Everton certain to respect us

The Latics star writes every week for Chron Sport


THE EVERTON game is an occasion absolutely everyone at the club wants to be part of.
There is a huge buzz around Boundary Park; you only have to count the journalists and TV crews rolling up for the pre-match press day this morning to see how massive an occasion it is.

If we play as well as we did against Liverpool, you never know what might happen.

Nobody is under any illusion about how difficult it will be to overcome an Everton side with some of the finest players in the world.

Marouane Fellaini is one of the best midfield men in the league at the moment.

Steve Pienaar has been absolutely superb and makes the team so dangerous going forward.

I rate Leighton Baines as the best left-back in the country now - even above Ashley Cole, and that’s saying something.

Everton will be a different proposition to Liverpool. Their expectation of us will have changed following the Liverpool game.

Tony Philliskirk is in charge for the tie and he has really taken on the mantle since Paul Dickov left.

On Wednesday he trained the youth team - which goes to show the amount of work he is putting in at the moment.

He is getting help though — in particular from Cliff Byrne, who has to an extent taken himself out of the playing equation as a result.

It is a tough job for Tony. But his character is like Paul Dickov’s: he tackles a situation head-on.

So far he has done fantastically well. I know people have said MK Dons didn't play well last week, but we didn't let them. We forced them into mistakes.

Hopefully, we can do likewise against Everton.