Match Preview

Five Premiership games and just one win — and that the scrappy 1-0 victory against Birmingham at Goodison.  Not exactly what we had hoped for as we went into the Christmas period primed to climb into Euro contention rather than the relegation scrap that is likely we are to be deeply involved in after the next two Premiership games.

Now, however, we have the chance to forget about all that and seek solace in the Great FA Cup.

Considering we don't seem to have done very well in the Cup recently but rather have far too many embarassing recollections (Shrewsbury and Tranmere my particular "favourites"), I was surprised to see at a BBC website that we have been quarterfinalists in 3 of the last 5 years.

The last time we met Fulham in the Cup, 1975, we lost 2-1 and they went on to the final (where they lost to the Trevor Brooking header).

The last time we met them at Goodison, of course, we battered them 3-1 after scoring 3 times in the first 35 minutes.  But we were on the wrong side of a 2-1 scoreline at Loftus Road 2 weeks ago.  Then, however, they still had Saha — the loss of him to United has just got to hurt (and may have an interesting effect on Davis's decision to stay; I don't believe he has yet signed the new contract).  The signing of Brian McBride is — despite other websites comments — too late to have him play against us as you must have signed 7 days prior to an FA Cup tie to play.

Still, they do have Malbranque who so tormented Naysmith and that has to concern us.

For Everton, there may well be the welcoming sight of Steve Watson back in the line-up — still our 3rd highest scorer — though he is more likely to be on the bench.  If he does start, however, then it will be on the right of midfield which means that Moyes will have to choose just two starting strikers.  I would plump for Ferguson and Rooney but who knows?  In that instance, even the bench would be difficult to pick as Campbell would be cover for Dunc so how could you put both Jeffers and Radzinski on there as well!

The long-term injury to Weir (Will we see him again? — it has to be asked... ) means that we may see Clarke back on the bench — apparently he played well against Man Utd reserves in our 2-1 win on Thursday.

Many a team conundrum faces Moyes and you do feel that he has to pick his 11 and stick with them (which suggests a run for Jeffers).

A good game in the Cup should give us a spring for the next two rather daunting Premiership games — lets hope so!

2-0 to the Blues

Blue4Ever

Lee Doyle

Matchday Stats

This will be the 38th meeting between Everton and Fulham in all competitions, and the 20th at Goodison Park.  This will also be the sixth meeting between the sides in the FA Cup.

Everton's full record against Fulham is:

Our record at Goodison Park is fairly comprehensive:

However, as we can see all of Fulham's two victories at Goodison Park have been in the FA Cup!  In fact, Everton have never beaten Fulham in this competition in the 5 matches played to date although, as we will see later, Everton have never been beaten on this date in the FA Cup!

The last match between the two sides was two week's ago when Fulham won 2-0 at Loftus Road.  The last match at Goodison Park was Everton's 3-1 victory in August this season, with the last FA Cup meeting being Fulham's 2-1 victory at Goodison Park in 1975 when they went on to the Final.

That match in 1975 was Fulham's last win at Goodison Park.

Everton's biggest victory at Goodison was 5-1 in Division One on 21 May 1965.  Our biggest defeat at Goodison is split between the 2-1 cup defeat in 1975 and the 1-0 cup defeat in the 1948 competition.

The most common margin of victory at Goodison Park is 2-0.  The most common draw is 1-1 with Fulham's most common victory being shared between 1-0 and 2-1.

Everton's record for 24 January is:

This will be the first meeting between the two sides on this date.  Everton's last FA Cup match on this date was a 2-1 victory over Liverpool in the 1981 competition.

Milestone's that can be reached in this game:

• If David Unsworth starts he will join John Bailey, Jimmy Husband, Alan Ball, John Thomson and John bell on 22 FA Cup starts for the club in his career (joint 47th on the all-time list).  If he plays at any stage of the game then David will join Joe Royle, Alf Milward and Robert Balmer on 23 FA Cup appearances for the club in his career (joint 45 on the all-time list).

Steve Flanagan

Report

Since writting about us having the majority of possession and certainly half-chances if not clear-cut chances against Charlton, I found myself watching virtually the same game all over again today! 

Setting out with a 4-3-3 formation for the most part, we created enough half chances to be hopeful of getting a couple of goals... only for that not to happen yet again.  Barring Ferguson's header off the line and Kilbane's disallowed goal, there wasn't another clean cut chance in the first half; several half chances, several wasted corners and a few dodgy offsides and decisions by Dermot Gallagher made up the first half. 

It seemed slightly ironic that (if memory serves correct) it was Dermot Gallagher who said last year Everton had been on the rough end of some debatable refereeing, only for him to go and incorporate some of that into his display this afternoon, notably for challenges on Dunc and the hidden pleasure you sensed he might well have got for booking Rooney (though in fairness there could be little complaint about it).  Kilbane's handball, well it was ball to hand but in by far the majority of cases you never get the benefit of the doubt from a referee so it was little surprise to me it was disallowed.

Then, with the second half only minutes old, sloppy play put Fulham away and a scrappy goal put them one up.  I have to say, after that, the frustration in everyone rose quickly — especially on the back of the last home defeat against Charlton (which we should have got something from but didn't).  But this time, thankfully, we managed to nick a goal at the end and I think everyone there was made up for Jeffers to finally get a goal. 

