COLUMNIST PAUL TRAILL

Liverpool Invasion

By Paul Traill   ::  30/10/2011 Back in the summer, on a visit to Everton?s pre-season assignment in Bremen, I got to know a Nurnburg supporter who has grown fond of Everton since our trip there in 2007. Stefan, who has stayed in touch with several Blues since the Nurnburg vs Everton match, brought with him an army of Nurnburg / Everton supporters for yesterday?s fixture with Manchester United. It's always fantastic to meet Blues from alternative parts of the world.

With a German invasion scheduled, my girlfriend (who?s also German) wasn?t going to miss this, whilst a few other friends recently back from serving from Afghanistan joined the usual rabble for the visit of the champions.

We took the bus to the game and, on exchanging buses at Queens Square, Katja recognized a few distinctly Franken accents behind us boarding he bus though I couldn?t see Stefan amongst them. The early kick off put everyone in just a bit more of a rush and the bus was packed. We finally got to the pub at about 11:15 am and squeezed in a quick pint before the match.

No great surprises with the team? Howard of course involved and Hibbert and Osman in for the injured pair of Neville and Cahill. Man Utd looked threatening with their attacking line-up including Rooney, Hernandez and Welbeck. The referee was Mark Halsey.

Into the ground and it was pretty noisy for an early kick off. Everton attacked from the off with Coleman dribbling into the box and getting his shot away but straight at De Gea. At the other end, Park nearly nicked a goal for Man Utd when he nipped into the box though jabbed his shot straight at Howard from short distance.

It was rather edgy from both teams following that until Man Utd seized control and took the lead when Hernandez got on the end of an Evra cross to tuck home. The fella behind me went ape at the referee for a supposed push on Jagielka by Rooney as the cross came over. Jagielka looked miffed too. I?ve seen it since and I?ve got to say I didn?t see much in it really. 1-0 Man Utd and at that stage of the game it was certainly fair.

What wasn?t fair, as I take the stage to bleat on about this once again, was the referee?s bias towards the supposed bigger team. I don?t think he gave us much at all in this one. Correct me if I?m wrong but other than offsides I believe we didn?t actually get a free kick until the 36th minute? surely some sort of record? Halsey did have opportunities to give free kicks also and just refused to do so.

Its things like this which make me lose more and more faith in the game. We?ve now seen us play Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea twice and Man Utd and got very little from Atkinson, Webb, Jones, Mason and now Halsey. Well, OK, Mason wasn?t really a bad referee and though I thought he was rather biased, Jones made no difference as we lost at Chelsea because we were woeful but I?m getting rather sick of this from the referees now. It?s particularly tough competing with other teams financially at the moment but for me it?s just not a level playing field and for the first time I?m starting to question if it?s all worth it any more.

Back to the game; despite all this, Everton did finally get it together towards the end of the half, first when Osman stabbed a half-volley at goal though it was comfortable for the keeper and then Rodwell took hold of the ball in the midfield and carried it forward but zipped his strike just wide of the post.

The closest we came however was from one of those rare free kicks when Baines clipped it deliciously up and over the wall but back off the crossbar? exactly the same as his effort in our first game against QPR. Saha also had a chance just at the end of the half but his effort was also straight at De Gea. At half time, though trailing, we were at least buoyant given what we?d created and felt we could do more in the second half.

Moyes changed it at the break, replacing Bilyaletdinov with Barkely? you?ve gotta feel Diniyar is running out of time at Everton. The crowd have it in for him big time and his confidence is totally shot. Anyway, Barkley started the half brightly though faded.

Everton pretty much dominated the half but everything was all sadly predictable with no real flair and chances were at a bit of a premium. The closest we came was probably when Rodwell drove at goal and De Gea dived to his right to save. The other good chance came amidst an almighty scramble but we just couldn?t force the ball home. The only Man Utd chance of note was when Welbeck got into the box on the counter attack and Howard saved his powerful drive. The talking point was the possible penalty when Evra collided with Gueye in the penalty area. Having seen it again, no, it probably wasn?t a penalty but you can bet your bottom dollar it would have been given down the other end of the pitch.

Whilst it?s difficult to criticize the team for their efforts, I think it?s fair to criticize Moyes for his tactical decisions in this one. I think he played the Barkley card too soon and a better sub later would have been to drop Coleman to right back and take Hibbert off and get Gueye down the wing to get a bit more quality of ball into the box. Bringing Vellios on was good as it got another striker on? but then he took Saha off for Gueye. I?d have liked to have seen us have a go with two forwards on the pitch, so Stracqualursi would have been a useful sub instead.

All just my opinion of course but I regret that we didn?t just go for it a bit more, particularly towards the end of the game. Oh, I almost forgot, the comedy moment came when the linesman fell over near the end of the game and had to be replaced by the Fourth Official. ?He must have put his flag up that quickly he dislocated his shoulder? quipped the guy behind me.

Following the match, we saw most of the second half of a quite unbelievable game at Stamford Bridge (see what happens when you go for it a bit, Moyesie) in the pub before heading on to The Ship and Mitre in town to catch up with the Nurnburg / Everton fans. It was great to catch up with Stefan again, albeit briefly, and nice to mingle with some other Evertonians he knew and hear their stories. I also bumped into a mate Jay who I haven?t seen for a while. He?s about as staunch a blue as they come. He used to get to every game, everywhere, though he was saying he no longer gets to away games quite as much anymore ? basically as he?s had enough of the Board? a sad sign of the times really.

More positively, seeing the Nurnburg supporters was great. They?d brought with them a fantastic Everton / Nurnburg banner as a gift. It all brought back great memories of that fantastic trip to Nurnberg in 2007. That was about as good a trip as you could wish for? oh how we all long for more days like that one.

Well we?ve unsuccessfully hurdled the tough games now? let's hope we can climb that table now with the run of games we?ve got and you just never know?maybe more trips like that one.

Player Ratings:

Howard: Helpless with the goal, though saved well when he needed to. Kicking so-so. 7
Baines: In a bit of a sticky spell but he?ll come through it OK. I think he needs a settled player in front of him to combine with. Maybe Drenthe can fill that void. Very unlucky with the free kick. 6
Jagielka: Very good. I?m quite a fan of Distin, I think he?s possibly been our best player this season but I thought the partnership of Jagielka and Heitinga was excellent yesterday, probably the best we?ve defended all season. Might be worth given them both a go. 7
Heitinga: Excellent. My man of the match. Much more like the Heitinga we had when he first arrived. Good defensively and with distribution. 8
Hibbert: Was alright but just didn?t have the quality with crosses and should have been replaced by Coleman I thought to get more quality in there. 6
Fellaini: Excellent. Covered a lot of ground. Will be missed at St James Park next weekend. 8
Bilyaletdinov: Suffering very, very badly. His confidence is totally shot. Probably best for everyone if he moves on in January. Shame it hasn?t worked out because he has got the ability. 4
Rodwell: Did quite well. A bit unlucky not to score with at least one of his efforts. Now starting to get back to form again? it's been quite a while. 7
Coleman: Ddid very well I thought. Also starting to show form. 7
Osman: Did well first half though faded in the second half before being replaced by Vellios. 6
Saha: Poor. Perhaps tired from Wednesday. 5

Barkley (for Bilayletdinov): Began brightly though faded. You can see why Moyes is holding him back a bit just for now. 5
Vellios (for Osman): Didn?t really get going. 5
Gueuye (for Saha): Looked fairly lively. Would like to have seen him have an opportunity a little earlier. Hopefully his time will come. 5

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