Match Preview

Or will the Everton Board be stung to act?  Unlikely, given the unusual position of power Walter Smith has at Goodison Park.  He has a long-term contract that would cost at least £1.5M to buy out...

So Walter Smith still has to motivate his poorly performing players to put in some effort on what promises to be a difficult road trip to Teesside.  Hopefully, they won't have been up all night bringing the New Year in...

Continuing injuries to Campbell, Gravesen, Pembridge, Pistone, and now Radzinski mean that Walter Smith's selection options are strictly limited... unless he is bold and courageous enough to look further into the Reserve team.  But let's be realistic: that is extremely unlikely.

And what of Middlesbrough?  Well, they are in nearly as bad shape as Everton.  Their last win was nearly a month ago and they have also lost their last four games, so this one holds every promise of being a pulsating classic... NOT!

The most probable score line on the basis of recent from would be 0 - 0, and that would represent a precious point for injury-stricken and motivation-bereft Everton.  But Walter Smith's usual inclination is to play for that from the start, hoping to protect the point he believes we have already.  And we just know that ploy so often ends in tears.

We have to hope that Walter is sufficiently mad with the players to "inspire" them to something better.  But the reality is that tactics, team selection, game planning, and motivation are all areas where Smith has shown himself and his side-kick Archie to be most wanting.