FAN ARTICLES

Despair at the DW

The songs inside the away end before kick-off were reliving past glories; a small congregation broke out into a rendition of ?Oh Everton?. How we could have done with a few of the players from that glorious 80s team out there today. Instead, we were subjected to some very poor performances and we tried our best to make a poor side look, at times, like a passable imitation of Arsenal.

The team news came through showing Arteta and Cahill back in from the start and Anichebe up front. Why? Anichebe struggles to master the fundamentals such as control, passing or even running; never mind the scoring part. Personally, I would have had Arteta taking Neville/Rodwell?s place in the middle; as he can actually pass forward and has some attacking nous. Cahill was clearly short of fitness and as a result had no impact on the game whatsoever.

Wigan made a promising start; our centre-backs were too far apart and Rodallega was nearly played through on goal within the first two minutes. We seemed a bit all over the place for the first 10mins; it wasn?t just a bad start though, it developed into a bad half. Osman and Arteta looked bright during the first 20 mins, whenever we managed to string a few passes together. Wigan started to get on the ball more; our pressing was none existent as Rodwell and Neville did their best statue impressions. We looked flat and devoid of any real ideas... Soon enough, Wigan led and it would be harsh to say it wasn?t deserved.

Wigan advanced forward towards the edge of the box and from my seat I could see exactly what was about to happen; such a shame the players hadn?t noticed. Our lack of pressing meant everyone had got sucked in towards the ball, in a schoolboy football manner. The ball was shifted across the edge of the box and McCarthy lifted a delightful chip over to N'Zogbia; his initial touch was poor and Howard came out to snuff out the danger. The problem was, after Howard had forced him wide and then retreated towards his line, no-one had bothered to close N'Zogbia down. The Frenchman then proceeded to curl a drive into the far corner past Howard?s flailing right hand. Another poor start had been compounded by conceding first again; we cannot afford to start games with such a lack of intent or even effort.

A couple of minutes later, Arteta got in space down the left and stood a good ball up to the far post. Osman brought the cross down and forced a save from Al Habsi. 20 minutes in before our first shot told its own sorry story... The resulting corner came to nothing and the half seemed to be drifting towards its conclusion in a dour, subdued manner.

Around 35 minutes in, Osman produced a neat turn inside the area and N'Zogbia lost his head for a second and did his best freight train impression. Penalty to Everton: like buses, none all season and now we get them regularly. Arteta forgot he was good at penalties and put it at a nice height for the keeper. In all honesty, it lacked any conviction and Baines should have taken it.

Diame flattened Rodwell with an NFL style tackle but he got injured doing so; I instantly thought: Karma. N'Zogbia was having a good game and stung Howard?s fingertips as the half drew to a close. Awful performance to this point, Moyes surely had to change it at half time, didn?t he? He obviously didn?t share my view as the same XI came out for the second half.

We tried harder after the break but we still looked at sixes and sevens. Needs must meant Rodwell and Neville as our CM pairing recently but Moyes had options today and these two were showed up by some pretty ordinary counterparts. Neither warrants their place at this current time, although at least Rodwell grafted; I thought Neville was very poor, he got caught in possession far too often and gave it away a lot as well. Osman had a weak attempt after some promising build-up.

The changes finally came with around 25 minutes to go; Coleman and Beckford were brought on for Cahill and Arteta; both clearly not fit or on form. Although we had started to look better, Wigan still looked more of a threat going forward as they had something we have very little of ? pace. Moses and McCarthy both had shots blocked and Moses forced a couple of saves from an on-form Howard.

From a well hit Baines set piece, Jagielka forced a save from the keeper at the far post. Baines jogged across to swing a corner in from the other side. Rodallega got his defensive header all wrong and jumped under the ball, culminating in him deciding handball was the best option. This meant another penalty for the Toffees. Baines slammed the spot kick into the roof of the net; Mikel, take note.

The away support lifted and we got behind the team as we hoped for an undeserved winner. Anichebe was finally hauled off around the 80 minute mark, bringing to an end his charade of being a Premier League striker. Gueye produced a sharp turn and cross to earn a corner. Why was he not on sooner? Coleman had a shot from a cleared corner but it was deflected harmlessly into the keeper?s arms.

We never really looked like grabbing a winner and it was Wigan who came closest. Di Santo forced Howard to hold onto to a volley on the turn and Rodallega brought a good stop out of the American stopper. Rodallega skied their last presentable chance, into Row Z of the South Stand. On a side note; the ref was atrocious. You know he was bad, when I say that, after a game where he gave us two penalties. Some decisions were just so wrong it was hard to believe he was making them.

Overall, a very poor performance, we mustered 3 real attempts at goal all game. That just isn?t good enough. Wigan are in the bottom 3 for a reason; they can?t defend and don?t score enough. We made them look like world beaters for the majority of the game. Howard was MotM with Osman and Distin the best outfield players. Osman always looked for the ball and ran himself to a standstill. If only some of our other midfielders had taken note, we might have played well.

I thought this game highlighted how poor Moyes is with regards to substitutions and trying to change a bad performance around. His tactics were strange at best; Anichebe on the left of midfield said it all. He seemed lacking in ideas; quite why he persevered with 4-5-1 all game was puzzling. He tried a combination of about 4 different players on the right of midfield and none really worked.

We will seriously need to up our game when City come visiting next week. This game needs to signal the end of the Neville/Rodwell CM partnership otherwise we could get overrun come Saturday. The most disappointing thing about today was the clear lack of drive and commitment in the team; most looked like they had come for the good weather. Wigan?s half-time music consisted of one song with lyrics, ?Just hold on to what we?ve got?. Surely we should be beating teams with such little ambition...

Ratings:

Howard 8, Hibbert 6, Jagielka 6, Distin 7, Baines 6, Osman 7, Neville 4, Rodwell 6, Arteta 5, Cahill 5, Anichebe 5.

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