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.
