Settled Side

Everton's great form since the start of the year has been helped by having a settled side. Alan Irvine explains.

Alan says: "A settled side helps, but it also helps to pick the same team when the players are playing well. You don't have to make too many changes, you have to be conscious of the fact that it might be the right moment to make a change if someone is looking a little bit jaded. But we have been able to put out the same team.

The players who haven't been in the team haven't had any complaints because those who have been in the team have been playing very well. That is easy to do, the difficulty is in picking teams when you are not winning, and when you are not performing well, and when individual players are not performing well. We have got a lot of players on form just now and the team is playing well as a team and that has made it an awful lot easier to make that decision. But we have to look at each game on its own.

If I thought that I had the opportunity of going to a World Cup then I would be wanting to make sure that I did my best to force my way into a squad if I wasn't already in it. Obviously you aren't completely in control, but if you perform well week-in, week-out, then people will take notice." (03/04/06)

Patience is The Key

Alan Irvine is reiterating Moyesy's call in that he will not buy any old player for buying's sake. With the Blues desperate to strengthen their forward line, Moyesy and the Coaching staff are desperately scouring home and abroad for new talent. The problem the Blues have is that all clubs know how desperate we are for striking power, so no doubt a few noughts are added when Moyesy enquires over someone.

Alan says: "There is no point in bringing someone in if he is not right for us, and we don't have loads of money, so it is unlikely we will be able to get someone who is a prolific goalscorer, what we need to do is make sure that as a whole team we are clinical when we get the chances." (19/01/06)

Mentally Strong

Everton players have been warned by Alan Irvine to be mentally strong if they are to proceed in the FA Cup.

Alan says: "If they think they are going to go there and think they will just win the game, then they are probably going to get a shock. It is a very tough place to go. You have got to be ready mentally as well as physically, but the biggest thing of all is definitely mental. When I mention the mental side, I mean realising how difficult the game is going to be. It think it is easy for the players to think Millwall haven’t done very well in their division, but they have got to understand that it is a one off game and the players have got to be ready. We have plenty of players who have been in the position of underdog, they will all be able to call on those types of experiences. It is a special day for Tim and he will want to make sure it ends on a high note." (07/01/06)

Happy New Year

Alan says: “It’s been a great year for highs, with us finishing 4th last season and starting a European adventure but there have been some lows. But I will never forget 2005 because it was a special year for me from all the years that I’ve been involved in football. It’s a year that I will remember forever. We’ve all shared the ups and downs together and I would like to wish all our magnificent supporters all the very best for the New Year. (01/01/06)

Six Points

Irvine wants 6 points from the next 2 games. Don't we all? Everton face Sunderland away tomorrow. Then a home game against Charlton.

Alan says: "I would certainly hope for six points from the two games. It is a test without a doubt, but we do feel it is a test that we can rise to. Sunderland will probably be absolutely delighted to have had a day off, things couldn’t have gone any better for them. We ended up losing our game, which was disappointing. We had the demands of the game, which were tough, and we ended up losing a couple of players who are now suspended.

I’m sure sunderland having had a rest will have watched the game and been very happy with the outcome. We have got to get on with it, our players are fit enough and strong enough. It stretches us to the limit in terms of the squad, but we have to move on. You can't worry about the players you don’t have, you can only worry about the ones you do have." (30/12/05)

No Complaints

With Lee Carsley, Gary Naysmith, Alessandro Pistone and James Vaughan still missing from the 1st team squad through injury, Alan Irvine believes you just get on with it.

Alan says: "I score off the same names on my list everyday when I am planning the training. It will be nice when we get to the stage where those players are included again. It has been a long time that we have been scoring them off. It’s not something we complain too much about because that is unfair on the players who are in the team at the time and injuries are a part of football.

We were very fortunate last year, we didn’t get badly hit by injuries in what was a small squad and so we can’t go complaining about it too much now. Obviously it doesn’t help, everybody knows that it doesn’t help, but you just get on with it. It is one of the good things about David, he doesn’t make too much of a fuss about it, he gets on with working with the players that we have got and that is vitally important.

The more we complain about things like that the more negative signs we are sending to the squad as a whole and the more we are putting doubts into the minds of the players who are playing about whether we value them, and of course we value all of them." (18/12/05)

Score First, Simple

Score first, that the message from Blues Coach Alan Irvine. The Blues have not lost this season when they have scored first, but as soon as we concede, well less said the better on that one.

