Tough at the bottom for Toffees

EVERTON assistant boss Alan Irvine has revealed how the club’s players have found themselves in a mental trough after failing to build on last season’s fourth-placed finish.

Hopes were high for this campaign, but they were scattered after quick-fire exits from both the Champions League and UEFA Cup, at the hands of Villarreal and Dinamo Bucharest, respectively.

Such has their form vanished that Everton were outplayed by apparently doomed Sunderland on Saturday, only to snatch an undeserved 1-0 victory thanks to Tim Cahill’s stoppage-time winner.

Cahill had been otherwise quiet, but the smash-and-grab raid at the Stadium of Light pushed Sunderland closer to the Premiership exit and lifted the Toffees to 16th in the table, three points clear of the relegation zone.

It was a goal which may relieve some of the pressure on David Moyes’ team as they prepare to face Charlton at Goodison Park today.

“It’s been tough,” admitted Irvine.

“Obviously, things are great when you are up near the top of the league, and things aren’t good when you are down near the bottom.

“We had a lot more fun last year, albeit that it was still as tense in a lot of games as it was on Saturday. “It has been tough, but when you have been involved in football for as long as we all have, then you are used to that. It very rarely bobs along quite happily. Usually, you are either way up there on a high or else you are a way down there on a low and you are not watching Match of the Day at nights.”

A TV replay of Saturday’s match would have made for sobering viewing on New Year’s morning on both sides of the Pennines. Sunderland, not for the first time this season, gave a decent display and finished with nothing, while Cahill’s late intervention merely papered over the cracks of a dreadful display by the visitors.

“It was a huge game for both clubs and it was obviously a very, very important game for us to get the three points in,” said Irvine.

“Whether that will mean that it’s a massive result for the remainder of the season or not, time will tell. If we survive by three points, or even one point, then it will prove to be; if not, then clearly it won’t really matter that much in the grand scheme of things.”

Rather than look up the table, the priority for Everton is survival, an indication of how rapidly their fortunes have gone into decline. Before sinking Sunderland, they had gone five league games without a win - a dire run which followed a decent streak of form which took in wins over Birmingham, Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Blackburn.

Charlton revived their form after a run of eight defeats in nine games with Saturday’s 2-0 win over West Ham, and Irvine knows his side will face a stiff task once again against the Addicks.

“It’s another huge game for us,” he said.

“Charlton won on Saturday - they are a team who were doing very well at the start of the season, but have been struggling to get good results of late.

“It will give them a lot of confidence to have won that game, especially with it being a local derby for them, and it will be a very tough game.

“In the past, Goodison has been a really difficult place to play for opposition teams - we hope we will get back to that very, very soon, clearly starting with the Charlton game.”