s heroes
“I’M in awe of the players and the team who were here in the 80s – of Howard (Kendall) and what they achieved. “The success they had I can’t get close to. I can’t touch it and never will because their team were so good. They were the best in England for a time. “I might try and touch it but I’ll never be able to grasp it. But that’s going to be the same for Everton supporters who remember that era too. We’ll always fail if we’re just compared to things that have gone before us in the past. But I actually see the players around the place who achieved that and I admire it. “I always thought when I came here that I could try and get back to something like that. But the way the Premier League has gone financially, unless you’ve got that you’re going to find it difficult to get that. “When I joined Everton I remember thinking I’m coming to one of the biggest clubs in Britain. Don’t kid yourself on. Because of the supporter base, because of what it’s done in past history, but it was definitely not performing. There was a risk to me because we could have got relegated. It was too big a job to turn down. “I’d turned down other jobs, but you didn’t say no to Everton. I was really aware it had to get better and had to find another way of getting through. “Walter Smith, who I took over from, was a friend of mine, who I thought had done a really good job in tidying things up but when I took the job from Bill I knew there wouldn’t be lots of money to spend. I took it on that proviso. But I also knew we wouldn’t have to sell players, Bill would let me prepare the players and do what I want.
“But what’s maybe been a surprise was the way our progression has gone has been quite fast. Bill’s been out looking for cash, and I’m out there looking for cash to try and keep the progression going.
“The people at Everton deserve credit for keeping on with it. I came in and said we need to go in a new direction and they were big enough to go with it. “It probably caught fire quite quickly. I hope people say that the last 10 years has definitely been an improvement.”

Ian Snodin: Mercurial wing wizard Royston Drenthe is worth keeping at Everton FC
by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Echo
Mar 6 2012
THERE are plenty of worse players in the Premier League than Royston Drenthe. It must be frustrating for a manager when they see him do little silly things because he is such a good player.
Perhaps we know why he is not playing for Real Madrid, there must be something in his make-up that managers don't like. But when Royston puts it all together on the pitch he is an absolute handful. There is no doubt he gives Everton something. He gives us bags of pace and creates problems. But he has got to realise what the English game is about. Everton would be happy with a point in the end against Queens Park Rangers
EVERTON started pretty well, kept the ball and kept moving to get off to a deserved lead against Queens Park Rangers. It was a great strike from Royston Drenthe, something we all know he is capable of. We looked quite comfortable and before the game I predicted that we would win, especially as QPR have been struggling. If we could have held on until half-time then I felt we would have gone on to win the game. But we conceded not long after scoring and from then on we were quite fortunate. QPR had a couple of great chances and I can't believe Akos Buzsaky. In the end Everton were probably grateful for a point the way the second half went. Credit to QPR because they put themselves about but it was noticeable that our lads who played internationals in midweek were feeling the effects. Last week FIFA and clubs agreed to cut down the number of friendly matches, which will be met with approval in England because there are so many foreign players plying their trade over here now. Some lads will have been travelling for 12 hours just to play and when they return and are lethargic on a Saturday, then clubs and fans have the right to question the number of friendly games we have.
ottenham Hotspur are great to watch but it is Everton I want to see win
SPURS played well against Manchester United on Sunday and the scoreline was misleading.
After losing 5-2 at Arsenal, Harry Redknapp's side were beaten 3-1 over the weekend but anyone watching the game will know they dominated the game, had a goal disallowed and United scored against the run of play. They are a terrific side with loads of pace out wide and like to hit teams on the counter attack. Spurs were missing three big players against United – Gareth Bale, Scott Parker and Rafael Van Der Vaart – but still played ever so well and they are without doubt one of the most exciting sides out there. I always make a point of trying to watch them. Saturday evening is going to be difficult for Everton and even though they have conceded eight goals in their last two games, it would not surprise me if they played their counter attacking game, that is why they are so entertaining. In some respects you would settle for a point but because we are at Goodison Park I am heading into the game really thinking of victory. We are well capable of winning and with it being a late kick-off there should be a good crowd in who are certain to be in good voice.

