“He felt his foot which is a bit of a worry,” Irvine said. “It is something that we will check out and Tim will have an X-ray this evening.

“I have just been speaking to him now and he feels a lot better.

It obviously gave him a bit of a fright about but we will just make sure he is okay. I thought he played well in the time he was on tonight.”

I looks like he’ll be alright and hopefully back in the lineup as soon as possible. As for the game that was played, the boys from Merseyside ended up with a disappointing draw. With some spotty defense and unfinished chances they managed a 2-2 finish with goals by McFadden and Anderson da Silva.

Werder Bremen do have a nice squad, so finishing in a draw is nothing to frown upon. There were some encouraging moments for the Toffees and certainly David Moyes must be happy with some of the play. Especially seeing Anderson da Silva score his first goal for the Toffees. It would be nice to see either him or McFadden step up their game this campaign.

Everton’s 19 year old striker, James Vaughan, will be out for an extended amount of time after dislocating his shoulder during a friendly match played against Preston yesterday. The youngster sustained the injury it what was called an incidental collision with Youl Mawene. Vaughan was taking to the hospital where the assessment was not good. Alan Irvine, an assistant boss to the club had this to say,

“It will be months rather than weeks with James – a couple of months I should expect,” Irvine told the club’s official website. “We will learn the full extent of it tomorrow.

“Having suffered the injury myself I know how painful it is and how long it can take to get back.

“It is not a long, long term injury – it is not anything like his knee problem – but it is not something we expect him to return from in a matter of weeks.

“It is bad, bad luck for him. After being out for so long he did really well at the end of last season and was looking good in pre-season so it is not just bad luck for the lad but also for the team.”

This is some really bad news considering I had really high hopes for him this year. The only good thing that may come from this is that maybe Moyes will look at bringing in another striker to help out. Once again, I wouldn’t hold my breath and it doesn’t look like he is at all interested in bringing in offensive help.

With all of the big names transfers going on around Europe it’s nice to at least wrap up what you do have (Even though I would love for them to actual sign some one else like Henry). We just secured the future of the club for another 5 years by extending the contracts of two of the best players on the team. Mikel Arteta and Tim Cahill have both agreed to new contracts with the team. Bill Kenwright, Everton’s chairman, had this to say:

“Negotiations have now been satisfactorily concluded and I know the two lads are as happy as we are.

“David Moyes and myself were keen to get these important extensions wrapped up before the new season opens. We did it in the Everton way – quietly, efficiently and away from the glare of the spotlight.”

I’m just glad they did it. There were speculations that both would be headed else where. Arteta back to Spain to play and Cahill possibly to West Ham. These guys are two important parts to the team and are needed to compete at a high level. Now if we can just sign another striker to play alongside Johnson I’ll be happy.

The Toffees goal keeper extraordinaire, Tim Howard, help the Americans win this years Gold Cup. Howard just might have won the game with his incredible save in the closing minutes of the final match against Mexico. The States ended up beating Mexico 2-1 in the Gold Cup final. Howard stone-walled Adolfo Bautista from point blank range to send the ball over the crossbar and make one of the best saves of the tournament. I’m still wondering why Bob Bradley, US coach, decided to go with Kasey Keller in their semi-final match against Canada. Timmy had this to say after the match

“I’m still in shock you know. It’s just one of those things where you practice all the time, and sometimes it comes off for you.

“I saw the ball break through and I tried my best and today it was good enough. It’s one I’ll remember forever. Sometimes the team needs you to come up with a big save, and you know you can make a difference. I was elated.”

Team USA had to come from a goal behind to beat the Mexican side. With Mexico up 1-0 at the half the Americans got two second half goals from Landon Donovan and Benny Feilhaber to win the game. Howard also had this to say after the game:

“We felt like they were on top of us a lot, but they only scored the one goal, and thankfully it came late in the first half so we could regroup. We knew we only needed a goal to get ourselves back in it, so we were really calm and composed and we came out and did the job.

“We’ve been talking for about a month about how we need to become a band of brothers, and today we talked about not getting divided. So when that goal went in, we thought ‘if a goal is going to divide us, we’re cooked’ so we talked about sticking together, showed a lot of character and a lot of heart. A lot of that has to go to Bob Bradley for the way he prepares us.”

The US squad will be headed to Venezuela to take part in Copa America. They will be without Howard’s services however. He will be headed back to Merseyside to start pre-season training with the team.

Sheffield United utility man, Phil Jagielka, maybe returning to the Toffees real soon. Jag was released by Everton when he was younger, but is ready to pick them over Aston Villa or Newcastle now. He is believed to have a release clause in his contract that would allow Everton to offer up £4m for his services. Jagielka was used as a substitute for the England B squad when they played Albania last week and seemed to impress. With Sheffield being relegated it only makes sense for Jag to move to a Premiership squad to further his professional career.

This is a solid move in my opinion because Jag can play so many different positions (right-back, center-back, midfield). He will be a welcomed asset to the team and his International experience is a added bonus.

The last official Premiership stats of the year have been released and Mikel Arteta and Andy Johnson are listed in the top 12. Arteta placed 6th overall with AJ ranking 12. The Toffees had 5 players in the top 30 (Tim Howard(21), Phil Neville(27) and Joleon Lescott(30)), which was the second most behind Man. U (6) and better than Liverpool(4), Chelsea(3) and Arsenal(3).

