Tim Howard on life in the Prem

Press Pass Extra: All-American Showdown

Janusz Michallik and Steve Nicol preview Everton's FA Cup fourth round encounter with Fulham, which features two Americans - Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey - going head-to-head.

Press Pass Extra: All-American Showdown

Today, our cup runneth over with Americans facing off in the world's most treasured domestic cup competition, as Tim Howard, Landon Donovan and Marcus Hahnemann's Everton faces Clint Dempsey's Fulham in the fourth round of the FA Cup. So we gave the U.S.'s gentleman goalkeeper Howard a call to chat about Everton's difficult season and the image of American players in England.

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Neville Williams/Aston Villa FC/Getty Images"I think by nature American players are hard-working -- [they] kind of fit the character of [Everton]," Tim Howard says.

ESPN.com: Tim, after placing eighth or better in the Premier League in each of the past five seasons, Everton now sits in 14th place through 22 games. This season can't possibly be going the way you had hoped it would.

Tim Howard: "No, not to this point. But we've always been a fight-and-scrap-and-battle kind of team. There are some games where we could have pulled out a win or picked up a point and didn't, but that's life at the top -- it's a rough-and-tumble league and it's difficult. It's the same old song and dance, we've picked up injuries to big players. But I think the spirit is still there and to me that's important. You worry about losing the fighting spirit and we haven't and I've been here long enough to know that's a positive sign. It's no secret we haven't made the signings we would have liked, whereas other teams have been making expensive signings and that seems to correlate directly to wins. We'll hopefully bring in some talent during the transfer window."

ESPN.com: Everton has conceded the seventh-fewest goals in the league. But then again you're the second-least-productive team offensively.

TH: "That's something we've kind of seen ourselves; that's not like a mystery. We're scratching our heads a little bit defensively because we're saying it doesn't seem like we're playing bad and it's not too shabby but we weren't winning the amount of games we wanted to win. But the productivity unfortunately hasn't been there. I've always been on teams where that productivity was coming from everywhere. It needs to come from different places at different times but we haven't gotten that from enough places. It's not always on the strikers. As defenders all you can do is concentrate on your job and securing that, because the goals will come."

ESPN.com: In the league you lost five of six from Sept. 25 to Nov. 5. And now you haven't won in four.

TH: "It tears you up inside, it's hard to get up and go to work because you're disappointed and everybody's frustrated. This job comes with a lot of humility and ridicule sometimes. To say it's been easy would be incorrect because it's very difficult to pick yourself up after a loss and go on and try to get it right. It's been demoralizing; there have been some tough stretches. But that's a good sign and a testament to our character that we still have that fighting spirit."

“

This job comes with a lot of humility and ridicule sometimes. … It's very difficult to pick yourself up after a loss and go on and try to get it right.

” -- Tim Howard

ESPN.com: You've been slightly better on the road this year than at home, winning four and drawing two versus winning three and drawing three. How do you explain that?

TH: "When you go away from home, the home team always faces more pressure to make the game. A lot of times when you go away from home you're not under pressure to speed the game up and you can form and build a foundation and let the other team come onto you and counterpunch a little. That speaks to our fighting spirit, to go at them on the break, it suits us better. That seems to be one of the reasons."

ESPN.com: You said in a recent interview it's harder than ever to collect clean sheets in the Premiership.

TH: "It's a sense that I get and I think the statistics match up with that statement. It's a high-octane league and it's rough-and-tumble and there's teams that smash you in the mouth and teams that play beautiful football. There's more goals being scored every weekend. That's a feeling I get, that it's harder than ever. You need to limit your bad plays all over the field and defend properly as a group, because if you're defending with four or five guys it's not going to cut it anymore, you need all 11 guys defending as a unit. Even Barcelona defends as a unit, you know what I mean? [Laughs.] You need that framework."

ESPN.com: On the other hand, you've started scoring goals yourself.

TH: "A lot of it had to do with the wind. I hit it clean, hit it sweet and it got caught up with that wind and carried, and I think a lot of credit is due to our striker chasing it down because if there's no striker there there's no pressure and it just eases to the goalkeeper. But he made the goalkeeper come out. Pretty cool; something to put on the highlight reel when I finish."

ESPN.com: You refused to celebrate.

TH: "It's kind of embarrassing for the other goalkeeper -- very embarrassing actually. It wasn't the time and place -- maybe if it was later in the game -- I didn't want to show up the other goalkeeper. Maybe next time I will. [Laughs.] But if later in a game I go up on a corner kick and score on a header there will be a celebration, I can assure you of that."

ESPN.com: The American population has been booming at Everton lately, with Hahnemann and Donovan joining you this year. Did you have anything to do with that?

TH: "We've had quite a number of Americans even before I got there. Americans have a pretty good reputation at the club. I speak to the manager quite freely about these subjects and any time an American is on the radar he asks my opinion. Certainly with Landon it was a no-brainer to bring him on board because he's a quality, quality player and one of the best we've ever produced. As far as Marcus is concerned, I spoke to him throughout the summer and he had different issues at Wolves with his contract and we could use a guy like him. I didn't orchestrate any deal by any means, but I asked him if he had interest and I spoke to different coaches and people and they followed up. But as far as recommendations are concerned, I'm always happy to do that."

ESPN.com: Is your manager, David Moyes, particularly enamored with Americans?

TH: "U.S. players are a very talented group and can offer a lot of positive traits. I think by nature we're hard-working -- kind of fit the character of the club. Most of the Americans are good guys and listen and take things on board and try to get better. I think he likes the style of Americans and I know he's got a lot of feelers out in America and is always on the lookout for top players."

ESPN.com: Is the U.S. an untapped market of sorts for Everton?

TH: "Without question. There was a time people were picking up a lot of African players and it was an undervalued market. For a long time now, America has been seen as that. It used to just be goalkeepers but you've seen it now with players who do well and then a next one comes and he does well. We've had a steady stream and it keeps the conveyor belt going. It's just getting those darn work permits. That's one of the hiccups every time you go after an American."

ESPN.com: There are now two Americans in Bolton, not terribly far from you. Do all the Americans in the area hang out?

TH: "If we can, we do. It's not easy. As you can imagine, we don't all have the same schedules of when we're home, when we're away, that sort of thing. It's almost like ships passing in the night. But we try to get together for dinner or for beers. It's usually a good time, we all get along well."

ESPN.com: Are you looking forward to seeing Dempsey?

"Not in the goal-scoring form he's been in at the moment -- he's been fantastic. But we match up well with Fulham. They've been playing well lately. But if we set ourselves up the way we have recently against them we feel good about it. We want to get through in the Cup and it has a little more added significance because of that. If things work out the way we expect we want to be through in the Cup."

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at leander.espn@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderESPN.