Blackburn Preview: Everton Kean on licking the Rovers
This is the beginning of a run of three games at Goodison for the Mighty Blues which could play a decisive role in the direction of our season. Most Evertonians would probably take four league points and cup progress as an excellent outcome, with a point against City seen as a decent return. From a league point of view three points from Blackburn is imperative. Goodison hasn’t been a happy home for the Blues this season with only three league wins. The last time we hosted an old-fashioned Lancashire derby, against Bolton a couple of weeks back, we turned in one of our worst performances in many a year.
Moyesy has asked for Goodison to get behind the players and drive them on during this run. Probably a polite way of saying it’s been like a morgue on occasions this season. The gloom surrounding the off-field issues has dampened supporters’ expectations and led to an over-riding frustration watching games at the Old Lady. This match brings along the one Premier League club whose supporters have been more angry and despairing than ours. They’ve had more demos than us – last week’s 24-hour protest outside Ewood Park being the latest. They’ve also been more vociferous inside the ground too. Most of that has been directed at owners Venky’s and the living embodiment of all things bad about the Rovers’ situation – Steve Kean
Moyesy does get some stick – he can frustrate with his conservatism at times – but the vast majority of Goodison is with him and recognises the constraints he’s working under. It tends to be on the internet and message boards he gets some Steve Kean treatment. Neither manager has had the proper backing of their boards, for different reasons. From a distance – don’t claim any expertise on Blackburn’s inner workings – it seems that Kean is the lonely figurehead who is bearing the brunt of all the anger. The Venky’s have dismantled the boardroom at Ewood and gutted the management structure of a well-regarded and previously well-run club. The workings of agent Jerome Anderson with the club are also unclear. The local press in Blackburn have highlighted a letter sent to Venky’s last January outlining the concerns of the then board members. Very prescient as it turns out. It looks like Kean reports directly to Mrs Desai in India and is alleged to travel there once a month to do so. Probably could do with investing in a video conference facility if they’re having money problems…Whatever they thought they were doing when they bought the club – raising their profile? – it’s not working out and they seem out of their depth. They might be ace at selling chickens but Steve Kean is often left looking like a freshly-plucked piece of fowl on the touchline as he gets stick from all corners.
His record isn’t very good and some clubs would’ve had him out by now – QPR spring to mind. Whilst we mention them, see Joey Barton is sticking the knife into Neil Warnock big time. “If I talked about Neil, he’d do well to get another job”, among other megalomaniacal quotes. Warnock is only the one who bought him and made him club captain earlier this season…Neither are pleasant characters – the best thing about Barton is his commitment to good spelling and grammar on twitter – so balls to both of them. Neither Everton or Blackburn seem to have any plumbs like Joey disrupting things.
Meanwhile, the Everton Chief Exec, Robert Elstone, released a candid blog on the club’s finances last week. It was a good response to the ‘where’s all the money gone?’ questions. He gave an assessment of the last five seasons and how new contracts to players, matchday income, etc all combine to mean we’re skint. Yes Bob, but why did you have to ruin it when talking about dropping gate revenues this season with “…rumours of the sabotage of ticket sales, programmes and other matchday income”. It’s clear neither he, nor Bill Kenwright, have any truck with the Blue Union, especially after the taping incident earlier this season. They seem to have a bunker mentality to any criticism. Well, times are hard, the team isn’t doing that well, we’re not exactly seeing sexy football at Goodison, so it’s not a big surprise gates are down. All Evertonians are concerned with what’s going on – if we can’t replace aging players, what does the future hold? Elstone and Kenwright should take the blinkers off and engage with all Evertonians – they can’t afford not to – as the search for new investment, or a new way of running things at Goodison continues. Kenwright is the boardroom figurehead at all the games which Rovers don’t have.