Great job to all of the guys for their hard work. It just goes to show you that Liverpool isn’t the only team in Merseyside with talent these days. Hopefully we can add to that talent pool this off season and next years top ten list will be filled with Everton players.

Here is the complete Top 100 listing:

1 didier drogba Chelsea 628
2 cristiano ronaldo Manchester United 617
3 dimitar berbatov Tottenham Hotspur 611
4 wayne rooney Manchester United 580
5 frank lampard Chelsea 572
6 mikel arteta Everton 567
7 cesc fabregas Arsenal 565
8 gareth barry Aston Villa 561
9 benni mccarthy Blackburn Rovers 535
10 gabriel agbonlahor Aston Villa 517
11 ryan giggs Manchester United 505
12 andy johnson Everton 498
13 david james Portsmouth 489
14 dirk kuyt Liverpool 487
15 el-hadji diouf Bolton Wanderers 483
16 marcus hahnemann Reading 482
17 steven gerrard Liverpool 481
18 paul scholes Manchester United 477
19 steve finnan Liverpool 469
20 matthew taylor Portsmouth 468
21 tim howard Everton 467
22 gilberto Arsenal 467
23 ricardo carvalho Chelsea 463
24 edwin van der sar Manchester United 462
25 jose reina Liverpool 462
26 rio ferdinand Manchester United 461
27 phil neville Everton 454
28 kolo toure Arsenal 454
29 david bentley Blackburn Rovers 453
30 joleon lescott Everton 452
31 michael carrick Manchester United 445
32 nicolas anelka Bolton Wanderers 444
33 brad friedel Blackburn Rovers 443
34 nicky shorey Reading 441
35 pascal chimbonda Tottenham Hotspur 440
36 jens lehmann Arsenal 439
37 emanuel pogatetz Middlesbrough 435
38 paul robinson Tottenham Hotspur 426
39 michael dawson Tottenham Hotspur 425
40 jussi jaaskelainen Bolton Wanderers 423
41 ashley young Aston Villa 420
42 nemanja vidic Manchester United 418
43 kevin doyle Reading 418
44 jamie carragher Liverpool 417
45 stewart downing Middlesbrough 416
46 richard dunne Manchester City 414
47 liam rosenior Fulham 412
48 gary speed Bolton Wanderers 412
49 gary o’neil Portsmouth 411
50 olof mellberg Aston Villa 411
51 kanu Portsmouth 410
52 emmanuel adebayor Arsenal 408
53 mark schwarzer Middlesbrough 407
54 gary neville Manchester United 406
55 andriy shevchenko Chelsea 403
56 ivan campo Bolton Wanderers 403
57 sylvain distin Manchester City 401
58 peter crouch Liverpool 398
59 mark viduka Middlesbrough 398
60 morten gamst pedersen Blackburn Rovers 398
61 joey barton Manchester City 396
62 patrice evra Manchester United 393
63 xabi alonso Liverpool 392
64 joseph yobo Everton 391
65 alexander hleb Arsenal 389
66 jermaine pennant Liverpool 386
67 michael essien Chelsea 381
68 aaron lennon Tottenham Hotspur 376
69 ivar ingimarsson Reading 376
70 linvoy primus Portsmouth 372
71 kevin davies Bolton Wanderers 371
72 john terry Chelsea 370
73 abdoulaye meite Bolton Wanderers 369
74 darren bent Charlton Athletic 368
75 james milner Newcastle United 366
76 brett emerton Blackburn Rovers 365
77 steven taylor Newcastle United 363
78 andrew taylor Middlesbrough 361
79 brian mcbride Fulham 357
80 scott carson Charlton Athletic 356
81 lucas neill West Ham United 355
82 lee carsley Everton 349
83 thierry henry Arsenal 349
84 stephen hunt Reading 349
85 louis saha Manchester United 348
86 bobby zamora West Ham United 346
87 john o’shea Manchester United 345
88 talal el karkouri Charlton Athletic 345
89 sol campbell Portsmouth 344
90 george boateng Middlesbrough 343
91 thomas sorensen Aston Villa 341
92 ayegbeni yakubu Middlesbrough 340
93 robin van persie Arsenal 340
94 salomon kalou Chelsea 337
95 michael ballack Chelsea 337
96 daniel agger Liverpool 337
97 claude makelele Chelsea 336
98 nicky hunt Bolton Wanderers 335
99 jermaine jenas Tottenham Hotspur 334
100 obafemi martins Newcastle United 332

To get a more detailed breakdown visit the ACTIM INDEX

Mister Clean, Lee Carsley, has signed a one year deal to continue playing for Everton. Cars had a nice season in helping Everton secure a spot in next years UEFA Cup. Many believed that Cars was headed to Wigan Athletic when his contract was done. He had this to say:

“I am absolutely delighted to be honest. I have had a fantastic time here and hopefully that can continue now.

“Myself and the gaffer sat down two or three months ago and he said he wanted me to stay and I said I wanted to stay as well. I am just glad we have come to an agreement.

“We have got the UEFA Cup to look forward to next season. The manager has got the right blend at the minute and that is important.”