Source: Liverpool_Echo
Greg O'Keeffe: Tony Cascarino got it wrong with prediction of doom and gloom for Everton FC
EVERTON'S surging form in this twilight of this Premier League season could yet have one football pundit preparing to get stuffed on humble pie.[LNB]Back in November the Times' (irony-free) 'incisive voice of experience' Tony Cascarino kindly tried to top anyone wondering about Everton's future.[LNB]Because Big Tone had seen it! He'd seen it, and...well, it wasn't good.[LNB]The Toffees were going to slide into mid-table mediocrity while Sunderland and perhaps Birmingham City' leap-frogged them.[LNB]It was nothing new. We'd heard this all before. The sentiment had been repeated at some point during the two previous campaigns and Everton still finished fifth in both and reached a cup semi-final and an FA Cup final.[LNB]Cascarino ignored the injury catastrophe which tore a hole through Everton's first team.[LNB]But Moyes (who should have quit back then to save his reputation according to the oracle) is set to make Cascarino look dafter than usual.[LNB]Yes, Everton were in a stinking run of form and a patch-work side had been brushed aside home and away by Benfica.[LNB]But they missed the creative core of a side in Arteta and Pienaar and I'd argue they were missing Osman's threat too.[LNB]Equally, despite a lot of Blues wanting to deny it at the time, the blues were still re-adjusting to the lack of Joleon Lescott and his distribution from the back.[LNB]Back in November I took a pop at Cascarino and wrote, 'Yes, we might not make the top six this season. Yes it's tough to swallow but we probably won't progress beyond the last 32 of the Europa League.[LNB]'And yes, there's every chance an FA Cup run might be beyond us.[LNB]'But when our injury list shortens and we get that slick, fast-moving Arteta-propelled football flowing again we WILL start winning games again'.[LNB]It wasn't as if I'd been possessed by the spirit of a prophet like Nostradmus. Anyone could see the Blues' flirtation with the bottom half of the table in the first half of the season was a false position.
