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Newcastle United 2 - 1 Everton

Match Summary

With Marouane Fellaini suspended and Royston Drenthe returning from a ban of his own, there were no adventurous surprises in the selected team... with the possible exception of Heitinga selected over the injured Sylvain Distin, who joined the injured Tim Cahill on the bench. These players were deemed not fit enough to start but fit enough to come on at a pinch, to change the game — in preference to the likes of Vellios* and Gueye, who have now clearly been relegated to the Reserves while the talented young Barkley spends another game warming the bench.

Everton contained the Geordies well for the first five minutes but most of the possession was in the visitors' half until Newcastle won the first corner and Guthrie got in the first shot. Coleman was set up with a glorious chance off a Saha header that he messed up horribly.

Everton looked to be in easy control but then came moment of bizarre idiocy from Heitinga, scoring a horrific own-goal, flicking the ball needlessly away from the advancing Howard and into the Everton net... Utterly shocking incompetence!

Everton tried to regroup and took advantage of a very ragard stop-start game but some of the passing was Sunday League. A dreadful return ball from Drenthe almost let the Geordies in.

Suddenly, with a quarter of the game gone, Everton fashioned a nice chance with Drenthe putting in a great forward ball for a glancing header from Rodwell that forced a good save. Then Osman got a chance to shoot but at the keeper. At the other end, Ba was denied his first chance.

A tremendous ball over the back from Jagielka saw Saha beat the offside trap and, with the goal at his mercy, leathered it high, wide and hideous. A dreadful piece of shooting!. Another chance fell to the Frenchman and he screwed it well wide. Lots of chances but zero end product.

But off a poor Rodwell clearance, an unbelieable strike by Ryan Taylor flew in over Howard, an unstoppable shot, and Everton down two goals after actually playing better than a poor Newcastle team.

Coleman did well to create a layback for Rodwell but he set-up Neville for a hopeless shot into the mix, and a snapshot from Saha hit the post, Coleman driving the rebound across the face of goal where Drenthe coming in powered a poor shot into the side netting. It was setting up to be one of those games would do anything but score, while a Newcastle cross drifted over Howard and glanced off the bar!

To rub salt in the wounds, Dan Gosling then came on for a very rare Newcastle first-team appearance as Neville collapsed, holding his leg, after his left hamstring went as he over-stretched for a ball, and was replaced by Sylvain Distin.

Gutirez illegally won a dangerous free-kick but the Everton wall did its job and Everton looked to break but Coleman lost the ball into touch. Drenthe had a long conversation with Andre Mariner as Howard had to punch away a Taylor free-kick.

Everton's first corner in stoppage time was swung in brilliantly by Drenthe, and Rodwelll powered home an excellent header to make things a little more respectable at the break. The 600th goal of David Moyes's reign.

A very strange first half, where Everton should have dominated but pressed the self-destruct button, with Drenthe at once both brilliant and dreadful in equal measure.

The lack of composure continued from both sides into a scrappy start to the second half, Heitinga's hesitancy and then a stupid foul earning him a stupid yellow card.

Everton should have had a penalty when Gosling quite deliberately handled a Saha shot, pushing it wide of the Newcastle goal but Mariner was possibly unsighted. 56 minutes and Cahill replaced the shocking Heitinga, as the shocking passing continued to destroy any attempted fluency.

Saha was having a nightmare, passes going nowhere, shots off target, and easily dispossessed by Gosling. A chance fell to Cahill off a long ball and he drilled a good shot that forced a decent save from Krul.

A free-kick on the corner of the Newcastle penalty area was swung in by Baines but defended away. Saha looked to have a chance but waited too long for the ball to drop. Baines incredibly was booked when he was kicked by Simpson, who collapsed under non-existent sniper fire.

The ball fell nicely for Drenthe to break but he took the wrong option, not releasing the ball for Coleman and a good chance was gone, as Everton struggled to withstand a growing aerial bombardment. For relief, Baines and Coleman advanced down the Everton left, Baines eventually crossing for Osman, all alone, to totally mess up his shot.

Cahill did well to win a ball that came to Coleman but he slipped horribly as he went to shoot. But a ridiculously lofted free-kick form out wide right by Drenthe summed up the at times abysmal quality of the football on show... followed an equally poor delivery from an excellent position by Leighton Baines.

With 10 mins of an increasingly dreadful game left, James McFadden made his second Everton debut, replacing Tony Hibbert as Moyes risked everything to secure the result. McFadden's first touch won a free-kick for handball. Then Drenthe finally went in the book for a poor foul borne of frustration.

Gosling went for glory down the middle but Osman did very well to put him off. Everton shaped to attack a little better with McFadden on, and won a corner that Cahill almost got onto, but McFadden's follow-up cross-cum-shot came to nothing as Saha wasted another half-chance.

Four minutes of added time but it was now all Newcastle, with Everton spent of ideas and unable to do the basics in terms of keeping possession until Mariner's whistle finally ended the misery. Newcastle, who are supposedly in a false position because they have still to play anybody of note this season, go second in the Premier League. Just shocking.

Sixth defeat in seven games for Everton. But the untouchable David Moyes will no doubt be pleased with what he saw... basic defensive errors notwithstanding.

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* Correction: It appears that Vellios had been selected but was forced to pull out of the pre-match warm-up due to injury.

Quotes or other material sourced from ToffeeWeb Match Report Page

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