The Same Old Story

The search for ruthlessness and defensive solidity goes on for Everton after yet another late slip.

Lyndon Lloyd 25/11/2012 21comments  |  Jump to last

Everton 1 - 1 Norwich City

When you have to score an extra goal each week just to overcome horrendous officiating and get the result you deserve, something is wrong with the game. Yet, that is where Everton find themselves this season, with the number of crucial decisions that have gone against them stacking up with every game they play.

Blatant penalties not given, legitimate goals ruled out and, as was the case today, phantom free kicks awarded to the opposition at important junctures in the proceedings... the refereeing injustice that David Moyes has had to swallow has run the gamut in the first 13 games of the campaign. And for the second time this season, Mike Jones was the incompetent in the middle to whom the manager's fury was directed, for all that ire will do him — by that point, the slender victory that his side had almost eked out was gone with no recourse available.

Granted, the usual caveats for this season apply: Everton probably should have been a couple of goals to the good by that stage, particularly if they had carried their first-half momentum into the second. Unfortunately, as the conditions worsened, so did the performance of Moyes's patched-up outfit and while it looked as though they would grind out the kind of 1-0 victory that was the hallmark of the last time they finished fourth, they were punished for not killing the game off earlier.

Yet again the Blues trudged off the Goodison Park pitch with a familiar feeling of a draw feeling like a defeat. And the fact they hadn't scored the decisive second — thanks in no small part to John Ruddy who made a couple of excellent saves — should not take any of the harsh light of scrutiny off Mr Jones who was awful or the fact that the gameplan that had succeeded so well in the first half appeared to be abandoned in the second.

With Marouane Fellaini suspended, Tony Hibbert not deemed fit enough to start and all three of Phil Neville, Darron Gibson and Kevin Mirallas out injured, Moyes was forced to field a changed line-up featuring Phil Jagielka at right back and Bryan Oviedo on the left flank. Thomas Hitzlsperger made his full home debut in the centre alongside Leon Osman and Steven Naismith interchanged with Steven Pienaar in role behind Nikica Jelavic.

The changes didn't seem to visibly disrupt the Blues' flow in the early stages, though, and Everton looked tidy and enterprising going forward, with Oviedo in particular working nicely with Leighton Baines down the left flank. And it was the Costa Rican who created the goal for Naismith when he collected a sumptuous lofted pass from Hitzlsperger, chested it forward to evade his marker and then cut it back neatly to the Scot who side-footed into the roof of the net to make it 1-0 after 11 minutes.

In truth, the home side were less guilty of profligacy in front of goal and more for not creating enough clear-cut chances but Osman spurned the Blues' best chance to double their advantage just four minutes later. Superb work by Baines, where he collected a return pass via Pienaar and burst into the box ended with him shooting low across the goalkeeper but Ruddy saved smartly one-handed. The rebound fell invitingly to Osman but he snatched at the chance with goal gaping and he bounced a half-volley disappointingly into the ground and over the bar.

Norwich had been virtually insignificant as an attacking force for 25 minutes before Grant Holt barged his way through three defenders and sliced their first chance wide. And Sebastian Bassong missed badly with a free header off a corner in the closing stages of the half as the Canaries struggled to trouble the Everton goal.

In between, Jelavic and Naismith came within an inch of combining perfectly to finish a lovely move for the latter to double his tally but Ruddy pounced on the ball at the Scot's feet and gathered it at the second attempt, and Osman's impressive one-two exchange with Pienaar provided another good opportunity but the former's powder-puff shot was easily smothered by the 'keeper.

1-0 at half-time and everything was more or less going to plan. Pienaar had shrugged off an early knock to the knee sustained in a red-blooded challenge with Bassong but he continues to struggle to find his form. At the back, though, Jagielka was acquitting himself well as an emergency full back and the pairing of John Heitinga and Sylvain Distin looked solid.

