Everton Head To The City Of Manchester Stadium

Is it tiki taka passing from the back?

Is it hoofball up to the centre forwards?

Well, if you look through the annals of Everton’s rich history the successful teams of the past all have a common denominator. Passion, aggression, tackling, passes out wide, crosses into the box, utilizing the Goodison Park crowd to its’ potential – That’s the Everton way.

That's the 'Spirit of the Blues'

Dixie’s great side of the 30’s, The School of Science of the 1960s, Howard Kendall’s magnificent 80’s team all played the Everton way.

If you wanted to play football against them, they’d beat you. If you wanted to get physical, they’d fight you.

There’s no right or wrong way to play football by the way but this is the Everton way. ‘We play it on the carpet, we play it in the air.’ is the chorus to a famous Everton chant that still stands to this day on the Goodison Park terraces.

The perfect illustration of what Evertonians crave came in the 2013/14 season

It was the perfect blend of steel, passion and beautiful football.

David Moyes had left solid foundations in place, leaving Roberto Martinez to sprinkle a creative attack to whet the Evertonians’ appetites.

A blue cocktail of Coleman, Baines, Distin, Stones, Jagielka, Barry, Barkley, McCarthy, Osman, Naismith, Pienaar and Lukaku seen saw the Toffees  into 5th spot, finishing above Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United and in the process just missing out on Champions League qualification.

Evertonians adore players who will run through brick walls for them. Players who are a minimum 8/10 every week. Lee Carsley, Steven Naismith and Tim Cahill are just some of the recent examples of players that Everton supporters speak so fondly of. And now we’ve found another.

Andros Townsend

Andros Townsend is already a fans’ favourite a dozen games in.

There’s more to him than just assists, scoring worldies and creating chances. He’s representative of every Everton fan at present.

The 30 year old is trudging off the pitch drenched in sweat. That’s all we ask for and in return this faithful fanbase will love you.

Current Everton gaffer Rafa Benitez will be tapping into this and looking for more Andros Townsends in the next transfer window.

Townsend is a true professional. You can’t have enough of them in the squad.

What he’s producing at the moment epitomizes an Everton player. That’s what we expect when we click through the turnstiles every Saturday and against Manchester City on Sunday I’d wager Townsend will put in another shift that will be greeted by a standing ovation from the away section.

That’s the Everton way.