Howard wants team-mates to shine

Howard: Wants a first-class display

It's really important we now stand up and be counted.

Howard on Standard clash
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Tim Howard has urged his Everton team-mates to 'stand up and be counted' when they tackle Standard Liege in the Uefa Cup on Thursday.

The Toffees find themselves up against it after conceding twice in a 2-2 draw against Standard at Goodison Park in the first leg.

Howard knows it will be a far from easy task at the Stade Maurice Dufrasne Liege, but says if David Moyes' side can perform at their best then they could advance to the group stage of the competition.

"We have to put a lot of things right - we are under no illusions," said Howard. "We can't just snap our fingers and be out of it, but it's really important we now stand up and be counted.

Excited

"We want to have as many games as we can this season. Nobody wants these real long weeks where all we are doing is training and there are no games to get excited by.

"It's so good for us when games keep coming quickly - you saw that last year."

Everton are already out of one cup competition following their Carling Cup exit to Blackburn and Howard believes exiting another tournament so early in the season would be a massive negative.

"It would be awful to be out of two competitions so early on in the season," added Howard.

"There is no question that last season one of the things that kept us going was being involved in Europe.

More games

"When we were in the Carling Cup as well, it helped with our league form, and that got better and better the more games we played.

"Everything just started snowballing for us - we'd play good midweek, then good at the weekend.

"Obviously we do not have the Carling Cup to look forward to now. But looking at things positively, all we have to do is beat Liege. It's that simple."