Everton v Chelsea - FA Cup Final, Wembley 2009 by Liverpool Post & Echo

Wembley 2009

12-PAGE PREVIEW TO THE FA CUP FINAL

FRIDAY MAY 29 2009 ●

EVERTON v CHELSEA FA CUP FINAL, WEMBLEY, TOMORROW 3PM

●

DAILY POST Friday, May 29, 2009

Wembley 2009

EVERTON v CHELSEA

EVERTON FINALS 1893: Although they started favourites for their final against Wolves, Everton were beaten 1-0 by a goal scored by Harry Allen on the hour mark. 1897: Jack Bell and Dickie Boyle gave Everton a 2-1 lead over Aston Villa within the first half hour. But Villa, the new league champions, struck back to win 3-2. 1906: Sandy Young scored a 77th minute winner to give the Toffees their first FA Cup final victory over Newcastle in front of 75,609 at Crystal Palace.

1995 hero Rideout 1907: Everton’s bid to retain the trophy was ended by Sheffield Wednesday. George Simpson scored the winning goal four minutes from time for a 2-1 triumph. 1933: Dixie Dean starred in Everton’s emphatic 3-0 win over Manchester City at Wembley. Jimmy Stein and James Dunn joined him on the scoresheet. 1966: Trailing 2-0 heading into the last half-hour, Everton fought back with Mike Trebilcock (2) and Derek Temple securing a 32 win over Sheffield Wednesday. 1968: Everton’s hopes of another FA Cup triumph were dashed three minutes into extra time when West Brom’s Jeff Astle scored the only goal of the game. 1984: Graeme Sharp and Andy Gray dashed the hopes of Watford and their chairman Elton John as Everton eased to a 2-0 win at Wembley. 1985: Failing to take advantage of the sendingoff of Kevin Moran, Everton were sunk in extra-time by a fine strike from Manchester United’s Norman Whiteside.

THIRD ROUND MACCLESFIELD TOWN 0 EVERTON 1 (Osman 43)

E turned up at Macclesfield and they were the smallest changing rooms ever – we ended up getting changed at the hotel. The pitch was half frozen and it was just a normal January Cup game, all set up for a shock result. And because of that, I could even sense a little bit of nerves in our side because we went out at the same stage at home to Oldham last year. But we played okay, not particularly well as they were really up for it. But thankfully Ossie pulled out a fantastic wonder goal and we saw the game out.

Phil Jagielka (left) and Joleon Lescott (right) salute the winner in the third round tie at Macclesfield with scorer Leon Osman (centre)

REPLAY: EVERTON 1 (Gosling 120) LIVERPOOL 0

WAS sitting watching the draw and smiling to myself when Liverpool were the first name out and I thought ‘okay, what’s our number?’ Then ‘bang!’ it came out. But we had a hectic month with two great results against them and played them in the league as well so it felt like we were playing them in every game at that point. Everyone is going to remember Dan Gosling’s goal but I think you’ve got to remember the goal we scored in the first game as well, that was just as important. That whole month was so mad, looking back I’m not sure which way round it was now. Was it Tim Cahill’s header to equalise at the end of the

Dan Gosling celebrates his winner

SEMI-FINAL

HERE was never going to be an easy draw. Maybe the easiest draw you could have hoped for was Hull or Arsenal and hope Hull could knock them out but as it was we picked out the Premier League and European champions. But thankfully on the day, it went from being the hardest draw we could have got to the easiest

first game? No? Right, it must have been Joleon Lescott’s header at the Kop End in the first game then! Either way, that goal was just as important as Dan’s goal – those six deflections that won him goal of the season! But you can’t take that away from him because it means such a hell of a lot to the fans to get one over on them in the Cup and we thought we might get a nice easy draw next. But the confidence went up because people didn’t expect us to be in the competition and there we were knocking out Liverpool.

because they were chasing other things and the team he ended up putting out – well it was still worth about £100million – but compared to the team he could have put out we were relieved. It was quite a clever tactic in a way because it put the pressure back on us, from being massive underdogs to being favourites. We were workmanlike, we didn’t create much but neither did they and thankfully we had a great

FIRST GAME: LIVERPOOL: Reina, Arbeloa, Skrtel, Carragher, Dossena, Kuyt, Alonso, Mascherano, Babel (Riera 75), Gerrard,Torres. EVERTON: Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka , Lescott, Baines, Anichebe (Gosling 71), Castillo (Rodwell 76 ), Neville, Osman, Pienaar, Cahill. ATTENDANCE: 43,254. REPLAY: EVERTON: Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka, Lescott, Baines, Osman, Fellaini (Gosling 52), Neville (Van der Meyde 106), Arteta, Pienaar (Rodwell 60) Cahill. LIVERPOOL: Reina, Dossena, Carragher, Skrtel, Arbeloa, Kuyt, Alonso, Gerrard (Benayoun 16), Lucas, Riera (Mascherano 80),Torres (Babel 101). SENT OFF: Lucas 76. ATTENDANCE: 37,918.

1986: Having lost the league title to their neighbours, Everton came up short in the FA Cup final too, with an Ian Rush double helping Liverpool to a 3-1 win.

Gosling blasts in the goal that sunk Liverpool

goalkeeper in the penalty shoot-out and some good penalty takers too. I’ve never, ever wanted to take penalties but I said I would take them and try my best – I look back at the Fiorentina one and have no regrets because it was a good penalty. This time I had a thought process and it worked. I knew where I was going, I scored five out of five in training building up to it so I knew exactly what I was doing – so if the keeper dived that way and saved it there was nothing more I could do. I went quite numb and unfortunately a week later my season ended. But the Cup run has been brilliant. It will always stay with me and hopefully I’ll have a great view of one more special day.

CHELSEA FINALS 1915: In the last final to be played before the outbreak of the First World War, Chelsea proved no match for Sheffield United, who ran out 3-0 winners. 1967: Back in the final for the first time in over half a century, Chelsea came up short again, Frank Saul’s late goal clinching a 2-1 win for Tottenham. 1970: David Webb’s extratime effort helped Chelsea win the trophy for the first time after a notorious Old Trafford replay against Leeds. 1994: After holding the upper hand for much of the first half, Chelsea spectacularly capitulated in the last half-hour and Manchester United eased to a 4-0 win. 1997: Roberto di Matteo scored the fastest FA Cup final goal after just 42 seconds and Eddie Newton added a late second to sink Middlesbrough. 2000: Roberto di Matteo scored in the 73rd minute as Chelsea edged past Aston Villa in the last FA Cup final played at the old Wembley Stadium.

MAN UTD: Foster, Rafael Da Silva, Ferdinand, Vidic, Fabio Da Silva (Evra 63), Welbeck, Gibson, Anderson, Park (Scholes 67), Tevez, Macheda (Berbatov 91). EVERTON: Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka, Lescott, Baines, Osman, Neville, Fellaini (Vaughan 102), Pienaar, Cahill, Saha (Rodwell 70). ATTENDANCE: 88,141.

Everton celebrate their shoot-out win and (right) Jagielka embraces James Vaughan after his penalty heroics

Everton players pile in to celebrate the extra time winner in the derby

FIFTH ROUND

SIXTH ROUND

EVERTON 3 (Rodwell 2, Arteta 24p, Cahill 76) ASTON VILLA 1 (Milner 8p)

EVERTON 2 (Fellaini 50, Saha 56) MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Wheater 44)

ROBABLY the best performance of the run, we played fantastic against Villa. We gave a stupid penalty away but other than that we absolutely dominated the game. The fact that we had beaten another team who were above us in the league – and had beaten them well – only gave us even more belief, especially as we were in the quarterfinals.

HERE were still a lot of Premier League teams left so after previous results, we were ready for whoever was thrown at us. But Middlesbrough gave us a bit of a problem because after not really being expected to go through in the previous two rounds we were suddenly massive favourites. It did hinder us a little bit. I said in the papers before the game that it would be a hard one because if we

1989: Ian Rush scored an extra-time winner to secure a 3-2 win in a final played just five weeks after the Hillsborough disaster. 1995: Despite a league season of struggle, Joe Royle’s so-called ’Dogs of War’ edged Manchester United to win the Cup thanks to a Paul Rideout header.