Everton FC: Ross Barkley will be ready to shine again soon, says Alan Irvine
EXCLUSIVE by Greg O'Keeffe, Liverpool Echo
Mar 6 2012

EVERTON’S careful handling of Ross Barkley has ensured he will be ready to shine once again for David Moyes’ side this season, says Alan Irvine. The 18-year-old was back in the senior squad as Everton drew 1-1 with QPR at Loftus Road on Saturday, after Moyes revealed how he had withdrawn him from first team action earlier in the season for his own good. Barkley has since gained vital match experience for the reserves and U-18s as Everton did their best to help him recover from missing 18 months of football due to a triple leg break he suffered in October 2010. But academy boss Irvine believes Moyes’ nurturing of the England U-21 international means he has coped with his gradual deployment. He said: “David knows the right times to bring young players in and then take them out. "Ross deserved to be around the first team at the start of the season and was starting to do well before he began to hit the wall. “That happens in youth development – it’s always round the corner with young players. “Having to compete with seasoned first team players is always tough, and David decided it was time to take him out, and the club has managed that brilliantly.
He’s played for the first team, reserves and U-18s and full credit to him and the staff who made sure he knew what was happening. There was no ego when he came back to the U-18s or no, ‘Why am I being dropped?’. “He wasn’t dropped, it was for his benefit and he gets that. He came out of the firing line and if David puts him back in his team towards the end of the season he will be fine.”
Meanwhile, Leon Osman has spoken of his excitement at Everton’s forthcoming run of big games.
The Blues face Spurs on Saturday, then take on Liverpool at Anfield next Tuesday before their FA Cup quarter-final with Sunderland on March 17. “They could be a huge couple of weeks,” the midfielder said. “It’s certainly a tough run of games but we’ll look forward to them and hope to get the results that we want. ”We’ve got to go out there and take each game individually and put in the performances we have been in the last few weeks.”

Ian Snodin: Being in charge at Everton for a decade is a wonderful achievement for David Moyes
by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Echo
Mar 6 2012
WHEN you see managers getting sacked after a few months you reflect on David Moyes’ near decade at the club as an incredible achievement. People are losing their jobs after such short spaces of time these days. Recently Gary Megson at Sheffield Wednesday when the club were in third and then Simon Grayson at Leeds United, a fantastic young manager who lost his job last month.
The anniversary of Moyes’ appointment at Goodison comes next Wednesday – for him to remain at one club for 10 years is fantastic. Of course, Alex Ferguson has been somewhat of a one-off given what he has won, but given that the average lifespan of a manager is less that three years now Moyes has done fantastically well. Fans often demand change when things are not going right and increasingly, chairmen do the same. There have been a couple of disappointing seasons in Moyes’ reign at Everton and some supporters will have questioned him at the time but the chairman and club thankfully stuck by him. He has done a fantastic job, runs a tight ship and because of it commands a lot of respect from people in football. Everton has always been a good club and I could not believe what I was seeing in the Queens Park Rangers documentary on Sunday night.
The film shows the club’s previous owners talking behind the manager’s back, them wanting to pick the team and make the substitutions. I have never witnessed anything like what I saw in this programme happening to Iain Dowie, Mick Harford and Paulo Sousa. You just could not have someone like that at our club, it was embarrassing. I’m glad we have a well run club and am grateful that we still have David Moyes. Of course the manager would love some investment but not when it comes with the interference like the QPR managers had to endure under the former owners.
Such is Moyes’ standing within football that some people were calling for him to replace the sacked Andre Villas-Boas at Chelsea. Pat Nevin was leading the calls and I can totally understand why Moyes would get linked in that way but I didn’t like hearing it because I do not want to lose him.

Phil Jagielka to play for Everton FC reserves in mini-Merseyside derby
By Ian Doyle
Mar 6 2012
PHIL JAGIELKA makes the latest step in his return to fitness today as he sets his sights on helping Everton FC’s quest for Wembley. Jagielka will line up for the reserves at Goodison this afternoon in their mini-derby clash against Liverpool. The Everton FC centre-back has not kicked a ball in anger since limping off with knee ligament damage during the 2-1 home Premier League defeat to Bolton Wanderers two months ago. The England international resumed training last week and was an unused substitute in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at struggling Queens Park Rangers. And should Jagielka emerge from today’s run-out unscathed, he will come into contention for a crucial period of Everton’s season with Saturday’s Premier League visit of Tottenham Hotspur followed by the Anfield derby next Tuesday and the home FA Cup quarter-final against Sunderland four days later.