Rovers have had a slight upturn in recent weeks and last week’s win against Fulham with 10 men – interesting that the fans got behind the team on the back of a referee’s decision and they responded with a great win – means they’ll roll up with some confidence. Everton too, on the back of a more encouraging performance at Villa last week, can have a bit of optimism. We’ve not got any of our recently injured players back but the chance to see what Darron Gibson can offer the Goodison gallery intrigues. Landon Donovan, who had an excellent game at Villa – more through balls please lid – can hopefully inspire a much-needed home win.
Moyesy’s comments about nursing Big Vic back suggest he may start on the bench again. If nursing back means he’s a goalscoring super sub then we can live with that. Vellios boosted himself with a hat-trick against Rovers in the Reserves 4-2 win on Monday. An interesting comment from Alan Stubbs in the Echo after that when he said Vellios played for the team rather than himself – maybe explaining a bit why he’s gone off Moyesy’s radar recently. Joes Baxter slotted one and played well too, so expect Jose to be on the bench against Rovers. In the unlikely event of Denis starting, it looks like Saha up front again. Come on Louis, give us a goal.
At least the Yak won’t be proving the immutable law of the ex…but there weren’t many Evertonians who didn’t want rid of him in the summer. Not fit, not scoring goals and the chance to get some money for him meant his move was welcomed in most quarters. Well, the big lad has done great for Rovers since he’s been there. It’s the other end where they’ve had big problems. It’s uncertain whether big Chris Samba will play against us – transfer request and all. As long as he doesn’t do a Gary Cahill and slot on his last appearance.
Here’s hoping the Toffees can notch one early – remember those first half goals? – and ease ourselves to a comfortable win. If not, we may need Moyesy’s substitutions to work their wonders again. In all the despair this season, Moyey’s subs have been the one bright spot. There’s always someone with the ‘Change it Moyes’ but he has handled that bit well and we’ve scored more goals by subs than anyone.
So then, up the Toffees.
Blackburn 0 Everton 1 – Tim stops Everton’s chickens coming home to roost
Three points and precious little else.
Such is the parlous state of Everton that we’ve got to not just take it but bask in its glory. If it’s a sign of a good side to win when playing badly, the Blues are a combination of the best bits of Brazil ’70, Holland ’74, Barcelona ’11 and Everton ’85. To say we’ll play better and lose is also way wide of the mark – we will play better and get hammered.
Enough. The day really started brightly despite the biblical rain showers in East Lancashire as the Blues fans made their way around the many boozers dotting the route from the town centre to Ewood. The old ‘home fans only’ regime was only half-heatedly applied as Evertonians digested a League Cup draw of West Brom home (at least it’s not away) and – for the few interested (Ian Marshall’s Matters unashamedly is) – Lancs CCC’s demise in a magic over.
Rovers away is a boozy trip and facilities are good – a ‘walk-through’ (the drive-through lane) McDonalds was utilised by many. The locals were friendly but it was amusing to hear a local ‘lady’ bemoaning ‘The Micks and the Mancs – scruffy bastards’.
There were a few changes to swallow too – with Heitinga in the midfield instead of Rodwell being the most notable. The game started as it continued for most of the first half, two teams struggling for form desperately trying to string a few passes together. It rarely happened – and there were few incidents of any note. Jagielka was looking a little shaky once again – luckily he had the assured presence of Distin alongside him – who we have to say from a defensive perspective means that Lescott has never been missed.
Speaking of Lescott, it seemed very unlikely when he was firmly ensconced at left-back that Leighton Baines would ever break through into the side – looking just too slender to be a success in the rough and tumble of the Premier League. Moyes told us at the time that Baines would be the long-term choice of Everton left-back. And so it has proved.
What we have now is a complete artisan at left-back, totally assured possession and unflappable under pressure. Evertonians can fear the loss of Jagielka, Arteta, Fellaini, Rodwell or whoever – Baines would be the real issue. The best Everton footballing full-back in 30 years – and he stood out a mile in the mediocrity yesterday.
