 Hello everybody and welcome to this week's Everton show and what a big week it is for the football club. Nothing less than a Merseyside derby at Anfield in the third round of the FA Cup. It could be a thoroughly memorable week, couldn't it? I'm delighted to be joined in the Everton show studio by Ramiro Funes-Mauri and by Graeme Stewart. Start with you first Funes, the most obvious question. How are you? How are you feeling? Of course, it's been ages since my injury but feeling better day by day, progressing and feeling comfortable about my knee and so hopefully everything goes well to come back as soon as possible. Is it important to feel that you're progressing, even if it's day by day, even by small amounts, it must be important to feel that you're on the way? Yeah, of course I think it's a very long term injury so even by resting it's progressing so even I think the first three months were complicated because I had to wear crutches for two months and then obviously they'd be taking some crutches away so I think it's been a long injury but I think I've been stronger in my head so hopefully soon I should be back. You've been there Graeme? Yeah, I was going to say to you Funes, it's such a difficult thing to have in the back of your mind that you know that from there to get to there is such a long road. I mean the physio has been great with you, have they given you a chance to go away and freshen up and go back to Argentina, see your family, bits and pieces like that or has it just been pure intense work? No, I think it's the first three months I operated in Barcelona so I think it was a good time there with my family, you know enjoy the weather, the hot weather so I think that that's what makes it also a quick recovery because I mean I stayed there three months but it was really fast so like you have experience with injuries so it's not similar but you know ACO is similar to what I have but I think to be honest it's been fast for me all these six months, it's gone too fast so you know I'm enjoying my time being injured in a way that I'm enjoying my family and that's the way I take it. Do you just when you know when you get your injury do you concentrate on other parts of your body as well because you're doing so much rehab obviously the knee is the most important thing but do you think to yourself well I could improve a little bit with my upper body strength or anything along those lines do you try and squeeze a little bit extra in along the way? Of course I think I want to improve on everything, upper body is doing things I usually don't do yoga maybe massaging and all that stuff but I think everything to even my nutrition so I think you know it's been good to join other things. How frustrating is it for a player to be injured when the football club appoints a new manager because when a new manager comes in all the players are keen to impress him but when you're injured it must be doubly frustrating for you? Yeah of course I think when you're injured and a new manager comes you know it's like you're given advantage because you can show yourself to be out there and show yourself what you can do and all that but I think the manager knows every player and he knows what players can give to to the team to to every training to the club so I think I've done good in the club even my first year I think it was the best one so but I think I need to keep improving and hopefully when I come back I have to show him that I can be in the squad. How much of a help has it been for you to have players alongside you in the treatment room on a long-term basis? You're Seamus Coleman, Yannick Balasi, Ross Barclay, James McCarthy? Yeah obviously because I see him always in the gym and you know you're not alone in that in that case you know it's but it's not nice to see all the my teammates to be injured but you know it is what it is and I've been doing some training with Seamus and so it's been good so I have someone to talk or to to be you know with someone not alone so it's been good. It must be great for you Ramiro to see the likes of James McCarthy and Yannick Balasi who you've shared a treatment room with for so long now being a part of the first team frame again? Yeah of course I think it's very I'm happy for them because you know when you suffer injuries it's very tough you don't want to be injured and but it's part of football so you know always inspire me also inspire me to come back and the way I see them they look sharp they look good very fit so you know I'm very happy for them that they're back on the squad. Is the World Cup an even bigger motivation for you? Of course I think as an international player a World Cup for everyone is a big impression but I think I have to recover well first I think the timing is it's gonna be good for to be very good fit for the World Cup but I'm thinking to to be fit and then to play in my club and then World Cup I don't want to go ahead to be fit and then think about my the World Cup I have to play in order to go to the World Cup. If you do go to the World Cup Argentina are going to play Iceland in the group stage have you and Guilfee had any banter about that? No no we spoke very not much but I knew we were going to play Iceland so it's a tough group it's they're