Everton's Jagielka hoping days of banging his head against a red Liverpool wall are over

Phil Jagielka doesn't believe previous meetings will play on the minds of Everton's players

PHIL JAGIELKA puffs out his cheeks, shakes his head, shifts uncomfortably in his seat and, having taken that time to deliberate, refuses point blank to answer the question he has been set.

 

"I understand where you are coming from, you might say there would be more Everton players than Liverpool, but you can argue both cases.

"You're not getting an answer out of me. I don't want to be a manager yet. I still have a few years left in these legs."

There is no Steven Gerrard - there will be no Scouser in Liverpool's starting line-up for a derby for the first time since the 1986 FA Cup final - and the ghost of Luis Suarez who regularly tormented his neighbour has long-since vanished.

So while Jagielka later name-checks Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho and, interestingly, Adam Lallana when quizzed on what about Liverpool might scare him, ultimately modesty prevents the defender from reeling off his true feelings and a starting XI with a blue hue.

Modesty and with it the grim realisation that favouritism has rarely sat well with Everton over the years as one Premier League victory in the last 17 meetings illustrates. 

Everton have appeared in the ascendancy previously only to fail to convert their advantage, whether it be numerical when Liverpool have had players sent off, or the simple inability to maintain momentum.

It has prompted the accusation they are psychologically flawed, unable to perform when the heat - and onus - is on them, although that same barb is now hurled the way of the current Liverpool side.

"Me personally? Yes, I have been banging my head against a table. Can't you see the red patch?" said Jagielka. "It has been horrible to play in and I have not won many derby games.

"I didn't win many at Sheffield United either so there must be something about derby games. You are killing me here. It is not a mental block. We have had different managers and totally different teams and different occasions.

"It is not an ideal run that we have been on. But the way the manager is, and the new wave of players we have got, I don't think the previous meetings will be on too many minds.

"Other than me and T-How [Tim Howard] there won't be many who have played more than five derby games anyway. Their heads won't be as sore from banging it against the table as mine."

Little wonder Everton manager Roberto Martinez urged his side to not to take any "baggage" into the game, although the highlight of yesterday's press conference came with the insistence his players should be underdogs on account of the £290m Brendan Rodgers has spent.

Rodgers, in turn, responded with a dig of his own.

"For us we are happy to take the favourite tag if people want to put that on us because we are Liverpool," he said. "It just shows you're a big club."

It serves as an irritation to Jagielka that the perception of the two clubs ahead of their latest neighbourhood squabble should be so polarised.

Everton, buoyed by Monday's 3-2 victory over West Brom where they trailed 2-0, are seen as flying and yet should Liverpool lose Rodgers will find his very position scrutinised by owners, Fenway Sports Group, during the international break. The stakes are high for the visitors.

Yet Martinez must change that view, and with it a culture, if his tenure is to be a true success.

 

"It's all different reasons," said Jagielka. "Budgets, transfers, player in, players out. The clubs had totally different summers, with expectations and things like that.

"But we're both not sat with four points. We're both in healthy positions. You can't control input from outside but maybe it's a sign of the times and we potentially do need to change.

"We've both had decent starts but for whatever reason it seems the red half are getting a bit more stick than the blues. We seem to be doing well, but for some reason they're doing really bad and are only one point behind.

"A lot of people are reading a lot into it which makes us potentially favourites. But we won't be going in thinking we are favourites, just that we have to keep performing as we have in patches of games and extend those patches."

If not, then that red patch on his forehead that Jagielka spoke of will take another pounding.

Phil Jagielka was supporting the biggest grassroots football tournament in the country – the English Schools’ FA PlayStation Schools’ Cup. Since its launch, over 150,000 players have been involved. Visit www.playstationschoolscup.com <http://www.playstationschoolscup.com>