Meanwhile, Sylvain Distin believes Royston Drenthe brings a touch of “fantasy” to their play and would not want to see the his free spirit reined in. Drenthe was in the thick of the action in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Queens Park Rangers, firing home their opening goal before, five minutes later, conceding the free-kick from which their hosts equalised. That brought some criticism of the Dutchman but Distin said the player’s unpredictability needed to be embraced and not shackled.
“Some teams can get a bit too structured and tactical, while he brings a bit of fantasy and that is a good thing,” said the Frenchman. “We know what he can bring to the team, he is a real free spirit.
“He scored a fantastic goal and just needs to be a bit more disciplined. “Maybe if he gets too disciplined, though, he could lose that little bit of craziness at the other end of the pitch – we’ve got to take him as he is. “He’s dangerous and you can’t ask him to be dangerous, have that spark, and defend all the time. “Every player is different and we all have our own strengths. You’ve got to play on it. “Sometimes you try to change a player but he can’t be perfect. That’s his personality and altogether it’s more beneficial than anything else so we’re fine with it.”

Rare 1892 Everton FC programme to go under the hammer
by Peter Elson, Liverpool Echo
Mar 7 2012
EVERTON FC fans have a rare opportunity to purchase a programme from one of the first matches ever played by the club at Goodison Park. The game against Stoke took place some 120 years ago, on November 12 1892. It is believed to be only the sixth game Everton played at Goodison, and finished in a 2-2 draw. Football memorabilia collector Chris Allen, from Warrington, has now put the item on auction site eBay, where it will remain for sale to the highest bidder until Sunday.
Chris is hoping the programme will be snapped up either by an Everton fan or the club itself.
He said: “I just want the people of Liverpool to be aware of it as well as hopefully the club themselves. “It’s an amazing item and it would be great if this item could return home after all these years.”

Ten years of David Moyes: How Tim Cahill led Everton FC to rethink their tactics
by Greg O'Keeffe, Liverpool Echo
Mar 7 2012
IN a decade in charge at Everton FC, David Moyes has dealt with his fair share of praise and the occasional raft of criticism from fans. The majority credit his astute selections, winning game-plans and canny use of substitutes. But like in any passionate hot-bed of the beautiful game, such as Merseyside, there are supporters who think they know better, and some label the Scot overly cautious and defensive. For Moyes, it is a frustrating misconception, but one he is more than happy to discuss with his critics. “People are always going to label you,” he says. “But if I had my way I would love to sit with people and ask to hear them explain the strengths of 4-4-2 compared to the 4-4-1-1 which we play. “If you asked me I’d argue all day long, because football is what I talk about and it’s changed so much. Even if you do play two forwards, the way they play has changed. They used to run the channels. Nowadays if you watch Barcelona their centre forwards play wide to run in maybe. “Even heading and tackling – the basics have evolved.” The Blues boss explained how his tactical thinking was influenced by the signing of Tim Cahill , a player who has scored 66 goals in 266 appearances for the Toffees. “All my time at Preston, my preference was to play 4-4-2, and even if you look through the early days at Everton I used that. But part of the change was Tim Cahill,” he said. “We brought in a player who wasn’t a centre forward, and was better as an attacking midfielder. So we had to find the balance. “Maybe some look at it as another midfielder rather than an attacker. But it’s debatable whether there have been better players than him to play in my teams over the years. He’s been the right choice and we’ve tried to put him in the position where he’s best suited as often when we can. “I get fans coming up asking about tactics but I’ve got no problem with it. Football’s all about opinions. But there’s other reasons why maybe you’re not playing people. Maybe they haven’t trained well; maybe they haven’t turned up on time or have an illness. It’s not always Black and White. “So if you don’t manage as fairly as you can and reward people who do well you’re OK. “But you have to do well for the team and get the balance right to stay in a job.
