take a bow

Posted by Ian Marshall's Double in Everton | 7 February 2006

Henry Ford:

If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can't, you're right.

Confidence appears to be the key for these three, and right now they are worthy of special praise.

Leon Osman

Having gone through one of those classic 'give him a new contract and he goes all shite' periods, and basically looking physically ill-equipped to cope with beasts like Papa Bouba Diop and the like, Neon Leon has bounced back superbly. In a team of 'up and at em' types, Leon gives us that little bit of subtlety needed. Definitely a confidence player, and playing with loads of it as evidenced as early as the first minute at Goodison on Saturday.

Kevin Kilbane

Hugely maligned footballer who was an integral part of last year's success and is just starting to get it back. Still has the ability to frustrate immensely, as per his miss from close range against Millwall, but his last Goodison 180 minutes have been his best in ages. He was head and shoulders above anyone else in the Chelsea game. Another confidence player who needs managers, fans and teammates to believe in him. Definitely handicapped in the first half of the season by the fact that his loping run and lank hair make him a dead ringer for Nuno Valente. I think Zinedine 'copped the flack for naughty Noo-Noo' as an Australian cricketer would probably put it.

Tony Hibbert

The erstwhile 'Blue Barometer', Hibbo can look terrible sometimes but there has been a common theme in recent games. He has had a lot of defending to do and been up against players like Reyes and Robben. This has helped him immensely as he is an excellent defender. He times when to go to ground superbly well and has got the only real pace in our current Yobo-less defence. He should never play for England, his distribution and crossing are not good enough, and why would we want him to anyway.

We all know from last year the difference between 4th and 20th ain't that much. These 3 could easily slot into a side in any of the bottom 17 places in the Premiership. They achieved the peak last year and looks like we;re heading to the upper echelons once again.

Comments

1. At February 10, 2006 11:33 AM Ian Botham's Double wrote:

Interesting stuff Ian.

I'm with you on Hibbo, his last ditch tackles are spot on.

Leon would be top if he only had a little pace (just a little!).

Good stuff, look forward to reading more at work.