a very good team and they've shown in the qualifiers that they probably as they always say that they don't have big names but I think as a squad as a team they're very strong so and they've shown in the qualifiers. What's the expectation like back in Argentina for the World Cup? Who knows are they expecting you to semi-finals final win the thing what kind of expectation are you gonna have to deal with? Yeah of course I think Argentina have massive players you have the best player Messi and they have big expectation on the World Cup but it's gonna be tough the groups it's hard that all the groups as hard and you have the best players in in in one team and so obviously Argentina has a bigger expectation. Slightly bigger expectations than us. Let's hear now from an Everton legend who knows what it's like to score the winning goal against Liverpool in an FA Cup tie in a Merseyside derby. We were at Newcastle United before Christmas and I was delighted to catch up with Dave Watson. As soon as you went into the place it was a winning mentality about the club you know from training on the first day it was there was some sort of really tough tackles going in and I'm thinking you know hang on a minute you know because back at Norwich it was take it easy because we pick up any injuries you know we'll be sure to numbers but I've ever seen it was very competitive and people rarely moan when things weren't going right trying to get the best out of each other and it was great and you know that sort of I had a bit of that in me anyway but I certainly brought a lot more of it out of me. You don't have to be lost in an FA Cup final and we've got Manchester United in 1995 which was a terrific performance wasn't it? Yeah it was it had to be it had to be a terrific performance you know if you're playing Manchester United in a Cup final one off you've got it you've got to perform it's okay it's no you sitting in the dressing room thinking I hope I play well today you don't hope you know you're going to play well and this is what you do and and that was the mentality we had we've had so much about it was just a case of Manchester United turning up which give us more motivation for the game and we were ready for it we had a we had a team of hard work and players and the right amount of ability in the team as well we had a good mixture of that and that's what got us through on the day but the mentality of winning the game was fantastic and the discipline the players kept for doing their jobs on the pitch in that on that day was tremendous. Just finally Dave last question you're still luck as if you could play do you still miss playing? I don't miss playing I loved it I loved me career I give everything I could whole heart of performance as week in week out and I got to the stage come 37 36 37 it was getting tough and you know when he was really quick players about I did struggle and it became a bit of a stress situation you know dealing with it and and the time was right so when I packed in it was something that I enjoyed loved it loved it as a career but I couldn't have done any more and so you know I've come out of the game I've held my hands up and said listen I've had a right good bash I'm 30 38 whatever it was when I packed in and I've had a great career being our magnificent football club you know for 14 15 years whatever it was and loved every minute of it the ups and downs both you know it's all experience and I'm better for that what an inspirational figure he was in the dressing room Graham you shared many a dressing room with Dave Watson yeah an imposing figure I used to call him the Ironman waggy because I tell you used to go in the gym and funerals will relate to this on the treadmill it used to be powering away on the treadmill if he's doing weights he'd lift the most weights if he was on the punch bag it was a competition between him and big dunk who could hit it the hardest but if there was an Ironman trophy Dave Watson wins it every day of the week but terrific player terrific captain led by example and you know I never forget the day he went up and picked that FA Cup trophy up I told you we'd get that one and didn't that's the messages we head into a short break here on this week's Everton show coming up in part two we'll hear plenty more from Diamond and from Fooners and of course we'll start to look ahead to the Merseyside Derby. Welcome back to part two of this week's Everton show Diamond we go to Anfield on the back of a couple of disappointing results but by and large it's been so much better. In the main it's been a lot better we've got ourselves out of a very very difficult situation where we were looking over our shoulders and at times in that bottom three which none of us really want we were very very fearful after Southampton game in the manner of that defeat more than anything and no one really ever saw the West Ham performance coming around the corner so to turn that round to win that game four nil Wayne gets his hat trick and then all of a sudden there's a little bit of confidence in the camp big Sam comes in and gets on the training ground and you're working on the defensive side of things and we defensively this solidity has been far better than it was in the early part of the season and that has helped us to climb the table to be in a far more comfortable situation but there's still a lot of work to be done we've got to make sure that we're still aware that you know we're not the finished article we're not you know we're not safe by any stretch of the imagination but we do have the capability within the squad to push us further up that league if we hit a run of form again when the manager first joined Everton Fruners he said the first thing we've got to do is stop conceding goals and he was right wasn't he yeah I think you know first part of the season I think we had a bad run that's it we have a really good quality of players and you know to be in the bottom table you know it was not nice to to see everything there but we have good quality players to to to be in even more higher in the table but and they're shown and also obviously not conceding goals is very important because you that's what you build up your confidence and I think it's you know it's now it's a lot better and I think we can keep on progressing how impressed have you been with the young players at the back John Joe Kenny and Mason Holgate yeah they have a very good future and they they're showing now I think Mason World has been playing you know for last year so I think John Joe has been playing now so I mean they have really good quality players not just them and also Dave Owen they've shown it that they can play they had to stand up and be counted the boys at the back and they've done they have yeah I mean it's been a really difficult time and but you that shows what your character is like as a player you know it's all well and good everybody can play when things are going swimmingly and you're winning everybody you know every week everybody looks a million dollars but when you're in adversity and you're losing and you're in a bit of a rut then we see what the character of the players like and the lads have come through that hopefully right let's turn our attentions now to the FA Cup it's the third round of the Emirates FA Cup we play Liverpool downfield this is Sam Aladair's take on the Friday night game from a selection point of view we've probably got looking at what happened on on the Manchester United game Michael Keener to have five or six stitches in his foot right on the top of the crown of his foot which I think will be too dangerous to risk him but everybody else that's in the squad I think is okay and some rotation has been happening sadly for us he doesn't produce the sort of points that we wanted but we have to accept that in this period if you don't rotate you can't keep the same time side and in up and for me I'd kept the same side building up to Christmas which was doing doing a great job in getting results and points but unfortunately it wouldn't last and I saw that most at Bournemouth like you mean where you know the fatigue kicked in and we ended up losing in the in the final minutes because of that fatigue so what importance do you put on the FA Cup for the season and I think now we're in the position while while the security of the Premier League is always the first priority I think we're in the position where we we go for it and it's not a league game it's there's no points available it's it's win or bust simple as that's a cup game it's different to the Premier League it's less pressure it's a glory game and you can you go out and seek the glory and try and try and win it if we to get through we have to beat Liverpool simple as that so effectively a draw is not good enough Liverpool can set a new one beaten record against Everton so does that come into the thinking as well really no you know my my responsibility is trying to get this team winning and you know the players you know even if you knew that statistic won't really make any difference to their mentality to go out and try and win anyway you don't need a statistic like that to want to go and beat Liverpool I just wonder if there's that burden of history again in this fixture I don't think so I think the profession enough today to know what the size of the game is and make sure that try and deliver the best and that's what we've got to try and do that and that was big Sam speaking to the press ahead of the Merseyside Derby and during that press conference he confirmed that a deal had been agreed to bring Sanktosan to the football club he wanted to bring a striker in and it has been needed doesn't I think everybody at the football club recognizes that we've needed a striker since Romelu left you know and someone with a pedigree as well and I would never ever take anything away from what young Dominic's done we've already touched on how good an impact these young players have made and it's given Dominic a great opportunity in a great platform to showcase himself and he's done it very well obviously Umar's chipped in as well with a few goals as well but we've really needed somebody over the line and you know with Sankt coming in now hopefully he can hit the ground running and we need somebody to score us goals we've got to get up the pitch we've to by far and away sort of sorted out the defensive side of things now we've got to progress now we've now we've got to look after the ball better we've got to start creating