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Match Report So, even with the arrival of the Moyes revolution, there are a couple of infuriating phenomena that still surround Everton: first, the White Hart Lane hoodoo that condemned the Blues to yet another visit to N17 without a victory since 1985, and second, the propensity to fall apart after handing out a mauling the previous week. Six days ago against Leeds, Moyes's side had the look of a team that had turned the corner (we've turned so many corners in recent years that we're still going in circles) as they meted out a 4-0 hammering. Today, while the margin greatly flattered Spurs, the Blues lost any hope of getting anything from their struggling opposition in six minutes either side of half time. The unfortunate effect of the victory over Leeds was that Duncan Ferguson came out of that game with so much credit, scoring the third and adding to another goalscoring outing against Stockport in the Carling Cup. That meant that not only the fans but David Moyes were convinced that the Big Yin should form the nucleus of the attack despite so much history attesting to the contrary. Today, despite Moyes's midweek warning that he didn't want the players resorting to route-one football by playing balls up to Ferguson's head, we were forced to endure a succession of long hoofs out of defence that by-passed the midfield and led Everton precisely nowhere, despite the fact that he was winning a fair amount of them. Doesn't it just take you back to all those frustrating seasons under Kendall III and Walter Smith when all you wanted was for the "talisman" to just go somewhere else? Oh yeah, that's right, he did go somewhere else for a princely sum... but Soundbite Bill thought it would be great to bring him back. Anyway, I digress. It's unfair to harp on about Ferguson when, in the air at least, he was doing his job — it was on the floor that he was pedestrian and slow to react, but there's nothing new there — and the game was effectively lost in the first couple of minutes of the second half when poor defending gifted Tottenham the two goals that put them beyond reach. First, Gus Poyet was allowed plenty of space to get on the end of a cross from the right and glance home Spurs' second. Then, David Unsworth, playing instead of Gary Naysmith for reasons known only to Moyes, dallied on the ball right in the middle of the area when he should have just put his boot through the ball, got it caught up between his legs and was robbed by Robbie Keane who easily beat the stranded Nigel Martyn to make it 3-0. Six minutes earlier, Freddie Kanoute had given the home side the lead with the kind of goal for which you simply cannot legislate. A clearance by Kasey Keller fell to the big forward midway inside Everton's half and he caught it beautifully, sending an unstoppable, dipping shot into the top corner past Martyn's despairing dive. And yet, it could have been so different given the Blues' positive start to the match. Indeed, Spurs had easily been the inferior team until Kanoute produced his moment of magic. However, while Moyes's side had the better of the first 43 minutes, they never really looked like scoring. 12 minutes in, Ferguson knocked the ball down to Tomasz Radzinski but although he managed to wrap his foot around the ball, he didn't hit it right and Keller was able to make a routine save. Four minutes after that, Anthony Gardner was booked for holding Radzinski back on the edge of the box but Duncan Ferguson's attempts to improve on his curling free kick that hit the bar against Liverpool were foiled by the wall which deflected the ball wide for a corner, the first of a handful that Everton wasted. The best chance of the half thus far came from a good move down the left involving James McFadden who teed Unsworth up to cross hard to Steve Watson and the Geordie cleared the bar by mere inches with a powerful header onto the roof of the net. Just after the half-hour mark Everton's defence was disrupted when Alan Stubbs was withdrawn with a leg injury; David Weir assumed the captain's armband and his place alongside Joseph Yobo. Unsworth was at fault when Poyet got in front of him to almost score a second a minute after Kanoute's opener, but Nigel Martyn made a terrific stop down low to turn his header around the post. After Spurs had blitzed Everton with those two goals in quick succession, the manager introduced Wayne Rooney to the fray at the expense of Tomasz Radzinski who had been forced to feed off Ferguson's scraps and some poor distribution down the channels. The move was presumably an effort to grab a quick goal to reduce the deficit and it might have worked had Moyes not gone all "Walter Smith" and gone like-for-like by removing Radzinski and swapping McFadden with Kevin Kilbane. McFadden had had a dreadful game although he had tried to be creative in the first half, everything he tried failed dismally, so the move was hardly surprising. To his credit, Kilbane did quite well in his 35 minutes on the field but was frustrated by a lack of support from the rest of midfield, particularly late on when he got to the by-line and crossed to an area devoid of blue jerseys. Rooney, for his part, tried manfully to produce the goal that might have sparked a revival but his frustrations boiled over into the inevitable yellow card five minutes from time when he was booked for a torrent of four-letter words aimed at Dermot Gallagher after the referee had waived away claims for a penalty. In fact, he was pretty fortunate not to see red for his continued blue-language chuntering after the official had flashed the yellow card. That booking means he will pick up a one-match suspension, entirely avoidable if he could just manage to keep his temper under control. Ultimately, Everton were found wanting yet again in all departments. Lee Carsley, who seemed such a good fit alongside Gravesen against Stockport and Leeds, was badly exposed for his lack of enterprise while the Dane himself showed only flashes of brilliance instead of taking on the role of midfield dynamo. Large question marks hover over the midfield's ability to cope with teams who drive forward quickly through the center, as Spurs did on a number of occasions. In one such incident ten minutes before the break, Keane found himself on the edge of the area, nut-megged Yobo and placed a shot wide of the goalkeeper, but Martyn was on hand to palm it to safety. At the back, Yobo was his usual combative self but Unsworth showed once again that his time is up. With Pistone's season already threatened by a niggling long-term injury that will require his visit to a specialist in Italy next week, Moyes still only has Gary Naysmith as an alternative but on the evidence thus far this season, the Scot should get the nod. Up front, Moyes still hasn't found the right combination despite an embarrassment of riches in that department. Although he has explicitly told his team not to use Ferguson has the chief outlet, his players clearly haven't received the memo and you would hope that Rooney will be restored to the starting line-up, possibly alongside the now-fit Francis Jeffers. Thankfully, he has two weeks to think about it because of the international break after which the Blues entertain Southampton. Now, more than ever, there are no easy games in the Premiership and the Saints have plenty of potential to come away from Goodison with a victory so Moyes's battle plan had better be air-tight. Lyndon Lloyd
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| Tottenham
Hotspur (4-4-2) White shirts, dark blue shorts, white socks |
Everton (4-4-2) Blue shirts, white shorts, blue socks |
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