Everton boss Roberto Martinez has revealed that he has enlisted the help of players Samuel Eto'o and Aiden McGeady as he prepares his team to face Russian side FC Krasnodar in the Europa League.
Both players have played in the country's top tier and Martinez has stated that his players have warned him about the quality of the competition they face despite the young stature of the Russian Premier League.
"Of course we've spoken to them. Samuel played for Anzhi and Aiden played for Spartak and they have told us that although it's quite a new league they are at a good level and there is a lot of investment," Martinez told reporters ahead of Thursday's game.
"It's good to have that first hand experience. Everything else is on paper or on video but to get that live feeling is great and they've been influential on that.
"Away from home you'll get completely different kinds of games. We can't be effected by the environment and we must adapt to it and be ourselves. We need to try and perform like we did against Wolfsburg. It's not what we're used to but that is what Europe is like. We're only thinking about Krasnodar."
On the domestic front, Everton have so far collected six points from six games and occupy 15th spot in the Premier League table.
Christopher Dodd