opportunities but when we do that you've got to have somebody to put the ball in the back and the net for you on a regular basis he scored goals in champions league ties as well so he's got pedigree Liverpool at Anfield third round of the FA Cup missing out on games like this is this the absolute worst part of being injured yeah of course I wish I can play one minute you know but you know it is what it is miss those games you know the intensity on the people and you know those games really mark you good or bad so you know hopefully you know it was we get a good win we've already been to Anfield this season in the Premier League and etched out a 1-1 draw how much of an impact will that game have on this one well I'd like to think psychologically for the players they've gone there and they've got themselves a point at Anfield in the Premier League this is a different kettle of fish to a degree because it's the FA Cup and it potentially is a one-off game form goes out the window in Derby's whether it be Premier League or FA Cup so you know as much as we've lost a couple of games you know over the last few that goes out the window Friday at 755 because we're going to have 8,000 people there 8,000 blue shirts and they're going to be right behind the team and yes of course we've got to defend as as resolutely as we did in the in the Premier League game but we've got to just do that a little bit more on the ball you know we've got to look after it we've got to be a bit a little bit better in possession and try and hurt Liverpool's back four because that's where their weakness is the back four and potentially the goalkeeper as well what's the move been like amongst the lads at the training ground this week Furnace? Well it's been good you know obviously I don't spend time with them in the training but in the changing room it looks good you know what more motivation than playing at Derby I mean they they have to enjoy it and enjoy themselves and enjoy the game and you know they're gonna play a big game so you know they look good and if they needed any extra motivation which I'm sure they don't 8,000 away fans behind the goal that's something isn't it? Yeah of course I think the fans you know they've shown since since I've been in Everton they they've been everywhere so you know also do it for them you know because they go all the stadiums away stadium and you can see the passion you know it's you know to to be motivated by them also is very good. And you've kept in touch with the fans via social media haven't you? Yeah of course I mean you know since I've been in the club you know the fans they've shown me passion and you know I like that and a player feels that when when when the people love a player so you know I always like to be you know inculcated or do you know the things I do so it's good. You know what it's like to win at Anfield in the Merseyside Derby game what would the positive result in the FA Cup third round do for the rest of the season? It could potentially kick start again we've okay we've lost a few games over the last few as I mentioned earlier but a win at Anfield and a ticket into the fourth round of the FA Cup it just lifts the whole football club again lifts the players again and then we dig into the Premier League and we push on and try and get as high as we possibly can but honestly you know and I know Darren and Funez knows as well we beat Liverpool on Friday night and the place will erupt and I'm leading from the front trust me. Every Evertonian's dry January will be suspended for 24 hours on it yeah certainly my mates hopefully as well he loves a dry January snot so I'd like that to bring him out of it. It's happened before hasn't it we've gone to Anfield and we've played Liverpool have good us and not been expected to win turning over. Of course and why not I mean I and I think this is where you know for the players as well they've got to have positive thoughts in the head don't go out there and sit back and hope we don't get beat go out there and ask the question of Liverpool because they're not great at the back and the goalkeeper can be a suspect at times as well so go and exploit that if we can go and have a belief in yourself don't sit there and think you're not good enough to make it happen go and go and showcase yourself you're live on the television again go and show everybody what playing for Everton football clubs all about. Would you be nervous watching it on the television? Yeah I think I'm more nervous watching in the TV than being on there really in the stadium yeah that's the way I feel you know. Is that because you can have no impact whatsoever? Yeah yeah I think it's like that because not in the game and you know you feel nervous you know in the TV but I think they're going to do a good game and hopefully we get the win. Let's hope so it would be the perfect start to the calendar year of 2018 thank you very much indeed to Graeme Stewart and to Ramiro Funes-Mauri thank you as always for watching do join us again next week for another Everton show. You've been watching the Everton show on YouTube thank you very much indeed for joining us I hope you've enjoyed it I'm sure you have don't forget to subscribe and that way catch every single future episode.