Oh no wait, that bandaged and bloodied warrior was our own Lee Carsley!



It's been so long now, that I couldn't imagine a season without a bald maniac in our midfield.

Carsley has had a renaissance of late and has arguably been our best player since the turn of the year, it certainly highlights what we missed last season and how our form suffered as a result. I read a great comment about 'Roberto' Carsley this morning, it summarises succinctly how Evertonians' have changed their minds regarding the Irishman:

"It was a sad day when he arrived, it will be a sadder day when he leaves."

It was certainly true that when Walter Smith paid Derby a not inexpensive fee for Lee, we wondered what the hell he was doing - a familiar feeling under the stewardship of Smith. He was signed on the same day as a well past it David Ginola and understandably it went unnoticed by football at large. When Real Madrid came in out of the blue for Thomas Gravesen 2 seasons ago to shore up their midfield and replace the departed Makelele, it was a common joke on Toffees that they'd got the wrong man - Carsley was the enforcer of our Mitchell Bruvvers midfield pairing - Gravesen, the enigmatic creative spark. Perhaps with Gravesen now long since gone and Madrid still leaking goals like a punctured sieve they'll admit their mistake and come back for our Lee. I'm not sure they could afford him anyway.

Tags: lee carsley | everton | fulham