VIEW FROM THE BLUE

Time to Change the Record

By Lyndon Lloyd   ::  17/10/2011

Chelsea 3 - 1 Everton

Some of the records that Everton have developed in recent seasons have been fodder for the media build-up to their last three games against the now de facto "big five". The proud run of victories over Manchester City's millions, the avoidance of back-to-back Premier League defeats over the past couple of seasons, the five-season unbeaten run in the League at Stamford Bridge...

All were used to bolster the Blues' chances ahead of three tricky games in the middle of a very daunting part of the fixture calendar and all now lie in tatters following a third successive loss by a two-goal margin that has sowed more seeds of doubt about just what can be achieved this campaign given the realities under which the Club currently operates.

Chief among them, of course, is a chronic inability to compete financially with the League's moneyed elite. Moyes bemoaned the hundreds of millions at Roberto Mancini's disposal and set out his defensive stall at the Etihad Stadium three weeks accordingly, and the gulf in resources was uppermost in the manager's comments following this fairly comprehensive dismantling at the hands of Chelsea.

The "haves" are clearly pulling away now thanks to a depressingly uneven financial playing field but where Everton are concerned, that is only part of the story. No one denies that Moyes is working with one hand tied behind his back but there is a section of the fanbase that feels he is tying his shoelaces together at the same time with his ultra-cautious approach and a growing number of fans who feel that if we're going to get beaten anyway, can we not at least have a go at entertaining the poor buggers who pay to watch each week?

If Moyes came in for some stick from a good many Blues for parking the bus in Eastlands with predictable results, he at least gave cause for hope that he'd seen the error in that strategy with the deployment of Louis Saha up front at Stamford Bridge. Indeed, while some would have had misgivings with a couple of other selection choices ? more on that later ? it was a starting XI that at least gave a nod to the notion that scoring goals is the way to win points.

And, to be fair, the Blues had a decent half hour against a Chelsea side that, like previous games against Everton on home turf, at times looked sloppy, profligate in possession, and vulnerable if the visitors could just put something meaningful together. Indeed, Moyes's side looked very comfortable in the early going, exhibiting some patient passing in midfield and forcing the first save of the match from Petr Cech when he spilled Saha's low shot but gathered the ball at the second attempt after 10 minutes.

A couple of corners aside and a succession of offsides at the hands of Chelsea's unusually high defensive line, though, the Blues weren't much of an attacking threat. As has been the case since the departures of Steven Pienaar and Mikel Arteta, there was a depressing lack of creativity in the Everton ranks so the reliance was once again on graft and pressure.

Seamus Coleman has never lacked effort or enthusiasm but he has been bemusingly ineffective this season, the frustration he is becoming encapsulated when he had acres of space to deliver a telling a cross to the waiting blue jerseys in the penalty area but chose instead to dribble inside, was dispossessed and a rare chance to create a chance for the forwards was lost.

Leon Osman, another whose effort cannot be faulted but who is proving to be less and less effective with each passing week, was similarly guilty of allowing himself to be muscled off the ball on a number of occasions and that put the onus for containment and attacking momentum on the central midfield duo of Jack Rodwell and Marouane Fellaini, neither of whom was able to maintain a scruff-hold on proceedings against a team like Chelsea.

So it was no surprise that, having sorted out their clumsiness in defence, Andre Villas-Boas' men eventually assumed control over the game midway through the first half. Though Everton were reasonably comfortable in the first half-hour, they did offer their hosts a couple of hints as to the defensive lapses to come: first in the 17th minute when Phil Jagielka got too tight on Didier Drogba and allowed the Ivorian striker to easily roll around him before just doing enough to prevent him punishing the error; then in the 23rd minute, a couple of moments of madness from Tony Hibbert eventually allowed Ramires the chance to curl a shot wide from 20+ yards.

On the half hour, though, Everton's defence was breached when Juan Mata's impressive ball over the top caught Hibbert out of position and Coleman flat-footed, allowing Ashley Cole to steal in behind, clip the ball across the six yard box and present Daniel Sturridge with an easy, close-range header to make it 1-0.

Getting to the break without further damage became the priority for Moyes but he probably ripped up his half time team talk in first-half injury time when Coleman was adjudged to have conceded a clumsy free kick wide on the Chelsea left and Mata whipped the ball into the six-yard box. Either Jagielka or Distin, I don't recall which, lost John Terry, Fellaini failed to jump for the ball at all, and Tim Howard flapped embarrassingly as Terry glanced a header off the goalkeeper's arms to double the lead and effectively kill the game at the halfway stage.

