Time to spoil the party (part II) This has been a great season by recent Everton standards, three or four bad games aside we have been pretty good this season. We sit in fifth place with five games to go on merit. Only three teams have more Premier League wins than we do.
Then
I looked at the last five games of the season and those of Pompey and
Villa and even Sparky’s club and got a sinking feeling in my stomach.
Two difficult games against sides above us, one game with a UEFA
Cup hopeful and two against mid table cu_m relegation fodder. Normally I wouldn’t put it past us to get three wins a loss and a draw from that lot. This would put us on 70 points, pretty impressive and another huge step in the right direction.
Then I look at Pompey, particularly after their away win against the Hammers tonight. They have Toon, City, Blackburn , Boro and finish against Fulham. Even with the FA Cup you wouldn’t put it past Harry to snag four wins, even five isn’t that much of a stretch. That would see them with as many as 71 points.
Villa and
Blackburn are less of a threat and we can see of O’Neill’s men with a good win against them at Goodison.
Normally we have a bad game and move on, our current run of form is hardly good.
What worries me is the terrible run of performances recently. We started March with a great win over Pompey then played awful in Italy,
a win was a fair result in the North East and the 2-0 win against La
Viola at Goodison was magnificent; the penalty loss aside.
Seems like we left our heart in Europe .
They maybe our ‘bogey team’ but the loss to Fulham was really poor. Succumbing to the Hammers at home, ditto. The
Derby was really terrible, the first half we looked like a group of Sunday Leaguers. Then
we win against Derby , one of the worst teams to play top flight
English Football in ten odd years and we barely scrape by them, at home. This malaise has me more worried about teams below us overhauling us and us missing out on Europe next year. That concerns me much more than an almost hopeless chase for fourth.
Of course, I stay focused on Moysie and the lads and hope that we can win out and finish strong. We have had an excellent season that has so far exceeded realistic August
expectations and fifth place is in our own hands .
I just cannot help picturing Paula Radcliffe,
game and in a grand position for much of the race with an odd stride
that nobody else has and then someone overtakes her in the home stretch
or final bend and the fans all get behind her because they love a
gallant loser.
Excuse
me, I’m really fu_cking fed up of following a team of gallant losers,
following a team of ba_stard winners would be nice for a change.
Blue till I die.
Part one is on When Skies Are Grey for those who give a shiite!
Sunday afternoon at Goodison
Park. Hardly the proper time for football but
nonetheless. Tense game with some
expansive and beautiful Everton play.
Pompey’s very own Diddy man evades his markers to grab an equalizer for
the visitors and the home side is discombobulated for a while. Normal service resumes and Tiny Tim gets
Everton’s second whilst the Yak scores the third of the game and his eighteenth
of the season.
A convoluted trip limits the
number of away fans although the home fans turn up in decent numbers for what
is a European six pointer. The weather
and pitch are fine and the Panto Dame predicts a bore draw. Hardly serious football journalism from Lawro
when both sides have only managed two (home/away) draws from league play this
season. The stakes are high and at both
teams are unbeaten in three so something has to give.
Moyes is starting to encounter
the problems of having a full and functioning squad coupled with the need to
drop or change players. Difficult but a
nice problem to have.
Howard keeps goal, Hibbert occupies
the right back berth after a solid performance against Petrov, Yobo and
Jagielka continue their strong partnership in the centre and Lescott stays at
left back. Carsley and Neville sit deep
with Pienaar Osman and Cahill getting licenses to attack with Yakubu as the
main forward. This is very firmly an
attacking 4 5 1.
"IT'S OK LADS! MOST OF THEM ARE ONLY THIS TALL!"
DAVID JAMES ON THE MIDGET GEMS!
Redknapp has plenty to chose from
and opts for a large 4 5 1. James
continues his long streak in goal the back four has the energy at the flanks in
John son and Hreidarsson and solidity in the middle with Campbell and Distin. Strung across the middle are Bouba Diop,
Diarra, Muntari and Krancjar with Defoe and Kanu up front as a little and large
partnership.
"IS THE BIG GUY ENGLISH?"
CAPELLO, HOT OF THE HELICOPTER FROM BOLTON.
PLENTY OF ENGLISH TALENT ON SHOW!
Before Capello has even taken his
seat (the Italian is hot off the helicopter after watching Bolton
lose) Yakubu has duly scored the opener.
A brisk Everton attack and a clumsy challenge see Pienaar deliver a
nothing ball into the area. Distin is
too slow, John son just watches and the rest of the defence barely moves as
Yobo flicks the ball on for his countryman to stoop and head beyond James. Clocked at fifty seconds.
"FEED THE YAK AND HE WILL SCORE!"
JOHN SON AND JAMES CAN DO NOTHING TO STOP NUMBER SEVENTEEN
Before it’s even begun the game
has turned into a major challenge for Portsmouth. One which in the first half they barely rise to.
Huge swathes of the first half
see some delightful Everton passing and movement which bamboozles and befuddles
Pompey.
My highlight is Pienaar and Cahill
passing to each other as they advance down the left ignorant (seemingly) of the
Pompey defenders they leave for dead.
Nothing comes of all the fancy footwork but a few good saves and
clearances from a stout Pompey back line or a wayward strike from Phil
Neville.
Osman and Cahill have chances and
James gets away with one of his trademark Calamity’s ™.