FA CUP FINAL 2009

EVERTON 0 MANCHESTER UNITED 0 (aet; Everton win 4-2 on penalties)

FOURTH ROUND LIVERPOOL 1 (Gerrard 54) EVERTON 1 (Lescott 27)

Wembley 2009

‘Memories that will always stay with me’

Player of the Year Phil Jagielka will miss the FA Cup final, but played as big a part as anyone in getting Everton there – here he talks Nick Smith through the thrilling route to the final

MACCLESFIELD: Brain, Reid, Walker, Morgan, Hessey, Bell (Yeo 78), Nat Brown, Dunfield, Jennings (Thomas 70), Evans (Rooney 89), Gritton. EVERTON: Howard, Hibbert, Lescott, Jagielka, Baines, Osman, Neville, Arteta, Pienaar (Gosling 89), Anichebe, Cahill. ATTENDANCE: 6,008.

DAILY POST Friday, May 29, 2009

EVERTON: Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka, Lescott, Baines, Gosling, Neville, Arteta, Rodwell, Cahill, Anichebe (Yobo 88). ASTON VILLA: Friedel, Gardner, Knight, Davies, Luke Young, Milner, Sidwell (Delfouneso 83 ), Petrov, Ashley Young, Agbonlahor, Carew. ATTENDANCE: 35,439.

weren’t winning 2-0 at half-time people would see that as a bad scoreline. So losing 1-0 at half-time after playing really poorly just made it worse. But thankfully we turned it on for 15 minutes and showed what a good team we are and that was all it took. We blitzed them and went 21 up and saw the game out.

T Jack Rodwell gives Everton the lead against Aston Villa

Saha secures a semi-final spot

EVERTON: Howard, Neville, Yobo, Jagielka, Lescott, Pienaar (Gosling 89), Rodwell (Saha 46), Osman, Baines, Fellaini, Cahill. MIDDLESBROUGH: Jones, Hoyte, Huth, Wheater, Pogatetz, O’Neil, Arca, Bates (Adam Johnson 72), Downing, Tuncay, Aliadiere (Emnes 68). ATTENDANCE: 37,856.

Mourinho lifts the FA Cup in 2007 2002: With the Premier League title still to be decided, Arsenal secured the first leg of what would prove a rare ’Double’ with goals from Ray Parlour and Freddie Ljungberg. 2007: Didier Drogba lashed home the only goal of the game in extratime to beat Manchester United in the first final played at the new Wembley Stadium.

DAILY POST Friday, May 29, 2009

Wembley 2009

EVERTON v CHELSEA

THIRD ROUND MACCLESFIELD TOWN 0 EVERTON 1 (Osman 43)

Phil Jagielka (left) and Joleon Lescott (right) salute the winner in the third round tie at Macclesfield with scorer Leon Osman (centre)

REPLAY: EVERTON 1 (Gosling 120) LIVERPOOL 0

Dan Gosling celebrates his winner

SEMI-FINAL

1986: Having lost the league title to their neighbours, Everton came up short in the FA Cup final too, with an Ian Rush double helping Liverpool to a 3-1 win.

Gosling blasts in the goal that sunk Liverpool

Everton celebrate their shoot-out win and (right) Jagielka embraces James Vaughan after his penalty heroics

Everton players pile in to celebrate the extra time winner in the derby

FIFTH ROUND

SIXTH ROUND

EVERTON 3 (Rodwell 2, Arteta 24p, Cahill 76) ASTON VILLA 1 (Milner 8p)

EVERTON 2 (Fellaini 50, Saha 56) MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Wheater 44)

FA CUP FINAL 2009

EVERTON 0 MANCHESTER UNITED 0 (aet; Everton win 4-2 on penalties)

FOURTH ROUND LIVERPOOL 1 (Gerrard 54) EVERTON 1 (Lescott 27)

Wembley 2009

‘Memories that will always stay with me’

Player of the Year Phil Jagielka will miss the FA Cup final, but played as big a part as anyone in getting Everton there – here he talks Nick Smith through the thrilling route to the final

DAILY POST Friday, May 29, 2009

T Jack Rodwell gives Everton the lead against Aston Villa

Saha secures a semi-final spot

DAILY POST Friday, May 29, 2009

Wembley 2009

EVERTON v CHELSEA

Hiddink hoping for final flourish BY ADRIAN CURTIS CHELSEA’S season could end with a triumphant and emotional send-off for interim coach Guus Hiddink. The FA Cup final climaxes a season which looked to be heading for disaster under former boss Luiz Felipe Scolari. The World Cupwinning Brazilian arrived at Stamford Bridge last summer with a great track record at international level but he clearly could not handle the pressure of the Barclays Premier League. Despite starting the season with a record number of away wins, Scolari’s success soon evaporated and it eventually ended in his sacking in February 2009. Since then Dutchman Hiddink has combined his role as coach of the Russia national side alongside a similar post with Chelsea. But Hiddink inspired Chelsea to the semifinals of the Champions League and earned a place in the FA Cup final. Many fans are desperate for Hiddink to make the switch permanent abut the man who took Russia to the semi-finals of Euro 2008, insists he will not stay on in London despite admitting he’s had ’second thoughts’ about the situation. “I’ve many second thoughts, sometimes third thoughts,” said Hiddink, 62, after Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Blackburn in the final home game of the season. “Russia is a country that needs to be developed. I have given my commitment to them, with pleasure, and I have to fulfil that. But that does not mean that it is not difficult to leave this atmosphere. “It was a nice way to say goodbye, with a victory It was nice appreciation from the crowd and to be honest, I did not expect it when I am here for a relatively short period to do my job. “We enjoyed the atmosphere but the season is not over for me and the team. We would love to finish it off with the FA Cup.”

DAILY POST Friday, May 29, 2009

Wembley 2009

FA CUP FINAL 2009

Fellaini facing up to being the most famous Belgian

“Chelsea are favourites, no doubt, but we know we have a chance, we know what we can do and now we have to go out there and show what we are worth. “The Everton fans voted me their young player of the season, and I’m proud of that, very happy, because in my first year I feel that is a great achievement, but Saturday is much more important. We want to win. “It will be difficult, but we know we have to hold the ball and try to boss the game, we have to get in among them in the midfield.” Fellaini, of course, was signed just minutes before the transfer deadline last summer after impressing for Standard Liege against Liverpool in their Champions League qualifier. And Everton chairman Bill Kenwright believes the scramble for the Belgian’s signature justifies his own faith in manager Moyes. “We knew what we wanted, David got his budget mid-June and like any fan I was like ‘why don’t you go for such and such’ but he knew what he wanted,” says Kenwright. “He wanted stature. He wanted tall. “We’d already got Pienaar, we got Castillo, we got Jacobsen and there were a few others that we just missed out on. “We didn’t win the tribunal for the Nigerian lad from Inter, so we went back to my office and even then you have every agent under the sun calling, and suddenly you’re considering Louis Bimpson, Billy Liddell, Dixie Dean and with eight hours left until the deadline, David said ‘there is still the big fella at Standard Liege’.

IAN

DOYLE

AROUANE FELLAINI began the season creating history – now he wants to end it in the same manner. Fellaini became Everton’s club record signing when making a deadline-beating £15million move from Standard Liege in September. The midfielder is the first to admit life was initially difficult at a different club, in a different league in a different country. But from those shaky first steps, the 21-year-old has blossomed into a first-team regular under David Moyes and is regarded as one of the best pieces of transfer business in the Premier League this season. And now Fellaini is in line for another landmark achievement tomorrow when Everton take on Chelsea in the FA Cup final at Wembley. “If I’m selected I will be the first Belgian ever to start in an FA Cup final, and that gives me a great feeling,” he says. “I hope I can make a bit of history, it would be good to represent my country like that.” Both Nico Claesen and Philippe Albert came on as substitutes in Cup finals, but neither finished on the winning side. And of the prospect of becoming the first Belgian to win the FA Cup, Fellaini adds: “It would be an amazing end to an amazing season for me, and I have to admit I am surprised how well it has gone, because the first few months I came into English football, I thought, wow, this is a completely different world. “At the end of this season I am

Marouane Fellaini manages a smile during the intense training schedule

Picture: GARETH JONES

I hope I can make a bit of history

10 outings having played part of the campaign as a makeshift striker as Everton’s injury crisis took hold. And he admits: “It has been a huge learning curve for me, I came into something that, if I’m honest, I didn’t feel could possibly go so well as it has. “It was so hard at first. The first two months were the hardest, a new town, a new culture, and of course a new type of football. It is another world here, it really is

more tired than I have ever been at the end of a football year. It is higher tempo, higher intensity, higher demands all round. It is so hard, and I felt it in my first few months.” Fellaini has become a cult figure among the Goodison faithful, as much for his distinctive afro as his performances on the field with Fellaini wigs doing a roaring trade in the build-up to tomorrow’s final.