And Baines must be made of pretty stern stuff as Hoillet (David/Junior) caught him late in the first half. Leighton had to leave the field, having received treatment, which prompted one Blues fan to propose an ingenious change in the laws of football. ‘He should go off with him!’ he exclaimed. The idea of the offender wandering off the pitch alongside the player he’d just clattered would lead to many a Keegan/Bremner or Hunter/Lee type scuffle – great plan.
The much maligned Victor battled gamely against the monster that is Samba (a cheaper, more than adequate Jags replacement should we ever need one) and Barkley showed glimpses of magic – but the first half was pretty dire. Prior to his trademark ‘limp off’, Dunn had hit the inside of the post, but very little else happened.
As we often see in top-flight games, the first-half is cagey and then one team comes out and asserts itself in the second, one going for the win – the other happy with a draw. Well Blackburn besieged Everton in their own half for the next 20 minutes, with a series of corners, close shaves and they totally exploited the Blues inability to clear their lines effectively. Also, too many misplaced passes meant Everton were simply losing the battle.
This period of sustained pressure followed the first of the three pens, given away by Ross Barkley. After a poor touch in the midfield, he tracked back to make amends, sticking out a leg for Formica, who showed none of the hard durability of his namesake product, to fly over. Probably a penalty, just.
Hoillet stepped up – maybe telegraphing which way he was going to put it – but Howard got down to make a great save – which was followed by loads of blocks and last-ditch tackles – something Everton do quite well really.
This respite made no real difference to the Blues, who were still under the cosh, despite Fellaini and Bily (on for Leon after Cahill had replaced Barkley) blazing over when reasonably well placed.
Blackburn also hit the bar in the second half and just as it was becoming a more even contest, suggesting the game may be meandering to a goalless close, another pen. This time Formica took a tumble under pressure from Jagielka. Impossible to tell from the vantage point in the ground, but TV suggests this one was more harsh – but still a penalty for most refs you’d suspect.
This time Formica had a go and hit the post – great stuff.
And so to the bizarre finale. There are few significant moments which actually illicit genuine mirth from football fans, it tends to be peripheral stuff like refs getting hit in the face, linesman falling over etc etc. The real comedy moment of last season was Beckford’s ‘Benny Hill music’ goal against Chelsea. This time referee Lee Mason takes the prize.
Just as Evertonians bemoaned another ball into the box (this time a Neville throw) being headed away by a dominant Samba, Mason seemed to take ages – the game had definitely gone on for a few seconds – to decide to point to the spot. Nzonzi probably did clatter Fellaini, but Mason made it clear the pen was for Samba’s climb. Possibly a foul technically, but a very unlikely decision.
A more audible, simultaneous groan greeted the realisation that Arteta was going to take the penalty, ‘encouraged’ as he was by a sheepish ‘low 5’ from Bainesy. Fair play to the man they never call Amatriain, he slotted nicely. More laughter – some Blues still too stunned to actually celebrate the goal.
Cahill, Distin and Neville threw their shirts to the Blues, with Phil accidentally throwing his captain’s armband too and then embarrassingly having to ask for it back.
It was that kind of day.
By the way, if you like what you’ve read here you can follow, follow, follow us on Twitter @immatters
Cheers
Blackburn Rovers Preview
The Blues make the shortish trip to Ewood Park to play fellow early-season strugglers Blackburn. Both will have been cheered by midweek 3-1 wins against Sheffields Wednesday and United. So, apart from deciding who’s the best team in Sheffield, both teams badly want three points to get their league campaigns off the ground. Despite all the doom and gloom which has encircled Goodison, it’s arguably Steve Kean who’s under more pressure than Moyesy. For a start, this is their third game and they have new(ish) owners (“Blackburn…well…I wouldn’t want a Blackburn” quoth Bill K (allegedly)). Their owners, apart from doing a nice line in TV adverts, have made some fairly outlandish noises about bringing in the likes of Ronaldinho and most recently Raul. The Venkys haven’t put all their eggs in one basket though. No, their back-up plans have brought in a few new faces. The latest signing is midfielder Simon Vukcevic from Sporting Lisbon for an undisclosed fee, who hopes to have all his paperwork sorted out to face the Blues. Kean reckons he’ll give them a different dimension…
“I’ve watched him a number of times live and if you can get the ball out wide to him and he can isolate a full-back, then it will be hard for anyone to stop him when he is on the run.”
