Neville out for two months

Michael Kenrick , 17 November, 19comments | Jump to most recent

Everton Captain and midfield general, Phillip Neville underlines the vulnerability of the thin Everton squad: he will be out of action for two crucial months of the Premier League campaign after undergoing knee surgery yesterday.

Neville, 35, was forced off the pitch after injuring his knee in the 2-1 victory over Sunderland last week and had surgery on the problem on Friday.

The former Manchester United midfielder is now expected to be out of action until next year, manager David Moyes confirmed after his side's 2-1 defeat to Reading.

"He (Neville) had an operation on his knee yesterday that could keep him out for six to eight weeks,'' he said.

"His leadership was missed but we were missing quite a lot of senior players today and you could see that by our bench. Thomas Hitzlsperger did OK, not too bad.''

Neville is likely to miss key fixtures against Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham in the coming week, with his absence a blow for an Everton side also without Darron Gibson at the moment.

Quotes or other material sourced from ESPN

Reader Comments (19)

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Jackie Barry
1 Posted 17/11/2012 at 17:42:01

Midfield inspiration???? Seriously!

Edit duly made! — Ed

Mark Tanton
2 Posted 17/11/2012 at 17:49:53

This is an opportunity. Time to forget about his, ahem, 'contribution', and concentrate Hiltzsperger and Gibson (hoping they're fit).

Ciarán McGlone
3 Posted 17/11/2012 at 18:12:16

I agree.. blessing in disguise.

Patrick Murphy
4 Posted 17/11/2012 at 18:06:42

This is such a strange event; not even a whisper of any problems with Pip, in the same week as DM says he wouldn't be averse to offering Neville another year's contract. How long does it take to arrange such an operation?

I know he has not performed anywhere near as well as we would have hoped; 6-8 weeks out and then recovering fitness may see him miss a larger slice of the season.

I hope Hibbo is near to fitness as we now need as much experience as possible if we are going to arrest the slide in results (7 points from a possible 18) and Coleman has to be restored to further up the pitch as he is not a RB.

Ian Bennett
5 Posted 17/11/2012 at 18:39:11

It's another body down going into hectic Christmas schedule. For those rejoicing get a grip.

Jimmy Sørheim
6 Posted 17/11/2012 at 18:43:44

It is a good thing losing Neville to injury. It forces Moyes to maybe recall Barkley as backup for Hitz. Neville has never been a midfielder and never will be, so Gibson needs to step up his recovery and get back to work!

Otherwise, it will be a fight between Junior and Hitz if Barkley is not recalled. We have a midfield problem and after watching Hitz against Reading the problem is still there. Either Junior or Barkley will have to step up or results will continue to suffer.

Adam Baig
7 Posted 17/11/2012 at 18:42:32

I think it will be interesting to see how we get on without him. He has never been liked by the majority of fans, but I think he genuinely is inspirational.

For me, he is the best right back at the club, but is picked at CM where we have better options. That is not his fault. The other players – Shandy excepted – seem to respect him, and Jagielka is no captain in my book.

We have some difficult games in the next 6-8 weeks, and I am looking forward to how the Neville haters will assess them.

The truth is we can't afford to lose any player, really, and I fear after today's result we may go back to KITAP1 – especially after seeing Moyes's kipper in the post-match...

Sean Patton
8 Posted 17/11/2012 at 19:17:11

Surely now he has has to recall Barkley back from his loan and get him in the side.

Lewis Barclay
9 Posted 17/11/2012 at 22:13:12

Well said Sean.

Graham Shaw
10 Posted 17/11/2012 at 22:35:29

What a coincidence; no Neville, no win... a loss even!

Chris Davies
11 Posted 17/11/2012 at 23:48:19

Ciaran,

Blessing in disguise, or blessing in the bleedin obvious??

Anto Byrne
12 Posted 18/11/2012 at 02:46:59

Duffy and Heitinga as CBs
Jags RB, Distin LB
Baines to LW Peanut RW
Fritz & Ossie in the middle
Jelly & Nais up front.

Back to basics: Defense and fast counter-attacks. Keep it tight till the New Year. Freshen up with Barkley and loan in Vadis.

James Stewart
13 Posted 18/11/2012 at 08:48:01

Good.

Jeff Beaumont
14 Posted 18/11/2012 at 12:27:56

Why is everyone convinced Barclay is this best thing since sliced bread?
If he was good enough for the PL he'd be in the team.Age isn't a problem - if you're good enough you're old enough(eg Sterling, Oscar etc).

Anto Byrne
15 Posted 18/11/2012 at 12:36:24

Let's at least look on the bright side.

We are 5th, have 20 pts and halfway to the magical 40 survival point. The team is playing beautiful football, creating chances. We have Gibbo to come back, Mirallas is a joy to watch. Barkely is wowing them at Hillsboro and could come back into the fold.

One game at a time and not let's get carried away. We are capable of getting 4th, so I am expecting business as usual next time out. Norwich: beware the wrath of Everton.

Sean McCarthy
16 Posted 18/11/2012 at 14:26:01

Anto your side appears to've forgotten about Fellaini. And as for your fullbacks, I'm glad it's not you picking the team!!

And say what you like about Neville, I'd have him at RB before Coleman every day of the week. Another game... another goal given away. He has no idea how to defend and is a headless chicken going forward. A truly piss poor player yet some on here talk about him as tho he's a potential world beater.

Sean McCarthy
17 Posted 18/11/2012 at 16:32:07

Just seen Fellaini is suspended next week but our fullbacks are still dodgy!!!!

Mike Allison
18 Posted 18/11/2012 at 18:20:14

Never before have I so wanted to be proved wrong. I think Neville is totally undervalued and under-appreciated, and unfairly criticised.

Please let us not miss him.

Tony Doran
19 Posted 18/11/2012 at 22:09:22

We should have known that was no tactical move last week when Neville went off, when we were getting beat by Sunderland. To think, if he hadn't've been injured, we probably would have been beaten.

Straight swap for Heitinga and get Distin back with Jags. Onwards and upwards.

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