David Moyes: Captain Phil Neville is Everton's life-blood

DAVID MOYES has been astonished by the influence his captain Phil Neville has had on his Everton squad, even though he hasn't kicked a ball for two months.Neville has targeted the trip to Old Trafford on November 21 for his comeback, after suffering the longest injury lay-off of his career.But manager Moyes says that even though Neville has not been available for selection since injuring knee ligaments at Fulham in September, his impact on the squad has been considerable.Neville has been a frequent visitor on matchdays and even made the trip to Lisbon for the Europa League clash with Benfica, even though he had no chance of playing.'It's hard to put into adequate words how good Phil has been during the time he has been out injured,' said Moyes.'He's at the away games, on the touchline with them all, he's in the dressing room before and after and at half-time motivating and giving them advice.'He is showing exactly what we know about him, he's a right good character and is in it for the team and not just for himself.'Moyes added: 'He is about everybody succeeding. He is part of a great core to this club.'That includes Phil, Mikel Arteta, Phil Jagielka, Leighton Baines, Tim Cahill and Leon Osman.'They have been the key to this side for so long, and we have been without most of them for long spells with some still out.'People like Phil are still trying to be an influence, and it is pleasing for me for them to be so involved.'Team-mate Sylvain Distin has been that rarity at Everton this season, an ever-present since he signed from Portsmouth for £5m.The French defender has played every minute of every match since arriving at Goodison, but he maintains the injury-hit Blues can do little else but battle on after recording a morale boosting win at West Ham.'We can complain, but it doesn't get us more points or get us anywhere,' he said.'We have got a lot of injuries, but there is nothing we can do about it.'We will use the players we have got and hopefully we will get some of those players back.'But we will do with what we have and we do have enough quality to play better than we have so far.'

Source: Liverpool_Echo