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Marco Silva: Everton want to beat Man City - Liverpool game will not decide the title
There is a joke doing the rounds on Merseyside that Everton manager Marco Silva might be one game from the sack.
“If he stops Manchester City going above Liverpool on Wednesday night, they will definitely get rid of him.”
However light-hearted the sentiment, mixed feelings in the stands are symptomatic of the conflicting emotions across the football club as Silva seeks to reverse deteriorating form ahead of a brutal run of fixtures.
The manager needs an immediate upturn in results and performances, especially as there has been no improvement since majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri branded the season ‘not good enough’ at last month’s General Meeting.
There have been three defeats – including in the FA Cup at Millwall – since. After City, Everton travel to Watford and potentially wicked symmetry given the ill-feeling following the Merseyside club’s approach for Silva last season. Then Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United are the next Goodison visitors.
On Tuesday, Moshiri appeared to offer support to his coach, although the statement was hardly emphatic.
“It’s a project. The Everton fans quite rightly demand good football. We want young players to develop and they need to play,” Moshiri was quoted on Talksport.
“Marco Silva is a talented coach but he is planning long-term. He will coach and develop those young players and every year those young players will become stronger. In this business, you have to hold your nerve.”
When asked if he felt the backing of Moshiri, Silva replied: “Yes. When you have the possibility to meet, we do, when not, we speak on the phone.
“For me, when you are in this job, it’s normal. When you are winning games in a row, normally what the people say about you is good. And when you are not doing what you would expect, it’s normal this type of situation.
“But for Everton it is not new. I’m here to talk about the present. About the confidence he showed to me, we are always in contact. I know what his feelings are. I know what is our project also and when he spoke about the situation with the young players.
“Of course, you cannot just win with young players and we must have everything in our squad.”
When Everton last faced Manchester City with Liverpool in need of a favour, it was a strange encounter in 2014, the eventual champions encountering little resistance on a subdued evening.
With so long of the season remaining this time - and Liverpool’s form no guarantee they would take advantage of another City slip – Silva rejected the idea the Goodison crowd wants anything other than a home win. He said he needs all the help he can get against such formidable opposition.
“What I want and what is my feeling is that this title race is not for us to look to,” he said.
“We know what is our fight and for sure our fans what they want is our team winning the game.
“We are talking about one title and at this moment more than just two teams are fighting for this title.
“But there are many, many games to play and nothing will be decided (on Wednesday).
“For us we must think about what is our aim from the match and do everything we can to achieve that because it will be really, really tough. All the other fights are not for us.
“When you are playing against a really strong side and we are not in a very good moment also, the things that can equalise the balance is our fans creating a strong atmosphere in our stadium to put us in a condition to fight for a good result against a team like City.”
Everton will have Idrissa Gueye available for the first time since a bid for him from PSG was rejected.