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Jari Litmanen |
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PROUD David Moyes praised the performance of his players after Everton suffered a heartbreaking UEFA Cup exit.
He then went on to warn Fulham to beware a backlash from his side's UEFA Cup exit at Goodison Park.
Moyes takes Everton to Craven Cottage on Sunday and he expects his side to bounce back from their defeat by Fiorentina on penalties by maintaining their push for a Champions League place against Roy Hodgson's Cottagers.
Chasing a 2-0 deficit last night, goals from Andrew Johnson and Mikel Arteta brought the Blues level on aggregate.
However, the Italians advanced to the quarter-finals 4-2 on penalties. Ayegbeni Yakubu and Phil Jagielka both failed to convert their spot kicks, leaving Mario Santana to strike the decisive blow.
Everton must now concentrate on the Premier League. Moyes’s men stand alongside
fourth-placed Liverpool on 58 points with Villa seven points behind, with all three
having played 29 games.
“It’s a challenge now to get fourth or fifth in the Premier League as they are the
only two places we can finish in now to get a European place next season,” said
Moyes.
“But I don’t think that we are feeling sorry for ourselves tonight. We are just
a bit deflated because we didn’t win. Penalty kicks do that. We hope we can have
a good response after this. We’ll dust ourselves down and move on. We have nine
Premier League games to go and we should look forward to the positively because
Everton are playing well.”
Tim Cahill missed the game after taking a knock to the foot that had caused him
to miss much of last year with a metatarsal injury.
And Moyes admits the Australian is already a major doubt for Sunday’s trip to Fulham.
“He had a foot injury and a hip injury, so I don’t know which of those would have
kept him out,” said Moyes.
“We’ll give his foot a check, and I would think he is a doubt for the weekend.”