“You’ll not please everyone – that’s impossible. But the results over the 10 years have justified enough of the decisions. I don’t think if we had suddenly become outright attacking minded it would it have got us any higher in the league. Would it have won us more games? I don’t think so – we’d probably have lost more games.”

Everton FC Reserves 0 Liverpool FC Reserves 0: Stalemate in mini-derby at Goodison Park
by James Pearce, Liverpool Echo
Mar 7 2012
RODOLFO BORRELL insisted a point was scant reward for Liverpool FC Reserves’ performance in the mini-derby stalemate with Everton FC at Goodison. EFC fielded an experienced line-up against Borrell’s youngsters with Phil Jagielka and Victor Anichebe playing 90 minutes on their return after injury alongside the likes of James McFadden, Leon Osman and Jack Rodwell. However, it was the visitors who dominated for long periods and created the better chances. Everton FC were indebted to keeper Jan Mucha for a string of fine saves, while the outstanding Raheem Sterling was denied by the woodwork as it finished goalless. “I am delighted with the lads,” said LFC reserves boss Borrell. “It was a very professional and mature performance. They kept their focus and shape throughout the 90 minutes and I’m happy with the way we played. “The lads stepped up against a very strong side and we deserved to win. “We just didn’t take our chances. At this level the young players get less time and need to have more composure in front of goal. We need to keep working on that but to play like that against an experienced team gives us a lot of encouragement for the future.”
Everton’s line-up boasted no fewer than nine players who had played for David Moyes’ first team this season, while Brad Jones and Nathan Eccleston were the only Reds with any senior experience.
The hosts threatened inside the opening minute when Osman’s shot was parried by Jones and Seamus Coleman dragged the rebound wide. However, Liverpool FC soon settled and with Sterling rampaging down the left and Suso on the right, Everton FC were regularly stretched on the flanks and Mucha was overworked. Sterling sent a shot narrowly wide and then Suso’s fierce strike was kept out by the Slovakian keeper. Sterling’s curling 25-yarder looped over him but bounced back off the inside of the post. In the second half it was more even but the Reds still looked the more likely to break the deadlock. Blues Reserves boss Alan Stubbs admitted the hosts weren’t at their best but insisted the run-out will be of great benefit to the club’s returning stars. “The game will benefit our lads,” he said. “It will benefit Jags to get 90 minutes, Faddy got some good match time, as did Jack Rodwell, Leon Osman and Victor.”
EVERTON RESERVES: Mucha, Browning, Touray (McAleny 69), Duffy, Jagielka, Rodwell, McFadden, Barkley, Osman (Junior 58), Coleman, Anichebe. Not used: Davies, Silva, Dier.
LIVERPOOL RESERVES: Jones, McLaughlin, Mendy, Sama, Wisdom, Coady, Suso, Roberts, Eccleston, Adorjan, Sterling. Not used: McGiveron, Ward, Roddan, Morgan, Ngoo.

Ten years of David Moyes: The challenges facing Everton FC in the future
by Greg O'Keeffe, Liverpool Echo
Mar 7 2012
FOR Harry Catterick there was Wembley, The Beatles in the crowd, and Eddie Cavanagh’s infamous dash. For Howard Kendall there was a balmy night in Rotterdam, and more glory beneath the old national stadium’s twin towers. For David Moyes, so far, there are no eternal memories of silverware to echo down the blue-hued generations. The trophy engraver’s blade has yet to carve his team into the record books – and after 10 years in charge at Goodison, it’s something which haunts Everton’s manager at every waking moment. Yet with his current side’s hopes in this season’s FA Cup still very much alive, the Scot remains determined to alter that gap on his CV. But for those who measure success by less tangible means, Moyes has already been a glittering success during his spell on Merseyside. Restoring pride, regular European football, and ambition to Goodison is his legacy for now, and the man from Blythswood in Glasgow is trying to focus on those positives even though his lack of silverware gnaws at him still. “I’ll always be labelled a manager who hasn’t won anything for now, but that’s what you have to live with,” he says. “I could have gone back and won a Championship or promotion (with Preston) but to win things at the top clubs is very difficult. “The Premier League has had 20 years. In the first decade Everton were in the top 10 twice. The second decade, Everton were in it seven times. That in itself would be why I’ve made 10 years. Then you factor in our European football. "I’m the first to say I’m sorry I haven’t got a big, shiny trophy to show. But there has been an improvement and progression, and I hope that structure and direction is recognised. It’s been stability with a level of spending which hasn’t been excessive and destroyed the club.” Much is made of the top flight’s glass ceiling, that