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Last weekend at Goodison Park we witnessed two examples of players responding to crowd reactions to what they had done on the pitch.

Tim Howard turned and glared at the Gwladys Street End after ironic cheers when he caught a routine cross, then John Stones urged the Park End to 'calm down' after they reacted to his third Cruyff-turn in succession in his own six yard box.

I am not sure that either decision was a wise move.

If you ever react to a crowd it has got to be in a positive way.



That's what the fans want to see and reacting in a negative or confrontational way simply won't improve matters.

I have had some experience of those kind of situations.

I had a very, very difficult 12 months at Everton Football Club when I first signed.



The Goodison Park fans are amazing but when they turn on you there is no hiding place.

I am not the only player to have suffered in that way but you can't win if you react negatively.

The only way to change things is to do things properly and win them over by playing good football.

There were times when it was painful to be out on the Goodison pitch but there was no point in reacting.

The fans pay their money, they are entitled to their opinions and the customer is always right.

Everton crowd got what they deserved against City



A home crowd can be a force for good and it was on Wednesday when the Everton fans were terrific. They helped inspire an excellent performance and a very good result.

But sometimes crowds get what they deserve and against Crystal Palace not so long ago the crowd was deathly and the match ended in a disappointing draw.

On Wednesday they were magnificent and we got an important win - capped by one of those all too rare moments in football of a perfectly flighted cross and a thumping centre-forward's header - one of the most glorious sights in football!



Manuel Pellegrini was typically phlegmatic afterwards saying that if Manchester City can't beat Everton 1-0 at home they don't deserve to reach a Cup Final.

But we have a decent record away from home at at Manchester City and it's a finely balanced tie.



With another good performance - and the backing of a big away crowd - I dearly hope we are soon looking forward to another Cup Final.

I don't know where my FA Cup winner medal is - but I'll always be so proud



I believe that more and more mid-ranking football clubs - teams who are not going to win the league but equally are not going to get relegated - are waking up to the fact that you might as well target the FA Cup.

Everton fit that category this season.



We are not going to win the Premier League - and we are not going to be relegated - so let's go all out for the Cups.

Sure there's a chance that you might meet a Chelsea or a Manchester City in the final and lose, but equally you might catch them on a bad day like Wigan Athletic did and write your name into the club's history.



It's been 21 years since Everton last lifted the FA Cup - our last piece of silverware - and that's far too long.

I am proud of my place as a member of an Everton FA Cup winning team.

I honestly don't even know where my medal is. I stopped getting it out after a couple of weeks and it's buried at home somewhere.

But it doesn't matter.

What does matter is that I'm an FA Cup winner. No-one can change that, but I want other Everton players to have that honour now.



It's good to talk - even for bickering managers



I have been very impressed by the managerial dialogue we have witnessed this week.

And I would like to see more.

Managers by their nature are confident, thick-skinned people. You have to be to stand in a technical area in front of 40,000 people questioning every decision you make.

That's why so many are so defensive about their decisions.

But all too often there's not enough honest, open discussion and managers' press conferences are either sterile, neutral and boring - or go to the other extreme and are peppered with preposterous claims.

It would be better to have something inbetween, more enlightening and informed conferences.



To that end the spats between Jurgen Klopp and Sam Allardyce this week have been refreshing.

They have both reacted to each other's words in sensible, honest fashion and I'm sure there is no lasting problem between the two.

Sam Allardyce suggested that Liverpool's injury crisis might have had something to do with Klopp's training methods.

I am sure many fans and journalists had exactly the same thoughts.

Big Sam has been at the cutting edge of sports science in football so it was interesting to hear his comments, and equally refreshing to see that he was big enough to apologise for any offence which might have been taken by Klopp.

We also needed to remember that Sam is a big advocate of a winter break so his comments will have backed his own agenda.

But whatever his motivation, if more managers behaved like that at press conferences more of them would be worth watching.