They're all 'bigging up themselves'

By Chris Kirwan
July 16 2003

The lack of arrivals at Goodison this year has prompted several fringe players to announce their intentions for the forthcoming season.

While Wayne Rooney was today warned by David Moyes that: "If Wayne wants a guaranteed starting position, it won't be at Everton” several other less recognised squad members have stated that they intend to make an impact for the Blues this year.

First up was Niclas Alexandersson who was stating the importance of having a break from football in the summer, which allowed him to come back refreshed. He stated: “I felt fresh when we started back and hopefully I'll benefit from that. I'd like to think I'll be in the team and I've done what I can in terms of getting fit so I've got the right base for the season. I've just got to see if it's enough to get back in the side, but obviously that's what I'm aiming for."

Added to Alexandersson's hopes, Mark Pembridge claimed that he was a potential solution to the Blues’ lack of goals from midfield. The ginger wizard notched the Blues’ first goal of the season last year, but then suffered with the rest of the side. But he claimed: "I did score regularly earlier in my career, but then if you look at my career I played consistently, week in week out - except for when I came to Everton. So hopefully I can stay injury free and if I get a run in the team perhaps I can score a few goals.”

I don’t think he’s aiming to topple Paul Scholes from the top of the goal from the ginger midfielder chart (surely there was one in the OPTA charts?), but if he can rise above Ray Parlour and even Steve Watson then he’s on the right track.

And a couple of younger players have declared that they, like Alexandersson and Pembridge, are looking to make more of an impact this year. Nick Chadwick is looking to add further competition to the Blues’ forward line: “Nobody would want the ‘forgotten man’ tag, but I’ve just got to concentrate on getting fit and playing as well as I did toward the end of last season and the season before that.” While Leon Osman stated: “I’ve just got to show the manager what I can do and hopefully he’ll see that I’m capable of doing the job of the player he’s looking for."

Moyes will have to be as resourceful as he was last year if the Blues are to build on the progress made under him, and he will welcome the efforts ‘outsiders’ in his squad to force their way into the side. The strides made by the team last year were heavily based on every member of the squad coming in and playing their part, and fundamental to Moyes’ success was the way in which he encouraged players on the fringe to come and take their chance.

While Alexandersson, Nyarko, Pembridge et al may not feature at first, Moyes will be pushing the importance of them taking their chance if and when it arises. While some teams are making a few more signings than the Blues, not many of them have the surplus of unexploited talent at Moyes’ disposal. While it may be a back-handed complement, Moyes certainly has plenty of cover in the ‘not a bad player if they can sort themselves out’ category, and if he can get the best out of them he’ll deserve another Manager of the Year award.

The squad numbers were announced today, and it seems to be business as usual………… First team squad