Alan says: "One of the key issues is that we have scored first in each of those games, and the margins are so small in some of the Premier League games that you tend to find the first goal is vitally important. Whenever we have scored first this season we have gone on to win, with the exception of the Chelsea game which was drawn. A significant difference (to a match) is scoring the first goal; I don’t think the form has been a great deal better when we have won than some of the games we have lost during the season." (23/11/05)

...and If You Know Your History

Alan Irvine is telling players and fans alike that if we win against Bucharest tonight, it will rank alongside some of the greatest nights in our history. The task facing the Blues is immense, with only four teams pulling back a similar deficit in UEFA's 49 yr history.

Alan says: "It would be one of the greatest European results in the club's history and would be a terrific achievement. It would be great to be a part of that but if we did manage it I would not want to be in this position again. We wish we didn't have as much to do. It is a very big task, there is no doubt about that.

We don't feel the tie is dead yet but it is important we do have a go for it without being silly because the last thing we can afford is to give them another goal.We do need to go for it but the match does not need to be won in the first 10 minutes. Obviously we need a good start but as long as we don't give ourselves any harder a task early in the game then we can keep plugging away and hopefully turn up the pressure as the game goes on." (29/09/05)

Back to Basics

Everton Coach Alan Irvine is telling the players to go back to basics, and make themselves hard to beat again. With four Premiership goals conceded, and only one scored this season, Everton's hard to beat aura of last season, is quickly fading away.

Alan says: "We built a good team spirit last year from being very difficult to beat. We have got to make sure we don't lose that determination and don't lose the fact we are a hard team to play against and a hard team to beat by being an attractive team. We can't lose what we had last year and what made it such a good season - we want to add to it rather than take away anything.

We want to win games. I am a purist and I would like us to win games playing very attractive, passing football. But if you said to me, would you rather win than lose, then of course I would. We have got to make sure there is a cutting edge. We have got to make sure that if we are going to play good football there is also an end product. That is something we have to work on and something we have to address." (12/09/05)

No Rest For The Wicked

It may be International week, and Bellefield may be a quieter place this week with players off representing their countries, but for Alan Irvine and his training staff, it is anything but relaxed. They all fly off and keep tabs on their own playing staff, and were necessary try and catch up on any potential transfer targets.

Rumours however of fight between Alan and some of the back room boys have been quashed by Everton officials. Their conflict was apparently who went out to the Solomon Islands to keeps tabs on Everton's golden boy, Tiny Tim.

Alan says: "We watch as many games we can. Obviously, we have to decide what the most important games for us to go to are. There is no doubt we will all be going to games during this period. But it is a case of deciding whether it is an international game or another game somewhere else we need to watch. If it is an international game, we must decide if it is an international game involving our lads or of we are we better to go and watch somebody else. But wherever I am I like to keep an eye on Scotland's results. You never stop looking for their results." (04/09/05)

Practice Run

Assistant Boss Alan Irvine is looking on Everton's trip to Fenerbache as a decent practice run for Europe this season. The backroom boys are concerned about how they should travel home after European games, and they are putting a plan into action after tonight's match. Whatever happens in Europe this season they want to minimise the effect it has on their Premiership results directly after a European excursion.

Alan says: "It is a good dress rehearsal without it being too close to the real thing. We are trying to keep it as close as to how we would behave if we were going to play them in a European game. You would normally go out the day before with plenty of time to train in the evening but that is what we are not going to do. We are training at Bellefield.

The key thing for us to look at whether it is best coming back straight after the game or the next day. There are two schools thought and we just want to look at this particular way of doing it. We will see what kind of effect it has if we have a night in bed over thee rather than spend the night travelling back. We know Middelsbrough every time they played last year came back on the night and never got any results after coming back. Is that a factor? Well we don’t now and neither do Middlesbrough. We certainly are just looking at the whole situation. In days gone by you had to come back the next day but clubs are able to charter now and there is much more freedom, so we will look at that also.

Fenerbahce won their league last year and will of course be in the Champions league, so we know we are up against a very good team. Playing them know is going to be as good as you get in preparing for Europe. We wouldn’t expect the same intensity that you would normally get if we were playing them in a competitive fixture but we know it will be difficult." (30/07/05)

New Faces, I Promise

Coach Alan Irvine is insistent that more signings will happen before the start of the season. With only Per Kroldrup, Simon Davies and John Ruddy added to the squad from last season, the Coach knows that we will need two or three more faces to compete on four fronts this season. Again four front this season.

