To get it off my chest, Everton 2 - 1 Watford. It was a little messy in terms of play but at least the Toffees got their first three points of the season. Now to look at the next match. Everton will be away to Blackburn, who had just lost their opening match.
So Everton just needs another nine more wins and ten draws to stay up. Let's concentrate on that first before we talk about further glory.
Score: Everton 2 - 1 Watford
Scorer: AJ, Arteta
Team Line-up (Rating)
Howard (6)
Valante (6), Stubbsy (6), Yobo (7), Neville (6)
Arteta (6), Timmy (6), Carsley (6), Davis (5)
AJ (8), Beats (6)
Sub: Lescott (5), Faddie (5), Anichebe (6)
Goalkeeper
My Take
I'd expected Howard to play as he is a good goalkeeper who makes the occasional gaff. But which goalie doesn't?
90 Mins
Safe pair of hands. Though non of Watford's goal really did threatened, he made sure that he did not spill any of the simple catches.
Defence
My Take
The selection of the back four was quite expected. My initial take that Lescott would not start was correct. I sensed that Moyes would have felt that the team needed a litle bit of experience behind, and Stubbsy would be that stabilising ballast. Valante inclusion was a little surprising not because he performed badly during pre-season, but because he had exhausted himself quite a bit during the World Cup.
90 Mins
Valante was a shadow of himself. The usually marauding play of his was missing. Watford's attack were more direct and thus, both Valante and Neville had to move into the centre constantly to protect the centre backs. Neville was clean with his clearance but not the type of overlapping right back that you would expect, the type of service that Hibbo would have provided. Yobo and Stubbsy held the fort quite well, with Stubbsy scoring an unfortunate own goal near the end of Full Time. Valante suffered a knock and was replaced by Lescott.
Midfield
My Take
The selection of the players in the middle of the park was a tad bit more defensive than what I'd expected. Timmy, Arteta and Davis were in the line-up, together with Cars would took on the holding midfield role.
90 Mins
The midfield left many gaps for Watford to exploit. It seemed that the field was way too big for these players. There was no flow on the wings as both Arteta and Davis provided the strikers with little service. Arteta was not a running flanker but he was in the team to provide the deadly free kicks. One of which would have translated into a goal if not because of the crossbar. However, he scored a goal from a different type of dead ball situation - A penalty kick, albeit that it should not have been a penalty. Davis was full of running, but could only make that few telling passes. The midfield were basically bypassed by Watford's direct play. Carsley sat in well but Timmy had a rather quiet game. I'd expected Faddie to come in a little earlier but I believe Moyes had wanted to get the midfield to settle. But it was pretty harrowing for the fans though.
Strike
My Take
No surprise in the selection of the two strikers in AJ and Beats. The toffee supporters were rubbing their hands in glee with the combination of these two players.
90 Mins
It has been a long time since Everton scored a goal in the early parts of the first half. It has also been a long time since Everton scored two goals. So when AJ did a double one-two with Beats to put the ball into the net via a deflection, the goodison crowd went ballistic! That happened in the 15th minute. AJ was a joy to watch. Helping in defence, breaking for a quick counter attack, playing on both flanks, drawing the foul in and around the penalty box, and even scoring a magnificant goal. Dosen't matter it was going out in the first place. Beats was his partner-in-crime, setting up the goal for AJ. The only problem was, nobody could keep up with AJ. So Everton was very much stretched out trying to keep pace with the speedy AJ. Much need to be done to complement AJ's style of play.
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