That’s four signings Rovers have made, including the erotically exotically named David Goodwillie. When you’re as skint as Everton you miss out on the chance to get mentioned in the same breath with such great sounding names. Rovers’ latest link is with some MLS player called George John. He could only be American with the two first names; the only wonder is he’s not George John III. Brett Emerton is due to make his final appearance for them before going off to join Aussie side Sydney FC. It’s always been fairly comforting to hear his name on a commentary – just the echo of familiarity in the pronunciation of the name providing Evertonian comfort. Rovers overall record under Kean is poor so the seeming wildcards running the show only brings extra pressure on their boss. The players must be looking at it a bit sceptically too, although Jason Roberts probably saw that advert as another chance to boost his media profile. They’ve lost Phil Jones who looked very good for the U21s in the summer, and from what he’s shown so far for Man Utd, but still have the likes of Samba, who may return, Ryan Nelsen, who may miss out, as well as Robinson in goal who are all the type of players who can frustrate an at times fragile Everton.
The Blues have Bily available from suspension – probably making the bench? Beckford and Cahill must be doubtful after missing on Wednesday and Moyesy will have to decide whether he’s satisfied with the fitness of Arteta and Fellaini after they got 90 minutes on Wednesday. At least Moyesy has options, even if we sometimes seem to do better when it’s 11 men standing. Rodwell surely did well enough to start in the centre of midfield, with the Big Fella, and Leon pushing up to support Victor – assuming Beckford and Cahill only make the bench and that Louis’ twitter feed today indicating he’s picked up a knock means he misses out. That’d leave Arteta and young Ross out wide. This may be a game – a proper battle to earn the right to play your stuff – where Moyesy may want to use Ross from the bench a la early Rooney. That may mean Heitinga getting slotted into centre midfield for a fairly ugly (in footballing terms you beautiful people) looking central three. This wild speculation leads us to
discussing transfer rumours…exit only obviously. Jagielka is supposedly going to be the subject of another bid from Arsenal, although they have approached Bolton about Gary Cahill. Both clubs are doing some bluffing about the exact amount of the bid with Wenger at his worst pantomime Dame in getting all upset about it. Maybe this is some kind of genius tactic to frighten Everton to lower their expectations on Jagielka’s price. Or maybe they’ve watched Jags’ last two performances and gone all in on Cahill. One of the things Arsenal don’t need is a player who is prone to the odd game-conceding faux pas, own goals a speciality, at Centre Back. That’s what they’re trying to replace isn’t it? His passing isn’t really of the current Arsenal mould either. Saying all this, he’s still a great backs-to-the-wall defender and we’d miss him if he went. He’s a good character in a crisis. If we had to sell anyone for a decent screw maybe though he’d be the one? Johnny should only really be ever let onto the pitch in the centre of defence and Syl is still looking capable. It depends if Moyesy feels that is enough – does he really rate Shane Duffy? Does he ever see Rodwell playing at the back?
The one thing we have at Everton is well-documented: team spirit. It may be that keeping all the key players together maintains that for the rest of the season. Maybe something’ll happen with investment in that time would be the hope of us all. Letting one vital piece of the jigsaw go may cause the whole piece to fall apart – that’s what Moyesy’s dilemma will be if we ever get a serious offer. As well as checking with the bank how much they’ll let us have.
