Despite excelling in a weakened side, finally playing in the position that is best for him, the criticism of little Leon has continued. In the eyes of his detractors, he is a bell hop, merely fit to carry the bags of our stars, and then there are whispers that he isn’t even up to that job.

Others say he’s physically unable to compete in the Premier League, persisting with the view that he is toothless and weak, that he floats around midfield following the opposition like an over-attentive waiter.

Surely this vocal minority will wake up soon. Wake up to the fact that when he plays in his best position, centrally, with freedom to roam wide, he is excellent. Wake up to the fact that far from being a defensive liability, he made almost three times as many successful tackles as Phil Neville did on Saturday against Blackburn. And finally, wake up to the fact that you can’t judge this little book by its cover. Leon may be small, but surely we’re beyond the myopic view that positions depend on physique. That the tall ones play centre half, the little ones play on the wing, and the fat ones in goal?

In under four years, manager Rafa Benitez has frittered away £146m (and recouped £70m) – all of which has had his side frantically pedalling for the parity of fourth place in the Premier League, whilst enjoying some admitted European success.

Ask Rio Ferdinand and he’ll say that Liverpool are getting ahead of themselves, that Europe is merely a placebo trying to supplant domestic league trophies, a far more reliable gauge of a healthy club.

Before Rafa came Gérard Houllier, who in a similar amount of time spent £119m, whilst bringing back £57m. In six whole years prudent Moyes has blown just £79.1m and brought back £51.9m. He is also changing the face of Everton, formerly pockmarked with relegation worries, into the proud People’s Club – jostling with the big spenders for fourth place, all on a budget of under £5m a year.

Sunday’s Premier League bout between Everton and Portsmouth has a lot to do with this prudent spending, slowly adding to the squad and developing a galvanised unit. That Liverpool played directly before them, beating Bolton 3-1, put a certain amount of pressure on Everton’s band of brothers – replicating Liverpool’s 3-1 scoreline merely shone the light back into the Anfield outfit’s faces.

One of the key figures for Everton was little Leon Osman, a lightweight balsa-wood player, so small in fact that he has found it hard to initially be taken seriously by Moyes. Only constant knocking on the first team door with a barrage of goals for the reserves got him noticed.

Tragically the same thing is happening with the press. Although Osman was the man of the match in many fans’ eyes, The Sun’s ‘Goals’ supplement – not the best barometer of footballing judgement, granted – gave our intrepid hero a measly six out of 10.

Hopefully new England boss Fabio Capello won’t continue this scandalous cycle of abuse, as Osman is an FDR of a player – refusing to let you dwell too long on his physical ailments and forcing you to respect his talents.

Osman oils the cogs in Everton’s midfield, and is as unsung a presence there as gravity.

The simple fact that this post will either prompt a flood of incredulous emails, or a couple of tepid responses, also shows how ignored this man has been.

Against Portsmouth, a side that is the embodiment of everything that Osman is not in terms size and physicality – Leon again showed his credentials, with a performance of wonderful technique and forensic touch.

When he was loaned out to Derby four years ago as a 22-year-old, they fell in love with him, and Rams fans still sing his praises. Little Leon could do a job for England, but his biggest challenge won’t be his perceived problem of being shrugged off the ball, it will be trying to shed false press opinions about him.