What a great season Everton have had. They sit sixth in the Premier League and are guaranteed a place in next season’s Europa Cup after reaching the FA Cup Final anyway.
Best
They have achieved this under the guidance of David Moyes who is establishing a reputation for himself as one of the best manager’s around. In fact, Sir Alex Ferguson said that Moyes, Wenger and Martin O’Neill are the top three. (Strange he didn’t mention Rafa!)
It is terribly sad that Everton’s star defender this year, Phil Jagielka, will miss the end of the season, including the FA Cup final. He ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee against Manchester City at the weekend and will be out into next season.
Yesterday he had surgery on the knee ahead of schedule and Mick Rathbone, the Everton head physio reported that the operation had been a success,
“The surgeon is absolutely delighted and the player’s rehab can start more or less straight away. It went really, really well. We never put a timescale on this type of thing but we’re looking forward to having him back as soon as possible next season.”
Twenty-six year old Jagielka earned his first England cap this season and scored the winning penalty against Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final. When he realised his injury meant that he would miss the final he said that he, “cried and cried and criedâ€Â.
Creative
Jagielka is in good company at Everton as team-mate Mikel Arteta has missed a large part of this season and will miss the rest, with a similar injury. The fact that Arteta has been missing makes what Moyes has achieved with his team even more remarkable. There is no doubt that Arteta has been Everton’s most creative player over the past couple of years and he has arguably been their best.
Whilst Jagielka is obviously not pleased that his team-mate has suffered a similar bad injury, he is pleased to have the company,
“Arteta was there at Wembley for our semi-final win over United to see us get through, but he was obviously gutted that he wouldn’t be there in the team for the final. Now I’m in the same boat, so it’s nice that I’ve got someone going through a similar situation. He is obviously a month or two ahead of me so he can help me and guide me along the way when I’m feeling down.”
It is not just the loss of Arteta and now Jagielka that Moyes has had to contend with. Arteta was injured in February, but top striker Yakubu has been out since November. The Yak ruptured his Achilles tendon.
Everton also lost the services of Victor Anichebe back in March with a knee problem.
Crucial
When you look at that list of injuries and just how crucial those individual players are, it makes you realise just how well this side have done to have such a successful season.
To do without Arteta who was the club’s player of the season in 2006 and 2007 and Yakubu who has scored twenty-six goals in fifty-six games for the club has left a massive hole in Moyes’ starting eleven.
Canny
The forty-six year old Glaswegian is a canny manager and has kept Everton, on the whole, in the top half of the table since he came to the club in 2002. He has achieved this despite their often being turmoil behind the scenes and with having considerably less money to spend than many of his rivals.
He has recently been awarded a new five year deal with the club and few can doubt that was fully deserved. I would guess that he has a job for life at the club if he should want it.
What Moyes has achieved at Everton was recognised by the Government Minister Andy Burnham, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport, who said,
“Mr. David Moyes is probably a fine example to everybody in government of stability and making the right decisions for the long term.”
It is a shame for Moyes that he will take his team to Wembley without Jagielka, Arteta and Yakubu, arguably his best defender, midfielder and striker, but if anyone can cope with their loss, he can.
Whatever happens, this has been a great season for Moyes, Jagielka and all at Goodison Park.
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