Even without his luxuriant coiffure, the Belgian was in danger of overshadowing his good work early on with 10 bookings in his first 20 games, earning a suspension that ruled him out of the double header against Liverpool.

ince then, however, Fellaini has been booked just three times in his next 16 games and has seen his game further develop with five goals in his last

MAROUANE FELLAINI

FA Cup legend Southall well qualified to

Neville Southall poses with the FA Cup this week

NO-ONE knows more about the importance of goalkeepers in an FA Cup final than Neville Southall. Having collected two winners’ medals in 1984 and 1995, the Everton legend knows that keeping your cool between the sticks can be the difference between winning and losing. With Chelsea going into the match as favourites, Southall believes that it’s the Londoners’ keeper that is the weak link in the side. “There is a mistake waiting to happen with Petr Cech. The keeper is going through a rough patch and he’s been doing things that

BY MICHAEL KETTIROS you wouldn’t have seen in previous years. He hasn’t had the best of seasons at all,” said the former Everton keeper. “They need to get as many balls in the box as possible, because Cech will struggle with them. Corners and freekicks need to be whipped in right from the start.” Southall believes Everton, on the other hand, can feel secure in the hands of Tim Howard. “Tim has been very consistent and the back four trust him completely,” he

said..” This is so important, especially during a cup final when players will be more nervous than usual. He’s very vocal and a good organiser, as well as making good saves at the right times. Tim is a top international and come Saturday I’d rather have him in my team than Cech.” But it’s not just in goal that Southall considers Everton to be better suited. The Welshman – who appeared a record 751 times for the club – believes that Moyes’ team have a back four that can handle the likes of Didier Drogba. “The defence is very solid,

and hopefully they will be able to get under Drogba’s skin,” said Southall. “The game will of course be very tight, but if Everton can score first they can go on and win it. People look at the negatives and go on about how good the Chelsea side is, but Everton are more than capable of getting a result. They are miles better than people give them credit for. “The longer the game stays at 0-0, the better chance Everton have of winning. They don’t have to go out and try and win the game in the first minute”, he added. “The pressure is well and truly on Chelsea, and the

Fellaini takes on JiSung Park in the semifinal world’s apart from anything I am used to, and I’m proud that I have managed to cope with it so quickly. “Winning the cup would be the icing on the cake for me. We have worked so hard to get here, and now we have 90 more minutes work to finish it off. “This is the most prestigious cup final in the world, and I’m sure I will be feeling that when Saturday comes around.” Fellaini accepts Everton will be underdogs when they step out against Chelsea tomorrow, but believes the

experience of already having appeared at Wembley will stand the Goodison outfit in good stead. “The semi-final was incredible,” he says. “Playing against Manchester United in front of 90,000 people was something I couldn’t even have imagined, and I am looking forward to doing it again. “We have been on an incredible run in this competition, we have beaten three of the best clubs in the country, but we know we have to finish the job now, against Chelsea.

hat story, if it’s ever written up or filmed, you wouldn’t believe. It’s just fantasy time, but he got his big man and it fitted. “He said ‘Bill, it’s going to take a few weeks for this boy to find his feet’ but I thought ‘what a manager’. It was David who jumped in the car at 9.30 to get to Luton Airport at 10.20 to get on the plane with David Harrison to go to Liege to meet the boy. “The player had left the training camp to come to the airport hotel and me on the phone to the Premier League and the FA. Eventually at 12 minutes to 12 David walks in the room and says ‘Bill, I can see him’. I said ‘thank God for that. What’s he like?’. He said ‘big!’. We managed to get it through literally by seconds.” Everton and Fellaini himself have been grateful for that swift decisiveness ever since.

tell Cech: ‘You are the weakest link’ manager will be desperate to claim some silverware before he leaves. This may also work against them, as the players don’t know who will be coming in over the summer, and whether or not their future lies with Chelsea. Southall was also quick to point out how David Moyes should take a huge amount of credit for how far the team have come this season. “What Moyes has done is fantastic. He likes to do things his way and that’s great to see. He’s bought wisely, with players who can do a job in various positions. And although the

squad is small, it means people are playing more regularly, and this has helped build a good spirit within the camp. But it’s time to take the next step now, starting with winning the FA Cup. “Bringing home the trophy would hopefully kick start a new era for Everton. The profile of the club would be raised and it will allow the club to market themselves better abroad, and hopefully

Petr Cech

bring in high quality players in the summer.” Southall sees the next few months as being imperative with regard to Everton taking the next step. He said: “With the right players being brought in, breaking into the top four is a possibility. But the club needs four top quality strikers if it wants to do this. Not all of them are going to be on form at the same time, and there will be injuries too, so Moyes needs quality reinforcements to call upon up front.”

Southall also revealed just how similar he sees the team now to the one that lifted the cup back in 1995. “Fourteen years ago we had a bunch of lads that stuck together, and it seems to be the same sort of thing now. “We knew we had nothing to lose and we were very relaxed. I never thought we were going to lose the game, and it was just so satisfying to beat one of the best teams in the world. Come Saturday, Everton once again have nothing to lose, and are more than capable of bringing home the trophy.”

FLASHBACK – 1966

West recalls agony and ecstasy at Wembley

Gordon West against West Brom in the 1968 final ‘KEEP going baby’ Gordon West growls in his thick Barnsley accent with a glint in his eye. He is talking about his reaction to Everton’s amazing comeback in the 1966 FA Cup Final when they became the first team to recover from a 2-0 deficit to lift the trophy. Harry Catterick’s side were hot favourites against his former club Sheffield Wednesday but West recalls his own team-mates did not get off to the greatest of starts. He said: “I’d not let a single goal in on the way to Wembley and I was playing well. “We got to the Cup Final and found ourselves 2-0 down and they were silly goals. “They weren’t my fault but one hit Ray Wilson on the heel and all I wanted was the game to end – go home we’ve lost. “But we got one back, 2-1, and I thought ‘eye, eye they’re going to blame me for the second goal’ “The next thin g I knew it was 2-2 – keep going baby – and we won it 3-2.” Despite the Yorkshireman’s seemingly confident exterior appearance, West often suffered greatly with prematch nerves – hardly ideal when you’re playing in a Wembley Cup final. He said: “I always remember in the dressing room I was all tensed up. “The next thing you know you’re going down that tunnel but when you get out onto the ground all the nerves leave you and you carry on playing. “The game seems to go in two minutes – gone. “You can’t enjoy it. There’s so much tension, whether you’ll make a mistake but at the end it was marvellous.” Wembley match-winners aren’t always the obvious names though and as well as experiencing the highs, West knows all about the lows of losing an FA Cup Final having suffered a shock defeat to West Bromwich Albion in 1968. He said: “We had an unlikely hero in Mike Trebilcock, this is why football is a great game. “Two years later we played West Brom and a few weeks before the Final we beat them 6-2 away but they went and beat us 1-0.

BY CHRISTOPHER BEESLEY “We were distraught of course but that’s football and that’s why it’s so good. “There are no favourites in the Cup Final, believe me. “I’ve played in two. We were the biggest favourites you can imagine against West Brom but we’d have never won if we were still playing now. “You don’t know what’s going to happen.” It’s debatable how West’s nerves might have held in Everton’s semi-final penalty shoot-out against Manchester United but he had great satisfaction in seeing Tim Howard, his contemporary in between the sticks for the Goodison outfit emerge as the hero. He said: “Of course I was delighted to see Tim make those two penalty saves, I’m glad it was him and not me out there. “In my day, there weren’t many penalty saves. “It was glory or nothing for Tim and good luck to him – fantastic.” A total of 14 years have passed since Everton’s last cup final appearance but enthusiastic supporters have turned Liverpool blue in recent weeks as excitement builds ahead of the big game and West admits that he’s been asked the most inevitable of questions ‘Have you got any spares?’ He said: “Oh I can feel the buzz alright around the city. “I’ve been asked for 101 tickets – I only want one for myself. It’s crazy. “I’ve had people ringing me up and I can’t help them. “The feeling is wonderful though, there’s flags on the cars and people are beeping their horns saying ‘I wish you were playing Gordon’ – a load of lies. “My gut feeling is we’ll nick it 1-0. It will be a tight game no danger. “But we’ve done so well getting there it’s unbelievable – beating Liverpool and Aston Villa. “Manchester United changed their players around but it didn’t matter - they still had a good side out. Let’s just hope we can finish the job.”

