Everton’s South African midfielder Steven Pienaar has told the Daily Post that Everton will be willing to play a patient game when they meet Arsenal Saturday afternoon for their quarter-final FA Cup clash with Arsenal at the Emirates.
Pienaar does not get on the score sheet very often, but when he does it is usually for a spectacular goal as was the case back in January of 2010 when he gave Everton the lead with a superb chip after finding himself one on one with the keeper.
When asked what he would do if he scored on Saturday Pienaar said: “I said last week to the assistant manager if I score I’ll ask you to take me off so I can go home,” he laughs. “I don’t know what I’ll do because it’s been a while. Maybe I’ll just run around the stadium.
“I admit I sometimes watch that goal back on video. It would be great if I could repeat it on Saturday in an even more important game.”
It may just be this kind of magic that Everton will be looking for as they take their time slowly waiting for Arsenal to open up, and when asked about their game plan the South African said: “It’s totally different under the new manager, our style now takes a lot of patience but to be honest I enjoy the patient game.
“You don’t always have to be the creator of it as long as you’re bossing possession and dictating the game. That’s what the manager wants and in that way it suits me.
“It reminds me of Ajax (where Pienaar spent six years) in a way. A lot of build-up, less direct play.
“The season has been a bit stop-start for me playing catch-up after being out then coming back and something crops up again. That’s been really frustrating for me. You don’t get to build up the momentum properly.”
Last week’s win over West Ham was a case in point says Pienaar: “It can be frustrating when you have a lot of possession but can’t open a team up. Sometimes you get irritated on the field and you want things to happen but the manager implies we have to be patient until the very end.
“You can break a team down in the last second of the game. It will come, you just have to keep doing it.
“Look at West Ham. We had so much possession but you get annoyed because you hear the ‘oooohs’ and ‘ahhs’ in the stand and you want to get the first goal quickly too because you’re playing against a side that has come to get a point.
“But the patience paid off.
“One moment got us the three points.”
Pienaar just turned 32 last month and realizes that time is no longer on his side and sees the FA Cup as a chance to get his name written in Everton’s history adding: “You want success more when you’ve been at a club for so long,” he says. “When you leave you want to make sure people remember you. The only way to do it is by winning a trophy.
“The memory won’t stay so long if you just finish fifth or sixth or qualify for the Champions League even.
“It’s about the silverware and that’s what we all want.
“It’s important we don’t think too far ahead on Saturday. We can’t be carried away by the occasion and hopefully by the grace of God we come out the better team on the day.”
Pienaar thinks it is pointless to think back on the last match the two teams played against each other knowing that tomorrows match is something much bigger.
“It will be a different game on Saturday,” he says. “The past is the past. It doesn’t help to dwell on the last game.
“We could go there and have a shocker – we can’t rely simply on the fact we played well there in December.
“We have to be sharp and mentally prepared.”
You can see a video of Pienaar’s 2010 goal by clicking the video link below.
