Oop the East Lancs Road
for a jaunt to the Eastlands Stadium.
Cra ppy weather in Manchester (no change
there then really), and some pretty cra ppy football from Manchester City. Everton played very well and ran out fairly
comfortable two goal winners. Howard
gets tested late, Hibbo stifles Petrov, Elano is cr ap, Benjani is AWOL in the
second half and we have a red for the petulant Bulgarian. Stiles, well some quite good and some pretty
awful.
Short trip North East ensures a
good away turnout in Manchester. The weather didn’t douse the fans’ enthusiasm
or voices. Spark is added to the match
with Everton old boys Dunne and Ball playing for City and the stadium is a
regular haven for managers and ex managers.
Taking a pew are Big Sam, Peter Reid, Roy Keane, Steve Bruce and Fabio
Capello. On the pitch it’s a European
six pointer.
Moyes changes the side that
thrashed SK Brann and opts for a familiar 4 4 1 1. Howard keeps goal, Hibbert slots in at right
back, Yobo, Jagielka and Lescott operate to his left. Carsley and Neville sit deep with Pienaar
Osman and Cahill getting licenses to attack with Yakubu as the main forward. Some might call this 4 2 3 1 or 4 5 1 or 4 2
2 1, really just ignore them.
A SCOT AND A SWEDE WATCH THE BLUE ACTION AT EASTLANDS!
Hard to change a winning team so
Sven doesn’t. The Swede selects the same
eleven that beat Manchester United. Hart
keeps goal with a back four of Onuoha, Richards, Dunne and Ball, the five man
midfield is Petrov, Ireland, Fernandes, Hamman, Vassel
with Benjani up front on his own. A
pretty standard 4 5 1, although perhaps best suited to the away side.
City starts off on the front foot
and gets nowhere. All half they had
plenty of possession and did nothing with it, Howard had to come and punch or
claim a few balls but didn’t have to save.
Everton defended thirty yards out and a narrow City just kept mindlessly
bashing up against a blue wall.
City’s best cross came just
before the interval when Fernandes whipped a ball between Howard and the
defenders, Benjani spent too much time wondering what it was and the chance
went.
The visitors threatened Hart all
the first half, crisply bringing the ball out of defence or from a ball won in
midfield and going straight at City with pace and bags of ideas.
Richards probably didn’t give
Everton it’s first penalty of the Premier League season as Stiles was blind or
just unsighted.
Hart saves well from Yakubu at
the near post.
Pienaar hits the bar.
Finally the traveling fans get
their goal. Feed the Yak and he Will
Score!
A deep throw in down the right
comes infield to Yakubu, Cahill’s running off Hamman finds the diminutive Ozzie
in space, he beats the first man and whips a cross through the legs of the
second, Yakubu had continued his run and finishes with clarity and clamness
over Hart. Great move, super finish and
a well earned 0-1.
FEED THE YAK AND HE WILL SCORE - THAT'S SIXTEEN FOR THE SEASON SO FAR!
City’s response, Petrov; stifled
all night by Hibbert; blast one wide from twenty five yards.
Carsley is feeling up for the
game and starts an attack from his own half, he is fouled by Hamman on the edge
of the area and Stiles is just poor.
Everton keep cutting through the
City midfield and back line and win a corner, it goes way too long and the
Irishman is a willing runner. Carsley
looks up and lobs a ball to wards the back post, Dunne and Hart are ball
watching as Lescott adds to his excellent tally for the season with a neatly
finished looping header back over Hart and into the far corner. Sloppy defending seals the game.
GOAL SCORER AND GOAL PROVIDER CELEBRATE THE FORMER WOLVES DEFENDER'S EIGHGTH OF THE SEASON!
Eriksson removes Hamman; well
played by Cahill; and opts for the more fluid attacking verve of the Brazilian,
Elano. Moyes keeps his side the same,
just asks them to sit a little and take the pace out of the game.
Ball’s challenge prevents Cahill
from giving Everton and early 0-3 lead after good work with Yakubu off a throw
in.
City mount some pressure but
continue to be easy to defend, they lack width, Elano and Petrov aren’t
delivering good balls into the area, Benjani is barely a threat and the
substitutions don’t really change much.
It’s only in the final ten minutes when City start to try playground
football that Howard actually has some saves to make.
Mexican Castillo gets onto a
loose ball and fires through a crowd, Howard gets down well and Jagielka
clears.
Petrov fires one straight at
Howard, meat and drink.
