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Leighton Baines Is Not Panicking Over Toffees’ Form

By Trevor Murray

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Leighton Baines. Credit: Wonker/Flickr

With just three wins from their last 10 Premier League matches, some fans of Everton might be starting to lose sleep over their team’s poor form.

But first-team regular left back Leighton Baines isn’t hugely concerned about their lack of form right now.

Focusing on the positives at hand, rather than looking at the busy Christmas period as a negative, the England international feels that The Blues could use it to their advantage.

And with winnable fixtures to come against Queens Park Rangers, Stoke City and Hull City, he believes they have plenty of opportunities to really boost themselves a few places up the league table in the next few weeks.

Speaking to the club’s official website during the week, he made his feelings clear – and underlined exactly why the fans love him, because if he doesn’t panic, the rest of the team should regain confidence slowly but surely.

"“You can turn it around in a week by putting back-to-back wins together and be on your way again. If you can put a string of results together this month you can really improve your position. Everyone seems to be taking points off each other and there are teams in that top bracket which aren’t always in that position. There are sides dropping points where you wouldn’t expect and it makes it exciting for the likes of ourselves who want to push up that table. It keeps you in a position where you have a chance. There are lots of points to play for and we look forward to putting things right over this period.”"

And with their final Europa League group clash of the year to come against Kuban Krasnodar on Thursday, The “School Of Science” can avail of a much-needed rest to reorganise themselves and bring everything back up to speed.

There’s no question the club have been performing a little below par due to fatigue, but the week’s rest until the clash against the R’s should do them the world of good.

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It’s going to be interesting to see just how much of an improvement The Toffees can make in the New Year and the perfect litmus test arrives just 10 days into January when they’ll come face to face with Manchester City once more.

In the final 25 or so minutes of their recent 1-0 loss to The Citizens, Roberto Martinez’s charges looked like they could snatch at least an equaliser – and they probably should have gotten something out of the game as City were a weakened side that evening. It’ll be a big measure of how reinvigorated they’ll be.

And Baines himself wasn’t afraid to broach the issue of the penalty which saw them lose that game:

"“It looked soft at the time – a coming together that you would not expect to see given. Even (James) Milner has got straight up, so he wasn’t particularly looking for the penalty. It was a bit of a soft one. It cost us in the end. We sorted of huffed and puffed late on, were always in the game and tried to create chances, but we couldn’t quite do it. It was a tight game and there weren’t a great deal of clear-cut chances for either side. It was anyone’s game and was decided by the penalty.”"

Of course, with six league assists to his name already this campaign, he won’t feel all too unhappy with how he’s been faring on a personal level, but it’s encouraging to see that he’s not allowing the poor form of some of his team-mates affect his outlook. Everton are a team and they have real team spirit to back that up.

For now, they’ll concentrate on putting more points on the board, but it’s interesting to note that they’ve not given up on challenging for the top four, and Baines’ attitude underlines that very same “do or die” mentality.

Without a league win in three matches, next Monday’s match-up with Harry Redknapp’s men will be a big test for them and the fans will hope they can pass it with flying colours.

Do you think Leighton Baines and company can rise up the table?

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