Column

Everton - A Pools Coupon Dream

Report from the 1-1 draw with Arsenal at Goodison Park

Everton 1 - 1 Arsenal

I was here there and everywhere before kick off and it was nice to get to the sanctuary of the pub with a good half hour to spare until kick off. I fleetingly heard the news in the pub that both Gibson and Hibbert were back in the team and Fellaini was also involved following his suspension. Hitzlsperger, Oviedo and Heitinga were the ones to miss out as Moyes rightly changed things following the Norwich City shocker last Saturday. Despite fairly widespread criticism of his performance last Saturday, Tim Howard remained in goal (not that we realistically have much choice mind).

For Arsenal, Arteta returned to Goodison Park for the second time with Giroud leading the line in attack. The referee was Michael Oliver. You just have to love a floodlit Goodison Park and it was great to see we would be attacking the Gwladys Street in the second half as the players readied themselves for action. What followed was crazy. Jagielka seemed to hesitate and all of a sudden Arsenal had a break on, Hibbert exposed, a neat ball from Ramsey and Walcott finished via quite a deflection from Hibbert - with just 52 seconds on the clock. Delight for the Arsenal support and general bemusement for everyone else. Just two minutes later Koscielny was forced off injured and was replaced by Kieran Gibbs.

The early goal really seemed to rock Everton back and it took us a little while to get going though once we did we really had our foot on the gas and should really have scored more than the solitary Fellaini strike. The Belgians goal came when Arteta was robbed in possession by the industrious Pienaar, the ball was only half-cleared by Sagna and was picked up by Fellaini who, with time and space zipped the ball past Szczesny to level the scores. Another excellent goal by Fellaini who again outlined his vast importance to our team. He had other opportunities in the first half also but failed to really test Szczesny with his other efforts.

The best effort of the half (which didn’t find the net) had to be from Jelavic who flicked the ball past the defender with an audacious bit of skill and then with the goal gaping snatched at it and volleyed over the bar. Regardless, it was great to see Jelavic looking a lot more like his old self. The half drew to a close with Distin and Baines between them unnecessarily conceding a corner to ensure the crowd remained tense, though Everton repelled it well.

At the break it was a real treat to see Everton legends Kevin Ratcliffe, Graeme Sharp, Duncan Ferguson, Ray Wilson, Alex Young, Colin Harvey and Howard Kendall. Great to see the legends back on the pitch.

The second half, though not quite as lively as the first period, was an exciting encounter. Whilst Everton did have the better chances to win the game, Arsenal were always a threat on the counter attack and will feel they merited the draw. We seemed to have a lot of the ball around their penalty area but there always seemed to be a miss-hit pass at the wrong time or failing that, a great save by Schezny. At the other end Giroud was a whisker away from scoring with a header that just cleared the post, the best chances for Everton fell to Pienaar and Distin and were both kept out by Szczesny. Michael Oliver also bottled a reasonable shout for a penalty when Arteta appeared to foul Pienaar as he bore down on goal.

So another draw despite quite a sterling effort. I think I might revisit the Pools and put Everton down for a score draw every week. On the other hand, maybe we’re saving it for the big one this Saturday. Man City unbeaten this season with 14 games completed and unbeaten in their last 20 league games overall. The last team to win at Eastland? Everton…two years ago. Also, given that we’ve won five of our last six games against Man City, perhaps we do have good cause for optimism as we head to Manchester to take on the champions.

Player Ratings:
Howard: Perhaps he was stung by his criticism at the weekend as he seemed a lot more positive than usual. OK, his punching wasn’t great and some of his kicking was atrocious but at least he was more positive which was rather encouraging. 6

Baines: Brilliant from Baines. His partnership with Pienaar was in full swing and he attacked well. Fingers crossed his hamstring injury isn’t too serious and he won’t be out for long. 8

Distin: Did well. We seemed to defend a bit more stubbornly as a team today and Distin lead by example at the back, and came closest to scoring our second down the other end. 7

Jagielka: Seemed to be struggling a bit first half and was a bit off the pace but was much improved in the second half, one tackle late in the game on Cazorla I think was particularly impressive. 6

Hibbert: Fantastic to see Hibbert back and to see a bit of solidity added to the right back birth…even if the goal did come from his side. Some passes wayward yes but defensively much better than what we’ve had lately. 7

Gibson: Great to see him back also. Was given a very harsh yellow card but that didn’t seem to affect his game. He fitted in like he’s never been away, always showing for the ball and using it effectively. Big game coming up for him this Saturday. 7

Osman: Not one of his better games but he kept on going. 6

Pienaar: My man of the match. Infuriating at times with his choice of passing and shooting at the wrong times but his creativity and link-up play with Baines was excellent throughout. His best performance probably of the season. Key is to get that consistency now. 8

Naismith: Did OK. Was replaced by Oviedo on the hour mark. Might have scored had he have connected with one of those balls which were flashed across the box. 6

Fellaini: His usual menace. Took his goal expertly and was a thorn in their side throughout. I think Everton went a little too long ball-ish near the end as we resorted to Plan B. 8

Jelavic: That’s much more like it from Jelavic. Much, much better than against Norwich City at the weekend. As with Pienaar, needs to discover than consistency. 7

Substitutes
Oviedo (for Naismith): Lively but not always effective. May have to play left back on Saturday now…what an opportunity that is for Oviedo. 6
Hitzlsperger (for Gibson): Definitely the right sub. He was sensible with the ball, though some of his shooting was dreadful at best. 6

Reader Comments (12)

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

---

, placement: 'Below Article Thumbnails', target_type: 'mix' });