Match Summary

James Beattie: Too soon for him to play a part in the Blues' bid to pull off a miracle?

Finally, David Moyes shows the courage to drop his less-than effective captain Davie Weir, for this Mission Impossible episode, with Valente and Ferrari playing together in the backline.  Hibbert starts after being rested for Wigan but no rest (again!) for Tim Cahill.

Upfront leading the goal-blitz: Duncan Ferguson and Jamie McFadden.  In Scotland we Trust!  Just four goals needed with non against.  Davies, as expected, misses the fun after turning his ankle in training.

An early free-kick for Dinamo in a dangerous location was parried by Martyn and nervously hacked away.

A great cross from Kilbane, deflected away from Ferguson by a defender as a cauldron atmosphere enveloped Goodison for the first Everton attack.  Arteta also crossing well, but no-one could get on the end.  Then a chance for McFadden but his shot was deflected a fraction wide.  After 12 mins, a cross in to Ferguson was headed just inches over the bar as Everton surged forward with determination... but still no end product.

Hibbert picked up a bad knock, but stayed on fro a while. A chip from Arteta floated over the cross-bar as Everton mounted an onslaught on the Bucharest goal.  Ferguson got a good header down to McFadden but he had to fire fast and it was wide: the best chance yet.  More chances followed as Dinamo rocked... but their goal withstood the tremendous Everton pressure. 

Ferocious tackling from Valente, Hibbert and Neville led to protests from Dinamo, with Valente getting booked, probably for dissent, as the ref allowed the game to be played by Everton.  But so far, no luck for Everton, as Weir replaced Hibbert and accepted the captain's armband from Phil Neville. 

Finally, Ferguson, who was playing superbly, won a pacey ball from Ferrari and set up a wonderful diving header from Cahill that near broke the net.  1-0!  Goodison went absolutely ballistic.  Kilbane did great to win a corner.

Everton won a great free-kick for Arteta but it rose over the bar from a perfect location.  Ferguson and Cahill combined again to get the ball in the net, but Ferguson was all over the keeper, and the ref disallowed it.  Everton were basically all over Bucharest, with wave after wave of attacks making the aggregate score look painfully ridiculous.  But their immense superiority had worryingly produced only the one goal by the break, while a fearsome break by Dinamo very nearly gave them a goal in added time.

Dinamo were a bit more inventive at the start of the second half.  McFadden was unfairly booked for supposedly fouling the Dinamo keeper, who play-acted for all he was worth.  After a good attack by the Blues which nearly saw an own-goal off a Dinamo defender, they scampered up the end and very nearly scored but for a vital Yobo deflection.

Ferguson then flattened a defender off the ball after the defenders were pulling him every which way, but the ref miraculously didn't see it and could only give a yellow card.  Everton's first bit of real luck?  Then it stall started going crazy as Bratu picked up a yellow, with the Dinamo players falling like nine-pins.  Time for a change from Moyesie?  But Davie dithered for another 10 mins before bringing on Bent and Beattie... 4-2-4!!! with 20 mins to go.

However, the second half had been nothing like the first, and Everton were visibly flagging despite the substitutions; had the Blues shot their wad in that frenetic first half?  With 15 mins left, Everton were clearly running out of ideas, although Ferguson was giving a hugely committed (if very risky) performance reminiscent of old. 

The inevitability of Everton's plight finally set in with 10 mins left and the game faded as a spectacle along with Everton's fabulous European dream, apart from one atrocious piece of retribution from Dinamo Bucharest.

Arteta was totally flattened in a horrible foul from Plesan, who crashed fearfully into his back, belting him in the back of the head and poleaxed him.  A red card?  No; only a yellow.  It took three minutes to get him onto a body-support stretcher and off the field, presumably straight to hospital.  Unbelievable.

Six minutes of time added on...  Bent missed a sitter from Neville, firing an easy one straight at the keeper. 

So... a goal, and a win, technically.  Pride perhaps restored?  But the failure to score a bagful from the plethora of half-chances created in the first half will remain a huge indictment of the club's failure to do something about the striker's role that James Beattie is so clearly failing to perform.

Michael Kenrick

Match Preview

Football is, as Jimmy Greaves' well-worn cliché goes, a funny ole game and strange things can happen.  Look at the train-wreck that has been Everton's start to the 2005-06 season, for one thing.  Now, with their European dreams hanging by the slimmest of threads, the Blues need to pull off a double miracle against Dynamo Bucharest if they are to remain in the Uefa Cup.

The first miracle is to reverse a seemingly impossible four-goal deficit to go through on the away goals rule.  The second?  To score more than one goal, something David Moyes's beleaguered side have failed to do in each of the nine games they have already played so far this season.

