Column

Blues Take a Point and the Positives

Manchester City 1 - 1 Everton: Referee Lee Probert's decisive decision may have ultimately denied Everton another win on Manchester City's turf.

Manchester City 1 - 1 Everton

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. Stop me if you've heard this one before...

Granted, on the balance of play, a draw was probably a fair result from what was a tight game, dominated in one half by an Everton side that was anything but the doormat they were in this fixture last season and in the second by a Manchester City team that flattered to deceive and dropped two points at home for only the second time this season.

As the Blues have found to their frustration and cost so far, however, if you don't put the ball in the net enough times, it's hard to win and had referee Lee Probert not gifted the Champions a path back into this game with a hugely controversial penalty award just before half-time, Roberto Mancini might well have been rueing a rare defeat instead of the point his side were fortunate to pick up.

David Moyes, for his part, was left angry at yet more refereeing incompetence but he will rightly feel that unlike some of the annoying games that have ended even in recent weeks, this was a good draw for the Blues. He was rewarded for taking a positive approach to what was Everton's toughtest assignment so far in the campaign with a 33rd-minute lead — scored, of course, by Marouane Fellaini — and the point was secured with a determined defensive display in the second half in which Mancini's expensively-assembled team forced just one meaningful save from Tim Howard despite the talent amassed in their ranks.

Everton have made a habit of scoring their goals in the first half this season, a fact that would have come as no surprise to the neutral given the impressive way in which they began proceedings, controlling almost exclusively the first five minutes and fashioning the first chances of the game.

Unfortunately, though their approach play was often laudably composed and patient, they continually let themselves down with the final ball or a shot that lacked conviction. Steven Naismith wasted excellent ball work by Darron Gibson early on by dragging a disappointing shot across Joe Hart's goal and Leon Osman didn't do much better a few minutes later with a soft effort when Nikica Jelavic was in space to his left.

And when the Steven Pienaar partnership with Leighton Baines — passed fit despite feeling a twinge in his hamstring in the latter stages of Wednesday's draw with Arsenal — combined beautifully, the South African failed to find a Blue jersey from a dangerous position near the byline. Jelavic too let a good opening slip away with a poor pass that rolled through to the goalkeeper after doing sterling work to rob Maicon near the touchline and drive into the penalty area unimpeded.

So it wasn't all that surprising, then, that the goal came from a more direct route via a typically threatening delivery from Baines on the left flank. Jelavic couldn't quite get to it and Vincent Kompany could only divert it on towards the back post where Fellaini was lurking to head goalwards. Hart saved well from point-blank range but the big Belgian prodded the rebound over the line with his thigh and Everton were deservedly ahead.

With Gibson orchestrating things superbly in midfield and the players on a seek-and-disrupt mission that kept their hosts under regular pressure, the Blues would enjoy 55% to 45% superiority in the first half and, despite a couple of close calls, were fairly comfortable at the back. Howard did have to punch away a David Silva free kick mid-way though the half and he later pawed a Carlos Tevez header behind from one side of his goal and blocked Edin Dzeko's close-range shot on the other.

It was from that corner that the game's most contentious decision arrived, though. Silva lofted the ball into the area, Osman fell to the turf, Dzeko followed suit with Fellaini barely touching his arm and referee Probert stunned the Everton contingent by pointing to the spot. Repeated reviews of the replays wouldn't make the reason for the decision any clearer and, with no recourse, the visitors had to accept parity when Tevez scored his first goal against them from 12 yards.

The second half was, somewhat predictably, a different proposition for the Blues than had been the first. City came out of the interval very much on the front foot and forced the Everton midfield back a good 10 to 15 yards. The likes of Tony Hibbert and Leighton Baines, who had been playing high up on the home side's flanks, spent less and less time coming forward and Jelavic, whose solid shift would end up consisting of a lot of chasing and attempting to hold the ball up, became noticeably more isolated.

In truth, Moyes could have done with the pace of someone like Kevin Mirallas, who missed his fourth game with a hamstring strain, as an outlet because Jelavic alone wasn't able to make the ball "stick" up front, though he tried gamely enough. And with the likes of Naismith and Osman guilty of poor distribution at times, the ball was coming back at the defence more than was comfortable.

When Everton were able to counter, they visibly lacked pace and a couple of promising chances to catch City out-numbered at the back fizzled out as first Jelavic and then Pienaar couldn't fashion an opening, the latter break ending with Gibson rifling goalwards but seeing his shot come back off a defender.

For all that, though, Mancini's men only really troubled Howard once in 45 minutes, that an Exocet from Maicon from the corner of the box that the American parried it away well. Indeed, once they had weathered what storm City could create for 25 minutes, it was the Blues who had the better chances to take the points in the closing stages.

After Jelavic's rampage on the counter-attack had been stopped by Zabaleta who flattened him unceremoniously just outside the area, the Croatian himself stepped up to take the free kick and almost embarrassed Hart with a shot that bounced in front of the goalkeeper and squirmed behind for a corner as the England man struggled to deal with it.

All in all, a richly deserved point served with a side of yet more annoyance at costly officiating. To come away from the Etihad Stadium feeling hard done by that you didn't win is a mark of progress on the last time this fixture was played and emphasises that as soon as this Everton side can put together a run of victories, they will be very much in the hunt for fourth as Arsenal and Chelsea, in particular, continue to falter.

With Gibson back and looking as good as ever — his run of being unbeaten in games where he has played 2/3 or more of match stretches into the 30s now — the first key will be the return of Mirallas who has shown he can be the difference in the final third. Hopefully, he will be back for the visit of Spurs next weekend for another difficult game against a rival for the top four. The next will be anything Moyes can do in the transfer window, either in the form of loan acquisitions or a sly purchase, to bolster the strong core of 12 to 15 players that he currently has at his disposal.

The important thing is that though they aren't winning at the moment — it's now just one win in 11 in the Premier League — they are playing well, remain hard to beat and have the potential to win every game they play. That continues to bode well for the second half of the campaign.

MotM: Darron Gibson

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