TIM HOWARDS RALLYING CALL...
HOWARD
By The Nark End
February 26 2010
TIM HOWARD SPEAKS ABOUT PUTTING LAST NIGHT BEHIND US AHEAD OF SUNDAY'S GAME AGAINST SPURS.....
Tim Howard tries to lift the mood ahead of this weekend's game.....
Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard has urged his team-mates to put the heartache of Thursday's Europa League exit behind them.
The Blues were defeated 3-0 by Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon, resulting in a 4-2 aggregate loss in the last-32 clash.
But Howard now wants the team to focus on getting back to their best on the domestic front and continue their recent fine run in the Premier League, with a trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Howard said: "We're tremendously disappointed to say the least. It was a game in which we thought we had the ability to go through in Europe and we were excited about those possibilities. But tonight we didn't deserve that.
"So in the end, we got what our performance actually deserved."
The American shot-stopper continued: "When you look across the board in Europe, it's all about the teams who are winners – that's what they do. They win games, they go onto the next one on the front foot, they lose games and they dust themselves off and they go out and get the next result.
"So for us, we need to go out and get the next result and give the performance against Tottenham we know we can produce.
"It will be massive for us. I think any time you face the teams around you and get the full three points it stops them from taking the points and it boosts you up a little bit. We’ve been on a good run and we want to keep that going."
David Moyes' side have won on each of their last three league visits to White Hart Lane, with Steven Pienaar's deflected effort off Vedran Corluka the only goal of the game in last season's corresponding fixture.
Howard knows that the game will be a tough one and singled out Jermain Defoe as the dangerman at the weekend.
"We’ve had to play tough strikers in the last couple of weeks and over the last month - and he’s another one that we have to try and bottle up and limit his chances and I’m certain the manager will put a good gameplan together.
"We don’t worry about it but we’re certainly conscious of it.”