Despite one ignoramus journo suggesting that Moyes should have started Duncan Ferguson and Marcus Bent against Wigan last Saturday — he obviously didn't see our defeat to Portsmouth — the manager was right to finally play James McFadden up front.  His mistake was probably to leave Bent on the bench until the last quarter of the game, because it seems to me that while James Beattie is unfit, it is the McFadden-Bent partnership that offers the best hope of the Blues pulling out of their current crisis.

There has been talk of Beattie being rushed back to the squad to take a place on the bench for this one but it is highly unlikely he'll start.  McFadden's man-of-the-match display against Wigan will surely earn him another shot up front; conversely, Osman was less effective and could make way for Bent.

In midfield, Moyes's refusal to acknowledge that Tim Cahill's dramatic loss of form is due to fatigue — and no amount of positive thinking is going to magically remove that physical fatigue — means that he will again partner Mikel Arteta.  He must then perm two from Kilbane, Osman and Davies... whomever he feels will offer the most attacking threat.

At the back, the wise decision to play Phil Neville instead of Tony Hibbert was offset by another poor performance from Nuno Valente but, with Naysmith and Pistone crocked, he has no options there.  In the centre, David Weir's ageing legs make him a prime candidate to make way for Matteo Ferrari but Moyes has thus far retained faith in a captain who does more talking on the club's website than on the field.

The all-round team performance last weekend was as well as the Blues have played since losing to Villarreal so Moyes would probably be wise not to tinker with it too much, but the focus has to be on just going hell for leather and going for goals.  After all, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain: either one of the stories of the season or a close call that will act as an invaluable pick-me-up for the coming tests in the Premiership.

It is important that, if Everton are going to go out of the competition, they do so having given the second leg their absolute best shot.  And, let's face it, were it not for our own pathetic lack of goal threat, this would be an eminently salvage-able situation.  After all, Celtic came within a goal of performing a similar miracle in the Champions League qualifiers earlier in the season.  If the Blues can get their offensive game clicking, you never know might happen.

Lyndon Lloyd

Matchday Stats

Everton’s 22nd match in the UEFA Cup (including it’s predecessor the Inter-Cities Fairs’ Cup), sees them needing to win by at least 4 clear goals to ensure that the first leg in the next round of the competition will be their 50th in Europe.

Everton can take solace in the fact that previously, on 7 June 1961, they did manage to win 4-0 against Dinamo Bucharest in the American based International Soccer League, with Jimmy Gabriel (2), Bobby Collins and Jimmy Fell getting the goals.

Should Everton manage the virtual impossible then not only would this be the first time they have turned around a first leg loss into a victory in the tie, but would also match the current European record for the best come-back after an away defeat.  They would also close in on the highest ever win for the club in European competition, when they beat Finn Harps twice, 5-0, in the 1978-79 UEFA Cup.

Everton's full record in Europe is:

Everton’s record at Goodison Park in a European tie is:

There have been just 2 Everton hat-tricks in Europe over the years.  The first was by Alan Ball in the 6-2 win against IB Keflavik in the European Cup on 16 September 1970.  The only other European hat-trick was scored by Andy Gray on 6 March 1985 in the 3-0 win at home to Fortuna Sittard.  In fact, Andy Gray’s hat-trick was the only one he scored for the club during his time here.

The most common victory for Everton is 1-0 which has happened 5 times in Everton's 23 European victories.  Everton’s most common defeat in Europe is 0-1, which has happened 6 times in their 12 defeats. The most common European draw 0-0, which has also happened 7 times in the 12 draws in total.

Everton's record for 29 September is:

This is the first time Everton have played a European match on this day.  The last match Everton played on this day was in 2001 when they beat West Ham United 5-0 at Goodison Park.  A scoreline which every Evertonian is hoping is repeated.

Mark Higgins was born on this day in 1958 in Buxton.  After signing professional forms in August 1976, Mark made 183 appearances for Everton, as well as getting 6 goals, before he retired through injury caused by a serious pelvic disorder in May 1984.  However, he late defied the doctor’s orders and returned to the game with Manchester United in December 1985, with Everton receiving £60,000 in insurance compensation, and eventually retired in 1991 with a back injury whilst on trial at Burnley.

Trevor Steven was also born on this day in 1963 in Berwick-on-Tweed.  Signed from Burnley for £300,000 in July 1983, Trevor made 298 appearances for Everton whilst scoring 59 goals.  He was also a member of the 1985 European Cup Winners’ Cup team, scoring Everton’s second goal in the final.  He moved to Glasgow Rangers in July 1989 for £1.5m before moving on just over 2 years later to Marseille for £4.5m.  He returned to Rangers the following year, retiring from the game just under 7 years later.  During this time Trevor had amassed 14 medals at club level (2 league’s, 1 F.A. Cup and 1 European Cup Winners’ Cup with Everton, five Scottish league and four League Cup medals with Rangers and a French league title with Marseille).

