Midfielder Gareth Barry has acknowledged that Everton's pursuit of a Premier League top-four finish are all but over and that beating Manchester City in this week's League Cup semi-final is needed to get fans back on board.
Sunday’s 2-1 home defeat by Swansea City left Everton 12th in the table, 13 points adrift of the top four, but the team will be looking to recover quickly when they travel to the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday with a 2-1 lead from the first leg.
Read more:
Greg Lea on Liverpool and Everton, in decline and trophy desperate, could use jolt of League Cup life
Manchester City ‘face a battle’ as ready for League Cup fight against Everton
Steve Luckings on Diego Costa, Chelsea’s chief architect of mischief, feeds on opposition hate
Richard Jolly on how Louis van Gaal has reached point of no return with Manchester United fans
"The top four is going to be really tough," Barry told the Liverpool Echo. "If we are going to set a target, then the top six is more realistic.
“The players are aware the fans are frustrated but it is down to us to play through that.”
For Barry, Wednesday’s game offers a chance to bring back the feel-good factor and breathe some life into Everton’s faltering campaign.
“We have big games coming up in cup competitions. We focus on a huge game against Man City and hopefully we can get the fans positive again and then return to the league,” he said.
“In an ideal world, going into a game like Wednesday would be with a win.
“There is nothing better than going into games on a winning run, when you are feeling confident, but that’s where we are at the moment. We have got to go into a League Cup semi-final on the back of a defeat.”
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Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
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Cast: Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi
Rating: 4/5 stars
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Awar Qalb
Director: Jamal Salem
Starring: Abdulla Zaid, Joma Ali, Neven Madi and Khadija Sleiman
Two stars
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