Ian Marshall’s Matters will be doing its best to bring you the report from a raucous and bibulous away end. According to the official site there will be tickets available from the Darwin End ticket office on the day. A sign of the times when the 5,000 allocation hasn’t already sold out. This is one for the players to show they are together and they’re not affected by all the financial stuff. Come on Blue Boys.
Everton 2 Blackburn 0 – Rare and Noble skills from Neon Leon
Sunshine once again shrouded Goodison as Everton completed what was eventually a comfortable victory against t’Rovers. The weather and the introduction of youth gave the game an end of season feel, but for once Evertonians don’t want this particular campaign to end.
There are many unexplained phenomena in the world
– The Roswell UFO incident
– The election of Boris Johnson
– How Russell Brand gets acting work playing himself
But the most perplexing of them all is this, why do Everton do better when they’ve hardly got any players. The memorable 4-6-0 victory at Eastlands was a team selection borne out of necessity and once again Everton were unchanged because, with the exception of bringing in Seamus or Rodwell, there was no choice to make.
Blackburn, with their travelling band of 800 – 1000 relatively vocal fans, seemed to be set up to eke out a point – and for a lot of the first half, that seemed eminently possible.
Everton’s best chance came in the first couple of minutes, with Beckford latching on to a through ball only to take it early and miss comfortably. ‘Instinctive’ is a label merrily attached to strikers but it is totally true in Jermaine’s case, meaning he does some great things (finish v Blackpool for example) and some howlers (insert several misses here). Whatever he is or isn’t, JB has had a good first season for Everton and as a freebie, has to be rated as a good signing. Pretty good value too, if you look at the Dzeko signing for example, despite Edin looking well handy over in Wolfsburg against the Blues.
In terms of highlights, that was the first half really. Sadly Johnny Heitinga, who was having one of his better games, limped off and was replaced by Jack Rodwell, who seems to get an unduly hard time from sections of home support – possibly already having written him off as a Man United player of the future. His languid, almost effortless grace doesn’t especially endear him as a scrapper either – but he was pretty good yesterday.
The game’s best performer throughout though was Leon Osman. Our little maestro is excellent at the moment, having added a sense of steel to his already excellent attributes. He’s also become noticeably stronger in the air too, winning headers against giants he really has no right to beat. This may be with a view to overhauling Kevin Davies’ lead as the player who has won the most flick-ons this season. Thanks Opta.
It’s probably a little glib to say it, but he’s looking like Steven Pienaar but with more end product right now.
Despite Leon’s efforts, half time came having seen the Blues on top without really threatening. Even the boo-boys, you know the ones who tend to get stuck into the team if we are not 4 or 5 up at this stage, seemed relatively contented.
The second half started with a much higher tempo and Everton seeking to take advantage of what were durable but relatively ordinary opponents.
Gueye was showing good signs, certainly willing to turn in possession and run at defenders. Both he and Bainesy had chances as the pressure built.
Then Gueye, who’d just produced an Arteta of a corner, played a relatively poor short corner to Leon. The fact that he had to stretch for the ball, made up the mind of Rochina who went for it, only to be skinned by Leon, who then proceeded to drive the ball past England’s former number 3, number 1 Paul Robinson. Apparently (big) Chris Samba got a deflection on it but no matter, 1-0 and we were up and running.
The Blues were now playing with increased confidence and players who have looked shaky in possession at times this season (Jagielka, Neville, Hibbert) were all knocking it around with a calm assuredness. That’s another oddity too – Hibbo has recovered from fourth choice right back to being established once again.
Gueye was replaced, to a rousing and well-deserved ovation and on came Seamus. Almost immediately he embarked on a trademark run, head down committing defenders and then followed with a trademark shot – into the Park End.
His increased energy (and Bily looking more at home on the left) left Everton with more cohesion and it was no surprise when Seamus played a part in the second. His dart into the box led to a nailed on pen and for the second home game in a row, the once again peerless Bainesy slotted, despite half the crowd looking away in trepidation.
