Michael Ball tackles the big issues at Hill Dickinson Stadium following Everton's back-to-back wins over Newcastle United
Everton's Jack Grealish
Everton's Jack Grealish
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You’ve got to give credit to all the other players in Everton’s squad because all of the news has been about Jack Grealish and the type of lad he is. Rather than feeling sorry for themselves at losing a star, the rest of the squad have stepped up.
They know that they’ve got to prove they’re able to play without Jack because we did miss him when he was injured in the second half of last season. He’s still an unbelievable footballer and we want him to get back into our starting line-up sooner rather than later because having him in the side gives you a stronger team than without him.
I think Frank Lampard will get a good reception from the home fans at Hill Dickinson Stadium. He’s obviously a well-liked figure in football and a former team-mate of mine.
He’s someone who a lot of people loved when he came to Everton and although he had that memorable night keeping us up against Crystal Palace, after that, things didn’t really go his way.
That happens in football and people move on, but Coventry have had some fantastic results of late, beating Newcastle 4-1 and then defeating Sunderland 2-1 last time out.
It’s a bit strange because we played in the Monday night slot and now we’ve got our first Friday night fixture, so it’s a short turnaround for David Moyes and his team. We know how Frank likes to play and the data he looks for.
He knows what the Everton fanbase is all about, so he’ll probably try and overplay a bit to attempt to keep the home supporters quiet. We’ve got to try and put the pressure on them and while they’ve had some positive scorelines, when they come to Hill Dickinson Stadium, we don’t want to make it easy for them.
Let’s keep the run going because we don’t want to be going into this next international break with just those three points from Monday night. This is an opportunity to push up the table and a great incentive to build on the work of the past week.