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Mucha More Like It!

Match Report: Reading (H)

A busy start to the day took in a trip to take our unwell old car to ‘We Buy Any Car’ before we had a few other things to do in town. It was 1.30pm before we got to the pub for a few pre-match drinks. Gary and Sue joined us a little later, and later still Ste and Janine. Groans throughout the pub met the news on the TV that Howard had not passed his fitness test and that Jan Mucha, some three years after signing for the club, was to make his Premier League debut. The only other change to the starting XI was Fellaini coming in to replace Neville. Anichebe was back amongst the substitutes.

With Pogrebnyak suspended after his diabolical Suarez-esque stamp last week, Le Fondre, who scored against us twice earlier this season, began in attack. Elsewhere Stuart Taylor made his first Premier League appearance for five years and Hope Apkan who made a solitary appearance for Everton against BATE Borisov in the Europa League a few years back, will have been chuffed to make a return to Goodison Park. Anthony Taylor, who amazingly sent off Darron Gibson earlier this season at Upton Park, officiated.

Just as we were about to set off to the ground, Ste asked what we were doing about tickets for next weekends FA Cup Quarter Final with Wigan Athletic. Gary and I replied that we already had our tickets. I’d also read somewhere that after full time the tickets were then on general sale, and thus Ste may not be able to guarantee his usual seat. Ste looked back at me in horror and with barely a word turned and ran out of the pub and straight to the Box Office.

Gary and I went on to the match. It was good to see Jan Mucha given plenty of encouragement as he took goal - both by his team mates and supporters alike, Everton attacking the Park End in the first half. Just a couple of minutes into the game Le Fondre was cautioned for a late tackle on Jagielka as our stand-in skipper cleared the ball. Heitinga replaced Jagielka and went straight to Le Fondre to make it clear he wouldn’t be taking any of them tackles. Still no sign of Ste.

A little later Kebe pulled up injured and was also substituted. Eventually a furious Ste turned up saying how he had gone to the Box Office to join the queue and had been turned away by the stewards. Why on earth they wouldn’t let him queue for tickets then I just don’t know. He then had to run away from Goodison Park onto County Road just so he could get enough reception to buy the ticket online…though a swift phone call probably would have done the trick. Regardless, he arrived unhappy, and we were nearly all unhappy when Le Fondre was unlucky not to score when he smashed a fantastic volley onto the post from a corner. Reading getting the better of things in the first 15-20 minutes.

Everton slowly got themselves into the game. Jelavic was put through on goal but could only shoot straight at Taylor. The confident Jelavic would have put that one away no problem but it’s still not happening for Nikica. The breakthrough came shortly before half time when fantastic wing play by Coleman resulted in a tasty cross for Fellaini to attack. Attack it he did and a great header by the Belgian found the corner of the net. It was a little reminiscent of the sort of headers Big Dunc used to put away. Actually, a lot of his game reminds me of Big Dunc. I don’t think Duncan was ever as technically good as Fellaini but the problems he caused opponents – when fully fit – were similar, as was he treatment from referees. Fellaini gives as good as he gets and is often pulled up for fouls by him which are often not fouls at all but he’s a bit of a marked man. Oppositely, he is often fouled by defenders or markers with nothing given in return. I guess it’s something he, and we, are just going to have to live with.

Into the second half and Everton now had quite a firm grip of the game and the performance was much more like the sort we were treated to earlier in the season. Mirallas and Pienaar are both instrumental to that. It’s great to have two positive, attack-minded wingers in the team and when Jelavic begins firing again we could be well equipped for the run in. Both wingers showed their ability in putting Reading to the sword. Pienaar when he was released by a good Fellaini pass though the South African still had tons of work to do. Do it he did, taking on a few defenders and opening up a shooting opportunity onto his left foot to unleash an unstoppable drive past Taylor to make it 2-0. The goal reminded me a bit of Andrei Kanchelskis in his heyday. The crowd by this point were buzzing and hungry for more.