Everton’s substitutions are starting to get really predictable, in a good way, and Velios came on for the largely ineffective but industrious Beckford. It was bouquets rather than last week’s brickbats between Davie and Jermaine, which was nice to see. In more team harmony news, a certain Mr Anichibe was seen applauding the second goal too – a happy camp at the mo.
What’s really likeable about Everton’s young players is they all seem really hard-working and Velios is testament to that. He’s got some kind of long trunk/short legs thing going on, possibly exacerbated by what one Park End sage described as a ‘Michael Johnson’ running style – the fast one not the Man City one (who can’t run). ‘He’s just tooooo big’ mused one youngster, we know what you mean kid.
Anyway, he rose majestically at the back post for a cross ‘stood up’ by the impressive Hibbo, only to be thwarted by a good save from Robinson.
And save for a couple of crazy moments at the back, that was it really. The third biggest cheer of the day was reserved for Morten Gamst Pedersen. The Gamster, as he isn’t know, has now gone back to wearing Pedersen on his shirt. It seems like a few years ago he had a great season and was lined up for a possible move to Man United. Now he’s reduced to a subs role for Rovers, only coming on in a special teams capacity for a long throw in or two.
He missed Blackburn’s most presentable chance and was also responsible for the game’s comedy moment. His shot from the angle of the box attracted hoots of derision as it appeared, from a Park End vantage point, to be heading into the crowd, but no, wait, the ball was actually arcing back towards the dugouts, some 40 yards further away from goal than it started .
So to everyone’s least favourite away, Man United. Many a great run of form has been halted there and there’s every chance ours will too.
Or will it…………?
Blackburn Preview
I read the news today, oh boy, four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire. Yes, Ryan Nelsen’s knee is like a block of Swiss cheese and the Kiwi international misses for them as Steve Kean’s mob turn up at Goodison, having gone eight games without a win. The Blues, meanwhile, are on a decent run of league form, although the Reading game is still close enough for the bitter taste of defeat to have not washed away. FA Cup Semi Final weekend, El Clasico and Everton v Blackburn…Undoubtedly, Goodison is the place to be for aficionados of the beautiful game – have you seen Leon Osman’s form recently? The little fella has been inspirational over the last few weeks and Saturday’s encounter gives him the chance to keep the Blues pushing upwards as they begin their own four match Lancashire mini-series: Blackburn, Man U, Wigan and Man City.
For some reason, Moyesy was asked about Glaswegian managers at his pre-game press conference – it’s on that annoying video whenever you go on the official site – must have been a particularly uneventful one to start linking Steve Kean with the pantheon of Scottish managers which Moyesy seems to have joined during his time with the Blues. No problem with the Moyesiah on that front but Stevie Boy? His whole appointment whiffed of a dodgy chicken coup d’état against Big Sam: caretaker appointment; then until the end of the season; and then a two-year contract. All accomplished whilst finding his team in a lower position in the league than when he took over. However, they drew at Arsenal in their last away game and bagged their equaliser in about the eighth minute of first half injury time against Birmingham last up. So, they’ll be giving it a go and the Blues can’t afford to be sluggish or complacent like they have shown themselves capable of at home this season.
The Blues, and Tim Howard especially, have reason to rue the opening day defeat by t’Rovers which, in hindsight, set the tone for the much of what we’ve seen since. A cracking win against the Wolves has quickened the pulses of Evertonians who see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel in a frustrating season. It’d be great if the lads who’ve come in can continue their form and finish the season on a high note. Beckford took his goal well last week and if his mouthing off to Moyes was about his passion for playing, rather than a display of ill-conceived arrogance, then it may fire him up to bag a few more against Blackburn. Vellios has been saying some good things about Everton’s history and status so it’d be great to see him knock one in – in front of his dad too. Gueye has set himself a target to score three goals by the end of the season. Let’s hope his attempt at Wolves was just an aberration. Bily should get the opportunity to shine in front of his less than adoring home crowd – go on, let one off again. And if Tim doesn’t throw one in the Blues may be on a winner.