DAILY POST Friday, May 29, 2009

Wembley 2009

EVERTON v CHELSEA

DAILY POST Friday, May 29, 2009

Wembley 2009

FA CUP FINAL 2009

Fellaini facing up to being the most famous Belgian

IAN

DOYLE

Marouane Fellaini manages a smile during the intense training schedule

Picture: GARETH JONES

I hope I can make a bit of history

ince then, however, Fellaini has been booked just three times in his next 16 games and has seen his game further develop with five goals in his last

MAROUANE FELLAINI

FA Cup legend Southall well qualified to

Neville Southall poses with the FA Cup this week

Petr Cech

FLASHBACK – 1966

West recalls agony and ecstasy at Wembley

DAILY POST Friday, May 29, 2009

Wembley 2009

EVERTON v CHELSEA

MOYES v HIDDINK TROPHIES Hiddink has been hugely successful at domestic, European and international level. He led PSV Eindhoven to the European Cup in his first full season in 1988 and was only moments from taking Chelsea to the Champions League final this season. He also led Russia to Euro 2008 – at the expense of England – where they reached the semi-finals and guided both South Korea and Holland to the World Cup semis in 2002 and 1998 respectively. Moyes, by contrast, has won only the then Division Two title with Preston although he led the Lilywhites to the Division One play-off final. He did, though, take Everton into the Champions League in 2005. STRENGTHS Hiddink has revitalised Chelsea since being appointed in February. The team were lacklustre and without shape when he took over from Luiz Felipe Scolari but are now much more focused and confident. Moyes has been named LMA Manager of the Year three times, including this season. He instils self-belief and confidence in his players who repay him with hard work and loyalty. Moyes has built a top side with little money, trusting in Championship players such as Tim Cahill, Phil Jagielka – ruled out for the FA Cup final through injury – and Joleon Lescott, the latter two who have in turn gone on to represent England. He has also taken Everton from outside relegation candidates when he took over in 2002 to established European qualifiers. He has finished sixth, fifth and fifth in the past three Premier League seasons. WEAKNESSES Hiddink has reintroduced an attacking verve and selfbelief to Chelsea although they are still prone to panic – best illustrated by their near-fatal defensive displays against Liverpool in the Champions League and Bolton in the league, when they went 4-0 up in the second half before hanging on to win 4-3. He hardly covered himself in glory when he defended his players’ angry reaction following the Barcelona defeat. Moyes has had little real sight of silverware at Goodison Park, and has been dumped out of the FA Cup by the likes of Shrewsbury and Oldham during his seven years in charge.

DAILY POST Friday, May 29, 2009

Wembley 2009

FA CUP FINAL 2009

Australian rules in his homeland

Wizard of Oz can sprinkle his magic dust on Wembley

But hero Cahill craving Cup win to underline his iconic status

Guus Hiddink consoles Tim Cahill after Australia’s 2006 World Cup exit to Italy

IAN

DOYLE

RECENT newspaper report in Australia argued the case for the country’s most influential sportsperson. But rather than famed Antipodean talents such as Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, Wendell Sailor and Andrew Johns, it was a name far more familiar to Evertonians that came out on top. For Tim Cahill, the exalted status was further confirmation of a reputation that has blossomed since arriving at Goodison Park almost five years ago. Coupled with his exploits for the Socceroos, the 29-year-old has become a hugely recognisable figure in his homeland, a profile that will mean thousands are expected to tune in during the early hours to watch Everton’s FA Cup final against Chelsea tomorrow. And Cahill is acutely aware so many Australian hopes will be resting on him at Wembley. “In Australia there are a lot of kids who look up to me, and I try to do the right thing for them,” he says. “I try to play with my heart on my sleeve, and I think they enjoy that I’m not only doing it for Everton but I’m doing it for Australia too. “Every game I play in the Premier League, I have Australia behind me. I have a family that watches every game at all hours, and they send me texts before and after the games wishing me luck and so on. “The Premier League is the biggest thing in the world and the FA Cup is one of the most prestigious cups in the world. It’s something I am passionate about and I would watch it as a kid. “I’m flying the flag, but I’m so proud to be in that position.” Cahill adds: “Every time I play on the pitch I want to be someone who changes the game, a leader, whether it’s scoring the goal, heading off the line or being involved at set plays. “Everton are a pretty radical outfit in the fact that we pride ourselves on set plays on being very regimented. we can spend two hours in the video room and we’ll go through tactics. “As a team, it’s only a small squad but we do tell each other off if things go wrong, and we do praise each other as well.” Cahill, of course, is no stranger to FA Cup finals having appeared for Millwall against Manchester United at Cardiff in 2004. Indeed, he is poised to become the first Australian to start two FA Cup finals. Craig Johnston, who played Under-21 football for England but was Australian, won the Cup with Liverpool in 1986 and played as a substitute on the losing side in 1988. The only full Australian international ever to win the FA Cup to date is Harry Kewell with Liverpool in 2006, while the

Tim Cahill’s semi-final success was tainted by his miss in the shoot-out against Manchester United (left) – a very different story to 2004 (right) as he celebrates the winner for Millwall against Sunderland first Australian ever to play in an FA Cup final was Joe Marston for Preston North End in their defeat to West Bromwich Albion in 1954. The FA Cup final appearance with Millwall, which resulted in a 3-0 defeat, was Cahill’s last appearance for the Lions before being taken out of the Championship to Goodison by David Moyes. As rank underdogs, the midfielder recalls the message to the players that day was to enjoy the moment. But with Everton aiming to bring a successful conclusion to a memorable Cup run, Cahill admits the only way he will enjoy Wembley tomorrow is with the trophy lofted above his head. “Cardiff was a great experience but it had a different feel to it, because to get to

the final with a team like Millwall was amazing,” says the Australian. “Dennis Wise had a great bunch of lads and strong team bond, which is like here at Everton. “To be honest, our Cup final that year was the semi-final against Sunderland at Old Trafford. “Dennis Wise and Ray Wilkins told us to enjoy the day in the final, and that’s what we did. We knew United were the better team and to be there was fantastic for us and our supporters. “But this time we’ll only enjoy it if we win it. With the collective group we have at Everton and the squad of players, we do have a realistic chance of winning. “With the momentum we have shown in the last five months, when people thought we might fall away, we have a massive chance of winning if everything goes right

This time we’ll only enjoy it if we win it – it’s up to us to take that chance TIM CAHILL

on the day. Losing against Chelsea will be hard to take because this is a really big chance for us to give something back to our fans and ourselves and the gaffer. It’s up to us to take that chance.”

ahill’s Goodison career has been hampered in recent years by recurring metatarsal problems, with the latest problem leaving him frustratingly sidelined as Everton stuttered during the opening weeks of the campaign. Cahill, though, looked back home for salvation and, after a successful operation by renowned Australian surgeon Kim Slater, has produced another impressive run of form, notably when pressed into a makeshift striker’s role with an injury crisis gripping Everton’s forward line

during the winter. “I had an indifferent start to the season because I was coming back from another metatarasal injury,” he says. “I’d had radical surgery, and who knows, the injury might have been career threatening. “I’d done the injury twice before and I was willing to take the risk of the surgery not working. Even now I’m constantly having rehab and making sure everything is all right. “Kim Slater, who did the operation, does the cricketers and rugby players,. He is a pretty radical guy, he doesn’t so much take risks but really believes in what he is doing. “I’d spoken to a lot of surgeons, people in America, Holland and Belgium, but I knew Kim was the right guy for me. “There was never any nagging doubt

about the injury because, rather than have reserve games, I went straight back into the first team against Stoke and scored the winner, and I kicked on from there. “The manager lets me go back to Australia for treatment and knows when I come back I’ll give everything on the pitch.” Cahill adds: “My main aim was to play 35 games this season, get 10 goals and just be fit. It’s been a great season for me because I’ve worked very hard off the pitch to keep my fitness at the best it can be. “Now I want to take that into next season as I feel next season is going to be very big for me. I want to play a whole season free of injury and replicate what I’ve done in the past.”

WITH a squad topheavy with quality such as Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and Nicolas Anelka, Chelsea will not be short of potential matchwinners at Wembley tomorrow. But Tim Cahill believes the biggest threat to Everton’s FA Cup dreams can be found not on the pitch, but in the dugout. Guus Hiddink will call time on his brief stint as Chelsea manager at the weekend having revitalised the flagging fortunes of the Stamford Bridge outfit since replacing Luiz Felipe Scolari in February. And for Cahill, the impact of the vastlyexperienced Dutchman is no surprise. Hiddink was coach of the Australian national team for less than a year but that was enough to guide the country to the World Cup finals in 2006 and give Cahill the chance to make his mark on the tournament on Germany. The Everton midfielder famously netted two goals to earn the Socceroos their first-ever World Cup finals victory against Japan, a feat which later in the year helped him become shortlisted for the prestigious Ballon D’Or award. Hiddink had already taken an unfancied South Korea to the semi-finals in 2002 having guided Holland to the same stage in the 1998 finals, and subsequently helped Russia dump England out of Euro 2008 before reaching the last four. At club level, the Dutchman also presided over PSV Eindhoven’s European Cup triumph in 1988. And Cahill is left in no doubt as to the Chelsea manager’s talents.

