BLACKBURN vs EVERTON - FULL TIME

The Toffees drew this match by the skin of their teeth. The midfield was totally swamped. Problems, problems. Though I'm happy with the results, I'm a bit concerned that we can't hold it when we have four midfielders instead of the five we played last season. And Timmy, stop dreaming that we can have won. The truth of the matter is that we nearly lost! Everton just have to learn how to manage with four in the midfield instead of their normal five across.

Score: Blackburn 1 - 1 Everton
Scorer: Timmy

Team Line-up (Rating)

Howard (7)
Nayces (6), Stubbsy (6), Yobo (8), Neville (6)
Killer (5), Cars (6), Arteta (5), Ossie (7)
AJ (8), Beats (5)

Sub: Lescott (5), Faddie (7), Timmy (7)

Goalkeeper

My Take
Howard made many of the saves look simple. Any spills and the Blackburn attackers would have toe-pocked the ball into the net.

90 Mins
He accounted himself very well. Even coming up tops in a 1-on-1 decision. The conceded goal was also not any fault of Howard.

Defence

My Take
Surprise appearance of Nayces after a long lay-off. Stubbsy will usually struggle if the strikers are way too fast or if he has to cover for a left back, such as Nayces, who does not seems to be back to his best after his long layoff.

90 Mins
Neville was not his normal composed self. Stubbsy struggled against the likes of pacey Marlon King. Nayces was not fully fit. So the large part of the clearing, sweeping and backtracking was done by Yobo, who has underlined his importance to the team. He prevented a sure-goal by a toe poke and cleared numerous balls away from the goal. He has also learnt his lesson from last season of not passing diagonally across the park when he's in defence. He was the rock in defence.


Midfield

My Take
Killer and Ossie finally made their appearance as Moyes chose to rotate the midfield by placing Timmy on the bench, which was a surprise.

90 Mins
The midfield once again failed the team. Arteta was nowhere to be found, especially in the first half. Their passing were rushed by the opposing midfield, which most often meant long balls and misplaced passes. Cars was sitting back in defence of the midfield and was helping to soak the pressure. Killer was not effective on the left. He has bascially continued where he left off in pre season. That is his below par performance. The only bright spark in midfield was Ossie, who in my mind, deserve a starting line-up one again tomorrow. Totally enterprising and causing Blackburn much headache on the right midfield. Timmy came on as a second-half substitute and he made an impact by scoring Everton's only goal. What will we do without Timmy?

Strike

My Take
I'd expected Moyes to rest Beats even though he helped to set up the goal for AJ, but he continued to play.

90 Mins
AJ has totally changed the way Everton played this season. He speed helped the team in a swift counter-attack. He's never-give-up attitude earned Everton free kicks and corners when Everton were constantly battered by Blackburn. He was the key man. As for "Mr Groany Moany" Beats, he seemed to be complaining about everything and nothing about the fact that he has not scored a goal. Faddie came on as a substitute and created a whole lot of problem which ended up with him setting up a goal for Timmy.