Season › 2012-13 › News Jagielka braced for another battle Lyndon Lloyd , 20 December, 13comments | Jump to most recent Phil Jagielka believes that this weekend's trip to Upton Park could be just as physical as the battle at the Britannia Stadium last Saturday as Everton take on West Ham. The Blues came up against some uncompromising and often illegal tactics from Stoke City in their 1-1 draw and Jagielka says he and his teammates expect a similarly testing game from Sam Allardyce's men. “We were very happy once the final whistle had been blown,” the defender said of the Stoke game. “It is always a tough at Stoke, they play to their strengths and we had it tough at times because we are not the biggest of teams. “We think this weekend will be pretty similar. We are expecting a very physical and exciting game on Saturday.” David Moyes will, of course, be without Marouane Fellaini, whose frustration at being shackled by Ryan Shawcross last weekend led him to take matters into his own hands and earn a three-match ban. Jagielka admits he will be sorely missed but says that the players are used to being short on numbers. “It's not like we have had massive squads in the past. It will test our squad because it is always a busy time but the manager knows what he is doing and if someone needs rest then I'm sure they'll get it. “We just have to get some much needed points to keep us at the top of the league.” Quotes or other material sourced from Liverpool Daily Post Reader Comments (13) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer Trevor Lynes 1 Posted 20/12/2012 at 20:22:59 West Ham in the past were an attractive team that tended to lose physical battles on the field especially away from home. Now they are far more robust and their manager likes his teams to be harder to beat.Bolton were similar under Allardyce and its the way to stay in the premier league as they cannot match the footballing sides in other ways. We did it ourselves under Joe Royle and its always a test of a players character when faced with physical teams. That's the way Wimbledon played and it gave them a limited success and of course plenty of criticism. I well remember the old Southampton side that Shankly called an Alehouse team as they always left bruises on any team that played them.The best teams can mix it when required and play football good enough to always beat the more physical teams. Man Utd always manage to beat them and only Arsenal struggle to get to grips with teams that tackle hard and use spoiling tactics.I'm not a fan of over physical teams, I met plenty of them in lower divisions myself. I admire teams that play attractively and entertain the fans. I hope that the Blues can play effectively at West Ham and get the three points we need despite the absence of Neville, Mirallas and Fellaini... COYB. Eric Myles 2 Posted 21/12/2012 at 05:03:29 With the supposed "Referees launch clampdown on holding in the penalty box after Stoke's tactics against Everton causes storm" what's the betting Spurs get a couple of penalties, and so do West Ham. David Barks 3 Posted 21/12/2012 at 05:33:07 I'm just not even sure if I want to watch it. I know it won't be a good product to spend 2 hours of my life on, just like Stoke. I hope we get the win, but I really don't think I can be bothered to watch this match. Against Spurs, count me in. Against City, United, sides we're expected to lose against, but you know you'll see a game of football played, I'm there. But against Stoke, West Ham, and in the past Bolton and Boro and Portsmouth, more than likely it's just not worth the time. I have limited time available to wash the cars, catch up on work projects, home repairs, and just nice family time. This seems like a good two hours to get the cars washed and at least one of them waxed. Of course if it's raining and cold, I'll be watching the shit served up on the pitch. Ciarán McGlone 4 Posted 21/12/2012 at 08:21:12 Ah come off it.. west ham have been playing decent football recently.This whole holier than thou attitude ia really starting to become embarrassing. Ben Jones 5 Posted 21/12/2012 at 12:18:00 I think it will be not as bad as Stoke, but it will be still physical. As Ciaran said, they have played some decent stuff.I think what will hamper them is Diame being injured. Allardyce said without him, they will have to be more resillient. Read into that how you like. Tony J Williams 6 Posted 21/12/2012 at 12:23:12 I thought Football was supposed to be a man's game?A good old fashioned Battle Royale is a good thing to watch sometimes. We need a few more players who can get stuck in and give as good as they get, give our side a little more backbone. James Martin 7 Posted 21/12/2012 at 12:59:09 Just because every side in the league isn't Arsenal or Barcelona doesn't mean they don't play football. The old Chelsea and recently Man City are as physical as any side down at the bottom but for some reason that's top football when they do it. Under Benitez Liverpool played long ball kick and rush every season. We need to play well primarily and not abandon are passing game like we did at Stoke in an effort to mirror their style. For some reason we've lost that edge that we had at the beginning of the season that brought two away victories. Since then we seem to choke on the road, a win here would be huge for us but from a purely entertainment point of view I would take any score line that isn't 1 - 1. Mark Tanton 8 Posted 21/12/2012 at 17:31:28 It's getting to easy to predict. 1. Everton pressure and push and take the lead after 25 minutes. 2. After 34 minutes Osman/Pienaar/Naismith misses glorious chance.3. Gibson goes off holding thigh in second half.4. West Ham turn the screw.5. Moyes grimaces but makes no changes.6. Howard flaps at backpost cross and Carrol equalises. 7. Everton hold on for point. David Barks 9 Posted 21/12/2012 at 18:18:09 Ciaran, I don't find it entertaining, that's my opinion. I like watching football, quick passing, without tackles coming in that can break legs. If I want to watch physical stuff I have the NFL later in the day, or Rugby. I want to watch skillful players being able to exhibit those skills without being grabbed and pulled down constantly, or worrying about their ankles being taken out. The game plan against Arsenal has been to go out and give them some kicks, take a couple yellow cards, and break their rhythm. That has been the game plan against us now too. Not entertaining to me. Barry Rathbone 10 Posted 21/12/2012 at 18:48:43 Important to get the excuses in early — there wasn't enough of this before Stoke.Note: to fans perusing this as archive material in 20 yrs time.Yes, this was the era we become pussies. Peter Cummings 11 Posted 22/12/2012 at 00:04:32 The old West Ham played really good football and had probably the first 'coloured' player never to play for England in Clive Best. Under Big Sam they have certainly toughened up but NOTHING could be worse than last week's debacle. As for the refs clamping down on penalty-area wrestling, believe it when it happens... but, if it does, there'll be a glut of spot kicks. In passing, I would like to wish all Evertonians a very Happy Christmas and an even better 2013, from here in Ontario where we've just had our first snow of winter, almost an inch. Mark Tanton 12 Posted 22/12/2012 at 07:27:21 I have been to Toronto and Niagara - I love Canada, I'd love to live there... The CN Tower, The Bluejays, your strange underground network of shopping centres and streets! John Brereton 13 Posted 22/12/2012 at 09:50:20 Glad to see there is a few Canadian evertonians out there! Happy Christmas from a chilly nova scotia! Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. About these ads