A cross sees Howard punch the
ball against Benjani, Jagielka clears the loose ball.
Other than one Dunne chance; off
a dodgy free kick decision that Petrov delivered well; City were pretty dire
really.
Everton continued to threaten and
defend extremely well, Jagielka being outstanding alongside Yobo.
Pienaar is replaced by Fernandes
who is in turn replaced by JJohn son, perhaps worrying Moyes in terms of
upcoming games with Carsley suspended after a fifth Yellow.
JJohn son and the Yak had half
chances but Everton’s best second half chance fell to Carsley, the midfielder
took advantage of Stiles’ play on call and walloped the ball goalwards before
City had even organized a wall, Hart was equal to the shot and parried it
over.
Petrov’s petulance lands him in
hot water at the end of the match, an odd whistle from Stiles; although play
still goes on; see Yakubu run away from the Bulgarian who aims a kick at the
Nigerian. Nothing is given for that one. Almost at the end of the game Petrov looses
out to Osman and tries to play some footsie with the back of Osman’s calf.
Stiles thinks, “EH! I CAN GET IN THE HEADLINES TOMORROW LETS GIVE HIM A
STRAIGHT RED!” and dishes out an automatic three match ban. Even I thought it a bit harsh and I support
Everton.
PETROV TAKES AN EARLY BATH!
Everton outplayed and out thought
City in every department tonight. Bloody
brilliant performance from a team full of beans (‘swagger’ as Tim Sherwood
describes it). Threatening goals all
game and solid at the back, it could have been three or four nil instead of just
two nil. Many this season have talked
about how the team is pretty ‘workmanlike’ without Arteta. No Arteta tonight and hardly workmanlike!
Beating Manchester United was a
bit flukey and it showed. City tried
exactly the same stuff that didn’t work at Goodison and got beat. Substitutions didn’t work and moving from a 4
5 1 through to something resembling a 1 1 8 in the final minutes they still
barely troubled the visitors. Pretty
poor in all areas of the pitch. What can
be done to stop this malaise at home?
Stiles, headline grabbing
arse! He can play a good advantage
sometimes! How can the man who has given
more penalties than any other Premier League referee not point to the spot at
least once tonight? Burley slaughtered
him and I pretty much agree with most of what the Scot said. Still at the end of the day even cra ppy
refereeing couldn’t deny a thoroughly enjoyable win.
One of the biggest games of the year for any football supporter in Liverpool. An old
and illustrious fixture; always hard fought; always a test for the Derby Debutante. This is the sort of fixture that can define
the season for both clubs; a home win put the two rivals on equal points, an
away win puts Liverpool six points clear; a
draw is neither use nor ornament.
A Grand Olde Game.
The first Merseyside Derby took
place at Goodison Park; making it the longest running top flight derby
in England;
in the 1894/95 season with Everton winning 3-0.
Since then the football has been less than spectacular but the game
itself has been everything from enthralling to awful.
Who are you?
Everton were founded in 1878 as
Saint Domingo F.C and only changed their name to Everton F.C a year later.
Liverpool; founded in 1892; have
played at Anfield since then; ironically the blue half of Merseyside used to
play at Anfield but a disagreement over rent saw them move across Stanley
Park.
Why the Derby
is such a different game.
Fans; especially the locals; are
intensely caught up with their teams, streets in Liverpool will be a mixture of
blue and red supporters so the rivalry has mostly always been non-violent;
bragging rights and pride seem to mean so much; the banter; especially when
it’s between family members; makes the success or failure of your chosen club a
pretty intimate connection; a typical nickname for Evertonians is
‘bluebloods’.
No one section of Liverpool boasts a particular allegiance to any one club,
with families often being half blue and half red. This lends the game a certain respect; you
can’t go beating up the other supporters when you live and work with them. It is very good to get one over on the other
team though.
On Derby Day there is a
noticeable buzz around the city centre and with the grounds being just across Stanley Park from one another fans congregate in
their local watering holes prior to the game.
More than any other Derby game I’ve seen
home and away fans will be sat next to each other; I’ve been in the Kop for a Derby game a few times and
it’s brilliant.
Players know the game has a
history and that it’s important to the fans; it’s more than just another three
points to be gained or lost. Local
players especially but all of the players; no matter their place of birth; get
into the Derby. The game day atmosphere is electric and the
game is played with a rare intensity.