None of our injured ‘stars’ seem to be 100 per cent fit but are making progress so it remains to be seen if they’ll make the 18 on the day, never mind start. Expect Moyesy to have at least a couple of them on the bench. The Big Fella’s cast came off this week – that’s probably a bit too early to mean he’ll be involved against Blackburn. Apparently, he’s ready and waiting to open contract talks with the Blues. That sounds good news all round. If he stays, we get a commitment from potentially one of the top midfielders in the league, he gets an improved contract and – if he does get sold down the line – both the Blues and the player have a stronger negotiating arm to bump up their price. A potential sticking point for the Toffees could be the wages. The G20 Finance Ministers will have to agree an increase to Moyesy’s budget before anything is sorted. That’s why we only brought the Greek Kid in during January – we were keeping the Greek economy afloat – but austerity Britain means cut backs everywhere else. There’s still rumours about comings and goings but let’s see the players do it on the pitch and then worry about that later.
It’d be remiss not to acknowledge the Hillsborough anniversary – 22 years is a long time to be fighting for justice. Evertonians stood shoulder to shoulder with our neighbours in the aftermath of 15 April 1989, let’s not forget that. Justice for the families will also mean justice for football fans. It’s about solidarity for the cause and not being distracted by any other nonsense.
Let’s hope the Blues show their respects the best way with a fine attacking display and bag the three points at the Old Lady.
Ian Marshall's Matters 
Everton 1 Blackburn 1 – Blues advised not to count relegation chickens
Another grim old day at Goodison saw the Blues spend long periods, once again, being outplayed by a team deemed by most to be in grave danger of relegation. Without doubt, this is the most moribund (copyright Alan Partridge) home campaign during the Moyes reign and attendances, atmosphere and apathy are all directly derived from this irrefutable fact.
On to the action.
Everton started with (big) Victor replacing Drenthe and Rovers went into the game without both Yakubu and Samba. We saw a first league home start for Duffy and Gibson, along with a second home league start in his second spell for Donovan. All three were pretty conspicuous during what followed, more on them in a bit.
The Toffees started pretty slowly with Blackburn playing the neater football and the home side really struggling to piece things together. Victor did have an early chance to no avail but Rovers were looking like a side with many of the facets we seem to lack at the moment; youth, cohesion, pace, confidence and all those kind of necessary things. Dunn was pulling the strings in midfield (Gibson and Fellaini relatively anonymous) and it wasn’t long before Blackburn had a really close thing in front of an already depressed Park End.
Duffy misjudged a far-post corner, allowing Dann to head back across before a desperate combination of Neville, Baines and post/bar kept it out.
The first half meandered on with the home side showing some signs of coming into it but once again our main focus was working the ball wide and feeding in crosses. That can work to an extent, Vic and Landon were having some joy, but we haven’t got the players to be incisive and go through the middle. Blackburn did and Bolton have (Mark Davies showed this pleasingly last night) but we don’t. The main reason for this is that Saha is looking totally off-form right now. For our ‘game plan’ to work, he needs to be a threat down the middle – he isn’t and we’re not. Anyway, then something weird happened. Like really weird.
We scored in the first half. I know. Tim Cahill finally notched and we got a major break from a referee. Great stuff. Everton worked a decent opportunity from Neville, it looked like the chance had gone but good work from Anichebe, Baines and Donovan left Felli and Cahill bearing down on Robinson. Good hands from the Belgian and Tim scored and gave the corner flag a couple of taps. At last. Hopefully, part of his preparation for scoring against his favourite opponents (City) next week.
