Everton stalwart, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Tony-Hibbert-c35447 revealed that he wants the Toffees’ friendly game against AEK Athens played in his testimonial to be a competitive one, and felt that their pre-season fixtures have proved to a valuable preparatory exercise for them
so far.
The Merseyside club will go head-to-head against the Greek side on the 8th of August at Goodison Park, to commemorate the defender’s outstanding ten-year career at http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Everton-c13019, which saw him feature in more than 300 games.
Even though the game has been solely dedicated to Hibbert in order to acknowledge his services for Everton, the English International divulged that he was already viewing it as any other game, and wants it to be a pushy affair.
He told the reporters in an interview, “I’ve not really thought about the testimonial yet. The manager says he wants it to be a competitive match so I’m just taking it match by match and hopefully be ready for that one.”
The centre back, who is a product of the Everton Youth Academy, has capped 309 appearances in total and surprisingly, has failed to score a single goal during this period.
Earlier, the 31-year old took part in his side’s friendly game against Morecambe and played for the entire 90 minutes in the Toffees next two matches against Dundee United and Motherwell.
Having played three games in the space of 7 days, the player admitted that he was physically exhausted, as he had not played in such a tight schedule for a very long time now.
He also revealed that he found it difficult to adjust at his unconventional left-back position during the friendly games, and felt that their pre-season drills will improve their fitness ahead of the coming season.
“The hardest part was finishing at left-back and having to adjust. People say it’s just a case of switching sides, but it changes everything… Training’s been more about endurance and getting your legs going again so the matches help build the sharpness.”
Everton will take part in the Java Cup in Indonesia where they will square off against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Indonesia-c2922 XI, before they play Hibbert’s testimonial game in August.
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