everton in uefa cup - again!
today's news will undoubtedly be about man utd winning their 10th league title in 16th attempt..dont get me wrong but this is a tremendous achievement, and i do envy that...but i am really proud of my team everton...
fairly, everton have finished exactly where they deservedly belong, they couldn’t be competitive in the Champions League next season if they finished 4th, with the lack of squad depth due to injuries and lack of finance to add some major strength or big name players who seem to avoid us and prefer to play with teams in the EPL top 4.
So where does 5th position leave everton at season's end? Obviously in a better position than 6th because everton overall in the entire season were a far better team than anyone team behind them, and realistically better than 4th because we would have only been humiliated or exposed in matches especially playing away from home against the likes of world class opposition who have an open cheque to buy whichever player they want and simply would outclass everton onfield with what they spent over this seasons summer transfer window.
Overall, everton have improved in leaps and bounds in all areas and are still learning the game with ongoing development and hopefully a bigger budget to buy bigger names. everton are at the fringe of taking the next step in Champions League competition perhaps in a couple of seasons. I think another year in the Uefa Cup will strengthen the team and do the team wonders.
This season's Uefa Cup performance was quite outstanding, finishing on top of the group, and they could have won it this season if they had won on penalties, but you can’t beat bad luck in a shootout. Next season they will be far more experienced and competitive at this Uefa Cup level than being thrown amongst the lions in an unfamiliar Champion’s League level of football amongst the elite who would have left us squandering for answers next season what went wrong.
There’s nothing wrong with optimism and the team have surely proven they have given the fans the belief they are moving forward, but as fans it must be realistic that our form against the top 4 in the EPL is pretty poor and that tells us something — that we belong in a Uefa Cup level for the time being. It’s been a wonderful season with what the coach had in the piggy bank to spend.
the best performance from my everton this season was against fiorentina at home where we we eliminated by penalty shoot-out...we definitely outclassed the italians and it shows that we can play attractive football when its our day! and definitely need to sustain the "day" day in day out throughout the season!
europe here we come - again!