No love is lost amongst the
players or the managers, respect maybe but few are friends, Arteta and Alonso
are exceptions. Crouch and Benitez have
made comments that inflamed the Blues and can expect a ‘warm’ welcome, whilst
Stubbs has derided Liverpool’s lack of League
success.
Derby
first timers include Babel, Voronin Torres and
Benayoun for Liverpool and Yakubu, Pienaar and
Baines for Everton.
Hibbert, courtesy of evertonTV “A
derby is a derby. It's different to your normal Saturday game.”
Alonso, courtesy of the Premier
League, “The excitement is the same amongst the players. I am looking forward
to it.”
Stubbs, courtesy of evertonTV, "We
don't see ourselves as a small club, not at all. If they feel they are that
much bigger than us, they should have been getting better results. Like winning
the League. When you spend that much money, £40-50 million, you would expect to
be closer than they have been. That's what Liverpool
fans would say if you asked them. We beat them 3-0 — and you don't get a result
like that by luck."
Managers; at the back of their
minds they know that is just another three points to win or lose, but they
can’t fail to be affected by the significance attached to the game. Both managers are familiar with the Derby and its unique atmosphere,
Moyes in particular wants the win.
Moyes and Bentiez courtesy of
bbc.co.uk, “We have tried to show we can play better football, and last season
I feel we did show that against Liverpool.”
"You must be as focused as
always with maybe more determination.”
Moyes courtesy of evertonTV, "What
I want to be able to say is that I have won some and at the moment we have done
okay last year and we now need to try and do that again this year."
Just for the record books:-
This is the 177th
League meeting of the two teams; and 206th overall meeting; the
record in the league is:-
Premier League:-
Everton 8, Liverpool
11, draw 11
League:-
Everton 56, Liverpool
65, draw 55
@ Goodison Park:-
Premier League:-
Everton 6, Liverpool
5, draw 4
League:-
Everton 33, Liverpool
28, draw 27
Last season Everton hammered
their rivals 3-0 at Goodison
Park and held them scoreless
at Anfield.
The current sides:-
Liverpool
sit fourth with eight games played and sixteen points.
Everton sit tenth with nine games
played and thirteen points.
Liverpool
is coming off a run of wddwd and has three away wins, one draw and no losses.
Everton is coming off a run of
wllwl and has two home wins, one draw and one loss.
Liverpool’s
away goal scoring record is five scored and only one conceded.
Everton’s home goal scoring
record is OK but with three conceded we only have a GD of 2.
Liverpool have a tough midweek
game against Beskitas; in Turkey;
in midweek.
Everton have a difficult UEFA Cup
tie with AE Larissa but it is at Goodison.
Injuries:-
Liverpool
Aurelio – out
Kuyt – hamstring - maybe
Kewell - out
Torres – thigh strain – trained
on Wednesday
Alonso – metatarsal – maybe
Agger – metatarsal -out
Everton
Cahill – metatarsal – back in
training
Gravesen – knee - no
Johnson – ankle - no
Vaughn – shoulder -not
Bookies.
Everton 11/5 or 1.81/1 or 23/10
or 2/1 or 12/5 or 13/5 or 9/5
Draw 2/1 or 2.24/1 or 2/1 or 11/5
or 9/4 or 23/10 or 11/10
Liverpool
11/10 or 1.97/1 or 11/10 or 21/20 or 5/4
This suggests a slight bias
towards Liverpool.
With the topsy turvy world of
Benitez it’s difficult to fathom who he will pick, but let’s try.
1 start : Crouch, Aurelio
2 starts :Benayoun, Sissoko
3 starts :Mascherano, Babel
4 starts :Gerrard, Voronin, Agger
5 starts :Alonso, Riise, Hyypia
6 starts :Finnan, Torres, Kuyt
7 starts :Carragher
8 starts :Reina, Pennant, Arbeloa
Of course injuries have dictated
his selections, noticeably Hyypia being used as injury cover but I don’t see
this a particularly rotated team, but then this does just cover the Premier
League.
MARK CLATTENBURG – thank the
stars – the best English referee at the moment and the perfect choice for a
game that’s likely to be about who wants it more than fancy, flowing
football.
His record is a measly five cards
in one game.
This season he has officiated
seven matches and brandished 23 cards; all of them yellow; at an average of
just over three cards a game. He has
also officiated a cardless game this season.
Carsley better watch out as CLATTENBURG is more likely to card a blue
than a red with Liverpool issuing 17 cards in 6 Liverpool
games and 24 cards in seven Everton games.
