Alright Blues, how’s it going? Feeling a little better than you did at half 10 on deadline day night anyway ay?
More on that soon but a little on our first foray onto foreign shores this season.
There are few things which make grown men act against their own free will but Trainline is one of them. So it was the 0630 from Manchester Piccadilly which proved to be the carriage of choice. The fact that it was subject to a couple of platform changes, half an hour late and then stuck behind a freight train was immaterial really – sufficient beverages were available and to hand.
Cardiff City Centre – which boasts a city centre castle and a city centre stadium is pretty impressive really. In addition to several drunken Evertonians and presumably some moody Cardiff Soul Crew, a Gay Pride march thrown into the mix. Loads of flamboyantly dressed locals with whistles and rainbow symbols everywhere just added to the surreal feeling of being drunk at 10am.
After the vexing issue of snapping up a spare for one of the group was resolved, it was time to relax and soak up the atmosphere on a very pleasant day. The Ninian Park Pub will no doubt have had quite a reputation back in the day but proved to be a friendly enough environment, any sinister edge removed by the fact that it’s now called Maverick’s Steak Ranch. In fact the only limited sense of menace was coming from a ‘team’ of young Blues, all hoodies and attitude. Fair play to one of them, when deciding to wear his grey hoodie with grey jogging bottoms, his decision to go with grey trainers looked inspired.
The game itself was a bit of a disappointment with The Blues dominating for the entire match without necessarily looking like scoring. Clearly Baines should have had a pen and Marshall made a great save from Jelavic’s header but there was a lot of possession without many chances really.
One surprising aspects of the Cardiff trip was the fact that they really seem to make an effort with away fans. Token gestures maybe but pretty impressive. First of all there’s a twitter account CardiffCityAwayFan (@CardiffCityAway) with bits of info and also the excellent idea of allowing away fans to graze in the compound outside at half time. Not the first to do it but good for dissipating anger and frustration and allowing people to smoke (rather than forcing them to turn the toilets into a carcinogen-fest). Granted, this was a sunny day in August not a January hailstorm.
Also, certainly on one side, the away fans are next to a Family section. This posed a challenge for the stewards but they managed to handle it in good grace. ‘Where were you when you were blue?’ was a regular enquiry made to said section.
As for matters on the pitch, you could kinda see what Martinez is trying to do. Possession and patience are the watchwords, but the team are definitely missing a cutting edge. In some ways it was the perfect away performance, with the Blues totally dominant and the home side nullified. Ross is now the fulcrum of the side, with most things going through him. Baines remains the spark. Jelavic actually had a couple of decent touches but looks a shadow of his former self. Kone seems to have picked up Victor’s baggage and is prone to criticism. That said, he doesn’t look the marauding stuff of Johnny Heitinga’s nightmares as yet.
And what about the Belgians? (as convicted paedo/weirdo Stuart Hall didn’t used to say). Fellaini played within himself in a deep lying role, long balls up to his chest on the edge of the opponent’s box just not Martinez’s kind of caper. As for Super Kev, he looked pretty disengaged out wide and squandered his only good chance by insisting on checking back onto his right foot. It really makes you wonder whether a more central role would suit him – as evidenced in part by his goal against Scotland.
Anyway, talk of Belgians and lack of cutting edge brings us nicely onto to that pesky transfer window.
Ian Marshall’s Matters was committed to watching it on Twitter but finally succumbed to the lure of Sky…..and then immediately regretted it. Jim ‘I’ve got Ian Holloway on the phone right noo’ White is a prick, almost as much as Dave ‘not quite so matey with Stuart Hall now’ Whelan. Pleasingly, a disastrous, some might say Moyes-esque, transfer window was averted and The Blues did quite nicely thanks. Lukaku would appear to offer more than Jelavic, Kone, Vic or Mirallas (often seen sat on the end of Lukaku’s bed) as a battering-ram target man and McCarthy has looked the part in the past. Barry is a true pro and although not spectacular he’s very steady. The Battler from Hastings (like that?) always made Villa harder to beat (especially at Goodison) and there was one particular occasion when The Blues had just taken the lead, he got the ball from the kick off, picked out (big) John Carew and Villa were back on level terms.
Whether Gibson and Barry can play in the same side is debatable. What they will both do is increase the passing tempo – one of the things that was needed against both West Brom and Cardiff.
As for Fellaini and Big Vic, it’s always sad to see players leave but you’d have to say we got top dollar for both. One of Fellaini or Baines was always going to go and we’ll miss the big Belgian less. Vic, who loved a goal against the Baggies, was a bit of a hate figure at Goodison. This was probably a bit harsh but he did allow his head to drop too easily. One correspondent likened him to Emile Heskey and there’s something in that; powerful, unplayable on his day, rarely had his day, didn’t score enough. Hope he does great though.
Of course, we haven’t actually signed Barry or Lukaku beyond this season but that’s the modern game kids. You take what you can.
Naturally, not one single blue can have failed to take some comfort from the notion of ‘Dithering Davie’ over at Old Trafford. The attempt to sign Herrara sounded really clumsy, with release clauses in Spain apparently taking weeks (rather than hours) to sort out.
Martinez has conducted himself with an air of calm and class throughout – we just need three points on the board now.
The attacking options of Jelavic, Kone, Lukaku, Mirallas, Barkley and Deulofeu (who put a fantastic ball across the six yard box at Cardiff) gives us more firepower than we’ve had in a long time.
Now we just need to beat Chelsea (without Lukaku presumably).
Come on you new look Blues.