barrier which clubs without the unfettered wealth of the oligarchs and sheiks must continually try to break through with one hand tied behind their back. In 2006, as he formulated his plan for the next five years, Moyes’ unapologetic goal was to smash Everton into the cabal of Sky’s top four – something he achieved against the odds for a fleeting season. Today he is more organic with his plans for the future. “Now it’s more an on-going thing,” he says. “When I came in it was a club full of older players. They were top players but I needed to be able to change that in time. I would hope folk would say we’ve followed the correct structure. “After the first five years I knew we needed another plan, because we were just starting to break into things. There was a new level, and I felt we were moving in the right direction and our style of football had to change. "We tried to do that and until the last year or two I think that progression has continued.” It was a fear that his hopes of constant progress were terminally stalled, which this summer saw Moyes endure one of the bleakest periods of his reign. “In a way we have broken the glass ceiling at times, but at the start of this season I felt really low because I knew the situation we were in and we would probably end up losing one player,” he says. “I was aware of that all summer, and knew we weren’t going to be able to make too many signings. I knew it and we needed a lift. The players needed a lift and I felt I was letting them down because I couldn’t get them anything else. “My job as a manager is to keep those players on their toes and to keep us progressing. We were beginning to touch those boys above us in the past.
“Me and Bill probably didn’t think we’d get close to the Liverpools, the Arsenals, the Chelseas when I took over but we were getting close to them again. “And last summer I felt if we were going to do it, I was concerned that the likes of Stoke City, Fulham and Sunderland had all gone out and spent in the market to probably try and finish in our place in the league. “They weren’t trying to overtake the top six, but to try to get past us and I felt we could only drop down if that was the case. Unless we could just keep our heads above water. I just couldn’t find a way of juggling the squad and getting new blood in.” Moyes revealed how he spent the summer lining up potential transfers for top players, always aware he would have to wait to sell one of his current squad to be able to invest significantly. “I was looking to find other ways. Behind the scenes I had some deals lined up, and things I wanted to do if things happened for me. I was looking to turn something around but it didn’t pan out. We sold Bily on January 29 and got to work as quickly as we could to try and do something,” he says. “We had plans about who to buy in the summer if we’d sold someone or things changed. But I knew it was going to be tough to get who we thought were required. “In the main Bill has always got me what he can get me to spend, and we’ve tried to juggle it and done some good deals, and brought in some good players. We were trying but it was a tough summer.” Some insist a litmus test for a top manager is a proven track record in the expensive end of the transfer market.
But while Liverpool paid £20m for Stewart Downing in the summer, Moyes’ record capture remains the £15m purchase of Marouane Fellaini in 2008. “I’d love to spend big money regularly,” he says. “I could tell you a long list of players I’d love to bring to Everton, or who I’ve nearly brought here in the past but not had enough to do so. “I could tell you all the hard luck stories, but what we have done is brought players in and put big value on them. What we paid for Leighton Baines and what would you have to pay for him now? And Joleon Lescott? “So going back to that starting blueprint, I knew we wouldn’t have big money and everything the chairman has had he’s given me. We’ve helped increase the value of the players and improved the squad. “The England internationals we’ve developed. You can use that as a yard stick because they’re the real value, and over the last few years we’ve tended to carry two or three internationals here at Everton who we’ve brought in without spending huge money. “I go back to signings like Tim Cahill. We bought him for £1.5m. Where would you buy him for that now? He’d probably be £8m or £9m in the Championship now. If you wanted to buy Joleon Lescott, who we paid £5m for, you’d be paying a lot more.
"The prices of the best Championship players have rocketed. You need to have a lot of money for that. “I’m still incredibly ambitious but I’ve said all along I want to do it at Everton. “The distance we’ve travelled is what I look at, that’s why Bill’s now out looking for someone to come in. I’m ambitious and I want to win things. "I know I haven’t got a trophy but in the Premier League, apart from Birmingham last season, there’ve been very few teams outside the top four who have won cups.”