Cliff Britton won his first England cap on this day in 1934, in their 4-0 win over Wales.

Sam Chedgzoy represented the Football League in their 6-2 win over the Irish League on this day in 1923.

Milestone’s that can be reached in this game:

·          If he plays any part in the match, Leon Osman will make his 50th appearance for Everton in all competitions.  So far, Leon has had 36 starts and 13 substitute appearances, scoring 8 goals in the process.

Steve Flanagan

No miracles at Goodison

Like the long-suffering, true Blues that we are, many of us believed — well, we had to, didn't we? — but in the end the prayers that some kind of miracle would occur at Goodison Park, bringing forth four goals like manna from heaven, went unanswered.

Even an evening of high drama with the gallant Blues missing out by one goal — maybe due to another dodgy refereeing decision or a coat of paint on the "woodwork" — might have satisfied those fans who did come on a damp autumn evening in Liverpool L4 to see mission impossible play out.

In the end, Everton didn't even come close, but there was no shortage of commitment, effort or belief and that may prove to be the most important ingredient in the weeks and months to come.  The more worrying deficiencies in the final third will, we can only hope, be gradually worked out as the season progresses and some of our walking wounded return to allow some sort of continuity in the first team.

David Moyes has come in for much criticism lately and a lot of it has been deserved, but he has at least now seen the possibilities that lie beyond the tedium of 4-1-4-1 and made some key personnel changes that few could argue with.  Tony Hibbert was rightfully dropped and James McFadden finally deployed in attack against Wigan last weekend, and tonight against Dinamo Bucharest, David Weir made way for Matteo Ferrari — another overdue switch.

Injuries, however, continue to hamper the manager's attempts to get the Blues back on an even keel; the latest, to Simon Davies, meant that Phil Neville was required in central midfield so Hibbert was drafted back in at right back. But when he too was forced off with injury after just 24 minutes, Weir was back in the fray as an early substitute.

Marcus Bent was, again, left to watch the first hour from the bench which he shared with James Beattie who was rushed back into the squad with only three days' training under his belt because of the Blues' need for goals.

Pleasingly, from both a spectator's perspective and that of Everton, Bucharest hadn't come to merely pull all eleven men behind the ball and grind out the 90 minutes.  And it was the Rumanians who had the first sight of goal when a daisy-cutter free kick on the edge of the area surprised Nigel Martyn and he could only parry the ball into danger in the six yard box.  Thankfully, Neville was on hand to put his boot through the ball and clear his lines.

Everton then took control of the game and set about the task of making the initial breakthrough.  The core game-plan was clear and simple: get the ball in the air to Duncan Ferguson often, from defence, from the flanks, from the byline, from set-pieces.  In the 4th minute, Kevin Kilbane chipped the ball invitingly into the box but a defender's decisive touch took it away from the towering Scot.

A minute later, Arteta burst past the full-back and to the byline and, although his whipped-in cross was headed out by a defender, it fell straight to Neville who raked a tame left-foot shot well wide.  A minute after that, Ferguson went down in the area under an innocuous challenge as he went for another teasing Arteta delivery.

And the chances kept coming against a shaky-looking Bucharest defence.  James McFadden brought the ball down outside of the area and advanced into the space in front of him before firing narrowly wide off a defender.

Then Ferguson had his first effort on goal, a trademark header that he powered a yard over the bar despite the attentions of two markers.

The best chance thus far fell to McFadden, though.  Ferguson, who was winning everything in the air, nodded down perfectly for his fellow Scot but McFadden could only hook a first-time shot the wrong side of the upright with the goal gaping six yards in front of him.

Meanwhile, Bucharest signalled the danger that was present if the Blues neglected to cover the back door when Bratu nipped in behind Hibbert and forced a good save from Martyn.

In the 28th minute, though, the breakthrough came. Arteta, once again the Blues' inspiration and creative outlet, twisted and turned three times on the right before whipping a cross to the back post, Ferguson nodded back across the six-yard box and there was Tim Cahill to head home and make it 1-0.  Suddenly, Goodison believed and the players responded by maintaining the high tempo.

Neville tried a neat 1-2 with Ferguson on the edge of the area but was tripped and Arteta lifted the resulting free kick a yard over the bar.  And Cahill had the ball in the net a second time but it was rightfully ruled out for Ferguson's clear foul on the goalkeeper.

Despite their efforts, though, half-time approached too soon for the Blues and Bucharest had the last word of the first 45 minutes when Zicu sent an unorthodox first-time shoot a foot wide as the red shirts poured forward on a quick break.

Unfortunately, rather than provide an opportunity to catch their breath and get ready for a second-half assault, the interval served to severely disrupt Everton's momentum.  Fatigued from a frantic first-half effort, they were slow to get going after half-time and chances were suddenly at a premium.

