Saturday, August 25, 2012

Everton: Unstoppable Win at Villa

Two games, two wins and what a game it was.

The second game of Everton's season sees Naismith coming in while Hibbo does not even make it to the bench, Neville taking over his place. Jelavic and Distin who were deemed doubtful starts tonight.

In a short two minutes, Everton scores their first goal and what a beauty! It was a good build up with Naismith as he sets it up for Pienaar. The dimunitive midfields then curled such a beauty of a shot beyond the reach of the diving goalkeeper. Everton 1-0 Aston Villa. Assist: Naismith.

Everton's dominating the last 15 minutes and Villa has no answer at this point in time. Villa are making so many stray passes that it is no longer funny.

With Everton in the ascendency, Everton scores again! We see Jag on the right wing? The defender crossed the ball so sweetly that Felli had no choice but to head the ball towards goal. The goalkeeper could and should have saved it but somehow his fumbling hands allowed the ball to get past him. Everton 2-0 Aston Villa. Assist: Jag.


Nothing can stop Everton now while at the same time, Villa seemed to have stoped playing. In the 42nd minute, Bainesy had all the space in the world on the left wing. He took his time in cutting back the ball and Jelavic was there to finish the move. Everton 3-0 Aston Villa. Assist: Bainesy.

Everton trods into the dressing room with much confidence! So far, It's not Felli that's unplayable, it's the entire team!


Oh my, Bad to worse for Villa in the 57th minute. Red card to one of their defenders for tripping Jelavic! Gibson took the free kick but it was slightly off target.

Pienaar had a chance with a wonderful cut back by Bainesy once again. Saved by Given. This time from a corner, Distin's header was cleared off the line!

Naismith is replaced by Coleman in the 63rd minute. Bainesy was tripped just outside the penalty box, thinks the linesman. But it's inside! Anyway, nothing came out of it.

Everton's new signing Keivn Mirallas makes his debut. He replaces Gibson. But instead of scoring more goals, Everton conceded one. Everton's defence was just backing off and with a thunder of a strike, we are now Everton 3-1 Villa.

Final substitution, Heitinga on for Jelavic. Mirallase was on target but he was caught offside. Everton seemed to have gone off the boiler a little.

Everton so nearly went another goal down but the shot shook the upright!

Still, Everton won the game comfortably and now look towards our cup match against Leyton Orient.

Score: Everton 3-1 Villa
Scorers: Pienaar, Felli, Jelavic
Assists: Naismith, Jag, Bainesy
Subs: Coleman, Mirallas, Heitinga




Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Everton: Week 1 Players Standing

Top 100
Baines (8th)
Jag (27th)
Neville (49th)
Jelavic (54th)
Disitn (55th)
Ossie (69th)

Top 200
Hibbo (113th)
Naismith (121st)
Gibson (162nd)

Top 300
Coleman (229th)
Heitinga (293rd)

Goals
Felli (1xMan Utd)

Assists
Gibson (1xMan Utd)

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

WE BEAT MAN UTD!

The best start for the season and we sent the Red Devil back to hell!

The very first match of Everton's season starts with a game at Goodison Park. The team remained largely unchanged from last season, thus proving the amount of trust that David Moyes has of the team. Moyes employed a 4-5-1 formation with Jelavic being the lone man up front. The crowd welcomed the return of Pienaar and the unvealing of new man Kevin Mirallas.

Things were pretty cautious until the 14th minute. Felli who has been inspirational last season, continued with his fine form. His lightning-quick turn caught two Manchester United defenders unawares. The big man squeezed past the defenders and then wen on to smash the ball aganst the upright. It was

Pienaar's growing influence could be seen in the game. The shortest man on the pitch managed to trouble De Gea with a looping header which the goalkeeper palmed over.

26th minuteSo far, Felli has been effective in holding the ball and breaking play.

Manchester United has a better possession rate while Everton tries to hit them on the counter attack.

Everton came so close in the 32nd minute. Bainesy centred the ball to the in-running Pienaar whose curling shot was palmed away by De Gea. The ball as just creeping in. The subsequent corner created much chaos but not enough to bulge the net.

In the 40th minute, Feli puts in a good cushioned header in the box. It arrives at Ossie whose turning shot stinged the palm of De Gea.

Everton won themselves a free kick after Vidic has been adjudged to have fouled Jelavic. A lovely free kick by Bainesy and a good one-handed save by De Gea.

Half time. Ossie had one good strike on goal and if not, I'm pretty sure David Moyes will wring in the change and bring in Naismith. The play are happening largely through the centre, especially through Felli. Once again, Jelavic is the lone stallion running like crazy. 4-5-1's pretty effective, but goals will be hard to come by too.

Everton started the 2nd half with confidence. What a chance! Once again Felli was involved in the play. Hibbo curled in a lovely cross for Felli to cushion it down. Ossie was in the vicinity where he sweetly placed the ball beyond De Gea only to be denied by the goal post.

GOAL! The strongest and most effective man on the pitch scores! In the 59th minute, a corner by Gibson sees Felli rising higher than his shadow defenders. He planted a strong header past De Gea who barely moved.

Felli is totally hungry to win. His headers is ala Goodison fav Duncan Ferguson.

Manchester United nearly pulled one back but only for Jag to clear off the line. Rooney also came to life with his running that so nearly open up the chance to strike at goal.  

Moyes made his first change in the 80th minute to refresh the side. Coleman is in for Ossie.

Jelavic was taken out of the game as he had seemngly pulled his hamstring. It took Moyes at least 3 minutes to get his replacement Naismith in the game. Third and final replacement - Heitinga for Felli.

Felli as truly the man-of-the-match!

Score: Everton 1-0 Man Utd
Scorer: Felli
Assist: Gibson
Subs: Coleman

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Everton: Will We Win Our First Game?

Everton has not won their first game in four seasons and we now come face-to-face with a wounded devil for the start of this season. It's even scarier to note that Alex Ferguson has made some very astute purchases with the likes of Shinji Kagawa and Robin van Persie. So is Everton much better off now than last season? Will we win our first game after five years? Have we done enough during our Pre-season? Let's do a little comparison with what Everton has achieved a year before.

We know that pre season games are meant to build players' stamina and also, sharpen their skills. Still, it is worth noting that Everton played 9 tune-up matches last season - 3W1D5L with Beckford and Magaye showing that they were ready for the season. Goals were hard to come by and yet when the transfer dust has settled, we lost two strikers with Beckford to Leicester City and the protracted transfer of Yakubu to Blackburn Rovers. Not only that, we also lost our playmaker Mikel Arteta to Arsenal. Two loan players came in - Royston Drenthe and Denis Stracqualursi to help keep the club afloat. Many of us had to visit YouTube to see what could we expect from these two players.

It was even gloomier in the 2010/11 season where there were no major transfers, both in or out of the team.

In this new season, Everton played 6 tune-up matches - W4D0L2. Everton had started their recruitment early and though it was just to sign up Pienaar on a permanent contract, and a controversial free transfer of Steven Naismith, the two players proved to be influential in the pre-season games. Everton then went on to sell Rodwell to hopefully, further fund the purchase of more players.
The biggest difference to the team were the signings Moyes made in January 2012. A non-believer of mid-season signing, the purchase of Jelavic and Gibson, together with short term loan deals of Donovan and Pienaar totally rejuvenated the sad state of the team. These players, san Donovan, are still here with us.

Everton is still pretty thread-bare, but from my perspective, the players are much better settled than they were for the last two seasons. Though Manchester United may be a strong team, they are still made up for 11 mortal men. Let's give them all that we have at Goodison Park. COYB!