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Jo makes hardship of City life a distant memory

Everton 3 Bolton

Jon Culley
Monday 09 February 2009 01:00 GMT
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The sudden reinvigoration of Brazilian striker Jo in an Everton shirt raises more questions about modus operandi at Manchester City after the 21-year-old's eye-opening introduction to life at Goodison.

The former CSKA Moscow player admits that the experience at City left him "psychologically really low" after his £19m summer move flopped badly and he plainly had not realised that a Premier League dressing room could actually be an agreeable place.

Indeed, the warmth of the welcome he received from his new team-mates when he joined Everton on loan last week came as such a pleasant surprise that the ability that City had conspicuously failed to bring out in him miraculously flowed back.

The result: one penalty won, another converted and a clever individual goal in between, to which a poor Bolton tamely surrendered.

On the subject of City, Jo tried to be diplomatic. ''They are trying to build a new team and the players are still getting to know each other,'' he said.

Yet he could not help but notice the contrast at Everton. ''I felt at home from the first moment I came in. The players were great, really friendly and the spirit is as good as people had told me it was.

''The manager has put a lot of trust in me, so when I went into the game I felt confident even though I had not played for a while. He's very good for building players' confidence.

''When I took the penalty, Phil Neville told me it was my prize for all the hard work I had done. It was really good of the captain to do that – a great gesture.''

He insisted he had "no angry feelings towards Manchester City" but confessed that his struggle to make an impression as manager Mark Hughes actively pursued a replacement took its toll. ''Psychologically I was really low and down,'' he said.

''I probably do have a point to prove to people over here because they have not seen anything like the best of me. I was beginning to forget how good it felt [to score goals]. ''

David Moyes, who had identified Jo as a transfer target of his own before cash-rich City's bid priced Everton out of the running, could not decide whether it was a good or bad thing that he had gone to Eastlands first.

''I don't know why it hasn't worked out for him at City,'' he said. ''I wondered if maybe he couldn't hack the pressure and pace of the Premier League. If it was a case of a boy coming from abroad who needed time to settle, maybe we will reap the benefits.

''The players all tried to look after him and hopefully he will feel better for that. When you come into our squad you have to go along with how they do things because they all work hard and interact well together.''

On hearing which you might conclude that Moyes could teach Manchester City a thing or two about building a team. Until you remember that he has been constructing this one for seven years.

Goals: Arteta pen (40) 1-0; Jo (49) 2-0; Jo pen (90) 3-0.

Everton (4-4-2): Howard; Hibbert, Jagielka, Lescott, Baines (Yobo, 82); Gosling, Neville, Arteta (Van der Meyde, 85), Osman; Cahill (Rodwell, 77), Jo. Substitutes not used: Nash (gk), Castillo, Jacobsen, Baxter.

Bolton Wanderers (4-4-2): Jaaskelainen; A O'Brien, Cahill, Puygrenier (Basham, 60), Samuel; Steinsson, M Davies, Muamba (Smolarek, 60), Taylor; K Davies, Makukula (Riga, 83). Substitutes not used: Al Habsi (gk), Shittu, Obadeyi.

Referee: P Walton (Northamptonshire).

Booked: Everton Hibbert; Bolton M Davies.

Man of the match: Jo.

Attendance: 33,791.

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