BY IAN DOYLE “Guus was amazing at Australia,” he says. “He was a very regimented guy, very disciplined and set his ways very quick. No player was bigger than anyone else. “If you see what he’s done to Chelsea, it’s obvious he’s gone in there and cleaned it up. It was messy when he got there, but it’s nice and tidy now. “He’s turned them around and they were unlucky not to be playing in the Champions League final. They have to win this Cup, it’s what their fans are looking forward to. “There was a lot of pressure with him taking that job but he seems to have taken it in his stride. For anyone who knows him, they know it’s not a fluke. “I’ve always said Guus is a genius. I don’t know how he does it. He is a tactical magician. He is one of those managers that is always thinking two steps ahead and it seems to work before he has even done it.” Cahill adds: “Guus was lucky in that he inherited a good team at Australia. He was the final piece of the puzzle, and what he brought was a presence and a lot of other countries were scared about that. “He’d just tell us ‘don’t worry about it, you’re going to win’ and that touch of arrogance helped us. “But who is the best manager I have played under? Difficult, that. “At international level, Guus and Pim Verbeek are two very different people and I respect them a lot. “But David Moyes has affected my career in a big way. He’s someone that took a chance and paid £1.5m for me and played me to the death.”

DAILY POST Friday, May 29, 2009

Wembley 2009

EVERTON v CHELSEA

DAILY POST Friday, May 29, 2009

Wembley 2009

FA CUP FINAL 2009

Australian rules in his homeland

Wizard of Oz can sprinkle his magic dust on Wembley

But hero Cahill craving Cup win to underline his iconic status

Guus Hiddink consoles Tim Cahill after Australia’s 2006 World Cup exit to Italy

IAN

DOYLE

This time we’ll only enjoy it if we win it – it’s up to us to take that chance TIM CAHILL

DAILY POST Friday, May 29, 2009

Wembley 2009

EVERTON v CHELSEA IAN

‘I’ll be on a coach with my mates and my family’

DOYLE

T’S a scene that will be replicated countless times tomorrow morning. A group of excited Evertonians clamber into a minibus, clad in scarves and other club memorabilia, and head expectantly for Wembley. Songs are sung, jokes exchanged and predictions are made before a reverential hush descends upon first glimpse of the famous stadium. Except this isn’t just any coach. Among their number is Bill Kenwright; theatre impresario, Everton owner and chairman, but most of all a dyedin-the-wool Blue. Kenwright admits he will live the dream when taking his seat in the Royal Box at tomorrow’s FA Cup final against Chelsea. But the lifelong Evertonian won’t be able to resist the more traditional aspects of the club’s biggest game during his tenure. “I will be with my mum, with my family,” says Kenwright. “They’ll come down on the Friday night. I’ll go on the coach with my mates and my family, I won’t go in a car. That’s what we did for the semi. “My family who come every week to the game will come down. I’ve done that for 25 or 30 years. “Jenny and I will get on the coach and sing ‘Tell Me Ma’ and we’ll play ‘Who can spot Wembley first’... things that a football fan does. I’ll be part of the Everton family that day.” Emotions will be running high for Kenwright, with Everton only one step away from claiming their first trophy since he assumed ownership from Peter Johnson almost a decade ago. And the chairman is desperate to repay the fans for their unstinting support, having gained an appreciation of their yearning for silverware before the dramatic semi-final victory over Manchester United at Wembley. “When they played Z Cars at the semi-final, it was by far and away the most extraordinary moment of the season for me,” says Kenwright. “I’m looking at David’s eyes with half an hour to go at the side of the pitch. He looks at me and they’ve just played Country Road and it stops. Then the drum beat starts and they’re playing Z Cars and suddenly David looked at me. We just stared. “I thought if the fans are like that with half an hour to go, what are they going to be like if we win? “Now we are there. For me it’s just beyond my wildest dreams. I can’t take it in that I will be sitting there in the box at Wembley, watching my team.” It won’t just be Everton fans cheering on David Moyes’s side tomorrow, with Kenwright revealing many people in the capital are hopeful Chelsea come a cropper. “I am in HMV in London buying the 50s rock and roll records every Sunday and people are telling me ‘good luck’,” he says. “And the cabbies are all saying ‘come on you Blues’.

Bill Kenwright can feel the FA Cup final buzz building around Everton - even from his London base

Chairman Kenwright set to savour the Royal Box – but not before he honours some true Cup final traditions They’re not Evertonians. There is a buzz towards Everton, but Chelsea know that too. Chelsea fans know that.” A season that began with the chief executive unexpectedly departing, Moyes struggling to field a senior XI and heavy criticism of the board at the club’s AGM could yet end with the first silverware in 14 years. And Kenwright admits: “It’s been unbelievable in the real sense of the word. Even in the close season, on the summer tour, they were horrible experiences, not nice experiences. Even the first two games here, it was incredibly difficult because we had the injuries. “I’m a fan a lot of the time and I’m a chairman a lot of the time but there’s no time when I’m not an Evertonian.” Despite the great pride at his position, Kenwright has consistently maintained he will stand aside should any major investor be forthcoming. Yet an exhaustive search for such financial backing has thus far proven futile, a situation the owner doesn’t not envisage changing as a result of the club’s Wembley appearance tomorrow. “You would think so but the world we’re living in hasn’t seen any major investment in a year now,” says the Everton chairman. “I truly am talking to people every week now.

Kenwright (right) celebrates semi-final victory in the Wembley stands with culture secretary Andy Burnham

“In the last few months there’s been ‘oh yeah, we want a deal done in the next week’ and you never hear from them again. There is just no money about. “You’d think the FA Cup final would trigger something off, wouldn’t you? But no. It won’t trigger anything. “Money can’t necessarily buy you success. You look at the kind of money that Newcastle have spent. I’m pretty convinced it would take us to the next level and the Champions League.”

hat next step is likely to prove the most troublesome, with Kenwright hinting the economic climate is making it even more difficult to provide Moyes with the backing he needs to help push Everton into the top four. “This is a football club that doesn’t make big profits because there are not big profits to be

It’s just beyond my wildest dreams. I can’t take it in that I will be sitting there in the box at Wembley, watching my team BILL KENWRIGHT

made here,” he says. “We’ve punched way above our weight with all the income we can get in. David has punched way above our weight with the calibre of football he has maintained on the pitch but we are still the same football club with the same income. “Every year the transfer window gets bigger and harder. Every year it becomes more and more difficult. “If you want a £1million house and you’ve got £200,000 in the bank, where do you get the money from. Each year you knock on the bank manager’s door but this year they’re saying ‘stay away, don’t even bother coming to us’. “The pressure of trying to cope with the demands of this football club is not nice but it comes with the territory. I have got the pressure in a few weeks’ time when you have got to start looking at the squad.” Kenwright, though, is happy to live with the pressure of supporting Moyes, who he believes has conjured a “miracle” by cementing Everton’s status as one of the Premier League’s leading clubs. “David has taken this club by the scruff of

Picture: ANDREW TEEBAY the neck and given Evertonians a reason to believe again,” he says. “I was asked the other week ‘how does he fit with Kendall and Catterick?’ But it was a different time then, it was a different playing field. There wasn’t this kind of pressure or money. “But what he has done is a miracle. He has taken the club and he has transformed it. It’s not always been easy for him. “I can remember when certain players have played for us and they’ve been out injured for a few weeks and people were saying ‘how are we going to cope?’ “Now the only person I get worried about getting injured is David Moyes because if I can see him on the side of the pitch when I sit down then everything is okay. “I’ve thought that from the very second he came. Everything is a bit better in the world because he’s there.” Everton’s family extends to their former players, for whom Kenwright helped put on a special coach for the semi-final. “What is extraordinary about his club is that I got a lovely letter from Wayne Clarke saying how important it was,” he says. “The first three texts I got after the semi-final were from AJ (Andy Johnson), Cars (Lee Carsley) and Beatts (James Beattie). That’s extraordinary. They were just saying ‘we were there with you’.”

ut does Kenwright view tomorrow’s Cup final as part of the reward for what he himself has done for the club over the years? “No,” he replies. “I just think it’s fantastic, not a reward. I was captain of the 3rd XI and I loved my football but I was never any good. So for me to be at Wembley, I won’t be the chairman sitting there. I’ll just be a fan.”