Alan says: "We are certainly not finished. We want to add more players to the squad. Last year we got lucky with a very small squad and did not suffer through injuries or suspensions. We can't be that lucky again and hopefully we will have the extra demands of a number of European games. We know we are going to lose players and we have to make sure we have the depth to cover. Look at Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United, and the size of their squads. Clearly they recognise the need for top quality cover." (22/07/05)

Scorchio

As well as battling against notloB, Shittttteeeehhhh, and the Thai National side this weekend, Alan Irvine is telling us the biggest battle is against the scorching temperatures that Thailand is having at the moment. The Blues will schedule training times to the cooler parts of the evening, and the players have been told to take as much liquid on as possible. Not that kind of liquid though Dunc. !!!!!

Al says: "We have a plan for the week but whether we are able to do it is another matter. We are sure it's going to be very hot out there. We have had a look at the forecast and it's going to be 35 degrees for the week. How long we will be able to train and how we will be able to train in those conditions remains to be seen. We have to be careful. We have two games to play and we are not there for that long in the light of the travelling time. We hope we will be able to get a lot of good work into the players but we may not be able to get as much as we would like to. We will pick and chose when we go training. We have the use of the training facilities 24 hours a day and transport 24 hours a day and we will make use of that flexibility. We can train in the evenings and early mornings if we feel it is necessary." (18/07/05)

Euro Challenge

In a busy pre season schedule, Coach Alan Irvine is still trying to fix a game in with Euro opposition before our debut in The Champions League in early August. With a trip up to Scotland to face Motherwell, then a Tournament in Thailand, Alan is saying Everton are close to announcing a European game in the near future, to give our squad some badly needed experience with their Champions League weeks away.

Al says: "We were let down on a trip we had planned and so we had to start chasing around looking for a replacement. It looks like we have probably found something now and we are close to announcing it. We are just waiting for the final confirmation. We feel we need to have some experience of playing in foreign conditions. We will be tight for time after we get back from Thailand but we feel we have to have some experience of playing in European conditions with foreign referees and linesmen so we can get a feel for the differences involved prior to us going into a Champions League qualifying game.

We will be getting very tough games in Thailand but we want tough games in this pre-season. This is when you get all your fitness work done but it is also when you do a lot of psychological work and the last thing you want is for the players not to consider it a beneficial pre-season. That doesn't mean it has to be a lot of fun because the players are aware it is a very serious time and a time for hard work. But you want them to come away and say 'that was right for us and it has prepared us in the best possible way physically, tactically and mentally'." (27/06/05)

Bring 'em On

With the Blues about to embark on their first European Tour in ten years, coach Alan Irvine is not put off by the fixture congestion that will go with it. Alan rightly points out that the more successful a club is the more games it must play, so lets bring 'em on.

Alan says: "The end of the season has been brought forward a week because of the World Cup next summer. I would imagine that would add to the congestion. But the level of that congestion depends on how you do in the cup competitions. If we do get into the Champions League group stage we are going to find we will have a lot more games to play. The more successful we are the more congestion we will have to contend with, so that is what we are hoping for. You hear people complaining about playing so many games but it means you are doing well, so I hope we have similar problems to contend with." (24/06/05)

We Want Madrid

At an exclusive screening of the new Everton DVD - "Everton 2004-05 Season Review - Champions League We're Havin' A Laugh!", Alan answered a few questions about last season. All good stuff. When asked if he thought Everton would finish in the top 6 this season.

Alan says: "I was at a dinner last season and was asked if I thought we would finish in the top 4. I told the fans 'Yes I did.' After the dinner a fan came up to me and said: 'You were only saying that!' I told him: 'No I believe we will still finish fourth.' I do believe we are good enough to finish in the top 6."

The end of the DVD shows what could happen if Everton play Real Madrid, there are images of Ronaldo, Moyes, Figo, Cahill, etc. Alan says: "The first text I got when we had qualified for the Champions League was from Tommy Gravesen, which said: 'I hope you get Madrid'. I text back saying 'So Do I'".

Alan wouldn't be drawn in naming transfer targets. Alan says: "Not so long ago a manager would contact another manager and a deal was done, but now the are agents, Chief Executives, Chairman, board members all involved in the transfer deal. But we will be doing all we can to bring the right players we want to improve our squad."

On the Scott Parker deal, Alan says: "Of course he's a very good player and it would be great for the club if someone like Scott Parker was to sign. But we're not close to completing that kind of deal."

When pressed on the delay in the Mikel Arteta transfer, Alan says: 'It's ongoing. I want him too.' (14/06/05)

Alan Irvine 2004/2205

Full Squad 2005/2006