Source: Liverpool_Echo
DOMINIC KING: Phil Neville the glue that holds Everton FC?s dressing room together
WHAT a difference a year makes: 12 months ago, certain people would have relished seeing an Everton team minus Phil Neville - now he's the one man they can't afford to be without.
He is not the most skilful player currently residing at Goodison Park nor would you ever describe him as being prolific in terms of providing goals or assists but, quite simply, the glue that holds the dressing room together was carried off at Craven Cottage last Sunday.
The Blues have suffered some appalling luck with regards to injuries in recent seasons and these players never seem to sustain the normal, run of the mill problems like tweaked hamstrings or pulled groins.
Metatarsals have been broken, Achilles tendons have snapped and knee ligaments have ruptured, giving David Moyes the headache of preparing for big games without his most influential performers.
But whereas he found ways of overcoming the handicaps last season of losing Ayegbeni Yakubu - the partnership between Marouane Fellaini and Tim Cahill went better than expected - and Mikel Arteta, Neville's absence provides a completely different headache.
When Neville was switched from right-back last season and asked to fill the role of holding central midfielder, Everton's fortunes soon swiftly transformed, as he barked out orders and cajoled his team-mates.
Neville's biggest critics accuse him of being nothing other than someone who points and shouts, a player who is almost untouchable in terms of squad selection as he is invariably the name that Moyes puts on his team-sheet.
There is, of course, a reason for that and it has got absolutely nothing to do with favouritism - to suggest that Moyes picks his team on the basis of whether he likes someone is an idea that borders on absurd.