Everton FC: Wounded EFC players get fit for FA Cup Sunderland clash
by David Prentice, Liverpool Echo
Mar 7 2012
EVERTON FC’S walking wounded are now ready to give manager David Moyes a headache – ahead of a sell-out FA Cup quarter-final with Sunderland. The last few remaining tickets for the March 17 showdown with Martin O’Neill’s side were sold yesterday, as Moyes saw Phil Jagielka and Jack Rodwell make their first appearances for two months in the mini derby at Goodison.
And the England international duo will now be pushing for first team recalls with the FA Cup tie the centre-point of a manic March. Everton FC face Tottenham and Liverpool before Sunderland come to Goodison with a place at Wembley at stake, then Arsenal visit Merseyside just four days later.
And Moyes has received a boost to his selection options with Jagielka playing the full 90 minutes of a goalless draw against Liverpool FC reserves at Goodison yesterday, while Rodwell, Victor Anichebe, Seamus Coleman and Leon Osman all featured too. It was Rodwell’s first run-out since facing Bolton on January 4, Coleman has only started one senior match since Christmas because of a thigh strain while Anichebe’s last start was against Blackburn in January. Jagielka looked sharp in his first run-out since January 4 and defensive partner Shane Duffy tweeted: “Good experience to play along side Jags for the first time enjoyed it.” Saturday’s goalscoring hero Royston Drenthe, meanwhile, is urging himself to become more selfish in front of goal – to try and add to the four goals he has already scored this season. That modest haul has already made the Dutchman Everton’s joint top scorer and he said: “I’m telling myself a lot that I have to shoot more because I think I have a good left foot. Sometimes I’m passing too much. “You try and get yourself better involved in the games but I think sometimes when you can have a good shot on goal, you have to try.” Drenthe scored with a long range effort at Queens Park Rangers on Saturday, just as he did on a previous visit to West London this season at Fulham. He explained: “That was my third shot (against QPR). The first went into the hands of the goalkeeper, the second was over and the third went in, so I think if it can be like that every game everybody will be happy! “I’m kidding. But that is one of my qualities so I have to show that and I have to try every game and train hard during the week so that I can make more goals like this.” Drenthe added: “The Premier League is really different from the Spanish competition, for example. Everything’s a little bit harder here. “There’s more pain every game. But I think English football is exactly the competition where I have to be.” Blues boss David Moyes admitted that Drenthe is beginning to show more of the qualities he hoped to see from the winger.
“It’s taken him time to settle,” he explained. “He came from Real Madrid and you think they will come and understand what we do here. But they don’t straight away. There’s a lot more of the defensive side of the game we need him to be part of. He can’t just do what he wants.
"He’s beginning to do a bit better and can do much better. He has that ability to score, to create a chance. We’re beginning to trust him much more now.”

David Moyes on Ross Barkley's return to the Everton FC first team
By Ian Doyle
Mar 7 2012
DAVID MOYES is convinced Ross Barkley can now reap the benefits of being taken out of the firing line of Everton FC’s first team. Barkley made an impressive impact on his breakthrough as a 17-year-old into the first team at the start of the season, man of the match on his debut against Queens Park Rangers in August. However, the midfielder has started only one Premier League game since with his last top-flight outing a late cameo at Bolton Wanderers on the bench. Barkley, now 18, has been back among the substitutes in recent weeks and made an appearance from the bench during last month’s FA Cup fifth round win over Blackpool. And Moyes believes the time is right for Barkley, who starred for England under-19s against the Czech Republic last week, to be thrown back into the fray. “My intention is to re-introduce Ross back into the first-team squad and my idea was always to do it around April time,” said the Everton manager. “I’ve told the boy what my thoughts were. I think he needed six months of games. I hear a lot of people asking where Ross is but he’s not been ready to play in the team. But there are certainly signs that he is getting better now.
