EXCLUSIVE: Anders Limpar is encouraged by how Everton have started at their new Hill Dickinson Stadium home
Everton’s former Super Swede Anders Limpar reckons visitors to the Blues are going to feel the pain again like they used to do at Goodison Park, but that doesn’t mean David Moyes’ men are going to stick the boot in.
Over the years, many visitors commented on how difficult it was to come to Goodison: Sir Alex Ferguson said: “It is always a nightmare,” Arsene Wenger remarked: “Everton’s ground is a lot more aggressive than Liverpool’s, it’s one of the noisiest I’ve been to,” while Paul Scholes concurred: “I never found Anfield intimidating, Goodison Park had the better atmosphere.”
However, with the Blues having swapped England’s first purpose-built football ground and their home for the past 133 years for Hill Dickinson Stadium which is enabling them to play in front of the biggest regular crowds in their history, Limpar reckons they can turn back the clock.
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Moyes’ side are undefeated by the waterfront after five matches and Jack Grealish’s dramatic stoppage time winner last time out completed a 2-1 comeback victory over Crystal Palace to prevent the south London outfit from extending their unbeaten run to 20 matches.
Now 60, Limpar was the flying winger who Everton’s last trophy-winning manager Joe Royle dubbed “a football genius” among his tough-tackling “Dogs of War” side that took a bite out of Fergie’s Manchester United to defeat them 1-0 in the 1995 FA Cup final and he reckons away side won’t relish coming to the Mersey waterfront. Speaking in association with Freebets.com, the home of the best betting sites, Limpar, a boyhood Evertonian who grew up in Stockholm idolising Bob Latchford and Imre Varade, told the ECHO: “Everton is no longer a team who everyone thinks is an easy game. Back in the 1970s, the 80s, the 90s, to go to Goodison, you know it’s going to f*****g hurt.
“When I played for a successful Arsenal side in the early 1990s, when we had Everton away, everybody would go: ‘F**k me, it’s going to hurt.’ I’m not saying that David Moyes’ side need to play really hard or dirty football, but it’s going to be a hard game to come to Hill Dickinson Stadium.
“I can see we are going back to the old Everton way where we are hard to beat. We’re looking good at Hill Dickinson Stadium and we’re looking good away.
“That’s the proper way to do it. I’ve got high hopes and we’ll finish between sixth-to-10th place this year – for sure.”