Source: Liverpool_Echo
Everton FC and England defender Phil Jagielka hails his defensive partnership with Sylvain Distin
PHIL JAGIELKA might be a paid-up member of the centre half union - but the straight-talking England star admits there is a reason that strikers are football's top-earning glamour men.[LNB]While David Moyes recently sympathised with Everton's defenders, who have watched in frustration as the forwards have conspired to miss chance after chance, Jagielka is sympathetic to their plight.[LNB]The 28-year-old overcame injury to play an integral part in Everton's much improved defensive display against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last weekend, and insists he now wants to help his team-mates atone for their last Goodison Park outing.[LNB]Jagielka bit his lip and faced the media after the Blues 4-1 defeat by West Brom in their last home game, claiming that crisis could bring the best out of the side.[LNB] But he is hoping for an all-round much happier afternoon when Roberto Martinez's Wigan Athletic come to Merseyside tomorrow.[LNB]He said: 'The atmosphere at the home games when you start missing chances can get understandably frustrated. The fans get annoyed and the groans get louder and louder, especially when you waste as many as we have.[LNB]'It does become energy sapping for defenders. But then you realise there is probably a reason why strikers get paid the most at clubs, because it's probably the hardest thing to do.[LNB]'The pressure is on them and they are the first port of call to get the stick when things don't work out.'
