Everton FC crying out for more experience in front of goal, says John Heitinga after defeat at Arsenal

Dec 12 2011 by Greg O'Keeffe, Liverpool Echo

JOHN HEITINGA believes Everton are lacking experienced options in attack as they slumped to another toothless defeat against Arsenal.

The Dutch defender insists David Moyes’ squad has the right mix of age and ability in defence and midfield, but warned it will be tough to rely on youth in the hunt for goals.

Everton defended well but failed to muster any direct shots on target for the second game running, as they were beaten 1-0 at the Emirates thanks to a second half Robin van Persie volley.

And Heitinga says the difference a striker like his international team-mate makes cannot be underestimated.

He said: “You can’t blame anyone in our team for the goal. The ball was perfect and the finish was good, and you see that he can make a difference in one minute.

“We’ve got some young talented footballers training at the moment at Finch Farm. But you can’t expect anything form them, they are young.

“They need to learn. I think it’s good for Conor McAleny that he got some minutes against Arsenal, and he almost scored a goal.

“Tolis (Vellios) as well, he’s only 19. Denis (Stracqualursi) is only just 24. We’ve got experienced players but they play more in the back and the middle.

“We have the ball in good areas but we just don’t get enough shots on goal. I think we need to change that.”

Heitinga says there was no finger-pointing in the away dressing room after the defeat, which moved Everton down to 12th in the Barclays Premier League.

“We don’t point fingers,” he said. “Arsenal away is difficult, maybe you need a little bit of luck, but all you can do is try to win the battles, win the second balls and try to score a goal from a set piece if they make a mistake.

“Overall it wasn’t a bad game for us - not great but we didn’t play badly especially in the second half. In the end we got nothing.

“First half we gave some chances away and it was more to do with us making mistakes and giving the ball away too easily. We were lucky it was 0-0 at half time.

Second half we started well and were better than them for a while without creating chances. We just didn’t create a chance again.

“I think the goal changed the game. For us at 0-0 it was more like a win for us. We have a couple of good games against Wolves and Bolton. But you know we really need the points from the next couple of games.”