BARRY HORNE: Why Everton were just as impressive as Juventus

03 October 2009 02:00
I was fortunate enough to be a co-commentator for the Bayern Munich v Juventus game in midweek. It was a collison of two giants of European football, both teams packed with top class players. The talent of Ribery and Robben were to the fore, but as the game progressed, what struck me was the resilience and self-belief of the Italians. Bayern Munich tore into their visitors and dominated the first hour of the game, but Juventus did not panic and did not flap. They stuck to their gameplan, eventually got themselves into the game and might have sneaked an improbable away victory. What was so impressive was that they clearly had great faith in themselves and in the way the coach asked them to play. This is true of all great teams. By that I don't mean teams which, through a combination of circumstances, have found a temporary streak of form, but teams who over a number of years have proved themselves to possess a certain stature and strength of will. Look at Manchester United's performances at home and in Europe, and similarly Chelsea. Carlo Ancelotti's side may have suffered a blip last week, but the fact that we know they will recover adds weight to the argument - and endorses the old cliche that form is temporary, class is longer lasting. I believe that Everton are developing that self belief and resilience. Once again we had a poor start to the season, but when we look back next May I am pretty confident that will prove to have been a blip. Our performance against BATE Borisov in many respects mirrored that of the Juventus performance I witnessed in Munich.

Source: Liverpool_Echo