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Post by Everton News. on Feb 25, 2015 13:48:45 GMT
 Graeme Sharp is looking forward to watching the Everton support roar the Blues into the next round of the Europa League. Having helped themselves to four away goals against BSC Young Boys over in Switzerland, the Toffees are well placed to progress ahead of the home leg against the Swiss Super League side. And Sharp is looking forward to Everton continuing their scintillating form in Europe under the Goodison Park floodlights in front of a passionate home crowd. “There is nothing better than European nights at Goodison,” he said. “The fans are incredible. They have a big, big part to play and always have done, especially under the lights. I remember we went 1-0 down against Bayern Munich. The fans were behind us, cheered us on and we got the result. “Even against Fiorentina, though it wasn’t to be our night, the fans drove us on. “Hopefully with the supporters behind us, we can get the job done against Young Boys. Then we can look forward to hopefully landing a big club in the next round.” Everton will be considered a team to avoid should they reach that draw, such is the form they have shown on the continent. Wolfsburg, Lille and Krasnodar were all dealt with in ruthless fashion, allowing the Blues to top their group. And Sharp expects Roberto Martinez’s side to follow suit against Young Boys. “All European games have a little edge to them,” said the Blues ambassador. “It is great to see these European sides come to Goodison and pit their wits against us. “We have done reasonably well against the teams that have come over to play us and we will look to do the same against Young Boys of Bern. We will be favourites to go through – rightly so at 4-1 – but you can’t afford to approach it lightly. “They will come out flying and will want a little bit of revenge. They will have had another week’s worth of training after their winter break so I wouldn’t write them off. If they get the first goal it could be an interesting night.” “You look at some of the teams still in the competition – like Inter Milan – and you realise it is a big tournament to be in. It is imperative we get through so that we can hopefully draw a glamour tie.” Seats can still be booked for Thursday's match under the famous Goodison Park floodlights. |
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Post by Avinalaff on Feb 25, 2015 13:58:51 GMT
Presuming we get through, watch us draw Spurs or Liverpool now.
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3in11
Monster Midfielder
No easy games in this league.
Posts: 1,773
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Post by 3in11 on Feb 25, 2015 14:17:36 GMT
Presuming we get through, watch us draw Spurs or Liverpool now. That could be really interesting.....would you take your European mind-set to Anfield / White Hart Lane or would it be 'business-as-usual' ? I can't fathom whether it's something that Martinez does or doesn't do for the Euro games that makes the difference or if it's more to do with the player's mentality that they seem to 'do their own thing' more in those games. Someone once pointed out to me how very similar fear and excitement are, fear is excitement without breath and excitement is fear with breath ( he taught Yoga). Is it as simple as that? Do your players get that added 'kick' from Euro games that expands their chests, whereas in PL games they stay constricted? Just a thought. |
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Post by dorf on Feb 25, 2015 15:39:22 GMT
I don't think we've been outstanding in Europe, in some games we were lucky - Wolfsburg and Krasnodar come to mind - I think teams don't know much about us so we tend to fair better against them. I think a big club will be too much for us and an English club will know too much about us for us to be able to beat them. Maybe in if we got to the final then we might give a big or English club a run for their money, otherwise we might be in trouble.
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Post by Avinalaff on Feb 25, 2015 18:57:55 GMT
Presuming we get through, watch us draw Spurs or Liverpool now. That could be really interesting.....would you take your European mind-set to Anfield / White Hart Lane or would it be 'business-as-usual' ? I can't fathom whether it's something that Martinez does or doesn't do for the Euro games that makes the difference or if it's more to do with the player's mentality that they seem to 'do their own thing' more in those games. Someone once pointed out to me how very similar fear and excitement are, fear is excitement without breath and excitement is fear with breath ( he taught Yoga). Is it as simple as that? Do your players get that added 'kick' from Euro games that expands their chests, whereas in PL games they stay constricted? Just a thought. In my opinion, we aren't doing anything special in Europe. Young Boys was a good performance, and we were lucky with 2 of the goals not getting flagged, plus their missed penalty, so it could have easily been 2-2. Wolfsburg were all over us, and we hit them on the break. The big difference is that the Europa teams haven't punished us or taken their chances, and the scoreline has made it look better than it actually was. We are struggling in the Premier League because these teams do take their chances and the quality of opponent is superior. Maybe European teams have shown us too much respect, who knows, but if we draw Spurs or Liverpool I would fear the worst. |
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