“He came on against Blackpool and now I’m looking to re-introduce him again towards the end of the season when I think it’s a little bit easier to do. “I heard he played very well for England under-19s so there are good signs we have a real promising player here. But that’s what we do here, we bring them along at the right speed and hopefully we end up doing the right thing.” Barkley – who played in yesterday’s mini-derby against Liverpool at Goodison – was heavily involved during Everton’s pre-season programme but, after conceding a penalty in the August win at Blackburn Rovers, Moyes made the decision to withdraw the midfielder from the spotlight. With the teenager having previously missed more than a year of his development following a triple leg fracture, it was decided Barkley’s education was best served away from the first team. “I took him out for his own good,” said Moyes. “He wasn’t ready to play in the team. He needed the games and we’ve played him in the reserves and the youth team. “Ross understands that. We’ve tried to get as many games into him as possible because he missed a year-and-a-half of football prior to that. “He had to come out of the first team to understand the game a little more. “He’s needed it and he’s known that as well. Hopefully he will benefit from it.” “When he came into the first team, he was ready to play. He’d trained all summer, he’d been training for months to recover from his triple broken leg, and he came with us in pre-season and played games for us. “What’s happened is probably because of the long schedule of training, there was a big dip not long after. “In one or two games, we needed him. But there’s a longer development of Ross Barkley and it shouldn’t be expected that he is there right now.” Phil Jagielka, Jack Rodwell, Leon Osman and Seamus Coleman all stepped up their quest for fitness with a run-out in the reserves’ goalless draw yesterday. Everton’s FA Cup quarter-final clash with Sunderland on March 17 is now officially a sell-out.

Birmingham City 30 great games: Blues 2 Everton 2 - Feb 11 1939
By Brian Halford
Mar 7 2012
Birmingham Mail
HEALTH and Safety Officers of the 21st century would have a few things to say about it all but the atmosphere generated by massed thousands of supporters on wide, sweeping football ground terraces could be very special. Rarely was that atmosphere experienced to more pulsating effect than at St Andrew’s when Everton visited for an FA Cup fifth round tie in the 1938/39 season.
The Toffees, their attack led by 18-year-old Tommy Lawton, were top of Division One and challenging hard for the title while Blues were enduring the very opposite sort of season. They were bottom of the table, their only two wins in the previous six weeks coming in the cup as they negotiated home ties against Halifax (3-0) and Chelmsford (6-0). Moneybags club Everton were a huge attraction and spectators turned up in droves. The Blues hordes were encouraged by the fact that when the Merseysiders visited St Andrew’s in the league in November they were surprisingly beaten 1-0 thanks to a goal by Cuthbert Phillips. Could Blues lick the Toffees again? George Liddell’s side gave everything in a match which richly entertained the record audience of 67,341.
“The quality of the football was not worthy of the highest praise,” reported the Mail. “But the play, such as it was, provoked unbroken excitement. The crowd was the biggest that has ever assembled on the St Andrew’s ground and from the solid, well-protected press-box, it was a matter of anxiety sometimes, as well as interest, to see sections of that crowd sweep down over the terraces like a tidal wave when some exceptionally thrilling move was made by a player on either side.”
Lawton, who had joined Everton as a 17-year-old for £6,500 from Burnley, needed watching every minute by centre-back Wally Halsall but Blues matched their illustrious opponents throughout a first half which had everything bar goals until both sides scored just before the break. Irish striker Owen Madden’s Blues career was fleeting – just 15 games – but this was his big day as he fired his team ahead in the 43rd minute. Everton equalised within seconds when Lawton set up Alex Stevenson (a £37,000 signing from Rangers) and when former Albion striker Wally Boyes put Everton ahead on the hour the visitors started to show a bit of swagger. They thought they had seen off their lowly opponents – but not yet. With ten minutes left a slick Blues move ended with Madden netting a header and it could have got even better had winger John Brown’s colleagues been more alert in the closing minutes. “Brown walked from the corner flag almost along the touch-line with the ball,” the paper reported, “but his team-mates, thinking he had taken the ball out for a goal-kick, did not play to the whistle, much to his chagrin.” They paid for their lapse in concentration when, four days later, Everton won the replay 2-1 in front of 64,796 at Goodison Park. From that point on, the two clubs’ seasons continued to diverge. Everton won the title and Blues went down, although the Football League was to be suspended anyway for seven years due to the Second World War.