Apologies for the delay, massively delayed in traffic on the way home...
Derby hoodoo strikes again.
Everton 0 - 1 Them
Brief Summary…A highly charged ‘derby’ went the way of the visitors as Everton ran out of gas and Sadio Mane pounced in the 94th minute to wreck Ronald Koeman’s home record..
Another evening game under the Grand Old Lady’s lights – how many more will there be for us to enjoy - and Blues fans keen to go into Christmas with smiles on our faces with victory over ‘them’ to enjoy along with the turkey, mince pies and the occasional tipple or three.
Ronald Koeman selected his first derby line-up: Stekelenburg, Baines, Williams, Funes Mori, Coleman, Gueye, Barkley, McCarthy, Lennon, Valencia and Lukaku.
Klippity lined ‘them’ up: Mignolet, Clyne, Lovren, Klavan, Milner, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Lallana, Firmino, Origi and Mane.
The Wirral’s’ Mike Dean was the referee under close scrutiny given his recent record of red card waving.
A passionate atmosphere saw a frenetic opening with Everton biting into the tackle and unsettling ‘them’ right from the off. A Coleman cross saw Lovren clear with a hurried header and the Blues were pressuring ‘them’ closing quickly and playing with great energy.
Valencia set Rom free down the right but his cross was too strong and went to safety. Everton wasted a free kick following a Firmino foul on Valencia and Lovren made a key block as Ross tried to release Rom through the left side.
Everton were much the better side through the first twenty minutes and a nice move involving Lennon and Barkley saw Klavan make a telling block to foil Lukaku while Klippity raged on the side-line
With half an hour gone and neither goalie tested in the slightest, Everton eased up and ‘they’ began to get a foothold into the game, but RFM outfought Orighi before another right wing move saw a cross from Coleman appear to hit the hand of Horrendouson only for referee Mike Dean to wave away half-hearted penalty claims.
They countered and arguably the best chance of the first half so far saw Orighi do his Mesut Ozil impersonation spooning a shot high and wide into the Street End.
The hard-working James McCarthy, who had had a fine first half hour, went down on 38 minutes and needed treatment for cramp. As the first half wound down, the Blues won the game’s first corner kick and the cross from Ross saw RFM find space for a free header that really should have hit the target.
Half Time: 0-0
Gareth Barry replaced Jimmy Mac for the second half and good as player as he is, Gaz Baz hasn’t the high energy game that McCarthy had employed to such good effect in tandem with the ever-industrious Gana Gueye.
The loss of McCarthy was seized upon by ‘them’ as they upped their effort and forced Aaron Lennon into a hurried and miscued clearance for their first corner.
Some rather hurried and desperate defending was needed when Firmino worked a left flank opening and Stekelenburg made an instinctive save but the ball went pin balling around the area before eventually being cleared to safety.
Gana broke up an attack to release Barkley through midfield where he was bundled off the ball by Firmino who avoided a yellow card. Barry sent a long chip over the top for Lukaku but his header cleared the crossbar.
Referee Mike Dean finally brandished yellow on 55 minutes as Lovren blatantly blocked Lukaku turning sweetly on a short ball from Barkley.
The next major incident saw Baines and Stekelenburg collide painfully for the goalie in denying Mane, with a long delay before play resumed, and that eventually saw him limp out of the game to be replaced by Joel Robles on 63 minutes.
Tempers came close to fraying a couple of minutes later as Barkley went in late on Horrendouson and Lovren raced twenty yards to stick his ugly oar in, Seamus Coleman and Romelu Lukaku responding in kind. Ross and Seamus both picked up yellow cards, Ross a tad fortunate not to see red if the truth be told. That said, the faux hard man Horrendouson was quickly back into the game with no seeming ill effect from the challenge.
Ronald Koeman sent on Dominic Calvert-Lewin for the tiring Enner Valencia who had again impressed with a solid, hard-working effort.
Mignolet made an easy save from an Ashley Williams header from a Barkley free kick ahead of Robles denying Wijnaldum. With less than ten minutes left in normal time, Klippity sent on Charlie Can for Lallana and Sturridge for Origi.
Everton were tiring and ‘they’ were doing their level best to overly influence the referee with Mane going down on at least three occasions drawing free kicks and incensing the home fans, particularly when Gana saw yellow for a foul on the diving Mane.
Joel flapped at a corner as the fourth official indicated eight additional minutes and the almost inevitable extra-time game-breaker arrived. Wijnaldum spread a ball out wide to their right flank where Sturridge was able to collect and work his way across the face of the box before sending in a weak shot that eluded the stretch of Robles only to come back off the post with Mane quickest to react and score into the empty net.
True to form, ‘de best fans in de werld’ displayed their despicable side throwing two flares onto the pitch with a third brandished in the crowd – what’s the betting there is no disciplinary action taken against them.
Seamus Coleman made a dramatic clearance to deny Firmino a second goal and that was that.
Final Score: 0-1.
This was not a bad performance by Everton.
For half an hour, we were much the better side albeit without troubling Mignolet in the visitor’s goal.
The loss of McCarthy at the break proved to be crucial as his energy and pressing had most definitely unsettled the FC Ar Yeer.
For the Blues, the telling issue was the missing key element of quality. Had we had that bit more composure and a more clinical finishing touch, and had we been able to sustain the effort of the first half hour for the full ninety minutes then who knows what might have been.
Nobody in blue was abjectly poor, everyone in blue worked hard – and the mental frailty we’ve been dogged by in previous years against ‘them’ was certainly not evident tonight. The bottom line is we just lacked that bit of quality needed to endorse solid, hard work… and we tired.
As for ‘them’ they are nowhere near as good as they think they are, but they always seem to get the breaks, and the collision that cost us Stekelenburg earned the additional time they needed to take advantage of our tiring limbs.
