You Can't Buy Spirit

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First of all, what a fantastic result last night. It reminded me why I bloody love this football club. The Old Lady was properly rocking for the first time this season, and every man on the pitch was giving no less than 100%. I proper loved it!

Sticking it up City (again) was an awesome feeling. If each of their millionaires had even 50% of the spirit shown by the likes of Denis Stracqualursi, they would be unstoppable this season.

As Roberto Mancini is still discovering, you simply can?t buy spirit. You can lose it though, and up until last night I feared that was the case amongst our squad. That something special that can turn a team of average ability into a force to be reckoned with, has been sadly lacking throughout this season.

Then suddenly, out goes the fading talent, and increasingly looking-like-you-can?t-be-arsed figure of Louis Saha, and in comes the distinctly less talented, but lion-hearted ?Stracq? and we seemed to almost instantly get our mojo back. Not just up front, but all over the park? and that in turn has had a positive impact on what is going on in the stands. Let?s keep this up eh lads!

Off the pitch we saw an end to the transfer window which was surely better than any of us would have predicted. Jelavic is admittedly unproven in this league, but he certainly seems to have that knack of sticking it in the onion bag. I love the fact that in his interview, when asked what his strengths are as a player, he simply said ?scoring goals?. I hope he proves to be the kind of player that can grab us 15-20 goals a season.

He could prove to be a steal for what we paid, and the fact that we basically spent the money from the sale of the ineffectual Bily on him, plus reduced the wage bill by offloading Saha ? we shouldn?t be putting any greater financial strain on the club.

The loan move for Pienaar was also an unexpected bonus as the window was slamming shut. I think us Blues are quite divided on whether we should ever take him back, and I for one was pretty pissed off when he left. But now we have him back I hope we get right behind him and I look forward to a bit more Bainsey / ?Nuts action down our left flank. A smart move by Moyes I think as he?s a player that can instantly slot in and know the players around him and how they play.

So all in all, I woke up a pretty happy Evertonian this morning. I have been well and truly part of the half glass empty gang this season, and have been openly critical of our manager and board. But only because I was so desperate for things to improve, and also because I thought we could and should be doing so much better.

Last night we proved we can do better, and this is the level of performance that we should demand from our team every week and stop apologising for them when they fall so far below this level as they have done for so much of the season.

We still need major changes at the top, nothing that has happened in the last 24 hours has changed that reality. But I have a new spring in my step, and so I believe does our manager and players alike. Long may it continue! Bring on The Latics!

COYB!
Jamie Sweet, Liverpool     Posted 01/02/2012 at 20:59:21

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