Mirallas also got in on the act. This time from an exquisite pass from Pienaar, Mirallas timing his run perfectly, composing himself and finishing neatly into the corner of the net. There were further opportunities for more also. Fellaini had a good chance blocked just short of the line; Mirallas shot across goal missed the far post and Fellaini passed up the chance of a tap-in; and substitute Anichebe looked to have scored but had his effort well cleared off the line by Ian Harte.

With seven minutes to go Robson-Kanu threatened to spoil the party after a brilliant header gave Mucha no chance, though Everton put the brakes on from here and saw the game out quite professionally. A great performance by Everton, especially in the second half. Hopefully we can keep that up now and see if we can get back into race for fourth. Someone, be it Tottenham, Arsenal or both will drop points today in the North London derby, and though you can’t ignore them, Liverpool trouncing Wigan 4 - 0 may actually do us a favour for the FA Cup Quarter Final next Saturday, though it may also ensure a reaction I suppose. Either way, the Reading match was much more like it and we can go into next weekend’s game completely full of confidence.

Player Ratings:
Mucha: I was really pleased Jan Mucha didn’t let anyone down. It’s been a miserable move for him as he came to Everton probably expecting to play and has gone from being his countries no. 1 keeper to retiring from international football because of lack of opportunities. He made some decent saves, got rid of things when he had to and did the job. What more can you realistically expect for a stand-in goalkeeper? In a funny sort of way, I felt the defenders performed better with Mucha there as they knew they had to protect him more than they do with Howard. Nice one Mucha! 7
Baines: Did fine, his consistent, though perhaps not most enterprising self. 7
Distin: I dare he say he’s currently our most important defender as he just heads everything out empathically. I think it’s now a case of Distin plus one of Jagielka / Heitinga. I hope Duffy will be capable to do the same job when it comes time to replace Sylvain. Another solid performance. 8
Jagielka: Hardly featured as was forced off so early. Could be out for a few weeks also apparently as the gash is a deep one. I hope Heitinga is ready to step up. Can’t really rate him as he wasn’t on long enough.
Coleman: I’ve had my concerns about Coleman previously but he’s really improved and is now looking a much more complete player. His defensive game is now much better but his real asset is of course his attacking play and he did this splendidly once again to tee up Fellaini’s goal. An excellent performance. I like the idea of him and MIrallas on one wing and Baines and Pienaar on the other. 8
Gibson: Did well. A good solid game from Darron. 7
Osman: Is looking tired is Leon and was given a 20 minute breather to give Anichebe some game time. 6
Pienaar: Seemed to get more joy from the right hand side, perhaps because teams are now doing so much preparation work to alleviate the threat of Baines and Pienaar down the left flank, though now we have Mirallas back and in full swing teams will struggle to defend against the two of them. In the second half Pienaar was just awesome, was everywhere. Scored a belter and made an excellent assist. A great performance and my man of the match. 9
Mirallas: He’s so quick and skillful he causes teams all sorts of problems. His confidence seems to back and it’s great to see him firing again. Took his goal nicely. 8
Fellaini: Had a great game, particularly once Everton got over that first 20 minutes or so. Covered so much ground and was very instrumental with the outcome. Easily, could, and should, have scored two or three. Good to see him back in good form, his best performance for some time. 9
Jelavic: It’s just not happeneing for Nikica. He’s getting the opportunities but they just aren’t going in. I’m sure he’ll get it back somehow or other, but maybe it’ll have to come from more unconventional means, such as a lucky deflection…an underhit backpass he latches onto, a goalkeeping howler, etc, etc, as he just doesn’t seem capable when presented with good opportunities at the moment – exemplified by his first half miss when put through on goal. Key thing is that he’s not hiding and is still working hard. If he keeps that up surely the goals will come. 6

Substitutes:
Heitinga (for Jagielka): Coped fine. Will have been pleased to play again as he’s been left out of the last three games. Hope he can get back to performance levels he’s more capable of. 7
Anichebe (for Osman): Perhaps could have done more to stop the cross for Reading’s goal and could have done a bit better with a few things but was generally OK. Unlucky not to score and is a good alternative to Jelavic. 6
Hitzlsperger (for Pienaar): Struggled to get into the game and didn’t really contribute an awful lot. Will have been pleased to get on the pitch though. 5

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