Ian Marshall's Matters 
Everton – Reflections on Wales and the window
Alright Blues, how’s it going? Feeling a little better than you did at half 10 on deadline day night anyway ay?
More on that soon but a little on our first foray onto foreign shores this season.
There are few things which make grown men act against their own free will but Trainline is one of them. So it was the 0630 from Manchester Piccadilly which proved to be the carriage of choice. The fact that it was subject to a couple of platform changes, half an hour late and then stuck behind a freight train was immaterial really – sufficient beverages were available and to hand.
Cardiff City Centre – which boasts a city centre castle and a city centre stadium is pretty impressive really. In addition to several drunken Evertonians and presumably some moody Cardiff Soul Crew, a Gay Pride march thrown into the mix. Loads of flamboyantly dressed locals with whistles and rainbow symbols everywhere just added to the surreal feeling of being drunk at 10am.
After the vexing issue of snapping up a spare for one of the group was resolved, it was time to relax and soak up the atmosphere on a very pleasant day. The Ninian Park Pub will no doubt have had quite a reputation back in the day but proved to be a friendly enough environment, any sinister edge removed by the fact that it’s now called Maverick’s Steak Ranch. In fact the only limited sense of menace was coming from a ‘team’ of young Blues, all hoodies and attitude. Fair play to one of them, when deciding to wear his grey hoodie with grey jogging bottoms, his decision to go with grey trainers looked inspired.
The game itself was a bit of a disappointment with The Blues dominating for the entire match without necessarily looking like scoring. Clearly Baines should have had a pen and Marshall made a great save from Jelavic’s header but there was a lot of possession without many chances really.
One surprising aspects of the Cardiff trip was the fact that they really seem to make an effort with away fans. Token gestures maybe but pretty impressive. First of all there’s a twitter account CardiffCityAwayFan (@CardiffCityAway) with bits of info and also the excellent idea of allowing away fans to graze in the compound outside at half time. Not the first to do it but good for dissipating anger and frustration and allowing people to smoke (rather than forcing them to turn the toilets into a carcinogen-fest). Granted, this was a sunny day in August not a January hailstorm.
Also, certainly on one side, the away fans are next to a Family section. This posed a challenge for the stewards but they managed to handle it in good grace. ‘Where were you when you were blue?’ was a regular enquiry made to said section.
As for matters on the pitch, you could kinda see what Martinez is trying to do. Possession and patience are the watchwords, but the team are definitely missing a cutting edge. In some ways it was the perfect away performance, with the Blues totally dominant and the home side nullified. Ross is now the fulcrum of the side, with most things going through him. Baines remains the spark. Jelavic actually had a couple of decent touches but looks a shadow of his former self. Kone seems to have picked up Victor’s baggage and is prone to criticism. That said, he doesn’t look the marauding stuff of Johnny Heitinga’s nightmares as yet.
And what about the Belgians? (as convicted paedo/weirdo Stuart Hall didn’t used to say). Fellaini played within himself in a deep lying role, long balls up to his chest on the edge of the opponent’s box just not Martinez’s kind of caper. As for Super Kev, he looked pretty disengaged out wide and squandered his only good chance by insisting on checking back onto his right foot. It really makes you wonder whether a more central role would suit him – as evidenced in part by his goal against Scotland.
Anyway, talk of Belgians and lack of cutting edge brings us nicely onto to that pesky transfer window.
Ian Marshall’s Matters was committed to watching it on Twitter but finally succumbed to the lure of Sky…..and then immediately regretted it. Jim ‘I’ve got Ian Holloway on the phone right noo’ White is a prick, almost as much as Dave ‘not quite so matey with Stuart Hall now’ Whelan. Pleasingly, a disastrous, some might say Moyes-esque, transfer window was averted and The Blues did quite nicely thanks. Lukaku would appear to offer more than Jelavic, Kone, Vic or Mirallas (often seen sat on the end of Lukaku’s bed) as a battering-ram target man and McCarthy has looked the part in the past. Barry is a true pro and although not spectacular he’s very steady. The Battler from Hastings (like that?) always made Villa harder to beat (especially at Goodison) and there was one particular occasion when The Blues had just taken the lead, he got the ball from the kick off, picked out (big) John Carew and Villa were back on level terms.
Whether Gibson and Barry can play in the same side is debatable. What they will both do is increase the passing tempo – one of the things that was needed against both West Brom and Cardiff.
As for Fellaini and Big Vic, it’s always sad to see players leave but you’d have to say we got top dollar for both. One of Fellaini or Baines was always going to go and we’ll miss the big Belgian less. Vic, who loved a goal against the Baggies, was a bit of a hate figure at Goodison. This was probably a bit harsh but he did allow his head to drop too easily. One correspondent likened him to Emile Heskey and there’s something in that; powerful, unplayable on his day, rarely had his day, didn’t score enough. Hope he does great though.
Of course, we haven’t actually signed Barry or Lukaku beyond this season but that’s the modern game kids. You take what you can.
Naturally, not one single blue can have failed to take some comfort from the notion of ‘Dithering Davie’ over at Old Trafford. The attempt to sign Herrara sounded really clumsy, with release clauses in Spain apparently taking weeks (rather than hours) to sort out.
Martinez has conducted himself with an air of calm and class throughout – we just need three points on the board now.
The attacking options of Jelavic, Kone, Lukaku, Mirallas, Barkley and Deulofeu (who put a fantastic ball across the six yard box at Cardiff) gives us more firepower than we’ve had in a long time.
Now we just need to beat Chelsea (without Lukaku presumably).
Come on you new look Blues.
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