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 Carling League Cup (3); Goodison Park, Liverpool; Wednesday 29 October 2003; 8:00pm
  Linderoth (42')
 

Attendance: 24,863
Halftime: 1-0

Facts
Reports



Referee: Alan Wiley
 

Match Summary

Well, what a performance. A player, formerly in the wilderness, with a complete lack of form, playing his way back in style. Yes, David Weir had an absolute stormer on Wednesday. You could see we have problems on Wednesday, but all in all, I thought it was relatively positive.

Nigel Martyn was again steady, the nerves of his debut are long gone. What might have been if we'd get him when we should've...

Tony Hibbert looks the fittest I've seen him. (Pink File!) However, his distribution was disappointing, although he got into some great positions, and showed some hitherto hidden dribbling skills.

Naysmith was again impressive. He's our most improved player in the last season I think. He looks a lot more mobile than he did, and is playing with a lot of confidence.

Joseph Yobo is another player coming back into form. He is starting to look solid again, and is cutting out the 'big' mistakes he was making in virtually every game. A very good player in the making.

I've mentioned Weir already, but it was noticeable on Weds his confidence in bringing the ball out of defence, and he was conceding far less silly 'niggly' fouls. Man of the Match for me.

McFadden struggled. Looks a bit 'leggy' at the moment, and I'd drop him to the bench for Saturday. He's clearly a very skilful player, and the throw-outs from Martyn to him are going to be very useful, but it just appears to have caught up with him a bit. When taking people on, he just didn't have the pace he has shown previously.

Linderoth had a good game, lot more 'positive' than previously, actually going forward instead of just 'sitting'. Now that may be because he had faith in Alex

Aaah, Alex. The prodigal. Thought he got a FAR better reception than he could've expected, I was very surprised. But he played really well. Showed a lot more 'nous' (like smarts) than any of our other centre-midfielders, and at one point even produced a lollipop. Quite frankly, he MUST start on Saturday.

Gravesen.  Just one of those days.  He's always either sublime or ridiculous.  Unfortunately, it was the former.

Rooney and Ferguson. Both worked hard, but just didn't seem to 'gel'. Now we have people who can cross, think Dunc should stay right up top, and Wayne is the one who comes deep. I'd bring Radz back asap though, looked VERY sharp when he came on.

All in all, encouraging.



Tomasz Radzinski: Back in and ready to run 'em ragged


Everton v Charlton:
Prior Cup Games
 Overall  
 Everton  
 Charlton  
 Draws  
 League Cup  
 Everton  
 CHarlton  
 Draws  
 Last Meeting:

Everton 0-0 Charlton


 

Carling League Cup Scores
Tuesday 29 Oct
Bolton 2-0 Gillingham
Reading 1-0 Huddrsfild
Wolves 2-0 Burnley
Blackpool 1-3 C Palace
Arsenal 1e1 Rotherham

Arsenal win 9-8 on penalties

Leeds 2e3  Man Utd
Bristol City 0-3 Southmtn
QPR 0-3 Man City
Wednesday 30 Oct
Wigan 1-2 Middlesbro
Everton 1-0 Charlton
Blackburn 3-4 Liverpool
Chelsea 4-2 Notts Co
Newcastle 1e2 West Brom
Nottm Forest 2e4 Portsmuth
Aston Villa 1-0 Leicester
Tottenham 1e0 West Ham
 


Match Facts
 Everton   (4-4-2)
 Blue shirts, white shorts, blue socks
 Charlton Athletic   (4-4-2)
Yellow shirts, yellow shorts, yellow socks
  Martyn
Hibbert
Naysmith
Weir
Yobo
Linderoth
Gravesen (87' Li Tie)
Nyarko (87' Stubbs)
McFadden (75' Radzinski)
Rooney
Ferguson

Subs not used:  
Simonsen, Campbell

Yellow Cards: Naysmith

Red Cards: —


Unavailable:

(Cup-tied:) Kilbane
(Injured:) Chadwick, Pistone, Gemmill, Watson, Osman
Kiely
Fish
Holland (82' Campbell-Ryce)
Perry
Hreidarsson
Kishishev
Jensen
Parker
Stuart
Johanssen
Euell

Subs not used:
Powell, Spencer, Fortune, Royce

Yellow Cards: Parker

Red Cards: —
 
Match Reports

2003-04 Match Reports Index


Everton Web Sites
ToffeeWeb Match Summary
EvertonFC.com Match Report
When Skies Are Grey Match Report
Blue Kipper Match Report
Everton Fans' Reports
Steve Milne Match Report
Links to Other Media Reports
Electronic Telegraph Match Report
BBC Sport Match Report
4 the Game Match Report
Sky Sports Match Report
Sporting Life Match Report
SoccerNet Match Report
The Observer Match Report
The Guardian Match Report
The Independent Match Report
Liverpool Echo Match Report
Daily Post Match Report
Premiership Table
Pos Team Pts
1 Arsenal 24
2 Chelsea 23
3 Man Utd 22
4 Birmingham 19
5 Fulham 18
6 Southampton 16
7 Man City 15
8 Newcastle 15
9 Charlton 15
10 Liverpool 14
11 Portsmouth 12
12 Tottenham 12
13 Everton 10
14 Aston Villa 10
15 Wolves 9
16 Blackburn 8
16 Middlesbrough 8
18 Bolton 8
19 Leeds 8
20 Leicester 5
30 Oct 2003


Match Preview

Two clean sheets at least gives us reason to believe that the kamikaze defending which has so undermined this season may be left behind us.  Three games without scoring, however, mean that problems at that end of the field are rather more surprisingly problematic.

With a clutch of strikers — Rooney, Radzinski, Ferguson, Jeffers and Campbell — to choose from, you wouldn't expect goalscoring to be a problem but this simply underlines the paucity of Everton's creativity in the middle of the park.

The brief emergence of McFadden perhaps shows a signpost for the future but the loss of Watson takes away our one consistent goalscoring midfielder.  The so unlucky Leon Osman must be cursing as now is the obvious time for Moyes to at least give him a chance with Kilbane cup-tied but consistent injuries seem to be scuppering that and he must be concerned about when he will ever get a chance.

Against Charlton, there appear to be few options for Moyes.  Perhaps McFadden moving to the right with Kilbane on the left [Unfortunately, he's cup-tied — Ed] will at least give some genuine width; if Gravesen and Li Tie/Linderoth just play it simple and give them and Rooney some simple but quality ball, we should still be able to get at Charlton.

Charlton's appetite for the game must be questioned.  They are having a good run in the Premiership with the excellent Scott Parker driving them to a win over Liverpool and a very creditable draw with Arsenal — both results that we have failed to match.  However, injuries to Di Canio, Carlton Cole (a Moyes target before Jeffers arrived), Shaun Bartlett and Reds hattrick hero Kevin Lisbie means that they have had to recall Svensson from a loan at Derby and he is likely to go straight into the squad.

Alan Curbishley must also decide whether he wants to give Parker a break, although I have heard no rumours if him doing so it would hardly be surprising if he did.

All in all this will be a close game — our 2-2 draw at the Valley had both teams dominating at different times but, with Yobo returning to form and Weir grasping his opportunity, we should be able to keep their depleted attack quiet.

We do have quality strikers... it is just down to Moyes getting the mix right — hopefully, Wednesday night will see a step in the right direction, though I must say that it is very very difficult.  Aerial power of Dunc with skill of Rooney?  Do you then lose the blistering pace of Radz and movement of Jeffers? Long term I see Jeffers and Rooney as the strikeforce but can we ever discount a fully fit Ferguson?

A good game but an early goal should see Charlton wilt.

2-0

BlueForEver

Lee Doyle




Report

 

Steve Milne



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