McFadden was unlucky to not only be adjudged to have fouled the 'keeper but was booked as well — and Ferguson had a tame header easily gathered from an Arteta corner.  At the other end, Dinamo were starting to carve out the better openings and had saw chances in as many minutes go begging when a deflection off Yobo's back carried the ball just wide and Martyn palmed a stinging drive over the bar.

More effective tactics for Bucharest, however, were the cynical fouls, the time-wasting and play-acting designed to disrupt the flow of the game and destroy the home side's rhythm.  Bratu was booked for scything Neville down in frustration when the referee failed to stop play when he went down "injured" in his own half.

With 24 minutes left on the clock, Moyes played his last hand, throwing Bent and Beattie on for fading Kilbane and the infuriatingly enigmatic Nuno Valente.  Unfortunately, as was the case at Fulham earlier in the season, the more attackers the Blues have on the field, the more one-dimensional and ineffective they seem to get.  Go figure...

A glancing Ferguson header when Cahill was better placed and a couple of weak efforts from the edge of the area by McFadden and Beattie aside, they didn't really threaten until deep into injury time when Duncan nodded down for Bent but he could only guide the ball straight into the 'keeper's arms from close range.

But it was a sickeningly cynical challenge by Plesan on Arteta a minute before the end of the regulation 90 that dominated the closing stages.  The Spaniard was absolutely poleaxed by the Rumanian and, laid out on the Goodison turf, his body went into convulsions in response to the impact of Plesan's full weight and elbow on his neck and upper back.

For what seemed like an eternity, a ring of medical staff and a clutch of concerned players surrounded the midfielder who was eventually strapped to a stretcher with his head in a brace and carried from the field of play and on to hospital where he was, thankfully, given the all-clear.

Although Everton will — and should — take heart from this their first victory on home soil since the season began, it was still desperately disappointing that they again couldn't find the necessary inspiration in the final third to make their clear superiority tell.  Paradoxically, it was the aerial strategy that was proved to be so effective in the first half that emerged as the Blues' best hope of scoring the goals they needed.

That they abandoned this tactic in the second half, pulled Arteta into the middle and tried to do everything down the centre of the pitch was all the more mystifying.  Perhaps fatigue was as big a factor as any behind the lack of runs down the flanks after half-time but, when the crosses from the flanks dried up, so did the Blues' chances of making a bigger dent in Dinamo's first-leg advantage.

So now it's back to the bread and butter of the Premiership and what is shaping up to be another battle to avoid relegation.  Quite a comedown from the highs of last May when the world was our oyster.  All of that has disappeared down the drain, and the efforts of season 2004-05 wasted in every respect apart from the additional prize revenue it generated... the very same revenue that the spin-meisters on the Goodison Board of Directors will now have you believe was investment provided by Bill Kenwright!

Player Ratings:
(all heavily weighted towards effort rather than ability)

Martyn 7 — Made some key saves to preserve a clean sheet
Hibbert 7 — Losing his place against Wigan seemed to have had an impact; he even managed to find Ferguson in the box with a cross
Yobo 7 — His usual dependable self
Ferrari 7 — In general, I have liked what I have seen of the Italian, who has a willingness to pass to feet and is an accomplished defender when small errors don't creep into his game
Valente 5 — One minute he passes like an international and overlaps down the flanks like an old-fashioned fullback, the next he's hesitating or floating lazy balls in the general direction of the forward line. Often he looks like the new kid at school, not wanting to take responsibility for anything and giving the ball back to a team-mate at the first opportunity, but there are signs that if he gets his act together and learns what is demanded of him in the Premiership, he could be a good signing
Arteta 9 — Mikel has flourished playing against Continental opposition and he looks like he should be playing in European competition on a permanent basis.  Which makes it all the more sad that he will be denied that opportunity by our early exit from both the CL and Uefa Cup.
Neville 7 — Had a good first half but was less effective in the second and eventually had to move to left back after Valente went off
Cahill 8 — Arguably his best performance of the season, and he's finally off the scoring mark so hopefully we'll see more from him soon
Kilbane 6 — Did well in the first half and chased everything but his final ball was often poor and he faded badly in the second half before going off
McFadden 7 — Plenty of effort and should have scored the first goal when he missed badly from close range.  Had a far less productive second half
Ferguson 8 — It's rare that he gets to enjoy such aerial dominance, which is why it's a shame we didn't continue to use it to good effect in the second half

Weir 7 — Committed and purposeful and the victim of couple of poor tackles in the second half
Bent 5 — Made almost no impact as a substitute
Beattie 6 — Was similarly ineffective, though to be fair to him and Bent, we had run out of steam and ideas by the time they entered the fray

Lyndon Lloyd

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