Just after that, we had an excellent move down the right, passing at pace, taking some risks (rather than the safe pass all the time). Sadly Cahill’s eye-catching reverse ball was blazed over by Donovan. Then, our young centre-half did well to block a shot which ran kindly to Dunn, who hit the post and Everton smuggled it away. It was relief for The Blues when the half-time whistle came and it was to be hoped that we would come out the stronger and leave the relegation haunted visitors to bemoan their bad luck.
Humour is in short supply at the Old Lady right now, but the first half was improved by one wag’s response to the ‘There’s only one Jack Walker’ chants coming from the away fans.
‘Fucking dig him up then’. Nice.
The second half followed a similar pattern to the first although Everton were starting to exercise a bit more control, Fellaini trying to assert himself in a crowded midfield. There weren’t really many chances in what became an increasingly scrappy game, Moyesy trying to improve things with the introduction of Drenthe, whilst Blackburn replaced Dunn who excelled himself by lasting a full hour at Goodison.
Based on the fact that Everton only score one goal per game typically (November and Bolton away was the last league game we got two), something had to give and typically, it did. Howard, who has been excellent recently, made a mess of a long ball from perennial pain in the arse Morten ‘The Gamster’ Pedersen and in a typical 2011/12 moment, Cahill (desperately doing the right thing by covering his keeper) booted the ball against Goodwillie and it went it. It’s been a while since we’ve heard one of them Street End ‘gasps of horror’, but there was one there yesterday for defo.
In fact, Goodison has an apocalyptic feel about it right now. The bleak atmosphere and general feeling of dread is matched totally by the ‘end of the world’ style weather. Even our newest structure (the Park End) moans and groans at the pure pain of being there. You can imagine the Four Horsemen looking on, with Death saying to Pestilence ‘Has Hibbert scored yet?’
The equaliser created a sense of urgency and Everton went straight down the other end, only for Captain Phil to celebrate his 35th by getting dog’s abuse for accidentally slipping when set to cross. Moysey introduced our ‘IMF boys’ – Vellios and Denis. We reverted to long-ball and in all honesty could easily have pinched the three points. Duffy hit the bar with a great effort and Denis showed what he can do. And what he can do is this. Combine a complete lack of skill on the floor with working his balls off and winning every flick on available. He’s the king of the flick on. His first touch was a flick on. Where are useful ‘Opta stats’ when you need em?
The closing stages saw a decent save from Robinson to deny Fellaini and then a mad scramble with close things from Felliani and Denis. Injury time Goodison winners have been a trademark of the Moyes reign, but it just ain’t happening in 2011/12.
As promised, a look at Landon, Darron and Shane.
Duffy had a decent game, looking athletic and decisive and happy to at least try to play the ball out of defence. There’s definitely potential there and coming into a team without much confidence, he should be pretty chuffed with his display.
As for Landon, his game was very patchy, firing over when he should have scored in the first half, but at least trying to play the game at pace and do the right things. The (shades of NFL) throw from Howard to him in the first half was excellent, showing signs that we could actually do things on the break. Our goal last week also came from this source. Definitely an asset right now.
Gibson was OK but not really influential in the game. It is probably a bit harsh to say he didn’t really look fit (he’s probably pretty one-paced anyway) based on how little first team action he’s had. There were times when he showed he was a player and also times when you can see why a 37 year old would be brought out of retirement. The main issue looking forward is that Fellaini is at his best when anchoring the midfield and Gibson’s positioning seemed to get in his way. Too early to say whether he’ll work in there but currently hard to see how he would be a preferable option to a fit Rodwell or Osman.
So there we have it, another disappointing day at Goodison.
Eight points off the relegation zone seems relatively comfortable, but 14th place is an accurate reflection of our season so far. With QPR, Bolton and Blackburn all on the (up and) up, and our striking resources (with Saha out of sorts) looking inferior to any other team in the League, (and many outside like Leicester or Huddersfield) it won’t be easy.
Forget Nil Satis Nisi Optimum for now, survival is the key.