Everton 1-0 Swansea City. 21st Dec @ 20.00.

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Ratings


Howard - 6: Nothing to do at all.

Hibbert - 7: Good defensively but did always look unsure in attacking positions. He was however very tenacious and it was a solid performance mostly.

Jagielka - 7: Good stuff, without there being too much to write home about.

Heitinga - 7: The risky obstruction at the end aside, he had a solid game indeed.

Baines - 7.5: His crosses and set pieces weren't at their usual level of consistency, but some of them were sensational. The lack of players attacking them was criminal.

Coleman - 5: Didn't do much before an unfortunate injury took him out of the game fairly early on.

Neville - 6: A few shocking passes and spazzy tackles aside, he did okay. He just offers nothing though and should not be starting in this position. Definitely not when Rodders is back anyway.

Fellaini - 8: Good tackling and exquisite control and ball retention. Some truly killer passes as well. Great game for the big man.

Drenthe - 7.5: Not everything came off but he just didn't stop, and is a breath of fresh air. I think his link up play with Baines was great but he can do the most damage from the right for sure. Good corner for an assist -- 6 in the league for him already now. I think we can safely say that all us blues want for Christmas is Royston to sign for good!

Osman - 8 & MOTM: Some sensational passes and through balls highlighting why, if we want unity and cohesion between our attack and midfield, he is the best man currently for the support striker role. A great goal too. He's making a habit of scoring headers he has no right to be scoring. Hopefully his knock wasn't too bad.

Saha - 7: I really want Louis to get a goal soon because I think his play has deserved it. He held the ball up well and showed great link up play with those around him. Again, with the greatest of respect to Timmy, we just don't see this as much when he's the one partnering Louis.


Subs


Gueye - 7: The lad's clearly not the finished article, but he shows some great flashes and missed a few good chances to score. But hey, he's getting into those positions and the same can't be said for so many. Some of his passing was great too with one sensational through ball being the pick of the bunch. He definitely should have started.

Cahill - 5: I was hoping he'd have more impact as a sub but after he didn't seem to get too much of the ball. Much like his previous appearances. Hopefully Ossie's knock wasn't too bad because I'm just not confident in Cahill at the moment.

Stracqualursi - 5: Not much of note bar one shooting chance. Sadly the defender took it off his toes. His first touch is abysmal mind and from what I've seen of him I think Vellios can do what he does too, with a bit more polish. However we haven't seen much of Stracq so it's unfair to be too damning.



Moyes - 7:

The good:

  • Started Drenthe
  • Dropped Timmy and put Ossie in his best role. The result on our style of play was dramatic and crucially, effective.
  • Gave Gueye a good run out and played most of the game with him AND Royston on.
  • Had us playing much better football, and for the first time in ages I actually enjoyed one of our games.


The bad:

  • Started a not fully-fit Coleman, in the process also inhibiting Drenthe (in my opinion) by playing him on the left where he is less effective. Although still effective mind, I think having our two best creative outlets on the same wing makes us more predictable.
  • Phil Neville in CM. All game, every game.
  • McFadden on the bench over McAleny and Vellios. Barkley stayed on the bench, but hopefully we'll see him out there again soon.
  • Some overly defensive things still persist. First of all he still gets every man back for corners, regardless of the scoreline or the opposition. Surely Drenthe would be more effective near the half way line, so we could have the chance to counter? Secondly, why is no one getting into the box? One killer Baines cross was delivered to genuinely no one, as our support is slow and often non-existent. Finally when we did score we seemed to change our style of play a bit and sit off a bit more, almost inviting pressure. I suppose you could argue that we were trying to counter but with our support being so slow and not forthcoming, I don't see that one working out.


All in all though I'd say this was a bit of progress for Moyes. It's definitely baby steps, but hopefully we can build on this and see that with a more creative player behind the striker we're still capable of good football, because some of our play tonight was thoroughly excellent. This is what so many blues have been saying of late: we don't need to be Stoke v2 as we do have genuine quality in this team. With any luck we can use it more often like we have tonight. (y)



Ref - 4: Inconsistent and bottled it when their player should have seen a second yellow. W*nker.
 
Neiler said:
Our performences are worse then our points tally for me to be honest. Agreed, reinforcements required specifically as you say goals which is glaringly obvious, but halfway to 50 points by the end of the year, gives us a platform to compeate for Europe im not saying we will qualify but we should be challengeing, 7 of Newcaslte with a game in hand - thats our first yard stick. Then the RS.
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Still think its walk before you can run.

It only takes 1 game to revert back to hoof city and its back to square one. I dont think Moyes has much of a plan in changing things as the same tactics are still there. But there are glimpses of what many think are there, he just needs to break of the shackles...we can play good football and be adventurous, but he just doesnt have faith in it.
 

I take full credit for tonights win. So far this season I have missed Wigan and Villa due to holidays and tonight as I'm working away, that's 7 points, whereas the other six home games yielded only 4 points. I have calculated that if I move to the moon we will be champions next year. (warning, I'll be at the Bolton game so expect Landon to miss a pen for the draw)
 
kenada_blue said:
Our performances do reflect the points tally, in fact it doesnt because Fulham and Blackburn were as lucky as they come...the last 2 games have improved against newly promoted sides taking that slow turn into the 2nd half drop zone

We still cant score. Osman's our top goalscorer FFS
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I love how the negative nellys always put their spin on things. ASTON VILLA AT HOME 2-2. FFS
 
kenada_blue said:
Our performances do reflect the points tally, in fact it doesnt because Fulham and Blackburn were as lucky as they come...the last 2 games have improved against newly promoted sides taking that slow turn into the 2nd half drop zone

We still cant score. Osman's our top goalscorer FFS
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Ossie's really on fire at the moment.
 

Well done tonight blues, controlled performance from about 15 minutes in till the end. Should have been 2 or 3 nil, but we all know our failings there. Saha doesnt seem to want to attack the front post these days otherwise he might have got himself on the scoresheet.

2 tough away days coming up, against 2 teams coming into form. The cleansheet tonight will do wonders for the confidence of the team, hopefully get back to our old 1-0 win days.

Ossie looked like he was back to last season self, helped by playing in his best, most creative position. Keep him there moysey.
 
kenada_blue said:
when he gets played in his best position he turns up, last season proved that. but as usual it takes half a season and a realisation that when you pass it to his feet rather than over his head hell perform
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He's a better player than Cahill in that role. Both individually and in terms of his effect on the team and our play.

We can all see this I think, and after his great form last year when Cahill was away in the Asia cup and then injured, it was disappointing to see him behind Timmy in the pecking order. Hopefully tonight was the night that convinced Moyes to make Leon numero uno for the support striker role.
 
Dublintoff said:
Who mentioned champions league?

You try to make a point but conveniently leave out something that doesnt suit your argument. Bit of balance please.
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I was being pedantic, playing up how a positive result chances peoples perspective

And I didn't miss anything of importance out. Today was the first game weve win comfortably all season, everything else has been rather painful to watch
 

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