The second half brought more frustration for the home faithful, though, as Everton's composure and cohesion fell away in the face of a noticeably more tenacious and physical approach from the visitors. Whereas it was Everton contesting every ball, harrying and closing down in the first period, Norwich started to compress the space and harass the man with the ball leading to a slew of missed passes in the Blues' midfield after half time.

Holt, in particular, started putting himself about, toeing the line between legal and otherwise in the process, and he began to cause the hosts' central defensive pairing more and more problems. As he did so, the referee became more and more inconsistent and baffling in his decision-making, leading to a soft 56th-minute free kick award to Wes Hoolahan and a direct free kick attempt from Pilkington in a dangerous area. Thankfully, Howard scrambled across his line and batted his effort away to safety.

The American was a good deal more fortunate three minutes later, though, when Holt finally sprung the offside trap and found himself in acres of space behind the Everton defence but Howard got just enough on the ball as he charged towards the Norwich striker and the danger was cleared.

By the mid-way stage of the second half, Everton's passing game had more or less been harried out of them and there was more and more reliance on ineffective long balls from the back that the visitors' big defence regularly cleaned up. Meanwhile, Oviedo had inexplicably been switched to the right flank and was disappearing from the game for long periods. The decision was presumably an effort to get Pienaar more involved but with Baines making fewer and fewer forays forward, the strategy just robbed the Blues of one of their most inventive outlets.

The slender 1-0 advantage was looking less and less secure, too, not least when Norwich threatened to open up the Blues' defence twice in the space of a few minutes. On the second occasion, Holt pushed Hoolahan's square pass on to Snodgrass on the right side of the box but while he beat Howard from the angle with his shot, Heitinga was on hand to block his effort almost on the line.

At the other end, Everton remained a threat, albeit sporadically, and Baines deserved to extend the lead with a phenomenal run through the heart of the Canaries' defence in the 74th minute but, having skipped past three yellow shirts and unloaded, he saw Ruddy parry his shot away. Osman then sent a cross-cum-shot dribbling across the face of Norwich's goal with Jelavic expecting a cut-back and Naismith wasted an excellent breakaway with six minutes left where, had he found Jelavic with a centre behind the stranded defence he might have served up the second goal. Instead, he smashed it too long to a chorus of groans from the home faithful.

With Pilkington having despatched a towering header off Whitaker's 85th-minute cross straight at Howard, the game appeared won as the clock ticked into the last minute. Referee Jones had one more crucial intervention to make, though, blowing for a foul by Baines when Pilkington completely mis-kicked the ball barely 10 yards in front of him with no contact from the Everton man.

When the resulting free kick was swung in to the back post, Bassong popped up unmarked to head it low and goalwards, Howard, falling backwards, got an arm to it but could only divert it onto the underside of the bar and over the line. Goodison's collective shoulders slumped and another two points evaporated into the soggy Merseyside air.

A case could be made for the effect on the side from the absences of key players like Fellaini, MIrallas and Gibson and the reshuffled back four but Everton demonstrated by their first-half display that they had the measure of Norwich and the ability to create the chances required to put the game to bed. That they didn't, that they allowed another late goal to another set-piece — however erroneously awarded — rob them of another victory just adds to the frustration that is building over a season that promised so much just a few weeks ago.

That promise still exists, of course. West Bromwich Albion may continue to put the early media trumpeting of the Blues's Champions League chances in perspective by rolling on with another victory while Moyes's men stumble from one missed opprtunity to the next but, while other challengers for fourth remain inconsistent and the possibility of an Everton run in the second half of the campaign exists, then optimism should remain high.

Victory today would have been important given the manner in which the fixture list is going to toughen up in the coming weeks but the players will know that a win against Arsenal on Wednesday night will get things back on track. Once again, though, it's going to take more ruthlessness in front of goal, more determination to press home superiority and better concentration at the back. The search for all three continues...

Follow @Everton1an

Share article:

Reader Comments (21)

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer

About these ads