After a few notable misses and lack of chances due to the poor service he was getting, I was a bit surprised Franny didn't follow the ball into the net and give it a few more kicks to fully take out the frustration he must have had over the months since his return!  Great moment to see and be a part of — and the sense of relief was palpable around the ground, to say the least!

As ever, the midfield was the source of ill —  a part of just about any match report these days that writes itself, it seems!  Our centre-midfield lacked bite and someone to clear everything out; it even went completely AWOL at times — simply not good enough but, hey, since when is this news?!!  Neither Nyarko or Gravesen put in many if any telling tackles this afternoon.  Consequently, Fulham we able to waltz through midfield way too easily. 

Though it may be considered a snap judgement, I don't think you can play both Gravesen and Nyarko together too often: there isn't the bite or disruptive element there to counter the opposition.  I didn't think Nyarko did badly today; he looks to play a good pass each and every time he has the ball, which is at least a start.  With any luck, he will score an absolute belter someday soon, if he gets a run in the side. 

And moving on to Gravesen, when you go to see Everton regularly (as I've been lucky enough to do this season, just missing four games), you really do see just how infuriating he can be.  Great piece of play one minute; suicidal 40-yard pas the next — how the majority of regulars aren't either grey haired or just plain bald from watching him I'll probably never know!  He plays a decent ball one minute; the next, Fulham have bypassed him in midfield and he's trotting back with the game going around him and failing to put a conclusive or even half-hearted tackle in. 

As I mentioned against Charlton I think Gravesen is in too much of a comfort zone, knowing he's virtually guaranteed a first team place every week; he needs a good kick up the arse to fire him up more.  This all takes place, of course, with the type of player who would go towards solving some of our midfield problems, not only playing against us but scoring too.  He did have a few boos when his name was announced but there was also a bit of applause, the kind of applause that says:  "Hey, Sean, remember us?  We could still do with signing you you know!"

I presume at this point that Unsworth must have picked up an injury as he looked a better bet to stay on than Stubbs, who once again had questionable judgement when Fulham were breaking on us.  For their goal, he went back towards the post instead of closing players down, and also let a pass run straight across him while he was trying to organise the defence instead of clearing it out. 

I'll make mention here of some of the abuse hurled at Tony Hibbert for his crossing ability (or lack thereof) in the second half.  Now, in the first half he had a decent opportunity to cross the ball over but you could see that the thought of making a mess of it and getting a torrent from the Park End went through his mind so he passed back to Gravesen instead.  Then, in the second half, especially when we were one down, he was absolutely pilloried at times.  Now I understand the frustration when it happens —especially at that point of the game.  I feel frustrated too but since when did thousands venting bile and fury at a youngster ever help to improve his game or confidence? 

For all that's said of progress and patience, too many people don't exert it when watching Hibbert and Rooney play.  In many ways it winds me up more than the lad slicing his cross - it is worth noting on a couple of occasions that, had our strikers taken different positions, then Hibbo's crosses would've been classed as half decent instead of derided.

And yes, Wayne does need a rest: at the moment, the only other option on the right would be Carsley, who didn't actually do too badly there for a spell last year, but my guess would be that Wayne will stay their until either Watson is fit or Moyes judges that it is the right type of game to give McFadden more experience at this level, when he's fit again too. 

If Wayne does stay there, he does need a "moment" to get him back on all cylinders you feel.  There is an expectation in the crowd that something might happen, such as during the game today when — given time and space to turn and shoot, there was that moment — when you thought something special would happen, when you felt this would be another great strike or piece of play, and it's something we do lack when he's not there.

If you're looking for a good shout for a man of the match for Everton, well, for work rate and effort you would be looking at Radz and Kilbane.  Kilbane is much more suited to a pure winger's role that he took up towards the end of the game rather than the odd floating role between left-winger and inside-left he took for most of the game.  He usually produces at least a decent cross at the end of a run or when the opportunity is there - makes you wonder why he doesn't take the corners really? 

The arguments against that are, with his good heading ability, you'd lose that with him taking the kick.  But surely your best headers are only any good with a decent cross into the area in the first place?  Whilst mentioning corners, yes, they were a pretty mixed bag throughout.  Noticeably, Rooney wasn't overly pleased when he wanted to take one late on but was overruled by Gravesen — you can probably guess what happened as a result!

Finally, to mention two melees at the end of the game.  I honestly didn't see what happened due to the bloke in front deciding he would take the opportunity to leave with his son right at the moment when things looked like they would kick off.  All I can say for sure is that there was a buzz around the Park End after only one player was booked as if those who had seen everything expected a lot more to be produced — possibly even a red card, especially as the linesman was consulted, which normally results in someone exiting the field. 

Disappointing attendance yet again for a Cup match, not helped by Fulham not even selling enough tickets to fill their portion of the Upper Bullens, nevermind the vacated Lower Bullens.  You would have thought/hoped that there would have been enough Evertonians in the land to make up the remaining seats available though.  But what was more surprising was that people who decided to leave early, stopped when Franny scored, then left straight afterwards!  Now that's faith in your team's goalscoring ability for you!

Ah well -— here's hoping for a successful replay (providing it's not on live TV, of course!).

Simon