DAILY POST Friday, May 29, 2009

Wembley 2009

FA CUP FINAL 2009

Bright future in store as Everton chief plots to get one over on all of his rivals BY IAN DOYLE IT’S a scoreline to warm the heart of every Blue. But Everton Two, Liverpool One is also an example of how the club are striving to break into the Premier League’s upper echelons off the field. The name for the new club shop due to open in the city’s showpiece shopping complex is an example of the creative thinking involved in the ongoing process of revitalising Everton’s commercial ventures. While David Moyes and his players continue to make great strides on the pitch, it is the responsibility of chief executive Robert Elstone and his team to ensure such progress is matched away from the playing field. And Elstone reckons tomorrow’s FA Cup final against Chelsea has provided an opportunity for those behind the scenes to prosper. “The Cup final presents a fantastic platform for us to capitalise commercially and so those funds can then be invested back into the team,” says Elstone. “The platform has now become more robust and broader, and more capable of elevating the club commercially. It’s our job off-the-field to make the most of that. “We’re seeing evidence of that in increased season tickets in the middle of an economic recession. We’ve got a new retail deal, we are in the first year of a record new deal with Chang, so there is progress. “We have to make sure we have a strong enough business so that when things don’t go well on the field, we can cushion the fall, but can also put the icing on the cake when things are going well.” Such icing includes the July opening of a new club store. The current megastore next to Goodison will be rebranded Everton One, allowing the second shop to have a postal address that reads Everton Two, Liverpool One. “It’s a name that was suggested to us by a number of fans,” says Elstone. “It’s something that I think will bring a smile to many supporters.” There have already been plenty of smiles this season for Evertonians, who will descend on Wembley for a second time in a month for tomorrow’s Cup final. And Elstone has reassured supporters that silverware remains the ultimate goal for everyone at the club. “It’s what we’re all about,” he says. “It’s the football business, which is all about ambition and winning things and progress. And what better way to benchmark that progress than a cup final? “We can talk about growing the business, increased season tickets sales and improved sponsorship, but at the end of the day, the core objectives are Premier League points and trophies. “We’re on the cusp of achieving one of those measures. Obviously, that’s putting it all in businessspeak, but it is true. “Everything we do is about growing the business, but we’re doing that so we can be more successful on the field. The ultimate end game is success on the field. “So reaching the Cup final is evidence of progress and success in achievements of the manager and the playing squad, and also to some

TRAVEL NEWS

Everton fans are encouraged to get to Wembley early

Everton's proposed new city centre store, Everton Two at Liverpool One degree that progress off-the-field is able to cement that on-field success with funding because of good business practice. “The manager always needs to raise the quality and volume of his squad. Everything we do off the field is about providing those funds from the operating side and through talking with potential providers of funds such as banks and lenders. “We are definitely seeing year-onyear improvement in the squad, and is capable of breaking into the top four.” Meanwhile, Elstone has reiterated his call for the Football Association to review their policy of ticket allocation for the FA Cup final. The Everton chief will table a motion on the matter at the Premier League’s next board meeting after claiming the low number of tickets available to the finalists means the governing body are inadvertently feeding the black market. Both Everton and opponents Chelsea have received an allocation

of 25,109 for tomorrow’s Wembley showpiece. This is in comparison to the 32,000 tickets the Goodison outfit were handed for the semi-final against Manchester United at the same stadium last month. Around 44,000 Millwall fans were in attendance for the Coca-Cola League One play-off final against Scunthorpe United on Sunday. And Elstone reckons Premier League clubs should combine to ensure more tickets are available to supporters of the two FA Cup finalists in future years. “Having the semifinals at Wembley set expectations,” he says. “There are nearly 7,000 Evertonians who were at the semi-final who won’t be at the final. “I have a friend at Millwall who told me the other day that 37,000 tickets had just arrived from the FA for the play-off final. Then they received more. That

Robert Elstone

just pours salt on to the wounds of Evertonians. “2009 has gone now. What we need is a more combined effort with the FA which we will look to bring up at the next Premier League meeting. It’s something we want to address for the benefit of fans in future finals. “We’re not naïve enough to regard the FA as people who are receptive to change. They aren’t renowned for it. While there has been a lot of modernisation within the FA, there are still areas that are regarded as fairly sacrosanct. “But we have an obligation to try and get the ticket situation changed. We wouldn’t expect there to be 45,000 tickets to each team. There are sponsors, the people who helped build Wembley and bought 10-year debentures, that need tickets. “However, there are still 23,000 tickets via the infamous FA family and we need to ultimately to reduce that number. Elstone adds: “If four out of nine of the tickets are going outside the two participating teams, inevitably some are going to end up on the black market. And the FA is feeding an illegal market it is desperately starting to stamp out. “The FA is inadvertently feeding the black market by not giving the two participating teams enough tickets for the Cup final. “ They have 23,000 tickets that will go to all corners of England, and the reality is there will be some leakage from that distribution into the black market.”

THE RAC is predicting a busy weekend of travel as football fans prepare to make the annual pilgrimage to Wembley for this year’s FA Cup final. With thousands of Everton and Chelsea fans set to descend on the nation’s capital, the RAC has provided some simple advice to help travelling fans give traffic hotspots the red card. RAC Patrol of the Year, Prakesh Patel said: “FA Cup day is always a busy day on London’s roads so it’s important fans use their head to avoid getting caught offside. “Fans travelling should give themselves plenty of time to reach the ground. Typically we’ve found that local routes in the area like the A410 around Stanmore and the A5 around Edgware get busy from 10am onwards. “The A406 North Circular Road is always a bit manic when there’s an event at Wembley and is normally gridlocked from around midday. “It’s worth bearing in mind there’s very little parking around the stadium itself. “Wembley is a designated public transport destination so we’d recommend using local rail services to access the stadium. Anyone parking on local streets without a valid parking permit could find themselves in the book!” RAC advises that Everton fans travelling down to London from the North West should plan their journey in advance and allow plenty of time. Roadworks are affecting the following routes: ■ M6 both directions between J5 A452 Castle Bromwich and J4 M42 / A446 Coleshill. ■ M40 both directions between J14 A452 Royal Leamington Spa and J15 A46 / A429 Longbridge Island. ■ M1 Bedfordshire both directions around J13 A421 Milton Keynes South/Bedford ■ M25 both directions between J18 Rickmansworth and J16/M40 For more assistance in planning your route visit http://route.rac.co.uk/

DAILY POST Friday, May 29, 2009

Wembley 2009

EVERTON v CHELSEA IAN

‘I’ll be on a coach with my mates and my family’

DOYLE

Bill Kenwright can feel the FA Cup final buzz building around Everton - even from his London base

Kenwright (right) celebrates semi-final victory in the Wembley stands with culture secretary Andy Burnham

It’s just beyond my wildest dreams. I can’t take it in that I will be sitting there in the box at Wembley, watching my team BILL KENWRIGHT

DAILY POST Friday, May 29, 2009

Wembley 2009

FA CUP FINAL 2009

TRAVEL NEWS

Everton fans are encouraged to get to Wembley early

Robert Elstone

DAILY POST Friday, May 29, 2009

Wembley 2009

EVERTON v CHELSEA

Either way Nevin will be singing the Blues

CLASSIC CLASHES THE FA Cup final at Wembley will be only the third meeting between the sides in the competition’s history – but there has been no shortage of exciting encounters between them over the past 10 years. Everton 2 Chelsea 1 (Premier League, November 2000) The last time Everton beat Chelsea in any competition was almost a decade ago. Italian youngster Sam dalla Bona had put Claudio Ranieri’s side ahead in firsthalf injury time, but Danny Cadamarteri equalised two minutes after the break and Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink was sent off with 20 minutes to go for elbowing Michael Ball. Kevin Campbell won it five minutes later.

