|
Everton 2 v 3 Villa
By David Mulray |
Rollercoster of emotions
Truly devastating end of the game.
No person should ever have to go
through that but we all support
Everton, if happens far too often
these days.
The weekend didn't start well for me
either, throwing up on the M40 on
Saturday morning travelling up from
Southampton. Wasn't nice, at all.
Onto the game anyway, Villa started
brightly, a goal within a minute and
a fine strike from player we were
linked with, Steve Sidwell. I rate
Sidwell, not highly but he'd do a
job for us in the centre. First 10
minutes or so we never got going.
The key to winning Everton is not
allowing us time on the ball because
with players like Arteta, Pienaar,
Yakubu we can cause
trouble, but when the others are put
under pressure they buckle and start
panicing.
We started to get involved more in
the game after that, funny
that, seems to take the opposition
to score for us realise that there
is a football game being played. We
maybe could have had an leveller
after Cahill's left footed drive was
pushed away by Friedel, any where
else and it could have ripped the
net or fell to the closing Anichebe.
Lescott's first was from a smart
flick on from Osman and he Lescott
was just there to prod it in from
close range. I think he's missed his
goals, Has Joleon. There's been
times this season when he was
received the ball on the left and
hesitated to attack the full back
and eventually gone back on himself,
or tried a first time ball. Last
season, he wouldn't have taken a
second thought about bombing down
that wing and taking on his man, and
it usually was successful.
We were dominating from then on in.
Fellaini had a header cleared off
the line, Friedel was beaten. It was
all level at half time.
We had the momentum going into the
second half. How Friedel kept out
Fellaini's close rang effort I will
never know. I was sure the net was
going to ripple. All the work we had
put in went down the swanny because
of a complete madness moment from
Jagielka. A total lapse in
concentration. A blind pass to
Howard and Young was onto it in a
flash. 2-1. Poor mistake. I've been
Jagielka's biggest fan this season,
I think he's a truly exceptional
defender, fights to the cause and
would throw himself in front of a
train if it was fired goalwards but
he does look suspect on the
ball. It's a shame really because he
will never be given the recognition
he deserves because of his poor
distribution and ball retention.
That's why over-rated defenders like
Rio Ferdinand are well thought
off. He's comfortable on the ball,
whereas Jags isn't. Anyway, back to
the second half. Villa's
second dented us. There was no
zip from us anymore. We were piling
men forward and we nearly got caught
out when Young raced forward but
tried to be too clever and Yobo
nicked the ball from him. Villa were
camping and were happy to do so.
Clock was ticking and we needed to
do something, cue Moyes taking off
our only striker and bringing on a
left back. Yeah, good logic, David.
He got away with it though. Lescott
again levelling it up with an
acrobatic finish. Hopefully a
massive confidence boost for him.
Then, that moment. We thought we
were supermen, going for a winner,
when really a draw would have been a
good finish to the game. Lescott was
on a personal high as Young waltzed
past him and slid the ball into the
Gwladys net. I was absolutely
devastated and so was everyone else.
A harsh ending to the game but an
entertaining game, to say the least.
I thought Anichebe did himself
justice whilst he was on the pitch.
Battling with two very good centre
halves in Laursen and Davies. He was
lively, which you don't see from him
every game. I think he's realising
just how big of an opportunity this
is for him. He's got to perform.
Oh well, we'll get our last minute
winner soon and it will be good'un.
I don't think West Ham counts, as we
scored 3 in the last ten. City up
next. Wouldn't surprise me if we
turned them over, what with our away
form and inconsistency this season.
Onwards and upwards, Evertonians.
|
