History beckons for Everton at Wembley on Saturday and, speaking as somebody who often played for the favourites in a Cup final, I can assure you that The Toffees are as nasty an underdog as you could imagine facing.
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Fouteen years is too long for a club of Everton’s history to go without silverware, and they will take Chelsea into the very deepest of waters to try and bring home the trophy this weekend.
The fact that they can win a trophy in a year when Liverpool haven’t won’t bother Everton all that much; they just want to win a trophy. It’s nice to get one over on your rivals, but Everton are a club who have been too long without the prestige of seeing their name on the Cup. That is what Blues fans will want.
When you lose a final, it feels awful. Make no mistake about it. Looking back at the Manchester United final we lost at Liverpool, it was an awful day. A terrible game, a bad day at the office for both teams, they got a stuffy goal in the dying minutes and it spoils everything. It’s the last game of the season, you have to go home, head off on holiday and just think for months about that game. You spend all summer wishing for the season to start so that you can erase the pain.
Some people say a Cup final defeat bugs you for the rest of your life, that’s not quite true. I won 11 or 12 trophies and lost three or four, you can’t afford to think “if only I’d done this”. Because for every one thing you could have done in a defeat, there is something special you did in a different game that you can think “if I hadn’t done that maybe we would have lost”. Look at United this season. They won the European Cup last year but now they’ve lost – that’s football.
I know David Moyes believes that first trophy will be a crucial springboard to greater success for Everton, and there’s no doubt that the club will only get better under his leadership. The problem is, unless they’ve got £100 million how much success is he talking? They can target the Europa League for sure, but as for winning The Premier League they would need a huge amount of finance injected into the club.
Moyes and Guus Hiddink are two of the game’s best managers when it comes to preparation and that is where they can make the difference on Saturday. A lot always gets made of pre-match rallying cries by the respective managers but I don’t think it makes a big difference. Five minutes before kick-off, all you’re concentrating on as a player is winning your personal battle with the man you’re up against. Half time can be important, everybody remembers Sir Alex Ferguson’s “45 minutes to get your hands on the trophy” speech, and that is a time when you sort things out.
More vital though is your individual battles – your one-on-ones. If Joleon Lescott marks Didier Drogba out of the game, and Phil Neville keeps Frank Lampard quiet, Everton are suddenly well on their way.
This game will be close. Set pieces are crucial. When you think back to the recent game at Stamford Bridge, Everton had nowhere near their best team out yet they still played extremely well and looked dangerous from set pieces. They will always pose a threat because they’ve got such an aerial threat in Cahill, Fellaini and Lescott.
Throw into that mix the excellent form of Steven Pienaar, who has been Everton’s best player for about three months now, and you can see where goals can come from. It’s really important that Pienaar gets on the ball in the final and plays his football in the right areas. Everton are one nasty prospect for any side in an FA Cup final, they can grind a result out, they will battle until the final whistle, plus they’ve got those smatterings of class that can produce a game-changing moment. It’s just a shame for Phil Jagielka that he’s not playing because that guy deserves to be in a Cup final.
On the flip side, Hiddink has got Chelsea looking extremely strong. Drogba, Lampard and Anelka are all firing, Malouda’s become like night and day from his early season form and they have got a hell of a lot confidence. The big difference Hiddink has made is releasing the full backs from their shackles, but the big question is whether that will happen at Wembley. We’re expecting a hot day, the pitch could be sticky, and if the ball holds up it suddenly becomes a battle – which Everton will love.