Winger calls tune – but can’t choose between former clubs

VERTON have decided BY PHIL KIRKBRIDE against an official song Daily Post Staff for Wembley this time round, although 1995’s that but my loyalties don’t remix of The Farm’s generally lie anywhere to be ‘All Together Now’ remains as honest. I am a really big fan of apt as it did 14 years ago. Chelsea and have been all my ‘No spirit’s stronger than the life, ever since I signed for them, Blues today/ We’re gonna play and that has never waned. the Everton way’. “Oddly, I have got to like Lyrics that resonate with Everton more and more ever David Moyes’ troops as they did since I left the club. David Moyes with Joe Royle’s Dogs of War. is not only someone I admire but But if the class of 2009 want to is somebody I have known since sing their own tune, what should the age of 13 or 14. it be? “The fans of both sides have Former Everton wing wizard been brilliant to me and nowhere Pat Nevin was as famed for his in my heart can I say I would mesmeric ball control as he was cheer if Chelsea scored against for his knowledge of the 1980s Everton or Everton against new-wave music scene and, once Chelsea. So there is no great, interviewed by the NME mad, keen I’m ‘this or that side’ magazine, the Scot is still an and I would be lying if I said avid gig-goer and radio DJ. there was. I go and see Chelsea “Story of the Blues by Pete play more just because my son is Wylie”, he offers as the song to a mad-keen fan. which the Goodison Park outfit “We all know where Everton could soundtrack their season. are strong, they have “It is positive and negative so organisation, structure, defend it seems apt for Everton. well, work as a unit damn hard. “I also know it will But to win be the loudest cups you Cup final in need to score history. I was goals, at the semialthough final against obviously Man United the game and the noise going to was just mind penalties is blowingingly not out of loud for half a the realms stadium, of possibility. Pat Nevin is mobbed by “I think if because the Evertonians in the 1989 final Fellaini plays Man U fans to what he is capable of, does it were silent. right and arrives at the back “Put the Chelsea fans on top of post at the right time then you that and the stadium will be in can’t stop him, he is too good in danger of blowing up. the air – he can bring that fear “As long as you have real factor at the back post. Evertonians and the real “But Chelsea under Guus travelling Chelsea fans and not Hiddink are top quality, he is the corporate seats, the game right up there with the best in will be worth going to just for the business, and will know the noise.” Fellaini has good quality. The Although engaged when the danger for Chelsea then is conversation moves on to his concentrating on Fellaini and music passion, 45-year-old Nevin that may open up a bit of space is equally adept at previewing for Cahill to do something in the the FA Cup final – a hero at area. Stamford Bridge after five “If Everton have any successful seasons, the now weaknesses, and there have not television and radio pundit been many, then I am not insists his loyalties will fall in convinced by the quality of neither camp on Saturday. crossing, it has not been great. He said: “Everyone asks me

Pat Nevin in his current role as match summariser “Although Andy van der Meyde has many other weaknesses, he can cross a ball. Trying to play slick football through the middle of Chelsea is not going to work.” Nevin has his own cup final tale to tell, storming back from injury to fire Everton into the 1989 showpiece, and he will be able to empathise with whoever falls short at the weekend. Everton lost 3-2 to city rivals Liverpool and though Nevin could lend a sympathetic ear to the losing side, he says his own disappointment was tapered by events that preceded the final. Nevin said: “Normally when you have played in a cup final and lost, you are just not interested it, I was brought up with the thinking there were two places ‘first and worst’. From that, you would be thinking I was suggesting I was gutted with the runners-up medal on the day, but I was not.

You looked around and thought ‘it is not our final, it is their final’ NEVIN ON WEMBLEY ‘89

he dichotomy of it is the Hillsborough disaster happened only a few weeks before, there was no way I could walk away gutted, depressed and fed up, I have got no right to do that. We got beat, we tried hard against a right good side but it was all in check. “That is how I felt at the time and to this day, it still is. I think it would be offensive to the Everton fans not to be disappointed, but people had suffered. “We played in that final and realised what Liverpool and Merseyside had gone through, there was people in the stadium who had lost people, you looked around and thought ‘it is not our final, it is their final’. “But the biggest

■ Pat Nevin was speaking after the first ever all-female Football Aid charity match held at Goodison Park in conjunction with Wrigley’s Extra chewing gum. Their Extra 90+ campaign has seen the company donate £1,000 for every goal scored in added on time in the Barclays Premier League this season.

disappointment since is when I played here it was mixed, Liverpool and Everton fans mixed at the games. The atmosphere is still good, but the Merseyside derby was special in that there was not the hatred there is today.” Of tomorrow’s game, Nevin adds: “All neutral fans are with Everton this time. They are the underdogs and for various reasons Chelsea’s popularity has dropped, whether that be because of the success they have had or the amount of money they have spent. “Everton invited me to the final as a guest and I was asked by various TV companies to cover it but a couple of months ago I was asked to do the Scottish Cup final and said yes. I think that is for the best because I would not be cheering for either side.” Nevin adds: “I do not think my Everton career quite took off, I played three fantastic games in a row, playing the best football I have ever played, then I did my cruciate. “I fought back but you are not yourself, and within the team, it was not a happy unit with the older players and the younger ones. “As soon as Howard Kendall came in I was stuffed – I stayed another year which I should not have done. “He wanted me to play in a very regimented way, which was the antithesis of my style. Whichever club I had been at I was told ‘Pat, go and do it, you know what to do’. I was disappointed it did not turn out as well as I had hoped, I was player of the year twice at Chelsea and expected to come here and have similar success.”

Everton 1 Chelsea 1 (FA Cup fourth round, January 2006) In their first ever FA Cup encounter, David Moyes’ side took a deserved lead at Goodison Park when James McFadden headed home Nuno Valente’s cross in the 36th minute. But Chelsea fought back in the second half with Frank Lampard’s 73rd-minute equaliser. The replay at Stamford Bridge was a different story as Chelsea won 4-1. Everton 2 Chelsea 3 (Premier League, December 2006) Arteta’s penalty gave Everton a half-time lead, but the Blues were level when Michael Ballack’s free-kick hit the post and deflected in off Tim Howard’s back. Joseph Yobo’s header restored the hosts’ advantage but Chelsea turned the tables in the last 10 minutes, first Lampard and then Didier Drogba scoring the goals. Chelsea 1 Everton 1 (Premier League, November 2007) Drogba was Everton’s tormentor once again, netting what looked to be the winner with 20 minutes to go but Tim Cahill executed an acrobatic bicycle kick in injury time. Chelsea 2 Everton 1 (League Cup semi-final first leg, January 2008) Shaun Wright-Phillips put Avram Grant’s Chelsea 1-0 up midway through the first half, but Everton had the hosts at their mercy after John Obi Mikel was sent off and Ayegbeni Yakubu equalised with a brilliant shot on the turn. McFadden hit a post and the Toffees looked set to take an advantage into the second leg until Joleon Lescott headed into his own net in injury time. Joe Cole scored the only goal in the return leg at Goodison.

DAILY POST Friday, May 29, 2009

Wembley 2009

COLIN

T A L K I N G

T A C T I C S

FA CUP FINAL 2009

O N

T H E

HARVEY

B I G

W E M B L E Y

S H O W D O W N

Everton will be on a high if they win aerial duels T

DEFENCE

IM HOWARD was of course the hero for Everton in their semifinal penalty shoot-out win over Manchester United and he’s enjoyed a good season. Everton have a good solid back four and the American keeper is the rock behind them. He’s a great communicator with his defenders and he’s broken the club’s Premier League clean sheets record this term. I expect Chelsea to operate with a front three of Nicolas Anelka, Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba. If they go this way then they have two ways of playing. They can either go through the midfield or route one to Drogba. Fortunately for Everton in Joseph Yobo and Joleon Lescott they have got two centre-backs who have got a great physical presence. Drogba likes to bully defenders and use all his physical attributes to overpower them but I don’t think that he will get away with that against those two though. Chelsea will be looking to pick up the pieces with the second ball but Everton are as good as any team in the country at dealing with that. When the ball drops in and around the box, they get bodies in. Malouda will drift out to the left and Anelka to the right and it’s important that Everton deal with these two. To be fair Tony Hibbert is good in one-on-one situations and enjoys them as he knows what he’s up against. He needs to make sure he doesn’t allow Malouda to get on the outside of him and get crosses in. If Malouda does manage to start delivering balls in from out wide then Chelsea will try to pull Leighton Baines in from the left and exploit the fact that he isn’t a six-footer. On the other flank, Baines must try and drive Anelka on to his left foot and not let him run and dribble to score the type of goal he got against Sunderland at the weekend when he lashed the ball in. Baines likes to get forward but he is also a very good defender and he’s shown this season just what a quality performer he is so if anyone is going to shackle the

BAINES

combines with his magnificent leap. There might be better footballers out there who can deliver a killer pass but he has still got wonderful ability, is as brave as a lion and will always be worth his place with his penchant for nicking goals. There aren’t any question marks over Saha’s ability but it seems his body can no longer withstand the rigours of Premier League football throughoutan entire season. But when he is fit, he still got plenty of pace and that’s the one thing that Chelsea centre-backs John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic don’t like. In the full-back positions, Chelsea have in Jose Bosingwa and Ashley Cole two players who are actually better at attacking than defending. They’re both quick and love to push forward but this of course means that they have a tendency to drift out of position. Unlike the two centre-backs though there are question marks over their aerial ability and this is something that Everton must try to exploit from set-pieces. In goal, Petr Cech has picked up over the last month or two after going off the boil a little bit. He remains one of the world’s top keepers but again I think he should be tested with a few high balls into the box.