The Everton player with the
hottest boots is Irish; Carsley has a free kick and two more chances, none of which
find the target.
"EVERYBODY WAS KUNG FU FIGHTING
THOSE GUYS ARE FAST AS LIGHTENING
SOMETIMES IT'S A WAS LITTLE BIT FRIGHTENING
EVERYBODY IS KUNG FU FUGHTING
LA LA LA LAAH!"
THE KUNG FU OF KUYT IS PRACTISED AGAIN AT GOODISON PARK.
John son skinned Pienaar early on
but produced a poor cross and Kranjcar briefly sputtered into life in a half
that until the thirty eighth minutes the visitors looked practically dead and
buried as they foundered on a calmly wonderful Everton back six.
The ground goes into that stunned
away goal silence when from out of the blue John son lays in a lovely ball
which Howard should be rushing off his line to claim. The big yank doesn’t and the little Englishman
slips between two vastly bigger but static defenders to graze the ball with the
faintest of touches beyond a flailing Howard for the equalizer.
Who picked up Defoe’s run and why
didn’t Howard move. For a normally solid
defence that was shocking.
"SILENCE IS GOLDEN"
UNLESS IT'S THAT GHASTLY SILENCE THAT FOLLOWS AN AWAY GOAL
POMPEY'S VERY OWN MIDGET GEM GETS AN UNEXPECTED EQUALIZER.
Everton still press in the last
five but some of the conviction has slipped from their play.
Moyes keeps things the same and
Harry must have given some sort of fire-breathing-barnstorming-Churchillean
monologue to inspire his players.
The visitors emerged from the
tunnel with their proverbial tails up, Defoe and Yakubu were swapping goal
celebrations and everyone was happy.
Ten minutes into the half and
Everton had barely gotten into second gear.
The champagne had gone flat and it took a determined team effort to haul
their sorry arses back into the game, they were just getting going and starting
to move forward with some purpose when the key managerial input came.
Moyes switched to a 4 4 2 and
brought off Hibbert for John son, Neville slotted in to the right back role and
John son caused immediate mayhem.
A rapid and ball hungry outlet
pulled the Pompey defence all over the park.
The interplay between the front
two was nice to see and effective, Pompey retreated back into their shell and
even the addition of Utaka’s pace and skill made little difference to the
Blues’ dominance.
Things were still tense though as
without a goal Pompey could sneak one or the game could end drawn.
Tensions eased and the noise
level rose after some neat play on the left produced a classic Cahill headed
goal.
SOMEWHERE IN TIM CAHILL'S LINEAGE IS A WALLABY!
THE EXCELLENT OZZIE LEAPS TO GET HIS TENTH OF THE SEASON
The Australian played a ball out
to the left from deep, Yakubu got on the end of it and played in Pienaar, the
South African whose crosses the ball into the six yard box, Cahill has
continued his run and not been picked up and rose magnificently to bury one,
his tenth of the year.
John son scored but the goal was
called back for a tight offside and James had another Calamity ™ yet got way
with it.
The icing on the cake (albeit not
a clean sheet) was Yakubu’s second goal.
Portsmouth lost the ball in the Everton
half and John son picked up the clearance, his crossfield ball flew fourty
yards and caught Campbell in an indecisive mood,
the ex-Gunner let the ball go behind him and the Yak took the gift, turned Campbell inside around and
hammered the ball beyond a stunned James.
FEED THE YAK AND HE WILL SCORE!
NUMBER EIGTHEEN IS ABOUT TO BEAT JAMES AFTER YAKUBU BAMBOOZLES CAMPBELL.
Everton finished
professionally.
Everton played well; they dug
themselves a hole, blundered around in it for a while before pulling themselves
out of it and playing even better.
Happy with the goals, unhappy
with equalizer and the twenty minutes of mental lethargy.
Happiest with the mental
toughness that turned the game around in the second half.
Loved the changed from 4 5 1 to 4
4 2.
EXHIBIT B - HOW BEING A FOOTBALL MANAGER WILL SERIOUSLY DAMAGE YOUR COMPLEXION!
The first half was an intimate
exercise; football in microsm; play well but don’t score and you leave yourself
vulnerable.
2008 is becoming a good year for
Everton in the Premier League.
Seems the defeats in the two domestic
cups were forgotten in the cold of Norway and the team was celebrated
in the six-one European Night.
Thursday will be the toughest
test for the team of the season so far.
Fiorentina are good, hungry, and unfamiliar. To repeat the efforts and enjoy the
performances of the 1984/85 season the team needs to play very well against one
of Italy’s
best sides. Tough but eminently
dooable. COYB
Pompey weren’t in the game for
long periods but could have gotten three points.
"OIY LADS! QUICK! OVER 'ERE - LOOKS LIKE HARRY"S GOING FOR THE HIGH NOTE!" MR REDKNAPP's URGING HIS TEAM ON WITH SONG!
On small things games turn, for
example Defoe. On another day Pompey
score a second and kill the game. Today
they weren’t good enough to do that but good enough to frustrate and get at
Everton without causing Howard too many worries.
Mariner. Pretty good game lah!
Note to Andre: check the video of
the game, notice that Distin had his arms all over Lescott whilst holding him
down, and notice the pushes John son applied at crucial moments to Lescott and
Yakubu. All three offences happened in
the penalty area. Penalties, maybe I’m
not an expert, I’m just mentioning them in case you didn’t see them.