It was going to be a long second half ahead for the traveling Evertonians who had, for the bulk of the first 45 minutes, been making the most noise against an apathetic home crowd, but who knew that Moyes was never going to make the kinds of positive, caution-to-the-wind changes that the scoreline demanded. No surprise then when the same eleven emerged after the interval and though Osman clipped the outside of the post less than a minute after kick off, the match resorted to a familiar pattern of Chelsea's comfortable domination.

By the time Moyes did decide on a change, a full 15 minutes into the second half, Tim Cahill had dropped so deep into his own midfield that the manager may as well have thrown another striker but Royston Drenthe, possessing that rare Evertonian commodity of pace, was a welcome introduction with Coleman the obvious candidate to be withdrawn.

The Dutchman had only been on the pitch a minute, though, when the contest was ended with Chelsea's third goal. A quick break with pace and fast movement of the ball was again the key to opening up a leaden-footed Everton rearguard, with Mata feeding Drogba before continuing his run to receive the exchange pass in the visitors' box where he crossed low for Ramires who couldn't miss.

As if the Blue faithful weren't deflated enough, Moyes's next move ? again, a full 11 minutes later ?would confuse and anger in equal measure. Cahill, who had run himself ragged for 72 minutes, was removed and Phil Neville of all people was put on his place. It was a nothing move that offered just as much, except the home fans the opportunity to jeer when Neville jumped into a lunging tackle near the touchline and missed both player and ball completely.

A neat interchange between Leighton Baines and Osman ? the latter would somehow play the full 90 minutes ? briefly threatened a consolation with 11 minutes to go but Osman's shot from the edge of the box was awful. But that consolation would arrive a couple of minutes later when Apostolos Vellios was introduced for Saha and would score within 18 seconds of taking the field.

Drenthe picked up Fellaini's header on into the left channel and fired a low ball across the Chelsea area where Vellios reacted quickest to stretch out a leg and prod it past Cech. A terrific striker's goal, perhaps the sole silver lining on an otherwise dark cloud, and another indictment of Moyes's refusal to grant the promising Greek more playing time in a game that was lost before it was half over.

And therein lies what I sense is a growing frustration and impatience with Moyes. At 2-0 down, everyone knew the game was up, so why not try something adventurous and unpredictable? Throw on a substitute or two with something to prove... The only thing left to hope for by 3-0 was that one of the lads patiently awaiting their chance could stake a claim for greater involvement with a goal.

And so it proved when Vellios scored with his first touch of the ball from an assist by another sub who should really have been at the start of the second half. But while the manager adheres so doggedly to his methods and the same players to carry them out, this Everton side will remain predictable to opponents and dull to watch for its supporters.

The top handful of clubs with the bulk of the money, with the obvious exception so far this season of Arsenal, are moving on, improving, pulling away from the rest. Everton under Moyes are still playing the same formation built around Cahill as seven years ago, still going to places like Chelsea with a defensive game-plan of containment and damage limitation, only now it's not even yielding hard-fought draws. We're getting soundly beaten with very little prospect of coming back once the better team has made the breakthrough.

Moyes will argue that the huge disparity in resources demands such a pragmatic and, dare one say, boring approach but as was shown this weekend and also in past performances at Stamford Bridge, if you take the game to Chelsea they can be vulnerable. The Blues probably delivered at most three decent balls into the box all afternoon but scored with one of them with two players who demand to be given a greater role in the side.

Osman, for all his service, must now be phased out in favour of Ross Barkley. Wrapping the youngster in cotton wool to such an extent that he doesn't play at all after his error at Blackburn is doing neither the lad himself nor the team that needs him any favours. If he were old enough, he should be in the side full time based on what he has shown so far this season ? in a nutshell, a good deal more power, pace and muscle than Osman ? but he obviously needs to be brought in slowly.

Coleman, as much as I love his enthusiasm, also needs a break and Drenthe has surely earned a start based on his unpredictability and pace alone. This is as one-paced an Everton side as I can remember and it makes them awfully dull to watch.

Given that almost every time Vellios has taken to the field he has either made something happen or threatened to, he needs to be brought off the bench a lot earlier than the 80th minute. And it probably wouldn't hurt to see if John Heitinga can bring more positional sense and consistency to a central defensive partnership with Sylvain Distin than Jagielka can because Jags' form is poor and getting worse right now under stern examination by the league's best strike forces.

The change has to come from Moyes, though. As long as he feels it's more useful to throw on a 33 year-old defensive midfielder at 3-0 down than to at least have a go with another striker or while he's chasing the likes James McFadden when he has better players sitting on the bench week in, week out, you sense we're doomed to much more frustration as the season progresses.

Player Ratings: Howard 6, Hibbert 5, Jagielka 5, Distin 6, Baines 6, Coleman 5 (Drenthe 6), Rodwell 6, Fellaini 6, Osman 5, Cahill 7 (Neville 5), Saha 7 (Vellios 7) 

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