BOSINGWA

PIENAAR

ANELKA NEVILLE LESCOTT

TERRY

LAMPARD

HOWARD

CECH ESSIEN

DROGBA

CAHILL FELLAINI

YOBO RODWELL

IVANOVIC

BALLACK

HIBBERT

MALOUDA

Premier League’s leading goalscorer then it’s him. MIDFIELD hen it comes to attacking ability from this area then I think that Chelsea have the edge. Frank Lampard has an outstanding goal return from midfield and when it comes to scoring from deep then he’s in a category not far behind the likes of Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. Considering this, it’s crucial that Everton skipper Phil Neville overcomes any injury niggles he has from the Fulham game to take his place as the holding midfielder and try and keep Lampard under wraps. Everton have to stop Lampard from making the breaks that he times so well but as someone who has played a considerable amount of his career in the back four, Neville should be able to read the danger. If the ball is played wide and the centre-backs go to look for it

OSMAN

then it is these spaces that Lampard likes to nip into. Michael Ballack is also a threat pushing forward but he’s more of an aerial threat and doesn’t have the same kind of shooting range as Lampard. Marouane Fellaini also has an eye for a goal which has surprised a lot of people this season. Standing at 6ft 4in and much higher still with his hair, the big Belgian certainly has a great presence about him and is effective in both boxes. The goals that he has scored have tended to be important ones too that have either won a match or saved one. Some might see it as a bold move to start with teenager Jack Rodwell at Wembley but he’s the only Everton player to have scored at the new national stadium to date! The lad may be inexperienced but he’s got a cool head and sound character and I’d expect him to relish the occasion rather than let it overawe him.

COLE

Out wide Leon Osman and Steven Pienaar are tricky without being really quick. They’re not natural wingers as such and cut inside which allows Cahill and Fellaini to get into the box. Behind Lampard and Ballack, Michael Essien is likely to fulfil the holding role. As they push forward, Chelsea have the Ghanian behind to bolt the door. In a way Essien is wasted in this role as he’s a driver who can carve through opponents himself and fire in shots but he still manages to make his forays upfield and cause damage from his deeper starting point. ATTACK iven that Moyes will want to keep things tight, he could well play Tim Cahill on his own up front and Louis Saha might have to be content with starting on the bench. Part of Cahill’s secret is the timing of his runs which he

Chelsea will be looking to pick up the pieces with the second ball but Everton are as good as any team in the country at dealing with that

DANGER MAN rank Lampard may get a bit of stick when he’s on England duty but for Chelsea he’s top class. Any midfield player who can average 20 goals a season year in, year out is something special and he has to be stopped if Everton are to win this game.

OVERALL VERDICT ike a lot of people I predict that it will be a very close contest. The trick for Everton is not to concede early on as I believe the longer the game goes on and it’s still tight then the more chance Everton have of nicking it. Both Premier League matches between these sides this season were cagey affairs and they failed to produce a goal between them in 180 minutes of play. There’s a good chance that it could even go to penalties again but my hunch is that Everton are just going to shade it, probably 10, as it looks like it’s going to be their year.

Colin Harvey was talking to CHRISTOPHER BEESLEY

DAILY POST Friday, May 29, 2009

EVERTON v CHELSEA

MARK G I V I N G

H I S

V E R D I C T

LAWRENSON O N

T H E

B I G

F O O T B A L L

I S S U E S

Everton can draw upon big chance at Wembley

’VE seen odds of 7-1 for a goalless draw in the FA Cup final – so I know where my money’s going. Because anyone expecting this FA Cup final to be any different to the previous two is dreaming. The first final at the new Wembley between Chelsea and Manchester United was the best advert for cricket I’ve seen in ages. And last year? Well, I was commentating on it but I’ve only just managed to remember it was Portsmouth who beat Cardiff CIty. At least it was a name from outside our ‘big four’ on the Cup, and I fear it might take a similarly tight and tetchy encounter to ensure the same thing happens again. After all, both league games between these two have already been 0-0 this season. And there’s nothing wrong with that, because if the streets of Liverpool are lined with blue on Sunday afternoon nobody in the crowd will care how Everton did it – the fact that they have won the Cup is all that will matter. So a bore draw might not be such a bad thing after all. But for me, that’s the most likely outcome in the game – as long as Everton do what they have been doing all season. David Moyes has drilled a discipline and a determination into his side that gives them great belief that they can pull off a famous win and bring home the club’s first trophy for 14 years. And the manager will be reminding them that all they have to do is carry on the good work of the semi-final against Manchester United. On that occasion they proved

that they could make up for their relative lack of experience on the biggest stage by sticking to their jobs and being fully focused over a gruelling two-hour shift. So they need to draw on that most invaluable experience. They played a top side, took it to extra time and then won the penalty shoot-out. They coped with the fatigue, the pressure and the occasion admirably. And that is why Chelsea know nothing will come easy to them at Wembley tomorrow. One of the most encouraging aspects of this Everton side, however, is that if the game does end goalless it won’t necessarily be for the want of them trying to get a breakthrough. Yes, they will defend well and get men behind the ball to frustrate their opponents because that is what Moyes has made them into – very difficult to beat. But Cup finals are all about seizing the day and making sure that if you do get an opportunity you take it. For that reason, part of me feels that Moyes should go for it to a certain extent – by playing Louis Saha from the start and having Marouane Fellaini and Tim Cahill to back him up. Add Leon Osman and Steven Pienaar to that mix and it might start to look a bit over-ambitious. But the great thing about Everton’s midfield is that the players don’t tie themselves down to one role. They can attack and defend as a team – a work ethic that is the key to any successful trophy-winning campaign. And when they’re as difficult as this one has been, it’s even more deserved.

Get set for more Wembley penalty shoot-out heroics tomorrow

Guus could run out of gas if Chelsea need to find that extra bit of inspiration

Guus Hiddink

EVERTON proved in the semi-final with Manchester United that going into extra time is no problem. I don’t think you can say the same about Chelsea. To me, they have looked leggy in the past

few weeks, almost as if the end of the season can’t come quickly enough. So the last thing they will need is it being delayed by an extra half hour. So the simple brief for Everton is – keep Chelsea at bay.

And that isn’t actually as difficult as it sounds. They’ve done it twice in the league already and Chelsea never really spring any surprises on you. You know the formation, you know what the players do and, let’s

face it, it’s not even as if they have a real playmaker in the side, the one who can deliver that killer pass or do something out of the ordinary. And I still believe Guus Hiddink will be reluctant to drop either

Didier Drogba or Nicolas Anleka, who will more than likely be shipped out to the right. Talk about having the Premier League Golden Boot winner exactly where you want him. Mark Lawrenson was talking to NICK SMITH

Get spot on and claim the expenses CHRIS WRIGHT PENALTY shoot-outs and Everton used to be as complicated as an MP and his expenses claim form – with similar ugly consequences. But having got that particular monkey off their back – Everton not Westminster’s ‘finest’ – in the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United, you could do worse than claiming back your own Wembley expenses by backing a repeat against Chelsea. So many finals go to penalties these days and Everton at 12-1 (Boylesports) to bring the trophy back to Merseyside following a shoot-out success looks a stand-out bet. If you’re a neutral, backing both teams to win in the shoot-out is always a sensible option and gives you a guaranteed winner if the final goes all the way. Chelsea are 11-1 (totesport, Boylesports) to end their own penalty woes. Few finals provide a great spectacle, with nerves and being so close to the prize inhibiting the sides. While we all hope for a classic with David Moyes’ side coming out on top, recent history barring one or two exceptions make it appear unlikely. Even so, there are usually great betting opportunities. Everton (9-2 Coral) and Chelsea (4-5 Boylesports, Skybet) have drawn a blank both times they have met in the Premier League, while the Goodison Park side’s record against the Premier League’s big four this season has seen either draws or close games. So it makes sense to err on the side of caution. A draw at 90 minutes (13-5 bet365) is a real possibility. And while a no goalscorer bet (9-1 Victor Chandler) may seem a bit pessimistic, it also looks the most likely outcome.

THE WRIGHT BETS: Everton to win on penalties (12-1), Chelsea to win on penalties (11-1), final to be a draw on 90 minutes (13-5); no goalscorer (9-1), Michael Essien to be the first player booked (16-1). OTHERS: Tim Cahill to score first (12-1 e/w), Marouane Fellaini to score first (14-1 e/w), Everton to win 1-0 (101).