Jim White: Everton ‘have got to live with’ points deduction after Manchester United loss as ex-Reading boss issues ‘excuse’ verdict
Jim White suggested that Everton and the fans have “got to live with it” in regard to the club’s points deduction even if they are convinced it is “wrong”.
The talkSPORT host responded live on the station on 27 November after Paul Ince had warned the club not to fall into the trap of using their punishment as an “excuse” after the unfortunate 3-0 defeat at home to Manchester United.
The former England midfielder was speaking from experience as the former manager of Reading when they also had points deducted, urging Sean Dyche and his players to put the situation out of their minds until the result of the appeal has been finalised in light of being on the wrong end of a tough result despite playing well.
Ince said (5m 25s): “As bad as it is for the Evertonians, and it is bad, I live up near Merseyside in the Wirral so I get it from Everton fans and I get it from Liverpool fans and they’re both fantastic sets of fans, but it gets to a stage where you can’t keep using that as an excuse if you’re not winning games and you’re not playing well.
“I get it now, the game the other day, Man United had three shots and scores three goals so it was a game that Sean Dyche would have felt he maybe could have won.
“But until we understand if it’s going to stay as 10-points or if it’s going to be reduced to six-points you can’t keep using that as an excuse when they’re losing games.”
White added: “Evertonians will say it’s wrong, of course they well, they’ll jump on it and say that it’s wrong, but they’ve got to live with it.
“We don’t know the ins and outs, for sure, whether it’s right, wrong, or not.”
Karl Robinson accepted: “They’ve got no choice now… I think there’s other clubs in our Premier League that’s done just as bad.”
Firm but fair
It sounds harsh but that is ultimately the right attitude because for all the injustice that is felt around the club they clearly aren’t going to get any leeway at the end of the season when the table is set.
Dyche and his players absolutely need to harness whatever motivation they can gain from the us-against-the-world feeling they have, and the fury of the fans behind them.
But they still need to be just as upset with themselves when they miss out on points on the pitch and prepared to rectify the situation at the earliest opportunity.
The United defeat highlighted how there are no moral victories on offer as a strong home performance where Everton were arguably the better side amid the protest at their circumstances ended up with a heavy defeat despite not doing a huge amount wrong.
Ashley Young’s rashness and the lack of quality finishing can be levelled against the Toffees, but the game is gone now and a “huge, huge” Nottingham Forest clash is the key focus now in the words of Roy Keane.
As long as the team stays professional and doesn’t get distracted in a negative way by the off-field situation they can use it to their advantage, and most believe they have enough quality to climb back up the table, but clearly Ince knows what it is like in a similar situation so his advice is probably pretty sound.
In other Everton news, a lawyer has blasted Andy Burnham’s official complaint as “totally hopeless”.